home | wrestling | flashback_reviews | aew

AEW Dynamite
December 2, 2020

by Samoa Rowe

From Daily's Place in the pandemic wrestling capital of the world, Florida. Our hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, and Excalibur.

Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal:

The crowd fills with participants while Shawn Spears and Scorpio Sky stare each other down at ringside. Matt Hardy tosses out his protege, Isiah Kassidy. Sky enters the fray while Spears paces around the ring. Hangman Page throws out Serpentico, thanks to the Dark Order. Alex Reynolds and John Silver bump Luther off the apron. Spears finds his opening to ambush Sky and put the boots to him on the canvas. Matt Sydal interrupts Spears with leaping knee strikes, so Spears DVD's him onto the ramp. Sky gets fired up and eliminates Spears. Tully Blanchard passes a steel slug to Spears and he sucker punches Sky, which leads to an easy elimination by Wardlow. Silver accidentally bumps Reynolds off the apron. Silver tries to press slam Marq Quen, but Hardy pulls the ropes for Quen's reversal. Page gets kicked out but Dark Order catches him, and he catapults back in for a Buckshot. Page gets tossed (I missed it, think it was Hardy). Meanwhile, Miro loses his temper and pummels Orange Cassidy at ringside. Miro rushes back to clean house on Lee Johnson and Joey Janela. Wardlow shields Sammy Guevara and MJF in the buckles, while Miro reverses Silly String to dump Hardy and Quen. Miro throws out Janela and zeroes in on Jungle Boy. The Inner Circle seize the opportunity to triple team Miro. Wardlow and Miro slug it out, but Guevara and MJF assist to eliminate the Best Man. Final Four are Jungle Boy alone against the Inner Circle. JB and Sammy have a spirited duel on the apon, but MJF throws them both off the top rope. MJF thinks he and Wardlow have won, but turns out Orange Cassidy was never eliminated. OC thrusts Wardlow into MJF for a near elimination, and then cleans house with Orange Punches. OC tosses Wardlow, making himself and MJF the winners at 12:15. Better-than-average battle royal that weaved many story threads, ***.
Winners: Orange Cassidy and MJF

Best Friends try to celebrate with OC, but Miro and Kip Sabian attempt a beatdown. Referees restore order.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Chris Jericho (with Ortiz and Jake Hager)

I probably would have considered this to be a dream match sometime around 2005, and it's still pretty cool, for what it's worth. Jericho throws his belt, so Kazarian defiantly throws it right back. Kazarian aggressively goes on offense, but Jericho pokes the eye. Kazarian avoids the springboard dropkick and trips Jericho in the ropes to set up a slingshot guillotine leg drop. Hager interferes, which allows Jericho to hit the Codebreaker. Le Champion is in charge in time for the picture-in-picture break. 3 minutes later, Jericho is still in charge, hitting a vertical suplex. Kazarian forges a comeback, blocks the Lionsault and answers with a springboard leg drop. Flux Capacitor by Kazarian but Jericho kicks out! Kazarian blocks another Codebreaker and steals the Walls of Jericho, which tempts Ortiz to interfere, but Hager talks him down. MJF and Wardlow arrive with a towel in hand, and Sammy Guevera rushes in to stop MJF from calling off the match. Jericho breaks the Walls and is annoyed to see Sammy holding the towel. Kazarian gets a series of quick nearfalls, but Jericho's well timed Judas Effect ends it at 11:03. Decent match that picked up nicely after the break, **¾.
Winner: Chris Jericho

The Inner Circle is about to implode when Jericho demands they cut the sh!t. He declares that next week, everyone in the Inner Circle need to win, or they'll break up.

Alex Marvez interviews AEW Tag Team Champions Young Bucks about the happenings in the tag division. They're joined by newly signed team The Acclaimed, who aren't fans of the Bucks' new book, and diss them with a rap. Matt no-sells it greatly, "Didn't someone already do this gimmick?" but they get jumped from behind by The Hybrid 2. SCU make a late save.

Dr. Britt Baker (with Rebel, or it Reba, no wait, it's Rebel) vs. Leyla Hirsch

Britt is taking it on herself to clear out the riff-raff from the Women's division, so that means Hirsch has got to go. Baker is amused by Leyla's low height, which allows Hirsch to pull her into an armbar takedown. Baker realizes she's underestimated Hirsch and counters with a headscissors, but Hirsch counters back with an armbreaker. Baker answers with a gentle superkick to the face and DDT. Cue the commercial. They return just in time for Hirsch's obligatory comeback, including a snap German suplex. Baker retreats and forces Rebel to take Leyla's dive. Britt stomps Leyla's hand into the ring frame, but Hirsch knees the head and goes for the cross armbreaker. Hirsch blocks Lockjaw and reapplies the armbreaker. Britt escapes, but Hirsch boots the head, but limps to the top rope instead of making a cover. Rebel distracts the ref while Britt hits a twisting neckbreaker and Lockjaw for the win at 8:45. This was another match that really picked up after the commercial and did a good job teasing a Leyla upset, **½.
Winner: Britt Baker

Thunder Rosa ambushes Britt after the match, and we get yet another pull apart brawl.

TNT Champion Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes (with Arn Anderson) vs. Team Taz (Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs, with Taz)

Team Taz rush the ring but Cody and Allin quickly cut them off. They cut to commercial at the 30 second mark. 3 minutes later, Starks suffers a delayed power slam by Cody. They exchange vicious chops. Starks slaps Allin to lure him into a Hobbs trap at ringside. Team Taz cuts the ring in half and works Allin over. Allin survives Hobbs' reverse bear hug and then outmaneuvers Starks to send him into the buckles. Hobbs steps on Darby's back to prevent a tag and pulls him into a brutal bear hug. Darby makes a perfect rag doll as Hobbs nails an overhead throw. Despite all this, Cody gets the hot tag and runs wild through Starks. Cody hits the springboard cutter and wipes out Hobbs with a dive. Darby had tagged himself in during the cutter and finishes Starks with the Coffin Drop at 11:23! Rock solid action here, everyone got to show off the things they do well, ***.
Winners: Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes

Team Taz attempt a post-match beatdown, forcing Anderson to make a save. Hobbs and Starks put the boots to Arn, so Dustin Rhodes makes a save, but then Brian Cage arrives to even the odds. They prepare a belt shot to Cody when the lights go out and a cryptic video package of icy wilderness airs. It begins to snow in Daily's Place and IT'S STING! STING IS HERE! He struts in with bat in hand as the bad guys flee the ring. Sting sizes up Cody and friends, showing special interest in Darby. Sting takes his leave as the fans in the building are still buzzing. I know Sting is 1,000 years old and busted up, but I don't care, I love him and I loved this debut.

Alex Marvez interviews AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida about her reluctance to square off against Abadon. Shida tries to explain herself, but is thrown off by an unexplained noise and rushes off.

AEW World Champion Jon Moxley talks in the parking lot. He can feel the tension in the air because this is the biggest night in Dynamite history. Moxley bitch-slapped the entire wrestling industry to get here, and his fight with Kenny Omega is destiny.

Impact Wrestling's Don Callis joins commentary by Kenny Omega's request.

AEW World Championship:
Jon Moxley © vs. Kenny Omega

Despite the socially distanced crowd, there is a real sense of urgency in the air. Jim Ross assures us that Dynamite will continue should this go past the end of the scheduled broadcast. They feel each other out with some grappling. Tempers soon flare and they begin stiffing each other, and Omega nails a hard rana. Moxley has Omega's dive scouted and rushes back for a power slam. Moxley spins Omega with a clothesline on the apron. Omega then reverses a hard whip into the barricade and Moxley reverses a suplex on the floor. Moxley controls the brawl as they head to commercial. During the break, Kenny got back into the fight by targeting Moxley's knee. Omega continues the abuse with a missile dropkick into the knee and then the Kotaro Crusher. Moxley's desperation clothesline gives them a breather. Moxley limps into Omega's knee bar. Omega controls the wrist while throwing chops and kicks. Moxley blocks the Finlay Roll and nails a German suplex. A second German by Moxley seems to rattle Omega, who blocks a third, but Moxley settle for an Exploder. Moxley's wild power slam gets 2, and he clutches his bad knee as they head to a second commercial. Back from break, Omega scores a soaring plancha. Omega then springboards into Moxley's Paradigm Shift! Instead of making a cover, Moxley hauls some chairs in. They both take a seat and exchange some FIGHTING SPIRIT strikes. Omega V-Triggers Moxley out of the chair and then nails a snap Dragon! Moxley suffers a second snap Dragon but then answers with one of his own. Omega no-sells and nails a V-Trigger, but Moxley then spins him with a lariat. 2nd Paradigm Shift by Moxley but OMEGA KICKS OUT! Moxley's tope suicida is blocked by a V-Trigger! Tiger Driver ‘98 by Omega only gets 2! Omega gleefully hits more V-Triggers but Moxley blocks One Winged Angel. Bulldog Lock is blocked by Omega's dropkick, but so is One Winged Angel, so Omega settles for a nasty German suplex. Timing issues result in a mild botch where Omega jumps off the top rope before Moxley can shove him, but they save face with a Paradigm Shift through the barricade. Doctors and officials check on a hurt Omega. Don Callis rushes over to check on his friend. Moxley drags Omega back to the ring and punches the forehead. Callus pleads on the mic so Moxley knocks him down. Omega takes the mic and cracks it between Moxley's eyes! Omega hits more V-Triggers to Moxley's bloody head. One Winged Angel finishes it at 28:27 and Kenny Omega is our AEW World Champion! Incredible match that succeeded in being a high level match while also making me mad about the title change for the right reasons, ****½.
Winner and new AEW World Champion: Kenny Omega

Omega and Callis rush out together, through a crowd of angry talent in the back. Jim Ross cries "bullsh!t" as they rush into the parking lot. Alex Marvez wants to know what's going on, and Don Callis says they'll give us an explanation Tuesday night on Impact Wrestling!

Final Thoughts: This was a huge show with tons of things to unpack. Omega is champion, AEW is doing business with Impact, and Sting is All Elite. Easy Thumb's Up.

back to AEW Index