Continental Cup Gold League wraps up on Dynamite on TSN2
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The final round-robin matches from the Continental Cup Gold League wrap up on Wednesday night with Jon Moxley facing Jay White, Rush taking on Swerve Strickland and Mark Briscoe meeting Jay Lethal. Plus, Saraya vies with Riho for a spot in the AEW Women's World Championship match at World's End. You can catch AEW Dynamite LIVE at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2, streaming on the TSN App and on TSN.ca.
Continental Classic Gold League match: Jon Moxley (4-0, 12 points) vs. "Switchblade" Jay White (3-1, nine points) - Jon Moxley heads into Wednesday night's Continental Classic finale in the driver's seat, but there is still much that can happen to shake up the Gold League. Undefeated through his first four matches, Moxley is already assured of at least a tie for second place in the group and needs just a draw against Jay White to ensure topping it. But King Switch is in desperation mode on Wednesday night and will give the former three-time AEW World Champion all he can handle. A victory against Moxley would guarantee a share of first place, but anything less and White's fate will be reliant on what happens in the Swerve Strickland-Rush match. Moxley and White have met in singles action just once before and never in AEW. Their sole matchup came in the 2019 New Japan Pro-Wrestling G1 Climax. In B Block action, White picked up the win over Moxley after cutting as many corners as possible. It took brass knuckles, slipped by then-manager Gedo, a low blow, a Bloody Sunday DDT and a Blade Runner for White to put Moxley away. White would go on to advance to the final that year where he ultimately came up short against Kota Ibushi. Moxley will undoubtedly be mindful of their first meeting when he takes to the ring on Wednesday night and will relish not only the opportunity for revenge, but also the chance to potentially end White's Continental Classic. Which one of these two former champions will have their hand raised on Dynamite?
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Continental Classic Gold League match: Swerve Strickland (3-1, nine points) vs. "El Toro Blanco" Rush (2-2, six points) - Swerve Strickland's fate in the Continental Classic is still in his own hands. If the former AEW World Tag Team Champion defeats Rush on Wednesday night, then he's guaranteed at least a tie for a top-two finish. If he can't take care of business, then all bets are off and he's dependent on what happens in the Jon Moxley-Jay White match. Should Moxley win and Swerve win, they will finish 1 and 2 respectively. If White and Swerve win, then it's a three-way tie on 12 points for all of Strickland, Moxley and White. Rush is still alive, as well, but he needs a Moxley win. If Mox wins and Rush defeats Strickland, then Moxley tops Gold League and Rush, Strickland and White are all level in second on nine points. There is no scenario for Rush to advance no matter what he does against Swerve should White even get a single point against Moxley. Like Moxley and White, Rush and Strickland have met just once before and it wasn't in AEW, either. In 2018, the two stepped into the ring against one another in Major League Wrestling. Rush would pick up the win when he delivered a Rush Driver, his version of the Jay Driller. Rush will need to replicate that performance on Wednesday night to stay alive. Having already faced Rush in the past might be just what Strickland needed to formulate a plan to ensure history doesn't repeat itself. Will Strickland put himself in position to advance or can Rush keep the dream alive?
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Continental Classic Gold League match: Mark Briscoe (0-4, zero points) vs. Jay Lethal (0-4, zero points) - Longtime friends Mark Briscoe and Jay Lethal are wrestling for pride on Wednesday night. Neither man has picked up a victory in Continental Classic action as of yet and is looking to finish their tournament on a winning note. Briscoe said earlier this week that he considers 2023 to be his rookie season as a singles performer following the untimely death of his brother and tag-team partner, Jay Briscoe, this past January in a car accident. Briscoe says he's still acclimatizing to the demands of singles wrestling after two decades of almost exclusively performing in a tag team. For Lethal, this tournament has been a tremendous disappointment with the former two-time ROH World Champion failing to win a match against Jon Moxley, Swerve Strickland, Rush and Jay White. A decorated champion, Lethal will look to close out his year on a positive note and regroup for 2024. In their previous matches, Lethal has a decided advantage, holding a 5-1 edge (with an additional no-contest), but Briscoe was the victor in their only match to date in AEW back in January. Which of these two men will end their tournament with a victory and leave the other winless?
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AEW Women's World Championship No. 1 contendership match: Saraya (w/ Ruby Soho) vs. Riho - AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm has an open spot for a title match at Dec. 30's World's End pay-per-view on Long Island and we will find out who is to claim it on Wednesday night in a meeting of former champions when Saraya faces off with Riho. Riho defeated Saraya's Outcasts stablemate Ruby Soho on last week's Dynamite in what was her first singles match in AEW for eight months. Setting up a potential match with Storm is obviously a personal matter for Saraya. Storm and Saraya were also stablemates in the Outcasts before Storm's, uh, embrace of the theatrical. Saraya would love nothing more than to get some sweet revenge and take away her former friend's championship. But beating Riho won't be easy. Riho has only lost five singles matches across her AEW tenure with all but one of those coming in title matches. This will be a first-ever meeting between the two women with both competitors intent on becoming AEW Women's World Champion for a second time. Who will advance to meet Toni Storm at the PPV?
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Roderick Strong (w/ Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) vs. AAA World Cruiserweight Champion Komander (w/ Alex Abrahantes) - "The Messiah of the Backbreaker" will be looking to get back on a winning track on Wednesday night when Roderick Strong meets the high-flying Komander. Strong is coming off of a loss on last week's Dynamite against his former young boy in ROH, "Hangman" Adam Page, who put Strong away with a Deadeye. Strong and the Kingdom (Mike Bennett and Matt Taven) are still in the midst of their campaign to convince the world that the mysterious Devil who's been terrorizing AEW in recent months - and laid out Page last week - is none other than AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman. While the Devil wears a mask that admittedly once belonged to MJF, the champion swears that he isn't the man under it. Others aren't so sure. Before Strong can continue that quest, though, he'll have to contend with Komander. The AAA World Cruiserweight Champion, Komander is coming off of a loss of his own last week on Rampage in an absolutely thrilling trios contest when he teamed up with Penta El Zero Miedo and El Hijo del Vikingo in a losing effort against Action Andretti and Top Flight (Dante Martin and Darius Martin). A win over somebody with the resume of Strong, a man who's won multiple championships including the ROH World Championship, would be perhaps the biggest victory of Komander's career outside of Mexico. The last thing Strong wants to be on Wednesday night is a feather in his cap. Will Strong bounce back or will Komander spring the upset?
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PLUS:
- We will hear from AEW World Champion and ROH World Tag Team Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman and Samoa Joe