AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash Review - December 29, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR and The H.F.O. (Matt Hardy and Private Party) def. Christian Cage, Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) and AEW World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers

The ultimate endgame of this match was to build to Lucha Brothers vs. Jurassic Express for the AEW World Championship. It was teased recently on Rampage and it was eventually announced later in the night for next week's show. They told the story of whether they could coexist and it was as silly as when WWE does it. It was entertaining from an in-ring standpoint and everyone had their time to shine, but AEW really needs to cool it with these multi-man matches because they no longer feel special and haven't in a long time. I don't see the heels benefiting from this win much and I surprised to see Christian take the losing fall given how protected he's been this year.

Daniel Garcia and 2point0 def. Eddie Kingston, Santana and Ortiz

I've complained in the past that Garcia and 2point0 never win whenever it matters most, but this was the second multi-man tag team match they've won in the last few weeks, so that's a solid step in the right direction. The match itself was well wrestled, but it didn't reach the same level as the opener. Chris Jericho returning afterward following a month-long absence was more notable. Like I said at the time, I really don't care to see a Jericho and Kingston program. For all the awesome work he's done this year, Kingston deserves better than that. Speaking of deserving better, Santana and Ortiz need to get the hell out of Inner Circle and go back to doing their own thing.

Wardlow def. Colin Delaney

AEW is really ramping up these Wardlow squashes on Dynamite, aren't they? Wardlow once again teased tension with The Pinnacle in a backstage segment beforehand, so his big babyface turn appears to be on the horizon. I've always said that AEW should wait to pull the trigger on the turn until after MJF wins the AEW World Championship, but I don't expect that to happen until Double or Nothing and it sure feels like Wardlow will break away from them before then. If not that, then they might be building him up for a shot at either the AEW World Championship or the AEW TNT Championship. Either way, he continued his dominant streak here with another decisive win over longtime loser Colin Delaney.

Brandi Rhodes Interrupted Dan Lambert and Men of the Year

This was all over the place and an absolute mess of a segment. This is nothing new, but Lambert serves zero purpose at this point other than giving desperate heat to a team that shouldn't be a team anymore. It's a tired act, similar to Cody nowadays. The whole "I'm a heel without actually being a heel" shtick is lame, or at least in my opinion. Thus, putting all of these people together (including Brandi, who this crowd clearly didn't want to see when she originally appeared) makes for an awful feud. I truly couldn't care less about Cody defending against Ethan Page on Friday's Rampage.

Jade Cargill def. Thunder Rosa in an AEW TBS Women's Championship Tournament Semifinal Match

Needless to say, this was Cargill's best bout to date in AEW. That isn't saying much since she's largely only been involved in short squashes up to this point, but that isn't to take away from her impressive performance here. She held her own against a top talent and she'll benefit from working with more people like that going forward, including Ruby Soho next week. They made the most of their time and Cargill advancing to the finals was the right outcome. I assumed Rebel or Jamie Hayter interfered to cost Rosa the win and transition her into a rivalry with Britt Baker, so Mercedes Martinez being the one revealed under the mask was a cool surprise. I was shocked AEW didn't sign her sooner (or in 2019 when she was a free agent prior to going to WWE), but it's better late than never. She'll be an excellent addition to the roster no doubt.

CM Punk Addressed MJF

Punk definitely wanted you to believe with his promo here that his bad blood with MJF is over, but we all know that's far from the case. Punk will try to chase the gold only for MJF to thwart his efforts. Regardless, this was a quality promo from Punk. It wasn't anything groundbreaking, but it's always a treat to hear him speak from the heart. He addressed Jim Ross' return to the commentary booth, brought up Brodie Lee's tribute show from almost exactly one year ago, and announced his intentions to challenge for the top title. The crowd ate it up and that was it. You don't always have to reinvent the wheel, so I was fine with this.

Brian Pillman Jr. Challenged Malakai Black

Much like how AEW did two multi-man tag team matches back-to-back earlier in the evening, I wouldn't have followed one talking segment with another. Who formatted this show and who thought that was a good idea? I'm probably in the minority on that one. Nonetheless, this was a nice, fiery promo from Pillman. AEW really dropped the ball by not following up his feud with MJF in September with anything substantial, but this is a good spot for him to impress in defeat. Will next week be where Brody King debuts to set up The House of Black vs. Varsity Blonds?

Adam Cole and reDRagon def. Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent and Chuck Taylor)

As entertaining as this was, it would have packed more of a punch if we didn't already have a 10-man tag team match and another six-man tag team match earlier in the show. Most of them follow the same chaotic formula, so I can totally understand not all fans being into them, especially when AEW does so many in one night. On the bright side, the former Undisputed Era didn't do nearly as much comedy as Cole has with The Young Bucks in past matches, so here's hoping that's a sign he sticks with them in the long run. The comedy crap is what soured me on The Elite as heels because they just don't know when to stop, and a majority of the time it's not funny. All in all, this was a thumbs-up main event with a bit of a convoluted finish with the right result. The important thing is that they furthered the storyline with the Bucks, reDRagon and Cole along and it's what I'm intrigued about the most heading into 2022.

Overall Show

Formatting issues aside, this was a jam-packed and enjoyable final edition of Dynamite on TNT. It was terrific to have JR back at the booth. Congrats to him on officially being cancer-free. In addition to that, we got surprise appearances from Martinez and Jericho, Undisputed Era back in action, plenty of build for next week's stacked TBS Dynamite debut, some solid wrestling, and progression for a handful of feuds. I was skeptical about AEW returning to Daily's Place in Jacksonville so soon after the last time they were there in early August, but it was a fitting way to close out this chapter for Dynamite considering it was the home of the show throughout the pandemic and they were rowdy all night. This capped off AEW's year on a high note. Now we just have to hope they have bigger and better things in store for 2022, but admittedly, it will be tough to top what they produced in 2021.

SEE MORE: Dynamite Reviews