AEW New Year's Smash

AEW New Year's Smash is a professional wrestling event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event started in 2021 and is usually held around the end of the year as their New Year special.[1] The event airs as a special episodes of AEW's television shows Dynamite and Rampage.

The first event was originally supposed to take place on December 30, 2020, and end on January 6, 2021 but the event was pushed back a week. Instead, the Brodie Lee Celebration of Life event took it's place to honour the memory of AEW wrestler Brodie Lee who died on December 26.[2]

Dates and venues

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Event Date City Venue Main event
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.
Night 2:
Dynamite

January 7, 2021
(aired January 13)
Darby Allin (c) vs. Brian Cage for the AEW TNT Championship.
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
(aired December 31)
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Ethan Page for the AEW TNT Championship.
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.
Night 2:
Rampage

December 28, 2022
(aired December 30)
Swerve Strickland vs. Wheeler Yuta.
New Year's Smash (2023) Night 1:
Dynamite

December 27, 2023
Addition Financial Arena Orlando, Florida MJF (c) vs The Devil's Masked Men for the ROH World Tag Team Championship[a]
Night 2:
Rampage

December 27, 2023
(aired December 29)
Rocky Romero, Trent Beretta and Orange Cassidy vs. Action Andretti and Top Flight (Darius Martin and Dante Martin)
(c) – the champion(s) going into the match

Footnotes

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  1. Both men were unidentified at the time. They were later revealed as Matt Taven and Mike Bennett at Worlds End) in a 2-on-1 Handicap match. Samoa Joe was supposed to team with MJF to defend the title. Joe would appear to be attacked by The Devil's Masked Men before the match. It was revealed to be a fakeout when Joe attacked MJF after the match.

References

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  1. "AEW announces Holiday Bash, New Year's Smash special events". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 1, 2023.
  2. "AEW Dynamite preview: Brodie Lee celebration of life card, New Year's Smash postponed". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 1, 2023.