The December 2021 New Year's Smash was the second New Year's Smash

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

produced by

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

(AEW). It took place on December 29, 2021, at

Daily's Place Daily's Place is an amphitheater in Downtown Jacksonville, Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. The venue is connected to the south end of TIAA Bank Field, EverBank Stadium and shares space with a "flex field" indoor practice facility for the Jackso ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. The two-part event was broadcast on

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

as special episodes of AEW's weekly television programs, ''

Wednesday Night Dynamite ''AEW Dynamite'', also known as ''Wednesday Night Dynamite'' or simply ''Dynamite'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It airs live every Wednesday at 8 p.m. E ...

'' and '' Friday Night Rampage''. ''Dynamite'' aired

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

while ''Rampage'' aired on tape delay on December 31. It was the second New Year's Smash event to be held in 2021, after the first took place in

January January is the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the year within most of the No ...

. The ''Dynamite'' broadcast was the show's final episode on TNT as ''Dynamite'' moved to TNT's sister channel TBS on January 5, 2022. In the main event of the ''Dynamite'' broadcast, the reunited team of

Adam Cole Austin Kirk Jenkins (born July 5, 1989), known by the ring name Adam Cole, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of The Paragon (professional wrestling), ...

and

reDRagon reDRagon was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, formed in 2012, and lasting until September 1, 2022 when Fish quietly left All Elite Wrestling (AEW). They are also known for their work in Ring of Honor ...

(

Bobby Fish Robert Anthony Fish (born October 27, 1976) is an American professional wrestler performing for Major League Wrestling (MLW). He is best known for his tenure with WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand and was a member of The Undisputed Era. ...

and

Kyle O'Reilly Kyle Richard Thomas Greenwood (born March 1, 1987), better known by his ring name Kyle O'Reilly, is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Paragon (professio ...

) defeated Best Friends ( Chuck Taylor, Trent? Beretta, and

Orange Cassidy James Cipperly (born May 4, 1984), better known by his ring name Orange Cassidy, is an American professional wrestler and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#school, wrestling trainer. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is ...

), while in the main event of the ''Rampage'' broadcast,

Cody Rhodes Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes (born June 30, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. As of April 2022, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. He is also known for co-fou ...

defeated

Ethan Page Julian Micevski (born September 20, 1989), better known by his ring name Ethan Page, is a Canadian Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand, and is ...

to retain the

AEW TNT Championship The AEW TNT Championship is a Professional wrestling championship#Gimmick/style championships, men's professional wrestling television championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion Al ...

. The ''Dynamite'' broadcast also saw the AEW debut of

Mercedes Martinez Jazmin Benitez (born November 17, 1980) is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Mercedes Martinez. She also appears for AEW's sister promotion, Ring of Honor (ROH), where she is a former ROH W ...

, who cost

Thunder Rosa Melissa Cervantes (born July 22, 1986), known by her ring name Thunder Rosa, is a Mexican professional wrestler and Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. She is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where she is a former AEW Women's World Cham ...

her semifinals match against

Jade Cargill Jade Cargill (born June 3, 1992) is an American professional wrestler. she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand. She is a former two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion. She is also known for her career in All Elit ...

in the

AEW TBS Championship The AEW TBS Championship is a women's professional wrestling television championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Established on October 6, 2021, it is the secondary championship of the promotion's f ...

tournament. Martinez last appeared in AEW as a free agent at the All Out

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

and an episode of ''

Dark Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

'' in late 2019.

Production

Background

In January 2021,

(AEW) held a two-part

of ''

'' called New Year's Smash. On November 8, 2021, AEW President

Tony Khan Antony Rafiq Khan (born October 10, 1982) is an American businessman, sports executive, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the founder, co-owner, president, CEO, executive producer, and head booker of All Elite Wrestling ...

confirmed that New Year's Smash would return live on December 29 for ''Dynamite'' and an episode of '' Friday Night Rampage'' that would air on tape delay on

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

. The December 29 episode marked the final episode of ''Dynamite'' on

; the show moved to TBS on January 5, 2022, while ''Rampage'' remained on TNT. This was part of AEW's end-of-year Christmas party. The event returned AEW to its home venue of

Storylines

New Year's Smash featured

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television programs, ''Dynamite'' and ''Rampage'', the supplementary online streaming shows, ''

'' and ''

Elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

'', and

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Matthew Massie and Nicholas Massie, who perform under the ring names Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson. , they are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), whe ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

series ''

Being The Elite The Elite is a villainous professional wrestling stable appearing in the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The group consists of co-leaders The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson), Kazuchika Okad ...

''.

Results

References

External links

* {{All Elite Wrestling events, New Year's Smash 2020s American television specials 2021 American television episodes 2021 in professional wrestling 2021 in professional wrestling in Florida All Elite Wrestling shows December 2021 in the United States Professional wrestling shows in Jacksonville, Florida Holidays themed professional wrestling shows