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It is Wednesday and AEW Dynamite was recorded last Sunday at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Our commentary team is Excalibur, Taz, and Tony Schiavone. Taz has returned to commentary after taking time out for surgery.
The fact that they didn’t have Taz come out for the return pop on TV was a massive missed opportunity.
Will Ospreay vs Brody King - Continental Classic match
They run down the current scores and all of the different scenarios we can see by the end of the night. Both men are of similar height, but King is considered the Big Man as Ospreay is going to be using speed to fight him. Ospreay and King go back and forth until Ospreay is able to get a hurricanrana after King puts him in a Fireman’s carry. From there, they move to brawling on the floor. They are back in the ring when we come back from commercial and Ospreay gets a sky twister from the top to Brody on the floor after he whips Brody out of the ring.
The one thing they have done in this tournament is set up Brody as a credible single monster as he has been a tag team specialist with House of Black, where he was used as the member who usually wears someone down for the other member to get the pin. AEW has trouble with booking Big Men, frequently bringing them in for short runs as unbeatable monsters to be beaten. Hopefully, since Brody works so well with everyone he’s put in the ring with, they don’t run into that problem.
After they have a chop fest, Ospreay is able to get a Style Clash on Brody, which looks impressive. Thai leads to a series of big moves and near falls.
Another thing to point out is that the crowd at the Hammerstein seems more lively than crowds have been for a while, and I think moving the show into smaller venues has helped the presentation of AEW.
Ospreay wins with a hidden blade followed by a storm breaker for the pin and the win.
Winner and getting three points: Will Ospreay
Renee Paquette and Christopher Daniels meet the Hurt Syndicate and advise them that MVP and Bobby Lashley are banned from the building. MVP says out of respect for HER, they will honor the request.
Darby Allin vs Ricochet - Continental Classic match
We get four Continental Classic matches for tonight’s show, which makes it an easy show to put together and gives people a reason to tune in on a night most people don’t watch a lot of TV.
Both guys start off with mat wrestling, and they do point out that Darby lost his last match due to brass knuckles while showing Darby putting them in his pocket at the end of that match. As we go to the break, Ricochet gets a cheap shot at Darby over the ref’s head as the ref is trying to break them up. We come back to someone tossing a roll of toilet paper at Ricochet and if he doesn't start hearing “Toilet Trevor” after Swerve Strickland called him, they are missing out.
The crowd is completely behind Darby, and Ricochet is working pure heel with his facial expressions as well as his actions. From here, the story is that Ricochet is doing everything he can to win, and Darby is refusing to go down, and because of their similar sizes, it works much better for me than when Darby fights someone like Brody King or Brian Cage. Darby locks on an arm bar as we are told two minutes remain. Darby is able to grab Ricochet’s second arm to try to stop him from getting the ropes, but Ricochet gets a foot on the rope at one minute. Darby hits a Scorpion Death Drop and then struggles to get to the top for a coffin drop, but covers as time runs out.
20 Minute Draw - Both men get one point and Ricochet goes to the Semi Final at World’s End
We get a promo from Jay White in the back where he says he will find his way to Jon Moxley and the World Championship. Kind of a generic promo.
Komander vs Claudio Castagnoli - Continental Classic match
This match starts with Claudio just steamrolling Komander. Claudio is able to get a gut buster from the top and Kmoander did a great job of making it look devastating. As the match goes on, Komander gets a flurry of attacks here and there, but it’s mostly Komander being tossed around. Komander is able to get a tejaris on the apron, running Claudio arm first into the ring post, and then just relentlessly goes after Claudio’s arm.
And we get out first “Yam Bag City” from Taz as well as him messing up and calling Komander a weird nickname we’ve never heard before
As Komander is on the floor, he pulls out the brass knuckles that we are told Darby snuck to him when Komander came to the ring. He nails Claudio with them from the floor and then hits the rope run moonsault for the pin and the win.
Winner and getting his first three points - Komander
Nice way to put a bow on the brass knuckles Claudio used Saturday.
It also means that Ricochet is the winner of the Gold League and Ospreay is the runner-up.
The Death Riders hit the ring to stomp down Komander and Jay White and Orange Cassidy hit the ring for the save. After they have cleared the ring, Jon Moxley shows and nails White in the back with his briefcase. Cassidy tries for an Orange Punch, but Mox uses it as a shield, and Cassidy is dropped. Mox grabs a mic and says they don’t deserve to lay eyes on the title.
This brings Adam Page to the ring. This gives everyone time to recover and Mox takes moves from each of his opponents. The briefcase is left in the ring and the three men are standing in the ring, facing each other as we go to a hype video for Mereceds Mone and Kris Statlander at World’s End.
Kazuchika Okada vs Shelton Benjamin - Continental Classic match
We are told this is their first one on one match.
The match starts with both men showing they are evenly matched. Weirdly, they say this is a dream match, and it’s a match I didn’t know I wanted to see until they announced the Continental Classic since WWE never positioned Benjamin as a top guy. There are complaints about the 50 - 50 booking of AEW, but this match NEEDS to have that style of booking so they can run these two against each other with a storyline down the line. ‘
The thing that I like about this match is that the announcers put over that tournament wrestling is different from other styles, and we don’t get a lot of big spots in the first two thirds of the match. They trade German Suplexes, and Benjamin is able to launch Okada as he does them. The story moves to Okada being shocked at how Benjamin is able to take his big attacks and keep coming. This plays into Okada’s cockiness and Benjamin being The Big Athlete.
In the end, Okada is able to finally hit the rainmaker for the pin and the win out of nowhere.
Winner and getting three points: Kazuchika Okada
Okada is guaranteed a spot in the semi-finals.
After the match they shake hands after Okada teases flipping him the bird.
In the back, Renee is with Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana. Swerve says he lost a lot in 2024, but it doesn’t compare to what he will win in 2025. Ricochet shows and says he will win the Continental Classic, something Swerve couldn’t do last year. Swerve says he isn’t rooting against Ricochet, he wants everyone to succeed, But if Ricochet blows it, he will embarrass him and make it big.
Ricochet waits until Swerve is gone before saying “That’s why you ain’t got a house no more!”
We get a New York Minute from Chris Jericho and the Learning Tree. He gives a Christmas Miracle by accepting Anthony Bowens’ challenge on Rampage.
Toni Storm vs Taya Valkyrie w/Deonna Purrazzo
Taya takes control early and brings out the Stinkface attack from Rikishi’s attitude era. Deonna cuts off Toni’s comeback by grabbing the leg, and this allows Taya to pull her back to crotch her on the ringpost and then wrap her leg around the post repeatedly. When we come back from commercials, Taya is still dominating. The announcers say she is wrestling like a rookie, without any confidence. Toni is able to grab the most devastating move in ALL of professional wrestling, they surprise small package for the pin and the win.
Winner: Toni Storm
A nothing match, really, and it didn’t give Toni any microphone time for her new character.
We get a hype video for MJF vs Adam Cole.
We get a New York Minute from Chris Jericho and the Learning Tree. He gives a Christmas Miracle by accepting Anthony Bowens’ challenge on Rampage
Toni Storm vs Taya Valkyrie w/Deonna Purrazzo
Taya takes control early and brings out the Stinkface attack from Rikishi’s attitude era. Deonna cuts off Toni’s comeback by grabbing the leg, and this allows Taya to pull her back to crotch her on the ringpost and then wrap her leg around the post repeatedly. When we come back from commercials, Taya is still dominating. The announcers say she is wrestling like a rookie, without any confidence. Toni is able to grab the most devastating move in ALL of professional wrestling, they surprise small package for the pin and the win.
Winner: Toni Storm
A nothing match, really, and it didn’t give Toni any microphone time for her new character.
We get a hype video for MJF vs Adam Cole.
In the back, Adam Page is with Renee and Christopher Daniels, who apologizes that he didn’t take everything he went through into account. Page says he doesn’t need anyone’s help. Daniels says that everyone else in the championship match has backup, and he knows what it is like to be alone. So, if Page requires a friend, he’ll be there.
Daniel Garcia vs Kyle Fletcher - Continental Classic match
Matt Menard joins commentary.
Kyle does work Garcia, but he does use stalling tactics from time to time as Kyle wins the division even with a draw. The match is a slow build, with Kyle not taking Garcia seriously and dominating, but Garcia slowly works move after move to wear Fletcher down. It’s the first time we’ve seen Fletcher not be completely dominant, and it’s both a good time and the right opponent to do that with to build Garcia.
Garcia keeps going to the guillotine choke. Fletcher hits a brain buster on the apron, and then gets a Liger bomb in the ring for two and a near fall the crowd falls for. Fletcher takes over again with big moves, and when Fletcher goes for a brain buster off the top, Garcia reverses it into a modified leg drop. They throw hands in the middle of the ring and Garcia holds his own as they do so.
After a few attempts, Garcia gets a Dragon Tamer and goes too far back so that Fletcher can grab his head and slam it into the mat. Fletcher gets a brain buster on the top turnbuckle for the pin and the win.
Winner and getting three points: Kyle Fletcher
In the Blue League Kyle Fletcher wins and Kazuchika Okada is the runner-up.
Will Ospreay comes to the ring, as they will face each other at World’s End. They go face to face as we are given the rundown for the card at World’s End on Saturday
We get a promo from Mox in the back where he says he will separate the wheat from the chaff and then he will continue his crusade against Ego. Intense and a good button on the build.
No audio tonight, since Anthony Pires is on assignment and it is Christmas, and instead, I will have an audio after the FINAL episode of Rampage on Friday. Be there, aloha!
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