A Dog Collar Match, a new addition to the Face Of The Revolution Ladder Match, a tremendous TNT Title match, and an assault on AEW World Champion Hangman Page; all that and more went down on Dynamite this past Wednesday. On its heels, AEW is bringing the fight to Rampage this Friday night with another Face Of The Revolution Qualifying Match, the Bullet Club leader facing a Best Friend, The Boom, and the 5 Minute Rookie Challenge! All eyes are on Revolution 2022 (Event Details) in just a few weeks, and every single fight could affect the landscape of that pay-per-view event!
Rampage: Slam Dunk get underway Friday night at the special time of 7pm EST/6pm CST on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audience, and you can get prepared at the official AEW YouTube channel with Dynamite highlights, as well as the latest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, and Road To!
ONE-ON-ONE...
Trent Beretta vs. “Switchblade” Jay White
As can be heard above, Jay White fancies himself a catalyst for AEW's existence simply because he beat Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Title in January 2018. Mind you, that doesn't factor in Omega's run as IWGP Heavyweight Champion that began in June 2018, but it is a matter of perspective. Also that statement is colored by the fact that Jay White once spurned the offer to join Bullet Club when it was Omega extending the hand, but “Switchblade” jumped at the chance when Kenny was no longer Club affiliated and the chance for Jay to lead the unit was available.
That being said, White's decision to join The BC at that point doesn't take away from his claims as not only a former IWGP US Heavyweight Champion, but also as a finalist in the 2019 G1 Tournament, a former IWGP Intercontinental Champion, a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and a former NEVER Openweight Champion after that alignment with Bullet Club. In short, Jay White has been a force to be reckoned with since turning his back on CHAOS in October 2018.
Yes, CHAOS; Jay White once claimed membership in the very same NJPW faction in which Trent Beretta has counted himself a member since October 2013, and although the two men only shared a ring as partners once during Jay's ten month tenure with the unit, they still stood under the CHAOS flag together and thus Beretta was one of the many betrayed.
It seems now that White, who has been tearing up rings with New Japan Strong and Impact since coming back to The States in July, has decided to bring his talents to AEW at the expense of his former unit mate. First it was the parking lot assault along with The SuperKliq, and then it was the Bladerunner delivered to Beretta after Roppongi Vice fell to The Young Bucks on last week's Rampage. Clearly Beretta is the focus of White's wrath, at least thus far, but will he be able to maintain that focus when he has to face Trent one-on-one? Can Jay keep it up when he's not jumping his foe from behind or joining a 4-on-1 assault?
We will find out this Friday night on TNT when Rampage hits the airwaves at its special 7pm EST start time!
ONE-ON-ONE...
Adam Cole vs. The Dark Order's 10
No matter what happens to him, or what successes he achieves, everyone tries to play head games with AEW World Champion Hangman Page. The latest man to try this approach was top ranked contender Adam Cole, and he chose to do so by questioning Page's friends. He dug up their shared Bullet Club history, their mutual time in Ring of Honor, and of course Adam's relationships with The Elite. He also thought it was necessary to question Page's friendship with The Dark Order, and ponder why they weren't out there to have the champion's back. If anything has been evident over the last six months it's that The Dark Order and Adam Page always have each other's backs, but they also respect each other's space and desires to handle their own business.
Still, regardless of Cole's aspirations for the World Title, Adam Page took his words to have some measure of sincerity given their mutual history. Unfortunately he was dead wrong and Hangman ended up the victim of a full-blown assault from Adam Cole and reDRagon which AEW security futilely tried to halt. It was only when members of The Dark Order hit the ring that Fish, O'Reilly, and Cole dispersed, but that left an enraged 10 in the ring with his compatriots and said security trying to calm him down.
Unfortunately for security, there was no calm to be found, and 10 started tossing them all around like they were small children. All he and the rest of Dark Order wanted was Cole and reDRagon to come back for the fight, but they bailed out, leaving Page's friends with no place to put their anger. Good thing Rampage is only two days after Dynamite because that means The Dark Order's 10 doesn't have to wait long for Adam Cole to feel his wrath! This Friday night on TNT, Dark Order's strongman will get his hands on Cole for a one-on-one fight in which to punish the top contender for his actions!
Cole may have reDRagon at his side, but Ten has the entire Dark Order with him to balance out those scales, so this may actually be a fair man-to-man fight. Can Cole hold onto his top spot, or will Ten knock Adam off that perch?
FACE OF THE REVOLUTION QUALIFYING MATCH...
Dante Martin vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
Time for round three between Martin and Hobbs, and this time there is far more at stake than just who gets a notch in the win column. This rubber match go-round will net the winner a spot in the Face of Revolution Ladder Match scheduled for Revolution 2022 on March 6th! Either Hobbs or Dante will join Wardlow and Keith Lee in that high-risk fight for a TNT Title opportunity, and of course get the bragging rights in this tie-breaking bout.
The history between Dante Martin and Team Taz has been well-told over the last several months, it saw Martin pull the wool over Taz's eyes as to his alliegance, and it has pulled Matt Sydal and Lee Moriarty in to help even the odds for the young athlete. But this one right here is the most important match of the battles that have gone down over the months; the winner gets a pay-per-view slot, the winner gets closer to the TNT Title, and the loser sits in idle humiliation.
FIVE MINUTE ROOKIE CHALLENGE...
After physically dissecting former AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida in less than two minutes and sending her back home to Japan to recover from injuries, Serena Deeb has now set her sights on proving no woman in AEW can hang with her for five minutes. That victory over an injured Shida got the ball rolling, beating Skye Blue in under three minutes added fuel to the fire, but last week saw Deeb's official declaration of the “Five Minute Rookie Challenge”. Serena followed that up with a 62 second decimation of Katie Arquette, and aims to continue that roll this Friday night on Rampage! Who will step up to the challenge to try and upset “The Professor”?
On Friday evening, from the Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Rampage comes to you at the special time of 7pm EST/6pm CST on TNT, and at AEWPlus.com for our international audience. Its Bullet Club versus Best Friends, Serena Deeb in action, SuperKliq versus Dark Order, and a spot in the Face Of The Revolution Ladder Match at stake! And you can get prepared for the excitement by visiting the official AEW YouTube channel for DYNAMITE highlights, the latest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, and Road To!