All Elite Wrestling continues its stop at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio tonight with AEW Rampage. The Nationwide Arena has many notable events in wrestling and has been a somewhat consistent site for WWE to host their premium live events/pay-per-views.
Oddly enough, three of their five PLE/PPV events held here were in the month of June despite all being years apart and different brands for the shows. However, one of their most notable has to be the first hosted here: The final King Of The Ring pay-per-view event.
Once labeled the fifth most important event in WWE’s calendar year, 2002 saw the final iteration of the event as a brand. It saw Brock Lesnar defeat Rob Van Dam, then the Intercontinental Champion, in the finals to earn a shot at WWE Undisputed Champion months later at SummerSlam. The main event saw The Undertaker retain said Championship against Triple H.
Watch a MASSIVE night of #AEWRampage TOMORROW at 10pm ET/9pm CT on @TNTDrama!
• @DarbyAllin vs ROH World Six-Man Champ @BrianCageGMSI
• @Saraya vs @SkyeByee
• #AEW International Champ @OrangeCassidy vs #JohnnyTV @TheRealMorrison
• #ROH World Tag Champs #AussieOpen in ACTION! pic.twitter.com/qamHPq3oLC— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 10, 2023
Full AEW Rampage Match Card:
- Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage
- Saraya vs. Skye Blue (winner goes to All In London)
- AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Johnny TV
David vs Goliath Rematch
A couple of years ago, Darby Allin had a long feud with Team Taz. And back then, that group’s most prominent member was Brian Cage. Who faced off with Darby Allin in a memorable TNT Championship match back at the January 7th, 2021 edition of AEW Dynamite. Dubbed ‘New Year’s Smash – Week 2‘. Darby Allin walked away the winner, but not after a very hard-fought battle.
The two now meet yet again with Brian Cage being a member of The Mogul Embassy. With their leader Swerve Strickland becoming a massive thorn in the side of Darby. To the point of manipulating his mentor AR Fox to join the group and turn on Darby. And later also bloody Darby’s own protege, Nick Wayne. A lot rides here, as Darby is now set to join Sting to face Swerve and Fox at All In.
Who Punches Ticket #3 To London?
On Dynamite, it was announced that the AEW Women’s World Championship would be defended at All In in a 4-Way match. Hikaru Shida successfully defended her title against Anna Jay to cement herself as the defending Champion in the match. While Toni Storm gets a bye as the former Champion.
Two spots remain and tonight one of them is filled as veteran Saraya has a rare, a very rare, one-on-one match against the lovable rookie, Skye Blue. However, despite the rarity of Saraya’s one-on-one matches, she has in fact already faced and defeated Skye Blue. As the two met at the February 22nd edition of AEW Dynamite this year. Saraya walked away the winner.
Can Skye Blue redeem that loss or will Saraya punch her ticket to have what will without a doubt be her biggest match ever? In front of over 80,000 fans in her home country?
Two Open Challenges Sounds Like A Double Negative
Last week, QTV issued an open challenge to “anyone that has appeared on TV”. You’d expect anything from such a broad challenge. But did you expect Orange Cassidy to defend his International title? Actually, you probably should. It’s not the first time the Freshly Squeezed one has done such a thing.
It’s a pretty interesting match as it will be Johnny TV vs. Orange Cassidy. Johnny TV of course has been very successful in wrestling. Winning the Intercontinental and Tag Team titles in the WWE, sweeping all of AAA’s singles Championships at once, being a former Impact World Champion and beyond. So it’ll be interesting to see him and Orange Cassidy measure up without a doubt.
Also, as All In nears, we now have a peculiar pre-show match announced as the main event of the PPV, Adam Cole, and World Champion MJF team up yet again to challenge Aussie Open for the Ring Of Honor Tag Team Championships. As such, Aussie Open will be in action tonight. All that and more on AEW Rampage.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night.
