AEW Continental Classic Semi-Finalists Bound For Worlds End

Fighters in the Gold and Blue leagues of the Continental Classic tournament were hoping for a Christmas miracle as they headed into the final qualifying matches on "Dynamite" before the tournament semifinals and finals at Worlds End. Wednesday's episode saw five tournament matches, and by the time the chaos ended in the Hammerstein Ballroom, Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher, Kazuchika Okada, and Ricochet all secured their spots in the Continental Classic semifinals.

The Gold League started the night, with Ospreay taking on Brody King in fierce combat. King attempted to be the immovable object in the way of Ospreay's unstoppable force, but the ingenuity and agility of "The Aerial Assassin" overcame King's brutish efforts. Ospreay decisively defeated King and earned three more points to push his tournament total to nine total points, which tied him with Ricochet, who Ospreay had just suffered a loss to on the December 21 episode of "AEW Collision," and Claudio Castagnoli, who ended up taking a loss to Komander later in the night. Despite being tied with Castagnoli in points, Ospreay beat Castagnoli out in match records, which allowed Ospreay to advance to the semifinals over Castagnoli.

Ricochet and Darby Allin took to the ring in Wednesday's second Gold League tournament. Both competitors refused to let up in their highly athletic and risk-taking fight, but neither man managed to score the pinfall by the end of the twenty-minute time limit. As a result, both men received only one point on their scorecard, which pushed Ricochet to 10 total points. With the conclusion of this match, Ricochet and Ospreay secured their spots as the Gold League winner and runner-up and will compete in the tournament semifinals at Worlds End.

The Blue League also saw a dramatic shift in the points landscape. Current Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada took a dominant victory over Hurt Syndicate member Shelton Benjamin to score three extra points, thus pushing his previous score of seven total points to ten. Kyle Fletcher, who was already tied with Mark Briscoe for the Blue League lead at nine points each, took an impressive victory over current TNT Champion Daniel Garcia to put himself at a whopping twelve points.

The night's conclusion solidified the Continental Classic's semifinal match participants. As the runner-up in the Gold League, Ospreay is expected to take on old friend and Blue League winner Kyle Fletcher come Saturday. Ricochet, who shocked fans with his Gold League victory, will take on the incumbent champion and Blue League runner-up Okada in the second semifinal match. The victors of Saturday's semifinal matches will meet later in the Worlds End card for the finals, and the winner of that match will be the new Continental Champion. Okada's reign will continue until the conclusion of Worlds End, regardless if he is eliminated in the tournament semifinals.