AEW Rampage, also known as Friday Night Rampage or simply Rampage, is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from August 13, 2021, to December 27, 2024. It aired every Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on TNT in the United States, although major sporting events occasionally moved it to an earlier or later time slot the same day or the next day (as a special Saturday Night Rampage).
Rampage was AEW's second weekly television show, following the premiere of Dynamite, and the second professional wrestling program to air on TNT since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001. With the premiere of Collision in June 2023 (which subsequently became AEW's secondary flagship program), and the cancellation of AEW's YouTube shows (Dark and Elevation), Rampage essentially succeeded the YouTube shows by focusing on younger and mid-to-low card talent. The series came to an end on December 27, 2024, as the program was not included in AEW's media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery that took effect on January 1, 2025.
Episodes of Rampage were typically taped after the live broadcast of the preceding episode of Dynamite. On occasion, some episodes were also taped after Collision, while a select few episodes had aired live, notably those that aired back-to-back with the Battle of the Belts special.
History Original format (2021–2023) The American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was officially announced and launched on January 1, 2019, and their weekly flagship television program, Dynamite, began airing on TNT that October. On January 15, 2020, TNT's parent company WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery) and AEW announced a US$175 million contract extension for Dynamite through 2023. As part of the new deal, it was also announced that AEW would be launching a second weekly television show.
In May 2021, AEW revealed their second weekly television show, and fourth program overall, as AEW Rampage, which would begin airing on TNT on August 13 as a one-hour show on Fridays at 10pm Eastern Time (ET). During AEW's marquee event Double or Nothing on May 30, former WWE wrestler Mark Henry was announced to be a part of the Rampage commentary team as an analyst. On August 4, Dynamite and Darks commentators Excalibur and Taz and wrestler Chris Jericho, who had served as a guest commentator several times on Dynamite, were announced to join Henry as Rampages four-man commentary team. AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan said that the commentary team would not always be all four men, as Henry would also have other roles on the show, such as doing interviews. In September, AEW wrestler Ricky Starks replaced Henry on the commentary team, with Henry subsequently just doing interviews on the show.
In an interview with PWInsider, Khan stated that while Rampage would air live for most episodes, some episodes they would pre-tape, depending on the city that the preceding episode of Dynamite was held in (although this would later shift to most episodes being taped in conjunction with Dynamite with only a few airing live). He also said that Rampage would serve as the go-home show for AEW's pay-per-view (PPV) events, due to the show airing two days before those events. Rampage in turn replaced that role for Dark as although Dark normally aired on Tuesdays, it would instead air on Fridays during the week of a PPV to serve as the go-home show. Khan also said that Warner had asked him if he would rather expand Wednesday's Dynamite to three hours, but he rejected the notion, stating that he did not want to run Dynamite for that length as he highly preferred that third hour as a separate show on a different night. He also claimed that Rampage would not be a secondary show to Dynamite, and that it would be its partner or its equivalent. He further said that Dynamite and Rampage would be AEW's core properties, while their YouTube shows, Dark and Dark: Elevation, would be their peripheral properties, essentially their developmental programs.
Rampage aired immediately following WWE's own Friday television program, SmackDown, which aired on Fox and then USA Network beginning in September 2024. Although Dynamite had run against WWE's NXT from October 2019 to April 2021, there was expectation that there would be no overlap between Rampage and SmackDown in nearly the entire country unless SmackDown were to run over its scheduled endtime of 10pm ET, when Rampage began broadcasting. Throughout Rampages 2.5 year broadcast history, this only occurred once, which was on October 15, 2021. That night, SmackDown aired a special episode titled "Supersized SmackDown", which extended its runtime to 10:30pm with the additional 30 minutes airing commercial free, therefore directly competing with Rampage for its first 30 minutes. SmackDown had also aired on Fox's sister channel FS1 due to the MLB playoffs airing on Fox, which also decreased SmackDowns normal average viewership. During the 30 minutes that the shows went head-to-head, Rampage beat SmackDown in the key demographic of viewers aged 18 to 49, drawing 328,000 views to SmackDowns 285,000 views.
It was initially announced that both Dynamite and Rampage would be moving to TNT's sister channel TBS, also owned by WarnerMedia, in January 2022. However, on September 23, 2021, it was revealed that Rampage would remain on TNT while only Dynamite would move to TBS.
The May 6 and May 13, 2022, episodes of Rampage were moved to 5:30 p.m. ET in order to accommodate TNT's coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs. The May 20 episode was moved to 7 p.m. ET to make way for TNT's coverage of the NBA Western Conference finals.
Final format (2023–2024) As a result of an amended broadcasting deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, AEW added a third weekly program on Saturday nights called Collision, which premiered in June 2023 on TNT. The YouTube shows, Dark and Elevation, were subsequently canceled to make way for Collision, which was positioned as AEW's second main program, while Rampage shifted to focusing on younger wrestlers, essentially becoming what the YouTube shows were for the company.
Due to the NCAA March Madness coverage occurring on March 22, 2024, on TNT, Rampage instead aired live on March 20 immediately after Dynamite, with both programs airing on TBS. This would be the only time for the program to air on TBS.
During the tapings on December 22, 2024, Tony Khan announced that the December 27 episode, which was the New Year's Smash special, would be the final episode of Rampage as the program was not included in AEW's new media rights agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery, which took effect on January 1, 2025.
Episodes 2021 No.DateLocationVenueMain event1Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaPetersen Events CenterDr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (c) vs. Red Velvet for the AEW Women's World Championship2(The First Dance)Chicago, IllinoisUnited CenterJon Moxley vs. Daniel Garcia3Milwaukee, WisconsinUW–Milwaukee Panther ArenaChristian Cage and Frankie Kazarian vs. Brandon Cutler and Kenny Omega4Hoffman Estates, IllinoisNOW ArenaDarby Allin vs. Daniel Garcia5Cincinnati, OhioFifth Third ArenaBrian Pillman Jr. vs. Max Caster6Newark, New JerseyPrudential CenterMiro (c) vs. Fuego Del Sol for the AEW TNT Championship7(Grand Slam)Queens, New YorkArthur Ashe StadiumEddie Kingston and Jon Moxley vs. Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer in a Lights Out match8Rochester, New YorkBlue Cross ArenaOrange Cassidy vs. Jack Evans in a Hair vs. Hair match9Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaLiacouras CenterRicky Starks (c) vs. Brian Cage in a Philly Street Fight for the FTW Championship10Miami, FloridaJames L. Knight CenterThe Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager and Sammy Guevara) vs. Men of the Year (Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky) and Junior dos Santos11PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo12Boston, MassachusettsAgganis ArenaDr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. vs. Abadon in a Trick or Treat match13St. Louis, MissouriChaifetz ArenaAdam Cole vs. John Silver14Minneapolis, MinnesotaTarget CenterMatt Hardy vs. Orange Cassidy in a Lumberjack match15Norfolk, VirginiaChartway ArenaAdam Cole and Bobby Fish vs. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus)16Chicago, IllinoisWintrust ArenaEddie Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia17Duluth, GeorgiaGas South ArenaDeath Triangle (PAC and Penta El Zero Miedo) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood)18Elmont, New YorkUBS ArenaAdam Cole vs. Wheeler Yuta19(Winter Is Coming)Garland, TexasCurtis Culwell CenterThe Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster), 2point0 (Jeff Parker and Matt Lee) and Daniel Garcia vs. Santana and Ortiz, The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) and Eddie Kingston20(Holiday Bash)Greensboro, North CarolinaGreensboro ColiseumSammy Guevara (c) vs. Cody Rhodes for the AEW TNT Championship21(New Year's Smash)Jacksonville, FloridaDaily's PlaceCody Rhodes (c) vs. Ethan Page for the AEW TNT Championship
2022