2025 Continental Classic Field: Full List of Wrestlers in Blue League, Gold League

The 2025 Continental Classic is here! 

And on Monday night, we were introduced to the 12 wrestlers who will participate in this year’s Continental Classic, beginning on the Thanksgiving Eve AEW Dynamite this Wednesday, live at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on TBS and HBO Max from Nashville, Tennessee!

Without further ado, let’s get to the 2025 Continental Classic wrestlers!

2025 Continental Classic Wrestlers

The 12 wrestlers in the 2025 Continental Classic are (in alphabetical order): Darby Allin, Speedball Bailey, Orange Cassidy, Claudio Castagnoli, Máscara Dorada, Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, Jon Moxley, Kazuchika Okada, PAC, Roderick Strong and Konosuke Takeshita.

Here are the 2025 Continental Classic competitors in both the Blue League and the Gold League:

2025 Continental Classic Blue League

Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Konosuke Takeshita, Roderick Strong, Máscara Dorada, Orange Cassidy

2025 Continental Classic Gold League 

Kazuchika Okada, Speedball Bailey, Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight, PAC, Darby Allin

Continental Classic Rules & Everything You Need to Know

The Continental Classic is AEW’s premier annual tournament, with two round-robin style tournaments consisting of two fields, the Blue League and the Gold League, with six competitors each. Each entrant will compete in five individual matches (one each against each of the other competitors in their league), vying to become the top points earner in their league. This is the third annual Continental Classic, with the tournament debuting in 2023. 

Continental Classic matches are contested under Continental Rules, which feature a 20-minute time limit and the stipulations that no one is allowed at ringside and that there is the strictest prohibition against outside interference, under the threat of being banned from AEW. 

The Continental Classic’s round-robin stage is scored on a points-based system, with a winning wrestler receiving 3 points for a victory in a match and a losing wrestler receiving 0 in defeat. Each wrestler receives 1 point in the case of a draw. Any ties in points are broken by head-to-head record. AEW Worlds End in Chicago, Illinois on December 27 will host both the semifinals and finals of this year's Continental Classic. The semifinals will feature the winner of each league against the runner-up of the opposite league (i.e. the winner of the Blue League will face the runner-up of the Gold League, and vice-versa).

The reigning tournament winner, Kazuchika Okada, now sees his AEW Unified Championship reign in danger, as the winner of this year’s Continental Classic will be crowned the AEW Continental Champion at Worlds End. Okada, who is tied with Japanese professional wrestling legend Masahiro Chono as the greatest tournament wrestler of all time with 5 major wins (Chono having won 5 G1 Climax tournaments and Okada having won 4 G1 Climax tournaments and the 2024 AEW Continental Classic tournament), holds both the AEW Continental and AEW International Championships. In order to remain AEW Unified Champion, Okada must win the 2025 AEW Continental Classic.

Seven wrestlers will be making their Continental Classic debuts this year, with the 2025 tournament being the first Continental Classic for “Speedball” Mike Bailey, Orange Cassidy, Máscara Dorada, Kevin Knight, PAC, Roderick Strong and New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Konosuke Takeshita. This will be the second Continental Classic for Darby Allin, Jon Moxley, Kyle Fletcher and reigning AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada.

Then, there’s Claudio Castagnoli. With his inclusion in this year’s field, the Death Rider has been a competitor in all three editions of the Continental Classic.

This year’s Continental Classic features three members of the Don Callis Family (Fletcher, Okada and Takeshita) as well as three members of the Death Riders (Castagnoli, Moxley and PAC), with Mox and Castagnoli on track to square off in the Blue League round-robin stage. Somewhat similarly, both members of JetSpeed (Bailey and Knight) are in the Gold League, meaning they’ll go one-on-one during round-robin matches as well. 

Meanwhile, although Strong is not a member of the Conglomeration, he and Cassidy have been on the same side of multiple wars in recent weeks, along with Allin (who will face one of his nemeses, the aforementioned PAC, in the Gold League); OC and Roddy will face each other in the Blue League. Last but not least is CMLL’s incredibly talented Dorada, who squared off with Okada and Takeshita in an electrifying 3-Way Match for the Unified Title at this September’s All Out and will get to face Takeshita one-on-one in the Blue League.

That 3-Way Match was also a pivotal moment in the current animosity between Okada and Takeshita, which stretches all the way back to June of this year, when the latter told the former that their alliance within the Don Callis Family was merely temporary, as Takeshita fully intended to pursue Okada’s title. In that September 3-Way Match, Okada and Takeshita went blow-for-blow multiple times. Since then, that tension has only escalated, particularly when Okada and Takeshita teamed to take on AEW World Tag Team Champions Brodido at October’s WrestleDream and when Okada arrived late at the AEW Full Gear Tailgate Brawl for the Don Callis Family’s match for the CMLL World Trios Titles against El Sky Team.

Week 1 of the Continental Classic will take place during AEW Thanksgiving Dynamite on Wednesday, 11/26 and AEW Thanksgiving Collision on Thursday, 11/27 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Week 2 will take place during AEW Dynamite in Indianapolis, Indiana on Wednesday, 12/3 and at AEW Collision at GalaxyCon in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday, 12/6.

Week 3 will take place at Winter is Coming AEW Dynamite in Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, 12/10 and AEW Winter is Coming Collision in Cardiff, Wales, UK on Saturday, 12/13.

Week 4 will take place at AEW Dynamite Holiday Bash and AEW Collision Holiday Bash in Manchester, England, UK.

Week 5 will take place at AEW Dynamite on 34th Street on Saturday, 12/20 and AEW Christmas Collision on Wednesday, 12/21 in New York City, New York, with the end of the round-robin stage taking place at Christmas Collision.

And the Continental Classic Semifinals (where the winner of each league will take on the runner-up of the opposite league) and Championship Final will take place at AEW Worlds End on Saturday, 12/27 in Chicago, Illinois, live on HBO Max PPV!

With the field now set, tune in for the start of this year’s Continental Classic LIVE at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on TBS and HBO Max this Wednesday, 11/26 from Nashville, Tennessee on the Thanksgiving Eve edition of AEW Dynamite!