AEW Dynamite: Road Rager Review - July 7, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Cody Rhodes def. QT Marshall in a South Beach Strap Match

Despite how little I've cared about this feud since it started, I'll admit that this was a wise choice to kick off the show. It was probably the hottest the crowd was going to be for it. Speaking of the crowd, what a difference they made throughout the night but specifically in this outing. They were super into Cody but mostly sat on their hands whenever Marshall was on offense. Honestly, I can't say I blame them. This exceeded my (low) expectations and the right guy went over. Thankfully, it was decisive, so hopefully we can finally put this program behind us.

"Hangman" Adam Page Saved The Dark Order From AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, The Good Brothers and MT Nakazawa

It's comical at this point about how every Tony Schiavone in-ring interview starts off with whoever he's interviewing taking the mic from him. I mean, why even bother having Schiavone in the ring? Otherwise, this was a strong segment. Dark Order once again presented a convincing argument for why Page should be next in line for a shot at the AEW World Championship, but I'm glad this didn't go down the same way it did last week. Rather, we got Page out there laying out everyone but Omega. He actually hesitated 

Jim Ross Sat Down with "All Ego" Ethan Page and Darby Allin

If you were wondering like I was last week why the Coffin match between Page and Allin was bumped from this show, it was brought to my attention that it was likely because of the recent tragedy in Miami where bodies are still being found, which makes total sense. We found out here that it will instead go down next week on Night 1 of Fyter Fest. This was a good verbal back-and-forth between these two that helped further establish their issues and make people want to see Allin beat Page that much more.

The Pinnacle (Wardlow and FTR) def. Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz)

This is another rivalry I felt ran its course after Double or Nothing, but to their credit, they've kept things interesting by branching off into individual feuds. This was a fairly standard six-man tag team affair. The action was enjoyable but nothing really worth writing home about. Not only did Wardlow avenge his recent loss to Hager, but FTR also got the upper hand over Santana and Ortiz heading into their eventual clash.

Chris Jericho Agreed to MJF's Terms Before Attacking Him

All it took was one show for a fan to rush the ring. What a moron. At any rate, this was a solid segment with good mic work from both men. As I just mentioned in the previous paragraph, AEW has done a nice job of branching Inner Circle and Pinnacle off into their own separate storylines, but my biggest question is what is gained from either guy beating the other. Jericho winning would be a waste, while MJF has already beaten Jericho before. That said, the buildup should be fun with Jericho facing four opponents of MJF's choosing, much like how Jericho made Jon Moxley face every member of Inner Circle last year before Revolution as MJF brought up.

Andrade El Idolo def. Matt Sydal

If you were expecting a crazy spectacle from these two, this wasn't it, but it was a fairly straightforward and successful in-ring debut for Andrade. He dominated a majority of the match as he should have and won within a reasonable amount of time. The biggest takeaway from this for me was that he's in outstanding shape and comes across like a total star during his entrance. If we could just get him as far away from Vickie Guerrero as possible, that would be wonderful.

Malaki Black Attacked Cody Rhodes and Arn Anderson

I was wondering why Anderson was in the ring cutting a promo until the lights went out (again) and it became apparent it was an angle. Black showing up got a huge reaction as I'm pretty sure no one was expecting to see him in AEW this early. It was excellently executed with Black laying out Anderson as well as Cody, establishing his first feud in the company right off the bat. I also loved how Black was still sporting an injured eye (sans the stupid eyepatch) from when Murphy injured it on WWE Raw last year. Awesome attention to detail there. An argument can absolutely be made for AEW picking up too many ex-WWE guys and over-bloating their roster, but Black was a must to have on the roster in my opinion.

Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander def. The Blade and The Bunny

I've hated all the interference in all of the H.F.O.'s recent matches, so I'm glad the rest of the group wasn't at ringside for this match. This was a basic mixed tag team match with the men and women interacting with each other at a few points. Statlander's 450 Splash on Blade was especially cool. There wasn't anything spectacular about this whatsoever, but the crowd was super into Cassidy and it served to give him and Statlander a win. I continue to suspect that Statlander is being built up for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship eventually.

Lance Archer Attacked Dan Lambert

Lambet was shown sitting at ringside with Amanda Nunes and Jorge Masvidal multiple times throughout the night, so I should have assumed it was going to lead somewhere at some point. Lambert was being interviewed by Schiavone until he ripped the mic out of his hands like everyone else and got into the ring to cut a great promo. This could have been cut short by a minute or two, but it's amazing how tremendous of a talker Lambert is. I remember thinking that during his brief IMPACT run in 2017, so I hope this turns into more than just a one-off. Him managing someone against Archer would an excellent use of both Lambert and Archer, who has been spinning his wheels since Double or Nothing.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo

The Street Fight stipulation was likely added because these teams just had a straight-up tag team match last week on the show. With this ending the episode, there was a decent chance of a title change to send the crowd home happy, but it was best to hold off on the Bucks losing the belts. This was your typical hardcore matchup, complete with choreographed spots and the usual weapons. I say "choreographed" because it looked more staged than it should have. Despite that, I enjoyed this for what it was and the crowd seemed to as well.

Overall Show

This was a hell of an entertaining episode to kick off AEW's return to the road. It was about damn time they got out of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, so the change in scenery added a lot to my enjoyment of the show. The crowd was hot all night long and there were treated to some memorable moments and well-wrestled matches. There was also plenty of build for stuff coming in the weeks ahead. AEW has successfully stacked the entire month of July, not to mention that All Out is shaping up to be a very promising pay-per-view. Needless to say, this was one of my favorite editions of Dynamite in a while and I'm excited to see what else AEW has in store.

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