The 2025 Continental Classic finished at World’s End 2025 with the two semi final matches and final to decide the winner.
You can find all content on the Continental Classic from GrapPro here.
Learn more about the participants of the 20245 Continental Classic here.
Week One Review
Week Two Review
Week Three Review
Week Four Review
World’s End Preview
The results from World’s End 2025:
Continental Classic Semi-Final
Kazuchika Okada defeats Konosuke Takeshita by pinfall
Jon Moxley defeats Kyle Fletcher by submission
Continental Classic Final
Jon Moxley defeats Kazuchika Okada by pinfall to become AEW Continental Champion
Reviewing the Final
Well that didn’t go the way we all expected!
It felt like from the very beginning that this was going to be about the breakup of the Don Callis Family. Konosuke Takeshita, constantly pushed aside by Kazuchika Okada, would have to fight through the C2 and fight through his best friend Kyle Fletcher to get his hands on Okada, and defeat him for the AEW Continental Championship. I thought he’d end up Unified Champion even, maybe convincing Okada to put both belts on the line.
I guess I should have considered the politics of Wrestle Kingdom coming up. AEW President Tony Khan likely didn’t want his newly crowned AEW Continental Champion to lose to Yota Tsuji as Tsuji became IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Okada was winning his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi, so it was okay for him to get through Takeshita.
Instead, that angle is still going to continue. Okada stole the screwdriver that Kyle Fletcher hid in preparation for his match against Jon Moxley. Okada used it to beat Takeshita, and then Fletcher tried to find it and gave Moxley time to recover which cost him his match. I have a feeling we get a three way match at Revolution.
There was a secondary story running through the Continental Classic with people thinking Jon Moxley was going to go 0-5 and then get kicked out of the Death Riders. I thought the match with Claudio would be held to the final match. Instead Moxley won his first match. He lost to Claudio. Then he just… squeaked into the semi final and won the whole thing? And now Moxley is a babyface?
I’ll try to talk later about why I am not a big fan of this, but even if I’m not a big fan of it? It’s probably inevitable. The crowd wants to cheer Jon Moxley. You gotta go with it. But they also absolutely leaned hard into it, and now have a babyface leading a heel faction. This all ended up Moxley’s redemption arc, which I think would have worked better had he lost his first two matches and then won the last three. I guess they didn’t want it too close to Eddie Kingston’s.
Speaking of politics, it also feels like Jon Moxley is getting the AEW Continental Championship to officially take him out of the main event scene right as Maxwell Jacob Friedman becomes AEW Men’s World Champion. That was basically my first thought coming out of World’s End. Hey Mox is babyface now maybe he can oh yeah he’s out.
Reviewing the Blue League
Once again it’s the Blue League that produces the winner of the Continental Classic. 2023 it was Eddie Kingston. 2024 it was Kazuchika Okada. 2025 is now Jon Moxley. For the third straight year as well the winner of the Blue League did not get to the final. Konosuke Takeshita joins Bryan Danielson and Kyle Fletcher as Blue League winners who ended up never getting to the final.
Konosuke Takeshita 4-0-1: 13 points
Wins versus Roderick Strong, Jon Moxley, Orange Cassidy, and Máscara Dorada
Time Limit Draw versus Claudio Castagnoli
Loss versus Kazuchika Okada in the Continental Classic Semi-Final
He’s been my pick to win this pretty much since the end of the Continental Classic last year. I guess when I thought AEW would zig they zagged. The moment they said he’d be facing Okada instead of Fletcher I knew my thoughts were gone. Takeshita had a great Continental Classic, though I wish the match against Okada had a bit more fire. I was expected one of the greatest wrestling matches I had ever seen. I instead got a warm up. Hopefully their rematch reaches my expectations.
Jon Moxley 3-2: 9 points
Wins versus Máscara Dorada, Roderick Strong, and Orange Cassidy
Losses versus Claudio Castagnoli and Konosuke Takeshita
Win versus Kyle Fletcher in the Continental Classic Semi-Final
Win versus Kazuchika Okada in the Continental Classic Final
Winner of the 2025 Continental Classic
AEW Continental Champion
Moxley started the Continental Classic with everyone thinking he was going to crash and burn, leading to his exile out of the Death Riders. That might still happen as I’m sure Claudio Castagnoli is going to want a rematch after beating Moxley when points were on the line. Now it’ll be the AEW Continental Championship. His loss to Takeshita is also interesting. Do they run that back?
Claudio Castagnoli 2-1-2: 7 points
Wins versus Orange Cassidy and Jon Moxley
Losses versus Máscara Dorada and Roderick Strong
Time Limit Draw versus Konosuke Takeshita
Claudio is once again on the outside looking in. He’s participated in every Continental Classic so far and is always an early favourite. That time limit draw really burned him. I don’t know if he enters again next year to try to finally break this losing streak or he calls it a game.
Orange Cassidy 2-3: 6 points
Wins versus Roderick Strong and Máscara Dorada
Losses versus Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Konosuke Takeshita
OC had a good showing but the fire is missing a bit I feel. It was good to have him in this and I’ll never be upset about seeing him wrestle but I do feel he was a bit of an uninspired pick. I wasn’t crazy about him getting a win over Dorada either. I hate being down on the guy but he needs something to do.
Máscara Dorada 2-3: 6 points
Wins versus Claudio Castagnoli and Roderick Strong
Losses versus Konosuke Takeshita, Jon Moxley, and Orange Cassidy
I was hoping for a better outcome for Dorada, who was my pick for the second spot in the Blue League. He had a really great match against Takeshita at least which just missed my top 5. He’s one of the best young wrestlers in the world.
Roderick Strong 1-4: 3 points
Win versus Claudio Castagnoli
Losses versus Jon Moxley, Konosuke Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, and Máscara Dorada
Roddy going 1-4 makes sense. Someone had to eat the most losses. I thought this would end up Moxley but Roddy works as well. Roddy is a great wrestler but much like Orange Cassidy he’s treading water a bit. I know they are waiting for Kyle O’Reilly to get healthy before doing something with him so he’s sort of in the Conglomeration but not but it doesn’t really make for great feuds. His match with Claudio was his best performance.
Reviewing the Gold League
Much like last year the Gold League had a substitution. Last year it was Komander replacing Juice Robinson. This year it was Jungle Jack Perry replacing Darby Allin.
Despite the gold in the name the Gold League has yet to produce a Continental Classic winner. The winner of the Gold League has only once made it to the final, back in 2023 when the top winners of the league had to still face each other. When the winner of the Gold League has to face the runner-up of the Blue League? They always lose.
While this may seem strange to some that the most dominant doesn’t always win it all? I think it’s a realistic aspect of the Continental Classic. It’s a grind. In the National Hockey League, the best regular season team is awarded the President’s Trophy. The last time a team won the President’s trophy then went on to win the Stanley Cup in the same season? 13 years ago. The President’s trophy has existed since 1986 and only 8 times did the best team in the regular season also win the Stanley Cup.
So for me? It makes perfect sense that the teams that dominant don’t go all the way.
Kyle Fletcher 3-2: 9 points
Wins versus Kazuchika Okada, Kevin Knight, and Jungle Jack Perry
Losses versus Speedball Mike Bailey and PAC
Loss versus Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Semi-Final
Two straight years now for Fletcher being the best pro wrestler in the Continental Classic but topping out at the semi final. If he enters again in 2026? He needs to win. I could have filled my Top 5 with just matches of his, and he still made it three times with the top two spots. He is without a doubt one of the best pro wrestlers in the world. He doesn’t get the recognition through the Continental Classic, but I have no doubt in my mind that in 2026 he will move up to the upper echelon of AEW.
Kazuchika Okada 3-2: 9 points
Wins versus PAC, Jungle Jack Perry, and Speedball Mike Bailey
Losses versus Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight
Win versus Konosuke Takeshita in the Continental Classic Semi-Final
Loss versus Jon Moxley in the Continental Classic Final
Kazu had a pretty decent run, though it’s clear his mind was more on his match with Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom. That ended up costing him the Unified Championship, as he loses in the final to Jon Moxley. He does however get to gloat over Takeshita on his win but I don’t know if it really feels like the big win it should have been. He’s going to have Takeshita breathing down his neck all year.
Kevin Knight 2-1-2: 7 points
Wins versus Kazuchika Okada and Darby Allin
Losses versus Speedball Mike Bailey and Kyle Fletcher
Time Limit Draw versus PAC
If there’s a breakout star of the Continental Classic? It’s Kevin Knight. I loved his match against Darby and thought the match against Okada was great as well. Honestly no bad matches and everything at a higher level than expected. Once he figures out his personality he’s going to be a great one on the roster.
PAC 2-1-2: 7 points
Wins versus Kyle Fletcher and Speedball Mike Bailey
Losses versus Kazuchika Okada and Jungle Jack Perry
Time Limit Draw versus Kevin Knight
At one point I wondered if they were going to position PAC as sort of a shadow leader of Death Riders by having him finish with a better record than Claudio and Moxley. He did tie Claudio but Moxley had that win when Claudio and PAC had draws. I figure the loss to Jack Perry was supposed to be Darby.
Darby Allin 0-1
Loss versus Kevin Knight
Jungle Jack Perry 2-2: 6 points
Wins versus PAC and Speedball Mike Bailey
Losses versus Kazuchika Okada and Kyle Fletcher
It’s a real shame Darby couldn’t finish. The matches with Fletcher, Okada, and Bailey would have been spectacular. Jungle Jack Perry does deserve credit for stepping in and doing a great job in his stead. He wasn’t as good as Darby would have been, but who really could have come into that role? I also enjoyed him getting over biting opponents. He’s Amazon from NES Pro Wrestling.
Speedball Mike Bailey 2-3: 6 points
Wins versus Kevin Knight and Kyle Fletcher
Losses versus Kazuchika Okada, PAC, and Jungle Jack Perry
A great showing from Speedball Mike Bailey with one of the best matches of the C2 against Kyle Fletcher. He’s an absolutely incredible pro wrestler and I wonder how AEW plans to use him in 2026. Does he stick to the tag divison with JetSpeed or do they try to split them up and do something in singles with him?
Best Matches
The Top 5 matches from the Continental Classic 2025 for me were:
5. Kyle Fletcher versus Jungle Jack Perry
AEW Collision: Christmas Collision, December 25, 2025
4. Claudio Castagnoli versus Konosuke Takeshita
AEW Collision: Winter is Coming, December 13, 2025
3. Kevin Knight versus Darby Allin
AEW Dynamite Thanksgiving Eve, November 26, 2025
2. Speedball Mike Bailey versus Kyle Fletcher
AEW Dynamite: Winter is Coming, December 10, 2025
1. Jon Moxley versus Kyle Fletcher
AEW World’s End, December 27, 2025
We close this chapter of the Continental Classic. Thanks for reading.
