Bully Ray And Tommy Dreamer Comment On Roderick Strong's AEW Debut

Roderick Strong shocked the world on Wednesday night when he made a surprise debut on "AEW Dynamite" to come to the aid of his former Undisputed Era stablemate Adam Cole. During the latest episode of "Busted Open Radio," co-hosts Tommy Dreamer and Bully Ray reacted to the development.

"It's a nice surprise, it works," Dreamer said. "I think he'll have great matches. I think eventually he will go and wind up on 'Ring of Honor' kind of where, like you said, he did shine." Ray asked if Strong will end up doing "the same old same old," and Dreamer noted that there isn't necessarily anything wrong with that as he is a former ROH World Champion and is among some people's "Mount Rushmore" of ROH talent.

Ray then recalled how "NXT" tried to make Strong "the guy," but it wasn't clicking with the fans. That is why he views the other members of the former Undisputed Era as "interchangeable" under Adam Cole.

"My barometer for this is Adam Cole," Ray said. "Out of those four guys [from Undisputed Era], it's Adam Cole number one, and the rest of them could be two, three, and four. They're interchangeable guys, so I'm wondering what is it going to take for Roderick Strong to finally, truly get over?" Dreamer then reminded him that some people simply get over with their in-ring talent, but it remains to be seen what Strong's ceiling in AEW/ROH is.

Ray concluded the discussion by examining AEW's use of people doing run-ins as debuts as opposed to the "lights off, lights on" approach. He thinks AEW missed the opportunity with Jay White's debut, while Dreamer said that it's a different scenario for each person but thought the run-in worked for Strong's debut.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.