9 Ups & 2 Downs For AEW Collision (Nov 11 - Results & Review)
4. The AEW Continental Classic Tournament
The announcement of the AEW Continental Classic Tournament gets an Up based on one caveat. That caveat? Why, that's the hope this means AEW will pull back on the sheer frequency and number of their tournaments.
Your writer has long since complained that AEW runs far too many tournaments, but hopefully prestige will be built for the Continental Classic by pulling back on some of the other tourneys the company typically runs. Also, this latest tournament at least will take a different approach to the standard 'Wrestler A beats Wrestler B to advance to the next round'.
Of course, the Continental Classic is essentially AEW's take on New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax. We'll have two blocks of six wrestlers competing to top their respective block by securing wins over the other five grapplers in their section. From there, the winners of each group will do battle at AEW World's End to crown the inaugural Continental Classic victor.
Is it lazy to simply copy the G1 format? Maybe. Still, wrestling promotions have been 'borrowing' ideas from other organisations for decades.
In AEW's relatively short lifespan, we've had tournaments to crown champions, we've had tournaments to crown interim champions, we've had tournaments to earn title shots, we've had the men and women's Owen Hart tournaments, we've had the Four Pillars tournament, and we've had blind tag team tournaments.
As mentioned, if the arrival of the Continental Classic leads to AEW pulling back on its overreliance on tournaments - say, maybe just annually running the Continental Classic and the Owens - then that's only a huge positive. That is a big ask, though.
Regardless, the prospect of a G1-style tourney featuring AEW's biggest stars is certainly an intriguing one.
Also, while the intent is clearly to drive ticket sales, advertising Bryan Danielson for All In 2024 - an event in ten months' time - seems a little questionable. A lot can happen in those months, and it would be awful if people got their hopes up of seeing the American Dragon at Wembley Stadium, only for, say, injury to strike.
Then again, here's to Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness, right?