AEW Dynamite on 34th Street Review - December 25, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Will Ospreay def. Brody King in a Continental Classic Gold League Match

I saw Dave Meltzer say that he heard from someone in the building that this was the best match in the entire tournament at the time it was taped. I wouldn't quite go that far, but it was a very good match with Ospreay and King working as well together as you'd expect. Ospreay winning was logical to cement his place in the semifinals. I just hope King can capitalize on his Continental Classic showings this year by going on to have a singles push, but I'm not holding my breath.

Ricochet vs. Darby Allin in a Continental Classic Gold League Match Ended in a Time-Limit Draw

I don't think it's a stretch to say that Ricochet's been doing his strongest work in AEW yet as part of the Continental Classic. He's quickly finding his footing as a heel and once again had the crowd completely against him here. Allin was obviously a fun foil for him and they had a very enjoyable outing. As a result of the draw, Ricochet will advance to the Continental Classic semifinals while Allin is eliminated because he needed a victory here to stay alive.

ROH World Television Champion Komander def. AEW World Trios Champion Claudio Castagnoli in a Continental Classic Gold League Match (Non-Title); Jay White, Orange Cassidy and "Hangman" Adam Page Attacked AEW World Champion Jon Moxley

Unsurprisingly, Komander hasn't scored a single win this entire tournament, but this was a cool opportunity for him to play spoiler and he did just that. Castagnoli beat Allin with brass knuckles on Collision, so Allin left brass knuckles in his jacket at ringside for Komander to use to beat Castagnoli. Of course, that wasn't a babyface thing for Komander to do, but it was only fair. That was a clever way for Allin to get back at Castagnoli, so this was well done. The post-match angle with the AEW World Championship combatants at Worlds End was also effective in building toward that bout.

AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada def. Shelton Benjamin in a Continental Classic Blue League Match (Non-Title)

This was one of the matches I was looking forward to the most when the tournament kicked off, but it didn't live up to my lofty expectations. I don't think it was because both guys are heels, either. It was a quality contest, but it didn't reach that next level like I thought it would. Okada making it to the semifinals was predictable given he's the current Continental champ.

Toni Storm def. Taya Valkyrie

Does anyone honestly care about The Vendetta? I loved the idea of Deonna Purrazzo leading her own faction when it was originally rumored months ago, but AEW has done nothing with them so far and she has yet to recruit anyone other than Valkyrie. These two pretty much wrestled to silence, but this was fine for what it was. Storm continues to play her current character really well.

Kyle Fletcher def. AEW TNT Champion Daniel Garcia in a Continental Classic Blue League Match (Non-Title)

I know this didn't technically close the show (it was a promo from Moxley), but it was an interesting match to have main event considering there were other matches on this show that were bigger and better. I assume that's also because Dynamite aired opposite of football and they weren't worried about winning over viewers by this point in the show. Fletcher and Garcia had a solid match. Fletcher advances to the semifinals of the tournament at Worlds End, but I'd love to see him get an AEW TNT Championship afterward as well.

Overall Show

Personally, I would've preferred AEW air nothing on Christmas (just so I didn't have to spend my holiday week watching it), but I understand the timing was terrible this year with Worlds End being this Saturday. They needed this show to establish the rest of the card for Worlds End, specifically the semifinal matches in the Continental Classic. The tourney dominated this show, which made for an entertaining two-hour episode. The rest of the Worlds End lineup leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm sure it will deliver the same way every AEW pay-per-view does.

SEE MORE: Collision Reviews