{"id":147023,"date":"2025-11-25T06:28:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=147023"},"modified":"2025-11-25T06:28:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:28:46","slug":"aew-continental-classic-2025-leagues-competitors-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/11\/25\/aew-continental-classic-2025-leagues-competitors-revealed\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW Continental Classic 2025 Leagues Competitors Revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last night, Tony Schiavone revealed the competitors and leagues for the 2025 AEW Continental Classic. A mix of fan favourites, there are some notable returnees, some interesting first-timers and an absence or two that might leave some fans disappointed.<\/p>\n<p>The roadmap to World\u2019s End and the fate of the AEW Continental Championship already seemed foreshadowed. Yet that doesn\u2019t reduce or limit the potential bangers, storylines, and big developments in the final part of AEW\u2019s year.<\/p>\n<p>Before we get to the competitors and brackets, here\u2019s a reminder of the rules.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Rules of the Continental Classic <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Continental Classic (C2) is a round-robin tournament consisting of two leagues (Gold and Blue). The six competitors in each league will battle against each other in five individual matches across the weeks. Two competitors from each bracket will progress to the semi-finals based on their victories and points scored.<\/p>\n<p>Competitors gain 3 points for a victory, 1 for a draw, and 0 for losing. Matches take place under Continental rules. Each match has a strict 20-minute time limit, meaning a draw is possible and has happened in previous tournaments. No one is allowed at ringside to eliminate interference. Breaking the latter rule will result in a wrestler being banned from AEW.<\/p>\n<p>In the event of a tiebreaker at the league stages, with competitors sharing the same number of points, the head-to-head record will be used to determine who advances. The competitors with the most wins progress.<\/p>\n<p>The semi-finals and finals will happen at AEW\u2019s final PPV of the year, Worlds End. At the semi-final stage, the winner of each league faces the runner-up of the opposing league (i.e., the winner of the Gold League faces the runner-up of the Blue League).<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Gold League Competitors <\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A) Kazuchika Okada (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Continental Classic, winner 2024- group stage record- 3-1-1)<\/li>\n<li>B) Speedball Mike Bailey (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<li>C) Kyle Fletcher (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Continental Classic, semi-finalist 2024- group stage record- 4-1)<\/li>\n<li>D) Kevin Knight (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<li>E) PAC (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<li>F) Darby Allin (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Continental Classic, 4<sup>th<\/sup> in Gold League- group stage &#8211; 3-1-2)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Blue League Competitors <\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>A) Jon Moxley (2<sup>nd<\/sup> Continental Classic, finalist 2023- group stage &#8211; 4-1)<\/li>\n<li>B) Claudio Castagnoli (3<sup>rd<\/sup> Continental Classic- 3<sup>rd<\/sup> in Gold League 2024- group stage (3-2)<\/li>\n<li>C) Konosuke Takeshita (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<li>D) Roderick Strong (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<li>E) Mascara Dorara (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<li>F) Orange Cassidy (1<sup>st<\/sup> Continental Classic)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Speculation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Each Continental Classic league always contains three core types of wrestlers- established stars with a story to tell, dark horses, and pin-eaters.<\/p>\n<p>Of the first, established wrestlers with a story to tell, the eventual final feels like destiny. NJPW World Heavyweight Champion, Konosuke Takeshita, is taking on Kazuchika Okada. A battle that sees one former Ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling passing the torch to the man who many see as the future standard bearer.<\/p>\n<p>Yet Okada\u2019s 2024 league stage told an interesting story of being out of his depth. Surprises could happen. With the return of Kyle Fletcher, another Don Callis Family member, who could be more pivotal in the story.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, it seems the Continental Classic will be the vehicle and means for perhaps the next long-awaited stage of the Death Riders saga. The Jon Moxley of 2025 is not the Moxley of 2023. Moxley will have to face Claudio Castagnoli at some point. Will this be the turning point?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_122031\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-122031\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-122031 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Continental-Classic-1024x538.jpeg\" alt=\"AEW Continental Classic Tournament: Tournament Graphic\" width=\"640\" height=\"336\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Continental-Classic-1024x538.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Continental-Classic-300x158.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Continental-Classic-768x403.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Continental-Classic.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-122031\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: AEW<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Dark horses this year include Orange Cassidy and CMLL\u2019s Mascara Dorara. Cassidy could play spoiler for more than one wrestler. Some fans will be disappointed by Bandido&#8217;s exclusion. However, Dorada brings in high-flying athleticism that will surprise fans and potentially lead to some surprising results.<\/p>\n<p><strong><b>More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em><i>Header photo \u2013 AEW\u00a0\u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-auth=\"NotApplicable\" data-linkindex=\"1\" target=\"_self\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>\u00a0for more on AEW Collision and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.\u00a0 You can catch AEW Dynamite on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8 pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@AEW\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">YouTube<\/a><\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night, Tony Schiavone revealed the competitors and leagues for the 2025 AEW Continental Classic. A mix of fan favourites, there are some notable returnees, some interesting first-timers and an absence or two that might leave some fans disappointed. The roadmap to World\u2019s End and the fate of the AEW Continental Championship already seemed foreshadowed. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4960,"featured_media":147032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4677,12,6],"tags":[9052],"class_list":["post-147023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew","category-news","category-north-america","tag-continental-classic"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147023"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147033,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147023\/revisions\/147033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}