Tonight’s episode of AEW Dynamite kicked off with the AEW Continental Classic Gold League finals. In a three-way dance, Jon Moxley picked up a victory over “Switchblade” Jay White and Swerve Strickland. With the win, Moxley punched his ticket to the finals of the overall AEW Continental Classic finals at AEW Worlds End this Saturday night. Later in the night, the Blue League finals played out to determine who would face Moxley to become a triple crown champion: fellow Blackpool Combat Club member Bryan Danielson or long-time friend Eddie Kingston.
The match between Kingston and Danielson was given a sizeable amount of time and was contested under no disqualification rules to ensure a winner. Like the other Continental Classic matches Danielson competed in prior to this one, he sported an eye patch thanks to a broken orbital bone he suffered last month. Throughout the bout, the fans were decidedly on the side of Kingston, which Danielson seemed to revel in. It was an unsurprisingly hard-hitting affair that saw both men’s chests turned to ground beat from repeated chops, but, in the end, Kingston hit Danielson with a spinning back fist and powerbomb to pick up the win.
Following his win, Moxley came to congratulate Kingston on his victory. He told Kingston that he is a beloved person with many supporters, but this Saturday night, he is not going to be able to get the job done. Moxley added that he isn’t going to do any favors for Kingston in their match, and he’s going to make him earn every inch. This elicited a fiery response from Kingston, who told him not to treat him like “his young boy bitch.” Kingston added that he was in this business before Moxley and helped to bring him in, so at Worlds End “the king of the bums” is going to come out on top.
If Kingston defeats Moxley and wins the AEW Continental Classic, he will retain the ROH World and NJPW Strong Championships that he held before the tournament. To raise the stakes, AEW President Tony Khan put both those titles on the line, along with a new AEW Continental Championship, so that the winner will be a triple crown champion who can float between all three promotions.
Other big matches were also set up for this weekend’s Worlds End pay-per-view on tonight’s AEW Dynamite, including a long-awaited one-on-one confrontation between Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee. Andrade El Idolo with CJ Perry versus Miro was also announced.