AEW Dynamite New Year’s Smash Live Results & Recap – 12/29/21
It’s a New Year’s special edition of Dynamite and Bodyslam has you covered with live play-by-play results! Start time for AEW Dynamite is at 8:00 PM EST. Match-by-match highlights and results from the show will take place on this very page. Feel free to leave any reactions in the comment section below.
AEW Dynamite New Year’s Smash is taking place live from Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. It’s a significant episode for the company as it marks the last time Dynamite will air on TNT before AEW makes the switch to TBS for January 5th. As such, a very solid card is in place which includes Jade Cargill v. Thunder Rosa in the semifinal of the TBS Championship tournament. The winner will face Ruby Soho in the finals on next week’s Dynamite. LAX re-unites as Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz look to settle the score with Daniel Garcia and 2point0. Kyle O’Reilly will make his in-ring debut for AEW, teaming with his long-time pals Adam Cole and Bobby Fish to battle Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. A 10-man tag match was announced earlier in the day between Lucha Brothers, Christian Cage & Jurassic Express v. Private Party, Matt Hardy & FTR. AEW President Tony Khan mentioned he may have one more surprise in store for 2021. The show will also feature the return of Jim Ross to the commentary team, who just announced this morning that he is cancer free. Congratulations, Jim!
Results
The show kicked off with Jim Ross making his return to the commentary desk.
Jurassic Express, Christian Cage & Lucha Bros v. Matt Hardy, Private Party & FTR – Matt Hardy, Private Party & FTR win by pinfall (Harwood pins Christian with the Big Rig)
Christian and Cash Wheeler started the match off with some great exchanges. The teams traded tags early until Jungle Boy was isolated from his team by Private Party and Hardy. Jungle Boy eventually got a hot tag out to Penta, who ran through their opponents with the help of his brother, Rey. Fenix gave up the momentum to FTR before getting another tag out, this time Luchasaurus coming in to clean house. The match broke down into a series of brawling and dives to the outside while Penta got ready to put Dax Harwood away in the ring. As he loaded up the package piledriver he was tagged out by Christian. Cage and Penta engaged in a shoving match before Penta was pushed aside by Dax, who set Christian up for the Big Rig as Cash Wheeler got back in the ring. Harwood covered Christian for the pinfall.
Daniel Garcia & 2point0 v. Eddie Kingston, Santana & Ortiz – Daniel Garcia & 2point0 win by pinfall (Matt Lee rolls up Santana)
Kingston and Matt Lee started the match to a wave of “Eddie!” chants from the Jacksonville fans. The two brawled to the outside before returning to the ring where Jeff Parker and Ortiz were tagged in. Santana got the tag and continued to isolate Parker with a series of double team moves alongside Ortiz. Garcia was up next for his team, but fell victim to more of the same. After briefly being isolated from his team, Ortiz was able to tag in a fired up Kingston. Eddie ran through his opponents before the match broke down. Santana ended up legal with Matt Lee, and was rolled up by the latter (with some help from a grab on the tights) for a surprising upset.
Garcia and 2point0 continued beating on Santana after the match until he was saved by Chris Jericho, making his return after several weeks off of television. This led to a heated exchange between Kingston and Jericho.
Segment: MJF backstage promo
MJF is seen with Spears and Wardlow in a backstage area. H talks about his aspirations to win not only the AEW Championship, but also the TNT Championship. He tells Wardlow to go out and qualify for the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match as well, as if he is to win it he is contractually obligated to forfeit the prize to MJF. Smart Mark Sterling confirming this clause appears to upset the big man, and the camera cuts away.
Segment: Lucha Bros confront Christian Cage and Jurassic Express
Following their breakdown in their tag match earlier in the night, Penta and Christian exchange words and a match is set for January 5th’s Dynamite that will see the Lucha Bros. defend the AEW Tag Team Championship against Jurassic Express.
Wardlow v. Colin Delaney – Wardlow wins by pinfall (multiple powerbombs)
Poor Colin Delaney. The 15-year veteran made his AEW debut only to be powerbombed four times and stood on for a quick pinfall.
Segment: Adam Cole, Young Bucks, Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly
Segment: Dan Lambert, Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky promo in ring
Lambert blasts Cody and Brandi with a series of brutal insults before Brandi makes an entrance to interrupt. He goes back and forth on the mic with Brandi before the two are separated by Men of the Year and Dustin Rhodes, the former taking a cheap shot on the latter before walking off with Lambert.
Segment: Video package promoting Hangman Adam Page v. Bryan Danielson II
The two will face each other in a rematch on AEW Dynamite’s TBS debut on January 5, 2022.
TBS Championship semi-finals: Jade Cargill v. Ruby Soho – Jade Cargill wins by pinfall (Jaded)
The match spilled outside quickly and the two battled back and forth. Jade took the momentum when she caught Rosa out of mid-air and dropped her with a backbreaker. Rosa started to turn things around inside the ropes but Cargill dropped her to the mat with a huge pump kick. Rosa turned the tide by working on the leg of Cargill, but the momentum was short-lived as Cargill popped her up and caught her with a Samoan Drop. She hoisted Rosa in a modified torture rack but her leg gave out and she dropped Rosa. Just as Rosa seemed to be gaining the upper hand Mark Sterling distracted referee Paul Turner and a masked person struck Thunder Rosa with a bottle, leading to the Jaded and a cover by Jade. As Jade celebrated her win she was attacked by Rosa. The masked person returned to assist Jade, and after disposing of Thunder Rosa removed their mask, revealing Mercedes Martinez as the masked attacker.
Jade Cargill advances to meet Ruby Soho in the finals of the TBS Championship tournament.
Segment: Video package promoting Riho v. Britt Baker at Battle of the Belts on 1/8/22
Segment: CM Punk makes his Daily’s Place debut
Punk opens up by addressing Jim Ross and thanking him, before speaking about Brodie Lee and AEW’s tribute show sparking his desire to come work there. He moves on to discussing MJF’s arrogance and ego.
Segment: Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs promo
Starks calls out Dante Martin for costing him a shot at the Dynamite Diamond Ring before reminding him what happened last time he crossed Team Taz.
Segment: Sammy Guevara comes out with his cards during a commercial break
Sammy came out with his cards and recapped his TNT Title reign. In his final cards he states his resolution for 2022 is to beat Cody and get his title back.
Segment: Hikaru Shida video package
Shida calls out Serena Deeb, stating if Deeb wants a rematch all she has to do is ask.
Segment: Brian Pillman Jr. promo in ring
Pillman calls out Malakai Black after falling victim to his Black Mass kick on last week’s Dynamite. Black appears at the entranceway, pointing to Pillman before the lights go out and Black is gone.
Segment: The Acclaimed promo
Anthony Bowens v. Darby Allin is announced for Rampage New Year’s Smash on 12/31/21.
The card for Rampage New Year’s Smash on 12/31/21 is announced.
The Bunny and Penelope Ford will face Anna Jay and Tay Conti in a Street Fight. Anthony Bowens will face Darby Allin.
The card for Dynamite’s TBS debut on 1/5/22 is announced.
Malakai Black v. Brian Pillman Jr., Lucha Bros v. Jurassic Express for the AEW Tag Team Championship, Jade Cargill v. Ruby Soho in the TBS Championship Tournament finals, Hangman Adam Page v. Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship.
Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Adam Cole v. Orange Cassidy and Best Friends – Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish & Adam Cole win by pinfall (O’Reilly pins Chuck Taylor via Chasing the Dragon)
Shoutout to the AEW graphics team for getting a reDragon graphic into the video package for O’Reilly and Fish.
The teams traded both tags and offense early on before Cole fell victim to some trio offense by Best Friends and Cassidy. Cole got the upper hand by distracting referee Bryce Remsburg during some dirty offense on Chuck Taylor by his teammates on the outside. The formerly undisputed trio kept Taylor isolated but Trent Beretta was able to get a tag in. He managed to get some momentum back and tagged in Cassidy to play all the hits. The match broke down to some brawling on the outside and Chuck Taylor executed a beautiful senton from the stage to the floor, crashing down on reDragon. Cassidy got a close 2 count on Cole after a series of big moves from himself and Best Friends, but the cover was broken up by O’Reilly. A botched double team move led to O’Reilly kicking Cole off the apron and almost being rolled up by Cassidy. Brandon Cutler ran out to distract the referee and while doing so the Young Bucks snuck their way to the ring to superkick Best Friends, setting up O’Reilly and Fish to hit Chasing the Dragon on Chuck Taylor and score a pinfall victory.
This was a great show for AEW to end the TNT era of Dynamite with. Tony Khan certainly delivered on his promise for more surprises by debuting Mercedes Martinez. With next week marking the debut of Dynamite on TBS one can only wonder what other surprises could be in store in addition to a loaded card.
