AEW Dynamite Review - December 9, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. The Hybrid2 (Non-Title)

Although this mini-feud hasn't lit the world on fire in the last month, they delivered a highly entertaining opener as expected. This just might have been TH2's strongest showing to date as they didn't miss a beat and had great chemistry with Young Bucks. It was all action from bell to bell and it helped the tag titles weren't on the line because there was a slight chance TH2 could have won. The Acclaimed attempted to jump Young Bucks afterward, but SCU made the save, so it looks like they'll have to go through them before they can get a crack at Young Bucks.

Sting Confronted Cody Rhodes

Seeing Sting and Schiavone share the ring for the first time in almost a decade was a really cool moment. That said, I'm pretty sure this was advertised as an interview, but Schiavone quickly left the ring. Of course, that's just me nitpicking. Sting and Cody going back and forth on the mic was fun even though Sting didn't actually establish why he was in AEW. We already knew he was under contract for the next few years. Will he wrestle? Will he and Cody be allies or enemies? Will he ultimately mentor Darby Allin? We were left with more questions than answers, which is fine, but I don't know if this was enough to entice viewers to tune in next week if they aren't regular viewers of the program.

FTR def. Varsity Blondes

In case you haven't been tuning into Dark lately (and I wouldn't blame you one bit with how long the shows are), Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison are now known as Varsity Blondes after Hollywood Blondes, which Pillman's father was one-half of back in the day. The duo has impressed me in the handful of times they've teamed together, though I don't think either of them are officially under any sort of contract to AEW as of now.

Dustin Rhodes def. Preston "10" Vance

I completely forgot that The Nightmare Family has been feuding with The Dark Order since the summer. I can't bother to bring myself to care at this point, especially when the lesser-important members are involved and not the bigger players. I like Dustin and think he still has a lot left in the tank, but this was a nothing match. Thankfully, it didn't last longer than it needed to, but it certainly didn't make Dark Order look like any sort of a threat. That continued post-match when Dustin declined their offer to join the group. I did think them calling him Seven was clever, though.

Tony Schiavone Interviewed Brandi Rhodes and Shaquille O'Neal

I was surprised to see Shaq make an in-person appearance as opposed to showing up in a pre-taped promo. Brandi taking offense to Schiavone running down Shaq's long list of accolades was comical because she doesn't have any of her own except for her job title. The material was fine and I'm not completely opposed to Shaq being in AEW, but this didn't do much to make me more excited for the angle than I was previously. That's largely because Brandi's acting skills are subpar more often than not.

Inner Circle's Ultimatum Ended with Sammy Guevara and MJF Shaking Hands

When Jericho teased that this might have marked the end of Inner Circle, you knew right then and there that it wouldn't be. Inner Circle's segments are usually more hit or miss and this was entertaining. The truce between MJF and Guevara likely won't last long, so I'm curious if Guevara will indeed quit Inner Circle as he said he would here. They've been teasing tension for months, so fingers crossed the eventual endgame better be worth it.

Eddie Kingston, The Butcher and The Blade def. Lance Archer and The Lucha Brothers

I figured The Lucha Brothers would get their win back after losing to Butcher and Blade, but apparently not. I've mentioned before that they do nothing for me as characters, but I appreciate the effort AEW it putting into trying to get them over as a dominant force. This was pure chaos and Archer and Lucha Brothers made for a terrific trio. I have no idea who are supposed to be the heels here or if they're all tweeners, but I enjoyed this for what it was and I was glad Archer stood tall in the end.

Abadon def. Tesha Price

I'm sorry but I'm not into this Abadon push at all. She's supposed to be this scary threat and Hikaru Shida has (awfully) acted scared of her, but I'm not buying into it. Price has way more potential in my opinion and sold well for Abadon, but that's the only positive thing I can say about this. It's a shame Shida's challengers for the AEW Women's Championship have gradually regressed because I have no interest in an Abadon vs. Shida match for the title.

AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and Don Callis Explained Their Actions

Was it just me or did Omega and Callis promise some sort of big announcement on this show? If so, we never got it, because it was basically a repeat of the interview they did on Tuesday's IMPACT! Wrestling. That's not necessarily a bad thing, however, as this was quite great. Callis is a tremendous talker and while that isn't exactly Omega's strong suit, this is the most comfortable he's come across on the mic in ages. I'm really digging this pairing of Callis and Omega and hope they can continue to fine-tune the act going forward because it has boatloads of potential.

MJF def. Orange Cassidy to Maintain the Dynamite Diamond Ring

The Dynamite Diamond Ring fits MJF better than practically anyone else in AEW, so I didn't think there was any need for it to change hands. Then again, it hasn't exactly skyrocketed his career in the year, and Cassidy had no business holding it, so this felt like a lose-lose situation to me. It just further proves why Cassidy beating Chris Jericho twice over the summer was the wrong call. The match itself was decent, but the vast amount of shenanigans at ringside with Inner Circle, Best Friends and everyone else were too much for me. Miro costing Cassidy the ring progresses a storyline Miro should be above.

Overall Show

Coming off last week's extremely newsworthy edition of Dynamite, I had high hopes for this episode. AEW was wise to advertise everything in advance, specifically Sting's promo and Shaq speaking. We also got to hear from Omega and Callis, which was a treat, but we technically heard from them first on IMPACT! Wrestling on Tuesday night. This was a promo-heavy show and it did an effective job of moving several stories forward, even if some of those stories aren't piquing my interest at the moment. The two hours weren't as exciting as last week and I didn't love the main event, but it was still a successful show on the whole.