AEW President Tony Khan is ready for war next Friday when WWE SmackDown goes head to head with AEW Rampage for the very first time.
AEW Rampage launched on TNT on Friday the 13th of August with the second episode of AEW’s Friday night offering housing the return to wrestling of CM Punk. Starting at 10 pm EST the show kicks off as WWE SmackDown on FOX ends, turning fans with no strict allegiances Friday nights into a three-hour wrestling extravaganza.
However, television listings for the 15th of October show SmackDown to be a two-and-a-half-hour show which means the last half hour of SmackDown will go head to head with the first half of AEW Rampage.
AEW President Tony Khan is anything but concerned by the overlap as he took to social media to say that he relishes the chance to beat WWE’s “main show head-to-head:”
“I saw you’re doing a half hour head-to-head with us. I can’t wait to finally beat your main show head-to-head. It’s been a long time coming. See you next Friday for #AEWRampageon @AEWonTNT”
I saw you’re doing a half hour head-to-head with us. I can’t wait to finally beat your main show head-to-head. It’s been a long time coming. See you next Friday for #AEWRampage on @AEWonTNT!
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) October 9, 2021
Khan followed up with another Tweet where he called the AEW Rampage card for next Friday “straight fire.”
AEW Rampage on the 15th of October is the company’s next television show as the usual Wednesday night Dynamite has been moved to Saturday the 16th of October this week.
The “straight fire” lineup Khan alluded to will see CM Punk take on Matt Sydal in one-on-one action. Punk kicked off Friday’s edition of Rampage defeating Daniel Garcia via submission. Ruby Soho will face The Bunny as the women of AEW look to gather some momentum ahead of the tournament to crown the first-ever TBS Champion. In addition, former UFC Heavyweight Champion Junior Dos Santos makes his wrestling debut as he teams with The Men Of The Year to take on Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, and TNT Champion Sammy Guevara in a six-man tag team match.