AEW Dynamite
New Year’s Smash
Episode 117
#AEWDynamite
Original Air Date: December 29, 2021
Event Date: December 29, 2021
(aired live on TNT)
City: Jacksnoville, FL
Venue: Daily’s Place
Commentary: Excalibur, Jim Ross, Tony Schiavone
Ring Announcer: Justin Roberts
Intro Video
“Dynamite” by No One Hero
Ring Area
Jim Ross is welcomed back to AEW Dynamite.
Match 1
Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus & Christian Cage & Lucha Bros. (AEW Tag Champs) w/ Alex Abrahantes vs Matt Hardy & Private Party & FTR (AAA Tag Champs) w/ Tully Blanchard, Jora Johl, The Blade
(referee: Aubrey Edwards)
Result: Dax Harwood pins Christian Cage after Big Rig (with Cash Wheeler)
Time: 12:34
Match Thoughts
A very fun match. Jungle Boy and Christian took turns in the early part of the match for their team, which eventually led to Jungle Boy getting isolated by their opponents. As a team, Jungle Boy’s side didn’t always work so well. Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Christian all had good individual efforts, and the Lucha Bros. worked well with each other, but disagreements between Penta and Christian led to some tough situations. The other team, despite being made up of two different factions (The Pinnacle and Hardy Family Office) worked well as a complete unit. That gave them big advantages in the bigger picture even if they did lose a bunch of individual battles.
Match 2
Daniel Garcia & 2point0 vs Eddie Kingston & Santana & Ortiz
(referee: Rick Knox)
Result: Matt Lee pins Santana with a school boy rollup (and a handful of trunks)
Time: 9:02
Match Thoughts
Good match. Eddie Kingston just wanted to fight Garcia, which, for the most part, made Kingston a non-factor in trying to win the match. Kingston repeatedly went after Garcia, and Garcia and 2point0 were able to use Kingston’s anger to their advantage by distracting the referee and hitting Santana and Ortiz with multi-man offense. The finish of the match also came under dubious circumstances, meaning this feud is definitely going to continue.
Ring Area
After the match, Garcia and 2point0 attack Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz. After a few seconds, Chris Jericho runs out swinging Floyd the baseball bat. Garcia and 2point0 flee. Kingston calls for Jericho’s music to be stopped, because Kingston wants to know what Jericho is doing here. Kingston didn’t want Jericho’s help, and he says that Santana and Oritz are HIS friends.
Backstage
MJF (with Shawn Spears and Wardlow) talks about unsafe working conditions (as in, Sting throwing him over the top rope). MJF also tells Wardlow that he wants Wardlow to win the Face of the Revolution match, which MJF then expects Wardlow to relinquish to him. Shawn Spears brings in Mark Sterling to read Wardlow’s contract, saying that whatever Wardlow wins is property of MJF.
Backstage
Tony Schiavone asks the Lucha Bros. and Alex Abrahantes about the miscommunication in the opening match tonight. Christian Cage and Jurassic Express interrupt. Christian is angry, and he wants Lucha Bros. to put up their tag titles next week. Penta insults Christian, and Rey Fenix accepts Christian’s challenge.
Match 3
Wardlow w/ Shawn Spears vs Colin Delaney
(referee: Bryce Remsburg)
Result: Wardlow wins via pinfall after four powerbombs
Time: 1:24
Match Thoughts
Powerbomb Symphony. That’s all.
Ring Area
After the match, Shawn Sears attacks Colin Delaney with a chair.
Backstage
Adam Cole is excited. He thinks himself, the Young Bucks, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish will go down as the greatest group in history. The Bucks aren’t happy about the situation, and neither are O’Reilly and Fish. O’Reilly wants to talk to Cole alone, so the Bucks and Fish leave. O’Reilly says he and Cole and have unfinished bunsiness (from another company), and tonight he’ll find out if Cole truly has his back.
Ring Area
Dan Lambert and the Men of the Year are in the ring. Lambert calls Cody Rhodes a “whore” and says the only women he’s ever known named Brandi were all strippers. He continues by saying Cody’s “Transformer logo” on his neck looks stupid. Brandi Rhodes comes out and shuts Lambert down by calling him, smong other things, a less talaneted version of Paul Heyman. Lambert and Brandi get into a war of words, with Brandi threatening to beat up Lambert. The tow of them get ready to fight, but Dustin Rhodes comes out to intervene. Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page attack Dustin before leaving the ring with Lambert.
Video
A look at the rivalry between Adam Page and Bryan Danielson leadin up to their title rematch next week.
Match 4
TBS Championship Tournament Semifinal Match
Jade Cargill w/ “Smart” Mark Sterling vs Thunder Rosa
(referee: Paul Turner)
Result: Jade Cargill wins via pinfall after Jaded (and after Thunder Rosa is hit in the head by Mercedes Martinez), Jade Cargill advance to the finals of the TBS Championship Tournament
Time: 11:00
Match Thoughts
Good match. Thunder Rosa looked better throughout the bout, and she had a good game plan. Rosa focused almost exclusively on Jade’s left thigh, trying to know it up and hobble the bigger woman. By doing that, Rosa also damaged Jade’s left knee. Unfortunately for Rosa, Jadeand Mark Sterling had a plan of their own in the form of a masked assailant that showed up at ringisde late in the match.
Ring Area
After the match, Jade Cargill and the masked assailant attack Thunder Rosa. The masked person reveals herself to be Mercedes Martinez. After a few more seconds, Ruby Soho runs out to chase away Cargill, Martinez, and Sterling.
Video
A quick look at clips of Kris Statlander and Leyla Hirsch possibly losing their friendship after their match against each other last week.
Video
Britt Baker is pissed off that Riho has a championship match against her.
Ring Area
CM Punk heads to the ring. Punk starts by saying how awesome it is to see Jim Ross back at work. Continuing, Punk says that being in Daily’s Place for the first time gets him to thinking about Brodie Lee. Seeing AEW’s tribute to the great Brodie Lee made him want to come to Daily’s Place and AEW.
Punk then calls MJF a Twitter troll in the flesh. MJF talks big, but he won’t say the same thing to someone’s face. MJF ran from Punk last week, and Punk says that if MJF is done with Punk like he says he is, that’s fine. If MJF is scared, Punk won’t bother with him. Punk is headed toward bigger and better things. Punk wants to be champ, and MJF is a waste of his time. Punk is sure he’ll see MJF in the ring again at some point, and it’d be a shame if someone interfered with MJF’s own quest for gold.
Video
Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs welcome Jim Ross back to commentary, mostly because that frees up Taz to continue to mentor Hook into becoming an even bigger beast of a wrestler. Starksthen talks about Dante Martin, saying he interfered with Martin’s chances at winning the Dynamite Diamond ring because Martin interfered with Starks’ chances. Hobbs then reminds Martin about what happened the last time the two of them stepped into the ring together.
Ring Area
Sammy Guevara has signs for the picture-in-picture commercial break. Guevara lists his accolades as TNT Champion, and he says his New Years resolution is to beat Cody Rhodes and win back the TNT Title.
Video
Hikaru Shida tells Serena Deeb to stop whining about losing in their last match (especially because Deeb got what she deserved). If Deeb wants a rematch, just ask for one. Shida is ready to beat Deeb again.
Ring Area
Tony Schiavone is in the ring with Brian Pillman Jr. Pillman talks about how Malakai Black tried to end his “brother” Griff Garrison’s career. Pillman isn’t happy about Black’s “cheap shot” on him when he ran in to protect Garrison, but that’s fine. It’s now Pillman’s turn to take a trip to the House of Black. Next week, Black will see a new Brian Pillman Jr.
The lights go out in the building, and Malakai Black appears on the stage. The lights go out again, and Black is gone (though we can briefly see his legs as he walks away in the entrance tunnel).
Video
Max Caster and Anthony Bowens aren’t happy about not being a ranked tag team.
Video
Sting says he treats every match like a main event, and Darby Allin says he’s always ready for a fight (specifically, taking on Anthony Bowens this Friday).
Video
A quick look at the rivalry leading to this Friday’s street fight between Anna Jay & Tay Conti versus Penelope Ford & The Bunny.
Match 5
Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish & Adam Cole vs “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy & Best Friends
(referee: Bryce Remsburg)
Result: Kyle O’Reilly pins Chuck Taylor after Chasing the Dragon (with Bobby Fish, and after superkicks to Trent and Chuck from the Young Bucks)
Time: 14:44
Match Thoughts
Great match. Though both teams worked well as three-man units, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy worked better together. Towards the end of the match, Cole and reDRagon got completely overwhelmed by the tandem offense and extended sequences from Trent, Chuck, and Orange. The action was really great throughout. However, the biggest story coming out of the match was that O’Reilly accidentally hit Cole. The Young Bucks (and Brandon Cutler) came out to help O’Reilly and Fish finish off Best Friends, but Nick and Matt Jackson immediately went over to Cole where they basically took him away while blaming O’Reilly for nearly losing the match. What I liked about it is that the storytelling didn’t overwhelm the rest of the match. The action came first and the story came second, and both were well done.
Show Impressions
This was an okay show. The main event was absolutely worth watching, but for the last episode of Dynamite on TNT, the rest of the show felt a bit underwhelming. There good parts of the show, but the whole night felt a bit uneven. I think the biggest part of that is there was an extended period of talking, videos, and promos, before the main event, and it killed a lot of the show’s momentum.
Match of the Night
Adam Cole & reDRagon vs Orange Cassidy & Best Friends
More of this matchup, please.