AEW Dynamite on 34th Street Live Coverage - December 25th, 2024

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AEW Dynamite on 34th Street

This week, AEW Dynamite on 34th Street brings you the AEW Continental Classic: Will Ospreay vs Brody King, Darby Allin vs Ricochet, Komander vs Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia vs Kyle Fletcher, and Shelton Benjamin vs Kazuchika Okada.


:aew:

– Excalibur speed-talks us into the start of the show as the camera pans the crowd inside the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. Tony Schiavone joins him to run down the lineup for tonight's show.

Continental Classic: Will Ospreay vs. Brody King

Will Ospreay's theme hits and out comes the "Aerial Assassin" to kick off this week's show with the first of several Continental Classic bouts scheduled for tonight's show. Brody King makes his way out next and the bell sounds to get this one started.

Fans immediately break out into "Ospreay!" singing chants as he throws some leg kicks out at the bigger man. Taz joins Excalibur and Schiavone on commentary for the first time in a while. Brody backs Ospreay into the corner and launches him half-way across the ring.

Ospreay counters a Gonzo Bomb from King with a hurricanrana that sends him rolling out to the floor to recover. He doesn't get that chance, however, as Ospreay launches himself onto King on the floor. King takes over with, as Taz hilariously called it, a "Tailbone Jones" back-into-the ring post spot.

Back in the ring, the two trade shots. Ospreay hits the ropes but King gets him with a back body-drop. A big one, too. King checks on his tooth, which appears to be loose, as the show heads into a mid-match commercial break as the action in our opening contest continues.

When the show returns, Ospreay takes over and hits an absolutely insane twisting splash onto King on the floor. Back in the ring, he follows up with a big move for a close two-count, and then King starts to fight back into competitive form. King no-sells some Ospreay chops and forearms and then chops the living hell out of Ospreay.

This draws gasps from the crowd and shock-and-awe from Ospreay himself. On the floor, King hits a running drive-by onto Ospreay on the unforgiving guard rail. Back in the ring, King gets a close two-count. King continues to dominate until Ospreay somehow gets the big man with the Styles Clash for a close two-count of his own.

Ospreay goes for the Hidden Blade, but King counters and Donkey Kong's him for a close two-count. King hits another big Gonzo Bomb for another close two-count, and now King is starting to look discouraged at his inability to finish Ospreay off. Ospreay fights back and hits another Hidden Blade for a close two-count. Ospreay hits a big follow-up finisher for the win. Excellent opener.

Winner: Will Ospreay

– Backstage, we see The Hurt Syndicate arriving when Renee Paquette approaches them and brings up Shelton Benjamin's big match in the Continental Classic tonight. She also informs them that Bobby Lashley and MVP have been banned from the building tonight. MVP reluctantly wishes her a Merry Christmas and walks off with Lashley.

Continental Classic: Darby Allin vs. Ricochet

Inside the arena, Darby Allin's theme hits and the fan-favorite makes his way to the ring for more Gold League action in the ongoing Continental Classic Tournament. He settles in the ring and then Ricochet's theme hits. He comes out to fans throwing crap at him in the Hammerstein Ballroom.

The bell sounds and off we go. Darby starts off strong, but as the match develops a bit, Ricochet begins shifting the offensive momentum into his favor. As he continues to settle into the lead, the show heads into a mid-match commercial break as the action continues.

When we return, we see Ricochet still in control of things, when another roll of toilet paper is thrown at him by the fans. Ricochet throws it back, just as Darby brings him down to the floor off the ring apron the hard way. Darby begins taking over as the crowd goes wild.

Ricochet takes over again and brings the fight back out to the floor, where he lays Darby on a table he set up at ringside. He takes his sweet ass time heading to the top-rope and eventually dives with a 630 senton putting Darby through the table with an insane crowd reaction. We see 100 replays of this, which looks amazing from every angle.

As both guys recover, we head into another mid-match commercial break. When we return, the two continue to trade control of the offense, building to a dramatic finish, which sees Darby hit a top-rope Coffin Drop and go for the pin right as the time was ticking away. He didn't make it. This one ends in a draw. Due to points, Ricochet advances to the semifinals.

Time-Limit Draw

AEW Continental Classic: Komander vs. Claudio Castagnoli

Ricochet leaves the ring to a bit of boos, super smug about advancing to the semifinal as he heads up the ramp. Darby leaves the ring as Komander makes his way out, with Allin offering some advice before making his way up the ramp as Komander heads to the ring for our next match, hoping to finally score some points in the Continental Classic.

With the new ROH World Television Champion in the ring, we cut to a promo from Jay White, who talks about the 4-Way match at Worlds End for the AEW World Championship. Jon Moxley knows the most dangerous thing for him is a one on one match with the Switchblade, hence this four-way match, but no matter how crowded this match may be, White will find his way to the champ and the title.

After he wraps up his backstage promo, the show heads into another commercial break. When we return, Claudio Castagnoli is settling in the ring after finishing up his entrance. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with our third straight Continental Classic tournament tilt.

We see some basic back-and-forth action and then things quickly pick up. Komander fights back from underneath and hits some insanely wild high spots. He pulls out a Darby Allin-looking pink coat and grabs brass knuckles folded in it. The action continues and Komander hits an insane flipping finisher off the ropes for the win.

Winner: Komander

– Komander gets beatdown from the arriving Death Riders. This is interrupted by Jay White running to the ring, soon joined by Orange Cassidy, but the Death Riders overwhelm the pair, clearing the ring before Mox gets a microphone.

Mox says this is as close as these two will get to seeing the world title, but is interrupted by the arrival of Hangman Adam Page, who is joined by his fellow challengers in the ring to stare the champion down.

They clear him out of the ring, leaving the briefcase with the title behind, and the challengers staring each other down ahead of Worlds End where they all do battle with Mox with the title on-the-line.

Continental Classic: Kazuchika Okada vs. Shelton Benjamin

The Continental Classic Christmas action continues, as we hear the coin drop. The Hammerstein Ballroom crowd goes wild as the defending AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada makes his way down to the ring for our next match of the evening.

Shelton Benjamin's theme hits and out comes "The Standard of Excellence" with The Hurt Syndicate banned from the building. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. We see some even-Stevens back-and-forth action for the first few minutes.

Okada starts to pull ahead. The fight spills out to the floor, where "The Rainmaker" hits a DDT to Benjamin on the unforgiving floor. Back in the ring, Okada continues to work him over until Benjamin does the single leap to the top to bring Okada down the hard way for a close two-count.

On that note, the show heads into a mid-match commercial break. When we return, Benjamin is controlling the action before getting Okada in an Ankle Lock. He cranks away at it, but Okada eventually escapes. After some more back-and-forth action, Okada hits the Rainmaker for the win. They shake hands afterwards.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada

– Backstage With Swerve Strickland, Ricochet & Chris Jericho

– Backstage, we hear from Swerve Strickland as he talks about 2024 and his plans to rebound in 2025, only to be interrupted by Ricochet, who gloats about his semifinal spot at Worlds End, promising to do what Swerve couldn’t by winning the Continental Classic. Strickland shuts him down here, saying he’s rooting for him but Ricochet had better not blow it. Swerve walks off, with Ricochet making a remark that “this is why you don’t have a house no more."

– We head to a quick commercial break. When we return, we see Chris Jericho's latest New York Minute vignette. This time, the ROH World Champion finally accepts the challenge from Anthony Bowens. The match is set for this week's episode of AEW Rampage on Friday night.

Toni Storm vs. Taya Valkyrie

We head back inside the Hammerstein Ballroom where Not-So-Timeless Toni Storm makes her way out to the ring looking like an enthusiastic fan experiencing everything for the first time. She settles in the ring and her music dies down.

Now the theme for her opponent hits and out comes Taya Valkyrie. The bell sounds and we're officially off-and-running with this one. Taya gets the advantage early on here, wearing down Storm as the crowd plays into Toni’s confusion with “she’s a rookie” chants.

Toni starts fighting back after being sent to the corner, but Taya catches her by surprise, dropping her to the canvas before leaving the ring and driving her leg into the ring post as we head into a mid-match commercial break. When we return, Storm fights her way to victory and looks shocked that she won.

Winner: Toni Storm

Continental Classic: Daniel Garcia vs. Kyle Fletcher

We see a video package looking at the road to AEW Worlds End where former Bro-chacho's MJF and Adam Cole will do battle for the Dynamite Diamond Ring. After the package wraps up, we head to another commercial break.

When we return, Renee Paquette is backstage with Hangman Page. Christopher Daniels walks up and the two have words about being around since before AEW was a thing. After this wraps up, we return inside the Hammerstein Ballroom for our final match of the evening.

In another Continental Classic bout, it will be Kyle Fletcher and Daniel Garcia going one-on-one. The two make their respective ring walks and then the bell sounds to get this one officially off-and-running. Fletcher ends up establishing the initial offensive lead, as fans boo him like crazy. "F*ck you Fletcher!" chants somehow makes it through onto the taped show.

Fletcher knocks Garcia down and he lands hard on the floor at ringside. Garcia holds his neck as Fletcher comes out to go after him. Garcia fights back and starts to take over control of the action until Fletcher power bombs him onto the corner of the ring apron. We head to a mid-match commercial break on that note.

When we return, we see some more back-and-forth action on the floor until Garcia hits a draping DDT on Fletcher in the ring. Fletcher starts to take over and hits some wild spots, one of which pops the crowd huge. He goes for an arrogant cover, but only gets a count of two. The two end up slipping and botching a spot out of the corner.

They're both down and slowly recovering. Garcia gets Fletcher in a Sharpshooter. He cranks back like crazy, but ends up leaning too far back. Overcommitting ends up costing him, as Fletcher manages to escape. Fletcher blasts Garcia with a big knee to the jaw. Fletcher runs across the ring with a boot to the jaw of Garcia in the corner.

On the top-rope, Fletcher hoists Garcia up and connects with a brainbuster onto the turnbuckle. Garcia looked like he damn near died upon landing. Fletcher drags Garcia's lifeless body back into the middle of the ring and covers him for the pin fall victory. With the win, Fletcher advances.

Winner: Kyle Fletcher

– After the match, the commentators run down the updated lineup for AEW Worlds End 2024, including the Continental Classic bouts. The theme for Will Ospreay hits and he comes out and confronts Fletcher. Ospreay and Fletcher face off.

– We then cut to Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir in a special video message. Mox says he separates the weak at Worlds End, and then The Death Riders can continue their mission. That's how the special AEW Dynamite on 34th Street show goes off the air.