Darby Allin and Will Ospreay are two of AEW’s best heading into 2025. (Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Wrestling is so good right now. Wednesday’s “AEW Dynamite” gave us one hell of a “Holiday Bash” episode to continue our countdown to 2025.
There’s no time to waste. It’s the holiday season and that means awards. We’re going to give out a bunch of awards tonight because this was the best episode of “Dynamite” since our Uncrowned coverage began in October. If you missed it, you missed out.
I was originally going to make this our “broken spine of the night” … then Will Ospreay did Will Ospreay things. With Darby Allin as Ospreay’s dance partner in the perpetually awesome Continental Classic tournament, we witnessed a late Match of the Year contender.
These two dudes made this feel like a big deal. That’s already the beauty of this tournament. Every match has that feeling, but it was Ospreay and Allin’s first time locking up and we got a moment to soak it in with a Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega type of staredown at the start. Not that exact vibe, but it was similar.
Once they got going, boy, did they get going.
The sound of Allin’s body crashing off the ring was even gnarlier than I realized when hearing it live. This guy gets justifiable Jeff Hardy comparisons with the carelessness for his well-being. As a lifelong Hardy fan, he gets the seal of approval from me for that alone.
My childhood fandom peaked around 2009 — the same time Hardy was at his height and left WWE for personal reasons. In that era of WWE, matches like this were extremely far and few between, seemingly only reserved for someone like prime Kurt Angle.
AEW is all about its in-ring wrestling and that’s what makes it so special. That’s not to say WWE hasn’t gotten back on track in the Triple H era — it most certainly has. But when AEW has a dude in Ospreay who is so evidently on his way to being possibly the greatest ever … you’re going to be one step behind.
The crazy thing is that Ospreay didn’t even win. I mean, it’s not that crazy considering how this tournament is laid out. But again, going back to that traditional WWE structure or pre-built expectations, you’d never expect to see the best guy in the world take an L. Allin got the 1, 2, 3 after a Scorpion Death Drop and two Coffin Drops, and justifiably so because of the talent Ospreay is. No problems at all there.
Some of the sequences and spots were maddening. Watch this one ASAP. Then watch it again, because it ruled that hard.
🙅♂️ Denial of the night
So, Ricochet is still doing that laugh. Yeah. You know the one.
It felt like we might be getting the extension of The Hurt Syndicate tonight, but MVP gave us a bit of a swerve. They denied the man who gravity forgot then labeled him “kiss-ass.” And nobody likes a kiss-ass, as MVP informed Ricochet while Bobby Lashley gave him a gentle throat hug.
Ricochet was solid on this show — aside from the laugh. I think we’ll see a slow heel turn with a dark side coming out. He’s not serious enough yet for Hurt Syndicate, anyway. Look at Shelton Benjamin. The former Intercontinental champion has hit a second wind in this chapter of his career.
Benjamin was a savage in his match with The Beast Mortos. It wasn’t a squash by any means, but “Shelty B” continued to look strong and had a “predator-stalking-its-prey” vibe to him. It is unbelievable to think we’re about to see him go against Kazuchika Okada next. The Continental Classic has literally become a fantasy match factory.
😂 Cartoon of the night
We had a roast battle on Monday night between CM Punk and Seth Rollins on “WWE Raw,” and now MJF delivered the goods for AEW.
In his classic Hanukkah-inspired suit, MJF came out and torched the Christmas season. Going after Christmas and Santa Claus, MJF?! A bridge too far, my friend.
He then turned his attention to Adam Cole, of course, showing a silly edited version of him on the Jumbotron. A Cole video played and revealed it was all pre-recorded as he showed up behind the former world champion. This is where the cartoon aspect came in. Cole attacked MJF and the way he sold everything was vintage comical MJF. Even the way he scampered away to avoid a Panama Sunrise was like something out of “Looney Tunes.”
We know these guys have great chemistry, so the more they’re actually together, the better this rivalry gets compared to how it’s been from afar.
No. Of course they cannot.
We knew that Jay White, Orange Cassidy and “Hangman” Adam Page would be teaming up to go against the Death Riders tonight. But they’re also set to have their AEW World Championship four-way match against the champion Jon Moxley on Dec. 28 at “World’s End.” Why should they care about teaming together and winning a match against the Death Riders? Realistically, all they should care about is watching their backs from each other — and taking out Moxley, no one else.
That’s essentially what happened in the match, as Moxley got a roll-up on Cassidy while White and Hangman bickered over who got to beat up Moxley. So again, a funny moment, but the match was pointless.
AEW has rightfully received a lot of flack for its treatment — or lack thereof — toward its female wrestlers. Can we say that’s firmly been put behind us though? I think so. A ton of wrestlers received air time on Wednesday and it was all utilized wonderfully. This was a well-balanced ladies night — despite just one match. But what a match it was.
Anna Jay gave the TBS Champion Mercedes a very solid run for her Moné. (That one was too easy, guys. Come on.)
I’m conflicted with Moné after she beat Kris Statlander. I thought that was the perfect moment to take the title off her, but now I’m not so sure. There were mentions of Statlander during the match, so maybe we’re going to work back around to it? Until then, Jay was awesome and deserves her flowers as she nearly pulled off the upset before Moné bit her arm to escape the submission. The match had a sick finish and Moné moves on to face Mina Shirakawa.
I called for justice for Shirakawa last week after her loss to the AEW Women’s World champion Mariah May, however this makes no sense. The match will be great, though. I’ll let it slide.
Mercedes Moné beats Anna Jay in a super entertaining Dynamite opener!That was easily a Top-3 Anna Jay singles match ever.
MERCEDES IS TOO GOOD.pic.twitter.com/BpBNYtJtwd
— Drainmaker 🌧️ 💵 (@DrainBamager) December 19, 2024
Let’s give the rest of the ladies a rapid rundown of awards during this giving season!
🎶 Song of the night
Harley Cameron is quickly becoming one of the most fun personalities to watch on the roster. There’s work to be done in the ring, but outside of it, she’s entertaining. If you follow her on social media, you’ll have seen this week that she’s a damn good ventriloquist. On tonight’s “AEW Dynamite,” she gave us an AEW Shop version of a Christmas classic. Too good.
😡 Threat of the night
MJF wasn’t the only one roasting.
Mariah May gave Thunder Rosa and her father the verbal business in a backstage promo. Dastardly heel work from the champion. Sheesh, Mariah. What did the Rosas do to you?!
😕 Amnesia of the night
Disregard any in-ring brilliance, the best thing outside of it was once again Toni Storm, who has apparently forgotten everything that’s ever happened in her AEW career.
Right when you think she can’t do any better than “Timeless,” she tees up for what is going to be surely another vastly entertaining character portrayal.
👍 NOW THAT’S DYNAMITE 👍
1. Jamie Hayter remains excellent on the mic and in the ring. She’s coming for Julia Hart next, but please, AEW, I’m begging you to get her back in a title picture ASAP. If not, let’s find a way to get her to Britt Baker, because we missed that boat by a mile and it still hurts my soul.
2. AEW gave us a Kenny Omega return video tease. The cleaner? The GOAT?? Best bout machine???
Say less. Can’t wait.
3. The fans in Washington DC threw “Santa!” chants back at MJF when he was roasting jolly ol’ Saint Nick and I can’t say I’ve heard that one before.
4. Chris Jericho and his new obsession with New York is working for me. I’m sorry, haters. That mini-doc style video with him going through the city was fantastic.
5. Speaking of hype and good video package work, the love for Bandido continued. I’m here for it. He’ll make a for a fun re-addition into the mix.
6. To round out the night of great video packages was the mini Continental Classic recap for Mark Briscoe vs. Kyle Fletcher and Okada vs. Mortos. The usage of that one ultra-famous classical song that’s name escapes me was epic.
👎 DUDSVILLE 👎
1. My only down this week isn’t even episode specific. It’s a re-occuring issue that we all know, but … AEW has too many champs.
I had to go to the AEW website just to make sure I remembered who was holding titles right now.
I wish Tony Khan never got carried away with that.
👑 Uncrowned Gem of the Night 👑
Everything was overshadowed by what Ospreay and Allin did, but the gem of all Uncrowned gems on this “AEW Dynamite” was without question The Patriarchy (Christian Cage & Nick Wayne) vs. Hook & Katsuyori Shibata. Most specifically, Shibata.
This match absolutely ruled and it hit me early on — how insane is this combination of wrestlers? Similar to Benjamin’s upcoming match with Okada, who the hell ever thought we’d see Cage and Shibata lock up? Then Wayne and Hook were involved — and I’ve decided those two need their own feud separate from all this at some point. They’re young enough to where it can certainly happen with this developing history, but man, they’re so good together.
Shibata just rules, though, and I want to see some solid one-on-ones from him. Even if that’s with Wayne, I’ll take it. He slapped the soul out of that poor fella and landed some hard-hitting moves. This was so good, man. Great episode overall.
And to say farewell, shoutout to the cameraman for his excellent work catching Kip Sabian’s reaction. What a “Holiday Bash.”
👑 I give this show a Crown score of: 9.5/10. 👑
