9 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Winter Is Coming (Dec 2)

6. A Well-Booked Battle Royale

AEW doesn't always do battle royales well, so it was nice to see them deliver a multi-layered Dynamite Dozen clash last night, building and developing multiple storylines in a match that was occasionally a little too cluttered for its own good, but definitely succeeded incorporating its moving parts well.

Matt Hardy's villainous turn continued through his eliminations of ally Isiah Kassidy and fan-favourite Hangman Page. Speaking of Page, The Dark Order recruitment drive continued for much of this, as John Silver celebrated wildly with him, before the rest of the group caught him on an elimination, returning the 'Anxious Millennial Cowboy' to the safety of the ring.

Miro looked like a monster, eliminating four wrestlers in a row during a well-booked rampage. Scorpio Sky eliminated rival Shawn Spears then got blasted by 'The Chairman's' loaded glove. The Inner Circle trio of Sammy Guevara, MJF, and Wardlow played it smart, flying under the radar until the end, when MJF "accidentally" eliminated Sammy with Jungle Boy, seemingly winning the match.

Orange Cassidy, who had never been eliminated, popped back up, stunning Wardlow to throw him out, earning a shot at the ring vs. MJF on next week's show.

That's a lot of ground to cover in less than 15 minutes of airtime, so props to AEW for piecing everything together. This was an objective success.