-Jumping right into the action this week with Jon Moxley vs. Roderick Strong in the Continental Classic as soon as the broadcast started was a nice touch. Showed urgency and generated some energy right out of the gate.
Jon Moxley the babyface
-Mox vs. Strong was solid. Your typical Moxley match. Because Moxley got the victory, he’s now in the thick of things when it comes to advancing to Worlds End from the Blue League. The question is whether or not his Death Riders will get in his way. In addition to the victory, Moxley cut a babyface promo this week. He was likable and respectable. Tides are turning for him in that regard.
-What’s next for Moxley? Well, a feud with The Death Riders. Is there any marquee matches out of a program like that?
-Eddie Kingston had the promo of the night this week. He was tremendous on the mic and framed his loss last week to Samoa Joe in a very real way. He’s authentic to the core and it separates him from others on the show.
Over it
-Yeah, I’m kinda just done with The Young Bucks and Elite style tag team matches or trios matches. In that genre of match, The Elite vs. Callis Family this week was excellent. Crowd ate it up, but the more we see these, the more predictable and boring they get. Do I care that they won $1 million? I do not.
-Kazuchika Okada and Konosuke Takeshita get closer and closer to exploding. More tension this week during and after their match. Tony Khan has to strike at the right moment with this break-up. So far, so good, but timing is everything.
From The Takedown on SI
-A strong contract signing segment between Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, and Samoa Joe this week ahead of the big triple threat AEW World Championship match at Worlds End. That is, until MJF walked out there. Look, MJF is a major star, but is the shtick boring anyone else? The MJF zingers are fun in a laugh out loud kind of way, but they don’t come across as edgy anymore because we’ve seen so much of it. Once again, the crowd didn’t know how to react to MJF because of what he said and who he said it to. He’s good, but he needs a fresh coat of paint.
-MJF doesn’t help the world championship match at Worlds End, either. Triple threat bouts are rarely called for and in this case I think it made plenty of sense due to the history between Page, Strickland, and Joe. MJF messes with that history and chemistry inside of it.
Challenger accepted
-The Babes of Wrath needed a challenger to come out of the big eight-woman tag team match and they got one. Mercedes Mone and Athena are strong contenders for the tag titles and that battle should be a helluva match on the Worlds End PPV.
-PAC and Kyle Fletcher had a nice Continental Classic match together, but I just can’t give a gold star to putting PAC over Fletcher. I know it’s a tournament and Tony Khan is essentially solving a math problem in booking the thing, but Fletcher is simply too damn important to lose to someone like PAC. It’s one thing if the loss gets treated as a major upset, but this wasn’t.
-Sooooo, Ricochet and Bandido won the Dynamite Diamond Ring Battle Royal and will square off next week for the actual AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring. I mean, what is there to say about this? It’ll be a good match, but the Diamond Ring is something that is maybe mentioned once a year inside company narratives.
As cool as Cassidy
-Orange Cassidy is still alive in the Continental Classic. Cassidy tossing his sunglasses to Mascara Dorada after the match as a sign of respect, was a smooth Cassidy thing to do.
-The AEW Women’s World Championship scene is a bit flat without Toni Storm around. Hayter is a good in-ring challenger for Kris Statlander, but they kinda botched the big spot this week where Hayter accidentally hit Statlander. Plus, Hayter looked like kind of a jerk for celebrating nailing Statlander after Statlander saved her from an attack.
Just a bit more
-I wanted a little more out of the main event. It just didn’t seem like Bang Bang Gang elevated their game to FTR’s level. FTR couldn’t pull them along as easy as they do for other teams either. In the end, it was about FTR getting a win and they got one.
What did you think of this week’s Holiday Bash edition of AEW Dynamite? Let us know in the comments!
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