AEW Dynamite

This week on AEW's Holiday Bash, Sting speaks with Tony Schiavone. The Inner Circle's Chris Jericho & MJF face Top Flight. “The Bastard” PAC battles The Butcher. AEW Women’s World Champion Hikaru Shida is in action. Jurassic Express take on Dark Order in a six-person tag team match. Dustin Rhodes goes up against Evil Uno. And in the main event, The Young Bucks defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against The Acclaimed.




- The special "Holiday Bash" edition of AEW Dynamite on TNT kicks off on TNT.

- We see the traditional signature opening video package that starts off the show and then we are welcomed inside Daily's Place, which is covered in Christmas lights and other holiday decorations.

The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho & MJF) (w/Jake Hager) vs. Top Flight (Darius Martin & Daunte Martin)

Jim Ross welcomes us to the show as the familiar sounds of Fozzy starts playing in the background. On that note, The Inner Circle begins making their way down to the ring, with "Le Champion" Chris Jericho even carrying Floyd the baseball bat with him.

The fans continue to sing "Judas in my Mind" as he and "The Ratings Ruler" settle in the ring. Their music fades down and the fans continue singing the chorus acapella.

As soon as that wraps up, the theme song for Top Flight plays as Darius and Dante Martin make their way down to the squared circle for this week's opening bout here on the special "Holiday Bash" themed episode of AEW Dynamite on TNT.

With Top Flight settling in the ring, we hear the announce team of Ross, Tony Schiavone and Excalibur talking us through some highlights from last week's show to explain how things got set up for the Jericho-MJF vs. Top Flight bout this evening.

The bell sounds and it will be Chris Jericho and Darius Martin kicking things off for their respective teams. Jericho gets in Martin's face and slaps him. Martin answers back with a slap of his own and now we're off-and-running as "The Demo God" takes it to Martin early on.

Darius hits a nice enzugiri kick to the dome of "Le Champion," and then tags in Dante, who picks up where his brother left off, taking it to the 30-year veteran here in the early going. Jericho now tags out and MJF gets in the ring. He and Dante go at it, with MJF eating a big drop kick and then rolling out to the floor to re-group.

Now he and Jericho re-enter the ring, so Darius joins Dante. All four guys square off and then splinter into pairs in opposing corners of the ring. Dante and Darius get the better of things and they each climb up onto Jericho and MJF in their respective corners. They hit ten punches and then back-flip into the center of the ring and leap-frog over each other to hit another pair of drop kicks on both Inner Circle members. They roll out to the floor to re-group again, with Jake Hager coming over and talking to Jericho while MJF recovers.

MJF does recover and with Martin out of the ring in his face, he slaps him and runs. Martin runs after him but turns the corner and runs right into a big right hand from "Le Champion" that decks him. MJF puts his boot on Martin's throat and taunts him as the ref yells at him to get the action back into the ring. Jericho provides an assist and then MJF finally does roll him back into the ring. He delivers a short-elbow drop and covers him for a near fall. Now he heads over and tags in Jericho.

Jericho actually tagged himself in. Now in the ring, he hits a snap-mare on Martin before pointing and taunting Martin's brother on the ring apron. He gets in a couple more spots and then tags MJF in. The two hit some double-team spots and MJF takes over where Jericho left off. MJF isn't in long, as he tags Jericho right back in. Jericho yanks on the legs of Martin, pulling him up throat-first under the bottom rope. Jericho tries a cover and puts his feet on the ropes, but it isn't enough to keep the youngster down for a count of three.

"The Demo God" takes Martin to to the top-rope and climbs up after him. It looks like Jericho is looking for a super-plex, however Martin knocks him off the top-rope and comes flying off after him, blasting him with a nice cross body splash. Jericho eventually makes it to his corner and tags in MJF. Martin tags in the other Martin and now Top Flight have their big comeback sequence, with Martin knocking Jericho to the floor and hitting a big dive before re-entering the ring for a top-rope spot on MJF for a near fall. Now Jericho tries interfering, but Martin runs and leaps off his body like Spike Dudley would the turnbuckles for his finisher, using it to hit a nice tornado DDT on MJF for another near fall.

Jericho tags back in and hits a lionsault on Martin for a near fall. MJF keeps Darius out of the ring and now we see Jericho trying to get Dante in his Liontamer finisher. As he picks Dante up, Dante makes a tag to Darius that Jericho didn't see. This leads to a close near fall for Top Flight, however "Le Champion" managed to kick out before the count of three. Now Jericho is taking over the offense on Darius Martin, slapping him in the back of the head like an old-school Razor Ramon in his early heel days in WWE. Jericho is nearly double back body-dropped by Top Flight, however he reverses it into a double-DDT on both guys to buy himself some time.

"Le Champion" ends up getting thrown out to the floor. When Martin comes out after him, Hager gets involved, leading to MJF hitting the heat-seeker on the other Martin in the ring for the pin fall victory.

Winners: The Inner Circle

Post-match: Hager takes the mic and thanks Top Flight before commenting on how everyone in The Inner Circle have done their jobs. He said he's pissed off at Wardlow for not showing up because of "family business" saying "this is family business". Hager says he understands Wardlow is an "asset", but he says he's "an a--hole." He announces himself vs. Wardlow next week!

- The Acclaimed have sent in a music video. Max Caster raps about how they're going to beat The Young Bucks and make them "young ones".

- Tony Schiavone is in the ring as he welcomes in Sting for an in-ring interview. Schiavone asks Sting about how it feels to be back on TNT and in AEW. Sting reiterates that he knows he has come full circle. He shows his enthusiasm to be back in the jungle. Schiavone points to Darby Allin who is standing in the rafters and asks about Sting's plans. Sting notes that that's a deep question. He says he goes back in time and recalls when he needed a break. He talks about when he went one-on-one with one of the greatest of all time Dusty Rhodes as a "Dusty" chant breaks out.

Sting does a remember Dusty impression as he recalls Dusty telling him "we're gonna put some color on your face" before he would go on to face Ric Flair. He notes that now going face-to-face with Cody Rhodes in AEW was something he wanted to be a part of. Sting says it's good to be home and is about to tell Darby something but is interrupted by Team Taz.

Taz says Sting is always about Sting and that he's tired of "It's Sting!" Ricky Starks says they don't care about Sting's business with Cody or Darby, but they care about him getting into their business. Ricky and Taz threaten Sting about heading into their jungle and are about to attack Sting, until the lights go out, and Darby appears after leaving the rafters and is in the ring! Taz talks about Darby's upcoming TNT Title match against Brian Cage on Jan. 6. Cage says he doesn't want to wait, but Team Taz calms him down, and they leave. Sting and Darby end by staring at each other face-to-face.

- MJF is backstage and walks in on Santana and Ortiz's card game. MJF shows his support over Santana's recent loss in his family. Santana and MJF embrace as Santana tells MJF to "always keep your head up". Ortiz and MJF shake hands as the camera shows an emotional MJF.

The Jurassic Express vs. The Dark Order (Five & Ten) & Colt Cabana

Colt Cabana and Marko Stunt start things off as Cabana does not take Stunt seriously. Stunt goes on the quick offensive even after Five tags in. Jungle Boy tags in, and he and Stunt hit a combo move on Five. Jungle Boy drops Five with a huge dropkick, cover, but Five kicks out. Stunt tags back in and another tag team combo from him and Jungle Boy, cover, but Cabana comes in to break up the pin. Stunt is distracted allowing Five to tag in Cabana. Stunt escapes from Dark Order and tags in Luchasaurus. Ten tags in to stand face-to-face with Luchasaurus, but Luchasaurus quickly takes down Ten.

Jurassic Express show off their team work, but Ten kicks out at two after an assisted top rope move from Jungle Boy. Dark Order intercept Jungle Boy's momentum allowing Ten to take back control with an elevated German Suplex. Dark Order isolate Jungle Boy and hold him off from tagging in his partners. Dark Order continue to wear down Jungle Boy, but Jungle Boy continues to show fight and kicks out of each pin attempt thrown his way. Jungle Boy gets caught by Ten, and Ten and Five hit a dropkick, fallaway slam combo.

Jungle Boy bounces off the ropes and takes Ten down with a clotheslines. Five tags in trying to stop Jungle Boy from tagging out, but Jungle Boy evades, and Luchasaurus tags in and takes out Dark Order. Five gets taken out by a German Suplex. Ten tries to take out Luchasaurus, but he makes quick work of him. Chokeslam then a standing moonsault from Luchasaurus. Stunt and Luchasaurus work together to take out Cabana. Luchasuarus gets taken out by Cabana. Ten sets up Stunt for a frog splash from Five, cover, and Jungle Boy barely breaks up the pin. Jungle Boy tags in and hits a drop kick tagging out both Ten and Cabana. Luchasaurus throws Stunt at Ten and Cabana leading to a powerbomb combo from Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy for the win.

Winners: The Jurassic Express

- After the match, Tony Schiavone leaves the commentary table where he heads to the ring with a microphone. He looks to conduct a post-match interview with the winning trio.

Before they can say much of anything, however, they are interrupted by Tully Blanchard and FTR, who appear on the big screen from backstage. They talk about it being time for some trained professionals to speak, so they tell Jurassic Express to pipe down.

Tully talks about FTR being the 2020 tag-team of the year. After a little more boasting, he finally issues a challenge and tells Jurassic Express that they have two weeks to prepare, then it'll be FTR vs. Jurassic Express on Jan. 6th. He tells Marko that if he gets involved, he might just have a flashback to the '80s.

Stunt tries running backstage but is held back by the other members of Jurassic Express. After this segment we head back to another commercial break.

- We return from the break to see Alex Marvez has caught up with AEW World Champion Kenny Omega and IMPACT Wrestling Co-Vice President at the team hotel.

Callis asks Marvez what he is doing confronting them on their personal time. Callis brings up something Tony Khan and others have said and point out that he and Omega will not be dictated to.

Omega gives a message to Rey Fenix. He gives him a quick year-in-review. He tells him he choked in the AEW Tag-Team Title Match. He brings up him choking in AAA. He brings up the tournament for the world title that he also choked in.

He says he's afraid he'll not only hurt him he might end his career. He says maybe IMPACT will take him back. He asks Callis. Callis says he's not sure because he's injury prone. They conclude that Konnan likes him so they'll get him a gig in AAA. He tells Fenix he'll see him at New Year's Smash and then a graphic flashes across the screen promoting their showdown scheduled for Jan. 6th on TNT.

"The Bastard" PAC vs. The Butcher

We're back inside Daily's Place now where we hear some music and out comes The Butcher and The Blade and The Bunny. Eddie Kingston splinters off and joins J.R., Schiavone and Excalibur on commentary.

Now the music of The Butcher's opponent for this singles match hits and out comes "The Bastard" PAC accompanied by Pentagon JR. Tony Schiavone mentions Rey Fenix isn't here, and is interrupted by Kingston, so he tells Eddie to quit speaking when he is.

The bell sounds and here we go. PAC is hitting The Butcher with low kicks but The Butcher loses his cool and sends his smaller foe to the outside. PAC is quick to re-enter the ring as Butcher goes out after him.

After a couple of minutes of action, we see both men hit the floor with Butcher dominating the offense as J.R. leads us into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.

We return from the break to see the action has returned to the ring, and while The Butcher appears to still be in control of the offense, that spot is quickly slipping away from him as PAC peppers him with an assortment of kicks as we settle back in from the commercial break.

PAC gets Butcher grounded and climbs up to the top-rope while Kingston and Schiavone bicker on commentary for the 100th time. We see PAC fly off the top with a shotgun drop kick that sends Butcher flying out to the floor. PAC climbs back up to the top-rope, however he is distracted by The Blade and The Bunny on the floor.

When PAC turns around, he is turned inside-out by a big clothesline from The Butcher. Butcher follows up with another high-impact spot and then blasts PAC with a power bomb for a close near fall. The Blade hops on the ring apron and Kingston takes his headset off to yell some instructions from the commentary table.

Kingston continues yelling from the announce table, and now the camera shows it. We see Kingston yelling to Butcher to finish off PAC. We see Kingston get up from the commentary table, but as he does, "The Murderhawk Monster" Lance Archer emerges. Meanwhile in the ring, PAC blasts a distracted Butcher with a big kick before climbing to the top-rope. He hits his Black Arrow finisher for the pinfall victory.

Winner: "The Bastard" PAC

- Post-match: Archer and Kingston are jawing back and forth as Kingston hides behind commentary. Archer and PAC are face-to-face in the ring talking about their own desires to take on Kingston as Kingston trash talks on commentary.

- Backstage Jade Cargill congratulates Brandi Rhodes as a fellow mother on her recent pregnancy news. She's calls out Brandi and asks for an opponent worth her time. She tells Brandi not to worry about her CBO responsibilities. She delivers a message from Shaq. She says they better bring her an opponent because she's tired of this sh*t. She says the clock is ticking.

- We return inside Daily's Place where Tony Schiavone is being joined by "The Best Man" Miro and his pals, Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford.

Miro tells Tony to smile and be happy. He pretends to be. On that note, Sabian says he has plenty to be happy about because TNT will soon have its' first ever wrestling wedding.

Sabian talks about it being such a big deal that he is getting married to Penelope, noting he knows everyone cannot wait for that date. He says because it's the holiday season he's going to give everybody a gift -- and that is show them the date when they will tie the knot.

They turn our attention to the big screen where the date is supposed to appear to reveal when they will be getting married, however instead of a wedding date appearing, we hear the familiar sounds of the theme song of The Best Friends and Orange Cassidy.

Their video plays but they never show up. Instead, Miro, Kip and Penelope all start laughing as the music cuts off. They say they're going to show us what really happened. On that note we see an ambulance with lights flashing as one member of The Best Friends and Orange get into the back of it. Apparently the other member was attacked.

Finally, the wedding date is revealed as the two will be getting married on February 3rd and it will be a beach wedding at "Beach Break." Their music plays as we head back to another commercial break.

Evil Uno vs. "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes

We return from the break to see Evil Uno of The Dark Order finishing up his ring entrance, which is already in progress. As he settles into the ring, his music fades down.

Now his opponent's theme song starts playing as "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes emerges alongside QT Marshall and the two head down to the ring.

Before the bell can even sound to start this one off, we see Evil Uno blast Dustin Rhodes with a cheap shot. He gets in a couple more shots, beating the blue-face-painted member of The Nightmare Family down into a corner of the ring.

Finally, the bell sounds and now this match is officially underway, as Evil Uno jumps off to an early advantage straight out of the gate due to the before-the-bell shots. With the match officially underway, we see Rhodes start to fight back.

The action quickly spills out to the floor where Dustin and Uno trade shots until Uno hits a chop to the throat that slows Dustin down. He peppers him with some chops but then Dustin moves and Evil Uno chops the steel ring post. Ouch.

"The Natural" follows up with some good shots and then rolls Uno back in the ring. In the corner, Dustin yanks the fingers of Uno backwards.

"The Natural" follows up with some good shots and then rolls Uno back in the ring. In the corner, Dustin yanks the fingers of Uno backwards. The commentators talk about Dustin looking as good this late in his career as he ever has, specifically bringing up his sobriety as one of the key reasons.

Now we hear a jovial J.R. talk us into a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues in the ring. On that note, the paid ads begin running as the action continues in a split-screen window. It eventually goes away during the break, so only a partial picture-in-picture break.

When we return from the commercials, we see Evil Uno kicking Dustin in the gut before hitting him with a vicious pile driver for a close near fall. Excalibur and J.R. were both audibly shocked to see Dustin kick out of that. Then Tony talks us through some highlights from during the break.

Back live, we see Dustin and Uno trading shots from their knees as they fight their way back to their feet and continue trading shots. "The Natural" gets the flip-flop-and-fly, according to J.R,, to take over the offensive control in the match. He ducks a shot from Uno and decks him with a big boot to the grill.

As Dustin does some talking, Evil Uno blasts him with a kick to the mouth that shuts him up. He goes for a follow-up in the corner, but walks right into a running bulldog from Dustin. His old finisher for you old-school fans! Anyways, it was enough to finish the job, as he gets the pinfall victory off of the bulldog.

Winner: "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes

- After the match, despite losing, Evil Uno still wants to recruit Dustin Rhodes into The Dark Order. "The Natural" wants nothing to do with it, and so a brawl ensues.

We see Stu Grayson hit the ring, as does Lee Johnson, to help out QT Marshall and Evil Uno, who were already out there. Things end up with Grayson hitting some big spots but ultimately is cleared out of the ring along with the other Dark Order members by Lee Johnson.

- J.R. sends things backstage to Shawn Spears, who is sitting with their colleague broadcast partner, Tony Schiavone, who he asked to talk to specifically.

Schiavone asks Spears why he wanted to talk to him specifically. Spears asks him why he left the business for so many years. Schiavone says he was burnt out. Spears says he's exactly who he wants to talk to.

Spears says he sees himself going down the same path he has in the past, noting he too is starting to feel burnt out. He brings up some similar instances in the past, before claiming he sees it happening again and he refuses to allow it.

Schiavone then cuts Spears off and says maybe the common denominator is himself. Spears says he considered that but ultimately decides Schiavone is a prick for bringing that up. He gets pissed and stands up and walks off.

- We shoot to another section of the backstage area for a pre-match interview with the AEW World Women's Champion. Before Hikaru Shida can say anything, however, Abadon runs up and attacks her.

Several officials, including Michael Nakazawa, break things up and restore order, as we hear Hikaru Shida's theme song playing inside the arena.

Hikaru Shida vs. Alex Gracia

Finally, the AEW Women's World Champion emerges for her one-on-one showdown against Alex Garcia, who is already in the ring. She settles into the ring and the bell sounds.

Shida looks for the Falcon Arrow as soon as the bell sounds, however Gracia avoids it. She gets the champ in the corner and starts blasting her with punches as J.R. talks about her father being her inspiration and mention how she has an inspirational life story.

Meanwhile the action continues in the ring with Shida pulling back ahead in the offensive lead, until out of nowhere, Gracia rolls her up for a pin attempt. Shida kicks out at two and hits a big suplex. Now she drags Gracia's head over the ring apron before rolling out to the floor and blasting her in the dome with a running knee.

As the action continues on the floor we see Shida distracted by something in the crowd. The camera pans over and we see that Abadon is now stalking her in the arena. Shida charges over and yanks Abadon over the railing before beating her down outside the ring. She is nearly counted out but finally returns to the ring, where she walks into a running knee from Gracia for a near fall.

Shida then hits a head-scissors into a back-breaker, which she follows up with a Falcon Arrow. She covers her and gets the pinfall victory, where she immediately pops up and turns her attention to Abadon outside the ring again.

Winner: Hikaru Shida

- After The Match Shida grabs the kendo stick she walks to the ring with and as her music plays, she exits the ring and walks over to Abadon.

She pokes Abadon with the kendo stick and Abadon, who appeared to still be laid out, pops up to her feet out of nowhere and begins attacking the champ.

She gets Shida laid against the barricade and starts biting her, taking a chunk of flesh out of her neck like a vampire. Her music plays as she backs off looking like a psycho as Tony Schiavone calls for help and J.R. plugs our main event coming up next as we head to another commercial break.

AEW World Tag Team Title Match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. The Acclaimed

After the announcers run down some matches and other announcements regarding next week's AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash Night 1 special episode on TNT, as well as some matches and action set for AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash Night 2 the following week, we head back down to ringside.

"The Dapper Yapper" Justin Roberts then begins the formal pre-match ring introductions for our challengers into tonight's main event -- The Acclaimed. They rap about having eight straight wins and climbing the rankings as the fans boo and jeer them.

As they settle into the ring, they finish up their rap and their music fades down. The entrance theme of the champions plays now as The Young Bucks -- Nick and Matt Jackson -- emerge from the entrance tunnel and begin making their way down to the squared circle for this week's AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash main event.

The bell sounds and our headline bout of the evening is underway. Anthony Bowens stays on the apron while Max Caster starts things off for his team. Nick Jackson doesn't stay in the ring long, tagging Matt in before things get going. Meanwhile we see The Acclaimed hit several quick tags. Now The Young Bucks make the tag as well.

Both Jackson's take out both members of The Acclaimed before clearing them out of the ring and hitting some dives on them from the ring to the floor. They continue the beatdown on the floor. Matt spears Caster down on the floor after Nick hops the ring barricade. Nick then hops back over right into a splash while Matt hit a moonsault. Ricky Business on the outside from The Young Bucks before they bring the action back into the ring.

This sets off a series of crazy offensive spots from The Young Bucks, way too quick to keep track of, as they fly from one end of the ring to the other and from in the ring to out of the ring. From the ring inside the ropes to spots on the ring outside the ropes on the hardest part of the apron. Just as The Acclaimed finally stops the champs dead in their tracks and shift the offensive momentum to their side of the ring, J.R. leads us into a mid-match, picture-in-picture commercial break as the action continues.

We return from the break to see Nick Jackson still isolated in the ring taking a beatdown from both members of The Acclaimed, who take turns hitting the ring as the legal man to deliver additional punishment to one-half of the AEW World Tag-Team Champions. A few moments after we return from the break, Matt Jackson finally gets the hot tag. Matt hits the ring and takes out Bowens and Caster, leaving Bowens as the legal man in the ring.

Matt hits a suplex and transitions into a Boston grab type submission. We see Caster hit the ring and punch away at Matt, however he holds onto the sharpshooter regardless. Finally, Nick yanks Caster out of the ring and puts him in a sharpshooter on the floor. Finally, in the ring, Bowens crawls his way to the bottom rope to force the scorpion death lock to be broken up. Yes, J.R. referenced the fact that they called it by all three of its names, before giving props to its' originator -- Riki Choshu.

Jackson makes the tag and comes in to hit the special doomsday device tribute double-team spot along with the other Buck, however the other member of The Acclaimed hits the ring to break up the follow-up pin attempt, keeping this match alive. The Acclaimed finally make the tag and they knock Jackson out to the floor and then throw him over the barricade. Back in the ring, the challengers hit a double-team superplex spot off the top-rope for a close near fall, which Jackson broke up after making it to the ring from the first row just in time.

Now we see all hell break loose and after a cheap shot with a boombox radio following a cheap shot low-blow, the ref turns around to make the pin, however the Bucks hang on. The Acclaimed go for their finisher, however Jackson super kicks one member into the other Buck on the floor, who power bombs him through the barricade. Back in the ring, The Bucks hit the BTE Trigger for the pinfall victory. With the win, The Young Bucks retain the AEW World Tag-Team Championships in an excellent main event match here on AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash.

Winners and STILL AEW World Tag-Team Champions: The Young Bucks