AEW Continental Classic 2025 Discussion

[WyattSheepMask]

As the CC is pretty popular, figured it was worthy of its own thread to discuss all happenings rather clog up the regular AEW TV thread.

The field has been revealed, with the first matches set to take place on this week’s Dynamite.

 

As usual, the CC will run through both Dynamite & Collision throughout late November & December, with both League Finals and Championship Match taking place at AEW Worlds End on December 27th.

As with the previous two tournaments, the rules are as follows:
- 20 Minute Time limit on all League Matches
- 3 Points for a Win, 1 Point for a Draw 
- No one is allowed at Ringside. Should anyone interfere, they are “at risk of being banned from AEW”

Edited November 26, 2025 by WyattSheepMask
Rules updated

[RedTwoster]

Have they explicitly said what title is being defended in this tournament? Is it the Unifued title, or just the Continental belt?

[JNLister]

AEW website says it's just the Continental Belt and that Okada has to win if he wants to stay Unified Champion. Which implies that he'd remain International Champion if he doesn't win it. Because we definitely need five male singles belts, not including ROH.

[Supremo]

Credit to Jon Moxley that he’s not only doing this again, seemingly for the love of the game, but that he’s positioned himself in such an interesting place that I can’t wait to see what happens to him in this tournament.

Huge losing streak, where keeps he tapping out to submissions? Slow burn babyface turn when he eventually mounts a comeback and overcomes his Achilles ankle? Will The Death Riders be forced to pick a side when he faces Claudio?

Biggest mistake is not putting Bandido in there. That felt nailed on.

Edited November 25, 2025 by Supremo

[WyattSheepMask]

First matches taking place on Dynamite are-

Gold:
Kyle Fletcher vs Kazuchika Okada
Darby Allin vs Kevin Knight

Blue:
Jon Moxley vs Mascara Dorada

Someone correct me if I’m wrong as I’ve not watched the TV regularly since about February, but is Fletcher still the only person to have pinned Okada since he joined AEW full time?

Edited November 26, 2025 by WyattSheepMask

[gmoney]

That picture of Okada is hilarious. Is he doing a Dracula gimmick?

[WyattSheepMask]

Claudio vs Orange Cassidy also took place last night. Don’t know if that was a late addition or not as I didn’t see it promoted ahead of time.

[air_raid]

Pac’s little thumbnail fooled me into thinking it was Austin Aries for a minute. Is he still going? Surprised Tony hasn’t put a call in, if he is.

[LaGoosh]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Pac’s little thumbnail fooled me into thinking it was Austin Aries for a minute. Is he still going? Surprised Tony hasn’t put a call in, if he is.

I think he works MLW which is where you end up when none of the other major promotions want you. It's basically the land of scum bags, undesirables and twats.

Edited November 27, 2025 by LaGoosh

[LaGoosh]

The Continental Classic has turned into one of those non-Christmassy things that give me a Christmas feeling now. It's the best time of the year wrestling wise for me. After initially being slightly disappointed in the line-up now it's kicked off I'm all in and loving it.

My one wish though would be that they did some kind of opening ceremony for it. Have all the entrants come out for a group photo, Okada hands back the Continental Championship, AEW senior management all in the ring, that kind of thing.

Some interesting stories coming in so far:

- Mox is at risk, he's lost a lot of big matches and possibly losing faith in himself and/or becoming delusional. I like that he's not just going 0-5, he's still a former multi-time World Champion and can win matches but he's shown recently that he might not be able to handle the pressure anymore. His match with Claudio, who is a beast right now, will be very interesting. Likewise you've got Pac in the other league who is likely to have a strong run. Is Mox going to crumble?

- Okada seems to be a dead cert but losing his first match must have shaken his confidence. Fletcher is a dark horse. He reached the semi finals and he's now beaten Okada two years in a row. Goes to show how well they've booked Okada that a win over him feels like a big deal. Long term also a nice storyline wrinkle that Fletcher appears to have Okada's number.

- Takeshita is desperate to win and I think he's going to beast mode his way through to the semi finals. It's more than just winning the tournament now for him, he wants to prove that he's the best tournament wrestler not Okada.

- Darby is a physical wreck. He's been in brutal matches and in an out of the hospital for weeks leading up to this tournament. Kevin Knight, an unproven rookie, handled him with surprising ease and you can see all the damage and physical toll the feud with the Deathriders has taken on him. How's he going to survive a gruelling tournament?

All the matches so far have ranged from good to great. My favourite at this point being Darby vs Knight which was excellent. 

My one question though is will @JLM be gracing us with his match reviews? Please do!

[RedTwoster]

5 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

All the matches so far have ranged from good to great. My favourite at this point being Darby vs Knight which was excellent. 

That’s really interesting, I kind of assumed Okada/Fletcher would be everyone’s favourite so far, simply because I absolutely loved it. For someone who I and others have suggested was phoning it in, Okada has been involved in multiple match-of-the-year contenders for me - vs Bandido, Fletcher, Brodido and the triple threat vs Takeshita and Dorada. If he really is phoning it in, fuck knows how good he’d be if he was actually trying. 

[Supremo]

I fucking love it. Two shows in and I’m back wondering why they don’t just change AEW to CCW (Continental Classic Wrestling), with rolling leagues.

My excitement levels for Manchester no longer rest entirely on a Double J appearance!

Merry Christmas!

[LaGoosh]

I loved Fletcher/Okada! Yeah I've been a big fan of Okada this year and I hope they put the title on him next year. The "phoning it in" opinion some people have seems to be based on his Japan work but as I haven't seen any of it I can't really comment. From my perspective he wrestles a slower, more methodical pace style to outlast and outsmart his opponent and grind them down but when he's in any peril he will instantly switch to a higher gear and overwhelm them. He doesn't have to wrestle that big 5 star match style all the time because he doesn't feel he has to to win matches. That style also layers in perfectly with his character work as just a massive arrogant dickhead who loves to annoy people for fun just because he can. I think he's fantastic.

Edited November 28, 2025 by LaGoosh

[BomberPat]

I think the "phoning it in" criticism is a combination of him changing his style to work more as a TV heel (which he's fantastic at), and coming from people who only watched one or two NJPW shows a year, so saw the big match Okada/Omega 60 minute stuff and assumed that was his baseline, rather than him pushing through to be absolutely exceptional for the biggest show of the year. I think he's consistently one of the best things in AEW, and I love this version of Okada, just the perfect smarmy dickhead.

[The King of Old School]

It's a brilliant format isn’t it?

Preferred last years format of having the semi's and final on one night too.

AEW should upload the 2023 & 2024 tournaments in full on YouTube to get everyone in the mood.