Ricochet Defeats Jack Perry, Retains AEW National Title On Dynamite New Years Smash

AEW National Champion Ricochet walked in to the New Year's Smash edition of "AEW Dynamite" on December 31 with a score to settle with "Jungle" Jack Perry. During the Zero Hour portion of the Worlds End pay-per-view, Perry scored the pinfall on Ricochet during the Jurassic Express and JetSpeed's win over The Demand and Josh Alexander, leading to Perry getting a shot at Ricochet's title on the final AEW show of 2025. However, it will be Ricochet who will walk into 2026 as the AEW National Champion as he successfully defended his title.

The Gates of Agony and Luchasaurus were all at ringside in the early going, but after Toa Liona attempted to intimidate Perry, both Liona and Luchasaurus brawled to the back leaving Bishop Kaun in Ricochet's corner. Ricochet had the majority of the control during the first half of the match, with his baldness even coming in handy for him as Perry instinctively tried to grab a chunk of hair on a kip up. However, Perry would get back into the match with a series of dives and strikes and even looked to have the champion beat. The problem was that Kaun was still at ringside to swing the odds back in Ricochet's favor, and after Perry gave a thrust kick to Kaun and looked to set up a running knee, Kaun grabbed Perry's boot to distract him long enough for Ricochet to hit a Spirit Gun for the victory.

After the match, Liona returned from the back carrying Luchasaurus over his shoulder, and repeatedly slammed a guardrail into the dinosaur's injured shoulder. Kaun joined in an delivered a series of chair shots to the guardrail that lay on top of Luchasaurus, and all while this went down, Ricochet gave a second Spirit Gun to Perry as The Demand left with their heads held high.