Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming on December 11.

Here's a look at what All Elite Wrestling advertised for this week's special episode at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri:

• Jon Moxley and PAC vs. Jay White and Orange Cassidy
• Claudio Castagnoli vs. Will Ospreay
• Mariah May vs. Mina Shirakawa (Women's World Championship)
• Ricochet vs. Brody King
• Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly

Let's take a look at everything that happened on Wednesday's show.

Pac and Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy and Jay White

The Winter is Coming episode of Dynamite opened with Moxley and Pac heading to the ring through the crowd to take on White and Cassidy in the opening bout. As usual, Marina Shafir and Wheeler Yuta were close by.

Pac and Mox tried to get an early advantage, but OC saw it coming and warned White in time for them to thwart the attack and take control. They fought on opposite sides of the ring and had The Bastard and the AEW champion reeling.

The match finally started officially once Pac and White began fighting in the ring. Tags were observed, but the ref rarely did anything when somebody was in or out of the ring for too long.

The Death Riders asserted their dominance during the break and had Cassidy isolated for a long time. It seemed like White would turn the tables, but after tagging in, he was given the same treatment.

When it looked like OC had Mox beat, Adam Page showed up and attacked the AEW champion out of nowhere.

After Cassidy pulled Page off Mox, Hangman and OC started trading blows. White took an accidental Orange Punch, so he responded by hitting a Blade Runner. Page, Cassidy and White were all down as The Death Riders regrouped. They went back to the ring and attacked all three men as they were arguing.

On an entertainment level, this was pretty solid. As a pro wrestling match, it was an average tag bout. We didn't see anything surprising, but most of what we saw looked good.

DQ endings are rarely ideal, but this one made sense because it helped illustrate how the AEW faithful are not on the same page like Moxley's crew.

Result: Pac and Moxley won by disqualification

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• Cassidy lost his balance on the barricade while he was punching Mox and had to jump down before he fell. 
• The way OC hit the steel steps when Moxley whipped him into them looked nasty. 
• We've officially reached the point where the superkick is less effective than a standard clothesline. 
• White talking trash to Mox seconds before he ran into a boot from Pac was hilarious 
• Cassidy kicked Shafir away in the gentlest way possible when she grabbed his foot. 

Claudio Castagnoli vs. Will Ospreay

After a backstage segment with The Death Riders, Christian Cage gave a promo from the stands expressing his displeasure with the AEW title situation.

Hook showed up in his skybox and beat him down until Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian showed up.

The next match saw Ospreay take on Castagnoli in a Gold League match in the Continental Classic. As soon as the bell rang, The Aerial Assassin hit a Spanish fly for a two-count.

The Swiss athlete countered an Oscutter with an uppercut to start an exchange of takedowns and counters.

These are two of the most gifted athletes in all of AEW, but in different ways. Castagnoli has the kind of power you expect out of someone twice his size, and Ospreay has the agility of someone half his size. The thing they both have in common is extreme precision, so just about every single move they performed looked great.

Trying to recap all of the action in this match would be hard because they did so much. All you need to know is this is the kind of performance you should see for yourself because it's doubtful you will get much better on any show.

After a few close calls, Ospreay picked up the win with a jackknife pinning combination to earn three more points. Castagnoli showed what a bad loser he is by hitting his finisher after the match had ended, but before he could do more, Darby Allin chased him away with a baseball bat.

Result: Ospreay defeated Castagnoli

Grade: A-

Notable Moments and Observations

• Tony Schiavone is the most biased babyface commentator, and it's hilarious. 
• Excalibur mistakenly billed this as a first-time match but eventually corrected himself. 
• Ospreay's Spanish fly looked so spontaneous. It was awesome. 
• The standing corkscrew splash from Ospreay was a ridiculous display of agility. 

Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly

MJF was shown arriving at the arena before Cole and O'Reilly went one-on-one to see who would get to face him at Worlds End for the Dynamite Diamond ring.

Cole offered a handshake, but O'Reilly slapped it away before they locked up. The former tag team partners kept it technical at first by just using holds and takedowns. Cole was the first to attempt a strike, but KOR avoided the kick and rolled out of the ring.

A moment later, Cole avoided a roundhouse kick from O'Reilly the same way, but this time, O'Reilly followed him out of the ring and took him down with a quick combination.

While this was a solid back-and-forth contest that showed off the chemistry these two have built up over many years, it felt like they were holding back. We know these two could steal the show on any night of the week, but with neither man being a clear heel, they had to avoid a lot of the tropes you see in most wrestling matches that require a bad guy.

It wasn't until the last few minutes when it felt like they really hit their groove and started running on all cylinders.

As the official was checking on O'Reilly, MJF showed up and tried to interfere. Cole kicked him off the apron and wound up winning by rolling KOR into an inside cradle.

Result: Cole defeated O'Reilly

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• KOR was shown having a quick conversation with Mike Bennett and Matt Taven before the match that showed O'Reilly was taking this seriously. 
• O'Reilly is like the Mr. Perfect of his generation. He's so good at everything but is still going to end up being underrated when his career is over. 
• The way O'Reilly can transition from one hold to another is always impressive. 

Ricochet vs. Brody King

The second C2 match of the night saw King take on Ricochet.

Even though nobody is allowed to be at ringside, Ricochet flashed MVP's card during an interview, so he implied some kind of alliance had been established or will be soon.

King easily took Ricochet down when they locked up, so the high-flyer had to rethink his strategy. He decided to try a chop, which he immediately regretted.

The former trios champ dominated Ricochet during the break. We returned to see the high-flyer trying to make a comeback only to end up dropped on his head with a German suplex.

Most of this was a one-sided fight that made King look like an absolute beast. After hitting his head on an exposed turnbuckle, the powerhouse seemed like easy pickings for Ricochet, who started getting some heel heat as he set up for the Spirit Gun to get the win and earn three points.

If AEW wanted this to end with Ricochet getting booed, it succeeded.

Result: Ricochet defeated King

Grade: B

Notable Moments and Observations

• FTR gave a promo calling out The Death Riders for this week's Collision. 
• Darby Allin gave an interview and punched himself in the face until he was bleeding just to show it didn't bother him. 
• The look on Ricochet's face after King no-sold his chops was funny. 

Mariah May vs. Mina Shirakawa

This week's main event was the Women's World Championship match between former partners, Shirakawa and May.

An angry Mina unloaded on May as soon as the match started with a flurry of slaps and punches. The champion was caught off guard as the challenger started working on her leg.

For the first five minutes, Shirakawa controlled the pace and punished May with submissions that damaged her legs.

We returned from a break to see May in control, but Shirakawa began to fight back. The champ couldn't get the win with May Day but was able to get it with Storm Zero a moment later.

As the show was going off the air, Toni Storm made her return in her old gear as the crowd went wild. This was a great way to end the episode.

Result: May defeated Shirakawa

Grade: B+

Notable Moments and Observations

• Mercedes Mone not knowing which state they were in was kind of funny. 
• The way they landed when they rolled out of the ring in a figure four looked painful for both May and Shirakawa. 
• Thunder Rosa was watching from the crowd with a sign that read: "Mariah May. No She May Not." 
• The crucifix counter at the end did not go as planned. 

The Final Word

The Death Riders attempting to take over AEW held the spotlight this week, but the show still had time to focus on the MJF and Cole feud, the C2 and the women's title bout in the main event.

Ospreay and Castagnoli had the best performance of the night, but there wasn't a single weak bout on the card. AEW has been using a lot fewer squash matches lately, and it's been leading to more focused shows.

The only issue is AEW seems to be stretching itself thin. With every episode left in 2024 being billed as a special one in addition to a couple of upcoming pay-per-views, the company has a lot of heavy lifting to do to make us care about every storyline.

Thankfully, there seems to be an increased effort to feature the women's division, and it has led to the world and TBS title feuds feeling equally important.

If you only see one thing from this week's show, make it Ospreay vs. Castagnoli.

Grade: B