World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H (since 12/15/02)
World Tag Team Champions: Rob Van Dam & Kane (since 3/31/03)
WWE Women's Champion: Trish Stratus (since 3/30/03)
Commentators: Jerry Lawler & Jonathan Coachman
Ric Flair is in the back with Eric Bischoff to start the broadcast. He's pissed about H having to defend the title against Booker tonight so Eric makes Shawn Michaels the special referee.
1) Chris Jericho vs. The Hurricane
Oh this fucking rocked. 6-7 minute sprint. Hurricane flies around and so does Jericho. Jericho’s a great dickhead and they have the crowd into it. A true BLAST. Jericho taps out Hurricane and Flair runs down after the bell.
Match rating - **3/4
Flair assaults Hurricane. I think Naitch is pissed about last week. He locks him in the figure four and ain’t much else Shane can do. Refs come down and Flair scurries while yelling UR A DEAD MAN.
Commentary - Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, & Jim Ross
The final show of 2021, the final episode on TNT, the return of Jim Ross, and the final show produced by Keith Mitchell. It’s a big one tonight, folks. Let’s dive in!
The show begins with Jim Ross making his triumphant return to the commentary booth after beating cancer. Welcome back, Jim! JR’s first words are ITS WEDNESDAY AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS.
1) Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, Christian Cage, Penta El Zero Miedo, & Rey Fenix vs. FTR, Matt Hardy, & Private Party
HOWDY YALL!! I didn’t review Dynamite last week because I was just.. tired. I did watch, though. What I didn’t watch, however, due to some holiday plans, was the Christmas edition of Rampage. SO. I am watching it now and it’s the best 1 hour in pro wrestling so YOU KNOW I GOTTA REVIEW IT.
1) Jungle Boy (w/ Luchasaurus & Christian Cage) vs. Isaiah Kassidy (w/ Marq Quen & Matt Hardy)
Jungle Boy’s music hitting to start the show will never get old, I don’t think. It’s just so fun and really sets the tone for what’s to come. This is a rare Isaiah Kassidy singles match and I think it’s cool he’s getting the chance to be featured. This honestly went a little long and had a little too much overbooking for me, though. Truly didn’t need any of that, just let these guys have a 6 minute sprint and call it a day. I love that Jungle Boy has started elbowing the head of his opponent before he locks the snare trap in. He does that here and forces Kassidy to tap.
Match rating - **1/4
2) HOOK vs. Bear Bronson
The crowd chants “we want Hook” as soon as the graphic appears on screen for this. Ohhh man. God, HOOK’s entrance is even more tough than last week. His theme rules so hard. They show Tony Nese in the crowd because we’re supposed to care when HOOK is in the ring.. anyways. This match rules. The crowd pops for every move HOOK makes and every move HOOK makes looks awesome. From his offense to his selling. If this character and these matches are really all laid out by him then man… that kid is a gem. HOOK wins with the redrum.
Match rating - ***
3) Leyla Hirsch vs. Kris Statlander
Great little match here from the women’s division. It’s been a while since we’ve seen both of those women in a featured TV match (outside of Stat’s performances in the TBS tournament) so hell yeah. Leyla Hirsch grows on me more every time I see her so I enjoyed this a lot. Statlander plays the role of the bully almost due to the size difference, but Leyla fires back with just as much, if not more grit, and Knox had to pull her off Kris for trying to throw some closed fists. I loved to see these two link up again down the line. You can tell they have history on the Indies and the chemistry is there. Statlander wins.
Match rating - **1/2
4) Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Cody Rhodes - TNT Title Match
The pre-match interview hosted by Mark Henry got me more excited for his than I was initially. Sammy says everyone thinks this is a big match for him, but it was a big match for him in 2019, not now. He says he’s gonna carry Cody tonight and calls him “kid”.. oh hell yea. Entrances happen and David Crockett is at ringside. This match feels kinda big. The opening moments fucking rule. Sammy runs wild with fast paced offense to stun Cody, including the signature Rhodes uppercut. Cody rolls to the outside and is reeling early. Arn tells him to calm down and shit. Then we settle in and man.. the match is honestly good. Knowing the outcome and how disappointing it is took away any real drama for me. They also didn’t do anything too nuts, but they did do just enough for me think it was more than just a decent match. Sammy hit an insane springboard 450 splash to the floor, Cody powerbombed Sammy into the crowd, great spots all around and the near falls at the end had the crowd going. Cody wins with the Tiger Driver to become the first three time TNT champion in company history. He has some sort of heroic celebration with all his family and friends while the crowd boos the shit out of him.. I hope they have a plan for this because if not this is some WWE shit for real.
WWE Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas (since 2/6/03)
WWE Cruserweight Champion: Matt Hardy (since 2/23/03)
Commentators: Michael Cole & Tazz
Video package highlighting the #1 contenders tournament from the past few weeks. Tonight, we have the finals in the form of John Cena vs. Chris Benoit to determine who will challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at Backlash in two weeks.
1) Rey Mysterio & Tajiri vs. The Big Show & A-Train
1) Adam Cole, The Young Bucks, & Bobby Fish vs. Chuck Taylor, Trent, Orange Cassidy, & Rocky Romero
I love love love love trios and atomicos matches so hell yeah on this happening. Lots of different stories and issues foiled into this one little match. Rocky & Fish hooking up was cool, but the best part early was Orange hitting his flurry on Cole, the place coming unglued and The Elite/Superkliq nailing him with a gang attack during the middle of it. Good ass shit. This begins a small heat segment with Orange being the face in peril. Naturally.. good shit. Trent gets the hot tag and we get some tandem moves from him & Chuck that we haven’t seen in a while like the soul food-half & half combo. Not to mention, some RPG Vice shit from Trent & Rocky. Shit breaks down from here. Some good near falls between Fish & Trent. The Bucks go nuts and Orange gets his shit in before Trent pins Fish with the CRUNCHIE. This was a blast.
Match rating - ***1/4
We return from commercial and Dan Lambert is in the ring. He’s with Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky per usual. He lays into Tony Khan saying he’s began playing politics and doing everything he promised initially that he wouldn’t. He goes after Cody next and Cody comes out. He snatches the mic from Lambert so Lambert snatches it back. They do this over and over before Cody gets pissed and a brawl breaks out. Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara make the save for Cody when the numbers get to him. Sammy shares an awkward stare at Cody & Dustin after the heels leave the ring. Sammy and Cody face for the TNT Title this coming Wednesday on Dynamite.
2) Tay Conti (w/ Anna Jay) vs. Penelope Ford (w/ The Bunny) - Submission Match
This was ok. It didn’t get much time to develop into a lot, but what they did was solid. Tay looked awesome as always as of late. From her selling to her offense, everything from her ruled. She wins after a couple minutes and yeah. That’s all for this one.
Match rating - **1/4
The card for next week’s Dynamite is announced and is as follows:
Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy
Malakai Black vs. Griff Garrison
Christmas Party w/ Britt Baker & Tony Schiavone
FTR/MJF vs. Darby/Sting/Punk
PLUS Rampage next week will feature HOOK facing Bear Bronson and Cody Rhodes challenging Sammy Guevara for the TNT Title.
3) Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rey Fenix, Santana, & Ortiz vs. Daniel Garcia, 2.0, & The Acclaimed
Eh. This was kind of a cluster fuck. As I honestly pretty much expected. There was no need for the Lucha Bros or The Acclaimed to be here, if you wanted them involved just throw it on Dark. For TV, this would’ve been much more effective as a trios match with King & Lucha Bros vs. Dan & 2.0 instead we get unnecessary filler and the only truly great bits are from Dan & King although Santana & Ortiz and 2.0 did do some fun stuff also. Dan Garcia gets the flash roll up on King to win.
Match rating - **1/2
Heels beat down the faces after the match. Jungle Boy, Christian Cage, & Luchasaurus make the awesome save. JB & Lucha stare down the Lucha Bros teasing the tag title match that we are expecting to get soon. This closes the show.
After the show went off air, I went live on YouTube with Mike, Courtland, and Zach to give our immediate thoughts PLUS Mike opens a pro wrestling crate package live to kick off the stream! Check it out below:
Thanks for reading and watching. See y’all next week <3
1) “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Bryan Danielson - AEW World Title Match
I’m having to take a deep breath before writing this. How to even tackle covering a spectacle such as this? What do I even rate this? It’s hard to think when you just took one of the most insane rollercoaster rides in recent wrestling memory. I guess I’ll start at the beginning, when this popped up as the opener for the show, I literally rose to my feet. An immediate sign that my investment in this match was even more than I anticipated. To begin, they work a very slow and deliberate pace. A pace similar to the Page/Omega match at Full Gear, but despite that moment undoubtedly being the most fulfilling of the year, as a match this built to so much more. The first 30 minutes flew by. Danielson works the legs, but mainly targets the mid section of Hangman. Page going for and missing moonsaults only added to the emphasis Dragon put on the mid section. Things begin picking up around 25-30 minutes in and just when I thought we were going toward a finishing run, a scuffle on the outside leads to Page getting split open by a post shot reminiscent of how Danielson busted Nigel McGuinness open back in one of their epic Ring of Honor clashes. What a callback to show the state that Dragon is in and what a moment to place perfectly right in the middle of this match. It gave us the break we needed to almost reset how this match was going to go. My Up & Over Podcast and friend/contributor to the blog, Mike, watches on FITE and says this came off a lot more awkward for him considering he had no commercials and it felt like a lot of stalling during some of the breaks. This is something I can’t comment on due to watching on regular TV with commercials, BUT something to consider and re-watch. None the less, I loved where we went from here. The first half of this was pure wrestling and the match was fine in that realm because Danielson is fantastic at the little things like accentuating how lightly he takes Page. Shit, he spent the first ten minutes basically playing with him. But yeah, the final 30 of this match saw it grow from a match to a fight with the blood of Hangman really sending this to the next level as Danielson threw closed fists into the head causing the blood to gush further, especially when he boots his head against the turnbuckle at one point and the camera got the PERFECT shot of it, too. By the time, the final quarter rolls around, we are in the midst of a barnburner. Page has clearly been outwrestled by Danielson and all of his normal moves and tricks have not worked. Danielson has weakened the arm for the buckshot, he’s went to work on the mid section and weakened his stamina, something that was only furthered by missed moonsaults and a dive to the outside through a table. And most of all, Danielson has beaten up the champion with no remorse. However, what holds all of this together is the same reason I think people love Hangman so much. His will, his determination and his desire to remain our champion. This makes the desperation finishing run from him so fucking epic. From the moment he finally nails Danielson with a lariat despite all the work on the arm and the pain coursing through it to the struggle on the mat as Danielson tried to hold Page in the labelle lock long enough for a submission win, this was breathtaking. Some don’t like the idea of Page’s first defense being a draw, but I do. We are seeing Hangman Page grow, yet again, and become one of the best wrestlers in the world. He’s already the sympathetic babyface, but with matches like this, he’s gonna become so much more. What a performance. This one will be talked about for decades to come. They had myself and the crowd glued to the action from bell to bell and that is an astonishing feat for TV wrestling in 2021. Unbelievable. So, yeah, this rating may change as I need to watch it with fresh eyes and I'm doing my best of 2021 re-watch soon, but for now it sits at 4.75.
Match rating - ****3/4
Backstage, Super Kliq & Bobby Fish are here. Adam Cole has a gift for them next week… hmmm..
2) Wardlow (w/ Shawn Spears) vs. Matt Sydal
Wardlow squash YEAH BABY. Shawn Spears tells him to finish it after one powerbomb but Wardlow likes to do more. Spears then says MJF called him and he needs Wardlow to go get him champagne for his celebration later after he wins the main event.. I sense this Wardlow turn starting to build.
Match rating - *3/4
Tay Conti / Penelope Ford pre-tape promo airs. Great job by both. They clash in a submission match on Friday on Rampage.
Malakai Black pre-tape and I loved this one. I’m hit or miss on him and these videos, but this one was a cool and he seemingly teased Brody King as he crowned a new member.. the first member of the House of Black and whispered in his ear.. “Now you’re so much more than a king.”
3) Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb
Hey! Hell yea! Crowd is burnt which is unfortunate for these ladies, but they worked their asses off and were able to get the audience into it by the end. Shida has been showing a lot more aggression lately and did so here as she threw her kendo stick at Deeb before the bell. Shida charges Deeb and this felt like a real fight from the jump. They work a really good match that benefits from all the backstory between them. Part of me wishes they had a better crowd for it, but truthfully, this women’s division is still in the building stages and I doubt this would’ve gotten THAT much more of a reaction in front of a fresh crowd. However, little bangers like this definitely help build that investment, I think.
Match rating - ***1/4
Griff Garrison says he will bring the fight to Malakai Black. He & Pillman Jr argue because Pillman thinks he shouldn’t pick this fight. Griff insists though and says next week.. he will break Malakai’s jaw.
4) MJF vs. Dante Martin - Dynamite Diamond Match
Another fantastic showing from Dante in a big match scenario. He hasn’t missed at all this year and didn’t here. MJF did his thing as usual, but when Dante is in the ring in the year 2021, it’s gonna be hard to do something to top him and take the spotlight off him. His comeback here rocked as he hit so much insane shit and it was just a blast as always because he’s such a fresh, unique flyer. Of course, he falls to a screwy finish and MJF wins the Diamond for the third year in a row.
Match rating - ***
After the match, FTR & MJF beat down Dante. The lights go out and ITS STIIIING and Darby Allin. This still isn’t enough backup and the crowd starts chanting for CM Punk and that’s exactly what they get! Awesome save from Punk in a PRO CHOICE SHIRT IN TEXAS !!! Yes !!! But yeah! This sets up the big trios main event for Greensboro next week in the form of Punk/Darby/Sting vs. FTR & MJF. I can’t think of a more perfect main event for that show! Goodnight y’all.
Also, if you missed it, we did a live recap and review stream of this show after it went off air, check it out below and make sure to subscribe to the Pro Wrestling Truth YouTube channel:
World Heavyweight Champion: Triple H (since 12/15/02)
World Tag Team Champions: Rob Van Dam & Kane (since 3/31/03)
WWE Women's Champion: Trish Stratus (since 3/30/03)
Commentators: Jerry "The King Lawler & Jim Ross
~VINTAGE OPENING VID~
Oh fuck Kevin Nash is opening the show! Let’s go!!! He gets an awesome ovation. Nash is pissed that while he was out, Triple H and Shawn Michaels turned on one another and when he returned last week, he was right in the middle of it. He says they’re all supposed to be friends and it shouldn’t be like this. Before Nash can finish, Triple H comes out and they… hug? It doesn’t last long. H says he’s happy to see him, but things are different and he’d assume to slap Shawn in the face rather than shake his hand. HBK IS HERE AND HE IS RILED UP. HE WANTS H TO SLAP HIM AND HE SAYS H IS RIGHT THEY WILL NEVER BURY THE HATCHER. Nash starts high pitching yelling and says he didn’t come back for this shit. H says Nash is in a tough spot, but he has to make a choice - it’s him or Shawn. H goes on an in depth explanation of why he should side with him and not Shawn, ending with H saying to remember that the biggest success either of them ever saw came when they walked away from Shawn.
WWE Tag Team Champions: Shelton Benjamin & Charlie Haas (since 2/6/03)
WWE Cruserweight Champion: Matt Hardy (since 2/23/03)
Commentators - Michael Cole & Tazz
EARLIER TONIGHT: THE NEW WWE CHAMPION BROCK LESNAR is BACK!!! He is shaking the hands of people backstage including CM Punk, Jamie Noble, Ken Anderson and others. What a wild scene. He then signs some woman’s boobs. What a champ. He faces Matt Hardy tonight!!
Also tonight: CENA vs TAKER and RHYNO vs BENOIT in tournament action!
They seem to be rushing into things production wise as we head straight to the ring as Excalibur is talking 1,000mph.
1) Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) (c) vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) - AEW World Tag Team Title Match
I’ve not been the biggest fan of this feud, and subsequently, I never look forward to their matches. I think it’s because of how much I didn’t enjoy the Full Gear match, but every match after has ruled. This was no exception and is definitely my favorite match of the entire Death Triangle/FTR feud. It was so much better paced than the Full Gear match and the false finishes were placed perfectly to the point that they felt super believable. There were some rough patches of miscommunication, but the flow of things was so much better than their prior match at Full Gear that I can’t help but still rate it higher because they actually had me completely invested in this one. Penta & Fenix retain after a thrilling match.
Match rating - ***1/2
2) Ruby Soho, Tay Conti, & Anna Jay vs. Nyla Rose, The Bunny, & Penelope Ford
I love these women’s tags and trios that AEW has been doing. It’s much easier to play toward each woman’s strengths and that means a lot when you have so much green talent in the division. There were some rocky moments here or there, but they largely held this together and I loved the formula they went for here with the faces in peril and hot tag choices. Really just a blast. Nyla gets the win off a brass knuckle shot from Bunny to Anna.
Match rating - **1/2
Backstage, Tony Schiavone is with Sting & Darby Allin. Tony starts talking about Sting’s history in Greensboro, NC and the upcoming Dynamite there in January. Before he can really comment, FTR jumps them and Tully kicks Sting in the nuts.
3) Hook vs. Fuego Del Sol
HOOK HAS AN ACTION BRONSON THEME SONG. It’s Hook’s debut match. This had a lot to live up to considering how hype people have been for Hook and it undoubtedly delivered. Hook looked just about flawless and Fuego was a perfect first opponent. You got some spots where Hook’s inexperience almost cost him like on the roll up spot, those little things rocked. The most important part is that we got to see what Hook was made of and we all loved it. HOOK.
Match rating - ***
4) Adam Cole vs. Wheeler Yuta
Happy to see Yuta getting this match. It’s not a full on squash, more like an extended with one and I’m very happy with that. Cole doesn’t deserve to be taken to the limit by Yuta, but Yuta doesn’t deserve to be completely squashed either. So best of both worlds, here. Some nice exchanges down the stretch before Cole gets the victory.
Match rating - **3/4
After the match, great beatdown by the Superkliq/Elite. BTE trigger to Trent and a kick to the nuts to Orange after Cole faked him out by teasing a Panama Sunrise which was hilarious.
That’s all for this week, make sure to check out myself, Mike, Courtland, and Zach’s Rampage instant reaction show from last night, it’s embedded at the top of this review. Also be sure to follow @ThePWTruth and @UpAndOverPod on Twitter! Thanks for reading, see y’all next time <3
CM Punk opens the show, but not in the fashion you’d expect. MJf’s music hits and his hometown crowd loses their mind… only for CM Punk to walk up through the tunnel. This set the stage for one of the most odd, but interesting promos since Punk joined the company. The crowd largely booed Punk and I don’t think he even anticipated them to be that partisan toward MJF considering he IS the heel in the program and has been the antagonist the entirety of his AEW career. But they were partisan and not ashamed of it, either. Punk almost seems taken aback and repeats a line about the Islander’s a couple of times, but he does lean deeper towards villainous Punk and that alone is cool! He closes by calling the crowd chicken shits then leaving LMAO. I enjoyed this more than last week’s garbage so hell yea.
Commentary - Excalibur, Tony Schiavone, and various guests
Jim Ross is out for a few weeks so we will have various guests filling in on commentary beginning with AEW World Champ Hangman Adam Page!!
1) Bryan Danielson vs. Alan Angels
God damn right. First things first, I’m a big Kenny Omega fan, but I was not a fan at all of his matches with Alan Angels. This, however? This fucking rocked. Danielson just knows how to work every match in a way that makes sense. The Omega/Angels matches were largely just movefests and I never bit on any of it. Here, Danielson works this at just the perfect pace that some of the near falls are actually SLIIIGHTLY believable. Barely, but enough to make me say oh shit that was cool that was almost the finish! So, yeah. The Dragon continues to reign supreme.
Commentators - Excalibur, Taz, Ricky Starks & Thunder Rosa
1) Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Tony Nese - TNT Title Match
A lot of people probably anticipate my review of this match, but truthfully there’s nothing wrong with it. That’s the thing about Tony Nese, there’s not anything offensive or outwardly bad about much of what he does. The issue is there’s also nothing to write home or frankly, to care about. No need to harp on it, however. Because this isn’t something that keeps me up at night, it’s just the way it is viewed through my eyes. It also needed to be mentioned to further explain how I felt about this. So yeah, Sammy did cool stuff and Nese did stuff, too. Sammy’s was just cooler and meant more because he has so much more depth. Sammy retains, as expected.
Match rating - **1/2
Christian is backstage with Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus. They will be watching the FTR/PAC & Penta match closely in prep for Jurassic Express getting their shot at the titles.
2) Jade Cargill vs. Janai Kai
HEY ! JANAI KAI ! Well, nice seeing her for a second before she eats the pin I guess. SQUASH for Jade and Thunder Rosa runs down post match and we get a below average pull apart between the two to try to hype their semi finals match in the TBS Title Tournament coming up next week? Or sometime soon.
The Young Bucks & Adam Cole are backstage. The Bucks return to tag team action on Dynamite and want two of the Best Friends to show up and face them. Nick calls Brandon Cutler a “stupid dumbass” and cuts the camera.
Eddie Kingston is on some stairs and says 2.0 will reap what they sow PATNA.
Bryan Danielson/John Silver video package and BABY IM SO READY FOR THIS. They are gonna tear the damn roof off.
Next week on Dynamite it’s Jamie Hayter/Riho, Young Bucks/Chuck Taylor & Rocky Romero + more!
3) PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo vs. FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard)
The pre-match interview turns into chaos and Mark Henry has to yell to someone shit down. This was supposed to be Lucha Bros defending the tag titles, but apparently Fenix is hurt so PAC is subbing in. Bell rings and great flurries from PAC & Penta to start doing their flashy and schtick stuff, respectively til we SETTLE RIGHT IN TO AN FTR STYLE CONTEST DADDY. And it’s great, honestly. Amazing southern heel tag work from FTR. Cutting off the ring, breaking up tag attempts. They build to the Penta hot tag phenomenally well and it RULES. The work here is a blast, but the eye patch shit is just goofy and the fact that it played into the finish took away from this as a whole for me. Malakai Black came down and sprayed PAC in the eyes again and FTR gets the win.
