AEW Dynamite – “Thanksgiving Eve”
November 27, 2024
By: John Siino
Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois
Commentary: Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness & Tony Schiavone
RESULTS
- Continental Classic Blue League: Shelton Benjamin [3] over Mark Briscoe [0] via pinfall at 11:44 (Recommended)
- ROH World Title: Chris Jericho (c) over Tomohiro Ishii via pinfall at 13:15
- Continental Classic Gold League: Claudio Castagnoli [3] over Ricochet [0] via pinfall at 13:01
- Wrestle Dynasty International Women’s Cup Qualifier: Jamie Hayter over Queen Aminata via pinfall at 9:18
- Continental Classic Gold League: Brody King [3] over Darby Allin [0] via pinfall at 9:35
Hurt’s House
The Hurt Syndicate came out to start the show as MVP says this is their official announcement. Being that they are in Chicago, MVP says he is standing between two of the greatest wrestlers Shelton Benjamin & Bobby Lashley, and compares them to Walter Payton & Michael Jordan. MVP talks about how giving out their card is the golden ticket to change their life for the better or if you’re like Swerve Strickland and you’re not terribly smart. The crowd starts chanting for Swerve, as MVP reminds us that Lashley beat the snot out of him, and shows the replay on the screen to remind everyone whose house it is. MVP says that Swerve is not the most dangerous man in AEW, as Lashley is, and calls him a ‘walking armageddon’. Their mission statement is to come here to take championship titles and leverage them for more money and power, and they are the merchants of mystery and in the profession of pain. MVP presents Benjamin as being in the Continental Classic that starts tonight, and reminds everyone that they hurt people.
Continental Classic Blue League Match: Shelton Benjamin [0] vs. Mark Briscoe [0]
Mark Briscoe has a bit of a staredown with Bobby Lashley, as he and MVP head to the back as commentary reminds us the rules of this round-robin tournament are a 20-minute time limit, 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and everyone is banned from ringside. Excalibur says that the Gold League winner will face the Blue League runner-up and vice versa, and those matches will take place at Worlds End on December 28th, with the winners of those two matches facing off in the finals on the same night. Kazuchika Okada will stay Continental Champion as long as he comes out of his league as the winner.
They take the match to the outside right away, where Shelton Benjamin sends Briscoe into the barricades and steel steps. Briscoe comes right back with a tope con giro. Back inside, Benjamin tosses Briscoe from the top rope down as we go to picture-in-picture.
We return with Benjamin trapping Briscoe in the corner with punches as Briscoe yells at him to keep hitting him. Briscoe fights him off with some redneck kung fu. Benjamin rolls to the outside, where Briscoe meets him with an elbow drop off the apron. Back inside, Briscoe tries a Froggy Bow, but Benjamin gets his knees up and hits a pair of big, release German Suplexes. Benjamin stops Briscoe in the corner with a running knee and a thrust kick, but Briscoe kicks out right before the three. Benjamin finishes him off with the exploder into the power slam to get the pin and first on board in the Blue League.
Winner: Shelton Benjamin by pinfall at 11:44, to earn 3 points in the Continental Classic.
Kamille Quits
After the break, Tony Schiavone is on the stage to bring out Mercedes Mone’ who comes out with Kamille, whose arm is still in a sling. Mone’ tells Chicago to better say hello to their CEO, as Schiavone says she turned the wrestling world on their head with her match at Full Gear against Kris Statlander, the longest women’s match in AEW history and what some are calling the greatest women’s match of the year. Mercedes says Statlander proved that she is one of the best in the ring, but she is the greatest TBS Champion of all time and she showed the entire world at Full Gear how a real woman gets the job done right. As it seems like she is about to fire Kamille, Kamille tells her to shut up and asks if Mercedes is stupid or dumb and says that she can’t fire her because she quits. Mercedes starts screaming in anger.
They show highlights of the Big Boom AJ/QT Marshall match from Full Gear Zero Hour, before transitioning right into The Learning Tree music, which makes me fear that The Rizzler might be recruited to The Learning Tree.
ROH World Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Big Bill & Bryan Keith join the commentary and give them a Learning Sapling that one day might turn into a Learning Tree. Chris Jericho & Tomohiro Ishii send the first 90 seconds chopping away before going into suplexes. Bill says that all three members of The Learning Tree are on equal levels. Jericho & Ishii start fighting on the apron, where Jericho spikes Ishii onto it with a DDT. Aubrey Edwards goes to check on Ishii on the outside, and waves off medical. Jericho starts tearing off the commentary table as Tony Schiavone is worried for The Learning Sappling. They go back into chops and slaps, as Jericho gets busted open from one, as we go to picture-in-picture.
We return to see Jericho hit a superplex, but Ishii pops right back up. A bit of back and forth, until the bloody Jericho hits a Lionsault for a two. Jericho follows with a Judas Effect and a Code Breaker, but Ishii kicks out at one before collapsing back down. Ishii twists out of a Walls of Jericho attempt and hits a running headbutt, for a two. Ishii comes back with a Code Breaker himself, as Ishii is now shown bleeding from the nose. Jericho comes back with two more Judas Effects to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Chris Jericho by pinfall at 13:15, to retain
House of Fire
Renee Paquette is in the back with Swerve Strickland & Prince Nana and asks Swerve how he’s going to rebuild after losing to Bobby Lashley. Swerve says rebuilding is something they do very well, and they’ll figure it out. He said he’s never been hit that hard by anyone in his life, as Max Caster walks past laughing at him. Swerve asks Caster what’s funny, and Caster reminds Swerve that the Prudential Center is the same building where he beat him for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Caster says that Swerve used to be like a ‘house of fire’, then says ‘house fire’, which makes Swerve rage and attack Caster up against the equipment. He keeps kicking him until Nana pulls him off.
The Hangman, The Switchblade & The Death Riders
Tony Schiavone is in the ring to bring out ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, as Excalibur says that Orange Cassidy is at home recovering from the injuries he suffered at Full Gear from the Death Riders. Schiavone brings up Page losing his match at Jay White, attacking Christopher Daniels then helping out Christian Cage secure his world title match by attacking Wheeler Yuta. Page snatches the mic from Schiavone and says if Daniels wants to get in his way again, he will get knocked down again and not get back up. He said he kept up his end of the deal at Full Gear, and if Christian had kept his side of the deal, Page would have gone home tomorrow with the World Title around his waist. Page says his intention is and always will be to become the AEW World Champion and said it should never have been Swerve’s, Bryan Danielson’s, Jon Moxley’s, or Chrisitan’s, because it always has been his.
Jay White comes out and asks him what happened at their matches at Full Gear & WrestleDream, reminding him that White beat him in both of those matches. If anybody is going after the AEW World Championship, it will be him but if Page needs another reminder, he will happily give him that tonight in Chicago. PAC shows up and takes out White, as Yuta shows up from behind Page and joins PAC in attacking him. White takes out both PAC & Yuta but gets taken out by a lariat from Page. Marina Shafir shows up and smashes the briefcase right on Page’s head, before trying the same on White. White ducks it and goes for the Blade Runner, but Jon Moxley shows up and puts him in a rear-naked choke. Shafir starts attacking White and puts him in the Mother’s Milk as White passes out. The Death Riders (sans Claudio Castagnoli) start stomping away at White before PAC smashes the briefcase in White’s face.
Claudio Castagnoli makes his way out for the next match, as we see a Death Riders promo for Worlds End on December 28th.
Continental Classic Gold League Match: Claudio Castagnoli [0] vs. Ricochet [0]
We see the Continental Championship on display as this match starts with a ‘bald versus bald’ chant from this Chicago crowd. Claudio Castagnoli stops Ricochet, but he’s able to reverse it with a hurricanrana, sending Claudio to the outside. Claudio walks away preventing Ricochet from diving into him. Ricochet tries to moonsault onto him but gets caught and sent onto the barricade. We get a ‘Bald Forever’ chant now, as Claudio sends Ricochet into the barricade and hits a running uppercut. ‘This is Bald’ chant as Ricochet dives onto Claudio on the outside. Ricochet gets distracted by the ‘bald! bald! bald!’ chants and gets tripped up trying to springboard off the ropes. Claudio takes control as we go to picture-in-picture.
When we come back, the crowd is very rowdy but unfortunately for something that’s happening in the crowd, it seems. Claudio takes out Ricochet with a big boot but only gets a two. Ricochet dodges an uppercut and flips off of Claudio’s shoulders before sending Claudio to the outside and diving into him. Ricochet springboards back in and stays on top of Claudio with a moonsault for another two. Ricochet keeps at it until he runs into an uppercut from Claudio, for two. Claudio puts on the Sharpshooter, before transitioning into a Crossface. Ricochet reverses a Riccola Bomb into a two, but Claudio comes back by tossing Ricochet to the outside and sending him into and onto the barricade. As Ricochet struggles to get back in, he runs into a lariat from Claudio who gets the pin and the win.
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli by pinfall at 13:01, to earn 3 points in the Continental Classic.
Fletcher Is Better Than Ospreay
Renee is in the back with Kyle Fletcher & Don Callis and asks if they are on a mission to destroy Will Ospreay. Callis says that’s what people due as this is the professional wrestling business. They didn’t just beat Ospreay, but they decimated and skinned him, leaving him in a heap. Callis says Fletcher is better than Ospreay, and they are just getting started before making the ‘hot tag’ to Fletcher. Fletcher says he’s better than Ospreay in every single way, and the Continental Classic is just another way to prove that and it starts Saturday for him.
Dynamite Dozen Set-Up
Adam Cole comes to the ring with Mike Bennett & Matt Taven, as commentary states Roderick Strong is nursing the arm injury he suffered from MJF at Full Gear. Cole says he is sick and tired of playing this game, and if MJF was half the man he claims he’d be, he’d fight him, but he’s not because he’s a little bitch. Cole says after what MJF did to Strong, he is going to beat him to an inch of his pathetic life, and he swears it on his mother. Kyle O’Reilly comes out and says with all due respect, Cole fought MJF and it didn’t work out and says to try something different and challenges MJF himself. Cole cuts him off and says he doesn’t want his friends to fight his battles, but O’Reilly says he isn’t doing it for Cole, but for Roddy. We cut to MJF playing piano on the screen from his home and says he thought about it for 20 seconds and says no about either one of them fighting him. MJF says next week is the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal, and that’s all he’s thinking of before playing his theme song on the piano. Cole officially enters himself in the battle royal, before O’Reilly enters as the second.
They announce that ‘Hangman’ Adam Page will take on Wheeler Yuta on Saturday’s 4 pm Collision.
Wrestle Dynasty International Women’s Cup Qualifier Match: Jamie Hayter vs. Queen Aminata
The winner of this match will face the winner of Serena Deeb vs. Willow Nightingale (AEW Collision 12/7) at AEW Collision – Winter is Coming on December 14th. The winner of this AEW bracket will join the International Women’s Cup Four Way at Wrestle Dynasty on January 5th at the Tokyo Dome with the winners of the brackets for Ring of Honor (Athena, Red Velvet, Billie Starkz, or Leyla Hirsch), CMLL (Persephone, Zeuxis, Reyna Isis, or Sanely) and Stardom (who have yet to announce their entrants).
Jamie Hayter starts the match by sending Queen Aminata into the corner with chops, but they reverse each other back and forth with them. Hayter stops this action by sending Aminata into the corner with a suplex as we head to picture-in-picture.
When we return, Aminata has Hayter set up against the ropes where she takes her out with a big running boot and goes for the cover, as it looks like Hayter might have had trouble kicking out, but the match continues. Aminata catches Hayter and sends her face-first flat onto the mat. Hayter tries the Hayterade but gets reversed into a roll-up for two. They go back into pin attempts before Hayter puts on a choke. Hayter hits another big boot and picks up Aminata for the Hayterade to get the win and will go on to face the winner of Deeb vs. Willow.
Winner: Jamie Hayter by pinfall at 9:18
The lights go out, as Hayter yells for where Julia Hart is, but we just see a spotlight on the stage, and nobody comes out.
Mariah Wants Mina
We went earlier today where Renee had a sit down with Mina Shirakawa and said it feels like Mina was expecting the turn from Mariah May. Mina says if Mariah did it to Toni Storm, she knew she would do it to her as well. This is the real Mariah May, and calls her selfish and if that’s the real Mariah May, she will introduce her to the real Mina. Renee says everybody wants more Mina, as Mariah shows up from behind and smashes a bottle onto Mina and says ‘I want Mina’. They announce that Mina will challenge Mariah for the AEW Women’s World Championship at Winter is Coming on December 11th.
Continental Classic Gold League Match: Brody King [0] vs. Darby Allin [0]
Darby Allin is all bandaged up and limping from the ending of Full Gear, so Brody King sends him down right away. Brody stays on top of Darby, placing him on top of the middle of the ropes, and chops him to the outside as we go to picture-in-picture.
When we return Darby is struggling to enter the ring, as we don’t hear any commentary talking. Brody places Darby into the Tree of Woe and hits him with a cannonball to get a two. We briefly hear Excalibur say ‘and fans..’ but it sounds like it’s coming into the arena’s speaker, before finally restoring the audio that they blame being caused by the cannonball from Brody to the outside by them. Darby meets Brody on the outside with a tope, before hitting a Coffin Drop. They announce that PAC will take on Jay White on next week’s Dynamite, as Darby hits another Coffin Drop. Back inside, Darby tries another Coffin Drop but Brody catches him and puts on the choke before hitting the Gonzo Bomb to get the pin and the win.
Winner: Brody King by pinfall at 9:35, to earn 3 points in the Continental Classic.
Claudio Castagnoli makes his way into the ring with a chair, but Brody re-enters to stop him, as they announce that Brody will take on Claudio on next week’s Dynamite in a Gold League match.
