{"id":225112,"date":"2026-11-12T14:46:06","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T20:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=225112"},"modified":"2026-11-12T14:46:06","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T20:46:06","slug":"aew-continental-classic-a-look-at-the-potential-participants-including-who-seem-like-locks-and-the-pros-and-cons-of-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/11\/12\/aew-continental-classic-a-look-at-the-potential-participants-including-who-seem-like-locks-and-the-pros-and-cons-of-others\/","title":{"rendered":"AEW Continental Classic: A look at the potential participants including who seem like locks and the pros and cons of others"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-1043633622\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>It\u2019s that time of the year, time to start considering what the field for the annual Continental Classic is going to look like. AEW&#8217;s roster is impossibly deep so the make up of this tournament is wide open.<\/p>\n<p>For the purposes of this breakdown, I\u2019ve broken it down into three tiers.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Locks:<\/h3>\n<p>\u2022 Jon Moxley<br \/>\n\u2022 Konosuke Takeshita<br \/>\n\u2022 Jay White<br \/>\n\u2022 Adam Copeland<br \/>\n\u2022 Kazuchika Okada<br \/>\n\u2022 Nick Wayne<\/p>\n<p>Jon Moxley is the current Continental Champion. Jay White is his current adversary and has made the winning the Continental part of the mission statement of his new faction The Cut.<\/p>\n<p>Konosuke Takeshita had the run of the tournament last year not losing a match until the semifinals. It would be malpractice not to put him in this year\u2019s tourney.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Copeland is retiring next year, so it would only make sense for the C2 to be on his retirement bucket list.<\/p>\n<p>Kazuchika Okada is regarded as the greatest tournament wrestler of all-time, a former Continental Champion, and hasn\u2019t missed one of these yet.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Wayne got two wins over Chris Jericho. It feels like he\u2019s got the promotion behind him and this tourney would be his opportunity to build on that and really break out.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1731265405\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><em>ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW&#8230;<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Check out the latest episode of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show covering the latest episode of Dynamite: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/episode\/aew-dynamite-post-show-11-11-keller-zilem-talk-standout-ospreay-fletcher-exchange-brody-king-silences-crowd-ospreay-confronts-cope--76309931\">CLICK HERE<\/a> (or search \u201cwade keller\u201d on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other iOS or Android app to subscribe free)<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"AEW DYNAMITE POST-SHOW (11\/11): Keller &amp; Zilem talk standout Ospreay-Fletcher exchange, Brody King silences crowd, Ospreay confronts Cope\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?episode_id=76309931&amp;theme=light&amp;playlist=false&amp;playlist-continuous=false&amp;chapters-image=true&amp;episode_image_position=right&amp;hide-logo=false&amp;hide-likes=false&amp;hide-comments=false&amp;hide-sharing=false&amp;hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200px\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Likely Participants:<\/h3>\n<p>\u2022 Darby Allin<br \/>\n\u2022 Kyle O\u2019Reilly<br \/>\n\u2022 Mark Davis<br \/>\n\u2022 Jack Perry<\/p>\n<p>For differing reasons, these four are likely entries into this year&#8217;s tournament but not the virtual certainties that the top six are. Darby Allin has been in two previous C2s and was knocked out of the tournament due to injury in just his first match last year. Putting him in this year would be a make good.<\/p>\n<p>Much the same case could be made for Kyle O\u2019Reilly. He was supposed to be in last year\u2019s tourney but suffered an injury just before it began. It feels like he could be inserted into this year\u2019s C2 as a sentimental favorite who\u2019s there to eat pins.<\/p>\n<p>For the last couple years, Brody King has been the big brusier. This year, that person should be Mark Davis. He\u2019s had a great 2026. A strong run in the C2 would just be the capstone. From a storyline perspective, Don Callis is always one to increase his odds of winning by having more than one Family member in it.<\/p>\n<p>Jack Perry is the middle of a strange push. He\u2019s wanting to prove himself but hasn&#8217;t won a singles match. It wouldn\u2019t surprise me if he was this year\u2019s guy who doesn\u2019t win until his last match and acts as a spoiler.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Potential Participants<\/h3>\n<p>\u2022 David Finlay<br \/>\n\u2022 &#8220;Hangman&#8221; Adam Page<br \/>\n\u2022 Swerve Strickland<br \/>\n\u2022 Brody King<br \/>\n\u2022 Claudio Castagnoli<br \/>\n\u2022 &#8220;Speedball&#8221; Mike Bailey<br \/>\n\u2022 Kevin Knight<br \/>\n\u2022 Ilja Dragunov<br \/>\n\u2022 Tomasso Ciampa<br \/>\n\u2022 Andrade El Idolo<br \/>\n\u2022 Kofi<br \/>\n\u2022 Austin Creed<br \/>\n\u2022 Orange Cassidy<br \/>\n\u2022 Kenny Omega<br \/>\n\u2022 M\u00ecstico<\/p>\n<p>This final tier of candidates is basically who amongst the remainder of AEW\u2019s roster are reasonable possibilities to be included in the tournament.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1770073078\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>To me, the key names in this group are Ilja Dragunov and Kenny Omega. Omega has never been in a C2 and imagine that Tony Khan would love to get the living legend in at least one while he\u2019s still available. Omega is currently embroiled in a storyline in New Japan right now, but it\u2019s not impossible for him to return to AEW to take part. The C2 ends well before WrestleKingdom in January, so it wouldn\u2019t interfere. The only snag is the risk of injury especially for someone with Omega\u2019s mileage especially if he\u2019s in the WrestleKingdom main event.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s Dragunov. AEW\u2019s newest signing feels like he\u2019s tailor made for this kind of tourney. As of right now he\u2019s undefeated and I don\u2019t see that changing before the C2 starts. If Omega is unable to participate, Dragunov could take that spot and dominate like Takeshita did last year all the way to the semifinals.<\/p>\n<p>Assuming that all of my lock and likely participants make the cut and either Dragunov or Omega takes the 11th spot, that leaves one spot open and virtually anyone on this list can fill that spot. I\u2019d take one of the New Level guys (assuming they\u2019re not feuding with The Young Bucks) just to inject some fresh blood, but frankly any of these guys would be acceptable. I also think there\u2019s an outside chance M\u00ecstico is put in because of his status as a lucha legend and to lose to Nick Wayne after their interaction last night.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wade Keller Post-show (11\/11) - AEW Dynamite w\/Keller &amp; Zillem\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Nh6oDf2tGN8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-2615382033\"><div id=\"pwtor-2966675884\" role=\"region\" aria-label=\"Advertisements\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>It\u2019s that time of the year, time to start considering what the field for the annual Continental Classic is going to look like. AEW&#8217;s roster is impossibly deep so the make up of this tournament <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/11\/12\/aew-continental-classic-a-look-at-the-potential-participants-including-who-seem-like-locks-and-the-pros-and-cons-of-others\/\" title=\"AEW Continental Classic: A look at the potential participants including who seem like locks and the pros and cons of others\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215767,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6163,2,52,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aew-news","category-prowrestlingnews","category-opnionandanalysis","category-specialists"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/05\/Screenshot-2026-05-01-at-12.38.26-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225112"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225112\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225114,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225112\/revisions\/225114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}