Episode 67 of AEW Dynamite was considered as night two of their big New Year’s Bash to kick off 2021 in style. Coming off of a hot main event and a big angle last week, let’s see how they did.
Eddie Kingston vs Pac
They played a little video package to explain and hype the feud beforehand, and AEW needs more of that. Their packages are great, and too often AEW makes the mistake of thinking all their viewers should be hardcore fans of the product. This was a great opening match, filled with personality and intensity. These two landed a ton of strikes, and Pac’s chest looked like hamburger meat. Kingston hit some great suplexes, and Pac picked a few moments to fly around with effortlessness and precision. Pac won with the Black Arrow, and applied the Brutalizer after the match. They continued fighting, and Lance Archer came out to run Kingston off. Archer threatened Pac afterwards. This is leading to what should be a fun three-way, but Archer is a pretty odd, forced fit into this puzzle. Excellent match though.
Chuck Taylor vs. Miro
This match was to see if Taylor would serve as Miro’s butler for a month. Taylor got in too much offense at the start, but overall it was exactly what it needed to be. Miro bumped too much early on, but came back quickly with ferocious offense and a win with the Game Over. It’s good to see a shorter match on this show. I fear this will lead to more comedy skits and a Miro/Cassidy feud though, which is not the tone that Miro’s character should have.
We got a promo backstage with Matt Hardy and Private Party. Hardy says he speaks first and he’s running a great brand. Private Party realizes they signed a contract that doesn’t benefit them, and they try to stand up to Matt. He says he’ll make them millionaires, because he found out when he got concussed that the fans don’t care about him. I really like the work in this promo. It explains why Hardy turned heel, and it adds a shyster element to his character. It also puts him in the ring less, while allowing him to put over younger talent. This did its job well.
Next up was the Inner Circle New Year’s resolutions segment. They mostly throw in comedy one-liners, making Hager a brute and having Ortiz talk about food. The positives here were MJF and Sammy Guevara. MJF continues to try to worm his way closer to being the leader of the group, and Guevara gets more and more serious as his opposition. Next week, three teams of Inner Circle members will face off to see who the official team of the group is. They’ve got some good dynamics going here, but they have too much control over their verbiage. It comes off as freeform and silly and detracts from their heelish ways.
Dark Order has a backstage promo, saying they will honor Brodie Lee. They say they’ll team with Adam Page next week and ask Page to tell them next week if he’ll join them. Jon Silver does goofy faces and they celebrate like comedy jobbers while Page makes fun of them in the background. Without Brodie, there’s nothing serious or threatening about them. Awful promo here.
We saw a Darby Allin/Brian Cage package here, and it told their story excellently. AEW’s package team is tremendous. More of this, please.
Kenny Omega/Good Brothers vs. Varsity Blondes/Danny Limelight
It was supposed to be Kenny and the Bucks, but Callis separated their entrances. Then he gets on the mic and says that Kenny is teaming with his best friends, the Good Brothers. I get why Callis would do this (Callis runs Impact Wrestling and that’s where Anderson/Gallows are tag champions), but then why would he encourage the Bucks to join the Elite last week in the first place? Also, it’s great to see the Good Brothers in AEW, but this match is too long. To have this newly joined act together in the top angle, getting bumped around in a long match by essentially jobbers, is a weird choice. The Good Brothers win with the Magic Killer. Moxley runs out and fights them 1-on-3, before Pentagon and Fenix run out to help. Pentagon and Fenix are totally forced in here. Then the Bucks run out to keep the peace, but get taken out by Pentagon and Fenix. They really need to establish faces, heels, and motives here. This has potential, but right now it’s a poorly explained, overbooked mess.
Next we get the Dentist’s Office segment with Britt Baker interviewing Cody Rhodes. This is like a Piper’s Pit or King’s Court segment that accentuates Baker’s charisma and mic work while adding variance to the show. Britt says she has a second guest, and brings out Jade Cargill. Cargill gets in Cody’s face and says she doesn’t care if Brandi is out pregnant, that her and Shaq want to fight. Red Velvet comes in to stand up to Cargill, and they get into a big pull-apart brawl. During the fracas, Thunder Rosa pops up on the big screen and says she finally gets to fight Baker at Beach Blast in three weeks. This was a pretty solid first edition of this segment on Dynamite. Baker/Rebel were hilarious, Cargill (is very green but) has a lot of charisma, Velvet got more exposure, it called back to the Shaq angle, and it set a date for Baker/Rosa. It was a lot to take in, but the frantic nature made it feel fresh and entertaining.
Marko Stunt/Jungle Boy vs. FTR
This match went way too long considering it had Stunt in it. Having him wrestle takes me out of the realism of the match, and it even hurts the credibility of the other wrestlers on offense for not being able to put him away. That said, the other three are fluid in the ring, and Jungle Boy adds new things to his arsenal on a constant basis. Tully Blanchard had to cheat on Marko (for some reason), then FTR won with the old Shatter Machine.
Tay Conti vs. Serena Deeb
This was a very fun match for the NWA Women’s Title. Deeb trained Conti early on in NXT, and the announcers smartly pointed out that thread. Both ladies are proficient in technical wrestling, and Deeb’s submission work against Conti’s judo made for a nice mix of styles. Conti really hits her kicks with a lot of force. Lots of nice submission reversals in this match as well. Both are extremely underrated and deserve more time on this show. Deeb wins after a smooth exchange with her arm-trapped pancake.
Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage
They said before this TNT Title match that Team Taz interferes too much, so Tony Kahn banned Powerhouse Hobbs from ringside. BUT HE STILL ALLOWED RICKY STARKS AND HOOK TO BE THERE. What a silly, illogical thing to do. I hate when things like this aren’t addressed in wrestling. That aside, they told a great story in this main event. Cage is a power wrestler who tosses guys around, and Darby is a tenacious guy who can bump like a boss and keep fighting. Cage dominated a lot of this match, but Darby kept coming with passion and defiance. Darby took a powerbomb to the outside through a table, and came back with a coffin drop outside on the stairs. This was insane, but it played to the strengths of both wrestlers AND characters. Starks tried to interfere, and Sting popped up after a blackout with a bat shot to Starks. Darby retains after a crucifix bomb off the top to end the show. At least they had Sting do something physical this week, even if it was minimal.
Overall, there was a lot more good than bad on this show. They started and ended with two great matches (Kingston/Pac and Darby/Cage) with a good one in the middle (Conti/Deeb). But there were still a lot of logic holes in the show. Some guys were selling too much (Bullet Club and Miro), while others have too much silliness in their tone for their characters (Inner Circle and Dark Order). So while it was a true mixed bag, I liked how they furthered things with the Baker segment and used heated matches to push their storylines. It needs tightened up by the bookers, but overall I’d give this a thumbs up.
