 Tournament logo | |
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Sport | Professional wrestling |
| Established | 2023 |
Tournament format | Two-blockround-robin tournament |
| Host | All Elite Wrestling |
| Participants | 12 |
| Prize | AEW Continental Championship |
| Current champion | |
| Jon Moxley | |
| Most recent tournament | |
| 2025 | |
TheContinental Classic (C2) is an annualprofessional wrestlinground-robin tournament hosted by the American promotionAll Elite Wrestling (AEW). The tournament is held at the end of the calendar year, beginning after November'sFull Gearpay-per-view (PPV) event and culminating at theWorlds End PPV in late December. The prize of the tournament is theAEW Continental Championship. The most recent2025 tournament was won byJon Moxley.
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 incumbent Continental Champion at the beginning of each tournament is automatically entered and defends the title throughout the tournament.
On November 11, 2023, the Americanprofessional wrestling promotionAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced a tournament called the Continental Classic (C2). AEW presidentTony Khan and AEW wrestlerBryan Danielson announced that the tournament would begin on the November 22, 2023, episode ofDynamite, lasting six weeks over AEW's television shows and concluding at theWorlds Endpay-per-view (PPV) event on December 30; Danielson was also announced as its first participant.[1] It was also announced that the winner would become the inauguralAEW Continental Champion, and that the incumbent champion would automatically be entered into subsequent tournaments.[2]
The2023 tournament was won by reigningROH World Champion andNJPW Strong Openweight ChampionEddie Kingston, who defeatedJon Moxley in the final. For holding the three championships, he was declared by AEW to be the first American Triple Crown Champion, also referred to as the Continental Crown.[2] After losing the Continental Championship toKazuchika Okada in March 2024, the Triple Crown was disbanded.[3]
In July 2025 atAll In: Texas, reigning Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada defeatedKenny Omega in aWinner Takes AllChampionship unification match to also win theAEW International Championship, with both titles held and defended together as theAEW Unified Championship; since Okada won as the Continental Champion, the Unified Championship adopted the rules of the Continental Championship.[4] Amid confusion over the Unified title in regards to the C2, it was confirmed that only the Continental Championship would be the prize of the2025 tournament. It was also revealed that should Okada lose the Continental Championship in the C2, he would also lose the Unified Championship.[5] In the final of the Continental Classic atWorlds End on December 27, 2025, Okada lost to Jon Moxley, thus ending the unification and forcing Okada to relinquish the Unified Championship.[6]
The AEW Continental Classic is an annual tournament that starts after the promotion'sFull Gear PPV event in mid-November and ends at theWorlds End PPV at the end of December. The tournament takes place in around-robin format, with two blocks of six wrestlers – titled the Blue and Gold Leagues – wrestling each other across AEW's television shows,Dynamite andCollision (and formerlyRampage). 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. The tournament is commonly known as the "C2", in reference to theG1 Climax, a similar annual round-robin tournament hosted by AEW's partner promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Similar to mostsoccer leagues, match winners obtainthree 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, withties broken based on head-to-head record.[b] In 2023, the finalists in each league faced each other atNew Year's Smash prior to the Continental Championship match at Worlds End; from 2024, the format was modified so that league winners face the opposing league's runner-up in the opening matches of Worlds End prior to the championship final later in the night.[7]
| 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 | B | Kazuchika Okada(c; 10) | G | Will Ospreay(9) | Blue | Kyle Fletcher(12),Mark Briscoe(9),Daniel Garcia(7),Shelton Benjamin(6),The Beast Mortos(0) |
| Gold | Ricochet(10),Claudio Castagnoli(9),Darby Allin(7),Brody King(6),Komander(3), | |||||
| 2025 | B | Jon Moxley(9) | G | Kazuchika Okada(c; 9) | Blue | Konosuke Takeshita(13),Claudio Castagnoli(7),Orange Cassidy(6),Máscara Dorada(6),Roderick Strong(3) |
| Gold | Kyle Fletcher(9),Kevin Knight(7),Pac(7),"Jungle" Jack Perry(6),"Speedball" Mike Bailey(6), | |||||
| (c) – theContinental Champion at the beginning of the tournament Numbers in brackets indicate how many points were won by each participant Italics indicate losing league finalists | ||||||
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