Red-hot Fletcher headlines Fishers’ first ‘Dynamite’ taping

Published 1:21 am Wednesday, December 4, 2024

FISHERS – Kyle Fletcher can make a case as the hottest professional wrestler in the world.

Since choosing the guidance of controversial manager Don Callis over the long-time friendship of mentor Will Ospreay in October, the self-described “Protostar” has been running roughshod over All Elite Wrestling.

On the heels of the biggest victory of his career – a clean pin over Ospreay at the Nov. 23 “Full Gear” pay-per-view event in Newark, New Jersey — Fletcher attempts to take the next step toward AEW championship gold with a Continental Classic matchup against industry legend Shelton Benjamin on Wednesday at the brand-new Fishers Event Center.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and bell time is at 7:30 for the taping of Wednesday night’s live “Dynamite” broadcast on TBS and Friday night’s “Rampage” card on TNT.

Fletcher’s showdown with Benjamin figures to be among the night’s highlights.

Both wrestlers won their first matches in the Continental Classic last week. The round-robin tournament is split into two divisions – the Blue League and Gold League – and the top two finishers in each division will advance to the semifinals and final at the World’s End pay-per-view on Dec. 28 in Orlando, Florida. The tournament winner will be crowned the new AEW Continental Champion.

Fletcher and Benjamin are fighting for first place in the Blue League after two rotations.

“I’m stoked, man,” the 25-year-old Fletcher said during a video conference call with The Herald Bulletin on Tuesday, “I think one of the best parts of the wrestling industry for me is when I get to get in the ring with dudes that have been wrestling longer than I’ve been alive or that I watched growing up, that sort of thing. So, yeah, I’m excited to get in there with someone who has been doing this a lot longer than I have, someone who is one of the best in-ring performers of all time.

“And, even more so, I’m excited to beat him because then it just proves that I’m that much better.”

Benjamin, 49, is a junior college national champion in both wrestling and track and field and is a three-time WWE Intercontinental Champion and a three-time WWE tag team champion. He also held the WWE United States Championship for 243 days in 2008 and is a two-time Ring of Honor tag team champ.

It’s the kind of resume Fletcher hopes to one day duplicate – or even surpass – and the two men had similar starts to their professional careers.

Benjamin’s first championships came in Ohio Valley Wrestling in 2001 as part of the Minnesota Stretching Crew with tag-team partner Brock Lesnar. And he might be best known as one-half of The World’s Greatest Tag Team with Charlie Haas. They were two-time WWE tag team champions and also won the Ring of Honor tag belts twice as Wrestling’s Greatest Tag Team.

Fletcher first made his name primarily as one half of Aussie Open with Mark Davis. The popular duo held tag team titles in Britain (RevPro), Japan (New Japan Pro Wrestling) and America (Ring of Honor) before injuries to Davis in AEW caused Fletcher to focus more on his singles career.

Now he’s attempting to follow a path blazed by the likes of Benjamin, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and even the iconic “Nature Boy” Ric Flair as prolific tag team stars who went on to become even more famous as singles competitors.

“Some of the all-time great singles wrestlers have come out of tag team units, and Kyle Fletcher has so much potential,” AEW president and CEO Tony Khan told The Herald Bulletin. “It’s very exciting to have these big Continental Classic matches in Indianapolis. We’ll have two matches where the winners can reach the top of the standings in the Blue League and the Gold League with Shelton Benjamin vs. Kyle Fletcher and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brody King. And I think Kyle Fletcher vs. Shelton Benjamin has a ton of potential.

“Both men have a ton of experience in pro wrestling, but Shelton Benjamin (has) more experience as a veteran. Kyle Fletcher is on the rise. Shelton Benjamin is one of the top experienced world-class pro wrestlers in the world. And I think that’s a great, great matchup, and I’m very excited about it.”

Other Continental Classic matches scheduled to be taped in Fishers include Ricochet vs. Komander in a bout that’s sure to be high-flying, AEW TNT Champion Daniel Garcia vs. The Beast Mortos and former ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe vs. reigning AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada – widely considered to be the best tournament wrestler in the world on the back of his historic success in NJPW.

Those matches are slated for Friday’s “Rampage” broadcast to be taped after the conclusion of the live “Dynamite” card.

Other marquee matches announced for Dynamite include Jay White vs. Pac in a grudge match and the annual Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale with Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly among the headliners competing for a shot at Maxwell Jacob Friedman’s Dyanamite Diamond Ring at next week’s “Winter is Coming” event in Kansas City, Missouri. The inaugural Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale took place in Indianapolis in 2019.

But Fletcher promises to steal the show – and eventually the AEW Continental Championship.

“I just came off the biggest win of my career,” Fletcher said. “I beat someone who is heralded a lot of the time as the best professional wrestler in the world. I pinned him clean in the middle of the ring, so I think I’m just gonna keep riding that momentum. I think I’m one of, if not the favorite to win the tournament, and I completely plan on doing that.

“I plan on winning that Continental Championship, and then I go into 2025 as the guy, and I think that just kind of sets the table for my entire year. And then who knows what 2025 holds after that?”

For Fletcher, that remains to be determined.

For Indianapolis, it probably means another visit from AEW.

The company has come to the area at least once each year it’s been touring since its inception in 2019.

And Khan said Indiana holds a special place in his heart.

“I love coming to Indiana, and I love being in Indianapolis,” said Khan, who’s been coming to the city for years to attend Colts and Pacers games, the NFL Scouting Combine and the Big Ten basketball and football championships. “It’s a great wrestling town with amazing history here in Indianapolis for pro wrestling, and I’m really glad AEW’s become part of that tradition, running our shows on TBS and TNT in Indianapolis year in, year out.”