AEW Dynamite Review: New Year’s Smash Night 1 Was Too Sweet

“It’s Wednesday… You know what that means…”

New Year’s Smash Night 1 opens up with a fast-action eight-man tag match with The Young Bucks and SCU defeating The Acclaimed and TH2 via Best Meltzer Ever, the Buckdriver w/ Daniels’ BME. A  literal fast-paces bout with everyone getting their turn to amp up the crowd. A great opener, and while on the losing end, it is pretty clear The Acclaimed will be a team to watch in 2021. TH2 no slouch either, lots of offense from them as well. 

A developing story, where Kazarian and Daniels agree should they lose a tag match, it will be their last. They close with saying they hope to have one last run as AEW Tag Team Champions by beating the best tag team in the world. 

Big words. I would hate to see SCU fold, but all good thing do inevitably come to an end. 

Jon Moxley promo: The retuning Mox throws a warning to Kenny Omega while also promising not to interfere in tonight’s main event. The line of “I’m in your blind spot” stuck out at the end, so it seems we have not seen the last of Mox and Omega. 

Warlow defeated Jake Hager

Holy crap this match was solid. I expected the clichéd Hoss Fight, but man oh man did they deliver. Wardlow certainly was the MVP, which I think was the intended result. Hager had his moments of dominating, but tonight was about pushing the next big man of AEW. Wardlow looked impressive, and managing to fully execute the F-10 was the icing on the cake. Both came out looking good in this one. The fist-bump at the end showed no hard feelings, but a post-match pep talk by MJF to Hager was intriguing. Perhaps a sign of loyalty? Or perhaps MJF trying to court favor to his side? Time will tell if there was a plan… or nothing more than MJF just being a friendly guy. Friendly? What?

Darby Allin and Brian Cage “Weigh-in”

Well, the obvious, there’s over a 100-pound difference between the two. Pretty scary. Allin readies for a fight, but before Team Taz can give him what he wants, the lights go out, the snow falls, and IT’S STIIIIIING! Taz and company back off. 

I will say, I was impressed they put Will Hobbs in a vest and tie.  He pulls it off.

Cody Rhodes w/ Snoop Dogg defeated Matt Sydal

Yep, Snoop Dogg out with Cody to help promote the Go-Big Show coming on TBSGood match, although a tag choppy at points. An early meteora to the entrance ramp appeared to have hurt Sydal and impacted the rest of the match. It did seem the match slowed and some spots didn’t go off as intended. Interested spot in the match, an errant strike by Cody connects with Serpentico which later ignites a fight with Luther of Chaos Project. I’m fairly certain it’s been said before and by others, Cody Rhodes has become the wrestler able to mesh with others of varying styles, with both parties looking strong regarding of win or loss. 

After the match, Chaos Project jumped both Rhodes and Sydal but were overpowered.  The funny finish saw Snoop Dogg leap off the top rope with a splash onto Serpentico with Cody counting the three. 

Hikaru Shida retains the AEW Women’s Championship against Abadon

Not the best match, felt like more for the horror show. There aren’t too many over-the-top gimmicks in AEW, with Abadon being the most graphic of any currently. It looked more like a brawl than a match, with way too much on Abandon’s obsession with blood. The biting and blood is obvious fake, and didn’t really do anything to impact the match. Didn’t feel right, and Shida hitting her diving knee for the finish didn’t have the “pop” it should have. Lessons hopefully learned. 

The Main Event: Rey Fenix Jr. versus Kenny Omega w/ Don Callis for the AEW World Championship

Oh so much happened here. A lot to unravel and sort out. First off, had this taken place last week, this would have made my Match of the Year contribution. If anyone had a sliver of doubt Fenix could be a main eventer or World Champion, such doubt is gone. Top spots were Omega folding over Fenix with a Snapdragon on the arena floor, Fenix later with a moonsault reversal into a German suplex in the most fluid motion I have ever seen, Fenix again taking Omega over backwards with a reverse-rana on countering the One Winged Angel, but finally, Omega just drilling Fenix with a Tiger Driver by catching him in mid-air. The One Winged Angel would end the match, and despite knowing Omega wouldn’t drop the title this quickly, there were a few moments where one could forget this and believe Fenix could do it. 

When the match ended, the sinister Don Callis took the mic and showed backstage Eddie Kingston, Butcher, and Blade having ambushed Pentagon El Zero M and PAC. However, Jon Moxely rushed out, barbed wire bat, coming to the aid of Fenix. This suddenly turned into a wild brawl when THE GOOD BROTHERS (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) STORMED THE RING and saved Omega. Soon, wrestlers at ringside jumped over the barrier to stop the invaders from Impact Wrestling, but the Impact Tag Team Champions easily overcame them all. But suddenly, The Young Bucks rushed down to calm things down. In an odd moment, Omega was held in the ropes by one of the outside wrestlers, who then got superkicked by Matt Jackson. Confusion abound, as Omega, Gallows, and Anderson threw up an all-too-familiar hand signal, to which Matt and Nick Jackson, without hesitation, joined in. 

New Year’s Smash Night 1 was the perfect jump start to 2021. It’s been said this year could very well be the year of The Elite, and it definitely seems 2021 has no shortage of surprises. 

I am most certainly looking forward to next week. 

AEW Dynamite: New Year’s Smash Night 1 is now streaming on the TNT App and on demand.