6 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Dynamite: New Year's Smash (Dec 27 - Results & Review)
5. Exactly What It Needed To Be
Yours truly was a bit worried when short interludes aired teasing a civil sit-down chat between Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, but AEW was bluffing. The old friends-turned-rivals started brawling as soon as Copeland arrived on the scene, and things got so out of control that what looked like the entire ROH roster had to step in.
Honor, and all that eh?
There's a stark contrast between this simple piece of business and the earlier moment between Riho and Toni Storm. Namely, Copeland and Cage have significant history together, and there's a valid reason why they're at one another's throats ahead of Worlds End.
Sometimes, this kind of simple pull-apart is all you need heading into a pay-per-view title match. AEW successfully made Christian look cowardly when confronted, Copeland wild and out of revenge, and they even managed to sell the 'No DQ' stip too.