August 20th, 2021, the wrestling landscape will change at AEW: Rampage - The First Dance. There are 3 matches announced for All Elite Wrestling’s newest hour of television.
-Jon Moxley vs. Daniel Garcia
-Private Party vs. Jurassic Express
-Jade Cargill vs. Kiera Hogan
Let’s examine each a little further.
Jade Cargill vs. Kiera Hogan
To me, either of these women could be the AEW Women’s Champion within the next year.
Jade has looked like a star since the day she showed up in AEW and I expect this match to be no different. Of course, there is room for growth in some aspects, but Jade is clearly going to be a star, but a loss here does not help that cause at all.
Kiera Hogan may have a decent showing, but it simply is not her time to shine. Hopefully, Hogan gets a contract soon because I think she could be a huge part of the AEW Women’s division going forward. For Rampage though, I'm not expecting much in terms of length, seeing that Cargill hasn't wrestled in a singles match for more than 8 minutes. But if there are no plans to put the women’s title on Jade, I could see AEW having Cargill and Hogan form a formidable team. However, I do have the feeling that Jade may win the Women’s Battle Royal at All Out, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Prediction: Jade Cargill Wins in under 10 minutes.
Private Party vs. Jurassic Express
This is the first match in the Tag Team Title Eliminator Tournament where the winner of the tournament will receive a tag team title shot against the Young Bucks at All Out inside of a Steel Cage. The winner of this match will face the winner of the Lucha Bros and Varsity Blondes on the next Dynamite. Jurassic Express just had a tag team title shot on Wednesday. Private Party hasn’t received a title match since Fyter Fest 2020. Private Party did manage to secure a win against the Young Bucks during the first tag team title tournament on the second AEW Dynamite ever.
Personally, I do not expect Private Party to pull another upset here as AEW is clearly very high on Jungle Boy. That being said, I do not expect Jurassic Express to win the entire tournament either. I believe we will see The Lucha Brothers and The Young Bucks at All Out.
Prediction: Jurassic Express Win
Jon Moxley vs. Daniel Garcia
With 2.0 officially signed to AEW, you have to assume that an announcement regarding Daniel Garcia is not far behind. Daniel Garcia has been on quite the run since joining AEW. Garcia went from a one-hour draw against Wheeler Yuta at IWTV 100 to main eventing the largest crowd in AEW History against one of the top guys in wrestling. Nothing short of remarkable.
Again, I think that Moxley gets the win while Garcia gets a good showing and a contract announcement soon.
Prediction: Jon Moxley
CM Punk’s First Dance
Cat’s out of the bag. CM Punk is coming. Punk is the reason the show is at the United Center in the first place. If it wasn’t obvious before, the Darby Allin promo and the constant social media teases from CM Punk removed any doubt.
Clearly, it’s happening Friday. That’s not even a question in my mind. Some people believe they are playing 4D Chess and asking “What if they held off the debut?” Frankly, I don't think there’s any reason to do that. Sometimes, it’s best to just deliver what the people expect, and in this case, strongly desire.
Without at least an appearance from Punk, AEW would lose the trust of a fanbase that they have earned over the last 2 years. AEW would risk “killing the town.” In this case “the town” is their hottest market in Chicago. There is little to no chance of this happening. That brings me to a question that everyone is asking, “How does CM Punk debut?”
I do not think Punk will get physical until All Ou. I see Darby Allin cutting a promo or just simply being in the ring when CM Punk emerges from his 7 years of hibernation. Punk will walk up to Darby and go face to face. Maybe Punk cracks a smile, but there will neither be any skulls cracked nor words will be spoken.
Prediction: CM Punk goes face to face with Darby Allin to end the show
Momentum is a funny thing and AEW has a lot of it going into this show. I can only imagine what the future holds for AEW and wrestling in general. Enjoy the show!