I watched Dynamite on Christmas but didn't write about it as I was partaking in Christmas Joy. Actually, we were watching Home Alone during Dynamite and I caught up on it later that night.

It was a great show! Great wrestling! Good setups for the semi-finals of the Continental Classic! Darby Allin still looks like a chump since he got beaten by Claudio twice, but I guess he got his own moral victory by helping Komander cheat to keep Claudio out of the semi-finals?

I think I correctly picked some of the semi-finalists but not all, though I'm not unhappy with how the tournament played out. I still see a final of Ospreay/Okada with Ospreay coming out on top as the new Continental Champion.

I am not expecting a ton of surprise finishes on the show tonight; all of the titles seem like they'll stay firmly in place, but I'm not opposed to seeing some upsets.

With Darby Allin being written off of TV on Rampage last night, it seems like Moxley will likely hold onto his belt for a long while so Darby can sell his injuries and climb Mount Everest. I don't know how they can drag the Death Riders thing out until July and still keep it interesting, but my best guess is that Darby beats Mox for the title at All In.

But, nevermind that shit – it's Worlds End!

Those continentals were classic!

Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher opened the show with the first semi-final match in the Continental Classic. I didn't expect this to be the bloodbath match of the night, but okay! Fletcher busted Ospreay open early on with a lawn dart into the guardrail, and Ospreay bled a gusher.

Fletcher attempted cheating with his hand on the ropes for leverage on a pin against Ospreay but referee Paul Turner caught it. This almost cost Fletcher the match, as his argument with Turner led into an Ospreay Hidden Blade. Fletcher was able to survive, though, and come back for more.

After some more suffering on Ospreay's part, Fletcher fell victim to Ospreay's counter wrestling and lost the fall to a Styles Clash. I appreciated that Ospreay didn't dump out all of the tools from his toolbox in this match. Every wrestler has their favorite spots, of course, and Ospreay saved some for the final match ensuring that whatever we see later on will be a unique experience.

A hell of a run for Fletcher in the C2 this year which I feel has cemented him as a main event player. There's no reason Fletcher can't be AEW World Champion sometime in 2025.

Kazuchika Okada and Ricochet followed up with a match that was fine – nothing that blew me away but also not a bad match by any means. It had a lot to live up to coming after Ospreay/Fletcher.

I do love Ricochet working as a heel and he fits so much better in this role than as a happy-to-be-here babyface. He's just such a cornball dweeb! He's perfect!

Post-match, Swerve Strickland showed up with Prince Nana who tossed rolls of toilet paper to the crowd. At Swerve's behest, the crowd threw rolls of toilet paper into the ring leaving a dejected Ricochet standing alone in the ring wrapped in toilet paper. Perfect!

In the tournament finals, Okada ruined my picks by getting the win over Ospreay. But what a hell of a way to get there! Unsurprisingly, this match was incredible and each guy drew you in to every nearfall in sensational ways. In the final several minutes, it truly looked like either guy could be leaving with the Continental Title.

Ospreay came out for the match looking like Terry Funk in Beyond The Mat with his head taped up and dried blood caked on his nose. He even captured a bit of Terry's wild-eyed stare throughout the match. Maybe if he had thrown a ladder over his head and spun in circles or punched a horse in the ass he would have left as champion.

Post-match, Vice Principal Daniels came out to announce that he was no longer an EVP and thus would not present Okada with the Continental Championship. However, there was a man who is an EVP who could do it for him: the returning Kenny Omega.

Goosebumps, baby! Omega has Gabe Kidd at Wrestle Dynasty next weekend but this is his first appearance in AEW since having his guts rearranged by The Young Bucks and Jack Perry. Omega kept a steady eye on the Continental Championship after handing it off to Okada leading one to believe that the big feud of 2025 could be a revisit of Okada/Omega with the Continental Championship as the prize. Maybe they wrestle at the big stadium show coming in July? Hm? Yes? Maybe?

Let's, and I can not stress this enough, fuckin' go.

A delightful night for women's wrestling

The Tijuana Street Fight between Mariah May and Thunder Rosa was a delight. There were some slow moments where it felt like the crowd completely disappeared, but they were always able to get them right back.

It does seem that Rosa's best days may be behind her. She still moves a bit more sluggish than she used to and her best matches since her return have all been these plunder type of matches. I'm not sure we'll see the division built around her again, at least not in this form. If she can't go in regular matches, it'd be hard to put a title on her whether it's the World Title or the TBS Title.

That said, these two beat the piss out of each other and Mariah May continued her winning ways with a Storm Zero piledriver from the apron through a table. Fun and delightful sicko stuff without going totally bonkers with everything. Now we can begin the build to what I assume is young rookie Toni Storm regaining the World Title at Grand Slam Australia in February.

Mercedes Moné and Kris Statlander had an incredible rematch for the TBS Title. Mercedes has been at her best since going full heel in AEW, and while Statlander's topsy-turvy alignment was a bummer to see it didn't affect the quality of this match in the least.

I figured Mercedes would win this since she's heading into Wrestle Dynasty on Sunday against Mina Shirakawa but there was still maybe 30% of me that thought Statlander could have pulled it out. There were also some really well done countout teases which isn't something that always grabs me.

It's nebulous where Stat goes from here. She got the post-match ovation and had her music played while she exited looking despondent. She's come up short twice now against Mercedes so isn't in any position to challenge for the TBS or World Title again. She's also been attempting to rekindle a friendship with Willow Nightingale, but it's not like there are Tag Titles in the women's division so there's only so much ground that story can cover.

I am hopeful that we keep seeing Statlander in a prominent place on AEW TV because she's always fantastic and had a good run with the TBS Title. Mercedes will have to drop the belt at some point – maybe at Revolution so she can move into a feud with new babyface World Champion Toni Storm? Mercedes has made the TBS Title feel incredibly important and she could do the same for the World Title.

A complete turd of a main event

You know, I like to give things time to figure themselves out. If I'm not into something right away, I like to try and give it the ole "wait and see" in AEW. They've earned the benefit of the doubt more times than I can remember now, so even when a storyline feels uninteresting or rudderless at first I tend to try and stick it out to see where it goes.

I think I'm at the end of my rope with Jon Moxley and Death Riders. The story goes nowhere week to week in service of Mox delivering another rambling promo talking about violence or whatever while being so vague that he never really makes it clear what his problem is with anyone anymore.

It made sense when he was beating up Private Party, Daniel Garcia, The Outrunners and others for not taking things seriously enough. But now he's been stepped up to by guys who have shown they're willing to be depraved and violent, yet he keeps talking about the same old stuff.

Then Death Riders decided to destroy Rampage as a way to write that show off the air? But why? What about Rampage doesn't fit into their agenda? How does breaking lighting equipment serve Death Riders in the long run?

There was a chance to do something interesting in the main event. Or, at the very least, just have a good match with four guys who could kick each others asses.

We couldn't have that, though! We had to have buckets of interference from Yuta, Claudio, and Marina leading to one of the dumbest finishes of the year which let all of the air out of the balloon for the crowd.

Adam Copeland returned with FTR after the match to setup a Rated FTR/Death Riders match and feud but it didn't really do enough to make up for how lousy the main event was.

Wrapping Up

I love a Saturday PPV. Let me stay up late and not be dragging ass for work on Monday. Thanks, Tony Khan!

I see Adam Cole and I simply feel nothing.

There aren't a ton of words to say about Konosuke Takeshita vs Powerhouse Hobbs other than that it kicked a ton of ass. I absolutely bit on the nearfall when Hobbs countered the Powerdrive knee into the spinebuster, even though I had predicted a Takeshita win.

Takeshita felt wasted for a long time in AEW and I hope we see him wrestling more often in matches like this one. I'll likely pick up a NJPW World sub for next weekend and I'm stoked about the Takeshita/Shingo Takagi match on the books.

As for Hobbs, his return has been solid and I think he could easily fit into a feud for any singles title from this point. Or, if not a title, at least some kind of feud to keep him in the forefront. Let's not get Hobbs lost in the shuffle.

Overall, this was an excellent show topped off with an abysmal main event.

Match Rankings

Let's try something new: I'm going to rank the matches as I watch them (inspired by Jeff Gerstmann's ongoing NES Rankings) to see where everything lined up for me at the end of the night.

1. Will Ospreay vs Kyle Fletcher
2. Will Ospreay vs Kazuchika Okada
3. Mercedes Moné vs Kris Statlander
4. Konosuke Takeshita vs Powerhouse Hobbs
5. Mariah May vs Thunder Rosa
6. Kazuchika Okada vs Ricochet
7. MJF vs Adam Cole
8. Jon Moxley vs Orange Cassidy vs "Hangman" Adam Page vs "Switchblade" Jay White