Background In December 2020,
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held a
television special titled
Winter Is Coming, which aired as a
special episode of AEW's flagship program,
Wednesday Night Dynamite. The episode's title "
Winter Is Coming" was derived from
Game of Thrones, a television series from
HBO, which is part of the
WarnerMedia subsidiary of
AT&T, which also includes AEW broadcast partner
TNT. On the November 19, 2021, episode of
Friday Night Rampage, it was announced that a second Winter Is Coming would take place at the
Curtis Culwell Center in
Garland, Texas as the December 15, 2021, episode of
Dynamite on TNT, thus establishing
Winter Is Coming as an annual television special for AEW. The December 17 episode of
Rampage was also taped that same night following the live broadcast of Winter Is Coming.
Storylines Winter Is Coming featured
professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and
storylines. Wrestlers portrayed
heroes,
villains, or
less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television programs,
Dynamite and
Rampage, the supplementary online streaming shows,
Dark and
Elevation, and
The Young Bucks'
YouTube series
Being The Elite. At
Full Gear,
"Hangman" Adam Page won the
AEW World Championship, while also at the event,
Bryan Danielson won the
AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament to earn a future match for the title. The championship match was then scheduled for Winter Is Coming. In the weeks leading up to the event, Danielson defeated several of Page's friends in
The Dark Order. On the December 8 episode of
Dynamite, the third annual
Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal took place in which the cowinners would face each other in the Dynamite Diamond Final for the
AEW Dynamite Diamond Ring at Winter Is Coming. The cowinners of the match were
MJF and Dante Martin. ==Results==