The 2024 AEW Continental Classic starts tonight on Thanksgiving Eve Dynamite. Despite pleas for the entire schedule to come out we at least have the first six matches of the C2 for this week.
The #AEWContinentalClassic Gold League kicks off with Darby Allin vs. Brody King THIS WEDNESDAY on the Thanksgiving Eve edition of #AEWDynamite LIVE COAST to COAST at 8pm ET/7pm CT/5pm PT on TBS @aewontvofficial.bsky.social!
— All Elite Wrestling (@allelitewrestling.com) November 25, 2024 at 11:48 PM
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The choices are interesting. Having Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada on Collision instead of Dynamite was a curious choice. The first match announced being Darby Allin against Brody King is curious as well. I also found it interesting there isn’t a split on the League’s based on the show. Both Gold and Blue League matches are represented on both nights.
You can read the GrapPro Continental Classic Participants Breakdown Here
It’s now time to discuss exactly who should win the Continental Classic for 2024.
First, let’s do a simple breakdown of every match we will be getting for the Continental Classic. This may look like a schedule but unfortunately AEW hasn’t revealed the schedule yet beyond the first week. I guess they want to leave us in the dark on when the matches will happen. Great way to build things up:
Blue League
Kazuchika Okada vs Daniel Garcia
Kyle Fletcher vs The Beast Mortos
Shelton Benjamin vs Mark Briscoe
Kazuchika Okada vs Kyle Fletcher
Daniel Garcia vs Mark Briscoe
Shelton Benjamin vs The Beast Mortos
Kazuchika Okada vs Mark Briscoe
Kyle Fletcher vs Shelton Benjamin
Daniel Garcia vs The Beast Mortos
Kazuchika Okada vs Shelton Benjamin
Kyle Fletcher vs Daniel Garcia
Mark Briscoe vs The Beast Mortos
Kazuchika Okada vs The Beast Mortos
Kyle Fletcher vs Mark Briscoe
Daniel Garcia vs Shelton Benjamin
Gold League
Darby Allin vs Brody King
Ricochet vs Claudio Castagnoli
Juice Robinson vs Will Ospreay
Darby Allin vs Will Ospreay
Ricochet vs Juice Robinson
Brody King vs Claudio Castagnoli
Darby Allin vs Ricochet
Will Ospreay vs Brody King
Juice Robinson vs Claudio Castagnoli
Darby Allin vs Juice Robinson
Will Ospreay vs Claudio Castagnoli
Brody King vs Ricochet
Darby Allin vs Claudio Castagnoli
Will Ospreay vs Ricochet
Brody King vs Juice Robinson
Back when I did suggestions for the Continental Classic I said that there were classic roles for round robins. You have roles such as The Spoiler, The Powerhouse Finalist, The Breakout Star, The New Flavour, The Pin Eater, The Favourite, and The Return.
Originally I thought Konosuke Takeshita would be in this tournament, and it would be built for him to beat Kazuchika Okada. That felt like a given back in the final days of summer. Not so much now. Takeshita is AEW International Champion and it definitely feels like Okada is up to his old bag of, “I don’t really want to lose to these young Japanese wrestlers” like he was in his final year of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
It’s unfortunate because Takeshita would have been perfect in the C2. That also means there’s going to be a new favourite.
The Spoiler feels like The Beast Mortos, who I doubt wins much in this but his one win could cost someone from going to the playoffs.
The Powerhouse Finalist definitely feels like Will Ospreay, who could win this whole thing or just be one of the four in the playoffs. I recognized Darby as this in my choices so he plays to this as well. Claudio also feels like something to make a final four.
The Breakout Star looks to be Kyle Fletcher, though don’t be surprised if Brody King plays this role again.
The New Flavour definitely feels like Ricochet, who just came to AEW and still has a lot of fresh matchups. Same goes for Shelton Benjamin.
The Pin Eater will likely be Mark Briscoe and The Beast Mortos, as well as Juice Robinson.
The Favourite is going to be Kazuchika Okada, just as he was in my Choices.
The Return is clearly Claudio, Briscoe, Brody, and Daniel Garcia.
So who do I think wins the 2024 Continental Classic? I have three potential scenarios:
Scenario One: Okada The God King of Wrestling
The first scenario is pretty simple. Kazuchika Okada is not losing to anyone. Maybe he goes 5-0. Maybe he loses one match before the playoffs. But Okada won the AEW Continental Championship from Eddie Kingston and he’s relinquishing it to nobody.
When I look at the field there’s a few potential stories to tell, but nothing that really stands out the way it did with Eddie Kingston. In 2023, there was star power having Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Jay White, and Swerve Strickland in the tournament. I’m actually surprised Jay White didn’t make a return to this, but he has AEW Men’s World Championship gold likely in the distance instead. Well, at least a title shot. But Eddie put his titles up in this to make it more important, a shot across the bow to establish that this would be his Continental Classic tournament. Eddie limped into a final four spot based on a tiebreaker, beat Danielson, and beat Jon Moxley to win the whole round robin.
I don’t think there’s that story here. If there’s no Naito underdog story to run? You go with dominance. You go with the guy who can put his mark on the round robin, and there’s no choice better than Okada. He’s already made it clear he considers winning this will tie him with Masahiro Chono’s G1 victories. That of course means you have to ignore Giant Baba’s Champion Carnival and World League wins, but hey. This is the story they have pushed in the build up.
The Gold League offers you a finalist in Darby Allin, Claudio Castagnoli, or Will Ospreay for Kazuchika Okada to defeat in the final at World’s End.
Scenario Two: Fletcher and Ospreay
When you look at the two leagues, there’s two feuds that are ongoing in it. The first is Darby vs Claudio, who are both in the Gold League. The next one is Fletcher vs Ospreay, who faced each other at Full Gear with Fletcher taking the victory. Both men are separated by the leagues.
That means for Ospreay to get his rematch against Kyle Fletcher he needs to win the Gold League, and hope Kyle Fletcher can get through Kazuchika Okada in the Blue League. It’s a tough task, but it’s the only way we can get to a result of these two having a rematch at World’s End.
I guess we could see a scenario where Okada maybe goes to two draws, say against Daniel Garcia and Mark Briscoe. Maybe a countout or time limit draw. Those two draws means even if Okada wins his other three matches he won’t have as many points as others to make it to the playoffs. It would be a disappointing way for Okada to go, but it’s at least more likely than Kyle Fletcher defeating him. If Okada won’t lose to Takeshita? I doubt he loses to Kyle.
Ospreay on the other hand has a good road to winning at least four of his five matches, and would then just have to win his semi final. That sets up these two going at it again.
You could have Will Ospreay get his loss back and be the second winner of the Continental Classic, or maybe he’s so serious about making Kyle Fletcher a star he takes a page from Hangman Adam Page’s playbook (har har) and ends up the only other guy in AEW to lose two straight pay per views to the same person.
Scenario Three: Darby Climbs the Mountain
It mystified a lot of people as to why Darby Allin was even in this, but the fact is? Darby lost to Claudio on Dynamite before Full Gear and didn’t even work the pay per view. He showed up at the end of the pay per view to run a car into the Death Riders truck, but he’s nowhere close to fighting Jon Moxley for that AEW Men’s World Championship. Orange Cassidy lost his match only to be forgotten as Jay White, Christian Cage, and Hangman Adam Page pushed to the front of the line.
Due to this? Darby Allin needs some wins. High profile wins. A real statement made. I think back to 1993 when the first King of the Ring pay per view took place. Bret Hart was coming off a disappointing loss to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX and out of the title picture. Entering the King of the Ring, Bret would beat Razor Ramon, Mr. Perfect and Bam Bam Bigelow to capture the crown. Those three matches on pay per view were huge in building the momentum for Bret to get back to the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
Darby Allin can essentially become AEW’s Bret Hart here. I don’t know if anyone has Darby’s consistency in having very good to great matches with anyone on the roster. Darby essentially does a classic babyface comeback in every single match and it never gets old. That Darby Allin comeback will be essential for him to win this all.
I could see Darby losing tonight against Brody King to build a Naito comeback similar to what Eddie Kingston had. Wins against Ospreay, Ricochet, and Juice Robinson would put him back into contention. Then the showdown with Claudio Castagnoli, which is hopefully on the final week. You could even have them go to a draw but that puts them both in the playoffs to do the rematch. Rematch at Hammerstein Ballroom. Darby wins. Goes to the final.
Darby Allin could face Kazuchika Okada or Kyle Fletcher. Both would be excellent finalists. The only question is what do you do with Darby Allin as AEW Continental Champion? How does that get him closer to Jon Moxley? You can either have Darby drop the Continental Championship, or challenge Moxley in a title for title match at Revolution. Finally wrap up the Continental Championship with the AEW Men’s World Champion like it should have been from the beginning. The Continental Classic winner should be getting a shot at the AEW Men’s World Champion similar to the G1 Climax. Darby winning and cashing the belt in this way would absolutely serve that purpose.
It will be exciting to see which direction AEW goes for this, and I am absolutely thrilled to see where they go week to week. Tune in to GrapPro as I’ll be covering this close every week.
