On his Fangin N’ Bangin podcast, former WWE wrestler Gangrel said he was scheduled to appear on AEW Dynamite in Milwaukee, but it was canceled Monday after Edge’s homage to The Brood last weekend.
He said AEW reached out last week for the Milwaukee show and were even in the process of putting his entrance together with music and pyro with fire. He was preparing to fly out to Milwaukee on Tuesday, but got the call Monday that they were going in a different direction due to “WWE media stuff.”
In a surprise on last Friday’s SmackDown, Edge gave Rollins a “Brood bath” (black liquid designed to imitate blood) ahead of their clash at Saturday’s SummerSlam where he even did part of the Brood entrance for that match.
Gangrel said he was both worried about the opportunity falling through and happy for Edge at the same time. He knew once he saw the “tremendously done” entrance Saturday and that “I knew it was the final nail in the coffin.” He opined that AEW didn’t want to come off as copying WWE so close to the Edge homage.
He didn’t say what AEW was bringing him in for, but it’s assumed it would have been part of the Christian Cage/Kenny Omega angle given his Brood relationship to Cage.
Gangrel said he called Edge to talk about SmackDown and eventually reluctantly revealed what had happened after Edge was excited that Gangrel might get more bookings out of the angle.
Once Edge found out, he felt bad about the situation and was apologetic as he had no idea. He had been working on it for nearly three months and said it was hard to get WWE to approve it because of their PG rating. He wanted red “blood” but was told if it wasn’t black, it wasn’t going to happen.
He said he had no ill will toward Edge and was thrilled to see the entrance pulled off. He simply chalked it up to bad timing and hopes to be booked by AEW again in the future.
Heading toward the Victory Road special on September 18th, Impact Wrestling has revealed their full lineup for this Thursday’s episode on AXS TV.
For the second straight week, Impact World Champion Christian Cage will be making an appearance. He is scheduled to defend the title against number one contender Ace Austin at Victory Road after Austin won a four-way for the opportunity at last Friday’s Emergence.
Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers will face Willie Mack and Rich Swann in a non-title match. This comes after Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows defeated both Mack and Swann and Violent by Design (Joe Doering and Rhino) at Emergence but didn’t pin either Mack or Swann. If either man wins, they earn a future title shot.
Chris Bey will continue his new tenure with Bullet Club when he faces David Finlay in singles action. Bey and Jay White have been at odds with Finlay and FinJuice tag team partner Juice Robinson in recent weeks.
Here’s the full lineup for Thursday:
Christian Cage appearance
Impact Tag Team Champions The Good Brothers vs. Willie Mack and Rich Swann in a non-title match
Chris Sabin vs. Sami Callihan
Chris Bey vs. David Finlay
Taylor Wilde vs. Madison Rayne, Tenille Dashwood and Kaleb With A K handicap match
Ace Austin won a four-way match involving Sami Callihan, Moose and Chris Sabin at Friday’s Impact Emergence, putting himself next in line for a World title shot against Christian Cage at Victory Road in September.
The end came when Moose hit two uranages on Austin to set up the Lights Out. However, Callihan hit Moose with a chair, leaving him open for Austin to recover and get the roll-up for the pin while Cage successfully defended the Impact title in his first defense with a win over Brian Myers in the Emergence main event.
The Cage vs. Austin match will take place on the September 18th Impact Plus special, a show that was mainly taped this past week. The Cage-Austin match didn’t happen at those tapings, but will at the company’s mid-September TV tapings.
Regarded as one of the company’s top talents, Austin is a two-time X-Division Champion and Super X Cup winner. He has competed for the World title before, losing in a five-way elimination match at last year’s Slammiversary.
On Thursday’s Impact Wrestling, Christian Cage retired the TNA World title.
The new Impact World Champion came out for an in-ring promo in his first appearance for the company in more than a decade. He said that despite the history of the title, it was time to focus on the now instead of then and respectfully retire it. He then handed the belt to ring announcer David Penzer who took the title away as the crowd chanted “TNA.”
Cage won both the Impact and TNA title belts last Friday on AEW Rampage when he beat Kenny Omega.
The title was originally retired on March 2nd, 2017, after TNA was rebranded to Impact Wrestling. The championship had served as the flagship belt of the promotion when it was introduced in 2007.
It was reintroduced at the Rebellion pay-per-view in 2020 when then-Impact Champion Tessa Blanchard and challenger Eddie Edwards couldn’t appear at the event. Moose, Michael Elgin and Hernandez had a three-way match for the vacant title, which Moose ended up winning.
Although a new Impact champion was crowned a few months later, Moose regularly defended the TNA belt throughout 2020 and into 2021. He lost the belt to then-Impact champion Rich Swann in a title unification match at March 2001’s Sacrifice before Swann lost both belts to Omega a month later.
More than a decade after it ended, Thursday’s Impact Wrestling begins a new era for Christian Cage in the company.
Cage won the Impact World title last Friday on AEW Rampage and will be in the Impact Zone for the first time since 2008 ahead of this Friday’s title defense against Brian Myers at Emergence.
Thursday’s Emergence go-home show will also see the four men that will vye for a World title shot in a four-way Friday in tag team action as Moose teams with Ace Austin against Chris Sabin and Sami Callihan.
As a preview of the three-way Tag Team title match Friday, Doc Gallows of the Good Brothers will face Joe Doering of Violent by Design.
Melina will make her Impact in-ring debut ahead of her challenge of Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo at NWA Empower a week from this Saturday.
Other action includes Matt Cardona vs. Shera and the return of Madison Rayne’s Locker Room Talk as she chats with Tenille Dashwood.
The BTI pre-show match will feature Tasha Steelz vs. one half of the Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Havok.
Opening video was a full recap of Omega’s Impact Championship reign, from winning it from Rich Swann, to losing it last week to Christian Cage on AEW’s first ever episode of Rampage.
Josh Matthews and Gia Miller opened the show in the ring. They were hyping up Christian Cage’s title win when Eddie Edwards and W. Morrissey stumbled into ringside brawling. It would end up being Sami Callihan who would run out for the save and between the two, they dispatched Morrissey to the back after security separated them. Callihan and Edwards had a bit of a staredown.
Callihan took a mic and said he didn’t want to wait for his match tonight and called out for the rest of the participants to come out.
Chris Sabin & Sami Callihan defeated Moose & Ace Austin (with Madman Fulton)
These four men will be wrestling tomorrow night at Emergence in a number one contendership match for the Impact World title at Victory Road. All four men were runner ups in the number one contender’s battle royale from last week, and thus taken into consideration for the match.
Callihan, now a full fledged babyface to the crowd, started the match with Austin, as he and Sabin took turns to show off and punish Austin.
Moose eventually tagged in and cut off Sabin, turning the momentum around. These two have been feuding for a while, so they repeated some of their spots like Moose chopping Sabin on the apron, with Sabin making the attempt to fight back when Moose got distracted playing to the crowd, but this time around, Fulton was there to make sure Sabin couldn’t gain momentum.
Callihan eventually got the hot tag and ran wild over Austin, followed by Sabin and Moose coming back to trade some quick signature moves with Callihan and Sabin, only to come back around to Callihan and Austin, with the former getting ready to finish off Austin, but Sabin tagged himself in, hit cradle shock on Austin, and won the match. In Sabin’s defense, Callihan was taking too much time to hit the piledriver.
After the match, Callihan hit the cactus special on Sabin and posed for the crowd. Callihan was the most over man in this match.
– D’lo Brown & Matt Striker ran down tonight’s card and a quick update on Emergence tomorrow night.
– We got a recap of the Good Brothers defeating Jon Moxley and Yuji Nagata, followed by the confrontation between the Brothers and the Guerrillas of Destiny, Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa.
Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows cut a promo backstage talking about Resurgence and how they do what they do best, beat up Jon Moxley. Anderson told GOD to not start anything they’re not ready for. Gallows also brought up that tonight he’s taking out “All Japan’s” Joe Doering.
– Sami Callihan cut a promo backstage telling Sabin to not poke the Death Machine and that tomorrow, he becomes the number one contender. He claimed that he took a piece of Kenny Omega over and over until he was easy for someone else to beat.
Eddie Edwards approached him and told him that because they teamed once, doesn’t mean they’re friends and told him to stay out of his business. It did come off as Callihan wanted to team again, but Edwards didn’t.
Matt Cardona (with Chelsea Green) defeated Mahabali Shera (with Rohit Raju)
Last week, Cardona took a fall to the debuting John Skyler after Raju and Shera interfered in the match. They had antagonized each other before, but it wasn’t until last week that Raju got into Cardona’s head.
Match started with both men measuring each other out, Shera showing that he had the power advantage, but Cardona still sent him to the floor for a big dive. As they tried to get back in the ring, Shera however, cut off Cardona.
Shera worked over Cardona’s back with sporadic cheap shots by Raju behind the referee’s sight. It would be until Cardona managed to dodge a running Shera and send him face first into the corner that Cardona started a comeback.
Shera still managed to get a good near fall with a chokeslam on his knee for a two count. Cardona came back with radio silence and got the win. Interference aside, this was pretty decent.
– We got an installment of Locker Room Talk with Madison Rayne and Johnny Swinger. Her guest was Tenille Dashwood, who Madison helped last week to defeat Taylor Wilde. The interview was back and forth putting each other over and talking about how they failed as a tag team last year, but that destiny had brought them back together. Her tag team name is The Influence.
The whole thing ended up with Swinger and Kaleb with a K talking trash to each other until they all convinced Kaleb to go and confront Kaleb for booking him against Wilde.
– Gia Miller interviewed Josh Alexander about his match with Jake Something, asking him about taking on someone bigger and stronger than he is. Alexander said that he wants to be the top champion in Impact and that means taking on everyone and is not concerned about Something’s size.
Something walked away and stumbled to Kaleb with a K with D’Amore. Kaleb was asking for a match, and so D’Amore booked Something versus Kaleb in a no dq match for later tonight.
– The new Impact World Champion Christian Cage came down to an Impact ring for the first time in about a decade. Cage said that it felt great to be back after so long, especially as the World Champion. He talked about how Impact took a chance on him in 2005.
Christian Cage said that it was time to finally retire the TNA Championship because they had to look into the future and the Impact title represented that and it represented all the young talent in the back coming after the Impact Championship.
Once that was done, Brian Myers, the number one contender to the Impact World title came out to meet Cage. Myers made some nostalgia jokes before telling Cage that he doesn’t live in the past and tomorrow at Emergence, he wins the Impact title. Cage came back telling Myers that he finally stopped complaining and left Cardona’s shadow, but he hasn’t won yet.
Myers tried to cheap shot Cage, but Cage was ready, took out Beale and sent Myers running.
– We got a commercial for NWA’s EMPOWER and NWA73.
– We got a recap of Deonna Purrazzo’s win at AAA’s Triplemania XXIX, defeating Faby Apache for the Campeonato Reina de Reinas.
Melina defeated Brandi Lauren
Melina is making her Impact in-ring debut tonight. Melina will be challenging for the Impact Knockouts championship at NWA’s EMPOWER show.
The match was for the most part a squash. Lauren had some offense at the start, but after a couple of minutes, Melina locked in her inverted Muta lock, the California Dream.
After the match, Deonna Purazzo got in a fight with Melina. Matthews Rehwoldt helped Purrazzo get the advantage, but Trey Miguel ran down to even the odds. Miguel and Melina ran off Purrazzo and Rehwoldt.
– Miller interviewed John Skyler about getting the upset on Matt Cardona. He pretended it wasn’t shocking nor an upset, he said he won clean. Suddenly we heard screams coming from the side and we saw Juice Robinson laying on the floor as David Finlay tried to figure out what had happened.
– We got a recap of Jordynne Grace’s weightlifting competition from a couple of weeks ago, where she broke a couple of records. She said that she will be going for the national title in november.
Jake Something defeated Kaleb with a K in a No DQs match
Kaleb with a K is wrestling with a neck brace that has a bow tie attached to it.
This was another squash match. Kaleb had some offense early on, but Something quickly used his power advantage to cut him off.
This being a no dq match, allowed Something to bring out a table to the ring and spear Kaleb through it for the finish.
After the match, Josh Alexander came out and got face to face with Something.
– Somewhere in the Undead Realm, Undead Kimber Lee told ‘Mother’ Su Yung that she collected her first soul, but not the last.
– Brown & Striker ran down tomorrow’s card for Emergence, including Madison Rayne vs Taylor Wilde, Tasha Steelz, Savannah Evans, Fallah Bahh, & No Way vs Decay, and Melina & Trey Miguel vs Deonna Purrazzo & Matthew Rehwoldt.
Joe Doering (with Violent By Design) defeated Doc Gallows (with Karl Anderson)
These two men will meet at Emergence in the Impact tag team match where the Good Brothers must defend against Violent By Design and the team of Swann and Mack.
It started with a strike exchange, but quickly spilled out to the floor.
Back in the ring, the match continued back and forth with strikes and shoulder tackles and Germans, reaching the point where both men were stumbling between strikes. Joe Doering at one point hit an incredibly impressive delayed vertical suplex, but Gallows rolled out of the ring. Really good call from commentary bringing up that Gallows has likely never taken a move like that.
Once again on the floor, both men kept exchanging strikes and ramming each other onto things. They tried to get back in the ring, but after the first shoulder tackle, both men spilled back to the floor, but this one, the men brawled to the ramp where Gallows hit a sky high and both men crashed through the ramp floor! Neither man was able to recover until the medic and staff came out to help. Both men crawled their way back to the ring to keep going, and they went back to it!
Gallows went for a second rope clothesline, only for Doering to catch him with a lariat coming down for the win. This was awesome, everything it had to be.
Impact World Champion Christian Cage will make his return to Impact Wrestling this Thursday.
This will be Cage’s first appearance for the company since 2008 when they were still TNA.
Cage won the unified Impact World title and TNA title from Kenny Omega on last Friday’s AEW Rampage. He is set for a quick turnaround as he will defend his newly-won championship against Brian Myers in the main event of Friday’s Emergence special on Impact Plus.
Former WWE Women’s Champion Melina will make her Impact in-ring debut Thursday against Brandi Lauren. The match will be a preview for Melina’s challenge of Knockouts Champion Deonna Purrazzo at next weekend’s NWA Empower pay-per-view.
Thursday’s show will also feature a tag team match featuring four men competing for a World title shot at Emergence as Moose teams with Ace Austin against Chris Sabin and Sami Callihan.
Here’s the full lineup for Thursday’s show:
Christian Cage appearance
Moose and Ace Austin vs. Chris Sabin and Sami Callihan
Matt Cardona vs. Shera
Doc Gallows vs. Joe Doering
Melina vs. Brandi Lauren
Madison Rayne’s Locker Room Talk with Tenille Dashwood
BTI pre-show: Tasha Steelz vs. Havok (w/ Rosemary)
After winning the Impact World Championship on AEW Rampage, Christian Cage is headed to the Impact Zone.
Impact has announced that Cage will appear on the Monday, August 16 and Tuesday, August 17 tapings at SkyWay Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.
In a press release, Impact stated that Cage will appear on this Thursday’s edition of Impact. Additionally, Cage’s first Impact title defense will air next Friday on the Emergence event on Impact Plus. Cage will defend against Brian Myers after Myers won a number one contender battle royal on this week’s Impact.
Cage defeated Kenny Omega with a Killswitch on a chair to win the Impact World title on Friday’s debut edition of AEW Rampage. Cage and Omega will rematch for the AEW World Championship at the All Out PPV on Sunday, September 5.
Cage made his return to the ring in January 2021 at the WWE Royal Rumble PPV after nearly seven years out of action, barring a one-minute unsanctioned match in WWE in 2020. His signing with AEW was announced on the March 7, 2021 AEW Revolution PPV.
Christian Cage defeated Kenny Omega for the Impact World title Friday in the first-ever match on AEW Rampage, ending his four-month reign as champion.
The finish of the match had The Young Bucks out, introducing a chair into the ring. As the referee was distracted by Don Callis, Christian fought off a One Winged Angel attempt by Omega and instead planted him with the killswitch on the chair, pinning Omega to win the Impact World Championship.
Cage won’t have to wait long for his first title defense as he will face Brian Myers in the main event of Emergence, an Impact Plus special that will be taped this weekend to air next Friday. Myers won a battle royal on Thursday’s Impact TV show to earn the opportunity.
Cage has been the main champion in Impact before, holding the NWA World title twice when the company when it was known as TNA. He spent several years there after first leaving WWE in late-2005 before eventually returning in 2009.
Omega and Cage will do battle again at next month’s AEW All Out as Cage will try to take Omega’s AEW World title. Omega will defend the AAA Mega title on Saturday in Mexico at AAA’s TripleMania.
Three title matches will headline tonight’s long-awaited debut of AEW Rampage, the company’s second show on cable TV.
In a bit of a twist, Kenny Omega will defend his Impact World title against Christian Cage in the show’s opener ahead of their match for Omega’s AEW World title at September’s All Out. Both matches were announced during Wednesday’s Dynamite.
The main event of the night will see Women’s Champion Britt Baker defend against Red Velvet. This will Baker’s second defense of the title and her first since breaking her wrist in her first defense against Nyla Rose. Baker will be the hometown favorite as the show emanates from Pittsburgh, PA, while Velvet is riding a nine-match winning streak. While she’s competed for the NWA Women’s title before, this will be her first AEW title opportunity.
TNT Champion Miro will defend his title against Fuego Del Sol where if Del Sol wins, he also earns an AEW contract.
Our live coverage begins at 10 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Report —
The show’s introduction and presentation package are very similar to the commercials for it on Dynamite. Lots of lightning and guys posing in a warehouse.
Excalibur, Taz, Chris Jericho, and Mark Henry are the four-man commentary booth, while Dasha Gonzalez is the ring announcer.
Impact World Championship: Christian Cage defeated Kenny Omega (c) to win the title
This was an excellent match – pretty much the perfect way to kick off Rampage.
They had a strong lockup to start. Christian took Omega down with a shoulder tackle, then flipped him off. Omega feigned a knuckle lock and laid in strikes, including a couple hard chops. He went for the One-Winged Angel, but Christian turned it into a Killswitch attempt, forcing Omega to escape to the floor and regroup.
Christian pursued Omega outside the ring but was taken advantage of upon re-entry. He avoided a baseball slide and hit a running dropkick, sending Omega back to the floor. Christian climbed the ropes, but Callis distracted him and Omega sent him crashing to the outside, leading to a commercial break.
Once back, Christian fired up with a snap suplex. Omega raked his eyes and pushed him into the corner. They fought on the top rope, where Christian hit a sunset bomb. He landed twenty punches in the corner before hitting the drop-down right hand and a diving uppercut for two.
Christian went for the Killswitch, but Omega fought out and hit You Can’t Escape for two. Christian hit a reverse DDT for a near fall of his own. Omega countered a running attack into a V-Trigger, a powerbomb, and another V-Trigger for another near fall. Christian fought out of the One-Winged Angel, Omega tried to turn it into Croyt’s Wrath, but Christian fought out and hit a Spear for a great near fall.
Omega hit a snap dragon suplex to counter another Killswitch attempt, then followed it up with another. Christian stopped the momentum of a V-Trigger and snapped Omega’s neck over the ropes, following it up with a frog splash for a nice near fall. “A-E-Dub” chants.
Callis distracted the official, allowing Omega to hit a low blow. The Young Bucks came out and slid a chair to Omega. Omega tried to hit the One-Winged Angel on it, but Christian fought out and hit the Killswitch on the chair to win the match and the championship.
– After the match, Jurassic Express ran out to congratulate Christian, followed by Impact EVP Scott D’Amore.
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After a commercial, Mark Henry was backstage with Christian and the Jurassic Express. Christian said he feels great, but it’s hot tonight in Pittsburgh. He’s glad Henry’s here. Christian said he’s going to take all of Omega’s titles, but Omega’s the real deal. It’s going to be nearly impossible to win that AEW World Championship, but Christian’s in Omega’s head.
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A video package for Miro vs. Fuego Del Sol aired. Fuego said he deserves an AEW contract, and God’s favorite champion would be “baptized by fire.”
TNT Championship: Miro (c) defeated Fuego Del Sol
If Fuego wins, he earns an AEW contract.
Fuego immediately hit the Tornado DDT before the match, then hit a second once the match started, but Miro rolled to the floor. Miro just barely made it in at the count of nine, and Fuego hit a third Tornado DDT for an awesome near fall. He went for one more, but Miro caught him and hit a Samoan Drop.
Miro followed it up with the former Machka Kick, followed by Game Over for the submission.
– After the match, Miro ripped up Fuego’s contract.
– After a commercial aired, Sammy Guevara’s music played and he was handed a clipboard by Tony Khan. Guevara addressed Fuego and said “you’re like 1-50, but who cares, because these people love you.” A lot of the guys in the back like him too. Guevara was given the okay by TK to come out and say, officially, “Fuego Del Sol is All Elite.” He handed Fuego the contract and they embraced.
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Next week’s AEW Dynamite lineup:
Darby Allin & Sting vs. 2.0 in a Texas Tornado match
Chris Jericho vs. MJF, Jericho can’t use the Judas Effect
Sammy Guevara vs. Shawn Spears
AEW World Tag Team Championships: Young Bucks (c) vs. Jurassic Express
A hype video aired for next week’s AEW Rampage from the United Center in Chicago.
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Britt Baker and Red Velvet spoke to Mark Henry. Velvet said she interrupted Baker’s promo last week as revenge for hitting her with a crutch. She’s going to ruin Baker’s night again. Baker said she didn’t ruin anything, because it doesn’t rain in Pittsburgh while Baker is champion. This is her city. At the end of the day, it’ll be “And still AEW Women’s Champion, Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.”
AEW Women’s World Championship: Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (c) (w/ Rebel) defeated Red Velvet
Baker went for the Lockjaw and Velvet went for the Final Slice right away. Velvet had Baker scouted, maintaining control through a techinal exchange. They pie-faced each other and Velvet rolled Baker up for two. Velvet had a chance to stomp Baker’s broken wrist, but hesitated, and they resumed their techincal sequence.
Velvet targeted Baker’s arm, but Baker caught her with a back elbow. A dropkick from Velvet followed by a standing moonsault got two leading into a commercial. Baker was in control upon return, but Velvet cut her off with a ripcord forearm.
Kris Statlander was shown looking on as an armbreaker from Velvet got two. Baker came back with a swinging neckbreaker, then locked on a crucifix for two. She immediately tried to turn it into the Lockjaw, but Velvet turned that into a cradle of her own for a near fall.
Velvet tried to rip off Baker’s injured wrist apparatus. Rebel tried to interfere, and it was enough of a distraction for Baker to roll Velvet up for a near fall. The official ejected Rebel, who had been constantly interfering since the commercial. Velvet hit a thrust kick and a top-rope moonsault for two.
Baker hit a ushigoroshi for a near fall followed by a curb stomp for another two count. Velvet went for the Lockjaw herself, but Baker used the ropes to reverse the positioning. Velvet hammered on Baker’s injured wrist, but Baker applied an inverted Lockjaw for the submission victory.
– After the match, Baker’s parents were shown in the crowd. Baker hit almost like a Lightning Spiral on Velvet, but Kris Statlander hit the ring to make the save. A mystery woman ran out, who ended up being a returning Jamie Hayter, to take out Statlander. Baker hit the curb stomp on Velvet and posed with Hayter to end the show.
The AEW World Champion will be in action in the opening match of Friday’s debut episode of Rampage.
Kenny Omega will defend the Impact Wrestling World Championship against Christian Cage in the Rampage opener. Cage made the announcement on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
It was also announced on tonight’s show that Cage, the top-ranked contender, will face Omega for the AEW World title at the All Out PPV on Sunday, September 5.
Omega vs. Cage on Rampage is one of three title matches set for the show.
It was also announced tonight that Miro will defend the TNT Championship against Fuego Del Sol on Friday. If Fuego wins, he gets an AEW contract.
Britt Baker defending the AEW Women’s World Championship against Red Velvet in the main event has also been announced.
Rampage will air Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on TNT.
Here is this week’s lineup:
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Red Velvet
TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Fuego Del Sol
Impact World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage
The AEW World Championship match for All Out has been confirmed.
Christian Cage will challenge for the title on September 5 after it was confirmed on tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Christian is currently number one in the AEW World title rankings and was mentioned as a potential contender for Omega’s title on last week’s Dynamite, when he defeated The Blade in a singles match.
This will not be Cage and Omega’s first encounter. After it was confirmed that Cage will receive his AEW World title shot at All Out, he confronted Omega after he won a six-man match with The Young Bucks, defeating Dante Martin and The Sydal Brothers. Cage told Omega that while they will wrestle at All Out, he talked to Impact Executive Vice President Scott D’Amore and Tony Khan, and it was agreed that Omega would defend the Impact World title against Cage in the opening match of this Friday’s debut edition of Rampage.
All Out, along with that week’s Dynamite and Rampage, will be held at the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Two new matches have been added to next week’s AEW Dynamite: Homecoming event at the Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
The Bunny will face “Legit” Leyla Hirsch in a NWA Women’s Championship eliminator match. Kamille is the current champion and will face the winner of this bout.
After attacking him with brass knuckles after his six man tag match against the Hardy Family Office on tonight’s show, Christian Cage will face The Blade. Cage has been at odds with with HFO since Double or Nothing.
Matches already announced for Homecoming include Miro defending the TNT Championship against Lee Johnson. Johnson has won six out of his last seven singles matches. Also announced is Cody Rhodes facing Malakai Black after Black attacked him in his debut for the promotion on the July 8th edition of Dynamite.
Additionally, Chris Jericho will face Juventud Guerrera in his third Labour of Jericho match. Jericho must win with a top rope move.
You can see the matches currently announced below:
Miro vs. Lee Johnson – TNT Championship match
The Blade vs. Christian Cage
“Legit” Leyla Hirsch vs The Bunny in a NWA Women’s title eliminator match
Cody Rhodes vs Malakai Black
Labour of Jericho match #3: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera
A new tag team match has been added to AEW Dynamite this Friday.
The team of Christian Cage and Jungle Boy will face Private Party, a social media post by AEW confirmed this afternoon. This follows an angle that took place on AEW Dark: Elevation, where Jungle Boy made the save for Christian after Hardy and Private Party attacked him.
Jungle Boy won the Casino Battle Royal this past Sunday at Double or Nothing, setting himself up for a AEW World Championship match in two weeks on Dynamite against Kenny Omega. Christian had eliminated Hardy, setting himself and Jungle Boy as the final two men in the match. Jungle Boy then eliminated Christian to win. Both Christian Cage and Jungle Boy hugged after the match.
The rest of the card announced for this Friday’s Dynamite includes:
Young Bucks vs. PAC and Penta El Zero Miedo
Dustin Rhodes vs. Nick Comoroto in a bullrope match
Cody Rhodes and Lee Johnson vs. QT Marshall and Anthony Ogogo
A Casino Battle Royale for a future AEW title shot has been announced for the May 30 Double or Nothing PPV.
Christian Cage made the announcement on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
AEW’s Dasha Gonzalez was conducting an interview with Cage backstage regarding his recent issued with Team Taz. Cage said that Tony Khan has given him an open contract for next week’s Dynamite and Cage challenged any member of Team Taz to face him.
Cage then announced the Casino Battle Royale for a future AEW title shot.
Matt Sydal then approached Cage and said that he would be the one accepting Cage’s open challenge for next week, not a member of Team Taz. Sydal then revealed that he and Cage are the first two participants announced for the Battle Royale.
The Casino Battle Royale has become a staple of AEW PPV events. The first was held at the first Double or Nothing in May 2019. Another was held for an AEW Women’s title shot at All Out in August 2019. Lance Archer won the third iteration of the match at All Out in September 2020, while Rey Fenix and PAC won the first tag team version of the match at Revolution in March 2021.
Here is the full card announced so far for Double or Nothing:
AEW Double or Nothing, Sunday, May 30 —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Orange Cassidy vs. PAC
AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Britt Baker
Christian Cage makes his AEW in-ring debut on tonight’s episode of Dynamite.
Cage, whose signing was announced at the March 7 Revolution PPV, will face SCU’s Frankie Kazarian.
The rivalry between Orange Cassidy/Best Friends and Miro, Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford will continue tonight as Cassidy and Chuck Taylor face Miro and Sabian in an Arcade Anarchy match, where arcade machines will be placed around ringside.
AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida will team with Tay Conti against Nyla Rose and The Bunny.
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega will team with Impact Wrestling’s The Good Brothers against The Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid.
In an exhibition match, Cody Rhodes will face fellow Nightmare Family member QT Marshall. Arn Anderson will serve as the guest referee. Cody said on last week’s episode that he won’t hurt Marshall in the match if given the opportunity.
Jon Moxley will face Cezar Bononi in a singles match. JD Drake and Ryan Nemeth will be in Bononi’s corner.
MJF giving a gift to The Pinnacle has also been advertised for tonight’s show.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Christian Cage defeated Frankie Kazarian
This match was extremely decent, if that makes sense. Nothing was wrong with it, the work was pretty flawless, but it lacked energy and urgency from the start, especially going longer than 15 minutes.
Neither man could establish an advantage early on as they performed chain wrestling. A back elbow from Kazarian was the first big strike of the match, sending Christian to the ramp. Christian struck Kazarian with a hard slap but was backdropped back into the ring. Kazarian then laid in strikes in the corner before sending him off the top rope all the way to the floor.
Christian tried to attack upon-re-entry, but Kazarian surprised him with a leg drop before applying a cravat. Kazarian turned it into a front sleeler, and Christian began to fade before Kazarian hit a neckbreaker for two. He followed it up with a back suplex for another two.
A frustrated Kazarian shrugged off from shots from Christian and dropped him with one of his own. Christian made his comeback by fighting out of a corner attack and hitting a swinging DDT for two. He dropped to the floor and hit his draping right hand and the diving European uppercut for two. Christian attacked in the corner with a ten-count of right hands as the ten-minute call sounded.
Kazarian surprised Christian with a jackknife but was turned into a cradle himself for two. He went for the crossface chickenwing, but then Christian turned it around and went for the Killswitch. Christian escaped a suplex and hit a reverse DDT. He headed to the top rope, but Kazarian rolled out of the way of a diving headbutt.
Once again, Kazarian went for the crossface chickenwing, locking it on tight this time. After a long fight, Christian’s foot reached the ropes. Christian rolled Kazarian up but fell victim to a strike combination and a springboard leg drop for two. They went to the top rope and fought until Kazarian attacked with a well-placed headbutt. Kazarian followed it up with the Flux Capacitor for another near fall.
Christian avoided a springboard leg drop and landed a frog splash for a close near fall. He rolled out of a chickenwing attempt and sent Kazarian shoulder-first into the corner post before hitting the Killswitch for his first AEW victory.
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A Darby Allin video played where he addressed Matt Hardy. He put over Hardy’s legacy while pointing out how he’s changed. He said Hardy would have to earn Allin’s respect, because Hardy’s money doesn’t mean anything to him.
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A Jade Cargill video aired. She talked about Red Velvet before talking about all her physical gifts. Just like last week, she’s “that bitch.”
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Unsanctioned exhibition match: Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall w/ special guest referee Arn Anderson went to a no contest
This was a crazy angle.
All the Nightmare Factory trainees, including guys like the Gunn Club and Lee Johnson, were at ringside for this match.
Cody took Marshall down with a shoulder tackle before a criss-cross led to a series of arm drags. He teased stomping on Marshall until the latter reached the ropes. Cody then hit the Rhodes drop-down right hand but ran into a dropkick, allowing Marshall to target Cody’s shoulder through a commercial break.
Back from break, Cody turned the tables with a body slam before going for the figure four. He then opted not to apply it, based on his words from last week, before doing the same with the Cross Rhodes. Marshall starched Cody with a slap but missed a crossbody on the follow-up.
– Marshall snapped and attacked Arn with a cheap shot right hand. All the trainees ran into the ring to ostensibly make the save, but they all turned on the veterans and coaches (and Lee Johnson). Johnson took a powerbomb on the apron before a busted-open Dustin Rhodes took a piledriver from Marshall on the steel steps. The boxer Anthony Ogogo dropped Cody with a body shot.
They propped Cody up on the steel steps and Marshall was about to crack him with a chair shot, but Red Velvet ran out and got in the way of it to stop it.
The students that turned heel to join Marshall included Anthony Ogogo, Nick Comoroto, and Aaron Solow. The babyfaces were the Gunn Club, Dustin, Cody, and Lee Johnson.
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A video package played where Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky essentially cut the same promo overlapping with each other. They said everybody would see what they mean on Monday.
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Red Velvet was interviewed by Dasha about the attack but was immediately attacked by Jade Cargill, who tossed her into some crates before screaming that she’s “that bitch.”
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Jon Moxley cut a promo about the Good Brothers’ attack on Eddie Kingston last week. He’s confused and pissed off about everyone’s motivations and everything else going on before talking about Cezar Bononi. He said someone Bononi might be a big moneymaker, but not if Moxley kills him first.
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Jon Moxley defeated Cezar Bononi (w/ Ryan Nemeth & JD Drake)
Bononi overpowered Moxley at the start before Moxley took him down with a leg crank and a dragon screw. Nemeth grabbed Moxley’s boot, allowing Bononi to down him with a vertical suplex for two.
This match surprisingly went through a commercial break, where Bononi maintained control. Moxley came back with strikes but couldn’t knock the big man down before suckering Bononi in for a German suplex. Bononi’s associates got involved, but Moxley downed Nemeth with a Paradigm Shift before transitioning into a rear naked choke on Bononi for the win.
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Team Taz relayed a message. Taz tried to explain everything, but Ricky Starks interrupted to ask for Brian Cage’s thoughts. Cage got heated about how it took them a long time to put their opponents away, but Taz calmed everyone down and said they couldn’t be stopped.
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MJF’s gift to The Pinnacle
MJF introduced the gift: their new personal Pinnacle stylist. He also got them an interior decorator to remodel the locker room, including the bathroom, but when he opened the door, the Inner Circle was incide. The two stables brawled all over the backstage area, with the individual Inner Circle members gaining the upper hand each time.
Guevara sent Spears through a door, Hager tossed Wardlow through a table, Santana & Ortiz put Wheeler in an ice bath and beat down Tully and a busted-open Harwood, and Jericho gave MJF a swirlie in the toilet before sending him through a vending machine and dumping bubbly on him. They put the Inner Circle sign back on the locker room.
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The Young Bucks were interviewed by Alex Marvez but were interrupted by Don Callis, who told Marvez to beat it. Callis talked to Matt one-on-one, saying he loves Kenny Omega and he thought Matt did too, but last week, Matt broke Omega’s heart.
Callis tried to guilt Matt by bringing up the attack on Matt’s dad, clearly trying to provoke Matt into attacking him. Callis slapped Matt across the face, leading to Matt getting in Callis’s face, but Matt didn’t end up doing anything. Callis ended the segment saying “You make me sick.”
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The Lucha Bros and Laredo Kid cut a promo before the match, with Alex Abrahantes translating by saying they’re coming for all the championships.
Callis joined commentary for the match.
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) defeated Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fénix) & Laredo Kid
This was a fantastic, all-action tag match, with Laredo Kid in particular looking impressive in the same way Fénix has in recent months.
Kid attacked everyone right away with a dive, as did Fénix. They triple-teamed Omega in the ring with superkicks for two. The three luchadors then landed stereo dives on all three opponents on the floor.
With the match reset, it was Omega and Kid in the ring. Kid landed a couple moonsaults for two. Omega countered a corner attack with a running takedown before tagging in Gallows. Involvement from Anderson allowed Gallows to down Kid with a roundhouse kick.
The Good Brothers and Omega isolated Kid on their side of the ring with frequent tags and double teams, including throughout a commercial break. After the commercial, Omega and the Good Brothers landed a triple splash on Kid for two. Kid eventually reached Penta for the hot tag.
Penta hit slingblades before taggin in Fénix, who hit a double cutter. They hit their assisted cazadora splash before tagging for three consecutive dives on Anderson for two. The Good Brothers and Omega regained control with a triple team on Fénix, with Penta barely making it back in the ring to break up the count. Anderson hit a Claymore kick for two, then the Good Brothers set up for Magic Killer, before a Penta interruption led to a parade of big moves.
Fénix hit a hook kick and Penta hit a destroyer on Omega, but Anderson cut Fénix off with a spinebuster. Kid broke up the pin with a dive. Omega and Kid tagged in with a strike exchange, but Omega countered a dive into a powerbomb and a V-Trigger for two. Omega then set up for the One-Winged Angel, but Kid escaped and landed an insane tope on Omega.
Penta landed a dive on both Lucha Brothers as Omega and Kid both re-entered the ring. Fénix hit his rope-walk kick and Kid hit an great Michinoku driver on Omega for an awesome near fall. Omega avoided a Phoenix Splash, hit a V-Trigger, and hit the One-Winged Angel for the win.
– Jon Moxley, followed by the Young Bucks, walked out to face off with Omega and the Good Brothers, who bailed out of the ring.
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Britt Baker was interviewed by her associate Rebel. Baker talked about the new AEW Dark: Elevation show, pointing out that Thunder Rosa is on the show, which is good because her victory over Baker didn’t count in the win-loss column. Baker will continue to put Rosa and AEW on the map.
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A Matt Hardy promo aired before the match, pointing out that tomorrow is April 1, meaning he’ll start to make his money back.
Nyla Rose & The Bunny (w/ Vickie Guerrero, Matt Hardy, Private Party, The Butcher, & The Blade) defeated Hikaru Shida & Tay Conti (w/ Dark Order)
The teams brawled before the bell, with Rose attacking Shida with a leg drop right away. Bunny tagged in, allowing Shida to take control with a throw before going for the Fujiwara armbar. Bunny reached the ropes, leading to Shida’s draping knee lift. Shida got in Hardy’s face, allowing Rose to blindside her ahead of a commercial.
Once back, Shida made a comeback by suplexing Bunny into Rose. Conti tagged in for the first time and hit repeated judo throws before hitting multiple nice knee strikes. Out on the floor, she hit a backbreaker on Bunny right in front of Hardy. Dark Order and Hardy’s group started to brawl as Conti hit the Tay-KO, but Rose broke it up.
Shida dispatched Rose and then the two hit a convoluted dive sequence on Hardy’s group. With the official distracted, Bunny grabbed a kendo stick and whacked Conti with it, leading to the pin.
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Next week’s Dynamite lineup:
Kenny Omega & The Good Brothers vs. Jon Moxley & The Young Bucks
Tay Conti vs. The Bunny
TNT Championship: Darby Allin (c) vs. JD Drake
The Inner Circle returns
Jurassic Express vs. Bear Country
Jurassic Express cut a promo on Bear Country. They brought up Godzilla vs. Kong, but Stunt had a Kong tattoo even though Godzilla’s a dinosaur like Luchasaurus.
As expected, this match was a wild brawl with a ton of fun moments. The big story will be the return of both Trent and Kris Statlander but the match was great on its own terms.
This was Falls Count Anywhere with video game machines all over ringside.
Taylor and Cassidy attacked before the bell, with Taylor pairing off with Miro and Cassidy with Sabian. Miro flattened Taylor with a fallaway slam as Cassidy sent Sabian through the Whack-A-Mole machine. Miro came out of nowhere and leveled Cassidy before beating him down on the floor. He then propped up a barricade, but Taylor and Cassidy double teamed him. Miro powered out and suplexed Taylor through the barricade.
Miro grabbed a chair and beat down Cassidy in the ring before wedging the chair in the corner and sending Cassidy headfirst into it. Out of nowhere, Taylor jumped off an arcade cabinet to save Cassidy, allowing them to regain control. Cassidy then waffled Miro with a trash can lid as Taylor teed off with a kendo stick. They then used the barricade as a battering ram to take down Miro before dumping plunder on him to bury him.
Cassidy went for a cover, but Sabian came out to break it up. Sabian made a one-man comeback on both opponents, dropkicking Cassidy through a wall, but Taylor cut him off and sent him into the ring. Taylor grabbed a teddy bear and dumped out the contents: Legos.
Taylor tried to suplex Taylor onto the Legos, but Sabian escaped and powerbombed him onto them. Cassidy ran in to break up the pinfall. Cassidy hit a tornado DDT and the Beach Break for two before hitting the Orange Punch. Cassidy would’ve had it won, but Penelope pulled the official out of the ring and punted Cassidy for a low blow.
It appeared as if Penelope was going to attack Cassidy, but Kris Statlander returned by popping out of a claw machine, following it up with a fisherman’s buster through an arcade machine at ringside.
Miro showed up and tossed Cassidy the length of the ring with a biel. He attacked both opponents with a chair and propped up a table. While he did so, Trent’s mom Sue’s minivan rolled up and Trent made his return as well. The Best Friends all beat down Miro, but Miro fought them all off. Miro then made his way to the minivan, but Trent made the save.
Trent avoided having a token machine sent into his face and tossed a chair at Miro before spearing him through the propped-up table. On the stabe, Taylor hit a running powerslam through some staged tables for the win.
The Best Friends, plus Statlander, all hugged before giving Sue the thumbs up to end the show.
