Just announced.
Not sure which way this goes. A toss-up between Okada, Garcia, Ospreay, Fletcher, I think?
Either way, going to make for some great TV matches.
Only four of last year’s twelve names returning. I love that Beast Mortos is in this. I don’t expect him to win, I’m just a big Mortos fan, and we’re going to get to see him have matches with Okada and Benjamin.
In announcing Darby Allin, Tony Schiavone explicitly said he was looking to spoil Claudio’s chances at winning.
No matches announced, though Schiavone did say that Tony Khan will announce matches for the first week tomorrow. Matches will be across Dynamite and Collision (including the two shows in Hammerstein Ballroom) to lead to the finals at Worlds End on December 28.
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I think 2004 Randy Orton is going to the finals
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With the year Fletcher has been having, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Probably one of the underdogs of the tournament, but I’d be stoked if Brody King wins the whole thing.
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I see Ospreay getting his win back over Fletcher to win it.
I do question why they had all those teases with Okada and Takeshita and he’s not even in the tournament. Maybe Okada gets screwed over by the Callis Family and turns face after losing to Fletcher.
It’s also weird that Garcia wins a midcard title and now will lose a bunch. Interested to see how they book Shelton too because he shouldn’t be losing a lot either.
Beast Mortos being put in a group with guys bigger than him is also an odd decision, not really playing to his strengths.
Would have liked to see a young guy who can go like Nick Wayne in this tournament. Could have looked good losing and get more ring time.
I’d like to see the Blue League for Dynamite and the Gold league for Collision. Collision needs the extra help and the Gold league in general seems to be the overall better block in my opinion.
That said, one thing I like about AEW is things like this. Lots of “booking for the sickos” but also in a more competitive context. The Blue League feels like you can have more fun with on television. Three managers are attached with MVP, Jake Roberts and Don Callis so you can have them interact before their clients matches.
I’m sure there will be lots of good matches, but I just can’t say I care about the winner getting a continental title shot at the end because I don’t care about the continental title.
I’m also almost disappointed about seeing Darby in this. He should be above this with AEW focusing on him as the #1 babyface and thread to Mox’s title. The other world title contenders aren’t in this (Swerve, Christian, Hangman, etc). Instead Darby is going to have 11 matches to keep Claudio from a third tier title? That’s just pretty lame to me.
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So, did you even watch this last year or are you just making assumptions? The winner gets the Continental Title, not a shot at it. They also don’t wrestle 11 matches.
I think Darby is pretty clearly going to win the title from Mox and they don’t wanna get to that yet obviously, so it’s a nice distraction. It’s worse that they brought back 4 people from last year, than it is that Darby is in this.
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I can see Okada vs. Ospreay or Fletcher vs. Ospreay in the finals. I can see Garcia doing better this year than last year.
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In case anyone’s curious, I went through Cagematch and flagged first time singles matches in the CC (17 out of 30). Shelton has all fresh matchups, Claudio has none. Pretty sure the more than ten years since Antonio Cesaro beat CJ Parker on NXT is the longest layover between matches.
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I did watch some of it last year. I admit I forgot that the contestants only face the other people in their block and not all 12 competitors.
But the whole tournament IS a shot at the Continental Classic championship. The winner wins the title.
And if the winner is then Darby that’s still a step down in my opinion from where he should be. Maybe 5 years from now the C2 will have been defined as the premier tournament in the industry and winning it is a huge deal. But it’s not there yet. Personally I just think it’s time to get straight to Darby vs Mox at Winter is Coming or Worlds End instead of waiting and the anticipation loosing steam.
Can’t really say any of these matches excite me. I don’t really know why Mark Briscoe is even in this. He never wins anything. Instead of Sheldon would’ve liked to have seen Bobby Lashley. I’ve already mentioned I don’t like ricochet.
Darby, losing to Claudio still makes no sense and I don’t know how after that angle He suddenly wrestling again.
However, there’s potential for some great stuff with Fletcher, Okada, Osprey, etc. Would’ve liked to have seen to Takeshita in this, but I can see a big win for Fletcher at the end.
Man this match will SLAP! I can’t wait for Wednesday!
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The C2 is going to help Collision big time by forcing some planning and scheduling matches in advance
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Damn man. We eating good on “Thanksgiving ̶W̶e̶d̶n̶e̶s̶d̶a̶y̶ Saturday!”
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