AEW Dynamite Live Coverage - December 22nd, 2021
AEW Dynamite
What's next for Danielson and Hangman Page? Orange Cassidy and Adam Cole finally go one-on-one. Also, CM Punk joins Sting and Darby Allin to face FTR and MJF!
:aew:
– This week's holiday-themed edition of Dynamite on TNT kicks off with open video package and then we go inside historic Greensboro Coliseum to formally get the second-annual "Holiday Bash" special event underway.
– The commentary team welcomes us to the program and then they send things down to "The Dapper Yapper" Justin Roberts, as we get ready for our opening contest of the week.
Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy
Tonight’s show is kicking off in style with Adam Cole facing Orange Cassidy. The Elite member draws in a line in the ring with his foot, but Cassidy just walks around that. Cole then hits his pose, but Cassidy puts his hands into his pockets and then the two men get down to business.
The two men go back and forth with several headlocks as they try to gain an advantage. However, the pace changes when Cole connects with a backstabber, allowing him to take control. Cole then sets Cassidy to the top rope, but he grabs the turnbuckle to try and block the superplex. He then pushes Adam to the mat and connects with a diving crossbody. Cassidy then plants his opponent with a DDT, but Cole kicks out.
The Young Bucks and Brandon Cutler then make their way down, but Cassidy dives to take out Brandon. The rest of the Best Friends then come to level things up as Orange once again leaps out of the ring to attack them. However, while the number game is leveled, Cole launches his opponent into the steel steps repeatedly. He then looks to hit the Boom, but Orange moves and his knee smashes into the steel stairs.
Despite that, he regains control by launching Cassidy into the guard rail repeatedly. But, back inside the ring, they have the same idea as they take one another down with clothesline attempts. They then trade blows, with Cassidy hitting his slow kicks and punches here. However, Cole loses his cool and tries to attack him, but this allows Cassidy to hit a real superkick. He hits another but when looking to continue this, Adam reverses with a brainbuster.
Cole then rocks Orange with a pump kick, but things are switched again when the Best Friends member hits Slumdog Millionaire before a diving DDT, which gets a two count. Cole once again regains momentum though and he follows that by just kicking the back of his opponent. He wants Panama Sunrise, but Cassidy backs away and then gets an ear fall due to a small package.
Orange looks to leap from the top rope with his hands firmly in his pocket, but he eats a superkick. Cole then nails the Panama Sunrise…but Orange kicks out! This is down to Cole’s arrogant and lazy pin, with his hands in his trunks. He then misses with the Boom and Orange hits Beach Break, and this time it is Adam scrambling to kick out.
Cole rolls out of the ring to get away, but Bobby Fish makes his way down to the ring. He distracts the official, but as that happens, Kyle O’Reilly appears! He attacks Cassidy and that allows Cole to hit the Boom for the win.
Winner: Adam Cole
– After the match, Cole pulls O’Reilly off Orange. However, they then work together alongside Bobby Fish to attack Best Friends as huge “Undisputed” chants breakout. The Young Bucks walk down to the ring and confront Cole as he stands in the middle of the two tag teams.
– It is announced that on January 5, Bryan Danielson will challenge for the AEW World Championship again.
– Tony Schiavone is in the ring as he welcomes out Hangman Page. The champion says after 60 minutes he was handed back his title last week. He says he thought it was funny that in his three years here in AEW, last week he had never felt less of a champion. The only thing Page feels is that he’s a disappointment.
Bryan Danielson then appears, calling Hangman an entitled millennial. Bryan says the fans should be disappointed because if anybody should be champion, that’s him. Danielson says he hurt his leg a little in his previous match and that’s why he didn’t destroy Page. However, Bryan says he won’t wrestle again until the title match. However, he points out that if Page stalls, they’ll be in the same situation as they are now. Because of that, Bryan demands they have judges, so if they draw, people will know he is the true champion.
Page says he has thought of a lot of stipulations himself. He credits Bryan for taking him to 60 minutes, but in the final seconds he swam and if he had three more seconds, he’d have drowned Bryan. Page says if Bryan wants judges, that’s fine. But he’d best make sure Bryan pays them in advance because they won’t earn it. Page has gone too far for this for an old pr*ck to call him a B+ player. Hangman says if the question is can he beat Bryan in less than an hour, the answer will be yes.
– The Pinnacle are shown backstage as MJF runs down Wardlow for not protecting him. However, he then blames it on CM Punk. MJF says he and FTR are like family, but Punk, Sting, and Darby Allin can’t say that. MJF says the fact is that the fake nice guy face Punk is wearing is starting to come off.
FTR then say they had no problem with Punk. But if any of them want to be kings, they’ll have to kill one as they talk about themselves.
Wardlow vs. Captain Shawn Dean
Wardlow completely dominates this one, as expected, this time hitting four Powerbombs for the win. Shawn Spears questioned on the outside how many he was doing.
Winner: Wardlow
After the match, Spears once again hits Wardlow’s opponent with his chair.
– Dan Lambert is then shown up in the box with Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. He trash-talks the fans. Lambert says Tony Khan uses the buddy system, where if you’re his friend you get good spots, but if you’re not it is opening matches and backstage moments. Lambert then puts over the accomplishments of both his men.
He questions why they’ll both be sat on the sidelines watching Cody Rhodes this weekend get another title shot. Lambert says Tony has given him an impossible task, making the fans cheer for Cody Rhodes. Lambert questions how he can do that when Cody is a bigger d*ck than he is. Dan wants to make sure that one of his two men gets the next title shot against whoever leaves with the title.
– Britt Baker and Tony Schiavone are backstage for their Christmas party. She says she is better than Riho and claims you can’t talk about 2021 without mentioning her. Britt says she built her own kingdom and built the division from the ground up.
– AEW shares a video package about Owen Hart. This features footage of him wrestling in Japan while a variety of wrestlers such as Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, and Adam Cole talk about him.
TBS Championship Tournament Semi-Final: Nyla Rose vs. Ruby Soho
Nyla Rose attacks Ruby Soho while she is posing in the ring on her entrance, attacking the former WWE Superstar from behind. Ruby fights backs with several kicks and strikes, but she then just gets planed down to the mat as Rose remains in control. Ruby looks to trip Nyla but she stops her and then just drives Soho into the ring again. Nyla then connects with a clothesline before throwing Ruby out to the floor.
Soho starts throwing chops and headbutts to her opponent. She follows that up by charging towards Nyla, but Vickie Guerrero pulls her away and Ruby smashes into the steps. Back inside the ring, Ruby looks for a poisonrana, but Rose just flings her face-first into the top turnbuckle. Nyla then just hammers down on her opponent, but Soho kicks out of the pinfall attempt.
Ruby then smartly bounces herself off the top ropes while in Nyla’s arms and she uses the momentum to hit a DDT. However, Nyla kicks out and then goes to outside. She picks up a chair but Ruby runs from the ring apron to dropkick the chair into Nyla’s face. When Rose is back inside the ring, Vickie pushes Ruby off the top rope and she then hangs on that as Rose drops a knee from the top rope.
However, Ruby manages to kick out once again. Nyla continues to attack the shoulder, but Ruby continues to show some fight. She manages to reverse Nyla and lock in a Dragon Sleeper, but once again Vickie gets involved to distract the official. Soho kicks her in the head but walks into a Powerbomb, yet Soho kicks out once again! Nyla tries to drag her to the top rope, but Soho pulls her down, connecting with a kick to the face in mid-air to advance with a pin.
Winner: Ruby Soho
– Serena Deeb is shown saying that this is far from done. She promises that the next time they wrestle, Hikaru Shida will be begging Tony Khan to keep her away.
Malakai Black vs. Griff Garrison
Griff Garrison comes in hot and sprints at Malakai Black who immediately drops him with a kick to the face. Black then heads outside and stares down Brian Pillman Jr, but this allows Griff the chance to dive out of the ring and attack him. Back inside the ring, Garrison looks to exchange strikes with Black, which he loses out on as Malakai then brings him down with a heel hook.
Black lights up Griff with a lot of quick strikes and kicks in the corner. However, Griff keeps fighting and he connects with a rolling elbow, but Black kicks out of the pinfall. He then responds with a big knee strike as he looks to set up his finisher. Instead, he goes for an ankle pick and wins the match via a Gable Grip.
Winner: Malakai Black
Pillman then hits the ring to try and help, but he gets dropped with Black Mass.
– Matt Hardy is shown backstage with Private Party saying for Christmas on Saturday, Isaiah Kennedy will pound that ass and injure Jungle Boy. He then responds saying he will bring a big lump of coal and shove it up Kennedy’s ass.
MJF & FTR vs. CM Punk, Sting, & Darby Allin
Sting pays tribute to CM Punk with his face paint, while Punk also has face paint today as Surfer Sting, and he hits the Sting shout rather than, “It’s clobbering time” on his way down. Punk starts the match with MJF, but he tags out for Dax Harwood immediately. The FTR star gets the best of their early exchanges and the two men then slap each other.
Both teams tag again as Cash Wheeler ends up hitting a huge running elbow to the jaw of Darby Allin. However, he responds with a dropkick and a deep arm drag but Wheeler then gets back to his corner. MJF tags in and so does CM Punk, and the heel takes Punk on a run around the ring as Wheeler tags back in. Sting then tags in for the first time and he works the arm of Cash.
MJF tags in and tries to chop Sting but it has no impact. Instead, he drops MJF with a clothesline, but as he brings Punk back in, MJF once again runs away, this time into the fans and up to the concourse. He sprints back again as Punk gives chase, but he’s able to tag out once more with no contact made. All three heels then staredown Pun and Sting but Allin knocks them all down with his huge dive through the ropes.
Back inside the ring and Sting brings Wheeler in the hard way with a suplex. Punk comes back into things and he connects with a classic 10 punches in the corner as he grounds the FTR star. However, the heels turn things around as Allin takes an awkward spill over the top rope. He is then suplexed on the floor to add to the misery. MJF then spits water at Punk as he finally gets into the match, controlling Darby.
The heels then begin making frequent tags as they dominate Darby. He finally fights out and brings in Sting who makes the hot tag and takes out everybody in sight. MJF eats a spinebuster while FTR deals with Stinger Splashes in the corner. Allin then hits a Coffin Splash as Punk goes in with the knee to the face. Sting then locks in the Scorpion Deathlock, but with Wheeler distracting the official, MJF takes advantage from behind to break the submission.
Sting then responds to Harwood, taking him down, and MJF then gets driven face first before he just collapses down onto MJF’s nether regions. Punk jumps in and starts taking out both members of FTR, connecting with knee strikes to each man before a bulldog/clothesline combo. He dives out to Harwood before hitting a crossbody to Wheeler. FTR makes a blind tag but Punk keeps fighting and taking them down, hitting Dax with a neckbreaker.
Despite that, Harwood connects with a superplex as Wheeler follows it up by a splash, but Punk kicks out. Darby manages to take out Cash, allowing Punk to go for a roll-up. They get up and CM Punk nails a boot to the head while something happens at the timekeeper’s area that isn’t quite shown by the camera involving MJF and Allin.
FTR then takes down Punk but Sting makes the save. However, MJF drops him with a DDT, yet Sting pops straight back up as he launches him out of the ring to take down both members of FTR, yet he overshoots and smashes his head hard. Sting follows it by heading to the top turnbuckle as he hits a crossbody to all three men on the outside.
Punk tags in and looks for a GTS to MJF. However, Harwood pushes him out and he then takes all three finishers in a row.
Winners: CM Punk, Sting, & Darby Allin
