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From The Young Bucks putting their AEW World tag team titles on the line to Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford's wedding date announcement, this week's edition of Dynamite featured many contrasting moments.
The Holiday Bash special episode of AEW Dynamite included some good tag team action. This particular show also built towards a few major plot points that will take place over the next few episodes. Nothing too exceptional went down last night, but it was still an enjoyable show to watch, for the most part. Even during the Holiday season, AEW has shown little to no signs of slowing down as a brand new year is on the horizon.
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How did NXT fare against AEW in terms of quality this week? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Here are the five biggest news stories from this week's episode of AEW Dynamite (December 23, 2020).
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#5: Miro announced the wedding date for Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford on this episode of AEW Dynamite
Ever since Miro arrived in AEW, he has been dubbed as The Best Man for a reason.
Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford's onscreen wedding has been a storyline on AEW Dynamite which didn't feature any major developments until this week.
Miro, Sabian, and Ford were being interviewed by Tony Schiavone. Just when Sabian and Ford's wedding date was about to be revealed, Best Friends' theme music interrupted their segment.
As it turned out, it was all a prank from Miro and Sabian. Trent of Best Friends was being stretchered into an ambulance with Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor by his side.
Finally, the wedding date announcement was made. It looks like Sabian and Ford will have their onscreen wedding on February 3rd next year, at AEW Beach Break.
Onscreen weddings in the pro wrestling world often receive mixed reviews, for the most part. It will be interesting to see if AEW will try to add something new to this concept in 2021.
#4: The inner-conflict between The Inner Circle isn't over yet, as Jake Hager vs. Wardlow was announced for next week's AEW Dynamite
On this week's AEW Dynamite, Dante and Darius Martin (Top Flight) got an opportunity to face Chris Jericho and MJF of The Inner Circle to kick-off the show.
The match itself featured some good back-and-forth action. The youngsters fell one step behind when Jake Hager got involved in some shenanigans. This allowed MJF to pick up the victory for The Inner Circle on AEW Dynamite.
After the match was over, Jake Hager came into the ring and spoke about MJF and Chris Jericho's impressive victory. The Inner Circle seemed to have found their groove since MJF and Wardlow's inclusion, but this illusion was shattered when Hager called out Wardlow for choosing to deal with family business instead of The Inner Circle, on last week's episode.
MJF and Jericho did not have an idea about Hager's intentions, as the big man had already got the approval to face Wardlow on the upcoming edition of AEW Dynamite.
MJF seems to be getting along with the group, judging by his backstage segment with Santana and Ortiz that was aired later in the night. However, could next week's New Year's Smash episode result in unfortunate consequences for The Inner Circle in AEW?
#3: The Young Bucks retained their AEW World tag team titles against an up-and-coming team named The Acclaimed
On this week's episode of AEW Dynamite, Max Caster and Anthony Bowens of The Acclaimed faced The Young Bucks in the main event.
The AEW World Tag Team Championships were on the line, and the up-and-coming heel team managed to put on a good main event against the champions, Matt and Nick Jackson.
At one point, the referee went down thanks to an unintentional superkick by Nick Jackson. This allowed The Acclaimed to execute a low blow and a shot from the boombox.
The dirty tactics still couldn't put down The Young Bucks for good, as Matt and Nick Jackson were able to retain their titles at the end of this week's AEW Dynamite.
The Acclaimed took their first loss in AEW as a result of the aforementioned match.
Who could be next in line to get a shot at the AEW tag team titles? A conflict was established between Jurassic Express and FTR before the main event. Could FTR earn a rematch against The Young Bucks sooner rather than later?
#2: Blood gushed out of Hikaru Shida's neck as she was bitten by Abadon on AEW Dynamite
The AEW Women's Champion, Hikaru Shida, faced Alex Gracia in the ring this week.
Before the match itself, Shida was ambushed by Abadon, as a consequence of their recently established feud on AEW TV. Abadon even showed up during Shida and Gracia's match, but the champion was able to put down Abadon for a short while.
Shida proceeded to win her match against Garcia on AEW Dynamite.
After the bout was over, Hikaru Shida's intent was to attack Abadon, but the latter avoided a post-match beatdown and surprised everyone by biting deep into the champion's neck.
'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt pops into one's mind as a fair comparison to AEW's Abadon. There are also a lot of multiple personality gimmicks out there nowadays, even in IMPACT Wrestling. Even though Abadon's attack on Hikaru Shida could have been staged in a more cinematic way, it's almost as if everyone has been spoiled by WWE's impressive production value when it comes to The Fiend's segments.
Hikaru Shida will put the AEW Women's title on the line against Abadon next week. While a title match is never a bad occasion on AEW Dynamite, it was a missed opportunity on the promotion's part by not taking a more lengthy and bizarre approach to this feud. A relatively longer buildup with a few experimental segments could have drawn a lot of attention to the AEW Women's Division.
#1: Team Taz confronted Sting on AEW Dynamite, as Darby Allin came to The Vigilante's rescue
Sting has been teasing AEW fans about his true intentions on Dynamite since his arrival on the Winter is Coming episode.
In an interview with Tony Schiavone, Sting recalled how Cody Rhodes' legendary father, Dusty Rhodes, was behind some major moments of The Icon's career throughout history, such as the facepaint and Sting's major feud with Ric Flair. Sting even did a solid impression of Dusty Rhodes on AEW Dynamite.
So it's a full-circle moment for Sting to arrive in AEW, where Cody Rhodes is now making waves in the pro wrestling business, just like Dusty Rhodes did back in the day.
Sting was also going to address Darby Allin, but the reason for their connection remained a mystery, as Team Taz interrupted The Vigilante. When Taz and his boys threatened Sting, the lights went out, and Darby Allin appeared in the ring alongside The Icon.
Sting with his iconic bat and Allin with his skateboard prompted Team Taz to back-off. But all is not over between both parties, as Brian Cage will face Darby Allin for the TNT Championship on the first episode of AEW Dynamite in 2021.
Could Sting arrive to stand in Darby Allin's corner for the latter's upcoming match with Brian Cage?
