The second week of the AEW Continental Classic 2024 is well underway, with matches last night on AEW Rampage and matches tonight on AEW Collision.
You can find all content on the Continental Classic from GrapPro here.
The use of AEW Rampage this year was a surprise to some as last year they kept Gold League matches on Dynamite and Blue League matches on Collision. The only time a match ended up on Rampage last year was the Blue League match between Bryan Danielson and Daniel Garcia on December 6.
This year we have Gold and Blue League matches on Dynamite and Collision, and last night there were three major matches on Rampage. What’s the reason?
One Less Week
In 2023, based on when Thanksgiving fell (November 23, 2023) that allowed for six weeks of TV before World’s End. From 2024 to 2027, there will only be five. You could pull off six weeks of TV before World’s End in 2027 if World’s End takes place on January 1, 2028, but I don’t know if All Elite Wrestling does that. Come 2028 Thanksgiving is once again on the 23rd of November, allowing AEW their six weeks.
The problem in 2025 is that AEW Rampage is expected to be no more. These Continental Classic matches essentially allow Rampage to go out with a bang. It does however mean until we get an official word on a new show (Possibly AEW Shockwave on Fox?) that AEW just won’t have as much time on TV to run the Continental Classic.
So here’s my solution.
WrestleDream tends to take place at the beginning of October and Full Gear takes place at the end of November. This usually means 6+ weeks of TV between the two shows. I would keep this up, and if there’s an opportunity to put WrestleDream a week earlier, say October 4, 2025? I take it.
Now November 1, 2025? That’s the first week of November. If WrestleDream is on the 4th that means there are four weeks prior to this night. Full Gear 2025 would likely be the 22nd of November or on that weekend. That’s three weeks after November 1. What’s the importance of that date?
The Opening Ceremonies
This is the night I would launch the 2025 Continental Classic as a MAX Exclusive event.
As a MAX Exclusive event that means it isn’t a pay per view where you can get it on traditional PPV providers. It’s specifically for MAX subscribers. I’m sure AEW and WBD have plans to run those once the WBD renewal kicks in.
This MAX exclusive would feature all of the pomp I said I wanted to see in the Continental Classic. Giant opening ceremony, promo videos on every entrant of the CC complete with video record, interviews, and more. All 12 competitors get their moment that day.
After the opening ceremonies which reveals the 12 competitors for the 2025 Continental Classic I would then run eight matches on the night. Four matches for the Gold League and four matches for the Blue League. That means everyone’s first week of action is covered in a single event.
This means you can take your time in the next weeks. You don’t need to run 2-3 matches per Dynamite and Collision. You’ve expanded the amount of time from five weeks to a whopping eight. Eight weeks to run the final 50 matches. If we cut that back to seven weeks that allows the final week to be when you do the semi-final matches for each League like you did in 2023.
What About Full Gear?
The one issue this creates is that everyone involved in the Continental Classic wouldn’t be involved in any major storylines for Full Gear. That means you have to select wrestlers you know you’re not going to need for the pay per view in title matches.
That’s why I talked about the weeks you have after WrestleDream. Those weeks are for basically exhausting any storylines wrestlers need to complete so they are available for the Continental Classic. It’s also the time you use to really solidify who is going to be in title programs going into November.
So if next year you want Hangman Adam Page going after the AEW Men’s World Championship? That means he won’t be available for the Continental Classic and you’ll know this at the beginning of November.
Maybe on Full Gear you can run a six on six tag team match as the opener, similar to the eight wrestler tag they did at World’s End in 2023. Or you can have a couple premier Blue and Gold League matches that would be pay per view worthy to run on Full Gear. Say you plan it out just perfectly so Will Ospreay is facing Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley is taking on Eddie Kingston.
Benefits and Drawbacks
The benefit in doing this? It makes the Continental Classic mean that much more to have an opening ceremonies show. It allows people to get hyped into who ends up taking part in it. It lets you make this all feel like a big deal, and it takes the first week off Dynamite so you don’t have to pack the first week full of C2 matches. It lets the other storylines and divisions still breathe.
Having the extra time also allows you to plan out alternates better. You can keep it in mind in early to mid November to have a few wrestlers kept strong in case of injury.
The drawback? You’re taking people out of the picture pretty early, and it could mean less punch for your title programs or less punch on the wrestlers selected for the Continental Classic. It would also mean a bit more “waiting around” for some wrestlers if you don’t need to run matches with the same crunch that 2023 and now 2024 has provided.
It also means some of the focus won’t be on Full Gear but be on the Continental Classic, which is why you’ll have to combine the two in a way that’s a draw for people purchasing Full Gear.
Also, making the first matches for each league a MAX exclusive will mean less people overall will watch it compared to Dynamite or Collision. You’re going to get something similar to a Battle of the Belts audience likely for that first week, which could cause some people to not be up to date for it come Dynamite and Collision. You will have to run some heavy video recaps on that first week.
The extra weeks might also entice Tony Khan to increase the amount of wrestlers in the Continental Classic, which I would be against. I think the 12 they have right now is a solid number. The highest I would want to see this go to would be 16 (that’s 112 matches, which you might as well have the opening Ceremonies be the All Out pay per view at that point) and that’s only possible if Shockwave on Fox is a two hour show, giving AEW six hours of TV each week.
Go Big For C2
I think the Continental Classic is one of the best concepts for All Elite Wrestling. Bringing this to a North American audience (we won’t talk about NXT’s failed attempt, and as for TNA with the BFG Series? I was excited for that too. Oops) and getting them trained to take these matches serious has been a big endeavor for AEW but I think it’s worth it.
The more it goes on, the more AEW needs to think about making it better. Making it bigger. Making it mean that much more. If they want to continue making it for the Continental Championship that’s fine. If they decide to make it for a title shot at the AEW Men’s World Championship? I would be good with that too. Maybe allow someone to effectively “cash in” the Continental Championship for a title shot.
Either way, AEW needs to consider the amount of time they have in accomplishing their goals with the C2 every year, and the more time? The better. This is also a perfect opportunity to bring in MAX and do a big exclusive event for the AEW audience that loves the C2.
For all my thoughts on next year? Time to focus on this year. Continental Classic continues on Collision tonight.
