AEW Dynamite: Road Rager Review - June 15, 2022

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Chris Jericho def. Ortiz in a Hair vs. Hair Match

I don't think many people actually bought into the possibility of Ortiz winning, but he gave it a good effort and the crowd reacted to some of the nearfalls (especially after Eddie Kingston got involved). This was a rock solid opener. Sammy Guevara dressed as Fuego Del Sol and cost Ortiz the victory, revealing himself and Tay Conti as the two newest member of Jericho Appreciation Society. The group already sucked and them being included makes it even worse. Ortiz willingly shaving his head afterward was a refreshing twist since the loser of these Hair vs. Hair matches has to be forced into getting their head shaved. Obviously, this only adds to the build to Blood and Guts in two weeks.

Wardlow def. Security Guards in a 20-on-1 Handicap Elimination Match

Wardlow finally debuting new entrance music was great and it sounds like it fits him well. Unfortunately, the match itself was lame. I didn't have high hopes for it to begin it, but Wardlow doing the same thing over and over to 20 scrubs wasn't very creative or entertaining. It also should have been shorter than it was. With Wardlow laying out Mark Sterling afterward, we can only hope that mini feud is over. The AEW TNT Championship is so worthless at this point they should fast forward to Wardlow beating Scorpio Sky for the title and not drag it out much longer.

IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay def. ROH World Tag Team Champion and AAA World Tag Team Champion Dax Harwood (Non-Title)

This was one of my favorite television matches all year. Ospreay is always such a treat to watch wrestle, and Harwood is putting together a tremendous resume of matches in 2022 both in singles and tag team action. Both guys have such different styles yet they worked so well together. The crowd was consistently hot for all of this and that electric atmosphere only added to my enjoyment of it. This was a much better introduction to Ospreay in AEW than that six-man tag team match last week on Rampage. This bout was a blast. Orange Cassidy returned to a big pop afterward and confronted Ospreay, so that's the match for Forbidden Door. Yes, that's the match they're going with. I'm sure it will be fun, but I wish Ospreay had a higher-profile opponent for the event considering the talent AEW has on its roster.

Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi Went Face-to-Face; Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki vs. Eddie Kingston, ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta and Shota Umino Was Announced for Forbidden Door

The segment started out strong with Moxley recapping his history with Tanahashi and how he's waited to face him for three years, but then it went downhill once Jericho showed up. I know he was there because he also has history with Tanahashi from 2020, but he added nothing to this segment and only took away with it, especially when the rest of Jericho Appreciation Society showed up along with Lance Archer and El Desperado. That was because Jericho said he'll be teaming with their leader Minoru Suzuki against Kingston, Yuta and NJPW's Shota Umino at Forbidden Door. That's really random, but I guess they wanted Jericho on the card and he'll be facing two of his rivals. The brawl really took away from a segment that should have solely been focused on the Forbidden Door main event.

Miro def. "All Ego" Ethan Page to Advance to the AEW All-Atlantic Championship Four-Way Match at Forbidden Door

Miro received a hero's welcome from this St. Louis crowd. No, he's not from St. Louis; he's just really popular and rightfully so. Miro is a gem and I hope he gets aggressively pushed again now that he's back following a long layoff. He and Page had a quality match despite the strange heel vs. heel dynamic. Miro is currently my pick to win the whole thing as he's the perfect fit to be the inaugural champ.

Toni Storm def. Britt Baker

The first match these two had in the women's Owen Hart Cup was mostly a mess with the wrong outcome, so I'm glad they had a chance to improve upon that encounter here. This was much better as they worked with a sense of urgency and really brought the fight to each other. Storm was able to avenge her loss to Baker and officially earn herself a shot at Thunder Rosa's AEW Women's World Championship at Forbidden Door (even though this wasn't officially billed a number one contender's match). Rosa vs. Storm should be terrific.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White Attacked "Hangman" Adam Page

Page referenced his promo last week calling out Kazuchika Okada, and although Okada lost the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, he still wanted a shot at the title. Well, White said no, and White also denied Cole's request for a championship opportunity, so I'm not sure where that leaves any of these guys heading into Forbidden Door. Cole once again reiterated Okada won't be at the pay-per-view, which I find hard to believe. I thought they might go the tag team route with those four, but a four-way would be much more enticing. I just wish the build had more time to breathe and wasn't as rushed since they now have to confirm the match on next week's go-home show.

The Young Bucks def. Jurassic Express in a Ladder Match to Win the AEW World Tag Team Championship; Christian Cage Attacked Jungle Boy

The Hardys were originally advertised for this match (which would have been a three-way tag team match) but were taken out when Jeff was arrested on Monday. There was no mention of The Hardys on the show and there's no word on what this means for Matt, which is a big bummer for him. The match itself was quite the spectacle. AEW has done so many Ladder matches this year that this didn't feel as special as it should have been, but it was certainly an entertaining train wreck, if nothing else. You could tell they didn't have a ton of time because a lot of the table spots were very rushed, but the result was the right one. Jurassic Express felt cold as champions and I likely would have put the belts on The Hardys if the Jeff incident didn't happen. Better yet, we finally got the Christian heel turn afterward and it was excellently executed. Let the Christian vs. Jungle Boy rivalry begin.

Overall Show

This was a hell of a show on the whole that was enhanced by a fantastic crowd in St. Louis. It would have been even better without all of the Jericho Appreciation Society crap, but still, it was a strong night of action and memorable moments. My biggest gripe with the Forbidden Door buildup is that they haven't had much time to set stuff up because Double or Nothing was three weeks ago and Forbidden Door was a mere month later. The CM Punk injury didn't help, but waiting until the last minute to announce certain stuff isn't the smartest decision in my opinion. I'm very excited for the event, but logistical issues have also gotten in the way with the G1 Climax coming up and this being the only time they could do the crossover angle. Nonetheless, Road Rager was once again a success this year and all of the appearances from the New Japan main eventers has made Dynamite more must-see in recent weeks.

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