AEW Dynamite Results 11/22: Continental Classic Begins, AEW Full Gear Fallout
This is Wrestling INC.'s live coverage of "AEW Dynamite" for November 22, 2023!
This show will feature all of the fallout from AEW's Full Gear, as storylines are set to continue, while other people will be looking for something new following their victories at the weekend.
The main focal point of tonight's episode will be the fact that the Continental Classic is getting underway. Tony Khan confirmed all 12 participants earlier today, and the first three matches will be happening on this show. Jay White will look to rebound after losing the AEW Full Gear main event as he faces RUSH, meanwhile Jay Lethal will also be trying to respond to defeat as he competes against Swerve Strickland.
Finally, Mark Briscoe will be in action as part of the tournament against Jon Moxley – who is set to be in an angry mood after failing to regain his AEW International Championship at the weekend. All three of those matches are part of the Gold League.
Aside from that, the fallout from MJF's two successful title defenses will likely be felt as he looks ahead to what is next for him as a performer when he talks to the fans. Another success story from the weekend was Toni Storm, and she is set to give an acceptance speech this evening after becoming the AEW Women's Champion.
Meanwhile, Christian Cage will be rechristening Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne after they were defeated at AEW Full Gear by Sting, Adam Copeland, and Darby Allin, with the TNT Champion hoping for a fresh start.
In the women's division, there will be a triple-threat match between Skye Blue, Ruby Soho, and Anna Jay. Elsewhere, there will be six-man tag team action as Orange Cassidy, HOOK, and Katsuyori Shibata face Daddy Magic, Cool Hand Ang, and Jake Hager.
Jay Lethal vs. Swerve Strickland (Continental Classic Match)
Jay Lethal starts out by dropping Swerve Strickland with a shoulder tackle, following up by diving outside the ring to swipe the Mogul Embassy star out again. However, back inside the ring, Strickland turns things around by picking away at Lethal's knee with a running strike to that area before locking in a submission and driving the knee down to the mat once again.
Lethal tries to fight back by attacking Strickland's taped shoulder, but Strickland keeps focusing on the knee as he chops the area. Strickland then hits a German suplex, but Lethal responds with a shoulder breaker, as Strickland's injury continues to be a focal point. The fight continues outside the ring as Strickland sits Lethal onto a chair and runs to deliver a knee strike.
However, Lethal smartly sends his opponent shoulder-first into the ring post and he then drives him onto the mat, but Strickland fights back with a superplex as he then focuses on the leg of Lethal once again. Strickland connects with a brainbuster, but Lethal kicks out. He looks for a Figure Four but Lethal gets out of it with a pinfall attempt. He then manages to connect with an Elbow Drop, and this time it's Strickland having to kick out.
Lethal connects with a huge pump kick, but his attempt at Lethal Injection is countered as Strickland dropkicks the leg. He hits House Call and then the Swerve Stomp to secure three points.
Winner: Swerve Strickland
Renee Paquette is then shown with Orange Cassidy and his partners for tonight. Cassidy wants to make an announcement but Wheeler Yuta appears and mocks how much it took for Cassidy to win. He saays it makes him sick that Shibata has his title as he wants to take it back.
MJF & Adam Cole Address The Fans
MJF and Adam Cole hobble to the ring with crutches and a cane, with MJF saying he beat Jay White with one leg. However, he puts over White as one of the best wrestlers in the world, but nobody is on the level of the devil. MJF then proclaims himself as the greatest AEW World Champion of all time. He says none of it is possible without Adam Cole, and he says it's great that they're still ROH World Tag Team Champions.
Cole says there is bad news as his ankle is in bad shape and he's not even close to being able to walk. However, he says he will work his ass off to get back and he will do it at 100%. Cole says it feels like the entire world is gunning for MJF, but he says Cole doesn't have to worry about him. MJF sends a warning to the devil, but the camera cuts out and the devil is then shown laughing in reaction to that.
Back to the arena and Samoa Joe makes his way to the ring. Joe is here to ensure honorable men honor their deeds regarding the AEW World Championship match MJF promised him. MJF says he thought about their deal, but his response to the rematch request is..."blow me."
Joe grabs him but Col begs Joe to step off. He tells MJF that's what the old version of him would say, but the new version is a man of his word. Cole puts over Joe, but he says fans don't just love him because he's a great wrestler, it's because when he says something will happen it does. Cole tells him to be a man of his word. MJF then decides to suggest a title match right now, but Joe says no. Instead, he suggests they compete at AEW's Worlds End and the champion agrees to it.
Joe warns him that the worrying about the devil goes away today, as MJF is now considered his property, and people don't touch it without his say so. He will be a few steps behind MJF at all times, he will deliver the best version of MJF and he will then take the title from him in front of those he knows and loves.
Orange Cassidy, HOOK, & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Jake Hager, Daddy Magic, & Cool Hand Ang
Orange Cassidy says he has a Thanksgiving surprise...Danhausen returns!
While fans get excited about Danhausen, Daddy Magic jumps HOOK, but it doesn't take the FTW Champion to turn things around as he launches Magic and Cool Hand Ang across the ring. They work together to take out HOOK's partners, and Jake Hager then blasts HOOK from behind as Ange connects with a running knee to HOOK as Hager tags in and hits the Hager Bomb.
The heels isolate HOOK, with Ang connecting with a snap suplex. However, HOOK manages to grab and t-bone suplex Ang as Cassidy tags in and starts unloading on his opponents, dropping Magic with a DDT. But as he loads up the Orange Punch Hager blocks it only to be hit with a stundog millionaire. Shibata then tags in and he and Hage go back and forth with punches and boots with Shibata coming out on top with a pump kick.
Hager then misses with a splash as he gets beaten down with Shibata hitting a running dropkick. The former JAS stars then work together and attack Shibata until Danhausen gets on the apron and reveals he has Hage's purple hat. He then curses Hager while Cassidy hits him with a dive outside the ring. HOOK then tags in, and he and Shibata go behind Ang and Magic to lock in sleeper holds. Cassidy hits an Orange Punch to Hager while his teammates gain a submission win.
Winners: Orange Cassidy, HOOK, & Katsuyori Shibata
Paquette is shown with Adam Cole, and he says he is proud of MJF for accepting the match with Samoa Joe. Roderick Strong and The Kingdom then appear and he asks where Strong was on Friday when he got dropped on his head. However, Cole says he isn't Strong's best friend anymore and he tells him to back off and leave him alone.
Christian Cage Christens Nick Wayne & Luchasaurus
Christian Cage says a champion is gracious in defeat, and he can stand here and say...he did not lose at AEW Full Gear. Nick Wayne didn't lose the match either, Luchasaurus did. Cage says that is unacceptable and he decided that both of them have benefited from being associated with him, and since they're his children it is time to recreate them both in his image.
Cage tells Luchasaurus to take a knee. He has thought long and hard about his new name, one that served him well throughout his career and he says Luchasaurus is his finisher. From here on out he will be known as Killswitch, which is something that Luchasaurus shakes his head about. Wayne then takes a knee, but Cage tells him to stand up. He says to not get on his knees for another person as he's different and special. He's the son he always wanted, he's his golden boy as he sees things in Wayne he hasn't seen in another person.
Cage says Wayne is him. His new name will be "The Prodigy," Nick Wayne. However, Wayne's mother then gets into the ring and Cage says she is a terrible mother who couldn't provide for her son. He says it was embarrassing for her to be a waitress, while he's a legend. He says it's a good thing that her husband is dead already, because Nick would've disowned him anyway as he wasn't as good of a wrestler as him, nor was he as good as a father.
Cage says if she'd played her cards right it would have been a different conversation, but he tells her to get out of the ring. However, Luchasaurus then stands in front of Wayne's mother. Cage once again tells him to get back on his knees, but he refuses so Cage slaps him. Cage tells him to back down, and he pushes Luchasarus who then collides with Wayne's mother and knocks her down.
He tells Wayne to get some chairs and they set the con-chair-to up. However, Cage doesn't want to hit it, and he demands that Luchasaurus does. However, Adam Copeland hits the ring and cleans house. Cage gets saved by Luchasaurus, but Copeland nails Wayne with a Spear. Copeland then sets Wayne up for the con-chair-to, and he delivers it right in front of his mother.
Ang, Magic, and Hager are backstage with Anna Jay. She's sick of the fighting as she questions if they're there to help her or not. Ang then gets a call from Ruby Soho and she questions if he will be in her corner or not.
RUSH vs. Jay White (Continental Classic Match)
RUSH starts out aggressively, nailing a dropkick as he stomps away on Jay White inside the ring. RUSH follows it with several splashes in the corner as he then looks to dive out of the ring but White moves away. RUSH slows himself down and then drops his opponent with a chop anyway before sending him into the barricade repeatedly outside the ring.
White fights back inside the ring with a series of chops, but that only lasts so long as RUSH then nails more chops himself. He teases the bull's horns but stops in his tracks and then just kicks White in the face instead. White gives his opponent a taste of his own medicine by throwing him into the barricade, and he then uses the cables at ringside to try and choke RUSH as well, just as he normally does.
He launches RUSH into the bottom turnbuckle, but RUSH then picks up the pace again when running the ropes as he drops White down to the mat. He follows it with a trio of suplexes, but White then nails a brainbuster which forces RUSH to kick out of a pinfall at the last second. The two men go back and forth with strikes until a thumb to the eye for White gives him the advantage.
He looks for Bladerunner but RUSH reverses with a chop and they then begin trading huge chops. White attempts to charge into RUSH, but he reverses by throwing White into the turnbuckles as he follows it with an elbow strike. RUSH looks for Bulls Horns, but White tries to reverse with a Bladerunner. That doesn't work and RUSH pushes White who almost hits the official in the corner.
However, with the official blind to it, White connects with a low blow. That opens up the chance for him to deliver Blade Runner to secure three points.
Winner: Jay White
Toni Storm's Acceptance Speech
A video is shown from after the post-AEW Full Gear media scrum where Big Bill and Ricky Starks attacked Chris Jericho.
Toni Storm then appears to give her acceptance speech, running through the crowd to accept it like a real award as Mariah May presents her with the gold. Storm claims she had nothing prepared for this speech. She thanks Anthony Khan and those at Warner Discovery. Her music then gets played but she cuts that off. She talks about the little Toni Storm's who want to be her, but says it's her spot and they will not take it or make it, with May in the background looking upset by that comment. However, she buys into it by clapping Storm like everyone else.
Anna Jay vs. Skye Blue vs. Ruby Soho
Ruby Soho immediately ends up looking at Cool Hand Ang but she turns around and eats a double superkick. Skye Blue then eats a kick to the face herself as Soho runs back in to hit Anna Jay with an attack, and she then suplexes Blue across the ring. Ang then ends up helping Jay by holding the leg of Blue which allows Jay to hit a spinning kick to her as she then pulls Blue around the ring post.
Jay drops Soho as she tries to get into the ring with a stiff forearm as he slams Blue face-first into the mat. Soho then pulls Jay out of the ring and slams her into the barricade before tripping Blue inside the ring. Soho and Blue then brawl on the top turnbuckle as a superplex/powerbomb combination is hit as Jay gets involved. Blue then launches Soho into Jay and as she clotheslines Jay, Soho is DDT'd at the same time.
Outside the ring, Soho attacks both her opponents as Ang then starts flirting with her until Magic and Saraya pull their people away. Jay nails Soho with a superkick and they brawl inside the ring as Blue hits a diving crossbody. She tries to hit Code Blue but Jay blocks it and plants her face-first until Soho breaks it up. Blue hits several knee strikes and then a pump kick, but that sends Soho into the arms of ANg.
Jay then questions what is happening while Saraya pulls her away from the situation. While everyone argues Blue hits a cutter to Jay and gets the win.
Winner: Skye Blue
Wardlow is then shown backstage as he says MJF's downfall will happen on his time. AR Fox comes to give him advice but gets dropped by a headbutt.
Mark Briscoe vs. Jon Moxley (Continental Classic Match)
Mark Briscoe slaps Jon Moxley straight away and the two men break things down immediately with back-and-forth punches, chops, and forearm strikes. Briscoe keeps up the pace by sending Moxley outside of the ring as he dives out with a dropkick and then hits a neckbreaker from the ring apron.
Briscoe looks for Froggy Bow, but Moxley avoids it, and the slugfest of back-and-forth forearm strikes continue. However, Moxley then nails a big boot to the face which sends Briscoe off the apron to the floor. Moxley takes the fight to the flood and sends Briscoe into the steel stairs repeatedly, which busts him open. The Blackpool Combat Club star then rakes the back of Briscoe before following it up with a piledriver.
Briscoe fires back with an elbow strike and he then launches Moxley across the ring. He bites a chomp out of Moxley, but as he tries to dive from the top turnbuckle he gets caught with a Paradigm Shift. However, that only fires Briscoe up and he immediately connects with a dropkick. Briscoe hits a Death Valley Driver and then the Froggy Bow, but Moxley kicks out.
He then tries for the J-Driller but Moxley responds with a King Kong Lariat and then a Death Rider, but Briscoe kicks out to shock his opponent. The two men go back and forth once again until Moxley hits a Stomp and then another Death Rider, and this time he can't respond.
Winner: Jon Moxley