The 2024 Continental Classic is going strong as All Elite Wrestling heads out of a week where DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION showcased wrestling's greatest tournament and heads into a tradition started in 2020 when “The Icon” Sting arrived in AEW and Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley to claim the AEW World Title: WINTER IS COMING! This year's edition looks to be as loaded as any other with the AEW Women's World Title on the line between champion Mariah May and challenger Mina Shirakawa and The Death Riders of AEW World Champ Jon Moxley & “The Bastard” PAC fighting “Switchblade” Jay White & Orange Cassidy! As if those two matches weren't reason enough to catch DYNAMITE, we will also see Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly go one-on-one with the right to fight MJF at WORLDS END 2024 for the Dynamite Diamond Ring on the line.
As if those matches weren't enough, the C2 will continue tonight as Gold League leader Claudio Castagnoli looks to add three more points to his total as he faces Will Ospreay in a rematch of their April contest, plus Ricochet and Brody King look to break their Gold League tie! All that, and plenty more, is coming your way tonight on DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024 live from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO!
DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024 gets underway at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, so be sure to visit AEW's official YouTube channel to watch highlights from last week's editions of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as so much more! Then join us Thursday night in St. Louis, MO at the Chaifetz Center for COLLISION where Willow Nightingale and Jamie Hayter meet in the AEW Bracket finals of WRESTLE DYNASTY 2025 International Women's Cup Qualifier, and The Beast Mortos meets AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada in C2 Blue League competition!
AEW WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH...
“The Glamour” Mariah May(c) vs. Mina Shirakawa
It's very clear by now that the woman we watched arrive in All Elite Wrestling last year was doing nothing more than a masquerading as an innocent fangirl of “Timeless” Toni Storm. In retrospect, it wasn't until Mina Shirakawa arrived in AEW that we perhaps caught the first glimpse of who Mariah May really was behind the facade.
There were moments between Mina's arrival and her clash with Toni Storm at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 that Mariah seemed to be the one controlling the situation. Rather than Toni pulling Mariah to her breast, it was Mariah pulling both Mina and Toni in. Though at the time it seemed more like Mariah desperately trying to take the two sides of her life and make them one, now it comes off more like an exertion of control over women who believed themselves to be Mariah's friend and mentor.
Even after Mariah's heinous betrayal of Toni Storm immediately following her 2024 Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament victory, Mina still seemed to be supportive of her friend even though she questioned why “The Glamour” would do such a thing. After all, following Shirakawa's FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 loss to Toni Storm the three women left the arena together quite chummy despite Mina's defeat.
At ALL IN: LONDON 2024, Mina sat in the Royal Box and watched Mariah take the AEW Women's World Championship from Toni, seemingly still unsure of where she stood in the mix, but at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2024 her arrival to the ring after May's victory over Yuka Sakazaki inadvertently allowed Mariah to strike Willow Nightingale from behind with the belt. Mina didn't look too thrilled about what she accidentally allowed to happen, and her demeanor in the post-match interview with Mariah didn't exactly scream support for the champion. The fact that Shirakawa also ducked Mariah's question about why she was rushing back to Japan after having just returned to AEW was also quite questionable, especially given the reason she rushed back to Stardom was to team with Toni Storm on their 9/28 & 10/2 events.
Understandably not information Mina would be inclined to share with Mariah all things considered, but perhaps if she had the situation would've reached this point several months ago. Instead Mina held out hope that the woman she knew in Stardom, her Club Venus ally, and Goddesses of Stardom (Tag Team) co-champion was still the same woman who left the promotion on 9/30/23, only to find out with absolute certainty at FULL GEAR 2024 that that woman was no longer real, if she ever was in the first place. Perhaps Mariah May has always been this opportunist looking to exploit whoever she could for her own gain and use them up until they were no longer of any benefit; maybe that's why Mariah May chose to leave Stardom for AEW, why she chose Toni Storm a year ago, and why she chose to swing a champagne bottle at Mina, her supposed closest friend and a woman she still claims to love.
And yet for all Mariah May's bravado, her insincere statement that her and Mina could be friends again after WINTER IS COMING, and her bullying of Renee Paquette, when confronted face-to-face by Mina and handed the implement of their friendships dissolution, Mariah froze. Whether it was from shock that Mina was standing right in front of her, or fear of reprisal, “The Glamour” was frozen in her seat and all she could do was stare at the champagne bottle in her hands.
That is where we stand right now as AEW presents WINTER IS COMING 2024 tonight in Kansas City, MO and these two combatants prepare to meet in their first AEW one-on-one match, and second career bout. Their first came during Stardom's 2023 5Star Grand Prix Tournament and was actually won by Mariah, though neither made it to the Finals of the field, and in fact it was the only time the two women ever stood on opposite sides of the ring before tonight's World Championship battle!
“The Glamour” Mariah May did not hesitate to strike when faced with her supposed idol Toni Storm, but she hesitated when she had to look Mina Shirakawa in the eyes. Will she freeze up again when the bell rings for this match and watch her AEW Women's World Championship reign end tonight? This match is historic in that it is the first Women's World Championship bout in the four-year history of WINTER IS COMING; will it also go down in history as the end of the era of Glamour?
CONTINENTAL CLASSIC...
Gold League
Claudio Castagnoli(6) vs. Will Ospreay(3)
The Gold League is proving to be quite the close race as the field reaches its halfway point! Four of the members have competed in two matches thus far while Komander has, technically, fought three as he took on Juice Robinson's loss to Will Ospreay as his own when he stepped up following the Bang Bang Gang member's unfortunate injury. That leaves just Will Ospreay with one Gold League match to his record so far, but tonight on DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024 that changes when he is one of four Gold League members competing, in his case, it's a rematch from the April 17th DYNAMITE against Gold League leader Claudio Castagnoli!
That night Ospreay scored victory with a Hidden Blade, but that wasn't enough for The Don Callis Family as they assaulted Claudio after the match while Will did nothing but watch from the sidelines until Jon Moxley intervened. Fast forward eight months and the landscape is just a little bit different; for one Ospreay has been quite removed from being on the side of The DCF for some time. In fact if there's a public enemy #1 for the Callis Family it may have been Ospreay prior to Kyle Fletcher defeating him at FULL GEAR 2024, but their priority is certainly on conquering the Blue League. Since that spring outing, Ospreay has beaten Bryan Danielson. He won, lost, regained, and lost again the International Championship. During the course of those reigns he beat Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, MJF, Daniel Garcia, and “The Bastard” PAC. He challenged for the World Title at FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024, the World Tag Titles at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2024, and as mentioned, was laid low at FULL GEAR 2024 by his former best friend Kyle Fletcher. Ospreay rebounded in his first Continental Classic bout with a victory over Juice Robinson, but while the other five men have continued competing, he's been off since that November 30th bout.
As for Claudio, since that April clash we've watched him challenge for the AEW World Title on the April 27th COLLISION, enter into the 2024 Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament, take Kazuchika Okada to a time limit draw for the Continental Title on the August 21st DYNAMITE from Cardiff, and win the AEW World Trios Titles with PAC and Wheeler Yuta at ALL IN: LONDON 2024. Of course there's the matter of everything that's unfolded over the last three months as it pertains to The Death Riders, Jon Moxley's taking hold of the AEW World Title, and the Bryan Danielson of it all, but all of that is neither here nor there when it comes to the Continental Classic because here competitors must do it all on their own. No seconds at ringside, no interference, just two men battling it out to see who is better on that night.
Of course there's skirting the rules, just look at how Kyle Fletcher defeated Shelton Benjamin and Kazuchika Okada, or more pertinently, what Claudio did to defeat Brody King in their bout. For Fletcher it paid off, he's sitting atop the Blue League with nine points, just as Claudio could be if he hands Ospreay a loss tonight in Kansas City. However, if it's the 2-Time International Champion who gets the victory, then the top of the Gold League is going to be a very interesting situation. At the very least, Claudio and Ospreay will be tied for the top spot with an Ospreay win. Of course there's the potential for a draw that would keep Claudio at the forefront, but there's still the matter of the other Gold League bout between...
Ricochet(3) vs. Brody King(3)
In this first-ever meeting of Ricochet and House of Black's Brody King, they will be battling it out to potentially put the Gold League in a three-way tie for first place! With both men having fallen to Claudio Castagnoli, each is hoping for the Castagnoli loss to Ospreay that would make a three-way tie at six points a possibility, but that can't be their focus entering into WINTER IS COMING 2024. Both Ricochet and King have to remain zeroed in on the man standing across the ring and save worrying about the other battle until the outcome of theirs is decided. If Claudio and Ospreay hit the ring first, then these two men will be aware of what they're battling against, but if they are first out, well then it makes it even more important to remain focused on the task at hand.
By this point, fans know what each man brings to the table and how their respective skill sets fall into the notion that styles makes fights: speed versus power, the size differences, those are the quantifiable differences that play into pro wrestling, but heart and spirit are immeasurable, so is will power, and this Gold League battle may be determined by which of these warriors will to win is stronger on this night! Who wants those six points more? Who wants to head into the final two league matches a winner? Is it Brody King or Ricochet? We will find out tonight!
WINNER FACES MJF @ WORLDS END 2024...
Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly
Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly have virtually done everything in their professional wrestling careers together. First encountering each other in a pair of singles matches on the independent circuit (matches they split by the way), Cole and O'Reilly really became synonymous with one another during their Ring of Honor careers. Though each had a handful of matches in 2009 and 2010, their ROH legacy really began building when they were united on the November 11, 2010 edition of ROH ON HDNET. Eventually taking the name Future Shock, the two young athletes not only competed in ROH together, but they also ventured to England for Fight Club Pro and IPW: UK and Germany for wXw. In ROH they faced the best tag teams in the world with bouts against The Briscoes, The Kings of Wrestling (Claudio Castagnoli & Chris Hero), Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas & Shelton Benjamin), and The Young Bucks. They even took their rivalry with Matthew and Nicholas Jackson to PWG where they unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the World Tag Titles just a few weeks prior to challenging WGTT in the first of just two ROH World Tag Title matches they had during their time in Ring of Honor.
Unfortunately their partnership eventually dissolved in early 2012, quite frankly before they even reached their peak as a team, resulting in a series of matches pitting the men against one another, most notably the Hybrid Rules fight at BEST IN THE WORLD 2012 where Cole had teeth knocked out, ended up a bloody mess, but managed to defeat Kyle in a match whose rules certainly favored O'Reilly. They fought over the ROH World TV Title during ROH WRESTLING #61 on 11/17/12, battled over the PWG World Title in 2014 and 2015, and briefly reunited in 2015 for the second of those aforementioned World Tag Title matches. That reunion did not last long as Cole, along with Matt Taven and Mike Bennett, screwed Kyle in his ROH World Title opportunity against Jay Lethal at ALL STAR EXTRAVAGANZA VII. That led to a series of singles matches throughout the remainder of their ROH tenure, including a Grudge Match at FINAL BATTLE 2015, a No Holds Barred Fight at SUPERCARD OF HONOR X: NIGHT 2, a No Disqualification War at FINAL BATTLE 2016 where Kyle took the ROH World Title from Adam, and finally an ROH World Championship match at NJPW's WRESTLE KINGDOM XI where Cole took the title back to become the only 3-Time World Champ in ROH history.
The two men reconnected months down the line and, along with Roderick Strong and Bobby Fish, were an undisputed force for the better part of four years, but eventually that came apart at the seams leading Cole and O'Reilly to a trio of singles matches in 2021. All told, in their head-to-head battles, Kyle leads 8-7-1, but it's been 1,206 days since their last fight, and in that time both found their way to All Elite Wrestling, and when the two men did stand in the ring, they did so together as Undisputed Elite. Sadly the promise of each man's arrival in AEW was cut short as both dealt with potentially career-ending injuries that robbed them both of precious time. Kyle O'Reilly lost 18 months due to his neck surgery and subsequent complications while Adam Cole first suffered a head injury that robbed him of nine months inside the ring only to shatter his ankle in a freak accident at DYNAMITE: GRAND SLAM 2023 and losing another 13 months.
It was only in the last month that the two former partners reconnected with one another in front of the people, though each was a supportive force for the other during their mutual recoveries, and it was all spurred on by the machinations of one Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Cole has, quite frankly, been obsessed with getting his hands on MJF since returning at WRESTLEDREAM and that obsession pulled Roderick Strong into the fray as well when Max promised a match at FULL GEAR 2024 to the first Undisputed Kingdom member to win three consecutive matches. Both Roderick and Cole got two in a row, but the money of MJF as distributed to Don Callis led Cole to fall in his third bout with Takeshita while Roddy managed victory in his against Lance Archer despite the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation playing in The Murderhawk Monster's favor.
Roderick gave MJF a tremendous fight at FULL GEAR 2024, but ultimately it ended in the former World Champion's favor, and he repaid Roddy for his efforts by wrapping a chair around Strong's arm and breaking it. Yes it was Roddy's choice to get involved in the hunt for MJF, but in part it was to save Cole from himself, more specifically from becoming the worst version of himself.
Ernest Hemingway once wrote “Being against evil doesn't make you good. Tonight I was against it and then I was evil myself. I could feel it coming just like a tide... I just want to destroy them. But when you start taking pleasure in it you are awfully close to the thing you're fighting.”
That quote sums up why Kyle O'Reilly chose to insert himself in this dynamic because, much like Roderick, he is afraid of watching one of his closest friends become something worse than MJF. After all, if there's anyone who knows how low Adam Cole can sink it's certainly the man who fought him in those ROH wars. It's also why, when the only route for Cole to take to get to MJF was the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale, both men entered into the mix and fought so hard to be the last two standing. Despite the odds against, despite having to survive Brian Cage and Lance Archer at the end, the former Future Shock partners endured to get to this match.
Now only one thing remains in order for MJF to get what he's got coming to him at WORLDS END 2024; Kyle O'Reilly and Adam Cole going into battle with each other for the first time since August 22, 2021 with the right to fight MJF over the Dynamite Diamond Ring at stake. These two have spilled each other's blood just as they've celebrated each other's wins, they've suffered together and survived together, and managed to come through a whole lot of pain as friends. However tonight that is going to be tested as the question arises of just what Adam Cole is willing to do in order to get his hands on MJF on December 28th. We saw Cole's machinations and manipulations a year ago when it was only MJF getting hurt, will he be willing to do the same to Kyle O'Reilly if that's what it takes to get to Max?
TAG TEAM WAR...
The Death Riders (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley & AEW World Trios Champion PAC)
vs.
“Switchblade” Jay White & “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy
Last week, Jon Moxley finally paid a price for his actions over the last several months. It took the extremely unlikely combination of “Switchblade” Jay White, “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy, and “Hangman” Adam Page to lay the 3-Time AEW World Champion low after he assaulted Jay White following Jay's victory over “The Bastard” PAC.
While it's clear that Hangman's left leg is still hampering him, the former AEW World Champion was still able to catch Moxley with a Buckshot Lariat after OC drilled him with an Orange Punch and Jay White planted him with a Blade Runner. It was immensely satisfying to the three men involved, despite the animosity that exists between White and Page specifically, and clearly to the fans as well given their chants of “Cowboy $**t” rang out through the arena despite many months of the AEW faithful turning their backs on Hangman for his actions as they pertained to Swerve Strickland.
That scene is why tonight at DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024 the unlikely duo of Orange Cassidy and Jay White will unite to face The Death Rider pair of AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and AEW World Trios Champion PAC! OC and “Switchblade” have only shared the ring on two occasions before tonight, the first being the DOUBLE OR NOTHING 2023 Blackjack Battle Royale where Cassidy successfully retained the International Championship against 20 other foes and the second as mutual participants in the FORBIDDEN DOOR 2024 World Title #1 Contender Casino Gauntlet. In that chaos the last three men standing in the ring were Will Ospreay, Jay White, and OC and “Switchblade” nearly had Cassidy dead to rights in the Blade Runner were it not for Ospreay catching White with a Hidden Blade as he set OC up for the maneuver.
On the other side of the ring is quite the interesting situation given that, though in 2024 they are on the same page under the flag of The Death Riders, the history between Mox and PAC is quite contentious. The only other time they teamed up, way back on the third episode of DYNAMITE, Mox dropped his own tag partner with a Paradigm Shift before walking out and leaving “The Bastard” to the mercies of Hangman Page and Kenny Omega. They went to a time limit draw one week later, and then fought in a #1 Contender's Match in January 2020 that Moxley won en route to capturing his first AEW World Title from Chris Jericho at REVOLUTION 2020.
They were on the same side of a trios match at DYNAMITE: BEACH BREAK 2021, both participants in the Casino Ladder Match at DYNAMITE: ANNIVERSARY 2021, and then it wouldn't be until the 2023 Blood & Guts match pitting The Golden Elite against The BCC, Konosuke Takeshita, and “The Bastard” PAC that the two shared a ring once more. On that night PAC actually walked out on his allies after tempers flared between “The Bastard” and Claudio Castagnoli, so all that history between these two warriors makes their pairing here tonight quite interesting, as well as their partnership within The Death Riders.
Clearly there is a common goal shared by the members The Death Riders, we've heard Claudio talk at length about Mox's vision in relation to his Continental Classic journey, while the prime thread binding OC and Jay White together is their mutual desire to hold the AEW World Title. For Cassidy it's also about ending Moxley and saving All Elite Wrestling from the fate the World Champion has in mind, but is that a shared goal with “Switchblade”? Does Jay White care about that part of the equation or are his goals specifically targeted at the World Title? Will their mutual aspirations towards being World Champion conflict with their ability to function as a team against The Death Riders? We will find out tonight when these four men go to battle tonight in tag team action!
DYNAMITE: WINTER IS COMING 2024 hails from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, MO tonight live on TBS! In Gold League Continental Classic action Ricochet faces Brody King and Claudio Castagnoli takes on Will Ospreay, while AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May faces her “beloved” Mina Shirakawa with the title on the line! Plus AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and AEW World Trios Champion PAC face Jay White and Orange Cassidy in tag team action, and Kyle O'Reilly takes on Adam Cole for the right to face MJF at WORLDS END 2024! The night begins at 8pm ET/7pm CT, so be sure to check in with the official AEW YouTube channel to catch up on highlights from last week's editions of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, as well as so much more! Then comes with us tomorrow to St. Louis, MO and the Chaifetz Center for a special COLLISION taping featuring Willow Nightingale and Jamie Hayter battling in the AEW Bracket Finals of WRESTLE DYNASTY 2025 International Women's Cup Qualifier, and The Beast Mortos facing AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada in C2 Blue League competition!