AEW deserves a modicum of credit for making some effort over a season often overlooked by wrestling full stop.
December has an earned reputation for being the closest the industry has to an off season thanks to years of WWE creatively dogging it or running best-of's, but the decision is rooted in a certain logic, Whilst the festive period has typically been a hot live event ticket dating back to some monster gates in the 70s and 80s, the weekly TV churn established in the 90s hasn't been so hot.
People do other things than watch wrestling during the holidays, and wrestling's response has typically been to hold off on the really, really good stuff as a result. All Elite Wrestling can claim the opposite in 2021 - as with the Christmas Day edition of Rampage, this "New Year Smash" edition of of the flagship wasn't without incidents and talking points. It's just a slight pity some of those weren't all that all that jolly.
Let's light the fuse.
(Andy H Murray will be back with his regular review next week)
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
