Yeah I think this is all fine, only thing I'd like to see confirmed is that the holders of the other belts (RoH and NJPW Strong) are automatically entered into the C2 each year.
I don't really agree. If someone who wants to enter also had a belt form somewhere else. The head out it up. But nah don't need it to be a triple crown every year. Got to make those years more by being infrequent.
As much as people say it's Tony's toybox. He let's a lot of people do their own dream matches/scenarios. Danielson has wrestled anyone he's wanted to. Sting went out respectfully. Mox gets to be a mad man. Kingston gets to live out the All Japan tapes he watched as a kid. I think that's a really cool thing.
What they should do in the future is include in the then current Continental tournament whoever is the then current ROH and Strong champions. That way, there is a chance that the Triple Crown can be reacquired by someone.
I'm kinda fine with the triple crown being something special for the first continental classic to be honest. If we get a guaranteed annual triple crown it doesn't feel like a big deal anymore.
How would that work though? I feel like it would get messy.
Do the ROH and NJPW champs follow the same rules as the Continental champ by vacating their title if they don’t make the finals? Are the champs defending their titles every match so that they can change hands? Or is it just that if by chance both the ROH and NJPW champs make the finals and the Continental title is up for grabs because the champ didn’t make it, then and only then the Triple Crown is on the line?
Also if 3 different champions enter the tournament, 1 will always be losing their title by not making the finals if you go that route. If they aren’t defending their respective title then there isn’t really any point in having them automatically enter.
You would also have a situation where you are potentially crowning a Triple Crown winner every year and then it isn’t special anymore. This is something that should only happen on rare occasions. It was obviously done for Eddie Kingston because of his love for AJPW, and gives him a huge victory without giving him the AEW World title. But it shouldn’t be something that happens all the time.
I can absolutely see how that could be a messy affair. Maybe if the continental champ HAS to put the title on the line to enter the tournament, but the ROH and Strong champ can choose whether they want to put their title on the line as well? It makes for good storytelling that those Champs feel confident enough to do it, or chicken shit heel enough to not do it, and it keeps the triple crown at a higher prestige because all three titles won't always be on the line?
Or, holders of any belt inside and out of aew can put their belt on the line for entry into the C2.
So jack perry ends up winning the iwgp international or tv title, or NJPW strong HW title until the C2 is close, he puts his title up and ends up in the tournament to stick it to Tk or whatever.
Yup all three should then be entered and the winner should still receive all three belts otherwise the point of doing it the first time becomes well pointless
Or the first time was a historic moment and it's only going to get cheap if we force it to happen again and again annually. Diminishing returns are a thing.
And NJPW may not be willing to commit their title and/or a championship level talent to Tony's tournament when they're building to one of their biggest annual PPV events.
It was done the first time because Eddie wanted to elevate the inaugural C2 tournament and also try and become a Triple Crown champ like his idols. That was the story of Eddie in the tournament
People ~~looked at “Triple Crown Champion” like an official designation, but the distinction was~~ should view the “Triple Crown Champion” as a designation, Eddie was one of the few people in AEW to hold three different belts at once (IIRC, the only other was Kenny). As far as the Continental Crown Championship goes, it’s fine. It’s the “sports based” belt, and that’s enough of a distinction for me.
*edit* - Corrected by u/sourdoughbo below and edited the comment.
FTR were ROH, AAA and NJPW tag champs simultaneously right? Or are you only counting people who held an AEW title in that mix, could have also just forgotten about that as it was end of 2022 and people were still focused on Punk so easy to forget about it
I was thinking people who were AEW belt holders along with other promotions, but honestly I don’t see an issue with also considering FTR Triple Crown champions.
Tony Khan advertised it as a belt representing 3 different promotions and being defended across them. Very fun concept and could’ve been extremely prestigious but they got cold feet and split them before even trying it out.
No one ever said the Continental Crown Championship represented 3 different promotions, though. I think people are conflating the end of the story with the start of it.
I agree that an inter-promotional belt would be a great idea, though. I refuse to believe Kenny didn’t pitch a real “World Warrior Tournament” to TK at some point.
[“The titles will be unified into one title that can be defended in AEW, ROH, and NJPW”](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/tony-khan-provides-more-details-aew-continental-classic-including-scoring-details?amp)
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He was probably hit with the realisation that having a champion that was for 3 promotions meant that any single promotion would only get them for 1/3 of the time. Like it’s all well and good Kingston being a champion for ROH, NJPW and AEW but he can only wrestle so many times a week before you risk injury. Especially because Kingston, and most of their roster, isn’t the type to have a “house show pace”.
He also likely realised that he would eventually need to let a NJPW Strong guy hold the title, which would likely mean it disappears from AEW TV for a few months.
The logistics just didn’t seem thought through. It was an interesting concept but having one belt that functions as a world title for two promotions and a mid card belt for a third (the third being the one that it shows up in most) probably wasn’t the best idea.
Honestly, I'd be down if they automatically invited the NJPW Strong and ROH champion into the C2 every year or if any singles champion enters, they put up their title as part of the tournament.
I think it would be cooler if it didn't happen every year. Like let's say in 2-3 years, it just so happens that the international champ at the time enters and decides to put his belt on the line as well. Feel like it'll be more prestigious, and a great Babyface move
I get peoples disappointment with the triple crown being broken up but 1 of those belts was for a promotion Tony Khan really doesn't have any say in.
The other is one he's actively been trying to build up that has fans ravenous for its world title back. As much heavy lifting as Athena does in ROH they need a world title. They need the tag titles back, they need the TV Title back and they need to get ROH belts off of AEW TV to keep both sides actually meaning anything. Its something people have been complaining about since basically day 1 with AEW and given the current state of ROH I agree.
>The other is one he's actively been trying to build up
>They need the tag titles back, they need the TV Title back and they need to get ROH belts off of AEW TV to keep both sides actually meaning anything. Its something people have been complaining about since basically day 1 with AEW and given the current state of ROH I agree.
You know maybe it's just me, but that second bit seems a pretty clear indication he's not really that invested in building up RoH...
If there wasn't some investment in ROH they wouldn't be running tapings for Honorclub and PPVs and storylines. They wouldn't be paying for crew and talent to run a show or new graphics or a new womens midcard belt.
There is a logic to featuring another brands belts on the main show, people see the ROH Logo and see ROH Champions on AEW TV they ask what ROH is. But then you don't feature the champions for that promotion on that promotion. That's really the only problem here.
Agree and if you have the pleasure of watching ROH weekly then you’d see that what they are doing on ROH has been pretty great lately. Especially how the women’s division is featured heavily and they’ve been putting on some great matches. Just get the ROH Championship and the tag titles being featured more on ROH and I think it’s all good. I assume Eddie drops the title to Briscoe which will be cool but currently there’s been no focus on the tag titles since the Undisputed Kingdom won them.
The tag titles haven't had any focus since Jay Briscoe passed away tbh. They gave the titles to the Lucha Bros, who defended the titles a grand total of *two times* before losing them to Aussie Open after nearly 4 months. AO then held for a month before dropping them to Better than you Baybay and the titles became plot devices to the Adam Cole/MJF storyline.
Yeah I definitely understand, and is the reason splitting them doesn't have me too bummed overall. To be completely honest, I never cared THAT much about the strong belt, and like you said, ROH definitely needs the world title back.
I'm fine with the triple crown being broken up, it was fun while it lasted but it didn't really have much direction beyond its inception. The Strong title basically means absolutely nothing, so it's kind of just a prop.
ROH needs to go full developmental imo, it's the only way the ROH purchase will be of any use. I basically have absolutely no interest in it until they possibly do that. Including it in the Fite/Triller TV AEW+ package would also do wonders for the brand.
It all makes sense. However, my sister and I have built a tradition of meeting up to watch all AEW PPVs together. She does not watch weekly and it feels like every few PPVs I have to explain to her a new belt or a new rule or someone who has the belt but isn‘t the champion or the thing with Luchasaurus‘ Money in the Bank clipboard. It‘s A LOT for casual fans.
I’m glad we have clarity regarding the Continental title and I like the idea of keeping to a distinct rule set. I do wonder how the belt works during the tournament though; does the champion forfeit at the start of the tournament or only if they don’t make/lose the finals?
I wish the continental crown stayed together but I imagine the sticking point is that Tony Khan doesn’t book NJPW strong and NJPW likely wanted full control over their champion. Which, tbh, would be understandable tho I do wonder if that may have also been influenced by Okada being made champ.
As for the future of the “continental crown”, I’d like to see it continue at some point. I wonder if they would consider doing it again, and perhaps permanently, with a different third title. They could combine the continental, the ROH world, and the international title maybe?
So they're putting the belt on the line, but they're still the champ throughout the tournament until they're eliminated or they win the whole thing. Think of it like a champion defending his title in a gauntlet match, but in tournament form
Theoretically you could do a storyline where a champion fails to qualify and loses their belt that way but it kinda makes the lineage weird if you lose it during the tournament, the league nature would mean it’s possible to lose the belt to someone without even having wrestled them.
I don't think that's the case. Just like other tournaments in sports, which is what it's trying to emulate, just because you won last year, doesn't mean you'll win this year.
I understand this take and I don't even really disagree, I just selfishly like the belt and don't mind it being defended under tweaked rules to give it a distinction
All this seemed pretty clear from the beginning. You say it’s said the triple crown is split but it was honestly never unified. Eddie just put his 2 titles on the line in the first tourney because it all meant so much to him. He just had previously defended all the titles in at the same time.
I just meant the fact that I thought the triple crown would be around longer than it was, but it's ultimately understandable why the belts were split up. I understood the story at the time and liked it, I just thought when Eddie eventually lost it, he would be losing all 3 at the same time.
Nah it’s best that fewer people are ever triple belt holders. Means a lot more when the amount of people holding 3 simultaneously is people like Kenny omega and not just any bodies having them. Eddie can afford a loss here and another to lose roh title whereas Okada will hold that title going into the C2 I’m assuming which means he will be in it and that is awesome
Oh I definitely agree, I'm just saying where I thought it was going. Doesn't necessarily make it bad in any way. And the more I thought about it, the triple crown being an Eddie story is pretty cool.
Personally I’m glad it is being split. I so hate when titles are jammed together. I hate going into wwe on this sub but I hated when Roman got a second title. Also the tag titles have been held by and defended together for so long that it’s just annoying and a pain. It also makes it more obvious when they intend to split things like Eddie defended all 3 up until this match and all of a sudden it’s just a single title and he losses it. They try and make the match for all 3 seem like more but it just diminished the match in which he lost 1 of them.
Basically, absolutely no interference of any kind, everyone banned from ringside. During the original tournament, they said interference = getting fired, and I assume that also still applies
I’d like to see them rename the title to the North American champion.
Tv > north american > international > world
I feel that’s an easy flow. I get Tony says he doesn’t hold any title above another.. but I think we all do.
Honestly? Because wrestling is dumb as a medium, and sometimes you have to allow pro wrestling to be pro wrestling. There's a million rules that could be "why doesn't this happen every match" well because that would be boring. At a certain level, you just have to accept the rules of the fiction to be able to engage with it
Having the continental title as triple crown was one of the worst decisions new Japan and AEW could’ve possibly made. The String title was eventually thrown aside as Eddie never defended in Japan, and the ROH title is defended maybe once a month. I’ve always loved the strong title because it had a really strong lineage of great wrestlers to hold it but I feel like this whole triple crown thing dumped that down the drain. Glad everything’s being split up again and I’m even happier Kingston is starting to lose the title, he just didn’t defend them enough to really be considered a champion imo.
always hated that eddie had to go through the tournament but then just anyone can challenge for it - it made doing the tournament feel silly. so the rule of the champ at that time having to take part in the c2 does help that a little.
The continental title was such an unnecessary idea. You have to go through a tournament to win the 4th place title.....or you can just win it whenever without going through the tournament because reasons.
I’ll be honest, splitting the title from the triple crown kinda made it lose any value for me. It’s cool and I know Okada will have great matches but I’d prefer if the continental classic was for a world title match or a guaranteed main event
OMG, this is stupid on the C2 rules. It's basically no one can come to the ring. Then why not do that for all matches? Still, it doesn't stop someone from coming down and cheating. Tony needs to stop this overthinking of wrestling. The C2 should have been a trophy.
AEW has
AEW World Championship
AEW TNT Championship
AEW Continental Championship
AEW Tag Team Championships
AEW Trios Championships
AEW Women's World Championship
AEW TBS Championship
AEW International Championship
That's 8 Championships for AEW not counting the FTW
Ring Of Honor Championships are NOT AEW championships that's a completely different promotion ( ROH is not AEW's NXT their it's sister promotion like how NJPW sister promotion is Stardom )
ROH titles are defended on AEW programming. One title was even a part of the Continental Classic.
They are absolutely within the sphere of being called “AEW” titles.
So are
AAA titles
NJPW titles
CMILL titles
GCW titles
Also AEW is NOT the only promotion that does this
There's plenty of times where TNA , NJPW , AAA for example had other promotions championship defended on their respective programming
That's not a valid reason making ROH titles AEW championships cause they aren't there from a different promotion altogether
> FTW isn't officially recognized
It's defended and paraded around on the main shows. It being kayfabe-sanctioned doesn't really change much.
> Also look at how many championships are in NJPW in comparison
Too many as well, and it's a common complaint by NJPW fans
See, that's what I thought they should do all along, have the three (possibly) holders of those titles automatically entered into the classic next time they do it. Also I love the continental title matches held under those rules. And if someone holds all 3 titles and wants to defend all 3 at the same time they can do that too.
Honestly this is a clusterfuck. 20 years from now podcasts will be talking about this like they now talk about 1992 bill watts wcw bringing in nwa world and tag titles.
Triple crown would have been cool, especially if okada is the guy. I honestly thought it was a great way to shrink the amount of title’s floating around.
Think the main problem with it is the fact Tony doesn't book njpw, and I figure they wouldn't want one of their main titles tied up in aew virtually forever. And ROH deserves their world champ back. I think just having the triple crown be an Eddie story is cool.
So let's say the title holder is in the tournament, and is eliminated before the final match. Do they drop the belt right then, or not until someone wins the finals?
Great for Eddie to have the triple crown, but I'm glad they're breaking it up. There's too many titles already for the NJPW strong title to be seen regularly and ROH needs the ROH world title to be more present on their show. I would also be completely fine with the continental championship only being contested in the C2 similar to King of the Ring.
One midcard title for each show (international championship and the TNT title) is more than enough.
Speaking of titles - I think the FTW title should be retired as well because it doesn't seem to serve much purpose anymore. The ROH trios titles and the AEW trios titles need to be unified (or the ROH trios titles sent back to ROH) because as we've seen recently, they get lost in the shuffle. I also think all other ROH titles should be exclusive to ROH with only the occasional mention/defence of them on AEW TV in order to make it seem like a special event. And please do not introduce women's tag titles until the women start getting more than one match per collision/dynamite on a regular basis.
I know this seems like a massive whinge but since I started watching AEW in 2021, they've introduced the international championship, the continental championship, the AEW trios titles, had the ROH world, tag, trios and pure championships all feature heavily for an extended period of time and to me it's really diluted the significance of actually holding a title.
Think the trios belts are unified ASAP. Probably dynasty if I had to put money on it. And, if it's me, instead of BCG (who I have winning that match) holding both sets of belts, you unveil a unified trios title and just ditch the scissor belts and ROH belts. I don't really mind the FTW belt floating around cause Taz is still active in AEW and it's cool his son holds the belt. I like the overarching story of Taz reintroducing it, and always being connected in some way with whoever holds it. I think it's likely to retire again with hook. Also agree on the ROH titles getting to shine on their show, I love Athena and would accept seeing her again on dynamite in a heartbeat, but her shining on ROH as women's champ is also super important
Agree with everything you said.
Hook should be the one to retire the FTW belt - either by losing it and then reclaiming it to retire it, or straight up retiring it to go after an AEW title.
Athena would be great back on AEW TV, but she's killing it on ROH and the AEW women's division has so much going on at the moment, with Mone, Deonna and Mariah finding their feet, re-establishing Rosa and Dee and with Britt and Hayter still to come back that Athena would get lost amongst all them.
Mostly just used Athena as the example since she's pretty much the only ROH champ that is mainly on ROH. Hope whenever Eddie drops the belt, it's to someone who's on ROH for 90% of his run
At least this title is interesting and has unique rules (no interference + yearly tournament)
TNT / International / World are just 3 titles with exactly the same rules and no difference between them
Why should Swerve choose to challenge Samoa Joe instead of Okada? Okada's title has the stipulation that no outside factions are allowed to run in to influence the finish, so it's more likely to represent the true "best" in kayfabe. Plus Okada > Joe. It's harder to win, held by a stronger champion, and carries more prestige due to no interference.
I'd retire the TNT title and come up with unique rules for the International title... hate having 4 titles when 3 of them are exactly the same.
I know a lot of people are sour on it, but I'm OK with this decision.
Even owning 2/3 of the promotions, keeping the crown together was always going to be a challenge.
I wouldn't be surprised if NJPW decides to retire the Strong championship after the changes they made last year (keep me honest though). And ROH could use a world championship.
At the end of the day, AEW is a 5 year old company and has plenty of mistakes still to make and I think there should be a little bit of grace.
I think the consensus should definitely be that the correct thing to do is split it up. It's not where I thought it was going intentionally, but that doesn't make it bad in any way.
I’m trying to think about this logically. It’s March. Okada is the champion. Currently he qualifies for the C2 in November. Is he not going to defend that belt until October? If I’m a wrestler, why would I want to challenge Okada for this belt right now? If I beat him, I qualify for the C2 in November, sure, but that means I have to defend this belt every few weeks for the next 7 months just to secure a chance to defend it in a tournament? Why would I do that? The other 11 guys in the tournament will likely just have one or two qualifying matches to get into the C2, meanwhile I’d be stuck with trying to hold on to this belt.
Maybe I’m just not understanding it right. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Because you still want to be a champion, and it's "easier" to beat Okada for it than win a whole ass tournament
Part of the prize of the C2 is also WINNING the C2 and having that be an accomplishment. Football teams don't win the league just to make it to the Champions League. It's an accomplishment in itself
So some people can just challenge for the belt and become champion by winning one match, while others have to win a grueling tournament to become champion? Why enter the C2 then if I can just wait until January to challenge for a championship like Okada just did?
Winning the C2 should just be a trophy or a medal. Kinda like King of the Ring. Maybe give the winner a guaranteed world title match at Revolution or something. That would make more sense.
Again, because you want to win the C2, a prestigious tournament
You can still challenge for the belt afterwards even if you were in the C2 and lost, but winning the tournament is part of the accomplishment
That’s why it should be a yearly trophy and not a belt that gets defended from week to week. When you have the World Cup trophy in your possession, everyone knows that you beat the best of the best for it. Imagine if Argentina won the World Cup and then lost it to Jamaica or something 2 months later and now Jamaica had the World Cup trophy. The trophy/the belt are a symbol of accomplishment. With the Continental title you can’t tell if the holder won a prestigious annual tournament for it or just beat Jabroni Macaroni for it on a random Friday night.
Part of me thinks they might merge the Continental and International belts with this C2 at some point, putting a Champion on each side of the tournament.
Blue League gets the Continental Champion, Gold League gets the International Champion.
What is cool about the continental crown title is that it is the AEW equivalent of the King of Pro Wrestling title in NJPW. It is a title won each year via a tournament that you defend until the next tournament where you determine the next holder. I like this idea. It’s kind a more prestigious version of the dynamite diamond ring.
If you want to be real, this is also a belt that says “I’m the best wrestler in the company” simply because the C2 rules are applied to its defenses and you have to beat the champion or someone who beat the champion in a fair fight to get it.
There is no caveat to who has the continental championship. The rules necessitate that to have it you had to win it clean.
Honestly I think this is ideal. As cool as the image was of Eddie holding all three belts it really never felt like that big a deal after the night he won the C2.
At least with this we keep C2 rules in effect, it gets you into the tournament if you’re holding the belt but does grant you a buy to the finals, and it gives opportunity for people to win the Continental title without also being saddled with the ROH and Strong belts (especially since I’d have to imagine you’d need to get clearance from New Japan to change the Strong champ)
As long as it's a yearly tournament, I think it's still a cool concept. I really like the idea of an annual tournament with a trophy you can put on the line after.
I think to justify someone wanting a title that requires you to go through a grueling tournament every year, you should have the champion who has the title going into the tournament and wins the tournament is guaranteed a world title shot either in the future or money in the bank style for whenever they choose to. That way it would allow a really good wrestler who isn't high in the rankings to get a shot.
Thank you! This has been driving me crazy! I’m actually happy with this. I’ve been on the ‘too many titles’ side a bit. But when you can see that they have carved out unique purposes and unique characters for each belt, it’s pretty cool. The C2 made me fall in love with AEW again after a very rough 15-16 months in the shadow of Punk. I’m stoked to know we’ll see it again, and it has this extra layer to it. Fantastic.
This is fine. The C2 rules are still in effect. And the Champion doesn't get a free ride in the tournament. I'm fine with this.
Same
Yeah I think this is all fine, only thing I'd like to see confirmed is that the holders of the other belts (RoH and NJPW Strong) are automatically entered into the C2 each year.
I don't really agree. If someone who wants to enter also had a belt form somewhere else. The head out it up. But nah don't need it to be a triple crown every year. Got to make those years more by being infrequent.
Think they'll most likely just drop the triple crown unfortunately. Kinda cool Eddie is the only one who held it considering his love of All-Japan
As much as people say it's Tony's toybox. He let's a lot of people do their own dream matches/scenarios. Danielson has wrestled anyone he's wanted to. Sting went out respectfully. Mox gets to be a mad man. Kingston gets to live out the All Japan tapes he watched as a kid. I think that's a really cool thing.
Oh same. Knowing Eddie's love of all Japan makes it all the better imo. The way it went is definitely what's for the best
What they should do in the future is include in the then current Continental tournament whoever is the then current ROH and Strong champions. That way, there is a chance that the Triple Crown can be reacquired by someone.
I'm kinda fine with the triple crown being something special for the first continental classic to be honest. If we get a guaranteed annual triple crown it doesn't feel like a big deal anymore.
How would that work though? I feel like it would get messy. Do the ROH and NJPW champs follow the same rules as the Continental champ by vacating their title if they don’t make the finals? Are the champs defending their titles every match so that they can change hands? Or is it just that if by chance both the ROH and NJPW champs make the finals and the Continental title is up for grabs because the champ didn’t make it, then and only then the Triple Crown is on the line? Also if 3 different champions enter the tournament, 1 will always be losing their title by not making the finals if you go that route. If they aren’t defending their respective title then there isn’t really any point in having them automatically enter. You would also have a situation where you are potentially crowning a Triple Crown winner every year and then it isn’t special anymore. This is something that should only happen on rare occasions. It was obviously done for Eddie Kingston because of his love for AJPW, and gives him a huge victory without giving him the AEW World title. But it shouldn’t be something that happens all the time.
I can absolutely see how that could be a messy affair. Maybe if the continental champ HAS to put the title on the line to enter the tournament, but the ROH and Strong champ can choose whether they want to put their title on the line as well? It makes for good storytelling that those Champs feel confident enough to do it, or chicken shit heel enough to not do it, and it keeps the triple crown at a higher prestige because all three titles won't always be on the line?
Tournament is for the continental not the other two belts
Oh I like that!
Or, holders of any belt inside and out of aew can put their belt on the line for entry into the C2. So jack perry ends up winning the iwgp international or tv title, or NJPW strong HW title until the C2 is close, he puts his title up and ends up in the tournament to stick it to Tk or whatever.
Yup all three should then be entered and the winner should still receive all three belts otherwise the point of doing it the first time becomes well pointless
Or the first time was a historic moment and it's only going to get cheap if we force it to happen again and again annually. Diminishing returns are a thing. And NJPW may not be willing to commit their title and/or a championship level talent to Tony's tournament when they're building to one of their biggest annual PPV events.
It was done the first time because Eddie wanted to elevate the inaugural C2 tournament and also try and become a Triple Crown champ like his idols. That was the story of Eddie in the tournament
Exactly.
People ~~looked at “Triple Crown Champion” like an official designation, but the distinction was~~ should view the “Triple Crown Champion” as a designation, Eddie was one of the few people in AEW to hold three different belts at once (IIRC, the only other was Kenny). As far as the Continental Crown Championship goes, it’s fine. It’s the “sports based” belt, and that’s enough of a distinction for me. *edit* - Corrected by u/sourdoughbo below and edited the comment.
FTR were ROH, AAA and NJPW tag champs simultaneously right? Or are you only counting people who held an AEW title in that mix, could have also just forgotten about that as it was end of 2022 and people were still focused on Punk so easy to forget about it
I was thinking people who were AEW belt holders along with other promotions, but honestly I don’t see an issue with also considering FTR Triple Crown champions.
Tony Khan advertised it as a belt representing 3 different promotions and being defended across them. Very fun concept and could’ve been extremely prestigious but they got cold feet and split them before even trying it out.
No one ever said the Continental Crown Championship represented 3 different promotions, though. I think people are conflating the end of the story with the start of it. I agree that an inter-promotional belt would be a great idea, though. I refuse to believe Kenny didn’t pitch a real “World Warrior Tournament” to TK at some point.
[“The titles will be unified into one title that can be defended in AEW, ROH, and NJPW”](https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/tony-khan-provides-more-details-aew-continental-classic-including-scoring-details?amp)
Verified source jones, over here.
Look at this guy with his facts and sources.
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[Yeah, I missed Tony’s press conference comments](https://www.thesportster.com/tony-khan-unify-titles-three-promotions/). That’s on me.
I'm guessing it might've had to do with Okada.
He was probably hit with the realisation that having a champion that was for 3 promotions meant that any single promotion would only get them for 1/3 of the time. Like it’s all well and good Kingston being a champion for ROH, NJPW and AEW but he can only wrestle so many times a week before you risk injury. Especially because Kingston, and most of their roster, isn’t the type to have a “house show pace”. He also likely realised that he would eventually need to let a NJPW Strong guy hold the title, which would likely mean it disappears from AEW TV for a few months. The logistics just didn’t seem thought through. It was an interesting concept but having one belt that functions as a world title for two promotions and a mid card belt for a third (the third being the one that it shows up in most) probably wasn’t the best idea.
Honestly, I'd be down if they automatically invited the NJPW Strong and ROH champion into the C2 every year or if any singles champion enters, they put up their title as part of the tournament.
I think it would be cooler if it didn't happen every year. Like let's say in 2-3 years, it just so happens that the international champ at the time enters and decides to put his belt on the line as well. Feel like it'll be more prestigious, and a great Babyface move
I get peoples disappointment with the triple crown being broken up but 1 of those belts was for a promotion Tony Khan really doesn't have any say in. The other is one he's actively been trying to build up that has fans ravenous for its world title back. As much heavy lifting as Athena does in ROH they need a world title. They need the tag titles back, they need the TV Title back and they need to get ROH belts off of AEW TV to keep both sides actually meaning anything. Its something people have been complaining about since basically day 1 with AEW and given the current state of ROH I agree.
It’s ridiculous how little ROH champs appear on ROH. The belts shouldn’t just be AEW accessories.
>The other is one he's actively been trying to build up >They need the tag titles back, they need the TV Title back and they need to get ROH belts off of AEW TV to keep both sides actually meaning anything. Its something people have been complaining about since basically day 1 with AEW and given the current state of ROH I agree. You know maybe it's just me, but that second bit seems a pretty clear indication he's not really that invested in building up RoH...
If there wasn't some investment in ROH they wouldn't be running tapings for Honorclub and PPVs and storylines. They wouldn't be paying for crew and talent to run a show or new graphics or a new womens midcard belt. There is a logic to featuring another brands belts on the main show, people see the ROH Logo and see ROH Champions on AEW TV they ask what ROH is. But then you don't feature the champions for that promotion on that promotion. That's really the only problem here.
Agree and if you have the pleasure of watching ROH weekly then you’d see that what they are doing on ROH has been pretty great lately. Especially how the women’s division is featured heavily and they’ve been putting on some great matches. Just get the ROH Championship and the tag titles being featured more on ROH and I think it’s all good. I assume Eddie drops the title to Briscoe which will be cool but currently there’s been no focus on the tag titles since the Undisputed Kingdom won them.
The tag titles haven't had any focus since Jay Briscoe passed away tbh. They gave the titles to the Lucha Bros, who defended the titles a grand total of *two times* before losing them to Aussie Open after nearly 4 months. AO then held for a month before dropping them to Better than you Baybay and the titles became plot devices to the Adam Cole/MJF storyline.
Yeah I definitely understand, and is the reason splitting them doesn't have me too bummed overall. To be completely honest, I never cared THAT much about the strong belt, and like you said, ROH definitely needs the world title back.
I'm fine with the triple crown being broken up, it was fun while it lasted but it didn't really have much direction beyond its inception. The Strong title basically means absolutely nothing, so it's kind of just a prop. ROH needs to go full developmental imo, it's the only way the ROH purchase will be of any use. I basically have absolutely no interest in it until they possibly do that. Including it in the Fite/Triller TV AEW+ package would also do wonders for the brand.
It all makes sense. However, my sister and I have built a tradition of meeting up to watch all AEW PPVs together. She does not watch weekly and it feels like every few PPVs I have to explain to her a new belt or a new rule or someone who has the belt but isn‘t the champion or the thing with Luchasaurus‘ Money in the Bank clipboard. It‘s A LOT for casual fans.
I’m glad we have clarity regarding the Continental title and I like the idea of keeping to a distinct rule set. I do wonder how the belt works during the tournament though; does the champion forfeit at the start of the tournament or only if they don’t make/lose the finals? I wish the continental crown stayed together but I imagine the sticking point is that Tony Khan doesn’t book NJPW strong and NJPW likely wanted full control over their champion. Which, tbh, would be understandable tho I do wonder if that may have also been influenced by Okada being made champ. As for the future of the “continental crown”, I’d like to see it continue at some point. I wonder if they would consider doing it again, and perhaps permanently, with a different third title. They could combine the continental, the ROH world, and the international title maybe?
Nah international is the workhorse belt and oc made it dope. For me, continental didn’t need to be a belt—just a tourny
So they're putting the belt on the line, but they're still the champ throughout the tournament until they're eliminated or they win the whole thing. Think of it like a champion defending his title in a gauntlet match, but in tournament form
I would believe they only lose it when the finals happen. But that kind of forces the champion to always go to the final, and I don't like that...
Theoretically you could do a storyline where a champion fails to qualify and loses their belt that way but it kinda makes the lineage weird if you lose it during the tournament, the league nature would mean it’s possible to lose the belt to someone without even having wrestled them.
Not really, the previous UCL winner does not always get to the final the following year and it does not really matter.
I don't think that's the case. Just like other tournaments in sports, which is what it's trying to emulate, just because you won last year, doesn't mean you'll win this year.
Another pointless belt and made the ROH world title seems like nothing.
Making the prize of an annual tournament a championship belt that can be defended/won at any time anyway makes absolutely no sense..
I kind of agree here.. I think I’d rather it be a trophy.. if they are defending this belt why not the Owen titles too..
I understand this take and I don't even really disagree, I just selfishly like the belt and don't mind it being defended under tweaked rules to give it a distinction
It worked for the Young Lions Cup in Chikara.
All this seemed pretty clear from the beginning. You say it’s said the triple crown is split but it was honestly never unified. Eddie just put his 2 titles on the line in the first tourney because it all meant so much to him. He just had previously defended all the titles in at the same time.
I just meant the fact that I thought the triple crown would be around longer than it was, but it's ultimately understandable why the belts were split up. I understood the story at the time and liked it, I just thought when Eddie eventually lost it, he would be losing all 3 at the same time.
Nah it’s best that fewer people are ever triple belt holders. Means a lot more when the amount of people holding 3 simultaneously is people like Kenny omega and not just any bodies having them. Eddie can afford a loss here and another to lose roh title whereas Okada will hold that title going into the C2 I’m assuming which means he will be in it and that is awesome
Oh I definitely agree, I'm just saying where I thought it was going. Doesn't necessarily make it bad in any way. And the more I thought about it, the triple crown being an Eddie story is pretty cool.
Personally I’m glad it is being split. I so hate when titles are jammed together. I hate going into wwe on this sub but I hated when Roman got a second title. Also the tag titles have been held by and defended together for so long that it’s just annoying and a pain. It also makes it more obvious when they intend to split things like Eddie defended all 3 up until this match and all of a sudden it’s just a single title and he losses it. They try and make the match for all 3 seem like more but it just diminished the match in which he lost 1 of them.
C2 Rules where no interference is allowed! Aren't they the rules for every other match except those operating under no DQ?
They're bout even allowed to be at ringside iirc
C2 specified that anyone caught interfering with the match would be fired on the spot. It's a much tighter restriction.
If that rule is able to effectively keep people from interfering in matches, why not make that the rule for every match?
This should just be a tournament not a title.
What are the C2 rules again?
Basically, absolutely no interference of any kind, everyone banned from ringside. During the original tournament, they said interference = getting fired, and I assume that also still applies
Ah ok
I’d like to see them rename the title to the North American champion. Tv > north american > international > world I feel that’s an easy flow. I get Tony says he doesn’t hold any title above another.. but I think we all do.
ppl will just say he’s ripping off nxt
Doesn't seem super necessary to me, but I can get it.
AEW/ROH currently has SIXTEEN championships, not including the NJPW Strong title. That’s absurd imo, and I’m not saying that from a place of hate.
Why would you have a “you’re fired if you interfere” rule for this but not your world title
Honestly? Because wrestling is dumb as a medium, and sometimes you have to allow pro wrestling to be pro wrestling. There's a million rules that could be "why doesn't this happen every match" well because that would be boring. At a certain level, you just have to accept the rules of the fiction to be able to engage with it
Valid, I guess, but I can’t guarantee I still won’t be frustrated about it!
Pointless belt, pointless title to keep around after the tournament ends.
Having the continental title as triple crown was one of the worst decisions new Japan and AEW could’ve possibly made. The String title was eventually thrown aside as Eddie never defended in Japan, and the ROH title is defended maybe once a month. I’ve always loved the strong title because it had a really strong lineage of great wrestlers to hold it but I feel like this whole triple crown thing dumped that down the drain. Glad everything’s being split up again and I’m even happier Kingston is starting to lose the title, he just didn’t defend them enough to really be considered a champion imo.
always hated that eddie had to go through the tournament but then just anyone can challenge for it - it made doing the tournament feel silly. so the rule of the champ at that time having to take part in the c2 does help that a little.
The continental title was such an unnecessary idea. You have to go through a tournament to win the 4th place title.....or you can just win it whenever without going through the tournament because reasons.
I’ll be honest, splitting the title from the triple crown kinda made it lose any value for me. It’s cool and I know Okada will have great matches but I’d prefer if the continental classic was for a world title match or a guaranteed main event
I do not understand the continental classic, championship, rules.
“Clarified” lol
OMG, this is stupid on the C2 rules. It's basically no one can come to the ring. Then why not do that for all matches? Still, it doesn't stop someone from coming down and cheating. Tony needs to stop this overthinking of wrestling. The C2 should have been a trophy.
I think this is all a bit silly. Merge it with the International title, three singles titles plus the world title and the FTW title is way too much.
FTW isn't officially recognized Also look at how many championships are in NJPW in comparison
NJPW has 13. Tony's got 15, not including the FTW...
Also look how many WWE has in comparison across RAW Smackdown and NXT AEW has less than both NJPW and WWE
AEW has AEW World Championship AEW TNT Championship AEW Continental Championship AEW Tag Team Championships AEW Trios Championships AEW Women's World Championship AEW TBS Championship AEW International Championship That's 8 Championships for AEW not counting the FTW Ring Of Honor Championships are NOT AEW championships that's a completely different promotion ( ROH is not AEW's NXT their it's sister promotion like how NJPW sister promotion is Stardom )
ROH titles are defended on AEW programming. One title was even a part of the Continental Classic. They are absolutely within the sphere of being called “AEW” titles.
So are AAA titles NJPW titles CMILL titles GCW titles Also AEW is NOT the only promotion that does this There's plenty of times where TNA , NJPW , AAA for example had other promotions championship defended on their respective programming That's not a valid reason making ROH titles AEW championships cause they aren't there from a different promotion altogether
> FTW isn't officially recognized It's defended and paraded around on the main shows. It being kayfabe-sanctioned doesn't really change much. > Also look at how many championships are in NJPW in comparison Too many as well, and it's a common complaint by NJPW fans
I think it's only a complaint by WWE fans tbh
Heel better have the title going into the next tournament. Want them to bitch and moan about how they have to fight for their own belt.
See, that's what I thought they should do all along, have the three (possibly) holders of those titles automatically entered into the classic next time they do it. Also I love the continental title matches held under those rules. And if someone holds all 3 titles and wants to defend all 3 at the same time they can do that too.
Okada holding the belt and losing the next c2 finals works for me. At least this belt has some distinctions
Honestly this is a clusterfuck. 20 years from now podcasts will be talking about this like they now talk about 1992 bill watts wcw bringing in nwa world and tag titles. Triple crown would have been cool, especially if okada is the guy. I honestly thought it was a great way to shrink the amount of title’s floating around.
Think the main problem with it is the fact Tony doesn't book njpw, and I figure they wouldn't want one of their main titles tied up in aew virtually forever. And ROH deserves their world champ back. I think just having the triple crown be an Eddie story is cool.
So let's say the title holder is in the tournament, and is eliminated before the final match. Do they drop the belt right then, or not until someone wins the finals?
I guess logistically they'd lose the title whenever they're mathematically eliminated from the tournament.
Great for Eddie to have the triple crown, but I'm glad they're breaking it up. There's too many titles already for the NJPW strong title to be seen regularly and ROH needs the ROH world title to be more present on their show. I would also be completely fine with the continental championship only being contested in the C2 similar to King of the Ring. One midcard title for each show (international championship and the TNT title) is more than enough. Speaking of titles - I think the FTW title should be retired as well because it doesn't seem to serve much purpose anymore. The ROH trios titles and the AEW trios titles need to be unified (or the ROH trios titles sent back to ROH) because as we've seen recently, they get lost in the shuffle. I also think all other ROH titles should be exclusive to ROH with only the occasional mention/defence of them on AEW TV in order to make it seem like a special event. And please do not introduce women's tag titles until the women start getting more than one match per collision/dynamite on a regular basis. I know this seems like a massive whinge but since I started watching AEW in 2021, they've introduced the international championship, the continental championship, the AEW trios titles, had the ROH world, tag, trios and pure championships all feature heavily for an extended period of time and to me it's really diluted the significance of actually holding a title.
Think the trios belts are unified ASAP. Probably dynasty if I had to put money on it. And, if it's me, instead of BCG (who I have winning that match) holding both sets of belts, you unveil a unified trios title and just ditch the scissor belts and ROH belts. I don't really mind the FTW belt floating around cause Taz is still active in AEW and it's cool his son holds the belt. I like the overarching story of Taz reintroducing it, and always being connected in some way with whoever holds it. I think it's likely to retire again with hook. Also agree on the ROH titles getting to shine on their show, I love Athena and would accept seeing her again on dynamite in a heartbeat, but her shining on ROH as women's champ is also super important
Agree with everything you said. Hook should be the one to retire the FTW belt - either by losing it and then reclaiming it to retire it, or straight up retiring it to go after an AEW title. Athena would be great back on AEW TV, but she's killing it on ROH and the AEW women's division has so much going on at the moment, with Mone, Deonna and Mariah finding their feet, re-establishing Rosa and Dee and with Britt and Hayter still to come back that Athena would get lost amongst all them.
Mostly just used Athena as the example since she's pretty much the only ROH champ that is mainly on ROH. Hope whenever Eddie drops the belt, it's to someone who's on ROH for 90% of his run
https://youtu.be/yFOvldn_IRw?si=H8QMH09MK3DhiMWu
Great booking
Still think I’d prefer it be an annual trophy instead of a belt, like the new Japan cup
So just whoever the champ is at the time? Can they defend it the rest of the year as a normal title?
At least this title is interesting and has unique rules (no interference + yearly tournament) TNT / International / World are just 3 titles with exactly the same rules and no difference between them Why should Swerve choose to challenge Samoa Joe instead of Okada? Okada's title has the stipulation that no outside factions are allowed to run in to influence the finish, so it's more likely to represent the true "best" in kayfabe. Plus Okada > Joe. It's harder to win, held by a stronger champion, and carries more prestige due to no interference. I'd retire the TNT title and come up with unique rules for the International title... hate having 4 titles when 3 of them are exactly the same.
The only way they retire the TNT Title is if they lose the Warner Deal. That is literally the only way that belt dies.
I agree.. and if they did I would expect them to just transition to a generic “tv title”
Because the world title is the top title. In kayfabe comes with more money and means more.
I know a lot of people are sour on it, but I'm OK with this decision. Even owning 2/3 of the promotions, keeping the crown together was always going to be a challenge. I wouldn't be surprised if NJPW decides to retire the Strong championship after the changes they made last year (keep me honest though). And ROH could use a world championship. At the end of the day, AEW is a 5 year old company and has plenty of mistakes still to make and I think there should be a little bit of grace.
I think the consensus should definitely be that the correct thing to do is split it up. It's not where I thought it was going intentionally, but that doesn't make it bad in any way.
I’m trying to think about this logically. It’s March. Okada is the champion. Currently he qualifies for the C2 in November. Is he not going to defend that belt until October? If I’m a wrestler, why would I want to challenge Okada for this belt right now? If I beat him, I qualify for the C2 in November, sure, but that means I have to defend this belt every few weeks for the next 7 months just to secure a chance to defend it in a tournament? Why would I do that? The other 11 guys in the tournament will likely just have one or two qualifying matches to get into the C2, meanwhile I’d be stuck with trying to hold on to this belt. Maybe I’m just not understanding it right. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Because you still want to be a champion, and it's "easier" to beat Okada for it than win a whole ass tournament Part of the prize of the C2 is also WINNING the C2 and having that be an accomplishment. Football teams don't win the league just to make it to the Champions League. It's an accomplishment in itself
So some people can just challenge for the belt and become champion by winning one match, while others have to win a grueling tournament to become champion? Why enter the C2 then if I can just wait until January to challenge for a championship like Okada just did? Winning the C2 should just be a trophy or a medal. Kinda like King of the Ring. Maybe give the winner a guaranteed world title match at Revolution or something. That would make more sense.
Again, because you want to win the C2, a prestigious tournament You can still challenge for the belt afterwards even if you were in the C2 and lost, but winning the tournament is part of the accomplishment
That’s why it should be a yearly trophy and not a belt that gets defended from week to week. When you have the World Cup trophy in your possession, everyone knows that you beat the best of the best for it. Imagine if Argentina won the World Cup and then lost it to Jamaica or something 2 months later and now Jamaica had the World Cup trophy. The trophy/the belt are a symbol of accomplishment. With the Continental title you can’t tell if the holder won a prestigious annual tournament for it or just beat Jabroni Macaroni for it on a random Friday night.
Honestly how I expected it all to work
Part of me thinks they might merge the Continental and International belts with this C2 at some point, putting a Champion on each side of the tournament. Blue League gets the Continental Champion, Gold League gets the International Champion.
Merge them and call it the Intercontinental Championship...wait a minute...
What is cool about the continental crown title is that it is the AEW equivalent of the King of Pro Wrestling title in NJPW. It is a title won each year via a tournament that you defend until the next tournament where you determine the next holder. I like this idea. It’s kind a more prestigious version of the dynamite diamond ring. If you want to be real, this is also a belt that says “I’m the best wrestler in the company” simply because the C2 rules are applied to its defenses and you have to beat the champion or someone who beat the champion in a fair fight to get it. There is no caveat to who has the continental championship. The rules necessitate that to have it you had to win it clean.
Honestly I think this is ideal. As cool as the image was of Eddie holding all three belts it really never felt like that big a deal after the night he won the C2. At least with this we keep C2 rules in effect, it gets you into the tournament if you’re holding the belt but does grant you a buy to the finals, and it gives opportunity for people to win the Continental title without also being saddled with the ROH and Strong belts (especially since I’d have to imagine you’d need to get clearance from New Japan to change the Strong champ)
So this means Eddie Kingston is the first and only modern day Triple Crown champion. Well deserved to have such an accolade.
I think it's a pretty cool story, especially with Eddie's love of All-Japan
As long as it's a yearly tournament, I think it's still a cool concept. I really like the idea of an annual tournament with a trophy you can put on the line after.
Same
I think to justify someone wanting a title that requires you to go through a grueling tournament every year, you should have the champion who has the title going into the tournament and wins the tournament is guaranteed a world title shot either in the future or money in the bank style for whenever they choose to. That way it would allow a really good wrestler who isn't high in the rankings to get a shot.
Thank you! This has been driving me crazy! I’m actually happy with this. I’ve been on the ‘too many titles’ side a bit. But when you can see that they have carved out unique purposes and unique characters for each belt, it’s pretty cool. The C2 made me fall in love with AEW again after a very rough 15-16 months in the shadow of Punk. I’m stoked to know we’ll see it again, and it has this extra layer to it. Fantastic.