7 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash (21 Dec - Review)

Downs...

2. FTR vs. The Gunns

A noble failure, unfortunately, though not a complete failure.

FTR and The Gunns worked a bang-average television match after months of background build. Colten and Austin have been needling Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler for ages, coming off suitably annoying and obnoxious in their roles, as they should. FTR, meanwhile, have typically had bigger fish to fry while The Gunns have needled them, though recent events gave them a reason to step to the Daddy Ass spawn and smash them in a heated brawl last night.

The heat, or lack thereof, was the issue here. San Antonio had cooled off by this point and The Gunns' middling control work wasn't strong enough to turn them around, nor was FTR's structuring. Austin teasing a Sweet Chin Music before swerving into a Sharpshooter, mocking FTR's Bret Hart love, was the closest the bout came to coming alive. Even then, it was tepid.

The Feud Must Continue, too. Austin got the pin via roll-up, with Colten grabbing his hand from outside. A rematch that must improve on the first outing is now on the cards.

Dax and Cash have had a fabulous year and The Gunns have shown promise as a growing act. It's a shame that their first outing wasn't as combustible as they would have hoped, though perhaps they'll turn it around in chapter two.