Castagnoli defends ROH title on Rampage on TSN2
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Claudio Castagnoli defends the ROH World Championship against Komander. Plus, Stoney Creek, Ont.'s Shawn Spears is in action. You can catch AEW Rampage from Hamilton, Ont. on Friday at 10pm et/7pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
ROH World Championship match: Claudio Castagnoli (c) (w/ Wheeler YUTA) vs. AAA World Tag Team Champion Komander - It's a complete styles clash when Claudio Castagnoli defends his ROH World Championship against Komander. The power of Castagnoli goes up against the speed and finesse of Komander. Since regaining the ROH title from Chris Jericho at last December's Final Battle pay-per-view, Castagnoli has been virtually indestructible. He's undefeated in singles matches in 2023 and is 8-0 in title matches, reeling off victories against the likes of Eddie Kingston, Robbie Eagles and former champion "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. For Komander, this marks another high-profile match in his stunning rise to prominence over the past few years. Still only 24, he recently vied for El Hijo del Vikingo's AAA Mega Championship on a number of occasions, but has come up short. The match with Castagnoli will be Komander's highest-profile singles match to date. He will be buoyed by already having gold around his waist. Komander and Arez captured the vacant AAA World Tag Team Championships over the teams of Rey Horus and Octagon Jr. and Jack Evans and Myzteziz Jr. in late May. Komander knows that he's capable of greatness and the title he now carries proves that. Can he pick up the biggest win of his career and dethrone Castagnoli in Hamilton?
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Shawn Spears vs. The Blade (w/ The Butcher) - It's a damn-near homecoming for both men on Friday night when Shawn Spears meets The Balde in Hamilton. Spears is from Stoney Creek, Ont., while The Butcher is from Buffalo. Both men are intimately familiar with the wrestling scene in Southern Ontario and Western New York and have driven the same roads and worked many of the same promotions over the years. The match will be only the third ever singles encounter between the two men and first in over a decade. On Sept. 16, 2011, Spears defeated The Blade in Delhi, Ont. for the Classic Championship Wrestling promotion. Then a year later, Spears won a rematch between the two men in Niagara Falls, Ont. for the Neo Wrestling Federation. Spears is looking to get back on track since his return to action after months away from AEW. He's seeking his first singles win after coming back in April, having dropped matches to "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and Powerhouse Hobbs. For The Blade, this is very rare singles action and an opportunity to prove himself against an experienced competitor outside of the tag-team division. With both men undoubtedly having family and friends in the stands, who will emerge victorious?
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Hikaru Shida vs. "La Wera Loca" Taya Valkyrie - It will be an intriguing matchup between women with championship pedigree as former AEW Women's World Champion Hikaru Shida takes on Vancouver's Taya Valkyrie. This is a first-ever meeting between the two women and comes at a time when Valkyrie has changed the way she's going about her business in AEW. Her inability to wrest the TBS Championship from then-champion Jade Cargill seemingly, pardon the pun, jaded the veteran competitor. Valkyrie has shown a new level of ruthlessness in her matches, but this attitude change hasn't gotten her any closer to her goal of AEW gold. Harbouring ill will towards Kris Statlander, who defeated Cargill to become TBS Champion at Double or Nothing, Valkyrie was unsuccessful in capturing the title from here, as well, falling in defeat on the June 21 edition of Dynamite. She won't have time to feel sorry for herself against Shida. While she's not currently a champion, Shida always competes like one and will be a stiff test for a Valkyrie looking to get back into championship contention. Which of these two savvy veterans will come out on top?
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Matt Hardy and Brother Zay vs. QTV (QT Marshall and Johnny TV) (w/ Harley Cameron and Aaron Solo) - John Hennigan made his shocking return to AEW last week and has now allied with QT Marshall as QTV beat down The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) and Billy Gunn. Hennigan has adopted the name Johnny TV and, on Friday, he will wrestle his first AEW match in over a year as he and Marshall take on the team of Matt Hardy and Isiah Kassidy. Hardy and Kassidy won't have Jeff Hardy in their corner because the six-time world champion was brutally assaulted by Bullet Club Gold ("Switchblade" Jay White and "Rock Hard" Juice Robinson) on the June 21 edition of Dynamite. With all of the chicanery that QTV is likely to get up to outside of the ring, Hardy and Kassidy will hope that their quasi-ally "All Ego" Ethan Page will have their backs. Can QTV pick up a win in Hennigan's return or will Hardy and Brother Zay spoil the party?