AEW Winter Is Coming

AEW Winter Is Coming
AEW Winter Is Coming logo
PromotionsAll Elite Wrestling
First event2020

AEW Winter Is Coming is an annual professional wrestling television special produced every December by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) since 2020. The event's title is a reference to the motto in Game of Thrones, as well as its eponymous television episode. The show is distributed by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of AEW's broadcast partners, TNT and TBS. With the exception of the inaugural 2020 event, which was held at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic that year, the event has been held annually in Texas markets since 2021. The event originally only aired as a special episode of the promotion's flagship weekly television program, Wednesday Night Dynamite, but the 2023 event expanded the show to a three-part special, also encompassing Friday Night Rampage and Saturday Night Collision.

History

On the November 18, 2020, episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced that the December 2 episode would be a special episode titled "Winter Is Coming". The phrase was the title of the pilot episode of the Game of Thrones television series, as well as the motto (or "Words") of House Stark of Winterfell in the series. The use of the title was approved by WarnerMedia officials, as WarnerMedia has used Dynamite to promote HBO Max and other WarnerMedia properties.[1][2] The event was notable for the debut of former World Championship Wrestling (WCW) legend Sting in AEW, which was his first appearance on TNT in over 19 years since he defeated Ric Flair on the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro in March 2001. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida.[3]

On the November 19, 2021, episode of Friday Night Rampage, it was announced that a second Winter Is Coming would air as the December 15 episode of Dynamite. This established Winter Is Coming as an annual December television special of Dynamite. With AEW's return to live touring in July 2021, this second event was held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas. This would also be the final Winter Is Coming to air on TNT as in January 2022, Dynamite was moved to TNT's sister channel, TBS.[4]

The third Winter Is Coming was held as the December 14, 2022, episode of Dynamite. It was also confirmed that the event would return to the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland, Texas.[5] The fourth Winter Is Coming was originally scheduled to just be held on December 13, 2023.[6] However, in addition to Dynamite on TBS on December 13 in Arlington at the College Park Center, the 2023 event was expanded to a three-part special, also encompassing the broadcasts of Friday Night Rampage and Saturday Night Collision, both on TNT. Rampage was taped after the live broadcast of Dynamite and aired on tape delay on December 15, with Collision airing live on December 16 and held at the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland.[7][8]

Events

# Event Date City Venue Main Event Ref.
1 Winter Is Coming (2020) Dynamite:
December 2, 2020 		Jacksonville, Florida Daily's Place Jon Moxley (c) vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship [3]
2 Winter Is Coming (2021) Dynamite:
December 15, 2021 		Garland, Texas Curtis Culwell Center MJF vs. Dante Martin for the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring [9]
3 Winter Is Coming (2022) Dynamite:
December 14, 2022 		MJF (c) vs. Ricky Starks in a Winner Takes All match for the AEW World Championship and AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring [10]
4 Winter Is Coming (2023) Night 1:
Dynamite
–
December 13, 2023 		Arlington, Texas College Park Center Jon Moxley vs. Swerve Strickland in a Gold League match of the AEW Continental Classic tournament [11]
Night 2:
Rampage
–
December 13, 2023
(aired December 15) 		Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin) and Action Andretti vs. Komander, El Hijo del Vikingo, and Penta El Zero Miedo [12]
Night 3:
Collision
–
December 16, 2023 		Garland, Texas Curtis Culwell Center Bryan Danielson vs. Brody King in a Blue League match of the AEW Continental Classic tournament [13]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

See also

References

  1. ^ Johnson, Mike (December 2, 2020). "NEW AEW CHAMPION CROWNED". PWInsider. Archived from the original on December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  2. ^ Lee, Joseph (December 10, 2020). "Kenny Omega Asks Fans Why Their Favorites Don't Move The Needle". 411Mania. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved December 11, 2020. Omega completely turned heel on last week's AEW Dynamite by cheating to beat Jon Moxley with the help of Don Callis.
  3. ^ a b Barnett, Jake (December 2, 2020). "12/02 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship, Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal, Chris Jericho vs. Frankie Kazarian, Darby Allin and Cody Rhodes vs. Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks, Britt Baker vs. Leyla Hirsch". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  4. ^ Guzzo, Gisberto (November 19, 2021). "AEW Announces 'Winter Is Coming' Dynamite For 12/15/21; Owen Hart Cup Information To Be Revealed". Fightful. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
  5. ^ Nason, Josh (October 12, 2022). "AEW announces dates & locations for Winter is Coming, Holiday Bash". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
  6. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (November 4, 2023). "AEW Dynamite Winter Is Coming Announced For December 13". Fightful. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
  7. ^ "AEW Rampage Preview for December 15, 2023". All Elite Wrestling. AEW Staff. 15 December 2023. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  8. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (December 13, 2023). "Bryan Danielson vs. Brody King, Daniel Garcia vs. Eddie Kingston, More Set For 12/16 AEW Collision". Fightful. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  9. ^ Barnett, Jake (December 15, 2021). "12/15 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of the Winter is Coming themed show with Omos vs. Commander Azeez for the AEW World Championship, Hikaru Shida vs. Serena Deeb, MJF vs. Dante Martin for the Dynamite Diamond Ring, Wardlow vs. Matt Sydal". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  10. ^ Powell, Jason (December 14, 2022). "12/14 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of MJF vs. Ricky Starks for the AEW World Championship, "Death Triangle" Pac, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Rey Fenix vs. "The Elite" Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson in the fourth match of a Best of Seven series for the AEW Trios Titles, Ruby Soho vs. Tay Melo, House of Black and Chris Jericho in action". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  11. ^ Powell, Jason (December 13, 2023). "AEW Dynamite results (12/13): Powell's live review of Swerve Strickland vs. Jon Moxley, Jay White vs. Mark Briscoe, Rush vs. Jay Lethal, and Brody King vs. Andrade El Idolo in Continental Classic matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  12. ^ Murphy, Don (December 15, 2023). "AEW Rampage results (12/15): Murphy's review of Penta, Vikingo, and Kommander vs. Top Flight and Action Andretti, Orange Cassidy and The Von Erichs vs. Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, and Jake Hager". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  13. ^ Powell, Jason (December 16, 2023). "AEW Collision results (12/16): Powell's live review of Bryan Danielson vs. Brody King, Eddie Kingston vs. Daniel Garcia, and Andrade El Idolo vs. Claudio Castagnoli in Continental Classic tournament matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 16, 2023.