Tag: Jon Moxley

AEW Rampage results: The Kingdom comes to Canada

Get quick AEW Rampage results for its Canada debut on October 14, 2022 from Toronto.

O Canada! You’ve got AEW Rampage in your area for the first time. Good for you.

Unlike most weeks, this one wasn’t taped after AEW Dynamite on Wednesday, but instead was recorded as its own show on Thursday from the same venue (Coca-Cola Coliseum) that hosted Dynamite. Different, but yet not so different at the same time, as spoilers were out there.

But you didn’t read ’em? Cool, then we got you covered here with a quick recap of what went down.

AEW Rampage results in 30 seconds:

  • Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli def. The Butcher and The Blade
  • Mox and Claudio tell Hangman Adam Page he’s “gonna get stepped on” if he doesn’t step up next Tuesday on Dynamite
  • Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee air out some of their differences in front of Renee Paquette, with Lee saying his partner is “swerving into the wrong lane”
  • Dark Order’s interview is crashed by Jose The Assistant, so 10 sends him to tell Rush he wants a match next week, and Stu Grayson is back
  • The Jericho Appreciation Society comes out to gloat, and Daniel Garcia says he is a sports entertainer, but Dalton Castle says he’s willing to break Chris Jericho’s back to give fans a ROH World Champion they deserve
  • Nyla Rose def. Anna Jay by pinfall, then fights off an attack by Jade Cargill and the Baddies
  • Ariya Daivari says he wasn’t trying to recruit Hook, he was trying to buy the FTW Championship, but now he’ll take it from Hook instead
  • Ethan Page def. Isiah Kassidy by pinfall
  • Best Friends wants a shot at Death Triangle and the Trios titles on Tuesday, and Orange Cassidy says he didn’t know Dynamite was on a different night next week
  • Shawn Spears and FTR def. The Embassy by pinfall
  • Mike Bennett and Matt Taven are introduced by Maria Kanellis-Bennett as The Kingdom and have designs on the IWGP tag team titles, but when they tam with The Embassy to attack FTR and Spears, it brings Wardlow and Samaoa Joe to the ring to drive them off

New Jon Moxley contract extension includes expanded role, AEW exclusivity

AEW had repaid Jon Moxley’s commitment with one of its own.

Jon Moxley has expressed his belief that he has been and remains the heart and soul of AEW. The promotion’s new deal with him certainly signals it believes that as well.

As announced by AEW on Oct. 7, Moxley has signed a five-year contract extension, which will keep him with the company through 2027. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Moxley’s role within AEW will also expand to include “mentoring and coaching talent.” In return, the AEW World Champion will be exclusive to AEW and its partners, “including New Japan Pro-Wrestling.” He had previously continued to work with other, mostly small promotions on the side.

The 36-year-old Moxley has been with AEW since its first event, Double or Nothing in May 2019, after leaving WWE a month earlier to end a successful run as Dean Ambrose.

He’s gone on to be one of the cornerstones of the promotion, competing in a number of high profile matches and claiming the world championship three times.

“Jon Moxley is on the best run of his already legendary career, and this five year extension ensures that he was not only here for AEW’s meteoric rise, but also remains a key part of the sustained success we’re witnessing, just days after the three-year anniversary show for ‘AEW: Dynamite,'” said AEW CEO, GM and Head of Creative Tony Khan in a press release. “Jon is a great world champion for us in his third reign. His wrestling mind is invaluable, and our roster is lucky to have the opportunity to utilize him as a mentor and a coach as we continue to build the stars of today and tomorrow.”

“I love AEW and the spirit of both the company and its fans,” Moxley said in the release. “I cherish our shared passion for the sport of professional wrestling, and I’m going to dedicate everything I have in mind, body and spirit to helping AEW be the best it can be going forward.”

AEW Dynamite live report: Even less in numbers, Philly crowd still hot

Wrestling Junkie reflects on the best moments, crowd reactions and more, live from the September 28 AEW Dynamite in Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA — If absence makes the heart grow fonder, perhaps the opposite is also true. When AEW Dynamite went live on Wednesday night from The Liacouras Center on the campus of Temple University, it was in front of a noticeably lighter crowd than the last time the show came to Philly.

Then again, said show was just over five months ago.

There’s definitely a law of diminishing returns when it comes to how often pro wrestling promotions can hold events in the same venues, and with only a few years of operation under its belt, AEW is still feeling its way through some of these things. Maybe Dynamite and Rampage simply hadn’t been gone long enough to make this particular show a must-see for fans in the area.

AEW had something else working against it on this particular night: Mother Nature. Though the weather was fine in the Philadelphia area, Hurricane Ian was menacing the company’s home state of Florida. Tony Khan had already informed talent that if anyone needed to miss the show because of travel or family concerns, they had his blessing.

Several wrestlers reportedly were forced to cancel plans to participate, leading to some changes to Dynamite. It felt just a slight bit off, or at least different than the usual. Instead of the match that kicks off most Wednesday broadcasts, there was an extended in-ring bit with the Jericho Appreciation Society, one that felt like one of the longer non-wrestling opens in Dynamite history.

Another segment featured recent AEW debutant Saraya calling out the entire women’s division, or a good chunk of it anyway. That one led somewhere, namely an interim women’s title match between Toni Storm and Serena Deeb with the other women as lumberjacks, but it still seemed a bit disjointed. And there was additional filler, like a squash match for Ricky Starks.

Despite a number of hurdles, though, Dynamite didn’t have a less enthusiastic crowd, even if it was smaller. Philadelphia has long been a hotbed of the east coast wrestling scene, and it sounded that way again on Wednesday. With few exceptions, the fans reacted to pretty much everything offered and seemed pleased by the end of the night.

Some random observations from section 114, row K:

  • Masterful as ever at trolling fans, MJF appeared on a pre-recorded video that played (several times in a row) before Dynamite went live, singing “Meet the Mets.” He also riled up the crowd in person during his segment of the show, and it’ll be interesting to see how Wheeler Yuta, who can go in the ring but is a ways behind MJF in terms of mic skills, might get a rub from working against him.
  • Khan got a mix of boos and cheers when he spoke to the crowd immediately before Dynamite, but that appeared to be mostly due to his role with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who play the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend.
  • “We want pizza” chants were a recurring theme all the way until the end of Dynamite thanks to the Jericho Appreciation Society having some pies, but not sharing them, to open the show. Also, poor Luigi Primo got KOed by Daniel Garcia and carried out by Sammy Guevara like a sack of potatoes.
  • Juice Robinson had a nice match with Jon Moxley, but the crowd definitely tailed off in the middle, and it didn’t seem like everyone knew who Juice was.
  • Hangman Adam Page remains very popular, starting from the time his music hits. The live crowd was definitely into his staredown with Moxley.
  • Jamie Hayter is incredibly over right now, getting such a loud face reaction at one point that it was hard for Britt Baker to talk over it. She’s set to be a breakout star whenever AEW decides to push start on her inevitable face turn.
  • Bandido was more warmly received than Robinson as a “visitor” to AEW, but that was likely because of his history with ROH and the fact that he was the face in the main event. Putting him in a big spot for the TV audience was a nice touch, however, because he is terrific.
  • No spoilers for AEW Rampage, but The Acclaimed was on the show, and being there in person during the run they’re on right now is definitely special.

Opening Bell: Riddle takes on The Judgment Day, AEW rolls into Philly

Get set for the week in WWE and AEW with Opening Bell: quick previews of Raw, SmackDown, Dynamite and Rampage.

Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week we’ve just begun.

WWE Raw preview – Monday, Sept. 26, Rogers Place, Edmonton

Matt Riddle, you may have bitten off more than you can chew.

Just about everyone who has tangled with The Judgment Day has come to regret it, though arguably none more than Rey Mysterio since he lost his son to the group. Nevertheless, Riddle has gotten tangled up with Judgment Day business during his own ongoing vendetta against Seth Rollins, and will try to make the best of it Monday night by defeating Damian Priest.

The trick, of course, is dealing with the rest of the group. He may not even have Rey to back him up since the elder Mysterio has his own match with Rollins to worry about.

Also on tap for this week’s show in Edmonton:

AEW Dynamite preview – Wednesday, Sept. 28, The Liacouras Center, Philadelphia

The Forbidden Door isn’t closed. No sir, as Jon Moxley is about to find out this week on Dynamite, it still is open a crack every now and then, and you never know who might walk through it.

In this case, it’s NJPW’s Juice Robinson, showing up in Philly for an AEW World Championship Eliminator. And while we don’t usually like these “beat the champ to get a shot at the champ’s title” bouts, we’ll make an exception for Rock Hard in this case.

AEW is also promoting these segments for Dynamite:

  • Saraya will speak, following her dramatic debut at Grand Slam.
  • The Jericho Appreciation Society will hold a championship celebration after the seemingly unlikely Chris Jericho ROH World Championship victory … and maybe say something about fellow ROH champ Daniel Garcia too.
  • MJF will be on the show to stir the pot again, probably.

WWE SmackDown preview – Friday, Sept. 30, Canada Life Centre, Winnipeg

WWE continues its tour of the North by hitting Winnipeg for SmackDown on Friday night. If you watched any college or NFL football this past weekend, you no doubt heard Michael Cole’s voice on promos advertising a few matches already set for this show.

Most notably, new BFFs Solo Sikoa and Sami Zayn will team to face Madcap Moss and Ricochet. The latter duo was only trying to warn Sami about his inevitable heartbreaking betrayal by the Bloodline, but Solo wasn’t trying to hear that talk and gave them a good thrashing.

Two other matches have also already been revealed for SmackDown in Winnipeg:

  • Shotzi, perhaps finally driving her cool tank again, will nonetheless be the underdog when she faces Bayley.
  • After being publicly disrespected by Los Lotharios during their watch party last week, Hit Row will get a chance at some payback.

AEW Rampage preview – Friday, Sept. 30, The Liacouras Center, Philadelphia (recorded on Sept. 28)

AEW has actually been doing a nice job of teasing some Rampage matches a week in advance, but that wasn’t the case this time out thanks to Grand Slam being a bigger than normal deal in its own right (and expanding to two hours just for last week).

So surprise! We may know more as we get closer, and certainly by the time Dynamite is on some matches will be revealed before they are taped later Wednesday night, but this show is a question mark for the time being.

Bryan Danielson, The Acclaimed favored to win titles at AEW Grand Slam

The betting odds for AEW Grand Slam suggest two popular championship results are expected in New York.

Everybody loves The Acclaimed … and that includes the people who set betting odds for AEW Grand Slam.

While placing bets on pro wrestling matches isn’t something we necessarily endorse and isn’t allowed in many places, it’s fun to check the lines in places where it is, because it’s a good indicator of the expectations around a big event. So with the caveat that these are for discussion purposes only, here are some interesting AEW Grand Slam tidbits from BetOnline.

For starters, The Acclaimed are heavy favorites to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship from current titleholders Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee. It does feel like the timing is right, considering Max Caster and Anthony Bowens are as over as they’ve ever been and both are from the general NYC area (Caster from Long Island, Bowens from Nutley, NJ). But their -700 odds to win means it would be considered a pretty big upset if they didn’t.

A new AEW World Champion will also be crowned at Grand Slam in a showdown between two Blackpool Combat Club teammates. It’s easy to make an argument for either Jon Moxley or Bryan Danielson to come away with the victory, but the oddsmakers believe it will be the American Dragon winning his first AEW gold, as he sits at -400 to win.

Two other current champions are overwhelming favorites to retain their titles Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Both Claudio Castagnoli, who will defend his ROH World Championship against Chris Jericho, and Toni Storm, whose Interim AEW Women’s World Championship is up for grabs in a four-way bout that includes Serena Deeb, Athena and Britt Baker, are at -900 to keep their gold.

With Tony Khan promising a show unlike anything AEW has put on to date, the AEW Grand Slam betting odds hint at a couple of feel-good moments in New York. We’ll find out soon enough if those are indeed part of what’s in store.

AEW All Out 2022: Best photos of CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship

See the best photos from the AEW World Championship match between CM Punk and Jon Moxley at AEW All Out 2022.

Before that press conference happened and CM Punk became the most talked about personality in all of pro wrestling, he had a heck of a match against Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship in front of his hometown fans in Chicago.

Punk was injured during the match and his long term future with AEW is unknown, but for now his lasting in-ring memories will heavily feature this bout. Relive the action, blood and drama through some of the best photos from the main event of AEW All Out 2022. (Photos courtesy of All Elite Wrestling)

Who should be the next AEW World Champion? We make a case for all 5 wrestlers left in the tournament

We run down the pros and cons of each remaining wrestler in the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions to crown a new AEW World Champion.

You’ve probably heard by now that on this week’s AEW Dynamite, the AEW World Championship had to be vacated for … reasons. While a popular suggestion among fans on social media was to have a massive tournament to crown a new champ (as in 32 wrestlers, or basically every non-suspended male talent on the roster), AEW opted for something in that vein but not quite as ambitious.

The result was the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions, a six-man tourney featuring the bracket you can see above. As for the “Champions” part, everyone who made the cut was either a former world champion or TNT Champion. That means there are mostly obvious choices, along with some enduring fan favorites like Darby Allin.

Going with a smaller bracket means the matches could get underway immediately, which they did, with Bryan Danielson defeating Hangman Adam Page. As well, this means the tournament can wrap up by AEW Dynamite Grand Slam at Arthur Ashe Stadium, giving that special episode a worthy main event on Sept. 21.

The only downside is that it doesn’t give us much time for analysis, so let’s jump right into it by looking at the pros and cons of each remaining wrestler becoming the next AEW World Champion.

Chris Jericho

Pros: Jericho has proven once again that no one in the business is as good at reinventing himself, as he’s successfully turned back the clock as much as possible to his Lionheart days while still carrying the banner for sports entertainment vs. pro wrestling. Could anyone else pull that off? He’s been lauded behind the scenes for being a true locker room leader during the firestorm that’s swirled around the company this week, and if AEW wanted to give him one more run as world champion, maybe this is the time.

Cons: A number of reporters and observers have praised AEW for doing the best it could under trying circumstances to reset the scene, and Dynamite did have a sense that things were pushing forward. Giving Jericho the world title doesn’t really fit that vibe, as it’s more of a step back into the past. Also, assuming MJF is waiting for the tournament winner, it doesn’t make much sense to have two heels feuding, though they do of course have plenty of history upon which to draw.

Bryan Danielson

Pros: Well, he’s Bryan Danielson for starters, one of the best pro wrestlers on the planet and thus worth considering as a world champ at any time. He’s perpetually over, and it’s hard to imagine too many fans would quibble if he was given the belt. He also has the “good soldier” feel about him lately of doing whatever he’s asked to do, including a loss to Daniel Garcia (though there’s no shame in that since Garcia is a tremendous young talent). A Danielson-MJF program would also be highly entertaining as their personalities contrast in fun ways.

Cons: There aren’t many, but there is this: If Danielson wins when Blackpool Combat Club teammate Jon Moxley has held and/or been around the world championship so much, would that mean internal conflict in the group? The BCC is very popular and fans don’t seem like they’d be ready for that just yet.

Sammy Guevara

Pros: Insanely gifted and willing to take just about any bump, it still feels like Guevara has barely scratched the surface of what he could become. Letting him run with the championship would be a clear signal that AEW is turning the page on what’s just gone down and embracing something new and different.

Cons: Where do we start? Guevara is naturally divisive among AEW fans and has been a heat magnet since he and now-wife Tay Melo became an on-screen couple. Normally that would make for great heel champion possibilities … except the challenger waiting in the wings is the company’s biggest heel, and it’s hard to imagine AEW could turn Guevara face just by putting the title on him. On top of that, if Jericho is annoyed and/or jealous of Garcia’s success, just imagine how he’d have to be positioned if someone else in the Jericho Appreciation Society was AEW World Champion.

Darby Allin

Pros: Much of the same logic for Guevara applies to Allin as well, in that a world title run would be a stake in the ground for pushing someone new. Certainly, in terms of putting his body on the line to entertain fans, he has few peers. And just seeing Darby with the world title would infuriate MJF, so a feud between the two afterward could be a lot of fun.

Cons: Despite the crowd reactions he always gets, Allin definitely isn’t as universally beloved among the perpetually online part of AEW fandom; one gets the feeling he’d be argued about as a deserving world champ more than any of the other four, for what it’s worth.

Jon Moxley

Pros: Moxley’s promo on Dynamite this week was inspiring to all but the most cynical of viewers, as he proved again he’s really the heart and soul of AEW. He’s more than willing and capable of having great matches with pretty much anyone, and he’s already had some friction with MJF after exposing his brief nice guy shtick as a charade and more or less kicking him out of the ring in Buffalo.

Cons: Like Danielson, it would be hard to nitpick giving Moxley the title again, except in the sense that he just had it and lost it to Punk. If putting the belt back on him is the endgame, Tony Khan could have just given it to him as the last person to hold it, and it runs the risk of making the Grand Slam Tournament of Champions feel like a waste of time.

AEW All Out 2022 preview: Everything you need to know

Get set for Sunday with our AEW All Out 2022 preview, including predictions for what should and will probably happen in every match.

If bigger is better when it comes to pro wrestling pay-per-views, AEW All Out should be about as good as it gets.

AEW is throwing absolutely everything it has into the upcoming show at the Now Arena in Chicago (or more precisely, in the greater Chicago area), loading up the card in terms of both quantity and, hopefully, quality. Including the Zero Hour pre-show, a total of seven titles are on the line, as well as a future world championship shot in the Casino Ladder match.

Even when fate has thrown a late curveball or two, AEW has pivoted with regard to this show. Case in point: Thunder Rosa was slated to defend her AEW Women’s World Championship against Toni Storm, but got injured during the run-up to this weekend. No worries; now there’s a four-way battle for the interim championship that may be even more intriguing, featuring Storm, Hikaru Shida, Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter.

Topping the card is a world championship rematch between Jon Moxley and CM Punk. The two men met less than two weeks ago and surprised the wrestling world when Moxley squashed Punk, leading some to wonder if he had returned from injury too quickly. But this week’s Dynamite proved that it was simply wrestling being wrestling, with Punk needing a pep talk from a friend to prove he was still on top of his game enough to compete at the highest level.

Tony Khan admitted that it wasn’t the normal way he’d build up a world title match but thought it worked for these circumstances (and was good for Dynamite’s ratings, to boot). That could be said for All Out writ large to a certain extent, but there’s no question there is more pressure on this pay-per-view than normal with AEW’s larger competitor suddenly resurgent and holding its own big show on the same September weekend.

In the end, even if the consensus ends up being that All Out isn’t outstanding, it won’t be for a lack of trying on AEW’s part.

AEW All Out 2022

  • When: Sunday, Sept. 4
  • Where: Now Arena, Hoffman Estates, Ill.
  • Start time: 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT (Zero Hour pre-show starts one hour earlier)
  • How to watch: Via Bleacher Report or traditional PPV providers in the U.S.,  along with select movie theaters; through FITE TV internationally
  • Matches announced: 14 (including three on the Zero Hour pre-show)

Scroll down for previews and predictions for all main card matches; we’ll add one for the trios tournament final and any additional matches that get made after Rampage on Friday night.

A CM Punk-Jon Moxley-MJF triple threat match at All Out would be the best thing AEW could do

Not all triple threat matches are compelling, but AEW has a great one right in plain sight with CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley vs. MJF.

Triple threat matches aren’t always the best idea. While they can certainly deliver once the bell rings, throwing a third competitor into the mix often muddies or waters down the storytelling. Instead of good vs. evil or two fan favorites competing with mutual respect, you have … well, three combatants, each of whom needs a motivation and a narrative with two other people.

Yet there are rare times when triple threat matches are exactly the way to go, and AEW is heading for one of them right now. A CM Punk–Jon Moxley–MJF title bout at All Out isn’t just a great idea, it’s absolutely what the company should do.

Here’s why it works: Each wrestler is perfectly slotted into the role they’re currently playing. Moxley is the rough around the edges, take no BS fan favorite, sort of like a 2020s version of Stone Cold Steve Austin. MJF is simply the most over heel in pro wrestling today, a fact his recent radio silence should only help enhance if handled properly.

(This is assuming, of course, that MJF’s persona non grata status is simply part of the act, which most people believe that it is, whether it started out that way or not.)

And Punk? His reportedly partially unscripted promo last week on Dynamite proved that he’s come back as something other than a traditional babyface. He’s more of a tweener, with a bit more of an edge than when he went out with his injury, and that’s a great place for him to be.

It’s also not hard to set up. Punk and Moxley need to meet to unify the AEW World Championship, and when Punk returned a few weeks ago, the assumption was that it would happen at All Out. Instead, their showdown got bumped up to the Aug. 24 Dynamite, which caught a lot of fans and observers by surprise.

The New York Post’s Joseph Staszewski wrote today that it’s the perfect time to bring back MJF, and he’s absolutely right. Have MJF show up to interfere in the main event on Dynamite, and bam, people are talking. Regardless of who wins, his intervention creates enough controversy to have him added to a rematch at All Out.

The dynamics don’t need much help to come to life. Punk and Moxley had to be pulled apart multiple times last week on Dynamite, and will have a new score to settle after this week’s show. Punk and MJF have already proven they are gold when paired together. And Mox and MJF have tangled before as well, with Moxley beating Friedman two years ago at All Out.

If there’s any downside to this plan, it’s that there isn’t a whole lot of time to build up the program more because All Out is less than two weeks away. When you have a trio where Moxley is the worst promo guy, you’ve got yourself an embarrassment of riches on the microphone, and having only one Dynamite and a live Rampage to work with seems like not taking advantage of it to its fullest.

Then again, said Rampage is in Chicago (or near Chicago, anyway), as is Dynamite and All Out itself. It’s Punk’s hometown and a crazy wrestling market in general. So the setting for all of this is also ideal.

And let’s face it: AEW needs to do something to get fans who enjoy the entire U.S. wrestling scene buzzing again. Both AEW and WWE have their diehards who enjoy only their company of choice, but there’s no question that for everyone else, WWE has taken back the “cool” factor since Paul “Triple H” Levesque took over creative. The return of Johnny Gargano this week on Raw only added to that perception.

It’s worth noting, too, that All Out and WWE’s Clash at the Castle are on the same weekend in September, which is a rarity. Clash at the Castle is first, however, which gives AEW the chance to leave the lasting impression.

That’s not to say that AEW should try something just for the sake of making people notice them again, but when the ingredients are already there, it’s smart to just bake the cake. Punk vs. Moxley vs. MJF makes too much sense not to happen, and we’ll know soon enough if Tony Khan and company agree.

Opening Bell: Huge AEW title match, WWE Toronto homecoming

Get set for the week in WWE and AEW with Opening Bell: quick previews of Raw, SmackDown, Dynamite and Rampage.

Welcome to the Opening Bell, where we round up what’s been announced for WWE (Raw and SmackDown) and AEW (Dynamite and Rampage) programming for the week we’ve just begun.

WWE Raw preview – Monday, Aug. 22, Scotiabank Arena, Toronto

It’s a big homecoming episode of Raw in front of what’s being reported as a legitimate sellout crowd in Toronto. Edge has vowed to kill what he created in The Judgment Day, but Damian Priest isn’t about to let him accomplish that goal easily. Priest says he’ll take on the hometown guy by himself, but it’s hard to imagine there won’t be some kind of hijinks from the heel stable.

Trish Stratus is another legendary local product of the Toronto area, and she’s making a return to Raw this week as well. WWE hasn’t teased much about what she’s doing except to say that she’s appearing, but even if she’s just there to say hi and thank the fans, you know she’ll get a warm welcome.

The Women’s Tag Team Championship tournament continues this week as well. Alexa Bliss and Asuka have to be among the favorites, but Dakota Kai and IYO SKY are getting a nice push. On top of that, reports say another change to the bracket is in the works, so this could be where it takes place.

AEW Dynamite preview – Wednesday, Aug. 24, Wolstein Center, Cleveland

Thought you’d have to wait until All Out to see CM Punk and Jon Moxley unify the AEW World Championship? So did we, and then last week happened. Now the two men will meet to determine who is the “real” champ going forward, with all kinds of possibilities for All Out depending on who emerges with the gold.

Also on the slate for this Wednesday:

  • The World Trios Championship tournament continues with Death Triangle facing NJPW’s Will Ospreay and Aussie Open.
  • Dax Harwood takes on Jay Lethal.
  • Dr. Britt Baker steps in against KiLynn King.
  • Billy Gunn does some tough parenting by facing Colten Gunn.
  • Ricky Starks speaks.

WWE SmackDown preview – Friday, Aug. 26, Little Caesars Arena, Detroit

Though there are bound to be more big matches added and announced on Raw, what WWE has already revealed for Detroit looks sweet. The second Women’s Tag Team Tournament semifinal will go down between Toxic Attraction and the face duo of Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah, but again, there are reports that a change will need to be made that could affect this matchup.

Neither Ricochet nor Happy Corbin advanced from the Fatal 5-Way last week to challenge Gunther at Clash at the Castle, so they’ll be looking to right the ship against each other this Friday night on SmackDown.

AEW Rampage preview – Friday, Aug. 26, Wolstein Center, Cleveland (taped on Aug. 24)

Last in the week but certainly trying not to be least, Rampage will undoubtedly be dealing with some of the fallout from Dynamite. But we also know of two matches already announced, including a title bout as Claudio Castagnoli defends his ROH World Championship against Dustin Rhodes.

The trios title tourney will continue as well, with House of Black in action against Dark Order. Can Hangman Adam Page inspire his friends to what most would consider an upset victory? We’ll find out Friday.