AEW New Year's Smash explained

AEW New Year's Smash
Promotions:	All Elite Wrestling
Firstevent:	January 2021

AEW New Year's Smash is a professional wrestling television special produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Established by the promotion in 2021, the event is held annually around New Year's as a two-part event. The original January 2021 event aired as two back-to-back special episodes of AEW's flagship program, Wednesday Night Dynamite, while the second event, which aired in December 2021, occurred during the same week, first as an episode of Dynamite, then as a special episode of Friday Night Rampage, with future events retaining this format. The Dynamite broadcast for the second event was notable for being the final Dynamite to air on TNT before the show moved to TNT's sister channel TBS; Rampage remained on TNT.

History

On the December 9, 2020, episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced that the December 30, 2020, and January 6, 2021, episodes would be a two-part event titled "New Year's Smash".^[1] However, on December 28, it was announced that the event had been postponed to January 6 and 13, 2021, due to the death of AEW wrestler Brodie Lee, with the December 30 episode instead being held as a memorial event for Lee. Night 1 of New Year's Smash aired live on January 6, while Night 2 was taped on January 7 and aired on tape delay on January 13.^[2]

On the November 19, 2021, episode of AEW's secondary program, Friday Night Rampage (which began airing in August), AEW announced New Year's Smash would return as the December 29 episode of Dynamite (the final episode of Dynamite on TNT before its move to TBS) and the New Year's Eve episode of Rampage. Dynamite aired live while Rampage aired on tape delay on December 31. This in turn established New Year's Smash as AEW's New Year's event, with future events retaining the Dynamite and Rampage broadcast format.^[3]

Events

	Event	Date	City	Venue	Main Event	Ref.
1	New Year's Smash (January 2021)	Night 1: Dynamite – January 6, 2021	Jacksonville, Florida	Daily's Place	Kenny Omega (c) vs. Rey Fénix for the AEW World Championship	^[4]
		Night 2: Dynamite – January 7, 2021			Darby Allin (c) vs. Brian Cage for the AEW TNT Championship	^[5]
2	New Year's Smash (December 2021)	Night 1: Dynamite – December 29, 2021			Adam Cole, Bobby Fish, and Kyle O'Reilly vs. Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, and Trent Beretta)
		Night 2: Rampage – December 29, 2021			Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Ethan Page for the AEW TNT Championship
3	New Year's Smash (2022)	Night 1: Dynamite – December 28, 2022	1stBank Center	Broomfield, Colorado	Samoa Joe (c) vs. Wardlow for the AEW TNT Championship	^[6]
		Night 2: Rampage – December 28, 2022			Swerve Strickland vs. Wheeler Yuta
4	New Year's Smash (2023)	Night 1: Dynamite – December 27, 2023	Addition Financial Arena	Orlando, Florida	MJF (c) vs The Devil's Masked Men in a 2-on-1 Handicap match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship	^[7]
		Night 2: Rampage – December 27, 2023			Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, and Rocky Romero vs. Top Flight (Darius Martin and Dante Martin) and Action Andretti	^[8]

See also

• List of AEW Dynamite special episodes
• List of AEW Rampage special episodes
• List of All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view events
• List of All Elite Wrestling special events

References

Notes

Notes and References

1. Web site: AEW announces Holiday Bash, New Year's Smash special events. Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Bryan. Rose. December 9, 2020. December 24, 2020.
2. TonyKhan. 1343693513729462272. AEW New Year’s Smash will now take place across the first 2 weeks of 2021, on January 6 + January 13 on @tntdrama. I’ll announce the card for this week’s #AEWDynamite Celebration of Mr. Brodie Lee’s Life in a moment. Thank you to all who have shared their love for Jon this week.. Tony. Khan. Tony Khan. December 28, 2020. December 28, 2020.
3. Web site: November 8, 2021. Rose. Bryan. Tony Khan confirms Jacksonville return for Dynamite & Rampage. November 21, 2021. Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. en.
4. Web site: Join 411’s Live AEW Dynamite New Year’s Smash (Night One) Coverage. 411 Mania. Tony. Acero. January 6, 2021. January 6, 2021.
5. Web site: 1/13 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett’s live review of New Year’s Smash night two with Darby Allin vs. Brian Cage for the TNT Title, Miro vs. Chuck Taylor, FTR vs. Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy, Serena Deeb vs. Tay Conti for the NWA Women’s Title, Pac vs. Eddie Kingston. Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Jake. Barnett. January 13, 2021. January 13, 2021.
6. Web site: October 18, 2022. AEW returning to Los Angeles in January 2023. November 12, 2022. Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online.
7. Web site: October 18, 2022. AEW Dynamite December 27: MJF in Action, Continental Classic Semifinal Set. Vipin . Raghuwanshi. November 12, 2022. ITN WWE.
8. Web site: AEW Rampage Spoilers For 12/29 (Taped On 12/27). December 28, 2023. Tessier. Colin. Fightful. December 28, 2023.