BRM Reviews the 12/21/2022 Dynamite (GREAT!)

[Big Red Machine]

RICKY STARKS PROMO- awesome!
I don’t like it when a babyface gets cheated out of a title and doesn’t come out demanding a rematch, but Ricky did probably the best job I’ve ever seen of acknowledging that he got screwed and vowing to come for the title while not insisting that he still deserves a title shot. (And for anyone concerned that demanding a rematch because you got screwed makes you whiny, the solution then is to have the promotion have the rematch announced before the babyface speaks… you know, like the promotion actually cares if someone breaks the rules or not).

CHRIS JERICHO, DANIEL GARCIA, AND SAMMY GUEVARA COME OUT TO INTERRUPT RICKY STARKS- TREMENDOUS!
Jericho offers Starks a spot in his group. Starks says no, insulting Jericho and bringing up the important points along the way (Jericho losing to Action Andretti, asking Garcia what Jericho has actually done for him) and challenges Jericho to a match on the January 4th Dynamite. Jericho tells Starks that he gave the “wrong answer,” which was the signal for Jake Hager to attack Starks from behind.
The others held Starks while Jericho prepared to hit him with the bat, but Action Andretti made the save, first taking out Jericho, then the others as they came at him one by one… which actually made sense here because if they all attacked at the same time, Starks would have gotten free (and he showed in the end that just one guy holding him wasn’t enough to restrain him, post-facto justifying their caution in attacking one at a time).
I enjoyed this a lot more than pretty much anything I’ve seen from AEW in a long time, booking-wise. It’s not just the perfect feud for both principals at the moment (Starks gets to capitalize on his momentum by beating Jericho and will hopefully be permanently elevated to main event status; Jericho gets to continue his losing streak story in a way that will once again make a difference for someone), but it’s also the framing of the feud, as having it start with an offer to join the JAS allows Starks to point out being a member of the group has done nothing for Daniel Garcia and get those seeds planted in Garcia’s head.
I could have done without Andretti hitting that extra moonsault on the already-fallen Jericho at the end (especially if Jericho wasn’t even going to sell it on his way up the ramp), but that’s a nit-pick.

BEST OF SEVEN SERIES FOR THE AEW WORLD TRIOS TITLES NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH #5: Death Triangle(c)(3) (w/Alex Abrahantes) vs. The Elite(1) (w/Brandon Cutler & Michael Nakazawa)- 7/10
Don Callis was on commentary tonight. Cutler is dressed up like an elf, because G-d forbid we take this title match seriously. He and Abrahantes got to do a spot together early on, while Kenny, Matt, and Penta just stood around and watched. Then Kenny got out of the ring for no reason other than because the next few spots were a bunch of people running in and kicking each other, and he was supposed to be sixth in the order. *Faceplam.*
Soon after, we had Pac and Fenix hold Kenny in place so that Petna could springboard dropkick a garbage can into his groin… which would hurt a lot less than if he had just run up and kicked Kenny in the groin without the garbage can there.
I also could have done without the “artificial Christmas tree,” but I would have been fine with it if Excalibur hadn’t kept pointing out that it was “artificial,” because fake pine needles hurt a lot less than the real thing, and the fake wood his nowhere near as heavy as real wood.
Nick’s ankle got worked over a bit. Many moves were done, but this time there were weapons. Alex Abrahantes handed Fenix a hammer, but Fenix was conflicted about using it again… even though this is a f*cking no DQs match. Eventually he did, but Kenny kicked out, which we all knew he would because we all knew who was going to win this one, which killed half of the drama in this match, because the only drama in a match with such little story comes from the false finishes, and Death Triangle being up 3-1 took away half of them.
All three members of Death Triangle got hammers and they all sized up to hit Kenny at the same time, which was idiotic because it was basically impossible to do it without getting in each other’s way, but of course they needed to do that instead of having one of them just hit Kenny with it, so that the Bucks could grab their legs and pull them out of the ring at the same time to save Kenny.
Moments later, the Elite won with a Meltzer Driver onto a chair, and the ref counted the pin even though Fenix’s shoulders were on the chair and not the mat.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- bad
Death Triangle attacked the Elite and bloodied them. This behavior felt completely out of nowhere. I know that sounds ridiculous to say when these teams just had a weapons match because Death Triangle kept hitting the Elite with hammers, but it does, because despite the fact that one side is cheating, that side really hasn’t felt like the heels because 1) the Elite have done nothing to come off as likable and 2) the announcers were excusing said cheating as “smart” and perfectly reasonable behavior.
And, of course, we get what’s supposed to be this dramatic shot of the Elite all bloodied and their friends caring for them… but it’s impossible to take it seriously because of Bradon Cutler, standing there in his plastic face mask and elf costume. I broke out laughing when Penta then ran in and kneed them all in the face.

MJF PROMO FROM AFTER LAST WEEK’S SHOW- great
He’s upset with Bryan Danielson for stealing his moment.

TONY SCHIAVONE’S INTERVIEW WITH ACTION ANDRETTI IS INTERRUPTED BY 2.0, AND ALSO A FIREBALL FROM CHRIS JERICHO- Andretti needs work. He enunciated very well, but his promo had he feeling of “I am going to give my big speech clearly and dramatically,” and the resulting not wooden but still fake emotion because it feels like he’s acting.
On the bright side, 2.0 managed to not be change-the-channel annoying for once. And on the REALLY bright side, there was Jericho’s fireball, which looked excellent.
Booking-wise, I’m ambivalent about this. I hope they have some sort of really good set of character-building video packages planned for Andretti, because being out of sight and out of mind right now would pretty much kill him, making the whole thing a waste.

RENEE PAQUETTE INTERVIEWS BRYAN DANIELSON- very good
Hey, look! Someone finally acknowledged that Regal actually turned on the Blackpool Combat Club. HE cut a big promo on how much Regal means to him and on MJF, and he called MJF out… but instead he got Ethan Page and Stokely Hathaway. Page pointed out that he has done a lot more to deserve a title shot than Dragon. Barbs were exchanged, most of which were quite funny. Page told Danielson that he would “literally turn you into a vegetable,” so apparently Chris Jericho isn’t the only wizard in AEW.”
Dragon challenged Page to a match, right here, right now. Page deferred it to next week because “San Antonio sucks.” We were shown MJF watching backstage and laughing.

JON MOXLEY PROMO- mostly good
He gave voice to the criticisms many have had about this storyline with him and Adam Page, but I really didn’t like him insinuating some kind of cowardice on Page’s part for not being able to come and settle things once and for all. It’s like he doesn’t understand that Page isn’t medically cleared, and that’s why they can’t have a match.
He also built up a match tonight against Darius Martin. He’ll also be in this random trios battle royale for a bunch of money on Rampage, and based on the fact that one of the only teams specifically mentioned by name to also be in that battle royale is A.R. Fox & Top Flight, I assume something will come out of that.

SAMOA JOE PROMO- didn’t like it
Joe in a suit has never worked for, and Joe in his living room with a Christmas tree, fancy lamp, and nice pictures in the background works even less. He cut a promo to build up his match with Wardlow next week.

HOOK vs. EXODUS PRIME- squash
Exodus Prime is a terrible name. Hook was dick, leaving the Red Rum on after the bell.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
We cut to Stokely Hathaway cutting a promo while Lee Moriarty and Big Bill (but mostly Moriarty) beat up Jungle Boy. Big Bill chokeslammed Jungle Boy into a dumpster.
As Hook was leaving, the ring, Moxley’s music played. This felt like one of those things that WWE would do where they send the big star out before a commercial break to convince you not to tune out.

DARIUS MARTIN (w/Dante Martin) vs. JON MOXLEY (w/Claudio Castagnoli)- 7/10
A clean win for Moxley, but a great showing for young Darius.

JAMIE HAYTER VS. HIKARU SHIDA VIDEO PACKAGE- meh

WILL HOBBS VIDEO PACKAGE- good
This is the sort of character stuff they should have done much earlier.

GUNN CLUB vs. FTR- 6.75/10
GREAT selling by Dax throughout. The finish saw the Gunn Club win with illegal leverage on a roll-up. I liked the idea of the finish, but unfortunately, they did it in a way where the illegal leverage made no sense. In fact, it would have made it easier for Dax to kick out rather than make it harder. The illegal leverage pin is physics, not magic.
The announcers are not upset about this cheating at all. Excalibur points out that FTR are now on a three-match losing streak, and says that he’s not sure if that has ever happened before in their careers (and he specified not just their AEW careers). I’ll bet it has.

TEAM TNA RAP PROMO ON THE ACCLAIMED- This was an excellent “heel is bad at something and doesn’t realize it so he makes a fool of himself while thinking he’s cool” segment.

RICK ROSS MODERATES AN IN-RING DISCUSSION KEITH LEE AND SHANE STRICKLAD- decent
Ross casually dropped a F-bomb on the air. He made it clear he was on Swerve’s side. Swerve had Parker Boudreaux attack Keith Lee from behind. Lee won that fight, but the got attacked by someone else. The second guy has LOTS of tattoos. Lee won that fight, too, but then Boudreaux attacked him from behind with a chair. They held him down over the steps so that Strickland could double-stomp a cinderblock on top of his chest.

PROMOS FROM PEOPLE IN THE TRIOS BATTLE ROYAL- They’re all clowns. The Dark Order made Page promise to not get involved.

AEW WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE MATCH: Jamie Hayter(c) (w/Britt Baker & Rebel) vs. Hikaru Shida- 8.5/10
They both worked really hard, and put together an extremely exciting match, despite the outcome feeling obvious. Hayter really showed me something here.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- groan
Britt wanted to find out who Hayter’s next challenger would be, so she attacked Shida after the match to see who would come make the save. It was Toni Storm. She is apparently “not cleared” due to a broken nose suffered at the PPV.
1. That would have been nice to know before I spent weeks wondering why she wasn’t on TV and trying to get her title back.
2. If she has a broken nose, can’t she just wear a protective mask like Pac does?
3. If she’s not cleared, shouldn’t security have tried to stop her on her way down the ramp? It’s amazing to me how little this company learns.
Anyway, Toni got the best of Rebel and Britt, but Hayter hit her in the back of the head with the belt. Hayter was going to hit her again, but Saraya came out. Rebel went to attack her on the ramp, but got taken out. Britt stood her ground to fight Saraya in the ring, while Hayter- the only one with a weapon- just rolled out of the ring because the spot was for Saraya to take out Britt but not her. Is it really that hard to improvise “try to clothesline me and I’ll low-bridge you?” Or to see this f*cking problem coming when the segment is being laid out in the back?

This was probably the best Dynamite in quite a while, and it was a really great show. Of course, there are still some major issues of frustration (mostly in the lack of attention to detail, both in how things are laid out, and with logic), but there was very little truly aggravating on tonight’s show, and there were some tremendous promos and an excellent main event.