The 2021 Road Rager was the inaugural Road Rager

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

produced by

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, w ...

(AEW). It was held on July 7, 2021, in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

at the

James L. Knight Center The James L. Knight Center is a contemporary entertainment and convention complex located in Downtown Miami, Florida. Located within the Miami Central Business District, the venue opened in 1982. The complex is named after famed newspaper publi ...

and was broadcast

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

as a special episode of AEW's weekly television program, ''

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

''. The event marked AEW's resumption of live touring during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, following a year of producing shows at

Daily's Place Daily's Place is an amphitheater in Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The venue is connected to the south end of TIAA Bank Field and shares space with a "flex field" indoor practice facility for the Jacksonville Jaguars. It opened in May 2017 and ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

, 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 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

WrestleMania 37 WrestleMania 37 was the 37th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place as a two-night ev ...

in April and AEW's own

Double or Nothing Double or nothing (UK often double or quits) is a gamble to decide whether a loss or debt should be doubled. The result of a "double or nothing" bet is either the subject doubled to twice the amount as the original ''or'' the doubling of a debt. It ...

in May. Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event,

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team and promoters, consisting of brothers Matthew and Nicholas Massie, who are known by their ring names Matt and Nick Jackson, respectively. They are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW ...

(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated

Eddie Kingston Edward Moore (born December 12, 1981), better known by his ring name Eddie Kingston, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Kingston started his wrestling career in 2002, and has wrestled for numerous ...

and

Penta El Zero Miedo Penta may refer to: Places * , an Italian hamlet (') of Fisciano, Salerno * Penta-di-Casinca, a French municipality of Corsica * Penta, Chhattisgarh, a town in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, India * , a small river in Lithuania Other * Pent ...

in a Street Fight to retain the

AEW World Tag Team Championship The AEW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a standard tag team championship, being contested by teams of two wrestlers. ...

. In other prominent matches,

Andrade El Idolo Manuel Alfonso Andrade Oropeza (born November 3, 1989) is a Mexican professional wrestler who is currently signed to the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Andrade El Idolo (also stylized Andrade "El Ídolo"). He ...

(making his AEW in-ring debut) defeated

Matt Sydal Matthew Joseph Korklan (born March 19, 1983), better known by the ring name Matt Sydal, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Prior to signing with AEW, Sydal wrestled in WWE as Evan Bourne, and was ...

and The Pinnacle ( Wardlow,

Dax Harwood David Michael Harwood (born June 30, 1984) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Dax Harwood, where he and his FTR tag team partner, Cash Wheeler, he also makes appearanc ...

, and

Cash Wheeler Daniel Marshall Wheeler (born May 17, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Cash Wheeler. Wheeler is also known for his time in WWE, under the ring name Dash Wilder. ...

) defeated The Inner Circle (

Jake Hager Donald Jacob Hager Jr. (born March 24, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Jake Hager, where he is a member of the Jericho Appreciation Society st ...

Santana and Ortiz Santana (Mark Sanchez, born February 4, 1991) and Ortiz (Miguel Molina, born September 27, 1991), sometimes nicknamed Proud & Powerful, are an American professional wrestling tag team currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), but the team is ...

). The event was also notable for the AEW debut appearance of

Malakai Black Tom Budgen (born 19 May 1985) is a Dutch professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Malakai Black. He is also known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Aleister Black from 2017 ...

, formerly Aleister Black in WWE.

Production

Background

Due to the

that began effecting the industry in mid-March 2020,

(AEW) held the majority of their programs from

; 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. Also in May, AEW announced that they would be returning to live touring, beginning with a special episode of ''

'' titled Road Rager on July 7, in turn becoming the first major

promotion to resume live touring during the pandemic. Road Rager was announced to be held in

at the

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 AEW Fyter Fest is an annual professional wrestling event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event was established by the promotion in 2019 and is held during the summer; the first event was held in June but moved to July in 2020. The name, ...

on July 14 and 21 and concluded with Fight for the Fallen on July 28.

Storylines

Road Rager featured

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

villains A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character as ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television program, ''Dynamite'', the supplementary online streaming shows, ''

Dark Darkness, the direct opposite of lightness, is defined as a lack of illumination, an absence of visible light, or a surface that absorbs light, such as black or brown. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low lum ...

'' and ''

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

'', and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

series ''

Being The Elite The Elite is a professional wrestling stable currently appearing in U.S. based Professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). As of December 2022, the line-up has consisted of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), ...

''.

Reception

Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON''). He has als ...

of the ''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four We ...

'' 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

in April and AEW's own

in May.

Television ratings

Road Rager averaged 871,000 television viewers on

and a 0.33 rating in AEW's

key demographic The key demographic or target demographic is a term in commercial broadcasting that refers to the most desirable demographic group to a given advertiser. Key demographics vary by outlet, time of day, and programming type, but they are generally co ...

. This was down from the previous week's Fan Appreciation Night.

Results

References

External links

All Elite Wrestling Official website
{{All Elite Wrestling events, Road Rager 2021 American television episodes 2021 in professional wrestling in Florida AEW Road Rager All Elite Wrestling shows 2020s in Miami July 2021 events in the United States Professional wrestling shows in Miami 2021 in professional wrestling