10 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash (Jan 13)

2. Battle Of The Bastards

New Year's Smash delivered two ****+ matches, the first of which went down in the opener.

Eddie Kingston and PAC got right up into each other's faces and fought. This was as tough, gritty, attritional, and real as you'd expect, as two different breeds of nasty bastard tried to grind through one another with as much disrespect as possible, leading to PAC scoring another valuable W in his war against Kingston and his Family.

Preceded by an excellent video package contextualising the issues, the bout began with PAC marching straight into the ring and shotgun dropkicking Kingston into the corner. A big dive continued PAC's control period, as he bossed Kingston around, while The Butcher, The Blade, The Bunny, and Lucha Brothers were all well incorporated, cancelling each other out (aside from Allie gouging PAC's face with her fingernails early on).

Eddie brawled his way back into it but hurt his back before a superplex, selling so effectively you'd think it was real. The Black Arrow finished him off soon after.

"Get on the same page!" was Lance Archer's message to PAC as he stormed down after the match, prompting the Family to flee. Even if Kingston vs. PAC is done, that thread still dangles.