Holiday Bash (2021)

On December 17, 2020, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held a television special titled Holiday Bash, which aired as a special episode of AEW's flagship program, Dynamite. On December 7, 2021, AEW President Tony Khan confirmed that Holiday Bash would return live on December 22 for Dynamite and an episode of Rampage that would air on tape delay on Christmas Day. The event is scheduled to take place at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. While Rampage usually airs on Fridays, for the Holiday Bash special, it was pushed back to Saturday night because of TNT's Christmas Eve looped broadcasts of A Christmas Story.[1]

Holiday Bash will feature professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[2] Storylines are produced on AEW's weekly shows Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, and Elevation and on The Young Bucks' YouTube series Being The Elite.

On December 10, Tony Khan announced that Sting would make his return to the Greensboro Coliseum for Holiday Bash on December 22. Greensboro Coliseum was the location of Sting's first world championship match, which was against Ric Flair at the 1988 Clash of the Champions.[3] Sting and Darby Allin were interviewed by Tony Schiavone backstage on the December 10 episode of Rampage about Sting's return to Greensboro, however, they were interrupted by FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and their manager Tully Blanchard. On the December 15 episode of Dynamite, MJF faced Dante Martin for the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring in the main event. After winning the ring for the third year in a row, FTR came out to celebrate with MJF but were attacked by Sting and Darby Allin. CM Punk then came out to even the odds. A Trios Match with CM Punk teaming up with Sting & Darby Allin and MJF teaming up with FTR was made official for the Holiday Bash.[4]

On the December 8 episode of Dynamite, The Varsity Blondes were interviewed by Tony Schiavone. Arena lights went out and Malakai Black appeared out of nowhere. He blew mist in Julia Hart's eyes and then dissapeared. The following week, Varsity Blondes' Griff Garrison challenged Malakai Black to a match which was then made official for the Holiday Bash.

After losing his AEW Championship to Adam Page at Full Gear, Kenny Omega announced his hiatus on the November 17 episode of Dynamite. After that, Adam Cole teamed up with Omega's The Elite members: Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson of the The Young Bucks. They were eventually joined by Bobby Fish. On the December 15 episode of Dynamite, in a backstage segment, Cole announced to his teammates that he has the biggest Christmas gift for them and they will find out what it is on the Holiday Bash episode.[5]

On the December 8 episode of Dynamite, Cody Rhodes interrupted Sammy Guevara by answering his AEW TNT Championship open challenge. Sammy accepted and the match was set for the Christmas Day episode of Rampage. This rivalry goes back to 2019, when Cody faced Sammy in the first ever match on the first ever episode of Dynamite.[6]

On December 17, Tony Khan announced that AEW will hold a "Owen Hart Cup", while speaking on a Sirius XM radio program with David LaGreca and Mark Henry. Initial information about it was announced on the December 17 episode of Rampage with more information to be revealed at the 'Holiday Bash in Greensboro.[7]