La Zona Muerta

Well… you would probably have to say that the Continental Classic lived up to it’s name. I guess maybe not so much the “continental” part. I was never ONCE offered FINE CHAM PANGNYAH. But genuinely, from an in ring perspective, this was probably the single best tournament AEW has yet fielded of any kind.

That’s not to say it was bad from a booking standpoint, of course. IF you approached this tournament as the story of Konosuke Takeshita, Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher, I think you were rewarded (judging from the amount of people I saw earlier saying they wanted Jon Moxley to win the whole thing, I’m not certain everyone UNDERSTOOD that the main narrative drive belonged to those three men, but I digress). You had the progression of Kevin Knight (and now we have to hope they have some heavy follow up prepared). You had Roderick Strong declaring he needed no friends but going under until the final match of his tournament where he was buoyed by a pep talk from his hetero lifemate, Kyle O’Reilly, propelling him to beat Claudio Castagnoli (even if he didn’t get to enjoy his moment at ALL, a rare misstep in the booking, in my not so humble opinion). Moxley overcame some losses to be the other man to advance to the semi finals (and it would make ZERO narrative sense for him to advance any further. THINK. If you want this supposed Death Riders breakup that you ALL seem so cocksure is coming, you should want him to lose). Mascara Dorada and Orange Cassidy were… um… there. Jungle Boy learned how to bite.

So, yeah… a good tournament pretty much all around for all concerned and one that was occasionally great. Actually, the GREAT stuff happened quite often. The standouts in ring had to be Fletcher, who probably gave Jack Perry his best match ever on the Christmas show, Takeshita, who had some outstanding matches but actually also had a couple of sloppy-ish matches if I’m being perfectly honest (still good, but… I’ll give the guy a break; he has probably the most important match of his life in a week), and Kevin Knight, who I really hope gets some benefit out of this whole thing. Jetspeed is a fun enough tag team, but they could actually DO something with Knight if they wanted to. Off of the top of my head? Must see matches in the CC include Okada / Fletcher, Fletcher / Perry, Takeshita / Claudio, Fletcher / Bailey, Darby / Knight, PAC / Fletcher, Okada / Knight… this WHOLE thing was worth your time, really. A supercut of this thing, including some of the totally RAD backstage promos that all the participants cut but few of which actually made it to TV, would be ACES.

The issue, of course, is now that the Classic is over… AEW is no longer obligated to concentrate on in ring grappling with no interference… and that’s not a great sign, at least not for MY particular interest. Of course we carp about them being able to apply the CC rules only at certain times of the year or during certain matches… and a lot of that is what makes the CC matches special, but AEW as a general rule… obviously… relies on interference as a crutch an AWFUL lot. The Classic had good, intricate booking paired with fantastic in ring that led to a finale… but there isn’t a whole lot else going on in AEW right now that has me hootin’ and hollerin’. I’m a little… leery of where the product could go in the new year… without the Classic to fall back on, I’m back to fretting a bit. Honestly, if it weren’t for Worlds End having the actual CC finals… I’m not sure I would have bought in to the show.

I suppose that leads us to who will / should win. I’m STILL annoyed that I saw a handful of people say MOX. Now, I’ve come around on Mox to an EXTENT… but again, this isn’t his story. Takeshita and his bountiful bosom should be facing his work husband, Kyle Fletcher in the final. I would assume, politically, as the holder of the IWGP Heavyweight title, that Takeshita should go over, but also, if he has been turned on by Don Callis between defeating Okada and fighting Kyle… as a wronged babyface, he should just win, period. I know the fickle Japanese fans (at least seemingly New Japan fans; DDT fans still seem to like him just fine) won’t care, but in AEW, the BIG TURN OF ’25 (and only days left to execute it) is going to position Takeshita to be the biggest babyface in the company. The man who won the G1 Climax and the Continental Classic in the same year… the literal best wrestler in the world, capable of having a match with anyone, any kind, any STYLE of wrestler… this is your guy.

Of course, on the other hand, Okada has to go retire Hiroshi Tanahashi in a week. Is it possible he wins to cement his overall “greatest tournament wrestler in the world” status? I suppose it’s not impossible… but then it’s like Okada needs to be the biggest heel on the show, then, the final boss, even above the AEW World Champion. I don’t know if they are willing to do that or not.

There are some hard questions to ask about the AEW title picture. Let’s assume Maxwell Jacob Friedman walks out of Worlds End as champion (and I think that’s an outcome you could safely put MONEY on if you had to). Obviously you are always going to have the likes of Swerve Strickland and Hangman Adam Page that you could heat up at any time to go for the belt. Kenny Omega, if dates and health permit. Will Ospreay when he returns (but one would assume they are saving THAT particular coronation for the summer). Moxley, depending on what comes next for him. A babyface Takeshita win means he should be coming after MJF. A heel Okada win means that apparently the world title is beneath Okada’s notice, since he hasn’t cared about it heretofore. I don’t know if I have a lot of faith in AEW’s ability to follow up, to integrate the CC winner, whomever it ends up being, into the title picture. I guess my point is that, right now, it feels like there are two AEWs; one really fixated on giving you the best in ring product possible, and one committed to “sports entertainment,” whatever THAT means. The tracks run parallel… but can they meet?

May as well talk about the MJF thing. I haven’t heard his full take on it yet as I try to go into these reviews without listening to anyone else’s HOT TAKES first, but a prominent podcaster I like seemed to be leading off with “ha ha, you got worked” in regards to MJF’s promo last week. I don’t know what being “worked” means in this case. Information came out after the fact from a source I trust that last week, MJF showed up to the arena late, didn’t have “time” to go over his promo speaking points with anyone and that’s why everyone stood with their thumbs up their asses while MJF buried everyone from hell to breakfast on the mic. Am I being “worked?” What, am I supposed to believe that the four way this Saturday will be a “shoot?”

Trust me, my eyes are ROLLING.

If you don’t recognize what happened on Wednesday’s show (Hangman Page and Swerve essentially got to have a Festivus style airing of grievances, with some fanservice for the thirsty, besides, beating the shit out of MJF and promoing on him with NO REBUTTAL) as a makegood… a way to keep two performers that aren’t winning Saturday happy… I don’t know what to tell you. You either see it or you don’t. I don’t know Hangman Page or Swerve Strickland personally. I do know people who know people who DO know Page and Swerve. I have an idea that Hangman probably isn’t going to be somebody who raises his hand in the back very often to say “yeah, but what about my character?” in defense of himself. Swerve? That’s a dude who isn’t gonna let himself get cock blocked on TV if he can help it. The humbling of MJF was as close as to one hundred percent what I can tell you was a type of peacekeeping makegood. Period. Did it make up for last week? I think it was cathartic for a certain subset of fans. Did it MAKE UP for that segment? Not to me, no.

So, sure MJF got me or whatever. He also reduced my interest in this pay per view considerably. CONSIDER ME WORKED; THEY STILL GOT MY FORTY BUCKS. I just pray and beg that he does SOMETHING new and different, tweaks his gimmick SOMEHOW.

Anti-shout out, by the way to the Hammerstein Ballroom fans who still can’t accept that MJF is a BAD GUY (and are the reason why he chases babyface pops). At least some of the fans revolted in regards to THAT chant. Ugh.

One more old man rant before I go, where I transform into a five foot seven jujitsu man… They inserted Gabe Kidd into the pay per view to fight Darby Allin… and while they showed a VIDEO PACKAGE to establish that Kidd has helped the Death Riders hurt Darby before… they established JACK SHIT about Kidd. And AEW has done precious kittle to tell us who Kidd is PRIOR to this. I think he has cut maybe two promos between his various appearances? Maybe three? I don’t know WHY he’s dangerous. He alluded to time spent in the PSYCH WARD, and that’s a true fact… but how does that play into the character, the gimmick? Who is Gabe Kidd, other than ANNOYING SHOUT MAN? I mean, I don’t even have an answer for that in New Japan, so I suppose it’s FAR too much to be asking for it HERE. He threw Darby down some stairs. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT, DORK. DARBY IS IMMUNE. GO BACK TO LICKING WINDOWS.

Rest assured, I will be rooting for Takeshita Saturday, pointing at the screen at his burly man chest. I hope his win gives him the momentum he needs to take the top slot in AEW and be the guy, but I have my doubts… but to me, the most ELITE wrestler should be on top of the mountain in All ELITE Wrestling. Seems like a simple ask.