AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from December 21

AEW Dynamite Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from December 21

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Match No. 5 in the Best of Seven for the AEW Trios titles headlined Wednesday’s Dynamite.Credit: AEW

Down to one last chance to keep their AEW World Trios Championship chances alive, The Elite’s Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks turned to a special No Disqualification stipulation Wednesday night against Death Triangle in Match No. 5 of their Best-of-Seven Series.

Pac, Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix benefited exponentially throughout by utilizing a timekeeper’s hammer to keep their opponents at a disadvantage, but with all weapons legal, would Omega and the Bucks turn the momentum in their favor and bring the series ever-so-closer?

Find out with this recap of a show that also saw former AEW World Women’s champion Hikaru Shida look to become the first two-time titleholder when she challenged Jamie Hayter.

Ricky Starks Promo

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A week after losing to AEW World champion MJF in heartbreaking fashion, Ricky Starks kicked off Wednesday’s show with an in-ring promo.

Before he could say much of note, outside of vowing to come back for another title opportunity against ol’ Maxwell Jacob Friedman, Chris Jericho interrupted. Flanked by Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia, the future Hall of Famer proceeded to get burned by Starks who related his physique to that of an air fryer and his current look to that of a divorced dad.

After taking shots at his cohorts, Starks found himself attacked by Jake Hager. When it looked like the Jericho Appreciation Society might subject him to a brutal beatdown, Action Andretti made the save, helped clear the ring, then stood tall with Starks.

This was a great start to the show, with some absolutely fire mic work from Starks. He was fantastic here and has embraced the role of a star that he has suddenly been thrust into. He looks the part, carries himself according, and leaped off the screen here.

Considering who he was sharing the screen with, that is saying something.

His challenge for a match on the January 4 episode of Dynamite, in which he said “new city and new AEW,” perhaps hinting at a visual makeover for the show, adds a much-see match to that telecast and gives the company a legitimate main event match to kick off 2023.

Grade

A

Top Moments

Best-of-Seven Series: The Elite vs. Death Triangle (No DQ, Match No. 5)

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Just in case you were not utterly exhausted with the incessant showdowns between The Elite and Death Triangle, the teams ran it back for the fifth time since Full Gear, this time in a No Disqualification Match in this Best-of-Seven Series.

Upping the intensity and violence, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks weathered the storm of Pac, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Rey Fenix, particularly late.

Omega survived a shot to the face with the same timekeeper’s hammer that had felled him and his teammates numerous times, then watched as the Bucks delivered the Meltzer Driver to Fenix for the win.

The heels built heat for themselves with a bloody beatdown after the match, hyping the ungodly sixth match, a Falls Count Anywhere affair.

The matches are good, the talent involved is undeniable but the matches have a definitive style and not matter how much everyone toys with the little things, they still feel very much the same. ’tis but a curse of the party-style of tag team matches we see so frequently in AEW.

Everyone involved really needs to move on from this so, hopefully, The Elite gets the ego-stroking win sooner rather than later and things can progress in a different direction.

Result

The Elite defeated Death Triangle

Grade

B-

Top Moments

Bryan Danielson Promo

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Renee Paquette started her in-ring promo with Bryan Danielson by asking him about William Regal and what the future holds for Blackpool Combat Club.

After an emotional discussion detailing his relationship with Regal, he ordered AEW World champion MJF to the ring. Instead, The Firm’s “All Ego” Ethan Page interrupted. The two went back and forth, with insults involving vegetables hurled by the heels, before Danielson laid down a challenge for a match.

Page put it off until next week, but accepted, all while MJF watched from backstage.

This was fine for what it was but maybe continuing to focus a story on Regal when he is already known to be headed back to the competition isn’t the best creative decision. With that said, Danielson vs. MJF is going to be an extraordinary match when the time comes and The American Dragon’s showdown with Page should be a lot of fun, too.

The more Danielson on this show, the better.

Grade

C+

Top Moments

Hook in Action; Jon Moxley vs. Darius Martin

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FTW champion Hook battled Exodus Prime in the night’s next match.

Prime, the least effective Transformer, succumbed to Redrum as Hook remained unbeaten. After the match, Hathaway appeared for the second segment in five minutes, taunting the victor while Lee Moriarty and Big Bill beatdown Jungle Boy backstage.

The match was unnecessary and contributed nothing to this show. The angle backstage was fine and continued the new storyline, but really feels like a step down for Jack Perry, who had a defining night and win at Full Gear.

Back in the area, former AEW World champion Jon Moxley battled Darius Martin of Top Flight in a preview of Friday’s $300,000 Three Kings Christmas Casino Trios Royale, which sounds like the worst word generator experiment of all time.

Martin looked competitive and held his own with franchise star of AEW in 2022 but Moxley countered a crossbody, stepped over and unloaded boots to the face. The bulldog choke and a Death Rider later and he put an end to any upset attempts by the tag team specialist.

This was fine but probably on the back end of Moxley’s best matches of the last few months. Martin worked really hard but his style did not always mesh as well with what Moxley does and the result was a good, not great, match.

But hey, at least there is a massive mix of trios in one ring on Christmas Eve Eve for we rasslin fans to indulge in.

Result

Hook took Exodus Prime to the dark side of the moon; Moxley grounded Martin

Grade

C- for the squash; C+ for Moxley vs. Martin

Top Moments

FTR vs. The Gunns; Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee Face-to-Face

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The booking of FTR continues to invite criticisms and conspiracies, especially as it becomes evident that Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler are among the most over acts in professional wrestling.

Despite the immense popularity of the AAA and IWGP Tag Team champions, FTR fell in a non-title match to Austin and Colten Gunn when the former rolled Harwood up and grabbed the ropes for added leverage.

It’s one thing to build up The Gunns but it’s another, entirely, to do it at the expense of a tag team that established itself is the unquestioned best in the business in 2022 and one of the most consistently excellent in-ring acts in the entire industry.

FTR has earned better and, regardless of your opinions as to why they have seen their role diminished, wasting away in undercard programs is exactly the sort of thing that will drive them from the company.

Whatever the reasoning, there is no excuse that can be spewed that explains the disconnect between the audience’s desire for more FTR and how they are being handled creatively.

Back in the ring, Tony Schiavone introduced rapper Rick Ross, who wasted little time dropping an f-bomb and taking over a segment that was clearly designed to introduce Swerve Strickland’s new faction, Mogul Affiliates.

Rather than Parker Boudreaux and the unnamed assailant standing tall with Strickland and ushering in a new era for the heel, their beatdown of Keith Lee took a backseat to a Ross who talked over everything and did nothing to put the shine on Strickland and Co.

This was no good, very bad and would have been infinitely better without the celebrity involvement.

Result

The Gunns defeated FTR

Grade

C for FTR vs. The Gunns; D for the Ross-Strickland-Lee experiment

Top Moments

AEW World Women’s Championship Match: Hikaru Shida vs. Jamie Hayter

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Hikaru Shida sought the second AEW World Women’s Championship reign of her career as she challenged Jamie Hayter in a rare main event for the company’s women’s division.

After Hayter controlled during the commercial break, Shida mounted a comeback down the stretch, unloading on the champion in the corner and downing her with a missile dropkick.

Following a vicious brainbuster to the floor, Hayter recovered during the break and seized control, nearly defeating Shida with a sliding lariat. Shida fought through it and wiped out an interfering Dr. Britt Baker with a springboard kick.

Hayter took advantage with a powerbomb for two as the crowd came alive, appreciating the fantastic main event playing out before them. The Hayterade lariat followed another clothesline and the Brit scored the successful title defense.

This was a great match that highlighted the new champion while reminding the audience of Shida’s greatness. Champion and challenger beat the hell out of each other, bringing a physicality to the match that the women’s division in AEW could use more of.

The crowd bought into the action because they believe in Hayter and know Shida is a credible threat. The result was a dramatic match that could not have gone better for the champion as he first real defense of the gold.

A post-match segment saw Toni Storm and Saraya rush the ring to fend off Baker, Rebel and Hayter before standing tall with Shida to close out the show.

A multi-woman tag match is probably on the horizon and given the talent, that is hardly a bad thing.

Result

Hayter defeated Shida to retain

Grade

Top Moments