It’s again somehow Wednesday already. (Insert witty comment about the Earth moving too fast here). It’s bound to be an action-laden show tonight as it’s not only the first AEW program since Full Gear Saturday but also the first night of the second annual Continental Classic tournament.

Dynamite comes to us live from Wintrust Arena in Chicago.

An amazing “November Rain” compilation started off the show, followed by the first match. MVP came out with Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin, telling Chicago that the the Wintrust Arena was the Hurt Syndicate’s house, not Swerve Strickland’s after Full Gear.

1. Continental Classic Blue League Match: Shelton Benjamin vs. Mark Briscoe

The Standard of Excellence Shelton Benjamin and Mark Briscoe have faced each other in tag matches but this would be their first singles match. MVP and Lashley went up the ramp as Briscoe came down. Benjamin lured him in with a handshake but this isn’t Briscoe’s first rodeo. Shelton threw him around in and out of the ring for a few minutes.

Benjamin had Briscoe in a corner of the ring and repeated shots gave Briscoe nothing but a rush of adrenaline. A big elbow drop off the apron onto the floor landed cleanly. But Benjamin was brought back into the ring for another and got his knees up. An exploder in the middle of the ring scored the pinfall for Shelton Benjamin and the Hurt Syndicate.

Winner: Shelton Benjamin via pinfall.

Tony Schiavone introduced Mercedes Mone (With Kamille) sporting her NJPW Strong title and her TBS Championship on the heels of her amazing match with Kris Statlander at Full Gear. She was about to fire Kamille but got cut off.

“Are you stupid or are you dumb? You can’t fire me because I quit.”

2. Ring of Honor World Championship match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii

It’s kind of a missed opportunity that tonight’s show didn’t start with a montage of Ishii following Jericho around. Seems like a missed opportunity there. Big Bill joined the commentary team, comparing The Learning Tree to Devin Hester in Super Bowl XLI.

Heavy chops started this one, unsurprisingly. The top of the commentary desk was ripped off by Jericho and thrown onto Ishii’s lower back.

Both men started bleeding from the shots they sustained as this match was more physical than most might have thought. A Judas Effect and code-breaker after a failed Walls of Jericho.

Winner: Chris Jericho via pinfall.

Renee Young caught up with Swerve and Prince Nana. Max Caster interrupted the segment and reminded Swerve that he’d beaten him before. Swerve did not take kindly to that and let his frustrations out on Caster. Prince Nana got Swerve out of there shortly after.

Tony Schiavone was in the ring after a commercial break to get to the bottom of why “Hangman” Adam Page did what he did Saturday night. Hangman revealed that he and Christian Cage had a deal about Cage’s cash-in. According to Page, Christian did not hold up his end of the deal. He said the AEW Men’s World Championship has always been mine, disregarding the previous holders. Jay White came out, because of course he’d interrupt the man he beat at Full Gear — the fifth time he’s won. Jay White insisted he’d show him again but Pac and Wheeler Yuta got involved. Marina Shafir clocked Adam Page over the head with the briefcase. Jay White was about to hit Marina Shafir with a Switchblade but none other than the leader of the Death Riders showed up. Pac used the case on Jay White’s head and they were gone as quickly as they arrived.

3. Continental Classic Gold League: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Ricochet

His absence in the beat down of Adam Page and Jay White spoke volumes. The Death Riders are taking the Continental Classic tournament seriously.

As Claudio exerted his power advantage over Ricochet, the arena broke out into a “Bald Forever” chant. It’s all about the atmosphere at a wrestling show, folks.

You can’t really blame Ricochet for this, though. AEW did him no favours by having him fight Claudio right after a match with Konosuke Takeshita after a 3-0 start to his time in the promotion.

An extended beatdown led to a lariat that ended the contest.

Winner: Claudio Castagnoli via pinfall.

Renee was backstage again, this time with Kyle Fletcher and Don Callis. Callis said that “we decimated him” and Kyle put himself over, previewing his his Continental Classic opening match on Collision later this week.

Adam Cole came out with Matt Taven and Mike Bennett. He vowed to beat MJF within “an inch of your pathetic life” Kyle O’Reilly interrupted him right there and urged Cole to let him fight MJF.

Guess who showed up on the video board. He brought up the Dynamite Dozen Battle Royal, playing the boys in the ring out on the piano. Adam Cole and KOR officially declared for the Battle Royal, the first wrestlers to do so.

The broadcast team came back with a breaking announcement: Adam Page vs. Wheeler Yuta this week on Collision.

International Women’s Cup Qualifier Semifinal: Jamie Hayter vs. Queen Aminata

This is AEW’s first match in the lead-up to the free-for-all at Wrestle Dynasty where the winner can fight for any Women’s title in any of the four promotions involved (AEW, ROH, CMLL, and NJPW Strong).

Jamie Hayter’s game is all about power. She appears to have met a woman in the ring tonight who can match her power, something that doesn’t happen all the time.

After a few unsuccessful covers by both women, Hayterade got Jamie the win.

Winner: Jamie Hayter via pinfall.

The lights went out and there was a lone spotlight at the top of the ramp. Hayter begged Julia Hart to come out but nobody was home.

Renee sat down with Mina Shirakawa to talk about the severing of her friendship with Mariah May. May interrupted and attacked Mina from behind. “I want Mina.” They will face each other at Winter is Coming for May’s title.

4. Continental Classic Gold League: Darby Allin vs. Brody King

The two shook hands again as the bell rang. The history between these two goes deep. Darby is as fearless as they come, putting his body in harm’s way Saturday at the end of Full Gear and now wrestling a beast four days later. Is it too much if we call him an American Psycho?

No, where does he get this from? The Energizer Bunny’s got nothing on Darby.

Not to be outdone by his smaller opponent, Brody easily took back the advantage as the story that Allin’s in no shape to be in a match was abundantly clear.

The commentary team’s mics were not working when the match returned from a commercial break. You could see the technical crew helping them out trying to resolve the issue after the action spilled out to the desk. Maybe they should have the desks further away from the ring? Just a thought. Maybe they should have the commentary team higher up like some other sports. Nah, it’s all part of the fun!

Darby Allin is the kind of wrestler who just gets back up no matter what anyone throws at him. But he didn’t get up from a massive drop.

Winner: Brody King via pinfall.

Claudio came to the ring armed with a chair and looking for some “easy pickins”, being a vulture et al. Brody stood in the ring to deter him. They will face each other in the Gold League next week.