WINTER IS HERE
December 2nd, 2020
Jacksonville, FL
Commentators - Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone, Excalibur & Don Callis
1) Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal
So this is for the ring that MJF notoriously won last year, I guess that means this will be a yearly thing. I fuck with it because MJF made it such a big deal. MJF says in a video pack he will “retain” his ring especially if he has Sammy Guevara & Wardlow by his side because “this is our ring” - well.. anyway this gets going and there are lots of names in this. Basically every mid card-upper mid carder. You’ve got Matt Hardy, Private Party, Miro, Orange Cassidy, Hangman Page and a bunch more. AEW reaaaally kills it with these battle Royal layout and this was no different. They touch on so many different things in this. From the tension between Shawn Spears & Scorpio Sky as they both refuse to get in the ring and stare down each other at ringside at the bell (which also is touched back on later when they got involved) to Hangman and Silver & Reynolds hitting some triple team offense and celebrating together which further teases the Page/Dark Order stuff. They packed so much little stuff in here and it was a blast. Jungle Boy gets cornered by Guevara, MJF & Wardlow in the end. He & Sammy have an awesome exchange before MJF shoves them both off the top rope which furthers the MJF/Sammy strained forced friendship. It looks like MJF & Wardlow are the last two and will face off next week per the rules, but they forget Orange Cassidy is still at ringside and wasn’t thrown out. YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS. Cassidy comes in and stuns them both and throws Wardlow out! Orange vs. MJF next week FOR THE RING. Miro comes out PISSED about this as Chuck Taylor & Trent? celebrate with him. This felt so chaotic and was awesome. I love that they are keeping Orange Cassidy so involved in big stories. But yes, this was great!
Match rating - ***1/4
2) Chris Jericho (w/ Jake Hager & Ortiz) vs. Frankie Kazarian
This was pretty interesting. You get a buuuunch of Inner Circle turmoil and that’s pretty much what this was all about, but we got a fun match out of it too. I’m sure it was a treat for Kazarian to face Jericho and he proves it by nailing Jericho with the fucking flux capacitor off the top turnbuckle. INSANE spot. Jericho kicks out and they keep going at it. Kazarian locks Jericho in a Boston crab. Ortiz almost breaks it up but Hager stops him to avoid the DQ. Then MJF comes out with a towel and Sammy Guevara runs down to stop him. Meanwhile Jericho gets the ropes as all his stablemates argue, he hits the Judas effect on Kaz for the win.
Match rating - ***
Post match, Jericho says he’s sick of the bullshit!!! Ahhh the S bombs on television! Jericho says they either all get along next week or Inner Circle breaks up FOREVER... dAMN!
The Young Bucks are backstage doing an interview. Next week, they face Jack Evans & Angelico. If they can beat them, they get a tag title shot because they are fighting champions. The Acclaimed walk up and I don’t know much about them, but one of them starts rapping and making jokes about the Bucks’ book cover and Matt goes “didn’t somebody already do this gimmick?” which was hilarious. TH2 (Evans & Angelico) attack The Bucks from behind. Evans throws Nick in a garbage dump. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian make the save. TAG DIVISION HEATING BACK UP HELL YEAH.
3) Britt Baker (w/ Rebel) vs. Leyla Hirsch
Apparently Hirsch has competed in AEW before but I’ve never seen her. She has a good look though. Awesome pre-taped promo from Britt during her entrance saying she’s keeping it clean around AEW and will be sending Leyla on a one way plane ticket back to Russia. Oof. Well atleast they gave us some story and meaning to care about this match and it actually turns out to be pretty decent! Rebel gets involved and is a big factor in this. Baker goes for the lockjaw but HIRSCH REVERSES INTO A CROSS ARMBREAKER!! Nice little spot of hope for Hirsch before Baker fights back to put her in lockjaw forcing a submission and getting her the victory.
Match rating - **1/2
THUNDER ROSA ATTACKS BRITT IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE BELL. I forgot to mention Britt mentioned Rosa in her promo earlier as some of the trash she took out referencing her attack on her last week. PULL APART BRAWL BETWEEN THE TWO LADIES. Referees, Jerry Lynn, BJ Whitmer, and others run down to separate things.
4) Darby Allin & Cody Rhodes (w/ Arn Anderson) vs. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs (w/ Taz)
God I love the Team Taz entrance music. I guess they’ve changed Will Hobbs name to Powerhouse Hobbs? Ok I guess. So yeah this feud has been awesome so obviously this was a lot of fun. Cody & Darby try to work over Starks, it doesn’t last long and Darby gets isolated and Hobbs & Starks just beat the shit out of him. Hobbs in particular looks amazing doing so. They build towards the super Cody hot tag. Cody & Darby make their comeback and get the victory.
Match rating - ***
Post match, it all breaks the hell down. Arn Anderson throws blows at Hobbs for attacking Darby post match. Dustin Rhodes comes out. Brian Cage comes out. It turns into a dominant assault by Team Taz. All of a sudden the lights go out and... FUCKING STING. STING IN AEW. STING ON TNT FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE LAST EPISODE OF WCW MONDAY NITRO. This is massive. I was never a huge Sting fan. However his contributions and legacy cannot be argued. His WWE run felt very forced and just whatever. But this.. this felt special. Especially with Tony freaking Schiavone calling it. Hearing Tony yell “ITS STIIIIIIING” gave me chills and I haven’t even watched much WCW. Epic moment and wow. Sting staring down Darby Allin in the corner for even longer and more intently than he did Cody, Dustin, and Arn. Chills. Cannot WAIT to see what is next as they announce after this segment that Sting has been signed to a multi year contract with AEW by Tony Khan.
Next week:
The Young Bucks vs. TH2 (Jack Evans & Angelico)
Dustin Rhodes vs. 10
The Inner Circle Ultimatum
FTR vs. Varsity Blondes (Brian Pillman Jr & Griff Garrison)
Abadon in action
Lance Archer & Lucha Bros vs. The Butcher, The Blade, & Eddie Kingston
Sting speaks next week!
Backstage, Hikaru Shida is not afraid of Abadon.
5) Jon Moxley (c) vs. Kenny Omega - AEW World Championship Match
And here we go. The biggest match in Dynamite history. The final moment in Omega’s rise back to singles prominence. The true peak in Jon Moxley’s AEW World Title reign. Such a massive match. Omega’s longtime friend, former NJPW commentator, and current Impact Wrestling executive Don Callis is on commentary. Mox & Omega work on the mat to start. Omega throws the first strike in the form of a chop in the corner and Mox fired up out of it and each one that followed as he got right in Kenny’s face in response. Just awesome shit early. They end up on the floor aka in Moxley’s zone and he dominates, throwing Kenny around and breaking the count so they can continue to brawl at ringside. Back in the ring, Omega starts going after Moxley’s knee. Mox has his leg hung up in the corner but manages to knock Omega down with a brutal lariat to make some separation. This match was at a pretty slow, but deliberate pace until about halfway through. They kick things into high gear and start busting out all their big stuff. I marked super hard for Kenny hitting Mox with croyt’s wrath which was a super good nearfall. Then comes the drama. Mox suplexes Omega into a heater at ringside. This brings refs down to check on him. Don Callis leaves the commentary booth. Mox pulls the referees off and tosses Omega back into the ring and starts wailing on him. Don Callis gets on the apron with a mic, Moxley knocks him down, but Omega gets the mic and the process and nails Moxley with it... full heel turn here for sure. Mox is busted open and Omega nails multiple versions of the v trigger on his bloody head. All of which look hella stiff. Then it’s the one winged angel for the victory. MAN. High drama there at the end, I don’t even mind the overbooking at all, this honestly felt so big and left me with so many questions and things to be excited about. I’ve watched it three times and I’m still buzzing at the replays on YouTube. Awesome match, but the real buzz comes post match.
Match rating - ****1/4
Callis and Omega shuffle out of the arena as the commentators call this a screw job. Fans and employees are shouting at them as they head through the backstage area. Tony Khan is yelling from the gorilla position. They catch them for an interview as they’re getting into a car to flee and when asked what just happened, Don Callis says “You’ll find out from me & Kenny on IMPACT Wrestling on AXS TV next Tuesday night!” WHAT. THE. FUCK.
Eddie Kingston hops on commentary at the last second mocking Moxley’s loss and says he wants Lance Archer now. Chaotic ending to this show in every facet and all in all, this might be the best episode of Dynamite yet as a whole.
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