PAC meets Romero, Joe in action on Rampage on TSN+

"The Bastard" PAC takes on Rocky Romero. Plus, Rush meets Isiah Kassidy and Samoa Joe is in action. You can catch AEW Rampage on Friday at the special time of 6pm et/3pm pt streaming on TSN+.

"The Bastard" PAC vs. Rocky "Azucar" Romero - Several weeks ago on Dynamite, PAC ran into Bullet Club Gold backstage and got into a verbal sparring match with "Switchblade" Jay White. Unimpressed with the Bang Bang Gang, PAC dismissed them by telling them to make him care because right now he didn't. White, Colten Gunn and Austin Gunn seemingly honoured PAC's wishes when they laid him out with a vicious beating on the May 15 edition of Dynamite. This past Wednesday night as Bullet Club Gold made a victory lap and gloat about their beatdown, PAC returned, but he didn't come alone. Alongside PAC were the Lucha Bros. (Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo) as the reformed Death Triangle challenged Bullet Club Gold for their AEW Unified World Trios Championships at Sunday's Double or Nothing pay-per-view. The champions accepted on the condition that the Lucha Bros. can defeat the Gunns on this Saturday's Collision. Before that goes down, though, PAC is in action on Rampage when he takes on Rocky Romero. The match marks the first time these two have met in AEW and it's been over a decade since they last wrestled. As part of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Best of the Super Juniors XIX tournament in 2012, Romero defeated PAC in A Block action. PAC would go on to win the block, but fell in the semi-finals to eventual winner Ryusuke Taguchi. Romero and PAC's only other match came in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla back in 2007 when PAC and Roderick Strong successfully defended the PWG World Tag Team Championships over the Havana Pitbulls (Romero and Ricky Reyes). Friday night's match is an important one for Romero who has attempted to strike out on his own in recent weeks after the dissolution of Best Friends. Romero's solo run hasn't been a successful one of late, heading into the match on a four-match losing streak in AEW with losses to Katsuyori Shibata, White, Kyle O'Reilly and Strong. PAC represents another high-calibre opponent capable of another stiff test for the former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. A win here could great change Romero's fortunes. For PAC, a slip-up against skilled opposition isn't what he can afford ahead of a potential title match on Sunday as Death Triangle attempts to regain the trios straps. Which of these two cruiserweights will come out on top?

--

"El Toro Blanco" Rush vs. "Brother Zay" Isiah Kassidy - Nobody can ever impugn Isiah Kassidy's fearlessness. Back on his own again for the time being with an injury to Private Party partner Marq Quen, Kassidy has never backed down from a challenge as a singles performer even if things are unlikely to work out for him. And they haven't exactly worked out for him lately. Kassidy heads into Friday night having lost his last three matches in AEW with defeats to "Freshly Squeezed" Orange Cassidy and Samoa Joe and a loss in a four-way match to Rob Van Dam that also included Komander and Lee Johnson. On Rampage, Kassidy will be up against it again when he takes on Rush. The former ROH World Champion made his return to AEW in late April after a four-month absence and has been a one-man wrecking crew since he's been back. The two matches Rush has wrestled in his return lasted a combined 2:56. This past Saturday night on Rampage, Rush destroyed Cody Chhun in :37 by manhandling him and then putting him away with the devastating Bull's Horns corner dropkick. Rush is a man on a mission right now to reassert himself as a player in AEW and won't let anybody stand in his way. Kassidy should have no misconceptions about what he's up against on Friday night. Can Kassidy spring the upset or will El Toro Blanco's path of destruction continue?

--

TBS Champion Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander (w/ Stokely Hathaway) vs. Anna Jay and Alex Windsor - Only 48 hours before the biggest match of her AEW career, TBS Champion Willow Nightingale is in tag-team action, joining friend Kris Statlander to take on Anna Jay and the debuting Alex Windsor. At Sunday night's Double or Nothing, Nightingale puts her TBS Championship on the line against "The CEO" Mercedes Moné, who is making her in-ring AEW debut. It will be the second ever match between the two women and Moné's first match since their last meeting in May of 2023. Famously at the New Japan Strong Resurgence show, Nightingale defeated Moné to become the inaugural New Japan Strong Women's Champion in a match where Moné incurred a serious knee injury that kept her out of action for over a year. On Sunday, the six-time WWE Women's Champion will look to get her revenge on Nightingale and start her AEW career with gold around her waist. But before that grudge match can go down, Nightingale will have her hands full with a tricky tag match. A native of Norfolk, England, Windsor arrives in AEW with international pedigree as a former RevPro Undisputed British Women's Champion. Windsor has wrestled all over Europe and Japan and has stepped into the ring with the likes of Mina Shirakawa, Mickie James, Jordynne Grace and Toni Storm. She will fit right into a competitive AEW women's division and give Nightingale and Statlander all they can handle. It's a fair question, then, to ask if it was smart of Nightingale to agree to such a potentially taxing match this close to the PPV. Will Nightingale and Statlander pick up a win or will Jay help make Windsor's debut a memorable one?

--

PLUS:

- Samoa Joe is in action