2025 AEW Continental Classic tournament participants unveiled

The final lineups and participants for the 2025 AEW Continental Classic tournament are now set.

Last week, ahead of Full Gear 2025, All Elite Wrestling announced the news of this year’s Continental Classic tournament. Now, finally, after a week of waiting, the Jacksonville-based promotion has released its set of participating wrestlers, tournament style, and rules. The round-robin tournament will begin on the Nov. 26 episode of AEW Dynamite and conclude at AEW Worlds End. Both league final matches and the champion final will take place at Worlds End.

This year, fans hope to see a new champion crowned, following reigning champion Kazuchika Okada’s successful defense of the Continental title against Will Ospreay last year. Yesterday, AEW aired a Selection Show at 10 pm EST to reveal the list of wrestlers. Similar to past editions, this year will also feature two groups: the Blue and Gold Leagues.

The full list of 2025 AEW Continental Classic tournament participants

The Blue League:

• Konosuke Takeshita
• Jon Moxley
• Claudio Castagnoli
• Roderick Strong
• Orange Cassidy
• Mascara Dorada

The Gold League:

• Darby Allin
• PAC
• Kevin Knight
• Kyle Fletcher
• Kazuchika Okada
• ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey

The rules for the tournament are as follows: each match will have a 20-minute time limit. The winners will get three points, while a draw will give the involved participants one point each. Everyone is banned from the ringside during the bouts.

Ahead of the tournament, Tony Khan also addressed it on X, formerly Twitter, and hyped up the crowd.

Kyle O’Reilly was also recently ruled out of the tournament following his violent bout against Moxley at Full Gear.

Despite a stacked roster, multiple top stars are missing from the tournament, including Swerve Strickland, Adam Page, Will Ospreay, MJF, and many more.

History of the AEW Continental Classic Tournament

The AEW Continental Classic was introduced in 2023 to showcase elite in-ring competition. Modeled after NJPW’s G1 Climax, the tournament features two blocks of competitors battling for points, with the finalists meeting at the year-end PPV.

The first event also established the AEW Continental Crown, merging the ROH World, NJPW STRONG Openweight, and the fresh AEW Continental Championship. Eddie Kingston was crowned the first Continental Crown Champion. Since then, the tournament has become a yearly AEW tradition.

The post 2025 AEW Continental Classic tournament participants unveiled appeared first on ClutchPoints.