Show Air Date: January 1, 2025
AEW Dynamite, live on TBS and for the first time simulcast on MAX, was in the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, NC (the old Asheville Civic Center, host to many Crockett Promotions/WCW shows, including the classic SuperBrawl III) for “Fight For the Fallen”, a special show with proceeds going to the local recovery effort from a recent hurricane. Crockett Country has been eating for months. This was a follow-up from the Worlds End pay-per-view last Saturday.
Opening to the Pointer Sisters’ “I’m So Excited” popped me. Excalibur and Tony Schiavone are on commentary, with some guests dropping in. They work so much better without a third party the whole show. Meandering promo from World champion (M) Jon Moxley after Worlds End. A shorter and better promo from Rated FTR: the returning Adam Copeland (“Cope” is a stupid name and I refuse) and FTR (Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler).
“Hangman” Adam Page defeats Orange Cassidy
Hangman Page and Orange Cassidy, both men who came up short in the Worlds End title main event, had the opening match. Interesting hard cam angle. I like it. I also liked seeing Page back to being the heel (they’re turning people so fast, you need a scorecard). I thought they had a good match but GTFOH with that finish. Page blew off three Orange Punches–a blow that has knocked out bigger men than Page in one–to hit his Buckshot Lariat for the win. Christopher Daniels tries to intervene as Page delivers a pair of Deadeye Piledrivers after the match but gets beat up for his trouble.
Good promo from “Switchblade” Jay White.
The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) defeat The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster)
Great question by “Platinum” Max Caster to Anthony Bowens on waiting the entire weekend and first half of this week before asking him if he hit him on purpose last Friday. No real answer, but at least he asked. Caster and Bowen then get blown out by The Hurt Syndicate–Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin. With dissension between them and miscommunication, this was the right result.
Julia Hart defeats Jamie Hayter
Julia Hart, the last remaining heel in the House of Black (AEW needs a continuity editor), won her return, beating Jamie Hayter in a solid match, representing the Lay-Daze. I think they have a much better one in them, but this was fine. Hart won with a distraction move to get the ref looking away and blowing the black mist in Hayter’s eyes. A relatively weak finish. She should have hit her with a move or something.
While no one gives two damns about who is the “best tournament wrestler alive”, a good promo from Continental champion Kazuchika Okada, the last man standing the Elite.
TBS champion “The CEO” Mercedes Moné had an in-ring celebration of her very successful 2024. It was a little long and was more to help promote New Japan’s big show coming up, but it was fine heel work. She looked great.
Jay White defeats Roderick Strong and Swerve Strickland (w/Prince Nana)
Casino Gauntlet #1 Spot Three-Way Match
“Switchblade” Jay White beat Swerve Strickland and Roderick Strong (of the still looking weak Undisputed Kingdom, another AEW faction) in a 3 Way match to win the number one spot in next week’s Casino Gauntlet match, where the winner challenges Jon Moxley for the World title in 2 weeks. This was fine. Normal multi-person fare. Nothing bad, but nothing special.
Ricochet–showing he really likes blue suits–hits Strickland in the face with some gold-handled scissors and then stands there staring like a weirdo. Somehow, a guy who has kicked up from nearly everything was completely incapacitated by this blow, leaving White alone with Strong long enough to beat him. Swerve is still barely moving when Ricochet comes to life again and starts stabbing him in the head with the scissors, getting blood on his Easter suit. This went on a bit too long but…AEW. Even Prince Nana got some work. Undisputed Kingdom made the save. I don’t know why, but they did.
Do all the Black guys hate Swerve? Makes me wonder.
World champion (W) “The Glamour” Mariah May gives another very good promo, putting over the Women’s division just to put herself over stronger. AEW has 2 dominant heel women champs and zero strong faces ready to challenge.
They have an angle with Jeff Jarrett possibly retiring, something not even teased on TV lately. But no, The King of the Mountain is not retiring and wants a shot at the world title. Fine. Let Moxley “retire” someone else. He did give a good Origin Story promo and put over TNA (without naming them).
Powerhouse Hobbs defeats Jon Cruz & Rob Killjoy
Powerhouse Hobbs Hulk smashes Rob Killjoy and John Cruz. Great bounce-back win after losing at Worlds End (I guess Takeshita shows up for Collision).
Maxwell Jacob Friedman wants the World title too. Good. He should. Though he hasn’t done much to be in the title picture.
Main Event: Rated FTR (Cash Wheeler, Cope & Dax Harwood) defeat Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley & Wheeler Yuta) (w/Marina Shafir)
In the main event, Rated FTR (Cope, Dax Harwood, and Cash Wheeler) beat the Death Riders trio of Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta (with Marina Shafir showing off her impressive back and shoulders). This was good. Long match, fitting the participants. The longer it went, the more Claudio was showing off. He was having a good time out there. The finish was very AEW Nitro where Moxley and Cope are on the announce table when Jay White sneaks in and takes out Yuta in the ring. The crew almost completely missed Cope’s spear on Moxley through the ring barrier. With Mox and Castagnoli down, Yuta then ate FTR’s Shatter Machine finish and a Cope spear, serving the role of 86 Arn Anderson for this group. Busy finish that could have gotten here without the excess, but then it wouldn’t be AEW (which wouldn’t be all bad).
I watched on MAX, and the commercials threw me since I don’t normally see commercials there. Then I saw that when they go Picture in Picture on TV, they go full break on MAX. TNA+ got me spoiled. I’ll just watch it on TV. I won’t do this again unless I forget to DVR an episode.
Otherwise, solid episode to start the year and set up new situations and feuds.
The Real Uncle Dave grade: B (89 out of 100)
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