Tournament matches are held under "Continental Rules", in which matches have a 20-minute time limit, no one is allowed at ringside, and 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.
History
On November 11, 2023, the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced a tournament called the Continental Classic (C2). 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 the Worlds Endpay-per-view (PPV) event 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 ChampionEddie 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.
The AEW Continental Classic is an annual tournament that starts after the promotion's Full Gear 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 11 participants announced shortly prior to the beginning of the tournament. Matches are held under "Continental Rules": each match has a 20-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.[3]
(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 Struckthrough text indicates participants replaced due to injury
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