In mid-2024 word began to get out, almost out of nowhere, that Ricochet's contract with WWE was coming to an end. The company where he had worked for 7 years made him an offer but he was looking for a new challenge and was rumored to be headed to AEW. On his final RAW, the company essentially wrote him out but left an option for him to come back if he accepted their deal. Instead he signed with All Elite Wrestling and made his debut at Wembley Stadium in late August as a mystery entrant in the Casino Gauntlet match for an AEW World title shot.
He went on to rematch with long time friend and rival Will Ospreay and also entered the Continental Classic. As the tournament heads into the deeper stage, Ricochet has been picking up his game and this week takes the top 2 spots in my personal match of the week rankings. In a week with a big WWE show that was more like a PLE in terms of matches and presentation and with the NJPW World tag league winding down, it was the Continental Classic that delivered four of the 10 best matches I watched in the last seven days.
For the week of December 9-15, I watched a total of 64 matches including some that had aired prior to December 9. The shows that these matches took place on were: WWE RAW, NJPW World Tag League Night 12 (aired Dec 4), WWE NXT, AEW Dynamite, NJPW World Tag League Night 13 (aired Dec 5), ROH on Honor Club (aired Dec 5), WWE Main Event (aired Dec 6), NXT Lvl Up (aired Dec 6), TNA Impact, WWE Smackdown, NJPW World Tag Leage Night 14 (aired Dec 6), AEW Rampage (aired Dec 6), WWE Saturday Night's Main Event, AEW Collision (aired Dec 7) and the NJPW World Tag League Finals (aired Dec 8).
Listed below are my top 10 for the week. The first number is my personal star rating and at the end of each entry is the Cagematch rating and Dave Meltzer star rating, where applicable.
1. 4.5* Ricochet beat Brody King in a Gold League match at AEW Dynamite Winter is Coming on December 11. 6.95/10 on Cagematch. 3.75* from Dave Meltzer
2. 4.5* Ricochet beat Komander in a Gold League match at AEW Rampage on December 6. 7.58/10 on Cagematch. 4.5* from Dave Meltzer
3. 4.5* Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito beat Gabe Kidd and Sanada in the NJPW World Tag League Final on December 8. 7.42/10 on Cagematch
4. 4* Mark Briscoe beat Daniel Garcia in a Blue League match at AEW Collision on December 7. 7.66/10 on Cagematch. 4.25* from Dave Meltzer
5. 4* Gunther retained his WWE World championship against Finn Balor and Damian Priest at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event on December 14. 7.09/10 on Cagematch
6. 4* Gabe Kidd and Sanada beat Bishimon (Hirooki Goto/Yoshi-Hashi) at NJPW World Tag league Night 13 on December 5. 6.52/10 on Cagematch
7. 4* Je'Von Hayes beat Wes Lee at WWE NXT on December 10. 7.14/10 on Cagematch. 4* from Dave Meltzer
8. 4* Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE Heavyweight championship against Kevin Owens at WWE Saturday Night's Main Event. 6.48/10 on Cagematch
9. 4* Kyle Fletcher beat Kazuchika Okada at AEW Collision. 7.79/10 on Cagematch. 4* from Dave Meltzer
10. 4* Joe Hendry, Nic Nemeth and Masha Slamovich beat First Class (KC Navarro/AJ Francis) and Tasha Steelz at TNA Impact on December 12. 5.80/10 on Cagematch
