AEW Road Rager Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from July 7
All Elite Wrestling hit the road again Wednesday night with a special Road Rager episode of Dynamite headlined by The Young Bucks defending the tag team titles against Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo in a Street Fight.
Would the brash, arrogant, brazen champions successfully retain or would Kingston and Penta prove a formidable duo capable of dethroning the longest-reigning tag champions in AEW history?
Fans found out the answer on a jam-packed episode that also featured a South Beach Strap Match and the first mixed tag match in company history.
South Beach Strap Match: Cody Rhodes vs. QT Marshall
Good friends turned bitter rivals settled their score in the opening match of the evening as Cody Rhodes of The Nightmare Family battled The Factory's QT Marshall in a South Beach Strap Match, the winner being the first competitor to touch all four of the ring's top turnbuckles. Rhodes dominated the action until Dustin Rhodes fended off interference from Nick Comoroto, allowing Marshall to deliver a low blow.
Rhodes opened up Marshall, sending him into the ring post, but the heel regained control of the bout. Fired up and pissed off, The American Nightmare dared his opponent to lash him with the leather strap before igniting a babyface comeback to a loud ovation.
Cody shrugged off a disrespectful gesture from Marshall, delivered Cross Rhodes three consecutive times and touched all four pads for the win.
Result
Rhodes defeated Marshall
Grade
C+
Analysis
The crowd in Miami was hugely supporting Cody and The American Nightmare fed off of it. He was intense, aggressive and the match benefited as a result. It was fun, energetic and did not overstay its welcome, which are keys to success when looking to get a show off to a hot start.
Kudos to the EVP and Marshall for concocting a finish that was not like every other strap match ever, opting for a decisive finish that left no doubt as to who the victor was.
What could have been a by-the-books gimmick match too much like its predecessors was instead a fresh take on an old staple of professional wrestling, with a great performance by Rhodes and a red-hot fanbase ready to absorb all things AEW.
Tony Schiavone Interviews Kenny Omega
AEW world champion Kenny Omega and Don Callis joined Tony Schiavone for a promo, the latter praising his friend and exclaiming, "there's no one left to beat!"
The Dark Order entered the arena, and Evil Uno joined Omega in the squared circle. He questioned why the champion is afraid of his friend, Hangman Page. Omega delivered a cheap low blow to Uno while Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Michael Nakazawa attacked the rest of the faction.
As the heels surrounded the masked man, Page made the save to a thunderous ovation but hesitated before delivering the Buckshot Lariat. The babyface, top-ranked competitor stood tall to close out the segment.
Earlier today, Jim Ross moderated an interview between Ethan Page and Darby Allin in which the former vowed to take Allin out of the business that he brought him into.
Grade
A
Analysis
If you didn't think fans were ready for Omega vs. Page before, you sure do now after the molten-hot reaction to Hangman teasing a Buckshot to the world champion.
Page's is a story that has been built slowly and consistently since day one, culminating in the moment he overcomes his anxiety and doubt to capture the top prize in the company. That time is coming soon, with a victory over Omega almost a given.
And rightfully so.
Former tag team champions whose partnership started rocky, became unshakable, then fell apart, they will now write the next chapter in their story together. When Page takes the title, the crowd will erupt, and AEW will have one of the hottest babyfaces the industry has seen in over a decade on its hands in the form of everyone's favorite anxious millennial cowboy.
As for the Ethan Page-Darby Allin promo, All Ego was on fire here, claiming to have plucked his rival out of obscurity and introduced him to a world he had no business succeeding in. He was great in planting the seed for next week's coffin match and reminding fans why he is one of the best promo deliverers in the business.
The Inner Circle vs. The Pinnacle
The rivalry between The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle continued as Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz battled Wardlow and FTR's Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler.
The babyfaces found themselves on the defensive, forced to fight from underneath as the heels dominated the action. They isolated Ortiz, then Santana, leaving Hager to deliver the comeback. He initially did, but fell prey to the Big Rig by FTR as the heels earned the hard-fought victory.
After the match, the heels added a cheap chop block to the back of Konan's knee.
Result
The Pinnacle defeated The Inner Circle
Grade
C+
Analysis
The effort was there and the crowd was energetic, but too much of the match took place during the commercial break.
Santana and Ortiz did a great job of selling and building heat, and FTR's tag team mastery was on full display. It was the Hager-Wardlow showdown that really brought the fans to their feet, but by the time we finally got it, things were wrapping up with Harwood and Wheeler scoring the win for their team.
The feud is not over, with the likelihood that we are headed for several individual matches involving the competitors.
Which brings us to the next segment of the show...
Chris Jericho and MJF's Showdown
Chris Jericho entered the arena to a chorus of Fozzy's "Judas" before confronting MJF as their feud continued, despite two major gimmick bouts that probably should have settled it by now.
After Le Champion vowed to accept any challenge MJF had for him, the self-proclaimed Salt of the Earth went back to Jericho's own playbook. He revealed that he will have to defeat four opponents of MJF's choosing and only if he can defeat them consecutively will he get a match against his foe.
Jericho accepted, shook MJF's hand and knocked him cold with the Judas Effect.
Grade
B
Analysis
Outside of the fan that made an ill-advised trip over the barricade and onto the ring apron, this was more of the same out of Jericho and MJF, right down to the latter again admitting to following the veteran's career. There was nothing new to speak of added to the feud, but the segment did feature superb mic work from both men and set up a gauntlet for Le Champion to overcome.
Hopefully, the impending showdown between them is the last because the feud is beginning to overstay its welcome.
Matt Sydal vs. Andrade El Idolo
Andrade El Idolo made his in-ring debut for AEW in the night's next match, squaring off with the man who interrupted his momentous debut a few weeks back, Matt Sydal.
El Idolo dominated early, sending his opponent to the floor heading into the break and controlling the pace throughout. Back from the timeout, Sydal mounted a comeback that included the Meteora, but Andrade delivered a modified hammerlock DDT for the win.
After the match, he added insult to injury, trapping Sydal in an armbar before leaving alongside Vickie Guerrero.
Result
El Idolo defeated Sydal
Grade
C
Analysis
Andrade stepping through the curtain dressed as Black Skull from DC Comics was a nice touch and helped add a big-moment feel to the occasion. It went downhill from there, though.
While El Idolo and Sydal demonstrated some solid in-ring chemistry, a large portion of the bout was relegated to the commercial break, and the crowd didn't seem to be nearly as hot for Andrade as they were the AEW stars.
Hopefully, that changes because he is a wildly talented wrestler who has earned an opportunity to show it on a major stage.
Malakai Black Is All Elite
Arn Anderson addressed the AEW faithful until the arena darkened for the second time in the show. When they came back on, the artist formerly known as WWE's Aleister Black appeared. He rocked Anderson with Black Mass as the commentators acknowledged his Tommy End moniker, eventually revealing his new name to be Malakai Black.
Cody Rhodes rushed the ring to check on his coach before eating a Black Mass of his own.
Black made his way up the ramp, leaving The Nightmare Family in a heap in the ring.
Grade
A+
Analysis
In AEW's return to the road, they delivered a hell of a surprise, debuting Black in a way that immediately makes him a top star in the company.
While Rhodes had been stuck in a feud with The Factory that lacked a spark, he immediately finds himself in a feud with a star that has the wrestling world buzzing. And Rhodes' star power will help elevate Black to a level he was never really allowed to achieve on the main roster in his former place of employment.
How (or why) WWE allowed Black out of his 90-day no-compete clause to immediately head over to AEW and create a buzz about the competitor's product that Vince McMahon and his would love to have is just mind-numbing.
Street Fight for the AEW World Tag Team Championships
The AEW tag team titles were up for grabs in the night's main event. It was a wild and chaotic Street Fight that pitted The Young Bucks against Penta El Zero Miedo and Eddie Kingston.
The champions survived a destroyer piledrive by Penta on Matt Jackson and through a table to remain in the fight and even thrive coming out of the final commercial break of the night. Still, they found themselves in peril late as Penta delivered a tornado DDT and Kingston applied a choke to Matt.
Nick Jackson wiped out referee Rick Knox with a 450 splash. The Good Brothers hit the ring, looking to help the struggling champs, but Penta wiped them out.
Brandon Cutler attempted to interfere on behalf of the heels, but "Elite Hunter" Frankie Kazarian drove him through a table. Penta rocked Matt with the Fear Factor and Kingston flattened the older Jackson for a dramatic false finish.
Kingston produced tacks but Matt utilized them, throwing them in Eddie's face. Nick delivered a hurricanrana that sent Penta onto the jagged weapons. From there, the champs put thumbtacks in Kingston's mouth and blasted him with a superkick for the win.
Result
The Young Bucks defeated Kingston and Penta
Grade
A
Analysis
Would you look at that: the Bucks got heel heat over babyfaces at the end of the show.
Again.
In that regard, Dynamite is starting to feel like Groundhog Day, with the heels beating down the opposition seemingly every week. While the endgame is inevitably for a mega babyface team to knock them off the proverbial mountaintop and the crowd to go wild when it happens, Tony Khan and anyone else with creative input have to be careful about toeing the line between generating heat and beating a booking method into the ground.
The Bucks have been extraordinary in their role and they are on a red-hot streak from an in-ring perspective. They have the potential to genuinely put over another team and make stars of them in grand fashion. It would be shame for the good heel heat they have acquired to be wasted because AEW overdid the Elite run-ins and underhanded victories.