Samoa Joe returns to action on Rampage
Published
The ROH Television Champion Samoa Joe makes his return to the ring when he puts his title on the line against Josh Woods. Plus, Darby Allin meets Matt Hardy and "All Ego" Ethan Page takes on Danhausen. You can catch AEW Rampage at 10pm et/7pm pt streaming on TSN.ca and the TSN App.
ROH Television Championship match: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Josh Woods (w/ "Smart" Mark Sterling) - Samoa Joe competes in an AEW ring for the first time since May when he puts his ROH TV Championship on the line against Josh Woods. Joe, who last wrestled in July when he made a successful title defence against former protege Jay Lethal at the ROH Death Before Dishonor pay-per-view in July, has been out of action while filming a television project. He made his return to AEW at All Out when he came to the aid of FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and TNT Champion Wardlow, who were being attacked by Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh. Joe's return to action won't be an easy one. Woods is a former ROH Pure Champion and holds wins over the likes of Lethal, Jonathan Gresham and Kenny King. He comes into the match as a winner of seven straight bouts since he and Tony Nese failed to unseat Swerve in Our Glory (Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee) as AEW World Tag Team Champions on the Aug. 5 edition of Rampage. As with any match involving one of his clients, Joe will also have to keep an eye on whatever nonsense Mark Sterling gets up to on the outside. Will Joe's return be a success or will Woods add another championship to his resume?
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Darby Allin (w/ Sting) vs. Matt Hardy - For the past several months, Matt Hardy has been all about making amends. Recognizing that he was a sponge who leeched off of the toil of others when he was at the helm of the Hardy Family Office, the veteran performer has gone about trying to make things right with the likes of Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) and The Butcher and The Blade. Unfortunately for Hardy, this has frequently led to getting brutally beaten, but he's perfectly okay with that because he believes it's warranted. As part of this new journey for Hardy, he wants to battle his way back to the top on his own merit. Hardy issued a challenge to Allin because he sees a young Matt Hardy in the way that Allin never fails to put his body on the line to win a match and takes risks few others would dare. Allin memorably defeated Hardy's younger brother, Jeff Hardy, in an absolutely chaotic match on the May 11 edition of Dynamite. This will be the second ever meeting between Hardy and Allin with Allin winning their previous matchup, a wild falls-count-anywhere match on the Apr. 8, 2021 edition of Dynamite. Can Hardy even up their series or will Allin once again prove his superiority?
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"All Ego" Ethan Page (w/ Stokely Hathaway) vs. Danhausen - Ethan Page hasn't been happy lately. Well, that's not anything new. Almost since his arrival in AEW, Page has felt disrespected and overlooked. But Page thinks that's now going to change with Stokely Hathaway by his side. Page, along with Lee Moriarty, W. Morrissey and the Gunn Club (Colten Gunn and Austin Gunn) comprise The Firm, Maxwell Jacob Friedman's new stable on retainer and managed by Hathaway. On this past Wednesday's Dynamite, Hathaway explained his vision for his faction and their desire to capture championships. As part of that vision, Page is targeting the AEW All-Atlantic Championship currently held by "The Bastard" PAC. Before he can go after PAC, Page must handle a man he knows very well in Danhausen. Sick of what he considers to be nonsense, Page challenged Danhausen on Wednesday night. These two men have crossed paths many times in the past with Page being from Stoney Creek, Ont. and Danhausen hailing from Detroit, meaning that two have worked in many of the same places. In fact, Danhausen and Page held the Black Label Pro Tag Team Championship together. There won't be any friendliness on Friday night. Can Danhausen stand in Page's way of earning a title match?
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PLUS:
- "The Superbad Girl" Penelope Ford is in action
- We will hear from ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli