For the last two weeks we’ve been keeping you up to speed on the high-production AEW Road To All Out series. You can catch recaps and analysis for Episodes 3 and 4 of AEW Road To All Out here and here respectively.
This week, they went two-for-one, releasing two more episodes within the span of as many days. So let’s sink into it!
AEW Road To All Out Episode 5:
This episode begins with The Best Friends, Chuck Taylor and Trent Baretta sharing what may well be the world’s most dramatic hug. It featured the two of them in a wide grassy field, each wearing excessive amounts of manly denim, slowly walking towards each other. Not the cliche movie slo-mo run to meet in the middle, but a tense, stomping walk. They finally embraced with an impossible intensity.
What follows is a sit-down interview with the two of them. They casually dodge the question of how they met and became friends. Chuck talks up the magnitude of being the first-ever AEW Tag Team Champions. Trent clarifies that while they love to screw around, they’re dead serious about being wrestlers. This is set to a video of the two of them flying a kite together. Chuckie refers to the Dark Order as ‘spooky perverts’ and they note that while there’s nothing wrong with hiring mask goonies, it’s unprofessional to bring them to work.
Alex Marvez hosts an edition of ‘By The Numbers’ focusing on Cody Rhodes and Shawn Spears.
The first number is 10, the ironic number of staples put into Cody’s head by Spears’ chairshot. 13 is the number of years since Cody first teamed with Spears in OVW. Another number is 184, the number of times that Dusty Rhodes wrestled Tully Blanchard, Spears’ advisor. However, he notes that Dusty was 45-29 all-time in singles matches against Tully.
The final number is 1, the number of reps allowed in each corner at All Out. Spears will have Tully Blanchard. For Cody, there are many more options he raised: Brandi, MJF, Dustin Rhodes or Cody’s former entourage members, DDP, Tommy Dreamer or even the obviously correct choice: Pharaoh!
Seeing as he acknowledged all these choices, I’m betting it won’t be any of them. Perhaps Arn Anderson will be making a surprise appearance…?
Cut to a promo from Hangman Page talking about Chris Jericho’s demand of a thank you. Page clarifies that All Elite Wrestling was not made thanks to Chris Jericho but because of the members of the Elite taking risks and independent promotions helping highlight talent like Private Party. He says people who need deep in their souls to change the world are those who win in the end. Page also ended up starting a chant of ‘cowboy sh*t’. He declares that he will fight Chris Jericho with everything in his soul and prove that the people who win are the ones who do ‘cowboy sh*’t, before promising to ride a horse out of the Sears Center as the first All Elite Wrestling World Champion.
A promo from Kenny Omega closes the episode.
Kenny talks about the pressure that was on him to be the flag-bearer of AEW, the chosen one to become the champion. He says his best performances have always come from behind, his best work was not when he was handed something but when he had to work and sacrifice. Kenny says that the real person he owes a ‘thank you’ to is Jon Moxley. He says that Moxley will be the one that inspires him to evolve and go to the next level. He’s the one that’s gonna bring Omega back to his feet and show everyone just why those in AEW call him the best.
Omega says that he knows where Moxley came from, and he knows that he’s damaged goods. He knows that Moxley wants to make a statement perhaps more than anyone and that fuels him. He notes that Mox was willing to put his reputation on the line and that’s great. But now Mox has to step between the ropes and prove that he belongs here.
‘I can’t wait for my path to redemption. And you’re the first step.’
AEW Road To All Out Episode 6:
This one, I imagine they filmed for the prior ep but perhaps didn’t finish in time for whatever reason. So it ends up being a standalone promo from Brandi Rhodes addressing Shawn Spears. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s a really, really good one.
She says that for 13 years people have been questioning why Cody has been at such a high level. Brandi accuses Shawn of playing all her favorite songs. ‘It was his daddy, he’s just a leech, or it was Legacy – it was definitely the Bullet Club’. She says while she was grasping for excuses like air, she could’ve saved him the trouble by drowning him in answers. Brandi says that there’s a big different between a wrestler and a professional wrestler. She notes that Cody is an exemplary pro wrestler but she thinks Spears is pretend. He’s not here right now – you know why.
Brandi says that she doesn’t wanna sound cold but she also doesn’t want to sound like she gives a damn about Spears. So she says that the blood pouring from Cody’s head might as well be a mirror into Spears’ future. She talks about seeing Cody take a backdrop on his neck, a ringbell to the skull. ‘I’ve sat up on my couch and watched as he climbed up a 20-foot steel cage and moonsaulted off only to eat s**t’. This refers to a tag match Cody and Dustin had with the New Age Outlaws where Road Dogg utterly failed to catch him. But she says that everytime, he gets back up. Can Spears say the same?
She says she has no idea what’s in Tully Blanchard’s mind this many years after his feud with Dusty Rhodes.
But she knows this: this ain’t the first time the wolves have circled. In fact ever since she took on the name, they’ve been at her doorstep. ‘Rhodes’ might as well be Latin for ‘bullseye’. But they welcome it, it’s what makes them who they are. ‘Ten staples to the back of my beloved’s head… that was your fifteen minutes. I really hope you enjoyed them.’
Just a lovely delivery at the end there. Absolutely dig it.
