Episode 66 of AEW Dynamite was the first of the new year. Coming off of a time-slot push-back (due to the NBA) two weeks ago, and the touching Brodie tribute show last week, they were looking to kick the year off hot with some fresh programming. Let’s see how they started 2021 with part one of New Year’s Bash.
Young Bucks/SCU vs. The Acclaimed/TH2
The Acclaimed came out with a rap about being like John Cena, calling the Young Bucks “Jannetty’s”. Their cocky music characters are a breath of fresh air in a division of flippy teams. SCU has a deal that the next time they lose, they’ll break up as a tag team. This was your standard long, high-spot gymnast match. Daniels and the Bucks combined with the “Best Meltzer Ever” tombstone for the win over TH2. After the match, Daniels said that if they’re going to be done as a team, they want to go out trying to take the titles off of the Bucks. SCU being split soon will be a fresh and needed direction for them.
Jon Moxley is out next for a fiery and intense promo about getting screwed by Omega. He says he doesn’t complain, he takes being cheated on the chin. He comes across as so angry and so real here. He says Omega always has to look over his shoulder for Moxley. Short and meaningful promo.
Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy are backstage for a promo. Taylor says Trent is out for a long time with a bicep injury. Miro shows up and says he’ll face Taylor next week, and if Taylor loses, he’ll have to be Miro’s “young boy” (a term used in Japan for a slave/lackey). Miro comes off silly here and Taylor isn’t believable in anything he does. Once again, this is a waste of Miro’s talents.
Wardlow vs. Jake Hager
Jericho was on commentary (all night) and the Inner Circle was on the stage to watch. While this battle of the bulls was far from bad, the two just didn’t seem to click chemistry-wise. Both guys got some nice suplexes in and got to show their strength, they just seemed a step slow or out of position a few times. Still, it was a fine match, and Wardlow got a clean statement win with his F10. Good decision to run with Wardlow here. They all shake hands after some reluctance. Later in the night, Hager is upset about the loss, and MJF convinces him that he’s still great, and he wins Hager over. Nice use of MJF being slimy and worming his way into the good graces of the Inner Circle. Simple but smart storyline thread here.
We had Private Party backstage looking for gin and juice to celebrate 2021, and Snoop Dogg brings the juice. Nice callback to his rap song in the 90s. Matt Hardy comes in and has them sign contracts so that he can own a portion of their contracts. Matt has been turning heel and using them, so there’s an interesting dynamic and play here.
Brian Cage and Darby Allin are out for a weigh-in, before their TNT Title match next week. Taz gives Tony Schiavone problems and says obviously Cage is bigger. Cage has over 100 pound weight advantage. Darby takes the mic and says “let’s get right to the fight”. I like that he’s been talking more for himself lately. The snow falls and Sting comes out to chase off the heels again. They’ve advertised Sting for about six weeks in a row now since his debut, and he’s done absolutely nothing. He’s cut two promos saying almost nothing, and came out and stood quietly on FOUR different occasions. AEW has already overexposed Sting. I get that you want to keep him mysterious, so don’t book him every week. It’s the law of diminishing returns. Darby is the right guy for him to interact with, but they need to save him for impactful moments.
They talk to Marko Stunt with his team backstage, and FTR interrupts. FTR says Stunt is useless and does nothing, and that’s clearly a shoot as far as his wrestling presence goes. Stunt says he’ll take Luchasaurus’ place in their tag match next week.
Matt Sydal vs. Cody Rhodes
This battle of the former WWE veterans was more of an advertisement for TBS’ Go Big Show (as the mat and commercials showed all night). Snoop Dogg came out to “coach” Cody and jump around. Much like Wardlow/Hager, this just didn’t seem to click. Some of the near falls and moves were nice, but a lot of the strikes just seemed to miss (and be shot poorly). Even still, it wasn’t a bad match, per se. Cody won with two Crossroads. Luther and Serpentico got in the ring to attack Cody (Cody accidentally punched them at ringside earlier). Before I could audibly groan at AEW force feeding us untalented jobbers again, I realized it was for Snoop to do a spot. Serpentico was down, and Snoop slowly wobbled up the ropes. He asked them to bring Serpentico closer, and he did a weak fall off the ropes, landed on his feet, and fell forward into a splash. At least they didn’t hurt a member of the roster whom they were pushing.
Hikaru Shida vs. Abadon
This match was for the AEW Women’s Championship. Abadon’s makeup and presentation look GREAT. The story of this match was Abadon doing the Taker sit-ups and trying to bite Shida in various places. Shida played scared well. Abadon is very new to in-ring work, and her lack of seasoning shows. Shida wins out of nowhere with her running knee. The match was pretty drab technically, but the character-work kept people invested.
Fenix vs. Kenny Omega
Those that follow these reviews know that I haven’t generally enjoyed Fenix’ American work over the last four years, and I don’t generally ever enjoy Omega. With that being said, this was an EXCELLENT main event. Fenix’s dives were so quick and impactful, that they didn’t look staged as they normally do. Omega was bumping like a boss in this match, so he wasn’t doing his normal goofy faces and finger-pointing. These two did some sharp and quick spots throughout, like Fenix hitting a moonsault into a german suplex, and Omega catching a Fenix dive mid-air into a Tiger Driver. My ONLY complaint with this match was Kenny weakening his V-Trigger knees by hitting about 8 of them for two-counts. Omega wins this awesome affair with a One Winged Angel. After the match, Kingston’s group jumps Death Triangle backstage and Omega looks to hurt Fenix. Moxley comes out with a barbed wire bat, but gets jumped by Impact Wrestling’s The Good Brothers. Anderson and Gallows have tons of history with The Elite here, and this furthers the Impact/AEW relationship. They jump Moxley until the Young Bucks come out. The Good Brothers destroy a bunch of jobbers, and they end the show with the Elite and the Good Brothers all holding up the NWO’s (some think it’s the Bullet Club’s) two sweet sign. Nice cliffhanger angle to go off the air.
Overall, this was a solid episode of Dynamite. The Inner Circle has a lot going on, Taz group has a nice angle with Darby/Sting, the matches were decent throughout, and they closed with a hot match/angle to end the show. I don’t care much for the “Bullet Club” drama, but I am intrigued by the Impact/AEW relationship and how it moves forward. The cliffhanger is a lost art in wrestling, and the last 20 minutes of this show improved it as we head into 2021.
