The end of 2024 is nearly upon us, and with it comes WORLDS END 2024 live on pay-per-view from the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando! That night AEW World Champion Jon Moxley faces Orange Cassidy, Jay White, and Hangman Page in a Fatal Four Way for the title, but that's not the only championship match on tap! The AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May puts her title on the line against Thunder Rosa in a Tijuana Street Fight, Powerhouse Hobbs challenges Konosuke Takeshita for the AEW International Championship, and Adam Cole will fight MJF for possession of the Dynamite Diamond Ring!
In addition to those marquee matches, we will also bear witness to the Semifinals and Finals of the 2024 Continental Classic and the shape of those three bouts will be finalized tonight during DYNAMITE ON 34TH STREET! We have FIVE C2 bouts on tap for tonight before we know just how December 28th will look including Gold League bouts between Will Ospreay & Brody King, Ricochet & Darby Allin, and Claudio Castagnoli versus Komander! The final two Blue League bouts pit Shelton Benjamin against AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada as well as TNT Champion Daniel Garcia versus Kyle Fletcher.
DYNAMITE ON 34TH STREET begins 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, and so much more from the place where the best wrestle! Then join us on TNT Friday night at 10pm ET/9pm CT for RAMPAGE: NEW YEAR'S BASH 2024, and close out the year with WORLDS END 2024 live on pay-per-view this Saturday night December 28th!
CONTINENTAL CLASSIC...
Gold League
Will Ospreay (6) vs. Brody King (6)
Ricochet (9) vs. Darby Allin(6)
Claudio Castagnoli (9) vs. Komander(0)
This is the end of the road for everyone when it comes to solidifying their spot at WORLDS END 2024 this Saturday night. For some that road was closed long before tonight while for some it's still wide open, especially here in the Gold League. Two of those men who still have a chance of making the cut are Will Ospreay and Brody King, though both of their situations largely depend on the outcome of other matches taking place in the Gold, but both come into this from different positions.
“The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay comes into this after falling to Ricochet on CHRISTMAS COLLISION last Saturday night whereas Brody King is entering this final fight with a victory over Komander on RAMPAGE: HOLIDAY BASH 2024. Now both of them are in a position where they must win this first-time bout in order to maybe be part of the Semifinals at WORLDS ENDS 2024. Ricochet and Claudio are currently in the Gold League lead with nine points, so the winner of this would end up in a tie with those two men, albeit possibly temporarily depending on how their matches swing.
So it's all about focusing on your own match, doing what you can do to secure your own victory, and hoping the chips fall in your favor. For Will Ospreay and Brody King, that means Ricochet and Claudio Castagnoli both losing in their bouts to put the Gold League in a 4-Way nine point tie at the top spot. Meanwhile Claudio and Ricochet are both fighting for 12 points in their respective matches, Claudio's being a rematch with Komander from their 6/30/23 ROH World Title bout and Ricochet's a first-timer with Darby Allin.
There's no doubt Darby is banged up after his fight with Claudio, and the end result of that could've been much worse if it wasn't for the timely arrival of Will Ospreay (with brass knucks in hand) to prevent The Death Rider member from further assaulting Darby. There's also no doubt Ricochet is on a high after topping Ospreay in their incredible match last Saturday, though he did use referee Stephon Smith to secure the opening that allowed for a Spirit Gun. The question with this one is just what each man will do in order to make it to the Semifinals; with Darby the question is how far he will push himself and what damage he may cause himself in order to secure the nine points in this must-win situation but the question with Ricochet is what lows will he sink to in order to lock-in his 12 point top spot?
In addition, there's a question of whether or not that top spot will be shared or divided because Claudio's rematch with newly crowned ROH World Television Champion Komander will either lead to 12 points for Claudio or the high-flying marvel scoring his first points in his last chance! The last time they faced, referee Brandon Martinez had to stop the fight after Claudio's European Uppercut knocked Komander out cold, so one can imagine the new champ will be a bit more prepared for that devastating maneuver. Can Komander take the success he experienced at FINAL BATTLE 2024 and parlay it into three points, or will he join The Beast Mortos with zero points to close out his 2024 Continental Classic?
Gold League possibilities:
Four-way tie between Ricochet, Claudio, Darby, and winner of Brody King/Will Ospreay at 9 points (Requires Ricochet & Claudio loss plus Darby win)
Claudio wins outright with 12 points (or 10 with a draw & Ricochet loss, 3-Way tie for 2nd between Darby, Ricochet, Brody/Ospreay winner)
Ricochet wins outright with 12 points (or 10 with a draw & Claudio loss, potential tie for 2nd between Ospreay and Claudio, Ospreay wins by virtue of head-to-head victory)
Claudio and Ricochet tie at 12 points (or 10 points if they both draw, Claudio takes 1st place by virtue of head-to-head win)
Blue League
Shelton Benjamin(6) vs. AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada (7)
Kyle Fletcher (9) vs. TNT Champion Daniel Garcia (7)
In the case of the Blue League, it's come down to these four men vying for the top spots and an appearance at WORLDS END 2024 in the Semifinals. Kyle Fletcher is in the most advantageous positions with nine points to his total, but that doesn't make his spot totally secure, while the two champions competing in the Continental Classic are both at seven points, in part because of the draw they went to in their head-to-head. What that means for TNT Champion Daniel Garcia and AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada is their futures in the C2 are quite intertwined; of the two, only Garcia could potentially claim outright victory in the league play portion of the Continental Classic, but if each wins their final bout, then they will share the top spot at 10 points each and advance to the Semifinals together. If Okada loses and Garcia wins, then Danny wins the Blue League outright with 10 points, where as if Garcia loses, it does not matter what happens to Okada because Kyle Fletcher will own the Blue League outright. The only ways for Okada to progress are by winning his match and then hoping for a Garcia win, or at least a draw; the former puts he and Garcia in the Semifinals with 10 points while the latter puts Okada and Fletcher in the Semifinals with 10 points. For Okada this entire field is potentially the most heartbreaking because, as the reigning Continental Champion, failing tonight means he'll also see his title end up in someone else's hands without having been defeated for it. The winner of the 2024 C2 will be the new Continental Champion, and Okada's fight with Shelton Benjamin determines whether or not the reigning champion will have any skin in the game on December 28th.
Now Shelton and Okada are no strangers to one another, when Benjamin was part of Minoru Suzuki's SUZUKI-GUN unit in New Japan they met nearly a dozen times in tag team, trios, and multi-man matches, one of which actually included MVP during the NJPW 40TH ANNIVERSARY Tour, and another that took place during the 2013 World Tag League Tournament. All told Okada holds a 6-4 lead in the matches on record, but tonight will mark the first singles match between these two world-class athletes, and the stakes could only be higher if the Continental Title was on the line in this match!
As for TNT Champion Daniel Garcia and “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher, this is their first one-on-one fight as the only other time they've shared a ring was during the Over the Budget Charity Battle Royale at the ALL OUT 2023: ZERO HOUR. As newly crowned TNT Champion, heading straight into this tournament after his title victory was certainly a test of his measure and as great as Garcia has looked in the C2, the loss he sustained to Mark Briscoe and the draw with Kazuchika Okada have stuck in his craw. He's a champion here in AEW, and every match reflects on his standing as such, just as his standing in the C2 reflects on Danny's growth as a performer after last year's 3-point outing. Obviously he's in a better position than he was a year ago, the Semifinals are just one victory away, and Garcia could potentially outright win the league play portion of the Blue with a victory and an Okada loss. There's no doubt he's grown, he's learned, he's progressed, but so has Kyle Fletcher over the course of 2024 and it's shown throughout the C2, as well as in his landmark victory over Will Ospreay at FULL GEAR 2024.
So in this battle of two red-hot rising stars, which athlete will take that next step toward greatness at WORLDS END 2024, and who will be standing across the ring from them at the Addition Financial Arena?
Blue League possibilities:
Kyle wins outright with 12 points (Shelton ties Mark Briscoe for 2nd, advances by virtue of head-to-head victory, however Mark takes 2nd if Okada/Shelton draw)
Garcia wins outright with 10 points & Okada loss (3-Way tie for 2nd between Fletcher, Briscoe, Benjamin)
Okada and Garcia tie at 10 points
Fletcher and Okada tie at 10 points (Fletcher draw & Okada win)
ONE-ON-ONE...
Toni Storm vs. The Vendetta's Taya Valkyrie
Last Saturday night on CHRISTMAS COLLISION, Toni Storm introduced herself...reintroduced herself...at this point it's hard to say as Storm's behavior has been quite erratic. She continues to present herself like the newest addition to the AEW locker room rather than a former 3-Time AEW Women's World Champion who held the title for a combined 423 days with 15 total defenses, at yet it somehow seems more rational than “Timeless” did at any point during her reign atop the division.
That being said, Toni will step into the ring tonight during DYNAMITE ON 34TH STREET to face Taya Valkyrie for the “first” time; in truth it's not even the first time this year as the two women faced off in a World Championship Eliminator Match at BATTLE OF THE BELTS XI back on July 27th, as well as a Women's World Title fight a year prior at BATTLE OF THE BELTS VII. Then there's the whole Deonna Purrazzo of it all, the tattoo her and Toni Storm shared, and yet Storm introduced herself as if they were complete strangers. It's bizarre, to say the least, and yet there's something about Toni that feels completely genuine in her befuddlement with how people are responding to her and in her own eagerness to please.
Whatever is going on here with the former champion, we will all have to wait and see how it plays out. As for tonight, it's a matter of whether or not Taya can defeat Toni for the first time and show the Women's locker room what a threat The Vendetta is to the rest of them!
DYNAMITE ON 34TH STREET comes to you from the historic Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City starting at 8pm ET/7pm CT on TBS, and features the final five bouts in the 2024 Continental Classic with three in the Blue League and two in the Gold, so be sure to stop by the official AEW YouTube channel to catch all the highlights from last week's editions of DYNAMITE, RAMPAGE, and COLLISION, and so much more from the place where the best wrestle! Then it's time for RAMPAGE: NEW YEAR'S BASH 2024 Friday night on TNT starting at 10pm ET/9pm CT, then we close out our year in Orlando, FL with WORLDS END 2024 live on pay-per-view Saturday night December 28th!