Winter Is Coming was a professional wrestling television special episode produced by
All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event took place at
Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida and was broadcast on
TNT as a special of AEW's weekly television program,
Dynamite.
Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event,
Kenny Omega defeated
Jon Moxley to win the
AEW World Championship. In other prominent matches,
Chris Jericho defeated
Frankie Kazarian and
AEW TNT Champion Darby Allin &
Cody Rhodes defeated Team Taz (
Ricky Starks and
Powerhouse Hobbs).
The event is notable for the debut of
Sting in AEW, which was his first appearance on TNT in over 19 years; his last appearance was on the final episode of
WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001.
Background:
On the November 18, 2020, episode of Dynamite, it was announced that the December 2 episode will be titled "Winter Is Coming". AEW has promoted the Moxley–Omega match as "the biggest match in Dynamite history" and the event as their "biggest Dynamite yet".
The episode's title "
Winter Is Coming" is derived from
Game of Thrones, a television series from
HBO, which is part of the
WarnerMedia subsidiary of
AT&T, which also includes AEW broadcast partner
TNT. The phrase was the title of the pilot episode of Game of Thrones as well as the motto (or "Words") of House Stark of Winterfell. The use of the title was approved by WarnerMedia officials, as WarnerMedia has used Dynamite to promote HBO Max and other WarnerMedia properties.
Results:
Battle Royal for the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring
MJF and Orange Cassidy won by last eliminating Wardlow
Matt Hardy seems to be going all in (no pun intended) on this transformation into "Big Money Matt" from his heel tenure in IMPACT Wrestling prior to going "Broken". I don't see what was the point of giving him so many eliminations at first though, but whatever.
The Dark Order is apparently attempting to coax Hangman Page into joining their faction by buttering him up and I don't know what to think about this. If anyone has gotten the short end of the stick lately in terms of direction in this company out of the members of Being The Elite crew, it's "Hangman" Adam Page. First he's the social drinker, then he's pathetic, hopeless loser who drinks alone, and now he's entertaining the idea of being a part of the Dark Order? How the mighty have fallen... Exactly one year ago, people were buying into the idea of him being the first AEW World Champion when he was set to face Chris Jericho to crown the first champion. He failed, only to capture the AEW Tag Team titles with Kenny Omega, but boy, has his direction has been all over the place. I'm guessing they are trying to have him fall on his face HARD, only to bounce back with a redemption story that sees him take the AEW World Championship from Kenny Omega in a few months (the only narrative that makes sense right now long term anyway), but they have a long way to go to rehabilitate this guy until then. For Page's sake, I hope this path is worth it. He's got the talent to be a top draw for this company as a homegrown talent, especially when the luster wears off the rest of the BTE boys.
The biggest takeaway from this match for me was seeing how strongly Miro (formerly WWE's Rusev) was portrayed during this match until his elimination. Miro was like a wrecking machine here. Too bad this wasn't his actual debut instead of that goofy debacle that he currently finds himself in aligned with Kip Sabian feuding with Orange Cassidy and the Best Friends.
I thought Jungle Boy had a good showing here too, but goddamn, I almost completely forgot that he was in this company after what feels like months of his absence on Dynamite.
The narrative for this match was the Inner Circle banding together against the competition, at least until the closing moments, where MJF took the opportunity to shove Sammy Guevara out of the ring when he was on the top rope with Jungle Boy. There was a moment where Wardlow almost eliminated MJF, but he was quick to the make the save to pull him back into the ring, only to be eliminated himself by Orange Cassidy shortly thereafter.
Not a bad match, but not much to write home about. I thought it was more entertaining than a lot of the other battle royals that they have done like this over the past year though, so that's something.
Chris Jericho (with Jake Hager and Ortiz) def. Frankie Kazarian
The "Demo-God" looks like he can't even spell gym anymore. That dude looks like he's literally here just to be collecting a paycheck. That's sad too because Christopher Daniels is the same age as he is and doesn't look like he's out of shape like Jericho does while Kazarian is only 7 years behind Jericho's 50 years at 43, but still moves around like the best of the best. It's a darn shame too because I was actually starting to get into this match until it grinded to a snail's pace as Jericho was getting gassed the longer it went on. He can half-ass this shit in tag team matches all he wants but it's apparent that he's merely coasting on his name value at this stage of his AEW career. 2020 hasn't been a good look for Jericho at all in this company. I dare say he's doing just as goofy as the stuff he ridiculed during his WWE tenure. He's a prime example of people who needed a goddamn filter for his stupid ideas. Now that we're seeing them in AEW front and center, I'm glad Vince McMahon was shooting down the bulk of this stuff. I hope in time that Tony Khan gets the foresight to do the same.
As for the post-match debacle with Jericho coming in the middle of MJF and Sammy's bickering, talk about blowing your loads early. The Inner Circle hasn't had MJF and Wardlow around for long enough to even care about dissolving the entire faction. With decisions like this, I'm surprised AEW's tagline isn't "Blowing Your Load Early" like TNA's used to be "Cross The Line". At this point though, I think everyone splitting up from the Inner Circle would benefit highly from not being part of that faction. Chris Jericho and Jake Hager will be fine as a tag team or single with either Jericho doing promos for a powerhouse Hager wrecking through the singles division towards that FTW Championship or the TNT Championship, or back to being Jericho's silent bodyguard whenever Jericho decides to cut out the comedy and go back to being serious to recapture the AEW World Championship. Pride & Powerful have completely lost all of of the magic that made them special back in IMPACT Wrestling when they were aligned with Konnan and feuding with Eddie Kingston and the original LAX. Sammy Guevara would be fine off to his own devices as a chicken shit heel, but hanging onto Jericho's coat tails is only going to hinder him in the long run. MJF and Wardlow would merely go back to business as usual prior to joining the faction, so no love loss if they did split up.
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. (with Rebel) def. Leyla Hirsch
Britt Baker came out rocking the Pittsbaurgh Steelers colors on her ring gear, dressed to the nines like a champion would, but the fact of the matter is that she's not a champion - yet. As much as I'm growing tired of her heel antics, I feel that it wouldn't be a stretch to peg her as the one to dethrone Hiraku Shida for the AEW Women's Championship. She would have to get past Thunder Rosa first... We'll get back to her in a second, but let's talk about this match.
If AEW hasn't signed Leyla Hirsch then they are fucking stupid. If WWE were still foaming at the mouths for ex-MMA women like they were prior to signing Ronda Rousey and the rest of the MMA Horsewomen (Shayna Baszler, Marina Shafir, and Jessamyn Duke), they would have snatched her up with the quickness. The longer this match went on, the more this petite sized woman was outshining Britt Baker at every opportunity. She reminds me a LOT of Chad Gable in terms of her style and similar stature. She would really shine as part of this division that is desperately lacking with women that can go like this. Besides, they can't bank on Shida, Serena Deeb, and Thunder Rosa to go out there and kill it forever. They need some more quality ladies in there for variety. If they were smart, they wouldn't let Britt Baker wrestle longer matches like this as that's when she gets exposed HARD for her lack of veteran experience. At the same time, this is on the job training, so she has to learn to adapt eventually, but it's the same mistake that WWE has done with their women for over a decade. You don't need to be putting women on TV who aren't ready to be in top spots. Britt Baker is ready in terms of cutting promos as an on-camera personality, but her in-ring talents leave a lot to be desired.
As for that post-match beatdown from Thunder Rosa, I thought it was fucking awful. Thunder Rosa, I love you, but as a MMA fighter yourself, you should know those forearms looked worse than those ones that guy from the Dark Order was hitting the Bucks with this time last year that turned into a meme on Twitter.
Like I joked with a friend during the broadcast, AEW (along with multiple promotions in modern day wrestling) needs a Dusty Rhodes to tell men and women on these rosters to "DON'T DO SHIT YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO!". If you don't know how to make these run-ins and beatdowns look legitimate, then don't bother.
I busted out laughing at that segment with Shida. On the real though? Shida's English impresses me every time she's in these backstage interviews. I know that Asuka/Kana can speak decent English from watching her YouTube channel, but damn, it makes me wonder why WWE makes her speak like she's in a goddamn bad karate movie or something instead of like a normal human being like they do with Shida in this company?
Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes (with Arn Anderson) def. Team Taz (Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs) (with Taz)
Powerhouse Hobbs is a much better name than "Big Willie" Hobbs as how commentary was referring to him as before his heel turn and link up to the rest of Team Taz. That being said though? I thought this match was boring for the most part. It felt like deja vu to the match Cody and Darby had against Starks and Cage a few weeks ago.
Ultimately, the match didn't matter anyway as what everyone is talking about and STILL talking about is what transpired after the result in the post-match beatdown...
Yes, the Stinger himself has arrived in the Impact Zone, err in Daily's Place. It was cool moment, especially to see him on TNT for the first time in roughly twenty years, but I'm skeptical about how much value can he be worth at this point, especially when WWE didn't see any value into hanging onto his Legends contract. Then again, Sting is one of the few wrestlers who owns the intellectual properties to his gimmick/character from top to bottom, so I know it was killing Vince that they weren't making as much off of him on their roster as they would have liked.
Goodnight, everybody. That was nice note to end on... Wait, there's still another match? Alright, alright. Let's keep going then...
Singles Match for the AEW World Championship
Kenny Omega def. Jon Moxley (c)
Going into this match, I was convinced that Moxley was losing the title to have the excuse to take time off to go and quarantine in preparation for possibility defending the IWGP United States Championship at Wrestle Kingdom in January that he hasn't been able to defend during this global pandemic. On the flipside, Kenny Omega is still holding the AAA Mega Championship, so it's quite the dilemma as both of these guys have belts from other promotions that they need to defend or drop at some point in the near future. Dave Meltzer and Tony Khan himself explicitly stated that neither of these men would be traveling internationally for those events and the outcome of the match wouldn't be decided on that fact either. When I heard that news earlier today, I was really intrigued on what exactly were they going to do for the finish then. I have to admit that I was pleased with what they went with here in the end.
About halfway into this match, I got fucking fed up with that crap both Kenny Omega AND Jon Moxley started doing where one person would point and run to the ropes with their backs to their opponent. It looks so goddamn fucking STUPID. It was lame when Omega was doing it in New Japan and it is STILL stupid now in terms of match psychology. All of his opponents should be knocking the shit out of him when he comes back off the rebound.
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| AEW spent some money on these promotional pieces and marketing for this Game of Thrones inspired theme for tonight's show. |
I'm sure the AEW marks jizzed their shorts (again) when Omega did the Rainmaker taunt before doing that ripcord style V-Trigger. That was obviously a nod to Okada, but don't get it twisted that AEW is partnering up with them during this pandemic.
As for this match as a whole, there were parts of it I liked and others (like the charging the ropes antics I mentioned) that I didn't, but overall, it kept me interested. I was definitely paying attention more to this than the ladder match between Shotzi Blackheart and Raquel Gonzales over on NXT. They really bought me onto the match being called off as a draw when Omega was thrown into the heating lamps set up at ringside.
About that finish though... I wasn't expecting Don Callis to get involved and I definitely wasn't expecting him to tease a possible partnership between the two companies. If Don Callis is going to be The Cleaner's mouthpiece - similar to Paul Heyman to Brock Lesnar and other "clients" - then I'm all for this. It's no secret that promos aren't Omega's strong point - not at all. Don Callis could definitely help him in that regard, especially when he's positioned as the "best of the best" in the company. Omega can then just focus on the in-ring aspect of his matches. Let's be realistic here. It's make or break time for Kenny Omega in this role. The people who have been skeptical and those who flat out hate him are waiting for any and all signs for him to fall on his face and completely shit the bed in this role as World Champion.
Aftermath:
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| IMPACT Wrestling EVP Don Callis standing tall with the NEW AEW World Champion, Kenny Omega. |
After making his debut, it was later announced that
Sting had signed a multi-year deal with AEW and he would speak next Wednesday on
Dynamite. Also announced for the next Dynamite,
The Inner Circle will have their ultimatum to decide whether to unite or break up. Several matches were announced:
Lance Archer and
Lucha Brothers vs.
Eddie Kingston and
The Butcher and The Blade,
The Young Bucks vs.
The Hybrid 2,
FTR vs. Varsity Blondes (Griff Garrison and
Brian Pillman Jr.),
Dustin Rhodes vs.
Preston Vance, and
MJF vs.
Orange Cassidy in the
AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring final.
Kenny Omega defeated
Jon Moxley for the
AEW World Championship, with help from long-time friend and
Impact Wrestling Executive Vice President Don Callis, who was doing guest commentary for the match. After the match, they immediately left the building and were about to get into a car when Callis responded to interviewer
Alex Marvez by saying he and Omega would explain things next Tuesday on
Impact!.
Closing Thoughts:
After the show, I shared the following tweets on my thoughts on the possibilities of an IMPACT/AEW working relationship.
I wouldn't go out on a limb and say that this was AEW's best Dynamite episode for the entire year, but I'm sure that appearance from Sting definitely won them the ratings war - with no signs of stopping soon with the attention that bombshell along with the one in the main event will continue to bring in for at least a few months.
I'm happy to see that both NWA and now IMPACT Wrestling are getting more exposure on a bigger network instead of being confined to smaller streaming platforms, such as YouTube and Twitch (or AXS TV in IMPACT's case). One company isn't going to beat the global powerhouse that is World Wrestling Entertainment all on their own. Any company that sets out to do that is highly delusional. The best thing for the wrestling world (outside of WWE anyway) is to pool their resources, exchange some talent and make things exciting again - not just for the fans, but for all of those involved. There's some safe ways to go about this, even during a global pandemic and I'm anxious to see how this pans out as we roll into the New Year. I know that I'm one of the harsher critics of AEW since they came into fruition, but that is only because I'm so passionate about wrestling and I want to see it continue to thrive for years to come - not be a simple flash in the pan and we all forget about it the next day. Wrestling drew me into it with larger than life characters, unforgettable moments and storylines - not stuff where it has become commonplace to insult my intelligence on a regular basis. The two bombshells in this show are steps towards making this company better. I want to see more of that and less of the goofy shit.
AEW, I'm hard on you because I care.
