{"id":51008,"date":"2026-01-02T09:10:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T14:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=51008"},"modified":"2026-01-15T09:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T14:10:18","slug":"wtf-is-aew-doing-466","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/totfc.net\/?p=51008","title":{"rendered":"WTF is AEW doing #466"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I know that I\u2019m pretty critical of a lot of the things that AEW does, but I\u2019ll be the first to admit that I kind of like the Continental Classic tournament they\u2019ve been doing on an annual basis.\u00a0 You have a lot of main event talent, intermixed with some talented guys from the mid card, and you have them wrestling in a bunch of matches that don\u2019t really have any storyline behind them, and most importantly, have results that aren\u2019t just the main eventers running roughshod over the mid card guys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Speedball Mike Bailey picked up an impressive win over Kyle Fletcher, Jungle Boy Jack Perry got a win against Pac, and the most shocking outcome was when Kevin Knight picked up a clean win against Kazuchika Okada.\u00a0 They really did a good job of selling that anyone could beat anyone, regardless of their standing in the company, and it led to a lot of pretty pure wrestling.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, it wasn\u2019t until the tournament concluded did I realize that there was an actual prize at the end of the whole thing; in previous years, AEW had a, surprise, title blet for the winner of the Continental Classic, which was the [don\u2019t call me Intercontinental] Continental championship, which was originally won by of all people, Eddie Kingston.\u00a0 He would then lose it to Okada, who would successfully defend the title by winning the 2025 Continental Classic, and continue to hold the title until it was merged in July 2025 with the International Championship in a completely nerfed version of Okada vs. Omega.<\/span><\/p>\n

But for all intents and purposes, the Continental championship was deactivated, along with the International championship, and Okada began carting around a, surprise, new blet, christened the AEW Unified Championship, which they tried like hell to sell it as a World title equivalent, since Okada is very much a World title caliber performer, but unsurprisingly, it didn\u2019t catch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting back to the present, without any real explanation, going into the conclusion of the 2026 Continental Classic, the Unified Championship was already scrapped, and it was decided that the winner of the tournament would become the new Continental champion.\u00a0 Conveniently, Okada would also advance to the finals, hoping to defend the title in the finals regardless of the fact that the title is up for grabs at any other point in the year, storylines notwithstanding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spoiler-alert, Jon Moxley won the tournament by defeating Kazuchika Okada, thus becoming the new Continental champion.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, conveniently, Okada would still have a blet to cart around, because when they scrapped the Unified Championship after six historic months, they reactivated the International Championship, which was by default, Kazuchika Okada.<\/span><\/p>\n

It should also be pointed out that when the Continental and International were merged into the Unified, it took one blet off the table, but AEW responded quickly by creating a, surprise, new blet, in the AEW National Championship, which was won by, and is currently held by Ricochet (which I\u2019m actually okay with).<\/span><\/p>\n

But for a promotion that has taken a lot of flack for its Oprah-like EVERYONE GETS A BLET<\/em> number of titles, it\u2019s just hilarious that they tried to pare down, couldn\u2019t, and when they retconned one of their attempts to pare down, ultimately they end up with more blets in which they started with.\u00a0 So to recap, AEW currently has:<\/span><\/p>\n