Bryan Danielson vs Adam Page
There was speculation that this match would go sixty minutes and by having it open the show it made those rumours more likely to be true.
This match told a great story with many chapters along the way. The beginning was more a feeling out process with Danielson playing the role of the cocky heel to perfection as he would purposely slow the pace down to try and frustrate Hangman, and it told you that we were in for a lengthy match.
The early parts of the match are Bryan working over the midsection of Page and is mostly in control with Page getting some comeback moments every now and then.
Around the midway point of the match is where it begins to go to another level when Bryan pushes Page off the top after he was going for a moonsault and Hangman crashes onto the apron. From there Bryan begins to meticulously target the shoulders and head of Hangman including busting him open.
Bryan ends up becoming overconfident and a spot on the outside apron where Danielson is lighting up Page with vicious kicks, only for Hangman to duck one and Bryan kicking his leg into the ring post which then allows Page to work over the injured leg throughout the match.
It results in both men showing their tremendous selling skills as they try to work around their limitations. We get a spot like the match at Full Gear between Omega and Page where Bryan is leaning against the timekeeper’s table and Page comes down with a moonsault only for Bryan to move out of the way and suckering him in.
I also loved how they weaved in the different ways Bryan defeated the Dark Order members into the match but it never being enough to keep Hangman down, and there’s a great spot in the closing stages where it’s Hangman attempting to kick Bryan’s head in for revenge.
The ending sequence saw Hangman hit some weak lariats but due to is injured shoulder he isn’t able to do much damage. There’s also a Tombstone Piledriver and Deadeye towards the end that resulted in two big near falls. Bryan locks Page in the LaBell Lock as the tease a submission victory but Page escapes it.
With time running out Adam Page is able to hit the Buckshot Lariat for a huge pop, but it takes so much out of him that he can’t make it over to cover Bryan quick enough as the sixty minutes expire and the match finishes as a draw.
There was so much to this match and I would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it. It was a masterful performance from Bryan Danielson, but Hangman Page held his own too. It told a great story where each break to commercials felt like a different chapter and would end on a cliff-hanger as the match-built tension and gave us a dramatic ending.
I had no issues with the match length and found myself captivated throughout. It never got boring, and I think a key reason to that is not knowing exactly if they would all the way. They did enough where you could buy that the match could end at any point.
It’ll be interesting to see what direction they go in next. You could go with a no time limit match which would make sense, but then there might be expectations for it to go sixty plus which might be a little ambitious. There’s also the iron man option although I think it would feel a bit too forced whereas this match had a natural feeling to it. I’m excited though for the next chapter in their rivalry.
Wardlow vs Matt Sydal
This was the perfect follow up for the crowd. It was short and sweet. Sydal got a little offense in but ultimately Wardlow got the easy victory as he finished Matt with a symphony of Powerbombs. During the match we had Shawn Spears jump on the mic and tell Wardlow to cover him immediately and not pander to the audience, but Wardlow still gives us more powerbombs.
Shawn Spears attacks Sydal with the steel chair multiple times after the match and then gets a phone call from MJF telling him and Wardlow to go and get some champagne to celebrate when MJF wins the Dynamite Diamond Ring later in the main event.
I was a little surprised with Matt Sydal being the opponent when you could’ve easily had a lesser-known opponent do the job, but it does give Wardlow a strong win over a well-known veteran. It was also more pronounced here with Wardlow issues with MJF and to a lesser extent Shawn Spears and it makes you wonder if we are going to get the Wardlow and MJF feud a lot sooner than I expected.
Hikaru Shida vs Serena Deeb
This match had the unfortunate placing on the card where it felt like the crowd hit a bit of a lull period and understandingly so coming off the World Title match.
Both women worked extremely hard, and the crowd still showed them respect, but for a match that was supposed to be a blowoff to the feud it did feel like it was lacking that something special especially with the previous two matches being standouts.
Still there was a lot of good back-and-forth action and vicious exchanges that took place and both have great chemistry whenever they’re in the ring. They have that connection that could see them be rivals for multiple years and a match you can revisit now and again.
I’ve been enjoying Serena Deeb a lot since turning heel and think she would be a great challenger down the line to either a babyface Women’s Champion or TBS Champion, but with Hikaru Shida getting the win here and winning the series, it might mean we could be getting a Baker and Shida rematch sometime in the new year.
The ending though saw Hikaru Shida win after Deeb hit the exposed turnbuckle and it does give Serena an excuse to ask for a rematch against Shida, potentially some kind of stipulation match which I wouldn’t be against as I think they deserve another chance to have that proper blowoff match.
Other Segments
- There was a video with Malakai Black revolving around the House of Black. It ended with a strong hint that Brodie King is coming to join him.
- Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and The Young Bucks challenge Best Friends to an eight-man tag team match on Rampage. Cole also says he has a surprise gift for The Bucks next week which could be Kyle O’Reilly.
- Tay Conti has had enough of Penelope Ford and challenges her to a submission match for Rampage.
- The Varsity Blondes are interviewed backstage. Griff Garrison delivers a fire up promo about how will avenge Julie Hart when he steps in the ring with Malakai next week. Brian Pillman Jr warns him not to let Black get into his head and they show a little bit of descension between the two. Good promo from Griff.
- Pissed off Eddie Kingston is going to get Santana & Ortiz and Lucha Brothers and tells Daniel Garcia and 2.0 to find some partners for a ten-man tag team war on Rampage.
Dante Martin vs MJF
MJF cuts a scathing promo running down the people of Texas as well as criticising Punk’s promo from last week. MJF also teased that he would win again with a ‘headlock takedown.’
They had a fun main event, and the crowd were into it especially with booing MJF including a big ‘needle dick’ chant.
Dante got a lot of moments to shine in the match, getting to showcase his speed and ariel ability.
There was nice sequence in the match where Dante would dive from the ring to the outside and take out MJF, and as MJF would keep trying to escape the ring on each side, Dante would proceed to fly high and take out MJF.
MJF would eventually successfully retain the Dynamite Diamond Ring for the third consecutive year when Dante hit his finisher on MJF and he was about to pin him, Ricky Starks appeared and put MJF’s foot on the rope for the save.
It allows MJF to take advantage of a distracted Dante and lock him into the Salt of the Earth for the submission victory.
The show comes to an end with MJF celebrating in the ring with FTR. The lights go and when they come back on Sting and Darby are in the ring for a huge ovation. They begin unloading on FTR and MJF but the numbers games is too much as the heels begin to beat down Sting and Darby.
The crowd start up a loud CM Punk chant and right on cue Cult of Personality hits as CM Punk runs down with a baseball bat in hand runs down and chases off The Pinnacle. It ends with Punk announcing that on the Holiday Bash Dynamite from the Greensboro Coliseum, it will be CM Punk teaming with Sting and Darby to take on MJF and FTR in a big six-man match and Sting making his in ring return to an arena he has a lot of history with.
Final Thoughts
Winter is Coming 2021 will be remembered for a sixty-minute classic between Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson. The rest of the show was good too and overall, it was one of the best episodes of Dynamite for the year. But that World Title match will go down as one of the best matches in Dynamite history and possibly one of the best singles matches in Adam Page’s career. Page might not have won, but I feel like he proved that he is a top level babyface that can deliver in a big match situation. And Bryan Danielson continues a streak of excellent matches since arriving in AEW.