It’s AEW Dynamite. You know what that means.
More importantly, it was the first night of New Year’s Smash and AEW really kicked off the new year in a big way and it was too sweet *woot woot* too sweet *woot woot.*
Sorry about that.
If that picture wasn’t a dead giveaway, AEW has decided to pull the trigger on a Bullet Club reunion with Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Impact Wrestling’s Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, though they probably won’t be called that since NJPW owns the rights to that group. This has garnered a bit of a mixed reaction online, with some being excited to see these five together again while others feel that The Bullet Club has been a victim of diminishing returns after WWE’s failed attempts with The O.C. and Balor Club.
Admittedly, I’m pretty excited to see a supergroup like this together in AEW. Granted, the company already has a bunch of factions but seeing Impact fully cross over with AEW like this is really exciting. I’m not expecting Rich Swann and The Motor City Machine Guns to appear next week but it would be a pretty cool way to get people hyped for Hard to Kill. Just saying.
Prior to the reunion, Kenny Omega and Rey Fenix tore the house down, like we knew they would. I don’t know if this was a five-star match, but these two did give us a fun, violent, fast-paced bout that you couldn’t stop watching if you tried. Fenix showed how visually spectacular his move-set was with crazy spots like his German suplex after a moonsault popping me. Also dug how Kenny worked his signature moves into a heel style, with his facial expressions and selling doing a lot to elevate this match.
The post-match beatdown was well done too since it incorporated a number of stories in a way that made sense. Eddie Kingston, Butcher, and Blade continued their feud with Death Triangle by beating up PAC and Penta El Zero M so that Kenny could fulfill his promise to end Fenix’s career. Thankfully, Moxley came out to help the luchador after fulfilling his own promise to not interfere in the main event but then The Good Brothers attacked him and you know the rest.
Now, if this Bullet Club stuff isn’t for you the rest of the show was a pretty good watch as well. The opening eight-man tag was good fun, Wardlow and Jake Hager had an enjoyable hoss fight, Moxley’s return promo was incredible, Hikaru Shida vs. Abadon was something of a spectacle, there was a lot to like here.
It wasn’t a perfect show since the Sting/Darby Allin vs. Team Taz program is starting to feel a bit stale. Thank God that Darby and Brian Cage are going to wrestle next week since it could mean that Sting will do more than just staring at his opponents with a bat. Cody Rhodes vs. Matt Sydal was also disappointing since the two seemed to have a hard time gelling in the ring. That’s no one’s fault and shit happens but that was a match I was looking forward to.
Still, It was a breezy two hours with solid pacing, exciting wrestling, and nothing feeling too rushed. This is how I like my sticks of Dynamite.
Final Grade: B+
Bullet Point Party:
- The Young Bucks and SCU beat TH2 and The Acclaimed in an awesome opener: Say what you will about The Bucks, and I’ve said plenty, but this team was made for exciting opening matches. This was good stuff and hearing that stipulation of SCU breaking up if they lose a match has me intrigued. They also want a match against The Bucks in the near future, which felt like a good tease.
- Wardlow defeated Jake Hager in an Inner Circle grudge match: While this wasn’t a great match, you could tell that the two were working hard and that effort was appreciated. You also won’t see me complain about Wardlow throwing Hager around in a match and his Swanton Bomb was awesome.
- Hikaru Shida vanquishes Abadon despite getting a zombie bite: The biting stuff is pretty dumb but that gimmick aside, I weirdly enjoyed this match. It was awkward and a bit sloppy but also felt unique in that it felt like Shida was fighting to survive, rather than trying to put on a good show. This is probably an odd opinion to have, but I’m down for more weird matches like this.
- Cody Rhodes beats Matt Sydal in an okay match: This wasn’t bad but the two seemed to have communication problems at certain times. Still, there were some decent moments throughout and Cody made Sydal look good in defeat.
- Snoop Dogg gives Serpentico a Frog Splash: *pukes*
- Chris Jericho is great on commentary: Despite his shitty politics and promoting conspiracy theories on his podcast, Jericho is one hell of a commentator. I seriously hope he considers this career change when his AEW contract runs out since he adds so much energy to the proceedings. No disrespect to Jim Ross, but a commentating team consisting of Jericho, Excalibur, and Tony Schiavone sounds pretty great.
Images from AEW
*****
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