As the biggest PPV in AEW’s short history – and probably the most historic PPV of the last decade – comes to focus, we have another episode of Road To All Out to whet our whistles. For those unfamiliar, AEW has been released high production videos on YouTube every week to build to their special events. Beginning with Double Or Nothing, the Road To series has been lauded for it’s serious presentation of professional wrestling. Unlike it’s hilarious cartoonish counterpart Being The Elite, it casts all of AEW’s storylines in a very legitimate light, whilst keeping in line with the established characters.
This is obviously the third episode of Road To All Out but the first one that we’ve had the chance to cover.
So first, a brief recap:
The introductory episode saw Shawn Spears sit down with Jim Ross to explain his assault on Cody Rhodes. After letting the world know that he was not content to be known as merely ‘a good hand’ anymore, he introduced Tully Blanchard as his manager. This situation has been a big focus on every episode of this series thus far. The episode also featured a promo from Hangman Page, in which he thanked Chris Jericho for making him bleed and making him realize what a fight he was in for. He cherished the wound so much that he didn’t want to heal, and in fact ripped out his stitches to ensure it’d leave a scar. A brutal battle is being promised in both cases.
And speaking of that, Episode 2 of Road To All Out went into Jon Moxley’s beef with Kenny Omega. Moxley almost seemed envious of the respect and reputation Omega had garnered. He felt that Omega had become a legendary figure for being such an outstanding wrestler. Meanwhile Moxley was, quote, “hitting people in the face with cream pies”. He revealed that the reason he went to Japan – Moxley’s currently tearing it up in the G1 – was to learn Kenny’s style, to figure out what he was about. He warned him that when they face off, he’ll be trying to injure him. The episode also saw Darby Allin, Joey Janela and Jimmy Havoc get into a backstage brawl. This of course set up their triple threat match.
And now, The Road To All Out Episode 3!
This episode was 100% focused on Cody/Spears. It began with an interview with MJF, noted protege and insincere suckup to Cody Rhodes. He spoke at length – whilst chewing gum the whole time – how much he despised Shawn Spears. He also took the time to chastise anyone who dared call him a brown-noser. As he did this, he opened his jacket to reveal he was wearing a tie with Pharaoh’s visage on it. (Pharaoh being Cody’s dog, to the uninitiated.)
We then cut to the familiar boardroom esque scene, where Spears and Blanchard are waiting along with AEW VP of Business Operations Nik Sobic and AEW/Jaguars Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh. Parekh discussed how being a wrestling lawyer was the most complicated job she’d ever had. I can imagine! Sobic meanwhile painted Tully as someone you’d love to have on your side in negotiations, but hate to sit across. As they’re discussing the specifics of the match, we see clips of Cody training. He was running up stairs and pushing a weighted cart across a football field.
Spears and Tully are unhappy that Cody’s making them wait. But in the meantime they dictate in the contract that Cody can only have one person at ringside with him, rather than his usual entourage. Tully argued that he’d be the one guy at ringside for Spears, so Cody would have to have the same. When Cody finally walked in, he didn’t even make eye contact with Spears, immediately signed his name and walked right back out in a hurry.
You can watch this episode for yourself below!
So far all of the major matches announced for All Out have an intense war vibe to them. BTE has been handling the build for Bucks/Lucha Bros so far and even on that front they’re being quite serious when they address that ladder match.
Expect more recaps of these episodes here at TheOvertimer.com going forward!
