AEW Continental Classic 2025 Discussion

[BomberPat]

Poor choice. He's getting back on track with the Jurassic Express reunion, is in the middle of the Elite programme, and it's probably the worst time to have him suddenly working a load of singles matches that don't fit that story.

If it weren't to be either of Brodido, I would have given the spot to someone that could use it to get an upset win over someone, and to get an opportunity above their usual level - based on how impressed I was by him on the last ROH show, I'd go with Ace Austin, or some babyface goodwill by giving the spot to someone who has been off TV but could be due to return; Ortiz or Keith Lee, maybe. 

[LaGoosh]

Another great three matches.

- OC/Roddy was good but also I had zero emotional investment. Hard to care about Strong really despite how good he can be bell to bell. I'm glad OC is in a Continental Classic but wish he had a story in it. At the moment he's just there.

- Is Claudio the best base in wrestling? Some of the stuff Mascara was doing was absolutely jaw dropping and Claudio was bumping like a mad man for it. Is Mascara under an AEW contract? I enjoy him a lot but if not I'm not sure why he's getting such a high profile spot over an AEW guy.

- Takeshita/Mox maybe the best match of the week. Rubbish forearms and occasional wacky selling aside I think Mox is the best TV match wrestler of 2025. The past three months in particular. Also he's started subtley laying in babyface spots and moments into his matches without sacrificing his heel character. I wouldn't be surprised if he has the fans fully behind him by the end of the tournament. Very smart to start turning the fans back towards him before the Deathriders inevitable betrayal. He's doing brilliant work. Takeshita came out of this one looking like the next big star too.

 

[Kamran]

Here are the points after week 2:

 

[organizedkaos]

Jack Perry is the peter principle done in wrestling. He's not bad at doing one role and then gets pushed into a role he can't deliver.

Jurassic Express was great but probably had an extinction date but he was pulling off singles matches as a fairly straightforward flippy face.. suddenly main event world title match

He proves unlikeable in that role, fans start reacting poorly and they turn him heel. The heel style doesn't really suit him but he started adapting in some decent undercard stuff.. series of unfortunate events.. main event heel faction and title run!

Elite stuff flames out. They bring him back doing what brought him to the table; likeable face who gets beat up, does spectacular moves and hot tags a dinosaur. Record scratch,  now hes in a highly visible prestigious singles tournament!

He's talented and has some potential but every time something works he gets pushed down peoples throats so that something stops working. Obviously some of these are due to external circumstances but they still keep pushing him further than he can currently reach and effectively squishing his momentum 

[LaGoosh]

Okada vs Jungle Jack Perry

Perry is good at stuff. But he wants to be all things at all times. He wants to be the plucky under dog. He wants to be the cool highflyer. He wants to be the tough fighting spirit badass. But you can't be everything. You need to pick something and give it your all for it to work. He comes into every match with cool and creative ideas. The problem is really you should only use 2 or 3 of those ideas (or maybe even just the 1) and base the entire match around those but he comes in with about 10 ideas and does all of them so it's all just stuff. This match was fine and the dick biting spot was funny. But Perry is a poor replacement for Darby and I wish they had picked someone else to fill his spot. I'll be interested to see if Mox and Claudio can reign him in and do something decent with him. I think his match with Takeshita will be fucking awful.

Fletcher vs Speedball

There was a bit during the advert break where Bailey hit a reverse hurricanrana on the floor and five seconds later they were back fighting like nothing had happened which drove me absolutely crazy. That's my only complaint though because this match was really fun and had the fans going crazy. I really liked the ending where they announced one minute remaining seeding a draw but they one second later did the flash finish. Bailey's look of shock afterwards of "holy shit, did I actually just win that match?" really sold it. Top stuff.

Edited December 12, 2025 by LaGoosh

[organizedkaos]

Yeah that Fletcher/Bailey match was something. Combination of just incredible kinetic exciting wrestling (yeah some of the moves probably should have had a little more selling but given the 20 minute time limits I can forgive) and slowly building up the idea that Speedball could win.

Obviously upsets are going to be a thing in the tournament but this one just worked so well. Feels like previous the big upsets have been near the end (or I guess this year in people's opening matches). Genuinely they've been placed at points you can kind of see them happen "cocky wrestler loses first match" or "underdog finally gets that win". This match, given Fletchers current momentum, totally felt like a fun but throwaway middle of tournament match. Instead by building Bailey up during the match (more than you'd usually get in these sort of "good match between people wildly different places on the card") they managed to lead me down a path of "oh he could actually win" through to "oh I actually really want him to win". They got me invested and then pulled the unexpected payoff to that investment.

The fact it was a great match already had me very invested in the match but then the two finisher heavy combos Bailey did mean I started to entertain the chance of an upset. When Fletcher inevitably kicked out I just thought that was it, nice run, time to go home. Bailey then kicking out of the equivalent finisher combos actually felt meaningful (AEW does like the "lower card wrestler does lots of moves but can't get survive the higher card wrestler's big moves" match structure) although still felt like it was just another way of putting Bailey over without putting him actually over.

Then in that final minute where they kept reversing every thing I was genuinely on the edge of my seat, every time Bailey blocked something that could end the match was this gasp of hope. It really felt like it was either of their matches until the final moment. When he actually won I genuinely raised my hands up in 'victory' not as some sort of conscious reaction but like laughing or crying at something. Any time wrestling gets a reaction that's more "fuck yeah he won!!" sports reaction than "I am extremely pleased with this plot development in my fictional entertainment" is a win for me.

Hopefully the combination of the great match and unexpected upset makes this a memorable moment, not that Bailey is under utilised but this felt like a big deal and I hope it's treated as such.

[Chris B]

Bailey/Fletcher was, so far, my favourite match of the tournament.

[LaGoosh]

Takeshita vs Claudio was SO GODDAMN GOOD. From Claudio's epic entrance onwards it was just perfect. Claudio is quietly doing the best work of his career right now. I think he's the closest to being a top star that he's ever been - just needs to find an extra tiny something to get himself there. Claudio going in with his usual tactic of using his freakish strength, power and speed to run through his opponent but quickly realising that wasn't going to work on a Takeshita was beautiful. This was too hard hitting super athletes going toe to toe with no one giving an inch. Perfectly happy with the draw and loved seeing them continuing to fight. I want a rematch and I want to see a Don Callis Family vs Deathriders feud before they murder Moxley off.

Speedball vs Knight was decent but didn't quite hit my expectations. I liked the stuff at the start where they were constantly countering in eachother and the frantic run at the end but felt like the middle was missing something. But I appreciated that this felt like two guys fighting and desperate to win rather than two mates doing spots with no intensity. 

Edited December 14, 2025 by LaGoosh

[Kamran]

Points after week 3:

[AshC]

Claudio vs Takeshita was the most obvious draw of all time, and it was STILL fantastic. 

[Kamran]

Points after week 4:

[LaGoosh]

I'm enjoying the neck-and-neck booking of the Gold League this year. It's pretty much a dead cert that Okada will win it but they've planted enough seeds of doubt that it feels like anyone's game right now.

[The King of Old School]

I think it ends with Takeshita & Claudio advancing from the blue league & Okada & Fletcher qualifying from the gold league.

Semi Finals - Okada vs Claudio & Fletcher vs Takeshita, with a Okada/Takeshita final?

[HarmonicGenerator]

I think they said at the end of Collision that, as it currently stands, 11 of the 12 could still win it. Which must mean Roderick is the only man out of the running.

Making the Gold League so tight is really interesting, especially if Perry wins his next match and makes everybody equal. As mentioned, it's a neat way of making "Okada and Fletcher will be the top two" look less obvious. Even I'm beginning to doubt it a little bit - right now, only Pac is in with a shot of getting more than 9 points!

Takeshita still looks like a clear winner in the Blue League, but there's some tension to play off between Moxley and Claudio for who joins him. Depending on the order they show those matches, it could be a really good watch. Do you do Moxley-OC, have Mox win, and then watch him wait to see if Claudio loses/draws with Roderick? Do you do it the other way round, so Moxley knows it will be him if he beats OC? Does Claudio beat Roderick first, so Moxley knows he can't progress, goes off the rails and loses to OC, who still has a match in hand, meaning neither Death Rider progresses? He'd have to beat Takeshita to do that, sure, but ... it's fun to speculate.

All this to say, I can't see past an Okada/Takeshita final either, with Fletcher and one of the Death Riders in the semis spots.

[AshC]

Do you think though they hold off on the Takeshita vs Okada match, much like how the 2001 Vengeance tournament final ended up being Austin vs Jericho, rather than the anticipated Austin vs Rock (which they never actually got back to until much later).