AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash Review - December 18, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW TBS Champion and NJPW Strong Women's Champion Mercedes Mone def. Anna Jay (NJPW Strong Women's Championship Was Not Defended)

Jay hasn't won too many important matches this year (she lost to Mariah May twice when the AEW Women's World Championship was on the line), but 2024 has to be the best in-ring year career she's ever had. She's put in the effort and improved immensely. I don't think the outcome was in doubt here, but she and Mone had a quality contest, regardless. Kris Statlander watching from the back indicates she'll likely be getting another shot after losing to Mone at Full Gear.

Adam Cole Attacked MJF

Maybe it was just me, but I thought MJF's material here was bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. Yes, he generated a reaction from the crowd, but he's cut much better promos in his time in AEW. I can certainly tell you that it did nothing to get me more excited for his match with Cole at Worlds End. Matt Taven and Mike Bennett helping out Cole here all but confirms they're going to turn on him, potentially as soon as the pay-per-view.

The Patriarchy (Nick Wayne and Christian Cage) def. Katsuyori Shibata and Hook

As I've said before, Hook's feud with The Patriarchy has done very little for me, personally. It makes sense to pair Hook with someone as experienced as Christian (though his program with Chris Jericho was a total waste of time), but this has been progressing at a snail's pace. This was a solid match before Hook faces Wayne one-on-one, I believe on next week's Dynamite.

The Hurt Syndicate Denied Ricochet

This unintentionally hilarious. Hurt Syndicate have been nothing but cool since debuting in AEW, while Ricochet has been the exact opposite. He's obviously an amazing athlete and has had some great matches so far, but he's somehow had more anti-charisma than he did in WWE. Obviously, this was done by design to push Ricochet's heel turn forward and I'm in full favor of him heading in that direction, but I am skeptical it will work out in the long run if they continue to portray him like a loser.

Shelton Benjamin def. The Beast Mortos in a Continental Classic Blue League Match

Benjamin stuck around in the ring after the last segment for this match. Benjamin has been killing it in AEW, but honestly, this belonged on Rampage or Collision. I simply do not care about Mortos being in the Continental Classic because he hasn't won anything, making all of his matches predictable regardless of how good they might be. That was the case here as well. Daniel Garcia and Mark Briscoe attempted to make the save for Mortos afterward but were also laid out. That served as nice hype for Garcia vs. Benjamin on Saturday's Collision.

Darby Allin def. Will Ospreay in a Continental Classic Gold League Match

The Continental Classic has produced some kickass matches in the last few weeks, but this very well may have been the best of the bunch. This first-time-ever encounter more than lived up to the hype and had a hot crowd to boot. I assumed Ospreay would win, so Allin going over instead was a genuine surprise. I can't wait for these two to run it back at some point because they have wonderful chemistry together.

The Death Riders (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and AEW World Trios Champions Wheeler Yuta and Pac) def. Orange Cassidy, Jay White and "Hangman" Adam Page

I know Cassidy, White and Page are set to challenge Moxley for the AEW World Championship at Worlds End and that this was a logical match to do on paper, but it was one of those typical WWE main events where the main question was whether they could coexist and the answer was no. This was well wrestled, but the execution of the finish with Page and White bickering while Moxley rolled up Cassidy (who has done nothing to earn another opportunity at the title, mind you) was completely ridiculous. The Death Riders angle isn't interesting to me at all.

Overall Show

This was one of the most electric crowds Dynamite has had in recent memory and they really enhanced my enjoyment of the episode. AEW needs to be running smaller arenas more often. On the whole, this was a mixed bag of a show. I wasn't fond of the booking in the main event, the segment with MJF and Cole was underwhelming and Ricochet had a bad night, but I liked the opener and the Continental Classic matches delivered. Definitely make time for Ospreay vs. Allin more than anything else.

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