Chair Shots With Killem Faulkner: Winter Is Coming Dynamite

With a long gap in the pay-per-view schedule from November (Full Gear) to March (Revolution), it is unsurprising that AEW chose to hold a special edition of Dynamite in between. Winter is Coming has played host to some major moments over the years, with the debut of Sting and Kenny Omega winning the AEW World Championship in 2020 and newly crowned champ Hangman Page wrestling Bryan Danielson to a 60-minute draw in 2021. Would this year’s edition deliver a similarly notable moment? The promised card featured the first title defense for the company’s new champion, another entry in the trios title series, and the in-ring return of a dominant trios faction. Let’s take a look at how this year’s show fared in comparison to its previous iterations.

Best Match of the Night

I’m just going to say this up front: no, nothing on this card lived up to the standard set by Omega/Moxley and Page/Danielson. If that was your expectation, you were probably disappointed by this show, but compared to a regular weekly edition of Dynamite, this show was definitely still a step up in quality. The opener between Death Triangle and The Elite was excellent, though I will say these matches are starting to get a little same-y. There’s a reason a you don’t see a lot of “best of 7” series in wrestling. Still, there was an obvious attempt to make this match feel different than the previous ones in the series with Nick Jackson being taken out early in the match with a lower leg injury. That left Matt and Kenny at a 3-on-2 disadvantage for a significant portion of the match, and with them fighting from underneath, the match formula felt like a slight departure from the first three in the series. That said, they didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel here, which is fine because the wheel that is an Elite/Death Triangle match doesn’t really need to be fixed at all. Nick Jackson returning in the end was not particularly surprising, nor was Penta using the hammer behind the ref’s back to further injure his already tweaked ankle. How Kenny and the Bucks haven’t figured out a way to counter the hammer yet is mystifying to me. You’d think they could just check under the ring before the match begins, though there’s always the possibility that PAC has one down his pants again so I guess that’s not an entirely foolproof plan. Fenix was slightly less hesitant than he has been in the past to take advantage of his partners’ blatant cheating, locking in the kneebar to force a tapout and give Death Triangle a commanding 3-1 lead. The cheers for Nick fighting back from injury weren’t so overwhelming that I would expect them to get strong babyface reactions from here on out, but Death Triangle has more obviously amped up the heelishness in this series. With Kenny Omega promising a no-holds-barred match for their next encounter and the commentary team confirming that it will be nothing but gimmick matches for the rest of the series, I expect things to pick up over the next three matches, though it will be interesting to see if they actually end up using all three. (Granted, you probably don’t promise three more matches without intending to deliver on them.) Apparently step one in the plan to outsmart Death Triangle’s sneaky use of the timekeeper’s hammer is to make it entirely legal for them to use it as much as they want so at least it’s not a surprise when they use it. And it’s not limited to times when the referee is distracted or otherwise occupied so they don’t get disqualified. Because that’s a winning strategy, right? The question now is whether Death Triangle will avoid the ultimate collapse or if The Elite will 2016 Chicago Cubs them. (They missed an opportunity to 2004 Boston Red Sox them by winning match 3, unfortunately for them.)

On the other end of the card, the main event match between MJF and Ricky Starks for the AEW World Championship and the Dynamite Diamond ring was also excellent except for a disappointing but probably necessary finish. I get it, MJF is a heel, Ricky Starks is a rising babyface, you don’t need a conclusive finish. Still, a literal low blow directly into a rollup instead of, like, hitting a finisher or loaded punch to take advantage of the opportunity created by the low blow probably would have been a better ending. Anyway, the rest of the match was excellent, with MJF generally playing the cowardly heel unwilling to engage for fear that he might slip up in his first title defense and Starks playing the fiery babyface who wouldn’t give up in his righteous quest to prove he’s the top guy. MJF targeted Starks’ midsection and left arm, seeking to take the easy way out in his first title defense, and tried to take advantage of any small opening he could with a tights-assisted rollup and a thumb to the eye. Oh, and the finish, which I already mentioned. Starks showed off his offensive arsenal, though he was never able to hit his finisher in what was likely meant to protect said finisher, and his resilience in fighting his way to the ropes when MJF had him locked in the Salt of the Earth armbar. Starks likely isn’t done chasing the title (or a title anyway – he might benefit from shifting his focus to the TNT Championship) but he looked good in his first opportunity to challenge for the belt, and of course the Texas crowd was firmly behind him the whole way. MJF is a good enough wrestler that he doesn’t need to win by cheating all the time, but it was fine to have his title reign get off to a shaky start to make it seem like he is at risk of getting knocked off at any time. He probably won’t drop the title anytime soon, and he’ll probably get a cleaner win against Bryan Danielson, who emerged post-match to run him off for taking out his mentor and good friend William Regal. Danielson doesn’t need to be as protected as an up-and-coming star like Starks, so MJF will probably pick up another career highlight win against him like he got over Chris Jericho and CM Punk. (Yes, I know he cheated to beat Punk, but he is still credited with giving him his first AEW loss.) Beating Ricky Starks isn’t a milestone win at this point in his career, with all due respect, so it didn’t need to be treated as a monumental occurrence. If they face off again in the future, I suspect there will be a more conclusive finish one way or another because it will be a bigger deal rather than a mere appetizer like this match.

Okay, so…hear me out here. My pick for best match of the night is probably going to seem odd, and it would be easy to argue that either of the matches I’ve already written about are better than my ultimate choice. You could even argue that Jungle Boy vs. Brian Cage or the House of Black vs. the Factory was better, though the latter was more of a segment than a match (so I’ll talk about that in a little while, hint hint), or that Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo is more deserving of a spot on this list as an example of what the women’s division is capable of producing when there’s actually a storyline involved. But I am going to make the bold declaration that as both a match and a storyline (told entirely through in-ring action, no less) Chris Jericho vs. Action Andretti was the best offering of the night. Yes, a match involving a wrestler the fans actually chanted “let’s go jobber” for, presumably because they didn’t bother to learn his name in the match intros (and AEW’s production team managed to cover up his introduction with Chris Jericho’s on-screen graphic) was the best of a special edition Dynamite. Let me make my case for this selection, though. At the start of this match, everyone assumed that Jericho would have an easy win to build up heat after losing the Ring of Honor title to Claudio Castagnoli at Final Battle. Jericho himself promised this would be nothing more than a “tune-up” to get him back on track after losing his beloved yet simultaneously despised championship. You would have been forgiven if you had left the room to grab a snack or take a bathroom break, figuring the match wouldn’t take long or be especially competitive. Heck, even when Andretti kicked out of a Codebreaker, most fans were probably still expecting Jericho to pick up the win in a surprisingly hard-fought bout – he hasn’t even used that move as a finisher in a good while, so it makes sense that it could be used as just a high spot rather than the finish. But as the match wore on and the veteran continued to fail to definitively put away his unproven opponent, the crowd continued to build its support for the upstart enhancement talent, trying to will him to victory despite knowing it surely wouldn’t happen. This match is an absolutely perfect distillation of why Chris Jericho is one of the all-time greats and the ideal modern-day heel – in an era defined by villains too cool to boo, the Ocho is still someone fans genuinely want to see lose because he’s even more entertaining when he’s petulantly tearing up the backstage area than he is when he’s smugly basking in the glow of another victory. His inherent unlikability in this “sports entertainer” persona is so powerful that it transformed a jobber who the audience was almost entirely indifferent to into a folk hero that the live audience in Garland, TX will tell “I was there” stories of for years to come. (Y’know, unless Andretti turns out to be some conspiracy-minded weirdo like former internet sensation Luigi Primo.) This match also epitomizes the underrated importance of in-ring storytelling – this story literally could not have been told except within the confines of the match itself, because if Andretti had been on TV prior talking about how much it meant to face the legendary Chris Jericho, it would have ruined the purity of having him go from unknown nobody to “the guy who beat Chris Jericho in his first night on AEW” within the span of a single match. For anyone who complains that too many TV matches “just happen” with no storyline built up ahead of time, this is a perfect example of why a pre-match build isn’t always necessary. Jericho and Andretti achieved the maximum result with the minimum setup, and even if the result had gone the other way, it still would have been commendable for its efficiency. The fact that Andretti pulled off the shocking upset was just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Best Moment of the Night

I’m all about giving shout-outs to tiny moments that very easily could fly under the radar, so I’ll give a mini-mention to Jake Hager randomly shouting “I really like this hat” in the background of Jericho’s promo about his “tune-up” match later in the evening. It was obvious he had no role to play in the segment other than being in the background while the rest of the group did its thing (including Sammy Guevara being way too excited to be Daniel Garcia’s new mentor) but he managed to make a moment for himself anyway.

As mentioned earlier, the House of Black‘s in-ring return was more of a segment than a match – they beat the Factory all around the ring before the bell rang, and once QT Marshall got into the ring for the match to start, Malakai Black caught him with a Black Mass to win the match right away. The more important factor here was the physicality on display from Buddy Matthews and Brody King coupled with the creepy nonchalance of Black sitting in the ring while this was all going on. I also liked the fact that Julia Hart got the opportunity to use the black mist for the first time since she joined the group, taking out the Factory’s extra man Nick Comoroto before the brawl kicked off. While an extended rivalry with a jobber faction is nothing to get excited about, having the House of Black matter-of-factly dominating in short order in what will hopefully be a one-and-done segment before Black and co. move on to bigger and better things. At least Black looked intimidating, Matthews and King looked like vicious monsters, and Hart evinced a menacingly enigmatic aura that complements the rest of the group nicely. The group feels like a genuine threat, which is a good start, but AEW needs to follow up on segments like this to make a sustained push up the card.

I generally don’t give best moment and best match to the same performers, but MJF and Ricky Starks each cut a great promo ahead of the main event, which was also a great match. So it’s on both lists but as a runner-up in both cases, which makes it okay according to the complete lack of rules I’ve established in this feature. It feels like cheating to put these two into a promo battle because of course having two of the best talkers on the roster going back and forth is going to make for great television. Starks once again got the better of MJF in my opinion, which was an appropriate choice given that he was absolutely not winning the match. It would be a bummer if the champ absolutely wrecked his opponent on the mic and then proceeded to wipe the canvas with him on the same night. As I mentioned earlier, the loss itself shouldn’t hurt Starks too much, but his promo hyping himself up ahead of the title clash should do even more to save his standing on the card than the inconclusive finish.

For the overall best moment of the night, I have to go with Adam Page‘s emotionally devastating promo about the aftereffects of the concussion he suffered at the hands of Jon Moxley. It is no wonder AEW devoted so much time to developing the story of Hangman Page’s quest to dethrone his former friend Kenny Omega – he is an absolute master of the emotionally enthralling promo. He talked about how he was forced to try to remember details about the events preceding his trip to the hospital via ambulance, and the struggle to eventually recall the date (October 18th), where he was (Cincinnati, OH), and who he had been wrestling (Moxley). It was a harrowing look into the reality of concussion testing, something that sports fans might never have experienced or even heard described before, but Page took it up another notch by revealing that although his short-term memories returned in relatively short order, he was unable to remember one crucial detail for an entire hour: the name of his infant son. For as much as Moxley revels in his ability to inflict violence on his opponent, this was a sobering reminder of how that violence can so easily go wrong with devastating physical and psychological results. Page vowed to fight Moxley as soon as he’s cleared, but if Mox tries to take him to that place again, the Anxious Millennial Cowboy will take him down with him. After Moxley flippantly told Page to come find him and bring the Dark Order guys along with him, this promo (delivered with Evil Uno standing in the background reacting in abject horror) gave some much needed context as to why Page hasn’t yet done exactly that. There should be a huge payoff coming once Page is fully recovered, but until then a segment like this does wonders to keep one of the most emotionally resonant characters in the company fresh in the hearts and minds of everyone watching.

Worst Matches/Moments of the Night

Most of the time, AEW is pretty good at giving the audience what it wants. Other times, something crops up on our collective television screen that instantly turns everyone watching into Michael Scott in that infamous GIF. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal staking a claim to a title shot by attacking The Acclaimed (with some help from Satnam Singh and Sonjay Dutt, naturally) was one of those moments. If you had told me Lethal and Singh were going to go after the tag belts, I would give that development a solid “meh” and move on with my life. Like, it’s not great, obviously, but as a filler feud between more important title defenses, it would be inoffensive enough. But Jay Lethal continuing to team with *checks notes* 55-year-old Jeff Jarrett (who was, for my money, an exceptionally mediocre wrestler even at the peak of his career, whenever that was) is the gift that Ric Flair’s (please dear God let it actually be true) Last Match simply won’t stop giving. No matter how much we all might wish it would. Please. Please AEW, make it stop. I do not want this feud whatsoever. Please just let Max Caster and Anthony Bowens be good and get cheered for having good matches and cutting good promos/raps. Caster even got in some good lines before Jarrett and Lethal spoiled the fun, referencing bringing back the tag belts “like Brittney Griner” and “other teams getting booed like they’re Elon Musk.” I understand that, in theory, heels should deprive the audience of something they like in order to get more heat, but not like this. Not like this.

Parting Shots

• Texas really brought it with the crowd signs this week – “Ruby So-Ho-Ho” and “Scissor Me Under the Mistletoe” were appropriately fun holiday references, while “Greg Abbott Watches WWE” was an absolutely brutal takedown of the state’s governor. I mean, I don’t condone toxic tribalism in wrestling (or politics, for that matter), but a sick burn is a sick burn.
• W Morrissey is not a good name, but Big Bill isn’t much better. That said, I do like a giant chokeslam as a finishing move almost as much as I enjoy a monster powerbomb. And I do like a monster powerbomb finisher.
• Speaking of Large William, his new feud against Jungle Boy is a promising development, as is Perry’s alliance with Hook. It feels like the Redrum practitioner has been treading water for a while now, so having him make a big onscreen return here was a nice reminder of just how over he is with a vocal portion of the fanbase. Neither man particularly needs to be in a tag team for the long term, but it should give them more to do than they would otherwise have alone.
• Apparently the Gunn Club and FTR are still feuding. For some reason. At least we got a good FTR promo out of it, but please just give us the inevitable squash match and move on already, AEW.

That’s it for another week – pretty good show overall, though as I said, it may not have lived up to previous editions of Winter is Coming in the sense of having an all-time standout moment (unless you count Chris Jericho losing to Action Andretti which…we’ll see, I guess). Don’t forget that next week is going to be a brand new entry in the Chair Shots format: a year in review, best and worst of 2022 feature. I’ll be taking some time off after that, though I’ve got some video game stuff coming if you’re into that sort of thing, so make sure you come back next week for more Chair Shots…for the last time this year!