The Continental Classic, colloquially abbreviated as the C2, is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament hosted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The tournament is usually held at the end of the calendar year and culminates at AEW's Worlds End pay-per-view (PPV) event in December. Tournament matches are held under "Continental Rules", in which outside interference is strictly prohibited. The prize of the tournament is the AEW Continental Championship; the incumbent champion at the beginning of each tournament is automatically entered, and defends the title throughout the tournament.
 Tournament logo | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Established | 2023 |
Tournament format(s) | Two-block round-robin tournament |
| Host(s) | All Elite Wrestling |
| Participants | 12 |
| Prize | AEW Continental Championship |
| Current champion | |
| Eddie Kingston (2023 winner) Kazuchika Okada (Continental Champion) | |
| Most recent tournament | |
| 2024 | |
History
editOn November 11, 2023, the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced a tournament called the Continental Classic. AEW president Tony Khan and AEW wrestler Bryan Danielson announced that the tournament would begin on the November 22, 2023, episode of Dynamite, lasting six weeks over AEW's television shows and concluding at Worlds End on December 30; Danielson was also announced as its first participant.[1] The 2023 tournament was won by then-ROH World Champion and NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston, who defeated Jon Moxley in the final; as he held three championships, he was declared by AEW to be the first American Triple Crown Champion, with the combined championship known as the Continental Crown.
Overview
editThe AEW Continental Classic is an annual tournament that starts after the promotion's Full Gear pay-per-view (PPV) event in mid-November and ends at the Worlds End PPV at the end of December. The tournament takes place in a round-robin format, with two blocks of six wrestlers – titled the Blue and Gold Leagues – wrestling each other across AEW's television shows, Dynamite, Rampage and Collision. The incumbent Continental Champion automatically qualifies for the tournament,[a] with the other eleven participants announced shortly prior to the beginning of the tournament. Matches are held under "Continental Rules": each match has twenty-minute time limit, no other wrestlers are allowed at ringside, and outside interference is strictly prohibited under threat of penalties.
Similar to most soccer leagues, match winners obtain three points for a win, and drawn matches give one point to each participant. After the round-robin phase, the top two wrestlers in each league qualify for a league final match, with ties broken based on head-to-head record. In 2023, the finalists in each league faced each other; from 2024, the format was modified so league winners face the opposing league's runner-up. The winner of each league final match then face each other for the AEW Continental Championship at Worlds End.[2]
| Year | Winner | Runner up | Other participants | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | B | Eddie Kingston (9) | G | Jon Moxley (12) | Blue | Bryan Danielson (10), Andrade El Idolo (9), Claudio Castagnoli (7), Brody King (6), Daniel Garcia (3) |
| Gold | Swerve Strickland (12), Jay White (12), Rush (6), Mark Briscoe (3), Jay Lethal (0) | |||||
| 2024 | To be determined | Blue | Kazuchika Okada (c), Shelton Benjamin, Mark Briscoe, Kyle Fletcher, Daniel Garcia, The Beast Mortos | |||
| Gold | Darby Allin, Claudio Castagnoli, Brody King, Komander, Will Ospreay, Ricochet, | |||||
| (c) – the Continental Champion at the beginning of the tournament Numbers in brackets indicate how many points were won by each participant Italics indicate losing league finalists | ||||||
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ In 2023, Eddie Kingston was given automatic entry as the incumbent ROH World Champion and NJPW Strong Openweight Champion.
References
edit- ^ Defelice, Robert (November 11, 2023). "Tony Khan Announces AEW Continental Classic Tournament Starts On 11/22, Concludes At AEW Worlds End". Fightful. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
- ^ Thomas, Jeremy (November 19, 2023). "Tony Khan Gives More Details on AEW Continental Classic, Will Conclude At Worlds End". 411Mania. Retrieved November 19, 2023.