Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
AEW International Championship
Men's professional wrestling championship From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
The AEW International Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a secondary championship for male wrestlers, and unlike AEW's other titles, which are almost exclusively defended on AEW programming, the International Championship can also be defended in other promotions globally, which has included Revolution Pro Wrestling, Over the Top Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling. The reigning champion is Kazuchika Okada, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating the previous champion Kenny Omega at All In on July 12, 2025, in a Winner Takes All Unification match in which Okada defended the AEW Continental Championship, also becoming the inaugural AEW Unified Champion.
Established as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship on June 8, 2022, the title was created to represent AEW's fans from around the world with no particular focus on the Atlantic Ocean or countries surrounding it. The inaugural champion was Pac. On March 15, 2023, the title was rebranded as the AEW International Championship, while during MJF's reign from July to August 2024, he unofficially rebranded the title as the AEW American Championship. At All In: Texas on July 12, 2025, the title was unified with the AEW Continental Championship as the AEW Unified Championship, but maintaining their respective individual lineages.
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
The championship was unveiled by the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the June 8, 2022, episode of Dynamite. It was originally established as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship and was created to be a secondary title for the men's division. Despite its original name seemingly centering on countries around the Atlantic Ocean, the company announced that the championship "[represented] the AEW fans watching around the world in over 130 countries".[1]
The inaugural champion was crowned in a four-way match which was held at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view event on June 26, which was co-produced with the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). To determine the competitors in the four-way, six qualifying matches were held. Three of these featured wrestlers from AEW with the three winners advancing to the four-way match.[1] The other three qualifying matches were held between four wrestlers from NJPW in a single-elimination tournament fashion. The winners of NJPW's preliminary qualifiers faced off and the winner of that match advanced to the four-way at Forbidden Door.[2][3] On the AEW side, Pac,[4] Miro,[5] and Malakai Black[6] won their qualifiers; on the NJPW side, Tomohiro Ishii qualified but suffered a legitimate left knee injury and had to be replaced with the runner-up, Clark Connors.[7] At Forbidden Door, Pac became the inaugural champion by submitting Connors.[8]
In an interview with Robbie Fox on the My Mom's Basement podcast, AEW president Tony Khan confirmed that the championship would be defended differently than the company's other titles. Khan said that holders of the championship would defend the title internationally in other promotions, in addition to AEW. This interview came shortly after Pac defended the title at an event for Britain's Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), which was later shown on AEW's YouTube show, Dark, on July 12.[9] Pac also defended the title at an event for Ireland's Over the Top Wrestling (OTT) on July 22.[10] Since then, the title has been defended in NJPW,[11] Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL),[12] and Canada's Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP).[13]
.jpg)
On the March 8, 2023, episode of Dynamite, Tony Khan announced that Orange Cassidy's defense of the title that night was the final as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. The following week on March 15, in celebration of the release of the Warner Bros. film Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the title was rebranded as the AEW International Championship due to AEW's broadcast partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.[14] At the time, AEW had considered this to be a new title, with Cassidy regarded as the final All-Atlantic Champion and inaugural International Champion,[15] but the title history was later amended to show that it was the same championship with Cassidy's reign as one continuous reign from when he originally defeated Pac for the title.[16]
During Dynamite: Blood & Guts on July 24, 2024, reigning champion MJF, who won the title from Will Ospreay at the previous week's Dynamite 250, unofficially rebranded the title as the "AEW American Championship". He also introduced his own custom version of the title belt to reflect this unofficial name change.[17] After Ospreay regained the title at All In London the following month on August 25, the title was restored as the International Championship.[18]
At Revolution on March 9, 2025, Kenny Omega dethroned Konosuke Takeshita to win the International Championship.[19] After successfully defending the title at Dynamite: Fyter Fest on June 4, 2025,[20] Omega was confronted by AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada, setting up a Winner Takes All match for All In on July 12.[21] A week later during the contract signing at Dynamite: Summer Blockbuster, Tony Schiavone announced that the winner would also unify the International and Continental titles as the AEW Unified Championship.[22] During the All In: Texas media call just a few days prior to the event on July 8, Tony Khan clarified that neither the Continental or International Championships would be retired and that their lineages would still be intact along with a new lineage for the Unified Championship, and the champion has the option to carry around all three belts.[23] At All In, Okada defeated Omega to become the Unified Champion.[24]
Inaugural championship tournament
| Preliminary Qualifiers New Japan Road (June 20, 2022) | Qualifiers Dynamite (June 8, 15, and 22, 2022) New Japan Road (June 21, 2022) | Final Forbidden Door (June 26, 2022) | |||||||||||
 Buddy Matthews | 10:32[4] | ||||||||||||
 Pac | Pin | ||||||||||||
 Ethan Page | 9:25[5] | ||||||||||||
| Pac | Sub | ||||||||||||
 Miro | Sub | ||||||||||||
| Miro | —[8] | ||||||||||||
 Malakai Black | —[8] | ||||||||||||
 Penta Oscuro | 9:49[6] | ||||||||||||
 Clark Connors[a] | 15:05[8] | ||||||||||||
| Malakai Black | Pin | ||||||||||||
 Tomoaki Honma | 11:29[25] | ||||||||||||
| Clark Connors | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Clark Connors | 13:21[26] | ||||||||||||
| Tomohiro Ishii | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Tomohiro Ishii | Pin | ||||||||||||
| Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 19:01[25] | ||||||||||||
- Connors replaced Ishii who was not medically cleared.[7]
Remove ads
Belt design
Summarize
Perspective
Ron Edwardsen of Red Leather Belts designed the standard version of the championship belt. At the top of the center plate is AEW's logo, while at the center of the plate is a globe with flags representing six countries: Mexico, China, the United Kingdom (UK), the United States, Canada, and Japan. Originally, the banner above the globe read "All-Atlantic", but this was changed to "International" with the championship's rebranding on March 15, 2023. Another banner below the globe reads "Champion". On each opposing side of the globe are lions standing upright facing inwards. Sitting on each side of the center plate are two side plates. The inner side plates include AEW's logo over a globe, while the outer side plates feature two wrestlers grappling. Filigree fills in the rest of each plate.[27]
Custom design
During Dynamite: Blood & Guts on July 24, 2024, reigning champion MJF threw away the standard version of the championship belt. He then introduced his own custom version, which he unofficially rebranded as the AEW American Championship. It featured the overall same design as the standard version, but the strap was painted like the American flag, the globe at the center was replaced by the contiguous United States, also painted like the American flag, and the upper banner read "American" instead of "International". Additionally, the two inner side plates mocked the UK, as well as UK native Will Ospreay, who MJF beat to win the title, as one side plate said "Better Than Will and the UK Knows It", a play on MJF's catchphrase of "better than you and you know it", and the other side plate said "Only Country That Matters", with the text for each written in red, white, and blue except the UK text, which was adorned as the UK flag. The grappling wrestlers on the outer side plates were also replaced by MJF himself posing, showing him kneeling on one knee and flexing his bicep. MJF's logo also replaced AEW's logo at the top of the center plate and was also placed at the top of the inner side plates. This custom belt was also designed by Ron Edwardsen.[28] After MJF lost the title back to Ospreay at All In on August 25, the title was restored as the International Championship.[18]
Remove ads
Reigns
Summarize
Perspective
As of August 12, 2025, there have been 12 reigns between 10 champions. Pac was the inaugural champion. Orange Cassidy and Will Ospreay are tied for the most reigns at two, with Cassidy's first reign being the longest reign at 326 days, and he has the longest combined reign at 471 days. Jon Moxley has the shortest reign at 17 days. MJF is the youngest champion, winning the title at 28, while Kenny Omega is the oldest, winning the title at 41.
The current champion is Kazuchika Okada, who is in his first reign. He defeated Kenny Omega at All In on July 12, 2025, in Arlington, Texas in a Winner Takes All Unification match in which Okada defended the AEW Continental Championship, subsequently becoming the AEW Unified Champion.[24]
Remove ads
Combined reigns
As of August 12, 2025.
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads