Night one of AEW New Year’s Smash ends with Bullet Club reunion (w/ Heydorn’s Analysis)

AEW started the new year with a bang on Wednesday night at New Year’s Smash.

After connecting with a One Winged Angel and pinning Rey Fenix to retain the AEW World Championship in the main event of the show, Kenny Omega reunited with his old Bullet Club members and current Impact Wrestling Tag Team Champions, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.

When the championship match ended, Omega and Don Callis teased the notion of ending Fenix’s career as he laid in the ring. Jon Moxley proceeded to hit the ring with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire for the save, but his heroics were cut short as Gallows and Anderson stormed in to interfere on Omega’s behalf. Other members of the AEW roster attempted to help Moxley, but were stopped in their tracks by Omega, Gallows, and Anderson.

The Bullet Club reunion continued soon after as the Young Bucks ran down to the ring as well. It appeared as if they were there to help ease tensions surrounding Omega. Instead, they super-kicked the Varsity Blondes and stood tall with Omega. The show went off the air with Omega, Gallows, Anderson, and the Young Bucks hitting the “too sweet” pose in the middle of the ring.

Heydorn’s Analysis: This segment was executed well from the stand point of the storytelling done in the ring. Omega, Gallows, and Anderson looked like a destructive force and the brawl that ensued with the AEW roster was believable. You could feel that there as passion on both sides. This Bullet Club reunion certainly sets the table for the stories AEW is looking to tell in 2021. Due to the commentary during this angle, it was clear that AEW is attempting to define these guys as heels – Young Bucks included. The crowd was small in Daley’s Place on Wednesday, but there were cheers, “too sweet” chants, and obvious positive reactions to be heard as the angle went on. AEW needs to watch this and how they present these acts moving forward so as not to swim upstream against the feelings of the crowd. 

CATCH-UP: 1/6 AEW DYNAMITE TV REPORT: Keller’s report on Omega vs. Fenix, Wardlow vs. Hager, Sting and Moxley both appear, Jericho on commentary