Continental Classic (2024)

The 2024 Continental Classic (C2) was a professional wrestling round-robin tournament hosted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The second annual edition of the AEW Continental Classic began on the Thanksgiving Eve episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite on November 27, 2024, and culminated at the Worlds End pay-per-view (PPV) event on December 28, 2024. Tournament matches were held under "Continental Rules", which feature a 20-minute time limit with no one allowed at ringside and outside interference strictly prohibited. The prize of the tournament was the AEW Continental Championship. Incumbent champion Kazuchika Okada was automatically entered into the tournament and won to retain the title.

AEW Continental Classic

Tournament information
Sport	Professional wrestling
Location	United States
Dates	November 27, 2024–December 28, 2024
Tournament format(s)	Two-block round-robin tournament
Host(s)	All Elite Wrestling
Venue(s)	Various arenas (see matches)
Participants	13[a]
Final positions
Champion	Kazuchika Okada
Runner-up	Will Ospreay
← 2023

Overview

Established in 2023, the Continental Classic (C2) is an annual professional wrestling tournament hosted by All Elite Wrestling (AEW) that starts after the promotion's Full Gear pay-per-view (PPV) event in mid-November and ends at the Worlds End PPV at the end of December. The tournament takes place in a round-robin format, with two blocks of six wrestlers – titled the Blue and Gold Leagues – wrestling each other across AEW's television shows, Dynamite, Rampage, and Collision.

Matches are held under "Continental Rules": each match has 20-minute time limit, no other wrestlers are allowed at ringside, and outside interference is strictly prohibited under threat of penalty. Similar to most soccer leagues, match winners obtain three points for a win, and drawn matches give one point to each participant. After the round-robin phase, the top two wrestlers in each league qualify for a league final match, with ties broken based on head-to-head record. The winner of each league final match then face each other for the AEW Continental Championship at Worlds End.^[1] For 2024, the format for the league finals was changed so that block winners would face the runner-up from the opposite block.

As the incumbent Continental Champion, Kazuchika Okada was awarded automatic entry into the tournament. Daniel Garcia announced his entry at the press conference after Full Gear, and the other 10 participants were announced in a "Selection Sunday" presentation prior to the beginning of the tournament:^[2][3] Okada, Garcia, Shelton Benjamin, Mark Briscoe, Kyle Fletcher, and The Beast Mortos in the Blue League, and Darby Allin, Claudio Castagnoli, Brody King, Will Ospreay, Ricochet, and Juice Robinson in the Gold League.^[4] After Robinson sustained a suspected broken foot in his first tournament match against Ospreay, he was withdrawn from the tournament and replaced with Komander.^[5]

Matches

Legend

	Blue League match
	Gold League match
	Semifinal match
	Championship final match

Tournament matches

Dates	Show	Venue	Matches		Time
November 27	Thanksgiving Eve Dynamite	Wintrust Arena Chicago, Illinois	B	Shelton Benjamin defeated Mark Briscoe by pinfall	11:44
			G	Claudio Castagnoli defeated Ricochet by pinfall	13:01
			G	Brody King defeated Darby Allin by pinfall	9:35
	Collision (aired November 30)		G	Will Ospreay defeated Juice Robinson by pinfall[a]	12:34
			B	Kyle Fletcher defeated The Beast Mortos by pinfall	9:52
			B	Daniel Garcia vs. Kazuchika Okada went to a time-limit draw	20:00
December 4	Dynamite	Fishers Event Center Fishers, Indiana	B	Kyle Fletcher defeated Shelton Benjamin by pinfall	15:48
			G	Claudio Castagnoli defeated Brody King by pinfall	14:17
	Rampage (aired December 6)		B	Kazuchika Okada defeated Mark Briscoe by pinfall	13:26
			B	Daniel Garcia defeated The Beast Mortos by pinfall	10:25
			G	Ricochet defeated Komander by pinfall	12:28
December 7	Collision	Greater Columbus Convention Center GalaxyCon Columbus, Ohio	G	Darby Allin defeated Komander by pinfall	13:11
			B	Kyle Fletcher defeated Kazuchika Okada by pinfall	16:57
			B	Mark Briscoe defeated Daniel Garcia by pinfall	16:22
December 11	Dynamite: Winter Is Coming	T-Mobile Center Kansas City, Missouri	G	Will Ospreay defeated Claudio Castagnoli by pinfall	13:26
			G	Ricochet defeated Brody King by pinfall	12:46
December 12	Collision: Winter Is Coming (aired December 14)	Chaifetz Arena St Louis, Missouri	B	Kazuchika Okada defeated The Beast Mortos by pinfall	12:44
			B	Mark Briscoe defeated Kyle Fletcher by pinfall	19:44
December 18	Dynamite: Holiday Bash	Entertainment and Sports Arena Washington, D.C.	B	Shelton Benjamin defeated The Beast Mortos by pinfall	8:47
			G	Darby Allin defeated Will Ospreay by pinfall	14:38
	Rampage: Holiday Bash (aired December 20)		G	Brody King defeated Komander by pinfall	14:51
December 21	Christmas Collision	Hammerstein Ballroom New York City, New York	G	Ricochet defeated Will Ospreay by pinfall	14:27
			B	Daniel Garcia defeated Shelton Benjamin by pinfall	12:16
			B	Mark Briscoe defeated The Beast Mortos by pinfall	11:38
			G	Claudio Castagnoli defeated Darby Allin by pinfall	11:16
December 22	Dynamite on 34th Street (aired December 25)		G	Will Ospreay defeated Brody King by pinfall	15:30
			G	Darby Allin vs. Ricochet went to a time-limit draw	20:00
			G	Komander defeated Claudio Castagnoli by pinfall	7:37
			B	Kazuchika Okada defeated Shelton Benjamin by pinfall	12:37
			B	Kyle Fletcher defeated Daniel Garcia by pinfall	15:06
December 28	Worlds End	Addition Financial Arena Orlando, Florida	SF	Will Ospreay defeated Kyle Fletcher by pinfall	16:21
			SF	Kazuchika Okada defeated Ricochet by pinfall	12:55
			CF	Kazuchika Okada defeated Will Ospreay by pinfall	19:12

Leagues

Legend

Qualified to semifinal

Participants

Blue League		Gold League
Kyle Fletcher	12	Ricochet	10
Kazuchika Okada (c)	10	Will Ospreay[α]	9
Mark Briscoe	9	Claudio Castagnoli	9
Daniel Garcia	7	Darby Allin	7
Shelton Benjamin	6	Brody King	6
The Beast Mortos	0	Komander[a]	3
(c) – the incumbent champion at the beginning of the tournament

1. Ospreay advanced to the semifinals due to his head-to-head victory over Castagnoli.

Tournament overview

Blue League	Benjamin	Briscoe	Fletcher	Garcia	Mortos	Okada
Benjamin	—	Benjamin (11:44)	Fletcher (15:48)	Garcia (12:16)	Benjamin (8:47)	Okada (12:37)
Briscoe	Benjamin (11:44)	—	Briscoe (19:44)	Briscoe (16:22)	Briscoe (11:38)	Okada (13:26)
Fletcher	Fletcher (15:48)	Briscoe (19:44)	—	Fletcher (15:06)	Fletcher (9:52)	Fletcher (16:57)
Garcia	Garcia (12:16)	Briscoe (16:22)	Fletcher (15:06)	—	Garcia (10:25)	Draw (20:00)
Mortos	Benjamin (8:47)	Briscoe (11:38)	Fletcher (9:52)	Garcia (10:25)	—	Okada (12:44)
Okada	Okada (12:37)	Okada (13:26)	Fletcher (16:57)	Draw (20:00)	Okada (12:44)	—
Gold League	Allin	Castagnoli	King	Komander[a]	Ospreay	Ricochet
Allin	—	Castagnoli (11:16)	King (9:35)	Allin (13:11)	Allin (14:38)	Draw (20:00)
Castagnoli	Castagnoli (11:16)	—	Castagnoli (14:17)	Komander (7:37)	Ospreay (13:26)	Castagnoli (13:01)
King	King (9:35)	Castagnoli (14:17)	—	King (14:51)	Ospreay (15:30)	Ricochet (12:46)
Komander[a]	Allin (13:11)	Komander (7:37)	King (14:51)	—	Ospreay (12:34)	Ricochet (12:28)
Ospreay	Allin (14:38)	Ospreay (13:26)	Ospreay (15:30)	Ospreay (12:34)	—	Ricochet (14:27)
Ricochet	Draw (20:00)	Castagnoli (13:01)	Ricochet (12:46)	Ricochet (12:28)	Ricochet (14:27)	—

	Semifinals Worlds End (December 28)					Championship Final Worlds End (December 28)
	B1	Kyle Fletcher	16:21
	G2	Will Ospreay	Pin
						G2	Will Ospreay	19:12
						B2	Kazuchika Okada (c)	Pin
	G1	Ricochet	12:55
	B2	Kazuchika Okada (c)	Pin

See also

• List of All Elite Wrestling tournaments

Footnotes

1. Juice Robinson sustained an injury in his first match against Will Ospreay; he was replaced for the remainder of the tournament by Komander.