Wednesday night’s episode of Dynamite saw absolute chaos erupt in the closing moments of the main event tag, but the eerie calm in the center of that storm was Moxley and Tanahashi staring holes into each other’s souls heading into their Forbidden Door (Pre-Order Now) AEW Interim World Title fight. On top of that, “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada surprised the world when he arrived in the midst of Jay White and Adam Cole coming after Hangman Page, Bryan Danielson addressed his immediate future, and Malakai Black took the final spot in Sunday night’s All-Atlantic Championship match!
This Friday night, two nights before AEW and NJPW present Forbidden Door (Pre-Order Now), Rampage comes to TNT at 10pm EDT/9pm CDT on TNT, as well as on AEWPlus.com for our international audience. It’s Fenix versus Andrade, Cash versus Cobb, Mercedes and Deeb in tag team action, and HOOK in action! Fans can prepare for the action by visiting the official AEW YouTube channel , AEW Twitter feed, and Facebook to catch up on all the Dynamite highlights, and watch the latest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, Road To, and the Control Center with Tony Schiavone!
FORBIDDEN DOOR PREVIEW…
IWGP Tag Champion Jeff Cobb vs. AAA/ROH World Tag Champion Cash Wheeler
They are set for competition on Sunday night in Chicago, but this Friday in Milwaukee, Jeff Cobb and Cash Wheeler will be singles competition against each other! Cash has only competed in one singles match under the AEW banner, The Owen Hart qualifier bout against his own tag partner, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t prepared to fly solo when the time comes. Jeff Cobb, on the other hand, is not only a two time IWGP Tag Champion with Great-O-Khan, he is also a former NEVER Openweight Champion in New Japan, a former ROH World TV Champion, and a former Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion as well. Cobb is quite versed in the arts of singles competition having competed in multiple G1 Climax Tournaments, multiple New Japan Cup tournament, and multiple PWG Battle of Los Angeles Tournaments including a 2018 victory.
Long story short, Jeff Cobb’s resume as a solo wrestler outstrips that of Cash Wheeler, but it doesn’t mean this ROH & AAA Tag Champ is just going to roll over and give up. Just as he does in tag team competition, Wheeler is going to fight Cobb with every ounce of his being, and insure that, win/lose/draw, the former Olympian remembers he was in fight with one of the best wrestlers in the AEW locker room.
Of course there is the matter of the rest of The United Empire, and their presence within All Elite Wrestling at this moment. Cash has to be aware of the likelihood at least one of their numbers will get involved in this main event fight. To that end, it’s a good thing he’s got the support of Dax Harwood at his side, and likely Roppongi Vice as well given that team’s stake in this situation as well.
48 hours after this singles battle, the IWGP and ROH World Tag Titles will be at stake between three distinct teams, but on Friday, it should be one-on-one inside the UW-Panther Arena. It should be about which man is the better inside that squared circle; will that be the case? Will this be fought fairly, or will the entourages become a factor in the main event of Friday night’s Rampage?
ONE-ON-ONE…
Andrade El Idolo vs. Rey Fenix
This bad blood dates back to Andrade’s arrival on the scene in All Elite Wrestling, and his attempts to lure The Lucha Brothers away from PAC, and into his waiting arms. It’s an intriguing thought to speculate on just what the path of Andrade El Idolo may have looked like had Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo betrayed PAC, but the reality was that The Lucha Bros stayed true to the one who stayed true to them, and it brought them to battle with Andrade last Thanksgiving.
The men would go their separate ways, Fenix and Penta eventually losing their AEW World Tag Titles to Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, while Andrade would first align with Matt Hardy to form The AHFO, and then betray Matt to seize control of the rechristened AFO.
Death Triangle would ultimately end up in this vicious rivalry with The House of Black while Andrade would fall to Darby Allin in a Coffin Match, which in turn led to him disappearing from the spotlight for several months. When Andrade returned at Double or Nothing 2022, not in person but on the video screen, he introduced a man to the AEW audience with whom he shared over a decade of history. Not only that, but a man who was a former 2-Time ROH World Champion, a highly decorated athlete in the CMLL promotion in Mexico, and most importantly, a founding father of Los Ingobernables alongside Andrade El Idolo. That man was Rush, and the announcement of his arrival at the side of Andrade sent shockwaves through the landscape of AEW. Anyone who had followed the career of these two men knew what they were capable of as a unified force, but in the weeks since DoN ’22, Rush has yet to make his presence felt live and in-person.
So with all that in mind, with the history of Andrade and Rey Fenix here in AEW, these two exceptional athletes will go to battle on Friday night’s Rampage! Can Fenix rebound for his family unity after Penta’s devastating loss to Malakai Black on Wednesday, or will the luck of The Lucha Brothers continue to turn sour as the poison of The House of Black seeps into Death Triangle?
TAG TEAM BOUT…
Mercedes Martinez & Serena Deeb vs. Laynie Luck & Sierra
Serena Deeb and Mercedes Martinez have proven to be quite a formidable tag team over the last ten days. Since their first outing on the June 13th edition of Dark: Elevation, the two women have won three consecutive tag team matches. That shouldn’t be a surprise, they’re two of the best wrestlers competing today, but what makes it a bit shocking, as seen in the tweet above, is that they aren’t exactly on the same page.
And yet…
So despite their ability to succeed as a team, Deeb and Martinez could find themselves as opposition down the line given that ROH Women’s World Title in Mercedes’ possession. That being said, the two competitors will find out if they can continue being successful this Friday night when they are in tag team action once again. Laynie Luck and Sierra have both competed in ROH before, and they’re quite familiar with one another as foes, but this will be the first time they’ve every been allies in their wrestling careers. Can they pull off a massive upset over two world class athletes like Mercedes and Serena
DOJO CHALLENGE…
HOOK vs. The DKC
He’s won eight straight singles match, nine of them overall, and now HOOK returns to action this Friday on Rampage to face off with one of the New Japan LA Dojo’s top prospects, The DKC. Now, while The DKC may be one of the young lions of the Dojo, he isn’t new to the sport of professional wrestling. As a matter of fact, The DKC has been competing for the last four years throughout California, and broke onto the New Japan related scene in the summer of 2020 during the Lion’s Break Collision.
The DKC would officially become part of the LA Dojo in 2021 after appealing to “The Wrestler” himself, Katsuyori Shibata, to join the classes, and he has grown tremendously fighting men like Brody King, Yuji Nagata, Rocky Romero, and competing alongside Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin, and Kevin Knight.
Now The DKC gets an opportunity to show his abilities against AEW’s hottest young athlete, “The Cold Hearted Handsome Devil” HOOK! Can The DKC be the man to step through the Forbidden Door and end HOOK’s tremendous undefeated run? Or will this Devil show one of the LA Dojo’s top prospects just why he’s become such a feared foe so quickly?
This Friday night’s Rampage is the final stop before Forbidden Door and it’s coming at you starting at 10:00 EDT/9:00pm CDT on TNT, as well as at AEWPlus.com for international audiences! With Forbidden Door this Sunday, Wednesday was absolutely explosive and that will no doubt continue on Friday night in Milwaukee! The main event gives a little preview of the Winner Take All Tag Title Match when Cash Wheeler takes on Jeff Cobb, plus Andrade El Idolo and Rey Fenix clash, HOOK takes on The DKC from the NJPW LA Dojo, and the team of Mercedes Martinez & Serena Deeb will be in action!
Be sure to visit the official AEW YouTube channel to get caught up with Dynamite highlights, the latest episodes of Dark: Elevation, AEW Dark, Road To, and this week’s Control Center with Tony Schiavone! Forbidden Door is going to be one unforgettable night in the history of professional wrestling, and Rampage is the last chance the athletes from AEW and NJPW have to get prepared!
Article source: allelitewrestling.com