AEW Rampage Preview for July 28, 2023

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Coming off a tremendous night of action on Wednesday’s DYNAMITE in which burgeoning issues between The Blackpool Combat Club and The Best Friends spilled over from ROH’s DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023 PPV, Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D shut down the challenge of Taya Valkyrie, and Orange Cassidy turned back the International Championship challenge of AR Fox only for the challenger to sucker punch him after the fact, we are now onto a stacked edition of RAMPAGE this Friday night!

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Kicking off at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com (https://www.fite.tv/join/aew-plus/) for our international audiences, a new contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship will emerge when eight teams smash it up in a Battle Royale with the right to face the winner of COLLISON’s championship match on the line! Plus, old enemies will collide once again when Hikaru Shida and Nyla Rose meet, The Kingdom will be in action, and Komander steps in for the injured Scorpio Sky to face Kip Sabian in singles competition!

Before the action gets underway, visit the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from this week’s DYNAMITE, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, plus THE CONTROL CENTER, and much, much more!

TAG TEAM BATTLE ROYAL…

***WINNER EARNS AN AEW WORLD TAG TITLE MATCH***

Angelo Parker & Matt Menard, Big Bill & Brian Cage, Brother Zay & Ethan Page, Christopher Daniels & Matt Sydal, Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh, Jeff Hardy & Matt Hardy, Luther & Serpentico, & The Blade & The Butcher

Much like the Royal Rampage that went down last week, there are many threads uniting the men in this match together, but the most common is that all sixteen are of them are in pursuit of their first AEW Championship! To date, not one man competing for this Tag Team Championship opportunity has held any title during their respective AEW tenures, but one team will have an opportunity to change that fact, whether it be against reigning champions FTR or this Saturday’s challengers MJF and Adam Cole.

Breaking the bout down a bit, clearly Satnam Singh is the biggest man to ever enter into an AEW Battle Royal, thus making him an immediate target for elimination by everyone else save his partner Jay Lethal. Speaking of Lethal, he does have some experience winning these things as he and Jeff Jarrett did win the REVOLUTION 2023 Tag Team Battle Royal back in February to earn a championship match at said pay-per-view.

As has been stated before, Butcher and Blade are the kings of elimination, combing for thirty-three of them after last week’s Royal Rampage, and Butcher responsible for twenty-one of those, including removing Minoru Suzuki from the equation last week. Obviously Big Bill and Brian Cage have some size advantage heading into this one, but much like Satnam, that will make them targets for the rest of the group, but their performance in the Blind Eliminator Tournament demonstrated what they’re capable of together so the rest of the field best be wary despite their neophyte status as a team.

Speaking of newbie teams, this Friday will mark the very first time that Ethan Page and Brother Zay have ever teamed up before, and what a huge boon to their developing resume it would be just to earn a championship match! While tag team competition may be new to Ethan and Zay, one team who is no stranger to championship success in that realm is The Hardys and the twelve World Tag Team Title runs they bring to the table with them. Now none of those have come under the AEW banner, and that is something Matt and Jeff aim to change before their time inside the squared circle comes to an end!

Then there’s teams like Daddy Magic and Angelo Parker who, next to Butcher and Blade, are the winningest duo involved, and of course the interesting dynamic that could arise from Matt Menard and Butcher’s “Magic Meat” duo that, while it only existed for one match in the Blind Eliminator Tournament, was a hit with the AEW faithful.

Then there’s Serpentico and Luther, two-thirds of the Spanish Announce Project with Angelico, and despite being one of the most prolific teams in AEW, also owners of one of the worst records in the division. If there’s a dark horse candidate to score this victory, it is certainly these two, but if there’s any environment that tilts in the favor of Chaos, it is certainly a Battle Royal!

Odds are both FTR and Adam Cole (probably not MJF unless Cole forces him to) will be paying attention to see what their future holds after Saturday night! Who will step up as the next contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, and just who will they be facing?

ONE-ON-ONE…

Komander vs. Kip Sabian (w/ Penelope Ford)

Originally slated to be Scorpio Sky versus Kip Sabian, an injury to the former AEW World Tag Team and TNT Champion necessitated a change in the line-up, and now Komander will get an opportunity to shine on Friday night! After falling to Gravity last Friday night at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023, Komander is looking to bounce back with a victory and getting it done before the eyes of the wrestling world on RAMPAGE would be just the place to do it.

That being said, a man who has oft referred to himself as “The Forgotten Pillar”, would also like to be the one who makes the most of this Friday night opportunity and robs Komander of the victory he’s hoping for! Kip Sabian has demonstrated against foe-after-foe, be it in singles, tags, trios, or multi-man affairs, that he has the skill set to become an AEW champion, but it has always been a matter of stringing together the wins to get that opportunity. He took matters into his own hands last year when it came to “The Bastard” PAC and the All-Atlantic Championship, and perhaps after Friday night he’ll be doing the same again!

TAG TEAM BOUT…

The Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett) in action!

After nearly becoming ROH World Tag Team Champions at DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR 2023, and then topping former ROH World Tag Champions Rhett Titus and Tracy Williams this past Thursday night on Honor Club, The Kingdom returns to action on RAMPAGE with the drive to show the AEW faithful, and the tag team division, just why they are 2-Time former ROH Tag Champs, and why the entire AEW locker room should be on notice whenever Matt Taven and Mike Bennett come to town!

A RIVALRY REKINDLED…

Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose

Theirs is a rivalry dating back to the first year of All Elite Wrestling, one that first came came to a head at DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2020 when Shida ended Nyla’s World Championship reign in a No Disqualification fight! They would meet in a return bout, with Shida in the role of champion and with standard rules in play, and once again Shida would put down “The Native Beast”. The same scene would play out on this year’s Jericho Cruise, Hikaru Shida victorious over Nyla Rose, with the only exception to this unofficial tradition coming during the TBS Championship tournament when Rose defeated Shida, albeit with a little assist from Serena Deeb.

Around those singles matches, these two staples of the AEW Women’s Division have battled in tags, trios, and multi-woman affairs, and while victories have gone in favor of both women, overall it is still Hikaru Shida who has the edge in their battles.

This Friday night, with each women looking to get back into the title picture, especially with a huge show like ALL IN: LONDON looming, they will collide once more in singles competition! There is no doubt AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm, as well as the other Outcasts, will have their eyes on this one knowing the winner could be the next challenger, but will it be the record-setting former Women’s World Champion or “The Native Beast” who gets their attention?

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RAMPAGE gets underway at 10pm ET/9pm CT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for our international audiences, and will see a new contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship emerge as eight teams, sixteen men, battle to see who faces the winner of Saturday’s bout between FTR and Cole/MJF! Plus, Kip Sabian battles Komander, Nyla Rose and Hikaru Shida reignite their long-standing rivalry, and The Kingdom of Matt Taven and Mike Bennett will be in action! Before the action begins, drop by the official AEW YouTube channel for highlights from Wednesday’s edition of DYNAMITE, as well as previous episodes of RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, plus THE CONTROL CENTER, and a whole lot more!

Article source: allelitewrestling.com