All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite: December 27, 2023: New Year's Smash

December 28, 2023 6:15 PM - Season 5, Episode 13

Both sides of the Continental Classic Leagues had their winners decided tonight, with Eddie Kingston having the most to prove and the most to lose. Mariah May makes an announcement, and MJF finally makes a dumb babyface champion decision.

Quotes taken from Wrestling Observer coverage.

Continental Classic Gold League Finals: Jon Moxley defeated Swerve Strickland & Switchblade Jay White

"A hell of a way to end the Gold League, as these three delivered a PPV caliber battle in this one. White used the no DQ in regards to it being a three way to his advantage, but it wasn’t meant to be, as Moxley was able to get his win back and revenge from last week. This was also a smart finish to keep Strickland from taking a pin or submission loss."

Backstage after his loss, Swerve Strickland (who is frustrated following the loss) brings up Keith Lee wanting to pay him a visit tonight and said he’s not busy on Saturday. Schiavone said Lee is there tonight, but in case he missed Strickland, there was a contract for him for a match at World’s End.

"Renee Paquette is on stage and welcomes Mariah May, asking her why she attacked Riho last week? May said she did so to support Toni Storm, which we all should be doing. [...] Riho’s music hit, as the chase to the ring was on, as May begged off as Toni Storm ran to the ring and tried to attack with her AEW Women’s Title, but Riho dodged. Luther saved Storm from a Tiger Feint Kick, as Riho dropped them both with a cross body to the floor as May checked on Storm, who was distraught as being upstaged."

First item: the production crew are getting very skilled at having the B&W movie filter on every time the camera cuts to Toni Storm, which I appreciate. The other item is that Riho looked fantastic in street clothes, like a sporty take on Cher Horowitz from Clueless.

"Top Flight & Action Andretti are backstage and said they aren’t taking their loss to The Acclaimed & Daddy Ass to heart, but want to keep going. Before they could make their open challenge, Orange Cassidy saunters in with Trent Beretta & Rocky Romero and accepts the match for Rampage. Romero said don’t worry about Cassidy; he did the same thing to him last week. Andretti said they’ll be ready and randomly drank quickly a bottle of water for hydration. We got the Taz giggle on commentary as a result."

The Don Callis Family Boxing Week Celebration

I don't know who Don's portrait artist is (assuming its the same person throughout) but I swear that if some of those designs went on sale they would be major revenue. Callis and Hobbs throwing up West side signs? Him and Fletcher punching Kangaroos? Callis as a yakuza in a bath? Magical.

I guess Sammy Guevara's a face again -- using his newborn child to get a middling crowd response -- so while Kenny Omega is out for medical reasons, Sammy and Chris Jericho can turn face again together. Plus turning the tag title match into an 8-man-match is a nice way for the champs to (maybe) take a loss but be protected.

"Roderick Strong & The Kingdom are in the back showing off their bulletin board of who is and isn’t The Devil. All signs pointed to MJF as The Devil and Strong promises to expose Max. This board gave off Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia vibes with his Pepe Silvia scene."

My friends and I have been discussing the possible identities for "The Devil", and one explanation we came up with is that it's secretly Roderick Strong, only he literally doesn't know it -- kind of a split personality Harvey Dent/Two-Face thing.

Continental Classic Blue League Finals Match: Eddie Kingston defeated Bryan Danielson

"The crowd is loudly behind Kingston here and Danielson knows it, as Kingston connected on a Saito suplex and huge tope to the floor to follow. Loud chops around ringside from Kingston before heading back in the ring where Danielson got his revenge with chops of his own. Kingston exploded out of the corner with a double hand chop before going to the apron where Danielson punted out the leg and hit a DDT on the edge of the ring, followed by a flying knee on the floor.

Danielson controlled the entire break and dodged a Kingston comeback that led to trash talk, saying Kingston is just going to ultimately quit like always. The insults and kicks fired Kingston up, as Danielson was planted with an Exploder to give Kingston hope. Danielson countered a back fist, but Kingston countered a LeBell Lock into a DDT for the double down. Machine gun chops from Kingston, as Danielson spat at Kingston during the onslaught, which resulted in just more chops. Danielson countered another Exploder and sank in the LeBell Lock, but Kingston got the ropes. Both men fought up in the ropes, where Kingston found himself trapped in the Tree of Woe, as Danielson hit a running dropkick. To the ropes they went again, this time with Danielson hitting anvil elbows, but Kingston spun out of a back superplex, landing on Danielson’s face for the double down into commercial.

We come back to a chop battle until Danielson changed levels and put in kicks, but Kingston fired back with more super loud chops. Danielson’s chest is beet red, but still managed to block a chop into a bridging suplex for two. During the Yes kicks, Kingston spat at Danielson, avoided the corner dropkick and turned Danielson inside out with a lariat followed by a Northern Lights Bomb for two. Both traded pin attempts and home run shots, as Danielson connected with the Busaiku Knee, but Kingston barely kicked out. The facial expressions of Kingston when he ate a series of anvil elbows were a master class, as Danielson opted to kick in Kingston’s head and demanded referee Bryce stop it, but Kingston lifted one finger to flip off Danielson. Wanting the final shot, Danielson charged for another Busaiku Knee, but ran right into a backfist and half and half suplex. Another wild backfist led to a Kawada powerbomb high stack to give Kingston the pinfall win.

The match these two had a few weeks ago was fantastic and I thought this was even better. The story they told of Danielson wanting Kingston to quit like he always does, just had the fans behind Kingston even more than before. The heart and drive of Kingston led him to defeated Danielson for the first time in his career. The post match back and forth was just excellent stuff between Moxley & Kingston."

Skye Blue defeated Kris Statlander

"This turned into a pretty solid match, with Blue picking up the biggest win in her AEW career as a result. The seeds are being planted by Hathaway for dissention between Statlander & Willow and I need more Stokely on commentary, his banter with Taz was hilarious."

Ring Of Honor Tag Team Title Match: The Devil’s Henchmen defeated MJF (and Samoa Joe... sort of)

"While I’m not a fan of your World Champion taking a pin right before the PPV, at least we finally have those ROH Tag Titles off MJF. This was all storyline, as the match started at the top of the hour. The reveal that Joe has been in cahoots with The Devil was a nice little swerve before the main event this Saturday. I do think we still need a Devil reveal at World’s End, hopefully the reveal delivers."

MJF must have truly become a babyface if he's making the dogshit stupid decision to defend them without a partner. Back at Full Gear, he had no choice because it was either defend or relinquish. But why not be smart and just take the countout DQ loss here without losing the titles? We still could have gotten the Samoa Joe reveal! All I'm saying is, whoever is under the Devil mask (a) should be revealed soon, preferably at World's End, and (b) had better be worth this nonsense.

posted by The Pluto Gangsta