7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite (December 20 - Results & Review)

2. Dramatic Main Event

Jon Moxley Vs. Jay White followed a familiar pattern: it was very, very good without hitting that Blue League high.

In a great sequence, one that played with the idea that this was almost a New Japan match in an AEW ring, Mox did Gedo's beloved count-out tease. He dashed back into the ring at the last moment, and in a superb twist lulled White into the Paradigm Shift, having set the trap by walking into the Blade Runner set-up with the intention of reversing it. That was a scorcher of a near-fall.

Rules are set in fiction so that, when they are eventually broken, the impact resonates all the more. The C2 has been framed as a clean, competitive battlefield, and so, when Jay White managed to sneak in a chair shot to further damage Mox's leg, it actually felt like a rare, unpopular heel transgression.

This is the way forward, or rather the way back to the feeling: a sporting framework, wins visually represented by points or scaling the rankings, a clean finish-heavy approach that allows every match to hold meaning, for cheating to actually retain the old power.

Conceptually, the main event - won by Jay, setting up a three-way final between him, Mox and Swerve next week - was excellent. Some of the exchanges were a tad lethargic, and so it wasn't on the level of the best G1 matches, but it was refreshing.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!