Tony Khan Announces Entrants In AEW Continental Classic

Tony Khan Announces Entrants In AEW Continental Classic

Tony Khan has announced the participants in a 12-man AEW tournament that will begin on November 22nd.

Similar to NJPW’s annual G1 Climax, the Continental Classic will be a round-robin style tournament featuring 12 stars divided into two six-man leagues. The tournament will begin in Chicago on November 22nd and last for six weeks, with the league finals taking place in Orlando, Florida on December 27th.

The winners of the leagues will then meet at World’s End on December 30th to determine the inaugural winner, who will hold the AEW Triple Crown Championship, NJPW Strong Championship and the ROH World Championship. All 3 titles will be unified upon completion of the tournament.

The full rules for the Continental Classic are as follows; each match will have a 20-minute time limit, 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss. There is also an additional rule that outside interference and wrestlers or managers being at ringside is prohibited.

The participants and their respective leagues are as follows:

Gold League:

  • Jon Moxley
  • Swerve Strickland
  • Mark Briscoe
  • Rush
  • Jay Lethal
  • Jay White

Blue League:

  • Bryan Danielson
  • Andrade
  • Brody King
  • Claudio Castagnoli
  • Eddie Kingston
  • Daniel Garcia

Upon first announcing the tournament on Collision, Tony Khan revealed that the first participant would be none other than Bryan Danielson, who is still yet to make a return to injury following a broken orbital bone:

“I’m excited to announce that against all odds, even with the tournament start only weeks away, it’s official, the first participant in the inaugural AEW Continental Classic will be ‘The American Dragon’ Bryan Danielson.”

Danielson commented on the announcement, saying it’s the kind of tournament he’s been wanting to do for his whole career.

“This is the kind of tournament I’ve been wanting to do my entire career, and there is no better place to do it than in AEW with the best wrestlers in the world.”

During the video, Tony Khan officially confirmed that Bryan Danielson would be part of All In 2024.

Andrade El Idolo, Mark Briscoe and Eddie Kingston were announced over the next few days, with Kingston declaring that his ROH and NJPW Strong Championships would be on the line in every match he competed in. On November 22, the rest of the field along with which league would be competing in was announced.

Bryan Danielson has admitted that it would be “delusional” for him to consider entering the G1 Climax. During an interview in September, he explained that at this point in his life, he has too many injuries to consider joining the gruelling month-long tournament in Japan. On top of that, Danielson has other priorities now, including being there for his family.

“I think now, doing a G1, might be a little irresponsible of me, in comparison to what my overall long-term goals are, which is being there for my kids and there for my family.”

In recent news, MJF is set to defend the AEW World Championship at Worlds End.

In regards to the round-robin tournament, Bryan Danielson has addressed his upcoming clash with Claudio Castagnoli.

Tony Khan Reveals Big AEW Signing

As seen at Full Gear, it was announced that the huge signing hyped up ahead of time was Will Ospreay. While the signing was heavily speculated following Tony Khan’s announcement, the identity was revealed before the AEW PPV went on the air.

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