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

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.
New Year's Smash (January 2021)	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).
New Year's Smash (December 2021)	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.
New Year's Smash (2022)	Night 2: Rampage – December 28, 2022 (aired December 30)	1stBank Center	Broomfield, Colorado.	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]
New Year's Smash (2023)	Night 2: Rampage – December 27, 2023 (aired December 29)	Addition Financial Arena	Orlando, Florida	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

↑ 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

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

[3] 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.

[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.

[1]