At AEW Dynamite: Summer Blockbuster, All Elite Wrestling revealed that the winner of Kenny Omega versus Kazuchika Okada at Y’All In Texas would become the new AEW Unified Champion. This would combine Okada’s Continental Championship and Kenny Omega’s International Championship.
The history of the AEW Continental Championship is short. It was first won by Eddie Kingston at AEW Worlds End 2023 through his victory in the inaugural Continental Classic. Kingston put up his ROH Men’s World Championship and NJPW Strong Championship which allowed him to become essentially a Triple Crown Championship holder. More on that in a moment. Kingston would lose the title to Okada at an AEW Dynamite in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Okada has made 12 defences since becoming Continental Champion, including winning the 2024 Continental Classic to defend it.
The AEW International Championship is a bit more complicated. Created in 2022 as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship and won by PAC at the first AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door event, it would then be won by Orange Cassidy. Cassidy, who had an incredible title reign with 32 title defences, would have the championship name changed to the AEW International Championship on March 15, 2023 in his defence against Jeff Jarrett. Jon Moxley and Rey Fenix would hold it before Orange Cassidy recaptured it. Roderick Strong, Will Ospreay, MJF, Ospreay again, Konosuke Takeshita, and now Kenny Omega would hold the title.
It’s unfortunate to retire the two titles since the belt designs are absolutely beautiful. It’s a good thing the Unified Championship looks nice, though what about the name?
My Name Is My Name
International. Continental. Clearly it should be called the Intercontinental Championship right?
Earlier I’ve joked about calling it the Continational Championship just because of that. No, it doesn’t have to be called the Intercontinental Championship. All Elite Wrestling does not have to copy the WWE just because it would be convenient here. It’s okay to do your own thing. Also, word is AEW doesn’t want this championship to feel secondary to the AEW Men’s World Championship but on a similar level. Calling it “Intercontinental” gives an immediate impression it’s lesser than.
I personally wish they called it the Double Crown Championship instead. It even has a giant crown on the front of it. It would be a call back to the Triple Crown, and give people the idea that one day AEW may form their own Triple Crown by someone winning the Double Crown and the AEW Men’s World Championship. Of course, if it was a Double Crown, I would have them keep walking out with two titles. AEW clearly wants one belt here.
I wasn’t crazy about it at first but I think Unified will grow on me eventually. Side plates with Okada and Omega are to represent that this championship is fused with their importance. It’s basically a way for either man, whoever wins at Y’All In Texas, to be treated like a top champion without holding the top championship title.
Continental Future
So what happens to the Continental Classic? All Elite Wrestling has yet to say if the Unified Champion still has to take the responsibility of entering the C2 and winning to stay champion.
If it was my company and up to me? The Continental Classic winner would not get a title belt. Heck, I don’t even care for the winner of the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament getting a belt. You should instead get a trophy, and your name engraved in the trophy. Nobody can take that victory away from you. Pro wrestling should have more trophies and less championship belts.
If you can’t do that? I would follow in the Owen Hart Tournament footsteps by having the winner get an AEW Men’s World Championship shot. Instead of All In, it would be at Revolution. Heck, just thinking about it right now, you could even make it a shot for the AEW Unified Championship at Revolution.
For anyone questioning having the two shots, it’s the way New Japan Pro Wrestling operates. The G1 Climax leads to a shot at Wrestle Kingdom. The New Japan Cup leads to a shot at Sakura Genesis. Having the Continental Classic earn the winner a championship shot instead of a belt they have to later defend would avoid the difficulty of explaining how just about anyone can get a shot for the title throughout the year but only the best can enter the C2. Now the best enter the C2, and the winner gets a guaranteed shot at Revolution.
It’s also possible they leave it how it is. Don’t break what’s fixed. Unified Champion gets the first spot in the C2 and has to win to defend the championship.
Championship Levels
As the previous tweet mentioned from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, there’s plans for the Unified Championship to be looked upon as a secondary world championship.
Funny enough, that was the problem with AEW’s titles at one point. At one point you had Adam Copeland as TNT Champion, Will Ospreay as International Champion, Kazuchika Okada as Continental Champion, and Swerve Strickland as Men’s World Champion. Essentially four wrestlers holding singles titles who could all arguably be World Champion. It felt like all of the titles were on the same level and there wasn’t a real climb for anyone.
Currently you have Jon Moxley as Men’s World Champion which does feel like a top championship, though Kenny Omega as International Champion makes an argument as an alternate top champion. Same goes for Okada still, as he’s holding the same belt longer than anyone. The TNT Championship however has finally become a midcard title again, allowing it to feel like underneath the other championships.
This is a good thing, and allows more of a progressive feeling. The Unified Championship will likely fulfill a role as a championship for someone who it isn’t the right time to be Men’s World Champion. You want Hangman Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, MJF, Will Ospreay, and eventually Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy fighting for the Men’s World Championship while the likes of Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega, and eventually Jay White, Jon Moxley, and Eddie Kingston fighting for the Unified Championship.
While most of our brains are simple in that you want a main event scene, upper midcard scene, and midcard scene, AEW doesn’t really operate that way. AEW has such a wealth of talent, it’s better to break up the upper midcard and main into two categories. That allows those who can lead the company be in the Men’s World category and the best wrestlers or wrestlers who already had their World Championship opportunities in the past work the Unified category. Underneath that can be the TNT division. Wrestlers who don’t fit these three need to look to either form a tag team, form a trios team, or look to Ring of Honor for opportunities.
There was a time that World Championship Wrestling ran this way, albeit briefly. The United States Championship was competed for between Bret Hart, Roddy Piper, Curt Hennig, Randy Savage, and Lex Luger. It kept them out of the World’s Heavyweight Championship contention allowing room for the likes of Bill Goldberg, Kevin Nash, and Diamond Dallas Page to wrestle in that. Again, this was maybe a few months in 1998 and my memories are soft edged and nostalgic, but I remember liking it best that way. A championship competed between guys who could very well be World Champion but are not, so they are essentially creating their own high level, high rank division with a championship to fight over.
That’s what I hope this Unified Championship becomes for AEW.
