This past year’s Continental Classic was surely one for the history books, as competitors, old and new, entered this tournament in hopes of becoming the next AEW Continental Champion.
Alas, the champion himself, Kazuchika Okada, was also a participant of this tournament and in the end, not only won the tournament, but in turn, ended up retaining his Continental Championship belt.
The Continental Championship will be defended on February 15th, 2025 in Brisbane, Australia at AEW’s Grand Slam Australia event against one-half of the tag team, The Hounds of Hell, Buddy Matthews.
This time around, we look back at the returning participants of the 2024 Continental Classic to see how they improved from the last time they were in the tournament, which was the very first Continental Classic Tournament in 2023.
Out of the 12 men who competed in this tournament, 4 of them have returned to see if they could have a chance at going for Continental gold once again. Those 4 men are:
- Claudio Castagnoli
- Mark Briscoe
- Brody King
- Daniel Garcia
As I rewatched the 2023 Continental Classic Tournament, I managed to notice some key points in their respective matches when it came to the following year’s tournament. This is how the returning competitors fared against their past year’s selves.
When it came to Claudio Castagnoli, his stamina and strength have improved greatly (and that’s saying a lot, knowing he’s a 6’5″, 230+ lb. powerhouse from Switzerland). Not only that, from being in Blackpool Combat Club to now The Death Riders, it seemed that he also wrestled as if he had a purpose to win instead of just trying to prove himself that he could win gold once again. And compared to his previous year statically, I’d say that the current 1/3rd of the AEW Trios Champions and former ROH World Heavyweight Champion’s purpose was not in vain, regardless of him not winning the tournament.
- 2023: 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw – 7 points
- 2024: 3 wins, 2 losses, 0 draws – 9 points (+2 increase from 2023)
Compared to his last Continental Classic participation in 2023, he did have a increase of points, but only that of a time limit draw amount of points. Ironically enough, while he did not have a time limit draw decision in the 2024 Continental Classic, he did have one in 2023 against his former Blackpool Combat Club stablemate, Bryan Danielson. I find it quite endearing, if you ask me.
Mark Briscoe had the best improvement from this past year’s Continental Classic Tournament compared to his previous tournament run in 2023. Now that he had a taste in gold in AEW/ROH (former ROH World Heavyweight Champion), it was time to get back into the swing of things after losing his brother, Jay Briscoe, in 2023. Nonetheless, Mark had something to prove and that was to win the tournament. It came to the final few matches to see if he would qualify to go to the semi-finals, but was sadly eliminated mathematically.
- 2023: 1 win, 4 losses, 0 draws – 3 points
- 2024: 3 wins, 2 losses, 0 draws – 9 points (+6 increase from 2023)
A 6-point increase (notably a 2-win increase compared to 2023) showed that Briscoe took the tournament more seriously in 2024, as he had some monumental matches against his opponents. His most notable match was against Kyle Fletcher, in which Briscoe won against him via pinfall back on December 14th, 2024 at AEW: Winter Is Coming edition of AEW Collision. They recently had a rematch last Saturday on AEW Collision, and Fletcher was the one who came up victorious. Will there be a rubber match between these two athletes? Time will tell.
Daniel Garcia, who is currently the TNT Champion, also had a decent improvement in 2024’s tournament compared to 2023, as he battled through all his matches with a more serious intention… from a kid from Buffalo with an iconic dance move to a ruthless Red Death warrior. Although he was eliminated from the tournament, he was also one of the only competitors who had gotten stats from all three categories of wins, losses, and draws, like Claudio Castagnoli did.
- 2023: 1 win, 4 losses, 0 draws – 3 points
- 2024: 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 draw – 7 points (+4 increase from 2023)
This improvement is due to an added win and one draw, which gave him the 4 point increase.
Now when it came to Brody King, his in-ring performance over the last year has gotten better and more focused. When he first competed in the Continental Classic, he wrestled with a broken wrist and had a cast/brace placed on his hand. I would think his injury may have been a factor on his performance in the 2023 Continental Classic. In 2024, the wrist has since been surgically repaired, and his agility has definitely been improved as well. However, as his in-ring performance in the 2024 was very good, if not better than 2023, his improvement of a win/loss ratio wasn’t as good.
- 2023: 2 wins, 3 losses, 0 draws – 6 points
- 2024: 2 wins, 3 losses, 0 draws – 6 points (+0 increase from 2023)
Brody King is the only returning Continental Classic participant to not have an increase of points in 2024. He still ended his tournament run with 6 points. If there was a chance for a competitor to return for a 3rd time for this year’s tournament, I believe Brody King should be one. I personally think that with Brody’s newfound positivity forming Hounds of Hell with Buddy Matthews, I don’t think he needs to be held back any longer in trying to enter again to try and win it all.
Speaking of competitors returning for a 3rd tournament, the other wrestler I believe should also return for the 2025 Continental Classic would be Juice Robinson.
Juice Robinson entered the tournament in the Gold League, and his first and only match he had in the tournament was against Will Ospreay, which he ended up losing the match. It was later reported that Juice Robinson sustained an injury (broken fibula), thus ending his Continental Classic tournament run as soon as it started. He was replaced by Komander, who had the same record to Mark Briscoe’s 2023 Continental Classic statistics: 1 win, 4 losses, 0 draws, which equaled to 3 points. If Juice were to not have gotten injured and saw the tournament out to the end, his fate would have been sealed just like this. Juice’s injury was a devastating blow to have to leave a tournament, especially to someone who has competed in multiple G1 Climax tournaments before in New Japan Pro Wrestling. With any luck, Juice Robinson may end up competing in this year’s Continental Classic Tournament and hopefully will retain a better record (and run).
It goes to show that with time, a wrestler’s athletic performance will get better, as you have seen here. The 2025 Continental Classic is too far away to tell who is going to be in it this time, but as memorable as the 2024 tournament was, this year spells out a formidable amount of potential for anyone to step forward and have a chance to win the one of the most captivating tournaments in All Elite Wrestling.
You can follow Melody at @theladyleighton.bsky.social.
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