New Year's Smash (2023) Explained

New Year's Smash
Promotion:All Elite Wrestling
Liveevent:Y
Date:December 27, 2023
Date Aired:December 27 and 29, 2023
City:Orlando, Florida
Venue:Addition Financial Arena
Attendance:5,729
Lastevent:2022
Event:AEW Dynamite special episodes
Lastevent2:Holiday Bash
Nextevent2:Homecoming
Event2:AEW Rampage special episodes
Lastevent3:Holiday Bash
Nextevent3:Homecoming

The 2023 New Year's Smash was the fourth New Year's Smash professional wrestling television special produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The two-part event took place on December 27, 2023, at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida, encompassing AEW's weekly television programs, Wednesday Night Dynamite and Friday Night Rampage. Dynamite aired live on TBS while Rampage aired on tape delay on December 29 on TNT.

Seven matches were contested at the event, four of which aired live on Dynamite with the other three taped for Rampage. In the main event of the Dynamite broadcast, The Devil's Masked Men (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett, who at the time were unidentified) defeated MJF in a 2-on-1 Handicap match to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the third time. In the main event of the Rampage broadcast, Top Flight (Darius Martin and Dante Martin) and Action Andretti defeated Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, and Rocky Romero in a trios match.

Production

Background

New Year's Smash is a two-part professional wrestling television special held around New Year's by All Elite Wrestling (AEW) since January 2021.[1] The fourth New Year's Smash was scheduled to be held on December 27, 2023, at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida. The first part aired live as a special episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite on TBS, while the second part was taped the same night and aired on tape delay on December 29 as a special episode of Friday Night Rampage on TNT.[2]

Storylines

New Year's Smash featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines, written by AEW's writers.[3] Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television programs, Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision.

On the November 11 episode of Collision, AEW president Tony Khan announced the AEW Continental Classic, a 12-man round-robin tournament similar to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) G1 Climax, to be held across episodes of Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision, starting from the November 22 episode of Dynamite. The semi-finals, promoted as the League Finals, were scheduled for Dynamite: New Year's Smash.[4] As a result of Jay White's win over Jon Moxley on Dynamite: Holiday Bash, that tied him in points with Moxley and Swerve Strickland, with the three facing off in a three-way match in the Gold League Final. Additionally, due to Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli's time limit draw on Collision: Holiday Bash, that kept Danielson ahead in points to face Eddie Kingston in the Blue League Final.[5]

Results

Night 2

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. Web site: AEW in Orlando for the holidays with a big gift: Swerve Strickland vs. Jon Moxley vs. Jay White. December 26, 2023. Varsallone. Jim. Miami Herald. December 28, 2023.
  3. Web site: How Pro Wrestling Works. Grabianowski. Ed. HowStuffWorks. January 13, 2006. Discovery Communications. March 5, 2012. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20131129050844/https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/pro-wrestling.htm. November 29, 2013.
  4. Web site: Murphy. Don. AEW Collision results (11/11): Murphy's review of Sting, Darby Allin, and Adam Copeland vs. Lance Archer, Vincent, and Dutch, Willow Nightingale vs. Julia Hart, Daniel Garcia vs. Andrade El Idolo. Pro Wrestling Dot Net. November 11, 2023. November 13, 2023.
  5. Web site: AEW Dynamite results (12/20): Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Jay White, Swerve Strickland vs. Rush, and Mark Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal in Continental Classic matches. December 20, 2023. Powell. Jason. Pro Wrestling Dot Net. December 27, 2023.