AEW Continental Classic 2025 Discussion

[Supremo]

Speedball vs. Okada is the pairing I’m most excited for. Their match at Double or Nothing this year was a lowkey Match of the Year candidate.

I still refuse to believe Pac will wrestle five straight weeks of television.

[LaGoosh]

25 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

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

They should release them on Blu-Ray DVD with all promos included. I'd snap them up in a second. They should be in the Criterion Collection.

[Chili]

Both videos clock in at over 4 1/2 hours. 2023 is actually over 5. Enjoy you sickos.

[LaGoosh]

Don't forget, the promos are a key part of enjoying the C2. It's not just the matches!

 

[Kamran]

Here are the points after week 1:

[waters44]

On 11/28/2025 at 8:06 AM, LaGoosh said:

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.

Can't agree more with this. I would say we're some of the more hardcore fans and we get excited about the match pairings, but I imagine the more casual fan probably doesn't get that excited about the C2 because why would they? It's not really made a big deal and the reward is even more confusing now with this Unified belt situation. Maybe I'm wrong

They should have the participants lined up for a few weeks at least to build excitement and give the fans time to fantasy book. Like above, have an opening ceremony or even go the full hog and have a big press conference with all the guys up there in suits cutting promos. Have the commentary go through the tables of results (maybe they already do this tbf). Build to a PPV called Continental Classic and make a massive deal of it. Winner gets a fucking massive trophy, tonnes of pyro, streamers etc and heads off into the main title scene. Basically just copy New Japan and add in a few extra bits!

[LaGoosh]

Another good three CC matches this week on Dynamite.

- Heel vs heel matches are often tricky to pull off but Okada/Pac was decent. It was wrestled like horrible little goblin man vs mischievous trickster elf. I like that they make it clear the wrestlers are all scouting out each others matches as Pac and Okada both did/attempted spots from their opponents previous matches that worked well against them.

- Knight vs Fletcher was fantastic and probably a match they'll run quite a few times over the next few years. Knight reminds me a of a young AJ Styles - athletic with explosive power.  Unlike most wrestlers of his type Knight wrestles with determination - you really feel like he wants to win. That springboard clothesline to the outside was brilliant. The story of this one was a good one - Fletcher had Knight outmatched in strength, technique and power but Knight stayed in it due to his athleticism and desperation to win. Fletcher started the match confident and cocky but by the end he really sold that he had more on his plate than he expected and was frantically trying to put Knight away as quick as he could.

- Mox/Claudio was ace and told a brilliant story. Firstly Mox coming down to the ring with Shafir while Claudio had Garcia, Yuta and Pac behind him in the shadows - there's a clear split building. Shafir is the true believer but as for the others well who knows. Mox not only had to win for the tournament but as the Deathriders leader he had to prove his dominance over Claudio and assert his position. He tried it at the start by going man to man but Claudio was too powerful so Mox had to resort to eye gouges, choking, scratching, clawing and dirty shots to try to dominate and grind Claudio down. As the match went on Claudio soon re-asserted himself and took control of things with his strength and power. This is where the story of the match started to turn. Claudio is a killer - he's arrogant and machine like. He wrestles with no passion, only dominance and cruelty. But Mox wrestles with his whole heart. He will fight for his life. His heart and fighting spirit enables him to turn it up to a new level and fight through the blood and pain. This passion is what got him to the top and what made him the leader of the Deathriders. So when Mox started digging deep you could see the tide turning. Claudio doesn't have that next level and it's always what's held him back from being a true top guy so when Mox was fighting through all that blood and kicking out of all of Claudio's biggest moves it looked like Mox was sure to win. But eventually the blood loss did its damage and Claudio saw Mox falter and quickly took advantage of the moment to win with a big uppercut. A really great piece of work and also felt like they left more in the tank for a future battle. The confused reactions of Pac, Yuta and Garcia post match were really effective. I would have killed for a final interaction between Mox and Claudio but the show ended mere seconds before that happened. Gah!

- Darby is all fucked up and laid up in hospital. He's a mess! My prediction is he goes 0-4 and his last match is against Pac and he gets the win.

Edited December 4, 2025 by LaGoosh

[RedTwoster]

21 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Knight vs Fletcher was fantastic and probably a match they'll run quite a few times over the next few years. Knight reminds me a of a young AJ Styles - athletic with explosive power.

That’s a great comparison that I’d not considered. You’re bang on with that. If Knight ever learns how to cut a promo, he could be an enormous star for AEW, so I hope he’s working hard on his mic skills.

21 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

I would have killed for a final interaction between Mox and Claudio but the show ended mere seconds before that happened. Gah!

I wonder if that was deliberate or if they ran out of time? I kind of like it if it was on purpose, and I hope they bring us footage of their interaction on Collusion. 

Edited December 4, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Supremo]

Kevin Knight already feeling like this year’s breakout star, similar to Kyle Fletcher last year, whilst their tournament runs are making late cases for Moxley and Okada to be Wrestler of the Year.

I love the Continental Classic with all my heart. I can’t wait for Manchester, now.

[air_raid]

I’m looking forward to the sack race finale. Go Felons!

[LaGoosh]

I also appreciated the juxtaposition of Claudio coming into this full of quiet confidence with wins under the belt including winning a World Heavyweight Championship just a few days earlier compared to Mox coming in riddled with insecurity, losing left right and centre and it all about to come crashing down on his head.

EDIT: the promos!

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2025 by LaGoosh

[LaGoosh]

Turns out Darby Allin is genuinely injured and hospitalised last week. Of all the insanely mad bumps he's taken in the past few months it was actually a normal bump off a standard dropkick that hurt him. Good reminder that hey literally every aspect of wrestling is very dangerous. They're not sure at this point whether he can continue in the C2. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

38 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Turns out Darby Allin is genuinely injured and hospitalised last week. Of all the insanely mad bumps he's taken in the past few months it was actually a normal bump off a standard dropkick that hurt him. Good reminder that hey literally every aspect of wrestling is very dangerous. They're not sure at this point whether he can continue in the C2. 

Rubbish news for Darby - and crazy that it was one of his least mad bumps that has done it - but, silver lining, Bandido could take his place. Bandido could take his place. Bandido could take his place. If I keep saying it maybe Tony will see it. Bandido could take his place.

Edited December 5, 2025 by HarmonicGenerator
Bandido could take his place

[LaGoosh]

Darby Allin is officially out and replaced with fucking Jungle Boy. They seriously couldn't find anyone else better?

[Supremo]

He wouldn’t be my first choice. Or anyone’s, for that matter. I reckon if you asked Jack Perry himself, even he’d ask why the fuck they aren’t bringing in Bandido as the substitute. But maybe this is exactly what Jungle Jack needs. He is a fantastic wrestler. He’s had incredible matches. It might be nice to reminded of that in the hope of leaving all the CM Punk shit and failed heel runs in the past.