Breaking Down AEW Dynamite (12/28/22)

Dynamite for 2022 is in the books and it was solid show and ended the year rather well. We got a big title match for TNT title, continuing the MJF vs Bryan Danielson angle, and of course the sixth match in the best of seven series for the Trios titles.

Bryan Danielson vs Ethan Page

Before the match could even begin, MJF’s music hit and distracted Bryan enough that Ethan Page gained the upper hand. But this was a good match with the crowd heavily behind Danielson. Bryan wins this one by submission with the Regal Stretch, which was a nice little detail. After the match Bryan immediately signals to MJF to come down and fight but obviously there is no way that is happening. I liked it, it is a way of continuing the story between the two, I look forward to how this feud develops more going into the new year.

Jon Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli vs Top Flight

The match came about from the battle royal that took place on Rampage this past week. It was a very good match, Top Flight went after them right off the bat, but at one point Claudio went mad with the uppercuts, incredible stuff. Another spot was Darius Martin was in the Giant Swing, and then at one point during this, Dante was jumping over his brother through a couple of swings before breaking it up, it was a cool moment. In the end though, the Blackpool Combat Club pick up the win.

It was a very good showing from Top Flight, a little unsurprising as to how good they are. Obviously they didn’t win, but this match was another step to developing Top Flight to I think the tag team to watch in 2023. Because Top Flight will get over putting in performances like this, and Moxley and Claudio were at their usual best, so its a recipe for a great match. But it is very nice to see Top Flight getting built up in the tag division, and hopefully no more injuries will halt their pushes.

Hook backed up by Jungle Boy

Hook had a quick match again on Dynamite, which was unsurprising, but he continues to get monster reactions, which is just fantastic to see. The more important things happened after the match like normal with these Hook matches. Big Bill confronted Hook in the ring, and Hook stood against him and didn’t back down, which made him look great, then he attempted an overhead suplex on Big Bill, almost does it but then Big Bill went for a chokeslam. Jungle Boy then helps out Hook by hitting Big Bill with a 2×4.

While this is a weirder pairing, this could be fun for however long they do it. Based on the reactions they are getting, this won’t be an issue, and pairing them up could be great in terms of both of them. Building them up more to the point where it helps them both instead of just one of them.

The Elite vs Death Triangle – Match #6 Falls Count Anywhere

Changing up the stipulations once again pays dividends for the best of seven series. The match started in the back because it was a falls count anywhere match, so the craziness just went and continued from there, the brawl ensued and effectively continued up until they all got out in front of the live audience. Honestly it was just madness, dives off equipment, the stages, and spots down the ramp. Matt Jackson did his triple northern lights suplex spot down the ramp. There were a fair few convincing nearfalls here. However in the end, The Elite, rather predictably, won the match. But they won the match in a cool finish, where PAC had The Brutaliser on Matt Jackson in the ring. Meanwhile, Kenny Omega delivered a One Winged Angel to Rey Fenix through two tables somewhere in the crowd and pinned him to win just before Matt tapped out a couple of seconds after The Elite had won the match.

This was just insane, so much to follow and at times it was hard to follow, seemingly endless spots, which isn’t a shock but it was a lot of fun. In two weeks, these two teams are competing in a ladder match, which is going to be even more crazy and insane. But I expect The Elite are going to win the titles when the match is done. We haven’t seen The House of Black for a couple of weeks so I could see them targeting The Elite once that match is over, so it could be interesting.

Samoa Joe vs Wardlow – TNT Championship

So earlier on in the show, Wardlow was interviewed about the match and during the interview Joe came in and took a shot at Wardlow’s knee to soften him up for later. Fast forward to the main event, and Joe is first out and Wardlow was slow to come out but eventually did and we got a good match out of the two. With the story being the knee of Wardlow, who fought on but in the end it wasn’t enough who was beaten by Samoa Joe. Post match, as Wardlow was getting up, Joe stopped and looked on before he took out Wardlow with the title.

Then Joe went, grabbed some scissors and cut off Wardlow’s ponytail as a collectors piece of how he beat Wardlow. After this is where Darby Allin shows up and comes from behind with his skateboard and hits Joe with it. With Joe out of the ring now, Darby held up the TNT title and showed his interest in chasing the title.

It looks like we will be setting up Darby as another challenger for Joe, it should be great based off what the match between Joe and Darby was. But I like the fact that we have two feuds for Joe, and a couple of directions to go in and finally, the TNT title is being spotlighted, which is very good, and this should set up for some great stuff between Darby, Joe and Wardlow.

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