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AEW DYNAMITE NEW YEAR'S SMASH REPORT: LAST STOP BEFORE WORLDS END

One More For Year: AEW Dynamite 12/27 New Year’s Smash Review:

The final Dynamite of the year is done, as AEW looks forward to their final pay-per-view of the year in World’s End. On this show, we have the two winners of the blue and gold league for the Continental Classic, the masked men fighting for the ROH Tag Team Championships, and adding the finishing touches before this weekend's show.

Gold League Finals in the Continental Classic: Jon Moxley vs Swerve Strickland vs Jay White:

We started off the action right away on this episode, as this match was everything you expected it to be. All three men went all around the arena fighting throughout the crowd, as well as White introducing a chair into the frey. All three men brought it in this match, and all three of them had a reason to go on to this weekend’s final. In the end, Moxley pinned White, which also protected Swerve since he was not involved in the decision.

Winner: Jon Moxley

Swerve Strickland Promo:

Strickland says Schiavone didn’t even give him any time to rest before he shoved a microphone in his face. Strickland says that he wanted this so bad and he has given his all to this tournament. He calls out Keith Lee and says that he does not have anything to do on Long Island. Schiavone says that Lee left a contract for him to sign for a match at this weekend’s show. Prince Nana is upset that he did not approve this contract, Strickland signs it and tells Lee that he will see him Saturday.

Mariah May Interview:

May says that 2023 did not have the best energy, so she wants to kick off 2024 right. Her debut will be on the first Dynamite next week as she says 2024 will be all about Mariah. Rhio comes out to confront May as she runs off. Storm chases after Rhio as Luther drags Storm away, but Rhio delivers a huge dive right on top of them. Between the shots of Storm and Rhio, they switched the camera from being in black and white and in color, which is always great.

Top Flight and Action Andretti Promo:

They say that even though they lost last week they are here to challenge any trio in AEW. Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero, and Trent Baretta accept the challenge. Andretti then chugs a whole bottle of water and looks into the camera to hype up the importance of hydration.

Before going to commercial AEW hypes up the Christian Cage and Adam Copeland sit-down. Cage looks at Lexy  Nair and asks who is and he wants Renee. Before she can answer he says that he does not care and he hopes Copland shows up because he does not want to be kept waiting. 

Miro Video:

Miro says that he does not know what he is doing and does not want to go against his wife and fight Andrade. He says that no one can stop the redeemer and that he is only doing this to get back on top in AEW. The match is set for this weekend.

Don Callis Boxing Day Celebration:

Callis comes out to a storm of boos before entering the ring. Callis says that this has been a rough two weeks for him with everything going on outside the wrestling ring, but he would not have been able to get through it without his family. Callis then presents all three members of the Callis family with different paintings of him with each member of the family. Then Sammy Guvera makes his return to his family. Guvera says that Callis has not talked to him, but Callis has a painting for him in case he shows up for work. The painting is a family photo of the whole Callis family with Luna. Guvera gets mad that Luna is in the painting, as Callis then says Guvera is not mentally capable of being a parent. Guvera says Callis makes everything about him and he can not be the leader of this group. Callis did not even call Guvera when he got injured. Callis says Guvera dropped the ball and he has not been at work because of his injury and him being on paternity leave. Callis makes him choose between the Don Callis family and his actual family and calls Guvera a failure as a dad and a wrestler. The Callis family begins to beat him down when Chris Jericho makes the save and takes out the Callis family and also destroys all of the paintings. Jericho and Guvera make up and they then get beat down by Starks and Big Bill. The lights go out as Darby Allin and Sting appear to take the tag team champions out. Looks like the tag team match will now be a triple threat this weekend.

Roderick Strong and Kingdom Promo:

Strong says they have been working for five days on something big and they can not wait to show everyone. They present a board that has a list of people that can be the devil and he says that all roads lead to MJF being the devil. Strong says he does not care when it is, but he will prove that MJF is the devil.

Blue League Finals in the Continental Classic: Bryan Danielson vs Eddie Kingston:

In classic Kingston fashion towards the end of this match, the referee wanted to stop it due to Kingston giving up and he flipped the referee off. This match was fun Kingston and Danielson had a great back and forth, as I feel any of Kingston’s matches in this tournament have been his best in AEW. Kingston gets the win as the crowd gives him a standing ovation. Moxley comes out after the match and the two stare off. Moxley says all he has ever asked of Kingston is to give his 100% and for someone who feels the world is against him he has a lot of people that love him. He says that they don’t care if he wins or loses all the fans want is Kingstons 100%. Since Moxley knows him better than anyone he knows Kingston can not beat him so Kingston has already lost. Moxley says he is not doing any favors this weekend and Kingston is going to have to earn his win this weekend. Kingston interrupts and says he is not a young boy and he is going to win this weekend. Kingston says at one point he wanted to quit AEW but Moxley assured him and said that he needed to be in AEW to help the young guys. Kingston and Moxley stare down as we go to commercial.

Winner: Eddie Kingston

Christian Cage and Adam Copeland Sitdown:

Cage says he has been waiting forever for Copeland and he has other things to do that are not sitting around waiting for Copeland. Copeland comes in and beats down Nick Wayne and Cage. Security tries to break them up but it is not enough. The ROH locker room then separates them as they finally get things under control. 

Kris Statlander vs Skye Blue:

Stokley Hathaway joins the commentary booth as he says he has the best interest of the AEW Women’s locker room. Hathaway also continued to say he plays the role of an insider since he gets all of the information from the AEW locker room when no one likes talking to Tony Schiavone. I enjoyed this match, but felt that at some points Hathaway's commentary took away from the action. Blue distracted Aubrey Edawrads so Hart could attack Statlander to help Blue get the win. She hit the code blue from the third rope which looked amazing. After the match, Blue and Hart attacked Statlander as Nightingale made the save. At one point Hathaway was calling for Schiavone to make the save, but we all knew that was not happening.   Abandon came out next to stare down with Hart before their match this weekend.

Winner: Skye Blue

Ruby Soho and Saraya  Promo:

Soho begins to talk about her match this Friday against Marina Shafir when Saraya interrupts. She says that she has gotten Soho many gifts but she got her a little helper in Harley Cameron. Soho gets a call from Angelo Parker and steps out when Saraya talks about Cameron. Saraya says Cameron can do anything with her hands as she pulls out a huge knife. Saraya says that is not what she is talking about and they have to discuss something new for next week.

ROH Tag Team Championships: MJF and Samoa Joe vs The Devil’s Masked Men:

The masked men entered through the crowd and everyone booed them. MJF makes his entrance as Samoa Joe never came out. The cameras caught him backstage attending to his knee as it looked like the devil attacked him in the back. MJF says that he will do this match by himself since he made the promise to Adam Cole that he will defend the ROH Tag Team Championships. Note that MJF’s shoulder was heavily taped in this match. As one masked man distracted the ref another one came from under the ring and attacked MJF with a lead pipe. As the masked men held the other one's foot on the ropes we have new ROH Tag Team Champions. As they all continued to beat down MJF Joe came down hobbling to defend MJF. The devil appears on the screen and says pleasure doing business with you as Joe attacks MJF with a chair. It looks like Joe has been working with the devil all along. He delivers the muscle buster to MJF and lays out the AEW World Heavyweight Champion to close out the episode

Winners: “And New” The Devils Masked Men

Overall:

They must have known I was reviewing this week's episode with all the backstage segments on this show. Regardless, I thought the Callis segment was way too long, and it cut into the main event that did not get started till 10:00. Other than that all of the matches were great and it looks like the New York crowd is in for a great show this weekend.

 

 

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