All Elite Wrestling keeps the fire burning regardless of the season. That rings especially true throughout the holidays. Despite a three month long break between Full Gear and Revolution, AEW treats its fans to PPV-style Dynamites. Everyone remembers the first Winter is Coming where Sting made his AEW debut, which set a high bar for subsequent episodes of the Winter show. This episode of Dynamite is one to mark on your calendars as a special one to never miss, but did AEW give us fans an early Christmas present, or a lump of coal?
Let’s find out!
Game 4: The Elite (1) vs. Death Triangle (2)
A Best of Seven series in professional wrestling is difficult. Pitting the same people against each other for multiple weeks in a row is an easy recipe for a boring disaster. The Elite and Death Triangle are the right ingredients to try, however. They’re crafting a fun storyline through this series that revolves around a hammer, which played out in this one too, but these matches are beginning to feel similar.
You know what you’re going to get with a Death Triangle and Elite match. It’s going to be high-intensity throughout, which this was. The interesting part happened when Nick Jackson tweaked his ankle after a tope suicida. This injury ended up being so bad that Doc Sampson needed to remove the younger Jackson from the match entirely. This match inevitably turned in Death Triangle’s favor as they held a three on two advantage. Penta hit a nasty Fear Factor piledriver on the apron and then Fenix hit a cool inverted Frog Splash, but Omega was able to avoid the finishing Black Arrow from PAC. Here’s where it gets interesting!
All of a sudden, Nick Jackson hobbled his way down to the ring, hurt ankle and all, to help Omega with the tag. Despite his injuries, the Jackson brother was able to still string some offense together. At the same time, Nick Jackson’s injury put a target for Death Triangle to attack. Penta el Zero Miedo used the hammer once again on Nick Jackson’s injured ankle, which allowed Rey Fenix to lock in a knee bar causing Nick Jackson to tap out. Death Triangle goes up 3-1 in the series!
These two teams are doing enough to keep this matchup fresh every single week. Good stuff here! The health of Nick Jackson’s ankle will dominate the rest of the matchups, surely.
4/5
Omega grabs a microphone immediately following the match. He’s angry that this hammer continues to dictate these matches, so he challenges Death Triangle to add a ‘No DQ’ stipulation to Game 5. That should be interesting!
Segments:
- MJF promo for later’s match with Ricky Starks. Usual amazing MJF promo.
- The Acclaimed came out to a Caster rap, but Satnam Singh, Jay Lethal, and Jeff Jarrett attacked before Caster could finish. Jarrett, Lethal, and Singh seemingly exist to lose, so it’s not precisely clear why Acclaimed went from FTR to them, or why they even exist in the first place.
- Chris Jericho was backstage up next. He is angry that Claudio used the Swing to win the ROH Championship at Final Battle. He thinks the move should be banned. Jericho also makes Daniel Garcia shadow Sammy Guevara because Garcia lost the Pure Championship at Final Battle. Last Saturday was a rough one for the Jericho Appreciation Society.
Brian Cage vs. Jungle Boy
The following match from “Winter is Coming” was between Brian Cage and Jungle Boy Jack Perry. Even though the result and the subsequent angle were utterly unexpected, this new clash was entertaining. The size and strength discrepancy between the two of them played well here.
Jungle Boy was still hurting from last week’s choke slam, courtesy of Big Bill Morrissey. This allowed Brian Cage to dominate for most of the match. Brian Cage has had a resurgence in the past six months. His relationship with Prince Nana and the Embassy has actually been a good pairing.
Jungle Boy eventually built some momentum with a huge lariat and swinging DDT, which knocked the big man down. This led to Jungle Boy locking in the snare trap, but Prince Nana distracted the referee. It’s simple, but those basic manager interactions with the referee work. Due to Jungle Boy’s experience with Christian Cage, he knew exactly how to defuse Nana. Brian Cage inadvertently knocked out Prince Nana, allowing Jungle Boy to lock Cage in a creative rollup for the victory. A very entertaining match.
3.5/5
Segments:
- Jungle Boy immediately grabs the microphone after the match to challenge Big Bill Morrissey. Stokely Hathaway responds instead, which allows Lee Moriarty and Bill to ambush Jack. The most unexpected face came down for the save. HOOK! It looks like we’re getting a Hook and Jungle Boy pairing, which is exciting.
- Jon Moxley and the remnants of the Blackpool Combat Club were backstage. He’s proud of the BCC’s results from Final Battle. Claudio and Wheeler are new champs and want to fight everyone. Jon Moxley is facing Sammy Guevara on Rampage. It looks like the BCC are going back to being killers and that’s the perfect direction for them.
- Swerve had a backstage vignette up next. This was creepy as hell! He’s calling for a face-to-face with Keith Lee next week.
- House of Black had a “match” with The Factory following that. Julia Hart sprayed Nick Comorato with the Black Mist to neutralize him, then Malakai hit QT Marshall with his spinning heel kick. Game over. This version of the House of Black is perfect. I loved the nuanced stories Malakai loves to tell, but this is simple. They look ready to take over everything.
- Britt Baker was backstage with Renee. Skye Blue challenged her to a match on Rampage, which offended Britt. Her reaction was really funny. Skye also did a decent promo as well.
Chris Jericho vs Action Andretti
Chris Jericho is a legend of the wrestling business. It is rare for any legend to need a tune-up or squash match, so when it was announced that Jericho was randomly in action against an opponent with no entrance, something felt odd. And when this young kid, Action Andretti, kicked out of the Codebreaker, that odd feeling became something else. The Winter is Coming crowd and everyone at home started chanting for this kid. That clever Jericho was telling a story, not having a tune-up match.
I was ready to crucify AEW for having a random Jericho squash match instead of using this time for something else, but they built a star in one night. Chris Jericho continued to throw everything at Action Andretti, but the legend didn’t take the young kid seriously. Andretti kept surviving!
Jericho was rattled by the incensed crowd, who was SOLIDLY behind Andretti. They went from sarcastically calling him a “Jobber” to chanting for Andretti. Jericho was already aggravated because he lost last Saturday at Final Battle, but Andretti was getting under his skin too! All of this added up to Andretti gaining momentum, much like his legendary namesake’s coming for a checkered flag.
Andretti couldn’t have actually beaten one of the greatest of all time though, right!? That’s exactly what happened. Action Andretti hit a standing moonsault to pin Chris Jericho. The Garland, Texas crowd ignited in cheers for the young kid who just stunned the inaugural AEW Champion. Professional wrestling is special when surprises happen.
4/5
Match of the Night
- Ricky Starks responded to MJF with a promo. Intense Starks is the best Starks.
- FTR talked about this past Saturday at Final Battle where they went to war. We’re getting FTR and the Gunns soon.
- Chris Jericho went full tantrum after his upset loss to Action Andretti. We’re watching Jericho come fully unglued.
Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo
Ruby Soho made her triumphant return to the ring this week against the woman who knocked her out of action for multiple months. This was a great match between heated rivals, and it felt like it. They beat the crap out of each other in and outside of the ring.
They started brawling outside the ring straightaway, even before the bell rang. Tay threw Ruby into the steel steps, which knocked her for a loop, but Ruby allowed the referee to ring the bell to start the match. As the match continued on, both continued to pummel each other. Tay hit the DDTay on the rampway, which looked brutal as Ruby’s face got planted. This allowed Tay to completely take over.
But that only lasted so long, as Ruby’s grudge against Tay kept her going enough to gain the momentum back. Despite Tay almost reconfiguring Ruby’s face again with a pump kick, Ruby outlasted everything Tay sent at her. Ruby reversed the TayKo into the Destination Unknown for the victory. Good match!
3.5/5
Anna Jay came down to the ring immediately following the match to attack Ruby Soho. Ruby and Anna will surely be the next match.
Segments:
- Hangman Page was backstage with Alex Marvez and Evil Uno. He still cannot compete from the after effects of his concussion. The cowboy was phenomenal as he told a really sad story about being in the ambulance and not being able to remember his own son’s name. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but that’s incredibly sad if it is.
- Dustin Rhodes has teamed up with the Best Friends to fight against Butcher & Blade, Trent Seven, and Kip Sabian on Rampage.
MJF vs. Ricky Starks
And finally, we reached the main event. This episode was fantastic up until this point, and this main event was the perfect cherry on top of the fudge sundae. MJF made his first defense of the AEW Championship against Ricky Starks in a fantastic match.
The match began with MJF becoming frustrated that Starks wasn’t going to roll over. MJF would have to work hard to win this match, so he went to pout like a child in the crowd for a little while. Starks took a quick advantage immediately following MJF’s return, but he was still in pain from a few weeks ago. That midsection issue started popping up again, which allowed MJF to use a deep abdominal stretch to punish the Absolute one. Starks’s abs were injured as well as his arm at one point.
MJF hit a really cool looking Powerbomb onto his knee and then slapped Starks in the face. This caused Ricky to hulk up and crank up the energy in the match. Starks got the spear, but his litany of injuries negated his ability to capitalize. MJF reversed the pin attempt into the Salt of the Earth, only for Starks to reach the rope. This angered Max again, and instead of fighting like a champion, he hid behind the referee. Ricky Starks was on the ass end of a low blow and rolled up for the pinfall. MJF retains both his Dynamite Diamond ring and the AEW Championship in a great match to cap off a great night.
4/5
But we were not done yet! Bryan Danielson returned after the bout to chase MJF out of the building. The American Dragon wants revenge for what MJF did to William Regal. THAT should be great.
Overall
And that was this year’s episode of Winter is Coming! This annual show is one to look forward to every single year, and this one did not disappoint. Not sure that it hit the highs of Sting’s debut or the first bout between Bryan Danielson and Hangman Adam Page, but this was a fantastic and complete show. That’s important! Dynamite tends to be up and down more often than not, but the episodes that stand out are ones that are good from start to finish.
I still cannot get over how good that Chris Jericho and Action Andretti match was. Jericho made that kid’s career this week. Chris Jericho is one of a kind and we’re lucky to still have him be around and doing amazing things for the wrestling industry.
By and large, there wasn’t a single bad thing in this episode. It was great. It was…
Absolute
Verdict: 5/5