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The first week of AEW’s Continental Classic 2024 is in the books, so let’s take a quick look at what happened, where things stand, and what’s on the slate for this week. As a reminder, the rules of this year’s tournament have been amended. Instead of the top two from each league facing each other, the leader in the Blue League will face #2 in the Gold League and vice versa, and those winners will meet in the tournament finals.
Blue League
After one week, the standings of the Blue League are Kyle Fletcher at the top with six points, Shelton Benjamin in second with three points, and current Continental Champion “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada and Daniel Garcia with a point apiece.
Fletcher had a really good match with The Beast Mortos. Mortos gave Fletcher a run for his money, but was able to get the win after a brainbuster. Shelton Benjamin and Mark Briscoe had a spirited encounter in which Shelton relentlessly tossed Briscoe around like a sack of potatoes in various suplexes before securing the victory with the pinfall with an exploder.
Okada and Garcia had the most interesting match of the week in either league. Garcia put his technical skills to good use and hung with one of the best wrestlers in the world. Okada tried to use his experience to outwit Garcia to no avail. In the end, Garcia put Okada in the Dragon Tamer with around one minute left. Despite visibly being in pain, Okada held on until the time limit expired resulting in a draw and he and Garcia each earning one point. Garcia getting on the board early shows his progression from this year to last. Conversely, Okada is now on his back foot. As pointed out on the “Inside the Continental Classic” video on AEW’s YouTube, Okada has never won a round robin tournament when he starts with a loss or a draw. Now the Rainmaker has to work twice as hard to overcome that jinx.
Wednesday night on Dynamite, Fletcher squared off with Benjamin. These two worked well together. They spent the first few minutes of the match assessing each other before things really took off. Even though both men are heels, the crowd got behind the veteran Benjamin. In the end, Fletcher used the rope for leverage to get the pin on Benjamin and the three points. MVP verbally chastised Benjamin for losing backstage which was a nice little touch.
The next Blue League match was announced for Collision. It will be Kyle Fletcher looking to extend his lead as he battles Okada. This is a pretty pivotal match. If Fletcher wins, he will not only get his win back over Okada from earlier this year, he will be sitting pretty with nine points and a near clear path to a perfect fifteen. Okada needs the win to avoid finding himself in more of a hole. I don’t think anyone would’ve predicted the prospect of Okada getting one point out of his first two matches, but here we are.
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Gold League
Right now Claudio Castagnoli is leading the Gold League with six points. Brody King and Will Ospreay are tied for second with three points each. Castagnoli had a good match with Ricochet ultimately won in somewhat anticlimactic fashion with a clothesline.
Brody King battled Darby Allin, still battered and feeling the effects of crashing his car into Mox and the Mechanic’s truck. Darby put up a valiant effort but Brody was simply too much and a Gonzo Bomb finished him off.
Ospreay had good match with Juice Robinson. Both men are seasoned tournament wrestlers. In the end Ospreay got the dub with the Hidden Blade. Worse yet for Juice, he suffered a broken fibula during the match and was officially replaced in the tourney by Komander. Best wishes on a speedy recovery to Juice.
Last night, in Gold League action the two strongest guys in the tournament fought when Brody King collided with Claudio Castagnoli. This match had a little extra spice as Brody stepped in last week to protect Darby when Claudio attempted to attack him after the match with a chair. These two guys beat the snot out of each other. Claudio focused his attack on Brody’s wrist, but that didn’t stop the big guy from laying in some stiff shots. Claudio finally had to resort to a low blow to set up The Neutralizer for the win.
Claudio has the lead to himself right now but I suspect it won’t be that way for long. It was announced that next week he faces Will Ospreay. My guess is that Ospreay wins that match and ties Claudio for the lead going into Osperay’s match the following week with Darby Allin.
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RECOMMENDED NEXT: AEW DYNAMITE RESULTS (12/4): Pac vs. Jay White, Swerve Strickland vs. Max Caster, Claudio vs. Brody King, Fletcher vs. Benjamin, Dynamite Diamond Battle Royal
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: Kyle Fletcher vs. Shelton Benjamin and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brody King in Continental Classic matches, Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale
(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.)
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