 Action Andretti Saved Ricky Starks From Jericho Appreciation SocietyI don't say this about most stuff involving Jericho Appreciation Society, but I loved everything about this segment. Starks addressed his loss to MJF last week and was interrupted by Chris Jericho, who he had a great exchange with on the mic. That led to Starks challenging Jericho to a match on the January 4th Dynamite, Jericho Appreciation Society attempting to attack him, and Andretti making the save. I'm glad Andretti appeared coming off his big win over Jericho last week and wasn't simply forgotten about. I'm down for Starks vs. Jericho program provided Starks goes over in the end. The Elite (Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks) def. AEW World Trios Champions Death Triangle in a No Disqualification Match No. 5 in the Best-of-7 SeriesI haven't been the biggest fan of the Best-of-7 Series so far because a lot of the matches have felt the same (though I appreciate them attempting to tell a different story in each installment), though I enjoyed this one more than most of the others because of the stipulation. The overreliance on the hammer stuff has gotten redundant, but the rest of this was fun. The Elite winning was a foregone conclusion, and now both trios will face off in a Falls Count Anywhere match next week. "All Ego" Ethan Page and Stokley Hathaway Interrupted Bryan DanielsonDanielson was interviewed by Renee Paquette in the ring and addressed MJF attacking William Regal a few weeks ago. The Firm bores me to tears, but to his credit, Page draws a ton of heat and I thought he cut a nice promo here. This effectively set up a match between the two for next week's Dynamite. Danielson will obviously win (as he should), but it helps kill time before Danielson likely challenges MJF for the AEW World Championship at Revolution, which isn't until early March. FTW Champion Hook def. Exodus Prime (Non-Title)We've barely seen Hook in action on AEW TV in recent months, so hopefully this feud with him and Jack Perry taking on The Firm's Lee Moriarty and Big Bill (still a dumb name) helps with that. This was the usual straightforward squash from Hook. Post-match, The Firm were shown beating up Perry in the back, so expect for that tag team match to go down in the next few weeks. We still have no idea why Hook would want to align with Perry, but at least the guy is being featured again. Jon Moxley def. Darius MartinI believe this marked the first singles match Darius has had on AEW TV. The outcome was never in doubt and this didn't serve much of a purpose other than to give Moxley another win, but I thought they had a well-worked match with Darius looking credible in defeat. I know they'll both be in this $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Battle Royale (what a damn mouthful) coming up on Rampage, which sounds like a total mess. The Gunns def. IWGP/AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR (IWGP Tag Team Championship and AAA World Tag Team Championship Were Not Defended)I realize AEW is desperately trying to make The Gunns a thing, but they don't do much for me, personally. Them beating a team the caliber of FTR definitely lends them some credibility, but I feel like there's more value in running with FTR instead of having them embark on a losing streak. This was a good television match and The Gunns cheating to win sets up an eventual match, but I continue to get the feeling AEW is having everyone beat FTR before their possible exit in the spring. Swerve Strickland Issued an Assault on Keith LeeLee and Strickland have been teasing tension for months, so it's about damn time they solidified their split. That said, I thought the execution of this angle was lame. Rick Ross turning on Lee was supposed to be a big swerve apparently, but no one in the audience cared. They cared even less when Parker Boudreaux and that other dude showed up to attack Lee. I guess this means Strickland has a new faction, but it's clearly not off to the most stellar start. He needs Hit Row and Hit Row needs him. Sadly, that's not going to happen. AEW Women's World Champion Jamie Hayter def. Hikaru ShidaI knew this would be well wrestled coming into the show because of who was involved, but I didn't know they'd go all out the way they did and be slotted in the main event. This was one of the best women's matches I've seen in AEW all year. I didn't think Shida had a chance in hell of winning, but some of those nearfalls were pretty close and they convinced the crowd a few different times the championship could change hands. Hopefully Tony Khan will put the women in the main event more often going forward (when it makes sense so it doesn't feel forced). Overall ShowThe show started strong enough with the opening segment followed by Elite vs. Death Triangle (which was one of their better installments yet), but it slowly lost my interest as the night went on aside from the excellent main event. The quality was inconsistent, but it averaged out to a solid show. I appreciate that they've set up several matches for the next three editions of Dynamite.
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