 The Death Riders (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and AEW World Trios Champion Pac) def. Orange Cassidy and Jay White by DisqualificationThe action was as entertaining as you'd expect given the star power involved. This was a strong start to the show, but the disqualification finish was weak. I realize you want to protect most of these guys and Adam Page's interference was logical, but why not have Cassidy pin Pac to justify why he'd be challenging for the AEW World Championship at Worlds End? Speaking which, the heavily-speculated four-way for the title at the pay-per-view was made official by Moxley afterward. Hook Attacked Christian CageChristian was sitting in a suite while watching the opener. The rest of The Patriarchy was with him early on, but he was by himself when he cut his promo addressing Moxley and wanting the AEW World title. Hook breaking glass to get into the suite seemed unnecessary, but this was a simple angle otherwise with Hook getting his hands on Christian before The Patriarchy made the save. As I've said, i don't really care about this feud and they're taking their time getting to Hook vs. Christian, but hopefully it happens at Worlds End. Will Ospreay def. AEW World Trios Champion Claudio Castagnoli in a Continental Classic Gold League MatchDid the commentators say that this was a first-time-ever match? If so, that isn't true because they definitely faced off earlier in the year. Regardless, this was a great, fast-paced match. This is exactly the sort of excitement I was looking forward to in the tournament and they delivered. Ospreay barely beat Castagnoli, who attacked Ospreay afterward before Darby Allin fended Castagnoli off. Adam Cole def. Kyle O'Reilly to Advance to Worlds End to Face MJF for the Dynamite Diamond RingWhile it was perfectly fine from an in-ring standpoint, this was the most lifeless Cole vs. O'Reilly match I think I've ever seen and that's a shame. Their matches in Ring of Honor and WWE NXT felt so much bigger, yet their latest storyline involving MJF hasn't been remotely interesting. Apparently I'm not the only one who feels that way because this crowd was largely quiet for the match. MJF attempted to cost Cole the win but was unsuccessful. By the way, that was his first in-person appearance on Dynamite in months, so that was lame. The best thing I can say about this is that they're not holding off even longer on Cole vs. MJF. Tony Schiavone Hosted a Sit-Down Interview with Darby AllinThis was the first time we've heard from Allin since that (stupid) car crash angle that closed Full Gear. He furthered his feud with Death Riders by talking about their "takeover" of AEW (which has been extremely underwhelming so far) and how he can endure any amount of violence. He also punched himself in the face a few times and legitimately busted himself open. Yeah, this was... weird. I appreciate the attempt to make the storyline more interesting, but it simply isn't working. Ricochet def. Brody King in a Continental Classic Gold League MatchBoth guys had 1-1 records in the Continental Classic coming into this contest. Ricochet winning felt predictable, but you couldn't completely rule out King winning since he did beat Allin two weeks ago. They had a very enjoyable outing and, as has been the case with every other Continental Classic match so far, King was made to look credible in defeat. Interestingly, Ricochet showed off his Hurt Syndicate business card during a pre-match backstage interview, but that didn't come into play here at all. AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May def. Mina ShirakawaI'm all for the women headlining Dynamite more often, but this almost didn't feel worthy of the main event spot because there was minimal hype for it throughout the night. Despite that, this was very good. Yes, it was likely rushed because they were short on time, but they maximized their minutes and the lack of dull moments added to the intensity of their feud. Post-match, Toni Storm finally resurfaced but as herself and not with the Timeless shtick. That's the right call as that character ran its course in my opinion. Overall ShowI honestly forgot this was the Winter Is Coming edition of Dynamite until about halfway through. This was a quality show on the whole, but most of it just didn't feel special. Rather, it was business as usual with some solid wrestling and Storm's surprise return at the end. In other words, the Winter Is Coming branding wasn't necessary, especially now that we have Worlds End later in the month. Speaking of which, two more matches were confirmed for the card this week, but several more will need to be added between now and December 28th.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
January 2026
|
RSS Feed