Winners, News And Notes On December 21, 2022

AEW Dynamite advertised Match 5 of The Elite vs. Death Triangle; a live appearance from Ricky Starks after losing to MJF for the AEW World Championship at AEW Winter is Coming; a face-to-face meeting between Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland; Hook in action; Hikaru Shida vs. Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s World Championship FTR vs. The Gunn Club and comments from Bryan Danielson.

Last week’s Winter is Coming broadcast of AEW Dynamite garnered 950,000 viewers.

AEW Dynamite Results | December 21, 2022

• The Elite def. Death Triangle
• Hook def. Exodus Prime
• Jon Moxley def. Darius Martin
• The Gunn Club def. FTR
• Jamie Hayter def. Hikaru Shida | AEW Women’s World Title

AEW Dynamite Ratings

• December 14, 2022 | 950,000
• December 7, 2022 | 840,000
• November 30, 2022 | 870,000
• November 23, 2022 | 880,000
• November 16, 2022 | 818,000

AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash Ticket Sales

• AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash Venue: Freeman Coliseum (San Antonio, Tx.)
• AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash Tickets Distributed: 5,314
• AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash Tickets Available: 823

AEW Dynamite Winners And Highlights

Ricky Starks and Chris Jericho Face Off

Fans showered Ricky Starks with cheers despite last week’s loss. It feels like only a matter of time before he’s a world champion, but with MJF likely to have a long run, it probably won’t be anytime soon.

Watching Ricky Starks and Chris Jericho go toe-to-toe on the mic made me realize that Starks would have been a superior addition to JAS in the Daniel Garcia role.

Four of AEW’s biggest and/or brightest stars were featured in this segment, and fans decided to chant “Sammy sucks!”

Ricky Starks body shamed Jericho by saying he used to walk out built like an air father. Then Starks compared Jericho to a single father on his fourth divorce.

Action Andretti made the save for Starks, and he even had theme music this time.

The Elite def. Death Triangle

The first big pop of Match 5 went to Brandon Cutler, dressed like an elf, confronting Alex Abrahantes.

Elite vs. Death Triangle Match 5 quickly turned into a holiday-themes street fights, like the ones they have in WWE.

The Elite won a very heated match, but after the bell, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were left bloodied and beaten heading into Match 6.

Bryan Danielson and Ethan Page Face Off

Excalibur sarcastically said “MJF has never stolen anybody’s moment,” a nod to MJF legitimately going into business for himself and screwing up Wardlow’s push

There was a pocket of fans trying to steal the spotlight themselves by doing the “yes” chant during Bryan Danielson’s promo, and the camera immediately cut away from them.

Bryan Danielson mentioned Shawn Michaels in AEW and there was an “HBK” chant.

Bryan Danielson called out MJF and got Ethan Page, which reminds me of this one time I went to an outlet store to get Jordans and they only had Air Ewings in my size.

There was a huge pop for Stokeley Hathaway calling Bryan Danielson a “raggedy bitch.”

Backstage, Jon Moxley continued to gloat about concussing Hangman Adam Page. At one point he said “I’m not the bad guy here.” He’s definitely the bad guy, and Jon Moxley will be a glorious heel in AEW.

Hook def. Exodus Prime

Excalibur started the “rookie of the year” propaganda for Hook. Having said that, Hook is only 16-0 in AEW, which actually means he’s wrestled twice as many matches as world champion MJF.

Exodus Prime is such an awesome name.

Backstage, Jungle Boy was attacked and Big Bill chokeslammed him in to the trash can.

Jon Moxley def. Darius Martin

As Hook was heading up the ramp, they immediately played Jon Moxley’s music on this fast-paced show.

Darius Martin got to showcase a few moves, but this was essentially a mauling by Jon Moxley, who continues to be heated up for an inevitable heel turn.

The Gunn Club def. FTR

The Ass Boys, who received a ton of heat, wore gear in tribute to Bret “The Hitman” Hart.

Staying true to his gear, Austin Gunn forewent a superkick and instead locked in a Sharpshooter on Dax Harwood.

Ironically enough, Harwood was brilliantly selling his ass throughout this match against The Ass Boys.

The Gunn Club defeated FTR, who is on a three match losing streak. The WWE return rumors will soon follow.

Backstage, Sonjay Dutt cut a trash rap to the Acclaimed beat. He was off beat worse than JT of the City Girls, but unlike JT, he didn’t make it look good.

Rick Ross Moderates Keith Lee vs. Swerve Strickland Face Off

Rick Ross was almost too comfortable in the ring. After Keith Lee showed up, Ross said “you a big motherf—ker!” Keith Lee and Tony Schiavone could be seen visibly cringing after the comment.

Parker Boudreaux and another tatted-up Yakubian laid out Lee while Rick Ross talked about making history rather than getting involved to help.

Ross was offering live commentary during the beatdown of Keith Lee, which I don’t think AEW had in the script.

Swerve Strickland shattered cinder block on Keith Lee with a double-foot stomp, which elicited “holy s—t” chants.

Jamie Hayter def. Hikaru Shida

The main event featured the obligatory 10-count punches so fans could chant “ocho!”

Coming out of the break, Tony Schiavone called this maybe the hardest-hitting women’s match he’s ever seen. He was absolutely right.

What an excellent main event. It may not show in the ratings right now, but if AEW can commit to this women’s division, it could be good enough to develop a show around the women.