BRM Reviews the 12/22/2021 Dynamite

[Big Red Machine]

ORANGE CASSIDY vs. ADAM COLE- 7.75/10
The Young Bucks and Brandon Cuter came out in garish outfits (my brother referred to them as the “Christmas Kranks” to try to interfere, but Best Friends and Wheeler YUTA came out to fight them off.
I was highly disappointed when OC kicked out of Cole’s post-Panama Sunrise pin with his hands in his pockets, meant to humiliate the clown. They had a great match that ended with a coordinated run-in where Bobby Fish distracted the referee to allow Kyle O’Reilly to come out of nowhere and interfere.
Am I excited about Kyle O’Reilly coming to AEW? Yes. There are so many great match-ups for him. But there are only so many spots in AEW, and I’m worried he’ll get lost in the shuffle. I think it’s less likely to happen to him than, say, Tony Nese or Lee Moriarty or Wheeler YUTA or Lio Rush, but it’s a definitely possibility.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- good
Undisputed Era beat up Orange Cassidy, and beat up Best Friends when they came out to save them. The Young Bucks came out, and were quite surprised by Kyle’s presence.

They announced a Page vs. Danielson rematch for the first TBS show. No word about a “no time limit” or “judges” stipulation, but I’m fine with that after just the first one.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS ADAM PAGE- decent
Page “has never felt like less of a champion.” Danielson came out and mocked him. Dragon said that he only didn’t win because of the injury he sustained wrestling John Silver. But he won’t make that mistake again by “wrestling front of you idiots” or any other week until the match. He also wants a match with judges. Page was fine with this, but assures us that the judges won’t be necessary.

PINNACLE BACKSTAGE- good
MJF says that he “didn’t want the camera here for this,” but then he just kept going anyway. MJF blamed Wardlow for things, but then turned around and blamed things on Punk driving people crazy. He then cut a promo on Darby Allin and CM Punk. Dax Hardwood also cut a promo.

SHAWN DEAN vs. WARDLOW (w/Shawn Spears)- squash

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
The same dumb shtick we got last week.

CODY RHODES VS. SAMMY GUEVARA VIDEO PACKAGE- good

DAN LAMBERT PROMO- I didn’t like him breaking kayfabe by saying that Tony Khan wanted him to get people to cheer Cody.

TONY SCHIAVONE INTERVIEWS DR. BRITT BAKER- Britt cut a good promo about why she would beat Riho.

OWEN HART VIDEO PACKAGE- good… but yeah, but I’m that guy who would really prefer that they not say words like “storytelling” on the kayfabe TV show.

TBS TITLE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL MATCH: Ruby Soho vs. Nyla Rose (w/Vickie Guerrero)- 7.5/10

HIKARU SHIDA VS. SERENA DEEB VIDEO PACKAGE- fine

MALAKAI BLACK vs. GRIFF GARRISON (w/Brian Pillman Jr.)- 5/10
Black won clean. He wouldn’t give up on the hold (a single-leg crab) so Pillman attacked him, but Black took Pillman out as well.

MATT HARDY & PRIVATE PARTY PROMO- good

JURASSIC EXPRESS & CHRISTIAN CAGE PROMO- good

THE PINNACLE (MJF & FTR) vs. CM PUNK, DARBY ALLIN, & STING- 7.5/10
Sting and Punk showed each other respect via face-paint, and Punk wore surfer Sting tights. It’s not Halloween. What will people’s excuse for this crap be this time?
They did a spot where Punk chased MJF all the way up the steps through the crowd and back down again. They were both the legal wrestlers, and somehow they were not counted out.
MJF hid from Punk a lot. They did some good babyface in peril stuff. MJF and Darby both took scary bumps. Dax pushed MJF out of the way when Punk was going to hit the GTS and got hit with the GTS and a Coffin Drop. MJF ran to the commentary table and claimed that Punk was afraid of him.

A good episode of AEW, full of mostly good stuff and great wrestling, with nothing particularly frustrating or bad.

[cero2k]

KOR will be fine. He'll get to be part of big time UE feuds vs the elite, pinnacle, and TIC. Then have a run as reDragon vs bucks, lucha bros, JE, etc. It'll be a while before he has nothing exciting to do.

I'm already hoping for a bucks vs future Shock vs dark Order PWG rematch