A look back at the 5 matches from AEW Winter Is Coming 2020 one year on

AEW presents a very special edition of Dynamite next week, Winter Is Coming. Headlined by the AEW World Championship match between 'Hangman' Adam Page and Bryan Danielson, it promises to be a stacked card.

The final two participants remaining in the third annual Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal were MJF and Dante Martin, meaning the two will square off in the finals on next week's show to determine this year's Dynamite Diamond Ring winner. Serena Deeb is also slated to face off one-on-one against Hikaru Shida in a hugely intense rivalry.

This will of course be the second time the company is hosting a show under this banner. Back in 2020, owner Tony Khan revealed he hadn't seen the iconic HBO series Game of Thrones, from which the phrase "Winter is Coming" became hugely popular.

"I'll be 100% honest with you guys and I hope that doesn't hurt the performance of the show, I've never watched Game of Thrones. I don't know anything about it, but I know Winter is Coming is a huge expression. My mother is obsessed with Game of Thrones. My father from sitting in the room with my mom, he says it. He's not watching, he's working, but he knows what winter is coming is, everyone knows it. It sounds awesome, whether you're a huge fan of the show or not." said Tony Khan.

The company has grown in leaps and bounds over the last year, but it's certainly interesting to look back at the very first Winter Is Coming episode. The show was held at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida in front of only 1000 people during the height of the pandemic. AEW still managed to put on a compelling episode of television with many altering ramifications that shaped the promotion in 2021. Let's look back at the 5 matches from the night.

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#5 MJF and Orange Cassidy win Battle Royal to face off for the AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring

Surprise, surprise. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Last year's Winter Is Coming kicked off with the annual battle royal to determine the final two for the Dynamite Diamong Ring. MJF was already a one-time winner going into this match and survived alongside Orange Cassidy after eliminating Wardlow. He would soon go on to defeat Cassidy to win the Dynamite Ring.

MJF is gunning for a third Dynamite Ring in a row next week and his stardom has only continued to explode. But it's telling how much Orange Casside has fallen off the radar since his banner year in 2020 where he even defeated Chris Jericho.

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#4 Chris Jericho def. Kazarian for the first time in AEW

AEW presented a battle between two veterans. For the first time in their storied careers, SCU's Frankie Kazarian and "Le Champion" Chris Jericho fought in singles competition. The match itself had nothing to write home about. At that point in time, however, the Inner Circle was going through a fascinating storyline where they welcomed MJF and Wardlow into their fold. That would come into play in the middle of the bout.

MJF and Wardlow arrived on the scene, the former threatening to throw in the towel. When Sammy Guevara prevented it, Jericho saw him holding the towel and nearly fell prey to a pair of rollups from Kazarian. A last-second Judas Effect allowed Le Champion to emerge with a hard-fought victory. After the match, Guevara and MJF nearly came to blows. A pissed-off Jericho laid down the ultimatum: the group had seven days to decide whether they would stay together or break up forever.

The Inner Circle, of course, was ultimately betrayed by MJF, who formed his own faction, The Pinnacle, with Wardlow, Shawn Spears and FTR. They would engage in a bitter faction feud that took up the early part of 2021. For Kazarian, SCU would break up and he would strike up on his own as the Elite Hunter briefly but hasn't featured much on television since.

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#3 Britt Baker def. Leyla Hirsch in AEW women's match

Current AEW Women's Champion Britt Baker battled with 'Legit' Leyla Hirsch on the night. Having just returned to the squared circle after a nose injury suffered at the hands of ex-champion Hikaru Shida, Baker scored the win after a competitive match with her finisher the Lockjaw.

Thunder Rosa hit the ring after the match and attacked Baker, leading to a post-match brawl. The two wrestlers would go on to have an amazing Unsanctioned Lights Out Match, famous for the bloody crimson mask that Britt Baker wore on route to winning the Women's Championship.

Russian-born Hirsch continued to put on impressive performances, which led to her being signed full-time by the company in March this year. However, she has yet to feature in a PPV-calibre match since, with the women's division expanding in depth in 2021. The highest profile match she had this year was against Kamille for the NWA Women's Title for a losing effort. Here's hoping she gets another opportunity to show what she can do.

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#2 Cody Rhodes & Darby Allin def. Team Taz, Sting debuts in AEW

AEW's TNT Champion at that point was Darby Allin, who was locked in a monthslong rivalry with Team Taz going into Winter Is Coming in 2020. He teamed up with Cody Rhodes to battle Powerhouse Hobbs and Ricky Starks of Team Taz.

The match itself wasn't memorable as it finished with Darby's patented Coffin Drop. But what fans will remember forever is the iconic debut of wrestling legend Sting in the company. He returned to TNT for the first time in over two decades as he chased off Team Taz, assaulting Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin. Sting will go on to team and mentor Darby Allin while Team Taz continues to be a featured part of the company's television in 2021. Cody Rhodes, of course, is currently teasing fans on a potential heel turn.

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#1 Kenny Omega def. Jon Moxley to win AEW World Championship

AEW champion Jox Moxley lost his title a year ago to Kenny Omega in Winter Is Coming, which saw the Forbidden Door open for the very first time. Mox had a banner year, carrying the company through the pandemic as its champion. The Cleaner was also building momentum after dropping the Tag Team title with Hangman Adam Page to the FTR, where he subsequently won the World Title Eliminator Tournament for the right to challenge the champion.

Don Callis, who at the time was an executive at IMPACT Wrestling, joined Jim Ross, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone in commentary during the main event. He would later factor into the finish and help Omega win his world title at AEW.

But the biggest development on the show was the apparent working relationship between AEW and Impact Wrestling. Callis revealed at the time that Omega would appear on the Impact show, which was a game-changer, the type of development that ushered in a new era that bred cross-promotional storytelling for the wrestling industry.

The consequences of the show were definitely felt in 2021 as Omega became the Belt Collector, winning the Impact World Title. We have also seen the Good Brothers from Impact make their way to AEW television, while NJPW wrestlers such as KENTA and Minoru Suzuki have been featured. It has been an exciting time for wrestling fans and all of it can be pointed back to Winter Is Coming in 2020. Can we see more new debuts in next week's edition?