Road Rager (2021)
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| Road Rager | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuring various AEW wrestlers | |||
| Promotion | All Elite Wrestling | ||
| Date | July 7, 2021 | ||
| City | Miami, Florida | ||
| Venue | James L. Knight Center | ||
| Attendance | ~3,500[1] | ||
| Road Rager chronology | |||
| |||
| AEW Dynamite special episodes chronology | |||
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The 2021 Road Rager was the inaugural Road Rager professional wrestling television special produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It was held on July 7, 2021, in Miami, Florida at the James L. Knight Center and was broadcast live on TNT as a special episode of AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite. The event marked AEW's resumption of live touring during the COVID-19 pandemic, following a year of producing shows at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, also becoming the first major wrestling promotion to resume live touring during the pandemic. As such, it was the first of four episodes in AEW's "Welcome Back" tour. At the time, it was the largest attended wrestling event during the pandemic outside of WWE's WrestleMania 37 in April and AEW's own Double or Nothing in May.
Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo in a Street Fight to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship. In other prominent matches, Andrade El Idolo (making his AEW in-ring debut) defeated Matt Sydal and The Pinnacle (Wardlow, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler) defeated The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz). The event was also notable for the AEW debut appearance of Malakai Black, formerly Aleister Black in WWE.
Production[edit]
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Jim Ross |
| Excalibur | |
| Tony Schiavone | |
| Don Callis (Main event) | |
| Ring announcer | Justin Roberts |
| Referees | Aubrey Edwards |
| Bryce Remsburg | |
| Mike Posey | |
| Paul Turner | |
| Rick Knox |
Background[edit]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began effecting the industry in mid-March 2020, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held the majority of their programs from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida;[2] these events were originally held without fans, but the company began running shows at 10–15% capacity in August, gradually increasing as time went on, before eventually running full capacity shows in May 2021.[3] Also in May, AEW announced that they would be returning to live touring, beginning with a special episode of Dynamite titled Road Rager on July 7, in turn becoming the first major professional wrestling promotion to resume live touring during the pandemic.[4] Road Rager was announced to be held in Miami, Florida at the James L. Knight Center and was the first of a four-week span of special Dynamite episodes as part of AEW's "Welcome Back" tour, which continued with the two-part Fyter Fest on July 14 and 21 and concluded with Fight for the Fallen on July 28.[5][6]
Storylines[edit]
Road Rager featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[7] Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite, the supplementary online streaming shows, Dark and Elevation, and The Young Bucks' YouTube series Being The Elite.
Reception[edit]
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that AEW had initially only made 1,200 tickets available, which was when stricter COVID-19 restrictions were still in place. However, after those initial tickets sold out, AEW increased available tickets to 3,500; the venue has a maximum capacity of around 4,800. PWInsider later reported that AEW were a few hundred tickets short of a full sell out. Despite not fully selling out, Meltzer said that Road Rager was still the largest attended wrestling event during the pandemic up to that point outside of WWE's WrestleMania 37 in April and AEW's own Double or Nothing in May.[8][1]
Television ratings[edit]
Road Rager averaged 871,000 television viewers on TNT and a 0.33 rating in AEW's key demographic. This was down from the previous week's Fan Appreciation Night.[9]
Results[edit]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[10] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cody Rhodes (with Arn Anderson) defeated Q. T. Marshall (with The Factory (Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solo)) | South Beach Strap match Match could only be won by touching all four turnbuckles in succession. | 10:40 | ||
| 2 | The Pinnacle (Wardlow, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler) (with Tully Blanchard) defeated The Inner Circle (Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz) (with Konnan) | Six-man tag team match | 10:00 | ||
| 3 | Andrade El Ídolo (with Vickie Guerrero) defeated Matt Sydal | Singles match | 6:00 | ||
| 4 | Orange Cassidy and Kris Statlander defeated The Blade and The Bunny | Mixed tag team match | 8:25 | ||
| 5 | The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) (with Brandon Cutler) defeated Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo | Street Fight for the AEW World Tag Team Championship | 14:10 | ||
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See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Harris, Jeffrey (July 8, 2021). "Attendance Update AEW Dynamite in Miami, Event Falls Short of Sellout". 411mania. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Mealey, Jason (March 13, 2020). "AEW moves show from Rochester to Jacksonville due to coronavirus". News4Jax.com. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (May 5, 2021). "Double or Nothing 2021 PPV notes". PWInsider. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
- ^ Heydorn, Zack (May 10, 2021). "AEW announces a return to touring starting in July (w/ Heydorn's Analysis)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 13, 2021.
- ^ Nason, Josh (June 11, 2021). "AEW ANNOUNCES DATES FOR FYTER FEST, FIGHT FOR THE FALLEN, ROAD RAGER". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved June 13, 2021.
- ^ Casey, Connor (June 11, 2021). "AEW Announces Welcome Back Tour for AEW Dynamite's July Episodes". ComicBook. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Grabianowski, Ed (January 13, 2006). "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 29, 2013. Retrieved February 8, 2019.
- ^ Harris, Jeffrey (July 6, 2021). "Backstage Note on Attendance for This Week's AEW Dynamite in Miami". 411mania. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Fontaine, Paul (July 8, 2021). "AEW DYNAMITE RATINGS DOWN FOR ROAD RAGER EPISODE". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (July 7, 2021). "7/7 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of The Young Bucks vs. Eddie Kingston and Penta El Zero Miedo in a Street Fight for the AEW Tag Titles, Andrade El Idolo vs. Matt Sydal, Cody Rhodes vs. Q. T. Marshall in a strap match, Santana, Ortiz, and Jake Hager vs. FTR and Wardlow". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 9, 2021.