Briscoe in action on Rampage on TSN+
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Mark Briscoe takes on Bryan Keith. Plus, Wheeler YUTA is in action and Nick Wayne, Kip Sabian, Lio Rush and Rocky Romero meet in a four-way match. You can catch AEW Rampage on Friday at 10pm et/7pm pt streaming on TSN+.
ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe vs. "The Bad Apple" Bryan Keith - The bad blood between the Learning Tree and the Conglomeration continues on Friday night when Mark Briscoe goes one on one with Bryan Keith. Both men made their presence known this past Wednesday night on Dynamite when Chris Jericho took on Orange Cassidy. Towards the end of the match, Keith attempted to get into the ring, but was chased off by Briscoe. Keith's entrance was, in fact, a diversion to allow Jericho to produce a roll of quarters. But before Jericho could do so, Cassidy wrested them away and used them himself as part of an Orange Punch to put the former AEW World Champion away. On Rampage, Keith and Briscoe will meet for the first time ever and while the match will provide Keith an opportunity to get some revenge for the Learning Tree, there will be more to it than just that. Briscoe is the ROH World Champion. Though Friday night's match isn't a championship bout or even a World Title Eliminator, a win by Keith would certainly put him in line for a shot at Briscoe's championship. Since defeating Eddie Kingston for the title at Supercard of Honor back in April, Briscoe has successfully defended it on four occasions, turning away the challenges of Kyle Fletcher, Johnny TV, Roderick Strong and the Beast Mortos. Will Keith be able to position himself as a fifth title challenger with a victory on Friday night or will Briscoe pick up a win for the Conglomeration?
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"The Prodigy" Nick Wayne (w/ Mother Wayne and Killswitch) vs. "Superbad" Kip Sabian vs. Rocky "Azucar" Romero vs. Lio Rush (w/ Dante Martin, Darius Martin, Action Andretti and Leyla Grey) - In a four-way match that won't be short on action, Nick Wayne, Kip Sabian, Rocky Romero and Lio Rush will all be vying for a victory. The match will continue the rivalry between Wayne and Sabian. This past Wednesday night on Dynamite, Christian Cage told Renee Paquette that he wanted to hold double gold. After cashing in his Casino Gauntlet contract to become AEW World Champion, Cage says the plan will be to win the AEW World Tag Team Championships alongside Wayne. A nine-time WWE World Tag Team Champion, there are few who boast the credentials in tag team wrestling that Cage does, so Wayne could do a lot worse as a partner when it comes to seeking his first tag-team gold. But the story on Wednesday night didn't even with Cage's proclamation. Cage and Wayne once again ran into Sabian and the former had some pointed words for him, letting him know that if he didn't stay out of Wayne's way, he'd leave him in the ground next to his father. In recent months, Sabian has found himself in the Patriarchy's orbit, but he hasn't embraced Cage as a father figure. in fact, he's antagonized them. It was Sabian who eliminated Wayne from the Royal Rampage match back in July, but Wayne got his revenge weeks later when he defeated him in singles action with Wayne's World on the Aug. 16 edition of Rampage. While the enmity between Wayne and Sabian might take centre stage in the match, they won't be alone. Rush and Romero are two cagey veterans who both present different kinds of problems. Rush and Romero are also well acquainted with one another as both opponents and as partners. In singles matches, Rush holds a 2-0 edge. Wayne and Rush have also faced off in singles action with Wayne picking up the win at Game Changer Wrestling's No Compadre show in Chicago this past January. With so many different elements at play, which of these four men can pick up a victory?
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AEW World Trios Champion Wheeler YUTA vs. The Butcher - It's been a trying few weeks for Wheeler YUTA. Things started well enough at All In last month at Wembley Stadium when he, Claudio Castagnoli and PAC captured the AEW World Trios Championships in a ladder match. But things took a drastic change only two weeks later at All Out in Chicago. After YUTA and Castagnoli failed to defeat the Young Bucks (Nicholas Jackson and Matthew Jackson) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships earlier in the night, they along with Jon Moxley and PAC came out to defend Blackpool Combat Club stablemate AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson from a Casino Gauntlet cash-in attempt by Christian Cage only minutes after "The American Dragon" successfully defended his title against Jack Perry. With Cage and the rest of the Patriarchy kept at bay and the threat neutralized, YUTA watched in disbelief as he realized he was part of a setup. Castagnoli and Moxley viciously attacked Danielson and proceeded to choke him with a plastic bag. Desperate to aid Danielson, YUTA couldn't because he was being held back by PAC. YUTA watched as the BCC fell apart around him with him entirely left in the dark. Where does he stand now? It's an answer he still doesn't have. This past Wednesday night on Dynamite, YUTA was interviewed by Alex Marvez and it was clear that he was lost in thought. His answers were stilted and he appeared to be entirely distracted. But he doesn't have much time to gather his thoughts. PAC and Castagnoli announced on Wednesday that they would be defending the trios titles next week at AEW Grand Slam and they expected YUTA to be there, too. Will he show and reaffirm his allegiance to this new, dangerous version of the BCC? That remains to be seen, but before then, he has the matter of a singles match with The Butcher on Rampage. YUTA and Andy Williams are familiar opponents. The two have met in the past on a number of occasions in both one-on-one and tag matches. Most recently, YUTA defeated Williams on the Aug. 2 edition of Rampage. But with YUTA's mind elsewhere, Friday night could go very differently. Will YUTA be able to overcome his distractions to keep his head in the match or will that be all Williams needed to pick up a win on Rampage?
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PLUS:
- Harley Cameron (w/ Saraya) takes on Hikaru Shida
- The Beast Mortos and Roderick Strong (w/ Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) are in tag-team action