Cassidy, Allin in action on Rampage on TSN+
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Orange Cassidy puts his AEW International Championship on the line against Johnny TV. Plus, Darby Allin takes on Brian Cage and ROH World Tag Team Champions Aussie Open are in action. You can catch AEW Rampage on Friday at 10pm et/7pm pt streaming on TSN+.
AEW International Championship match: "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Johnny TV (w/ QT Marshall, Aaron Solo and Harley Cameron) - Orange Cassidy puts his AEW International Championship on the line for a 27th time on Friday night against an opponent who's no stranger to gold himself in Johnny TV. Cassidy is coming off of a hard-fought victory over AR Fox in his last defence on the July 26 Dynamite that saw not only Fox attack him after the match, but Jon Moxley enter from the crowd to deliver a Death Rider on the already battered champion. The issues between Cassidy and the Blackpool Combat Club are clearly not over, but he will have no time for that as he gears up for John Hennigan. Johnny TV is seeking his first title in AEW to go along with the numerous honours he's claimed elsewhere. Hennigan is a former Impact World Champion, AAA Mega Champion, Lucha Underground Champion, ECW World Champion, three-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a six-time WWE World Tag Team Champion. His credentials speak for themselves and the threat to Cassidy's 10-month reign as champion is obvious. Can Cassidy keep rolling or will Hennigan take gold back to the QTV crew?
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Darby Allin vs. ROH World Six-Man Champion "The Machine" Brian Cage (w/ Prince Nana) - Darby Allin is not a happy man right now. After personally advocating for longtime friend AR Fox to receive a shot at Orange Cassidy and his AEW International Championship, Fox turned his back on his friend, laying out Cassidy after his defeat and aligning with another old friend and Allin's nemesis in Swerve Strickland within the Mogul Embassy. To make matters worse, Fox helped Strickland lay a brutal beating on Allin's close friend Nick Wayne at the Buddy Wayne Academy, the school Allin was trained at by Wayne's late father. Incensed, Allin and Sting challenged Fox and Swerve to a casket match at All In, but before that can go down, he must face off with Fox and Strickland's Mogul Embassy stablemate in the monstrous Brian Cage. Cage and Allin are no strangers to one another and met for the first time all the way back in 2016. In AEW competition, Allin and Cage have met in only previous singles match. On the Jan. 7, 2021 edition of Dynamite, Allin successfully defended his TNT Championship against the much larger Cage. Friday's match will be one of speed versus power with both men more than ready for what the other has to offer. In order to defeat Cage, Allin can't afford to let his emotions get the better of him because slipping up will play right into Cage's hands. Which of these two men will pick up a win on Friday night?
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Saraya (w/ Ruby Soho and Toni Storm) vs. Skye Blue - On Dynamite, we discovered that there will be a four corners match for the AEW Women's World Championship at All In at Wembley Stadium on Aug. 27 and we learned the identity of two of the competitors. On Friday night, we will found out another. Having defeated Toni Storm for the title on the 200th edition of Dynamite, Hikaru Shida defeated Anna Jay this past Wednesday to successfully defend her AEW Women's World Championship and to move on into the four corners match. She will be joined by Storm, who has been granted a rematch. A third woman will be decided on Rampage when Storm's Outcasts stablemate Saraya takes on Skye Blue. A native of Norwich, Saraya would love nothing more than to wrestle in front of thousands of her countrymen in London, so there will be some extra motivation for the former WWE Divas Champion. In Blue, Saraya has a competitor she's defeated once before - on the Feb. 22 edition of Dynamite. Blue unsuccessfully challenged then-champion Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship on the June 14 Dynamite and would relish another opportunity at claiming the first championship in her young AEW career. But as is the case with any match involving the Outcasts, what's happening outside of the ring will have to be a concern of Blue's with Storm and Ruby Soho out to run as much interference as possible. Can Saraya earn the chance at a match in front of an English crowd or will Blue put herself in line for another shot at gold?
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PLUS:
- After being challenged for their titles at All In by AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Adam Cole, ROH World Tag Team Champions Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) are in action