by Erik Beaston

November 24, 2023

in Pro-Wrestling

0

The Continental Classic began Wednesday night on Dynamite, with the very best wrestlers on the planet fighting for the right to end up being the first-ever AEW continental champ, with Eddie Kingston’s NEVER Openweight and Ring of Honor world titles likewise at stake.

The Thanksgiving Eve broadcast saw the very first action in the competition, in addition to a champion approval speech from “Timeless” Toni Storm and the current from Christian Cage.

What decreased, who made their very first success in the first-ever competition, and what does it imply for All Elite Wrestling in the construct to World’s End on December 30?

Discover with this wrap-up of Wednesday’s program.

Blue Group

Andrade El Idolo

“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson

Brody King

Claudio Castagnoli

Daniel Garcia

ROH world champion/NJPW STRONG openweight champ Eddie Kingston

Gold Group

Jay Lethal

Jay White

Jon Moxley

Mark Briscoe

Rush

Swerve Strickland

“Now when it comes to the guidelines of this competition, matches will be objected to with a 20-minute time frame, there will be no seconds enabled at ringside, and outdoors disturbance will not be endured, which might toss a monkey wrench in the number of the rivals typically manage their service.

“In addition, the scoring system for the Continental Classic will be really uncomplicated and easy, with points being granted as follows: 3 points for a win and 1 point for a draw.”

Declared in advance of Wednesday’s program were:

On the heels of the vicious Texas deathmatch at Full Gear that saw him beat Hangman Page, Swerve Strickland ended up being the very first rival to win points in the Continental Classic, beating Jay Lethal in the round-robin competition opener Wednesday night.

It needs to not be much of a surprise to anybody that Strickland and Lethal had an excellent contest, concentrated on the concept of each rival making use of the other’s injury and ended with Strickland providing a double stomp for the pinfall.

Beginning Dynamite with the most buzzworthy star from the current pay-per-view was the ideal call and Strickland did not dissatisfy. The fans in Chicago lagged him and welcomed him with a huge pop, making the opener seem like an even larger offer.

An excellent start to the program.

Outcome

Strickland beat Lethal

Grade

B+

Leading Moments and Takeaways

Much better Than You, Bay hopped their method to the ring, simply days after MJF hurt his hip in his effective AEW World Championship defense versus Jay White, throughout which tag group partner Adam Cole interfered.

After some small talk, MJF referred to the devil and was disrupted by the strange masked Devil, who merely made fun of his assertion that he desires absolutely nothing to do with The People’s Scumbag.

This highlighted Samoa Joe, whom MJF attempted to screw out of his world title shot before Cole talked him into being a guy of his word.

Ultimately, a match for World’s End was consented to, however not before Joe promised to damage MJF in his home town and take the gold.

The most significant concern here is why Cole would be insistent on MJF honoring his arrangement with Samoa Joe for a world championship. And isn’t it hassle-free that, when MJF grew near to The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass, they were assaulted by The Devil and his minions, therefore leaving the champ without any option however to turn to Joe?

We might be getting near discovering who lags the mask, and it would not be unexpected if it was some sort of maniacal strategy created by a manipulative Cole.

Or possibly it’s simply Jack Perry, in the most unexciting possible result.

Anyhow, this was a multi-layered section that achieved a couple of various things and got MJF on the screen regardless of his injury.

Excellent things, even if the MJF-Cole collaboration appears to have actually cooled compared to what it was 2 or 3 months earlier.

Grade

B+

Leading Moments and Takeaways

AEW global champ Orange Cassidy followed up his triumph over Jon Moxley at Full Gear by teaming with FTW champ Hook and Ring of Honor Pure champ Katsuyori Shibata to beat “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard, “Cool Hand” Angelo Parker, and Jake Hager in a trios match.

It was an enjoyable bout that let the previous Jericho Appreciation Society members get a little shine before the babyfaces took off back into the match and protected the win by means of a synchronised Redrum and sleeper from Hook and Shibata.

This did not even more any continuous stories or make anybody look much better or even worse than they did prior to the match.

It was excellent enjoyable and beyond that, included the much-anticipated return of Danhausen, who provided a curse to Hager amidst a huge pop from the Chicago fans.

Outcome

Hook, Shibata, and Cassidy beat Hager, Menard, and Parker

Grade

C+

Leading Moments and Takeaways

On the heels of a Full Gear loss to Adam Copeland, Sting, and Darby Allin, TNT champ Christian Cage led Nick Wayne and Luchasaurus to the ring with the intent of rechristening them.

He did so, rebranding Luchasaurus as “Killswitch” and Wayne as “The Prodigy,” however not before embarrassing the previous in such a way that will likely just continue to attract stress within the group.

Shayna Wayne, Nick’s mommy, interrupted procedures however wound up capturing an errant blow from Killswitch before a teased con-chair-to.

Adam Copeland made the conserve, provided 2 Spears and a con-chair-to of his own, and stood high as the commentary group tried to conceal for The Rated R Superstar brutalizing the young rival in front of his own mom.

This was an intriguing sector.

Cage is a fantastic heel however did Luchasaurus actually require to be rebranded into something much more generic? What was the point in calling Wayne something he currently had been described?

How did Copeland not understand Shayna remained in the ring as he assaulted her child when he moved ideal past her to clean him out with the very first Spear?

It continued the fight however did so in a rather cumbersome style. Ideally, this all results in Copeland vs. Cage at World’s End.

Grade

C

Leading Moments and Takeaways

“Switchblade” Jay White made 3 points in the Continental Classic by method of a pinfall triumph over Rush, beating El Toro Blanco with Blade Runner following a well-timed and undiscovered low blow.

This was a competitive match in between 2 guys who did a strong task of putting over the physical fatigue experienced after their frustrating nights at Full Gear.

It put over White as a resourceful heel who will still discover a method to cheat and win, even if he can not count on outdoors disturbance from his Bullet Club Gold cronies. It was an excellent bounce-back success for among the leading guys in the business after losing to MJF at Full Gear.

For Rush, it was another frustrating loss in spite of an efficiency strengthening him as a premier wrestler in AEW.

Outcome

White pinned Rush

Grade

B+

Leading Moments and Takeaways

The match was no place as great as it might have been, thanks to an excess of attention paid to the continuous Soho-Angelo Parker love story.

Much focus was on that story, and the interactions in between the 2 of them, Saraya and Matt Menard at ringside that the real bout ended up being secondary.

Blue winning was necessary, specifically if things are heading in the instructions of her tough Storm for the AEW Women’s World Championship, however how seriously is she being taken when the most recent chapter in a romance supersedes her ongoing increase?

Outcome

Blue beat Jay and Soho

Grade

C

Leading Moments and Takeaways

A long-running program hindered the centerpiece of this week’s broadcast, which saw Jon Moxley beat Mark Briscoe to make 3 points in the Continental Classic.

More hurried than it otherwise may have been, it was still a difficult fight in between a previous world champ and among the most highly regarded and prominent wrestlers of the last 20 years.

Briscoe revealed fantastic strength while soaking up whatever tossed at him and just caught Moxley after a stomp and the 2nd Death Rider of the match.

Moxley winning seemed like an inescapable conclusion so that was not a surprise, however it’s time to begin doing something of suggesting with Briscoe due to the fact that these prominent losses do accumulate.

Outcome

Moxley beat Briscoe

Grade

B

Leading Moments and Takeaways

The greatest draw of Wednesday’s broadcast was the Continental Classic, yet it seemed like those matches were much shorter in time, specifically the 2 that followed the opener due to the requirement to get 2 verbose discount sections on the program.

This program was disrupted by angle-heavy sections that might have used up a lot less time than they did.

What decreased in between the ropes was excellent, however it might have been much more so had AEW not needed to make time for other sectors somewhere else.

The program gets an above-average rating since of its in-ring quality.

Grade: B