The Problem With AEW's Continental Classic Isn't The Format But The Prize

The Problem With AEW's Continental Classic Isn't The Format But The Prize

December 10, 2023

By Ryan Porzl

Since All Elite Wrestling announced the creation of it's new tournament: The Continental Classic, like many things they do or announce, it had it's share of support and criticism. The main issue among critics lies with the format as most American wrestling tournaments use a single elimination format while this one is using a round robin format that's mostly popular in Japanese wrestling. Fans who want something different or that are fans of Japanese wrestling are welcoming of this tournament. Critics have criticized it for the fact that AEW does too many tournaments and the fact that they believe the round robin format is too confusing. I personally like the idea of a round robin tournament so I will have no problem defending the format. That said, this tournament does deserve criticism but not where the critics think it should go. The problem with this tournament isn't the format but rather the prize that the winner receives which is a new Triple Crown belt which consists of three unified belts in Ring of Honor's World Championship, New Japan's Strong Openweight Championship, and a new AEW belt called the AEW Continental Championship. In this article, we'll take a look at why the prize is the problem regarding this tournament.

Note: I don't own the picture. I found it on Google. Credit to AEW or whoever owns it. I apologize for not knowing.

The idea of unifying major championships isn't something out of the ordinary. In America, we've seen the WWF/WWE do it a few times. The first was in 2001 when Chris Jericho unified the WWF and WCW World Titles to create the WWF Undisputed Championship at which point he held both belts during his reign, as did Triple H for a brief period when he won it. The WWE did it again in 2013 when Randy Orton unified the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship and would hold both belts during his reign, as did Daniel Bryan and John Cena before a single belt was made during Brock Lesnar's reign. Finally, WWE did it again in 2022 when Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to unify the WWE and Universal Championships with Reigns holding both for a time before a single belt was created. Another famous case was when the American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, and Continental Wrestling Association formed a short alliance in 1988 with the plan seeing the AWA and WCCW World Titles unified (CWA didn't have a world title) to create a Unified Champion that would travel between the three promotions and defend against their best though the champion would have a new belt immediately instead of carrying all the belts. Of course, this idea blew up due to ego and money before it went anywhere but that's another story.

In case you aren't aware, AEW's Triple Crown is clearly based off of All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. All Japan formed in 1972 by wrestling legend Shohei "Giant" Baba and has become one of the greatest promotion's in wrestling history. Since 1989, the main title is The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship which was a unification of three championships belts: The NWA International Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship, and the PWF Heavyweight Championship. This is mostly where the article comes in because it's clear AEW is trying to replicate what All Japan did but the problem is the AJPW Triple Crown belts were around for at least 15 years before they were unified and had many big names and legends hold them while AEW's belt are mostly meaningless and it's a unification of almost nothing. If you're not familiar with the history of these belts, let me bring you up to speed.

The NWA International Championship is the oldest and most prestigious of the three. The belt was established on November 1, 1957 when the belt was awarded to one of wrestling's greatest names and talents in Lou Thesz, the NWA's Kingpin for most of the 1950s. Thesz's reign lasted ten months before he lost the belt to Rikidozan, the Father of Japanese Wrestling and then a national hero in Japan on August 27, 1958. After the title win, Rikidozan took the belt to his JWA (Japan Wrestling Alliance) promotion where he held the belt for the next six years until his death on December 15, 1963 due to peritonitis from a stab wound. After a nearly two year vacancy, Baba then won the belt in 1965 and proceeded to dominate it for the next seven years over three reigns for a combined 2,456 days while fellow legends like Bobo Brazil and Gene Kiniski enjoyed short reigns during it. After Baba left the JWA in 1972 in order to start AJPW, Brazil won the vacant title before the belt then fell into the hands of Rikidozan pupil Kintaro Oki by December 1972. Oki would reign as champion for the next nine years as he defended the belt in the JWA until they shut down in April 1973 at which point, Oki then mostly defended it in his native South Korea and appearances in various Japanese promotions until vacating the belt in 1981 on the orders of the NWA and Oki went into semi-retirement. Following this, AJPW acquired the belt and filled the vacancy with Dory Funk Jr. winning it. Between 1981-1983, the belt then was mostly around the waist of Funk and Bruiser Brody while "Hacksaw" Butch Reed enjoyed a brief run (although his reign isn't recognized in Japan as he won it in Florida). In 1983, Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba's successor as AJPW's ace, would defeat Brody for the belt and proceeded to dominate it for it's last six years over three reigns for a combined 2,076 days while Stan Hansen and Brody would get brief reigns during Tsuruta's dominant run. Eventually, the belt was unified on April 18, 1989. In short, the International Title was around for 32 years and literally every champion was a legend with Hall of Fame credentials.

The NWA United National Championship had perhaps the most interesting journey to unification. The UN Belt was created in 1970 with former two time Olympian Dale Lewis becoming the inaugural champion in October 1970 in St. Louis, Missouri for the St. Louis Wrestling Club. Shortly after, the belt then made it's way to NWA Hollywood when Pantera Negra won it that same month before legends like John Tolos and Ray Mendoza held it. In March 1971, Antonio Inoki would win the championship and take it back to the JWA where he would defend it until he was fired that December and the belt was vacant. The belt returned to North America where King Krow (Dan Kroffat) won it in January 1972 in Canada only for Seiji Sakaguchi to win it in Los Angeles and brought it back to Japan where it remained until the JWA closed in 1973 but not before other legends like The Sheik, Johnny Valentine, and Akihisa Takachiro (the future Great Kabuki) enjoyed runs. In 1976, AJPW brought the belt back with Jumbo Tsuruta winning it in a tournament that August. Afterwards, Tsuruta would hold the belt five times between 1976-1983 for a combined 2,270 days while other legends like Dick Murdoch, Harley Race, Abdullah The Butcher, and Billy Robinson would get brief runs with it. After Tsuruta voluntarily vacated the title in 1983, Ted Dibiase would win the vacant title and take it back to the United States where Michael Hayes and David Von Erich enjoyed brief runs with Von Erich being the reigning champion at the time of his famous passing on February 10, 1984. A few weeks later on February 23rd, Genichiro Tenryu would win the vacant title and held it for the next two years before voluntarily given it up in February 1986 after losing a tag match. Tenryu then regained it in April 1986 and held the belt for another two years, during which time, he unified it with the PWF Championship in March 1988. Finally, Stan Hansen won it (along with the PWF Belt) in July 1988 and held it until Tsuruta unified the three belts on April 18, 1989. The United National Championship was 19 years old at the time of it's unification and 99% of their champions were legends with Hall of Fame credentials.

Finally, there's the PWF World Heavyweight Championship which was a far more straight forward belt and history. Unlike the two NWA belts, the PWF World Championship was made in AJPW to originally be their top championship, though it became a regional belt when AJPW joined the NWA. PWF is short for Pacific Wrestling Federation which is the title governing body of AJPW, similar to how NJPW's governing body is the IWGP or International Wrestling Grand Prix and Pro Wrestling NOAH's title governing body is GHC or Global Honored Crown. Baba became the inaugural champion on February 27, 1973 after winning a series of ten matches with the last opponent being Bobo Brazil. Baba would dominate the belt for the first twelve years of it's existence as he held it four times for a combined 3,847 days while others such as Tor Kamata and legends like Billy Robinson, Abdullah The Butcher, Harley Race, and Stan Hansen would also enjoy runs. After Baba's final reign ended in 1985, the belt would be held by Hansen, Riki Choshu, and Genichiro Tenryu with Tenryu unifying the belt with the United National Belt in March 1988. Hansen won both belts that July and held them until losing them to Jumbo Tsuruta in the unification match on April 18, 1989. The PWF World Championship was 16 years old at the time of it's unification, and again, just about every holder was a legendary Hall of Famer.

As you can see, when AJPW created their Triple Crown, the belts were at least 15 years old and almost everyone that held them were legends who added prestige to them. It meant a lot to unify these championship belts. This is where AEW has a massive problem. Like AJPW, they will also unify three belts into a triple crown but the problem is, their triple crown doesn't come close to meaning anything. It's a unification of little to nothing. It's almost like Tony Khan is doing this because AJPW previously did it and he thought it was cool but didn't realize why it worked for AJPW and it likely won't for him.

The first belt in AEW's Triple Crown is the AEW Continental Championship and right from the get go, we stumble out the gate as the belt, first of all, doesn't exist at present time. There's no belt yet, there's no title history, and nobody has ever held it. What does it mean and why should I care if someone wins this thing?

The second belt is New Japan's Strong Openweight Championship, the top title in New Japan's NJPW Strong brand which was their American branch. Problems here are the belt is less than 3 years old so it hasn't been around very long. It's also the main title of a dead brand as NJPW barely runs NJPW Strong shows in America anymore. Third of all, there's only been six reigns between five wrestlers and the only ones that mean anything are KENTA and Eddie Kingston. Inaugural champion Tom Lawlor is a former MLW World Champion but outside of MLW, hasn't really enjoyed huge success or is on the road to legendary status as he's enjoyed success in the independent circuit but outside of MLW, has largely been a midcarder. He also wasn't an elite fighter during his days as an MMA fighter. Fred Rosser had worked for the WWE as Darren Young, was a member of the Nexus, and a former tag team champion as part of the Prime Time Players with Titus O'Neil but was largely an undercard wrestler in WWE and outside of NJPW Strong, hadn't been considered a top star in a major promotion. Hikuleo is an up and comer who may go far but as of now, he's an up and comer, not a legend. The title history is small and hardly been held by a who's who.

Finally, there's the ROH World Championship. Now unlike the other two, this one seems to check the boxes as it has a rich history with legends having held it, it's been contested in many legendary matches, and has been around for nearly 22 years so it's been around for a long time. Unfortunately, Ring of Honor's glory days are over and it can be argued the world championship and the promotion is a shell of it's self. In all honestly, ROH and the world championship in 2023/2024 is the same position ECW was in when the WWE revived it as a third brand in the late 2000s. Like WWECW, ROH under Tony Khan's ownership has the look, the titles, and name but the spirit seems gone. So as you can see, the AEW Triple Crown doesn't come close to AJPW's Triple Crown other than unifying three belts. If anything, what does it say about this belt when it's being unified with these two lackluster ones with little to no history?

Yet another issue is the fact this means AEW has ANOTHER title to worry about. A big compliant in AEW is there's far too many titles. As of now, AEW has eight active titles (counting the FTW Championship which is considered a sanctioned belt). With the Triple Crown/Continental Championship, that will make it nine titles and counting the FTW Championship, is the fourth midcard title. AEW already has a hard time keeping up with the belts they have and having more will make it worse and dilute the other ones. On top of that, AEW already has other belts from other promotions including ROH, New Japan, NJPW Strong, AAA, and CMLL among others that pop up and have been defended. While I'm personally a fan of titles and think they're important, too many can be as bad as too little. It feels like AEW with these titles, as well as other things, believe quantity over quality.

Lastly, there's the issue of the value of this new triple crown and this unification. Tony Khan has pretty much said it represents three companies but the problem is that it really doesn't. Another issue is usually when promotions do this type of unification, it's clearly to establish the top prize and whoever wins it is the top dog in the promotion. Going back to AJPW, when they created the Triple Crown Championship, it was to establish the top championship in the promotion. If you held the Triple Crown, you were the man in AJPW and that's still the case 35 years later. When the WWE unified the WCW and, later, the World Heavyweight Championship into the WWF/WWE Championship, it was again clearly designed to crown one world champion. If you held that undisputed belt, you were the face of WWE. The problem is that's not the case with this new Triple Crown. At best, the AEW Continental Championship is a midcard title so it won't make the winner the face of the promotion but rather one of many midcard champs who just happens to hold more belts. The NJPW Strong brand is practically dead at this point so the holder of that belt represents a corpse of a promotion. As for ROH, that's true they would be the face of ROH but again, ROH is a shell of itself at this point. It largely doesn't mean anything to be the face of ROH, especially when it's world title is being unified with two worthless belts.

Overall, the Continental Classic is a cool concept but again, my feeling is the critics are aiming in the wrong direction and instead of criticizing it, they should be criticizing the fool's gold at the end of the rainbow. Will this Triple Crown eventually amount to something? Time will tell but one thing is for sure, it's flawed and AEW has a long way to go for it to mean something.