SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
BLUE LEAGUE
Kazuchika Okada
2024 Record: 9-5-1
Fighting Style: Strong Style
What to Look For: Kazuchika Okada comes into this tournament the Continental champion looking to defend his title. At the same time he has more experience than anyone else in the C2 in round robin tournaments as a 4x G1 Climax winner. A win in the C2 would tie him with the legendary Masahiro Chono for most career major tournament victories with 5, something Okada would love to have to really cement himself as the greatest tournament wrestler of all time. Okada needs a strong series of matches in this tournament to help re-establish himself after being stuck behind the Young Bucks since he arrived in AEW in March. His eventual match with Kyle Fletcher, someone he’s already beaten once this year, should be great. It’ll be interesting to see where both men are sitting points wise when they cross paths. Of the people in the Blue League, Okada has the best chance of making it not only to the league final but the overall final and winning the whole thing.
Kyle Fletcher
2024 Record: 14-14
Fighting Style: Strong Style
What to Look For: Kyle Fletcher is the rare position of being better than his record. While he’s at .500 on the year, Fletcher has been on the ascent over the last few months, capped off by the biggest win of his career over Will Ospreay at Full Gear this past weekend. Fletcher is called the Protostar for a reason. He mixes speed with the strong style he learned from his years in Japan to form one hell of a skillset. I expect Fletcher to have a strong run in the C2. Aside from Okada, Fletcher is one of two other people I can see making at least the league final.
Shelton Benjamin
2024 Record: 3-1
Fighting Style: Blended
What to Look For: Shelton Benjamin comes into this tournament with both the fewest matches in AEW (due to his recent debut) and the most experience in wrestling with over 20 years under his belt. He’s also a veteran of 2 G1 tourneys so he’s no stranger to the round robin format. In a lot of ways this is Shelton’s chance to show out and prove that he can still compete at the highest level. I expect him to have a strong run though he will likely fall to Okada and Fletcher. His most unpredictable match will likely come against Daniel Garcia.
The Beast Mortos
2024 Record: 8-19
Fighting Style: Lucha
What to Look For: Yes, Mortos is very underwater in terms of wins and losses but he’s the most unique luchador in AEW and I’m not just talking about his mask. He’s big for a high flyer and relies on power moves as much as lucha. He’s going to give any opponent a tough out but I don’t expect Mortos to get more than 3 points as I think if anyone should be blanked it’s our next entrant.
Mark Briscoe
2024 Record: 6-5
Fighting Style: Unorthodox Brawling
What to Look For: Mark Briscoe enters his second straight C2. While he was the ROH champion for large part of the year, it still feels like he’s largely in the same spot as last year and will largely occupy the same role within this tournament. He’s a guy the fans love but he’s likely not picking up any points at all this year. What will be interesting is the clash of styles he presents with the rest of the Blue League and that translates in-ring.
Daniel Garcia
2024 Record: 19-7-1
Fighting Style: Technical
What to Look For: Daniel Garcia enters his second C2 in a much better position than last year. After only scoring three points after it was mathematically impossible for him to advance, Garcia used that experience to grow within AEW. He unsuccessfully challenged Christian for the TNT title at Revolution, went toe-to-toe with Will Ospreay for the International title, and finally won the big one when he defeated Jack Perry for the TNT championship. He’ll carry that title into the tournament with him in addition to the momentum he’s built. I expect him to get some redemption for last year with a much better run this time around. It’s crazy to think he might end up in the league final though it’s doubtful he would make it beyond that point.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Podcast weekly Tuesday Flagship episode with guest cohost Jason Powell: CLICK HERE to stream (or search “wade Keller” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)
GOLD LEAGUE
Will Ospreay
2024 Record: 22-8
Fighting Style: Aerial/Strong Style
What to Look For: Will Ospreay is, simply put, the best wrestler in the world so it only makes sense for him to be in this tournament. He brings with him the experience of having been in a couple G1 tourneys too. He’s also bringing with him a major loss at Full Gear and neck at less than 100%. If anyone has the wrestling skill to overcome all of that it’s Ospreay. Ospreay stands as the most likely winner of the Gold League. At the very least, he will be in the league final with a high probability of advancing to World’s End.
Darby Allin
2024 Record: 16-6-1
Fighting Style: Unorthodox Brawling/Amateur
What to Look For: Darby Allin enters his first C2 with zero round robin tournament experience. What he does have though is a legit amateur wrestling background people forget about because of the unorthodox way he wrestles, flinging his body around as a weapon. The question is how focused will Darby be and what will he be focused on. He’s spent the last several weeks helping lead the resistance to Jon Moxley’s attack on AEW. Will he be too worried about that? Will he be more interested in playing spoiler to Claudio than winning the whole thing? With Darby it’s nearly impossible to predict. If he’s focused on the tourney it’s possible, he makes to the league final at least. It’s also possible that he and Claudio cancel each other out opening the door for another competitor to make a move.
Claudio Castagnoli
2024 Record: 32-9-4
Fighting Style: Strong Style/Technical
What to Look For: Claudio enters his second straight C2 with one of the better records of the entire field. As part of the Death Riders group, he’s tearing through AEW of late, most recently overpowering and overwhelming Darby Allin just last week. Claudio is once again the strongest competitor in the tournament physically speaking. While it’s unlikely he’ll be unfocused, it remains to be seen whether the inevitable clash with Darby alters his trajectory. If he and Darby don’t cancel each other out, Claudio stands the best shot of anyone other than Will Ospreay of making it to the league final and even the overall final. A Death Rider winning the whole thing would be quite the statement.
Ricochet
2024 Record: 8-5
Fighting Style: Lucha
What to Look For: Ricochet enters his first C2 motivated to redeem himself after a tough loss to Takeshita at Full Gear. After his previous bout with Will Ospreay was interrupted by the aforementioned Takeshita, that will be an interesting one to watch. Ricochet feels like he has something to prove in this tournament and he’s got huge match against IWGP champion Zack Sabre Jr at Wrestle Dynasty that will be in the back of his mind. While I suspect he will have an overall decent showing, it’s likely he stalls out. I don’t see the likelihood of him making the league final, let alone overall final very high.
Brody King
2024 Record: 2-2
Fighting Style: Unorthodox Brawling
What to Look For: Brody enters his second C2 technically at .500 for the year but that’s mostly due to the fact that he’s once again been doing mostly tag and trios work. He had a hell of run last year using his size and power to bowl over the competition. With Darby and Claudio possibly cancelling each other, it feels like Brody has the best chance of anyone to end up in the league final. Remember the only thing that kept him out of the league final last year was in inopportune loss to Danny Garcia in his last round robin match. If Brody can avoid being spoiled like that the Gold League might be his to lose.
Juice Robinson
2024 Record: 6-5-1
Fighting Style: Unorthodox
What to Look For: Much like Brody, Juice’s record is a bit skewed because he’s mostly competed in tag and trios action. That said Juice is a bit of wildcard not just in his wrestling style but in the fact that he does bring with him G1 experience even though he feels like the weakest link in the Gold League. I don’t like Juice’s chances to get very far honestly.
C2 Opening Round Preview
Shelton Benjamin vs Mark Briscoe: Shelton’s more well-rounded style molded by his decades of experience will certainly clash with Briscoe’s unpredictable wild man aesthetic. That said these are two most experienced wrestlers in the tourney in terms of years of wrestling so that makes this fight all the more interesting. In the end Shelton picks up the W and 3 points to kick off the Blue League.
Darby Allin vs. Brody King:
The first of two Gold League matches, this one is a rematch from WrestleDream where Darby picked up the win almost by sheer luck. I don’t see Brody putting himself in jeopardy the same way he did in October so if Darby wants those points he may have to rely on his amateur background to try and outwrestle his much larger opponent. Ultimately, I don’t particularly like Darby’s chances and I think Brody is the one who gets on the board.
Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ricochet
The second and final Gold League match will be a fun mesh of styles as the power game and strong style striking of Claudio meets the high-flying lucha work of Ricochet. Of the two, Ricochet needs the hotter start coming off his loss at the PPV but unfortunately I think Claudio grounds the high-flyer, picks up the points, and starts Ricochet off on his back foot.
Stay right here and keep the flow going. We think you’ll like to read this next…
RECOMMENDED NEXT: PARKS’S TAKE: A first-look at the AEW Continental Classic 2024 Gold League and Blue League participants
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Pruett’s Blog: AEW’s Continental Classic is my favorite thing in wrestling, and the Continental Championship sucks
(You can always reach PWTorch editor Wade Keller at kellerwade@gmail.com. You can also send live event results and news tips to pwtorch@gmail.com. Also, we’re always looking for volunteer contributors to help us round out of coverage of the pro wrestling scene.)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.