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AEW DYNAMITE TV REPORT
DECEMBER 15, 2021
GARLAND, TX AT THE CURTIS CULWELL CENTER
AIRED ON TNT
REPORT BY TYLER SAGE, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Announcers: Tony Schiavone, Taz and Excalibur
(1) ADAM PAGE vs. BRYAN DANIELSON
The two men stared each other down before the bell rang. Once the match started, the crowd chanted A-E -Dub, then a collar and elbow tie-up started the match. Dueling Bryan and Cowboy Shit chants echoed through the arena. The two men broke the hold and Danielson did jumping jacks. The men then shared a knuckle lock, leading Bryan to get wrist control. But, Page countered and slammed Danielson, then the men traded some more holds and then broke apart, starting slow to signify a long match was in store.
Danielson dipped through the ropes as Page advanced, to stop the action as he smiled. The men then dueled again with holds as Danielson then did jumping jacks as they broke apart. Then men again traded wrist control, with Danielson getting the early advantage, then Page. Danielson then did his rope break trick once more, continuing to frustrate Page. Hangman hit a boot to the chest after a series of grapples. The American Dragon offered a hand toward Page after this, and did his move in the ropes.
Page ran the ropes and then caught a jumping Danilson and slammed him to the ground. After a counter move Danielson had a leg hold locked in as he kneed the back and grabbed date face and nose of Page. Danielson locked in a dragon sleeper, but broke it and stood up his opponent and laid in chest chops. After a whip, Page responded with a rebound chop on Danielson. Page then hit offense in the corner.
Danielson countered and then worked the left knee and ankle of Hangman with a series of advancing holds. Bryan then was in full guard and laid in stomach shots and forearms to the head of Page. Adam Page was put onto the apron, hit a boot though the ropes and was then pushed out onto the floor. Danielson tried to do a dive but was met with another big boot. Page then did a forearm strike off the top rope, sending both to the outside.
Back in the ring, Page tried another move off of the top rope, Danielson hit a kick on Page as he landed off the top rope. Danielson then worked over Page with kicks and offense utilizing the bottom rope. Page was now on the apron and tied up in the top rope as Danielson chopped and kicked his opponent. Danielson went to the top and hit a diving knee on the head of Page. [c]
Danielson controlled thought out the break, Page made a counter move and began to strike in the corner. Page then caught Danielson and hit a fall away slam, Page then hit huge chops in the corner. Danielson was caught on the top rope, Page hit a springboard elbow and Danielson fell to the mat and rolled out. Page then followed up with a dive onto Danilson, Page then did a top rope Moonsault out onto Danielson on the floor.
Back in the ring Danielson tried to hit a roll up, Page rolled through and dead lifted Bryan, then hit a Death Valley Driver for a near fall on Danielson. Page put his challenger on the top rope in a seated position, Danielson went under page’s legs and was on the mat, but kicks by Page sent him to the mat. Page tried a moonsault, but Danielson moved out of the way and rolled up the champion, for a two count. Page countered for a roll up and two count of his own.
Danielson countered out of the Deadeye and locked a hold on the knee of Page. Danielson then landed knees on the back of Page and then chopped and hit a number of running knees. On the third running knee, Page hit a pop up power bomb. Page set up for the Buckshot Lariat, but Danielson rolled out of the ring. Page hit a baseball slide and then went up for the moonsault, but was pushed and landed on the apron. Then Danilson pushed him into the ring post and then grabbed both hands of page and slammed him into the same post. Danielson went in the ring and raised his hands in the ring, as it was shown that Page was bleeding after the ring post assault. [c]
Danielson hit a kick to the head of Page and then dived out onto page on the outside. Danielson put Page perpendicular on the apron, as he hit a diving knee on the head of the champ. Danielson then was perched as he punched the head of Page to hard way the open cut. Page, now bleeding heavily, was pushed into a turnbuckle as Danielson keep the attack going. Danielson then had wrist control once more on the right arm and began to work over the arm. Page countered, but Danielson hit a German Suplex. Danielson then half locked in a cattle mutilation, that Page was able to battle out of.
The two men were now on the apron, Danielson kicked Page until Page fell and Danielson kicked the ring post. Page then picked up Danielson and slammed that same leg into the adjacent ring post. Pac put Danielson’s foot in the barricade and then hit a boot to the foot. Both men were back in the ring, Page put Danielson in a figure four, but it was broken with a rope break. [c]
Danielson hit a dropkick on Page, then both men traded strong style forearms and chops. Danielson then countered a popup power bomb and then tried to get a full arm bar, Page then rolled into a triangle sleeper. Page escaped with a power bomb. But, Danielson put in forearms as he was still in a hold, Page’s foot was able to get to the bottom rope.
Danielson had the right wrist in full control as he locked in kicks, Page countered with a piledriver, leaving both men laying in the middle of the ring. Page put Danielson on the top rope and tried for the superplex. Danielson sent Page to the mat and hit a diving Knee. Danielson covered after a suplex for a near fall. Danielson put Page on the top rope and suplexed the champion onto the mat. Danielson was late to cover and did cover for a near fall.
Eventually Page rolled out onto the apron, there Danielson tried for a piledriver, but Page hit the Deadeye on Danielson who rolled out onto the floor. Danielson was near the ringside table, Page went to the top and tried a elbow dive, but Danielson dodged and Page went right into the table. [c]
Page hit a German suplex, Danielson then hit knee strikes on a kneeling Page. Hangman hit a few lariats after the knees, Danielson then kicked the right arm of Page. Page was then put on the top rope and, Danilson sent him, but Page flipped to his feet. Page then hit a running lariat and both men were on the mat. The referee started a ten count, they both were up after seven. The two again traded forearms in the middle of the ring.
The two traded roll ups, Page countered a German. Then Danielson hit a head kick as Page tried to hit a spinning lariat. Danielson tried to cover but it was a two count. Danielson grabbed the two wrists of Page and stomped on the face of Page. Danielson let go and waited for Page to get up, when he did he tried the knee. Page countered with the deadeye for a near fall. Page then grabbed Danielson’s wrists and stomped his face. Page then set up for the Buckshot Lariat slowly, Danielson countered and locked in the Crossface. Page struggled for the rope, as Danielson pushed him. The one minute warning wa called.
Both men traded pinning attempts, Page slingshot threw Danielson and hit a Buckshot. Hangman went for one more Buckshot and hit it, but the one hour time limit was called. [c]
WINNER: Time Limit Draw in 60:00
(Sage’s Analysis: Wow I need a cigarette, and I don’t smoke. That was as good of a tv match that you will ever see. The in ring story telling, the ability for a vast majority of the 60 minutes to feel compelling and important was impressive. Both men should be commended. This made Page, and showed the incredible mind of Danielson to put this kind of match together. It rivals the Omega/Okada 60-minute draw. I do fear that the story here is the ability to not decide on a winner. But if this leads to a title match at Battle of the belts that is a quick enough turn around to make the ultimate match work for me. But, that also has its downsides not feeling as impactful as what we just saw.)
-The Young Bucks, Adam Cole and Bobby Fish were in front of a holiday set up and talked about how they took out the Best Friends last week. Nick offered an 8-man tag on Dynamite. The Bucks then threatened to end Sue’s (Trent’s mom) career. Cole said that next week he had the best Christmas present for The Best Friends.
(2) WARDLOW vs. MATT SYDAL
Sydal dodged and then hit a number of kicks on Wardlow. Sydal hit a number of kicks, by Wardlow hit a power bomb, then another. Spears then got on the mic and said to pin him. Wardlow looked over and hit an additional power bomb and got the win.
WINNER: Wardlow in 1:00
(Sage’s Analysis: A typical Wardlow match, the fact that he beat a guy like Sydal so quick says a lot. The thing with Spears worked for me as it makes Wardlow a perfect babyface when he continued to hit powerbombs, he will be a great face vs MJF.)
-Spears hit Sydal with a chair after the match. Spears then talked with MJF on the phone and told Wardlow that he ended to go pick up Champagne for MJF’s victory celebration.
-Tay Conti and Penelope Ford had video packages to set up a match on Friday, to a submission match. [c]
-Malakai Black had a vignette talking about the foundation and humans. He then continued talking and brought up the house and talked about it in a divine way and said that the masked figure was saved.
(3) HIKARU SHIDA vs. SERENA DEEB
Deeb attacked Shida before the bell rang, once the match started Deeb and Shida rolled trying to get the advantage. The two traded offense in the corner, with Shida hitting a dropkick. Shida did a springboard crossbody on Deeb, who got a submission hold that Shida had to to break with the bottom rope. After a series of moves Deeb slammed the leg of her opponent on the ring post and then locked in a figure four hanging from the stairs. [c]
When the show returned Shida came back and worked over Deeb with punches. Hikaru Shida was able to get a number of two counts at this point, but after those failed she went to the top rope and Deeb ran over and put her in the tree of woe. Deeb then put the knee of her opponent in a submission while she was upside down. Deeb then took the middle turnbuckle off and she threw Shida into the exposed metal.
Deeb then got a near fall and then put Shida in a submission with an S grip under the chin of Shida. The submission was broken with the bottom rope, deeb then hit a neck breaker, but Shida countered with a Falcon Arrow. Both women were on teh mat as teh referee began a ten count. Bothe women rose and traded forearms and kicks. Deeb hit a backslide, then countered a power bomb attempt, leading to a single leg crab submission once more on Shida’s leg.
Deeb flipped the hold and slapped her opponent, Shida hit a number of elbows to counter and then the two women traded pins. Deeb then wa pushed into an exposed turnbuckle and was pinned by Shida.
WINNER: Hikaru Shida in 12:00
(Sage’s Analysis: A good match, I would say the weakest of the three of their matches. But, any match after a 60 minute world title match that ended in a draw is going to suffer in the way this match did.)
-Tony was backstage with the Varsity Blondes, he asked how Julia Hart was going. Garrison said she wasn’t there for a reason and recapped Black’s assault. He called Black a coward, Pillman told Garrison to chill, and they had a brief physical encounter. Garrison said he would fight Black next week. [c]
-A recap of Hook’s first match week was shown, who missed that I ask?
-Eddie Kingston talked about his match coming up on Rampage. He is tired of 2point0 and he will take them out and two other guys on Friday.
-MJF came out for his match, he talked about CM Punk before his match. He said that he got nervous last week and could only make fun of the local sports team last week. MJF said that CM Punk is the new Ryback, and that he deserves a title shot, not CM Punk. MJF said that he doesn’t care about the younger talent, because he is the only young talent that matters. He said Dante is an athlete but he can beat him with a headlock take over.
(4) MJF vs. DANTE MARTIN
A new ring was shown before the match. MJF tried a headlock takeover to end the match early, Martin then slapped MJF and tried to take him down. MJF powered out and took down Martin. Dante hit a running 450 splash on MJF, who then rolled out of the ring. Martin was about to do a dive, but MJF walked away to avoid the move. Dante then chased MJF around the ring, he then tried a springboard move but was pushed off the rope and into the outside barrier. MJF then beat up Martin on the outside going into the break. [c]
When the show returned, Martin powered out and reversed a power bomb. MJF made a cover and put his feet on the ropes, but that was caught by the ref. Martin hit a drop kick, then tried a top rope move and sent MJF to the outside and dove out onto him. Dante then hit another dive, this time over the turnbuckle. Then Date did a backflip over the top rope out onto MJF.
Dante then did a springboard shooting star press out onto MJF. Back in the ring, Dante laid in a few strikes, then more in the corner. Martin had a number of two counts on MJF, who then had a side headlock pinning attempt by MJF. Dante hit a Sunset flip and then both men traded pinning attempts. Dante then tried a side headlock pin and they again traded pins back and fourth. MJF then hit a Liger Bomb for a near fall.
Martin rolled out of the ring, and MJF followed. Martin went to the top and hit a move, but as he went for the pin, Ricky Starks put MJF’s foot on the bottom rope. MJF then put Dante in an arm bar after the distraction.
WINNER: MJF in 12:00
(Sage’s Analysis: A really good showcase for Dante Martin and I actually like the distraction finish to set up Starks and Martin.)
-After the match the lights went out and Sting and Darby were in the ring and attacked FTR and MJF. CM Punk then came out and evened the odds. The six-man tag was set up for next week.
Final Thoughts: This was a stellar night of TV wrestling, this show did lot. It made the Page title run, it built on the impressive legacy of Danielson, it also advanced many characters and stories later in the show. It also solidified that the Winter is Coming show will be one of the best episodes of Dynamite every year, or at least try to be.
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