Tony Khan announces AEW Continental Classic round-robin tournament, Bryan Danielson is first entrant

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Originally published at Tony Khan announces AEW Continental Classic round-robin tournament, Bryan Danielson is first entrant

Tony Khan has announced a round-robin tournament named the AEW Continental Classic, and Bryan Danielson is the first entrant.

The announcement was made during Saturday’s episode of AEW Collision. In a backstage segment, Khan appeared, flanked by Danielson, and explained that the 12-man tournament was something that fans had been asking for.

Two leagues of six men will face each other over six weeks, with the respective winners eventually facing off.

Khan said that the weekly tournament would kick off on November 22 in Chicago, followed by a succession of other cities. The league finals will take place in Orlando, Florida, on December 27, with the inaugural winner crowned at AEW World’s End on December 30.

Danielson was then announced, “against all odds”, as the first participant.

Danielson said:

I know I may not look ready right now but this is the kind of tournament that 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 and with Tony Khan booking these shows. There is nothing that could stop me from coming back and participating in the Continental Classic, and me, just like all the other AEW wrestlers, we’re fired up and we’re gonna put on the best wrestling tournament ever.

Just announced by #AEW CEO & GM @TonyKhan–

The #AEWContinentalClassic, a round-robin tournament featuring 12 of #AEW's top stars, kicks off on #AEWDynamite LIVE on 11/22 in Chicago!

The first entrant?

The American Dragon @bryandanielson!

Watch #AEWCollision On TNT! pic.twitter.com/6pC9jHEWXd

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) November 12, 2023

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Now we need another tournament for the ROH TV title and another new title. Maybe Jarrett can defend the Texas Chainsaw Massace title

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A bit of sarcasm from our friend Benjamin there

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This is awesome the G1 climax is the best thing in pro wrestling. I’m so happy that AEW will have the same kind of tournament and with all talent they have it should be great.

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The obvious comparison is to the G1. But the G1 matters and has the fans and wrestlers invest time and money into it because it guarantees a title shot for in the main event of WrestleKingdom. It’s the Royal Rumble of NJPW.

If there is no prize at the end of the Continental tournament then it won’t warrant the same level of investment or care by the fans, wrestlers or quite frankly Tony Khan. Or he spends all his time booking this at the expense of his other programs and provides an excuse to continue to ignore the women’s division.

But if the winner gets a title shot against MJF at Revolution 2024 or a new PPV in January then it makes a lot more sense. Especially considering that AEW have been establishing multiple challengers for his title. This would be a great way to establish the official number one contender. Maybe it’s Samoa Joe. Maybe it’s Wardlow. Maybe it’s Swerve. Maybe it’s a Jay White rematch. Maybe somebody else.

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I would agree with this statement if they didn’t seemingly do a tournament every month. Tony Khan and tournaments is like Vince Russo and pole matches.

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Back when WWE did a second Royal Rumble for a Saudi show, I hated the fact they did two Rumbles in one year. It wasn’t that I had an issue with Rumbles, it’s that I didn’t like them overdoing it. That’s how I feel with AEW/tournaments.

I never said I had an issue with tournaments.

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It should be good. G1 style. Lots of good matches

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Just this year they’ve had the four pillars tournament, Owen Hart cup (for men and women), the blind tag team, women’s tournament for all in, a tournament for Grand Slam title shot and now this one.

Just too much. And I like tournaments but most of those did not end up with stories coming out of them. They were just matches for the sake of matches

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Oh there was also an ROH TV title number one contender tournament (:joy:) - which was filled with matches and won by Shane Taylor, who lost in six minutes on ROH ppv

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But Shane Taylor was “elevated” by winning that tournament. You can tell by the way he’s been trading wins and losses in multi-man matches on Honor Club ever since.

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For sure. I’m not doubting the match quality, I don’t think anyone really criticizes AEW for match quality. I’m just over tournaments AEW for the here and now.

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What are they fighting for though? To win a tournament with no prize? That’s the part I have an issue with.

If a decent prize gets revealed like an AEW title shot then I don’t have an issue with it whatsoever.

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While AEW haven’t announced a prize for the tournament they also haven’t announced any more participants yet which I’m a bit surprised by.

So who do you want to see as the other 11 contenders along with Bryan Danielson. I would like to see some talent featured that don’t seem to get a lot of match time but I know can go or that need a refresh.

  1. Bryan Danielson
  2. Miro
  3. Malaki Black
  4. Powerhouse Hobbs
  5. Wardlow
  6. Ricky Starks
  7. Swerve
  8. Hangman Page
  9. Andrade
  10. Takeshita
  11. Scorpio Sky
  12. Penta
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Ideally I would put in:

  • Danielson
  • Starks
  • Miro
  • Andrade
  • Swerve
  • Claudio
  • Kingston
  • Takeshita
  • Omega
  • Jay White
  • Hobbs
  • Penta

But they won’t want to burn through so many of these matches and I’m sure we will get guys like Trent, Matt Sydal and Action Andretti thrown in.