2025 Continental Classic

The 2025 Continental Classic (C2) is an ongoing professional wrestling round-robin tournament hosted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The third annual edition of the AEW Continental Classic began on the Thanksgiving Eve episode of Dynamite on November 26, 2025,^[1] and will culminate at the Worlds End pay-per-view (PPV) event on December 27, 2025. Tournament matches are held under "Continental Rules", which feature a 20-minute time limit, no one allowed at ringside, and outside interference is strictly prohibited. The prize of the tournament is the AEW Continental Championship.

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, 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, and ties are broken based on head-to-head record. After the round-robin phase, the winner of each league will face the runner-up of the opposite league in a playoff match to determine the two championship finalists, who will wrestle each other for the AEW Continental Championship at Worlds End.

As the reigning Continental Champion, Kazuchika Okada was awarded automatic entry into the tournament. Two of his fellow stable-mates in the Don Callis Family, Konosuke Takeshita – who is also the reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion – and Kyle Fletcher, announced their entry at Full Gear.^[2][3] The remaining nine entrants and the draw for the blocks was announced in a Selection Special on November 24: Okada, Fletcher, Darby Allin, "Speedball" Mike Bailey, Kevin Knight, and Pac were drawn into the Gold League; and Takeshita, Orange Cassidy, Claudio Castagnoli, Máscara Dorada, Jon Moxley, and Roderick Strong were drawn into the Blue League.^[4] After Allin was declared medically unable to continue the tournament after his first match against Knight, he was replaced by Jack Perry.^[5][6]

In July 2025 at All In: Texas, reigning Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada defeated Kenny Omega in a Winner Takes All Championship unification match to also win the AEW International Championship, with both titles held and defended together as the AEW Unified Championship; since Okada won as the Continental Champion, the Unified Championship adopted the rules of the Continental Championship.^[7] Amid confusion over the Unified title, at the start of the 2025 Continental Classic, it was confirmed that only the Continental Championship would be the prize of the tournament, with Okada only carrying the International Championship belt throughout the league matches. It was also revealed that should Okada lose the Continental Championship in the C2, he would also lose the Unified Championship.^[8]

• List of All Elite Wrestling tournaments