The 2025 AEW Continental Classic is over, and we have a NEW continental champion!
In the first semifinals match, Kazuchika Okada defeated Konosuke Takeshita by using a screwdriver when the referee was otherwise not paying attention. Later on, Kyle Fletcher failed to retrieve that screwdriver, which apparently he had planted earlier in the night, and that led to his downfall, losing to Jon Moxley.
Moxley then went on to defeat Okada in the finals of the tournament to win the AEW Continental Championship, after which he cut an impassioned promo about how the belt belongs not just to himself, but to everyone who stepped foot in the tournament and gave it their all, as that's what everyone should be doing, what the job asks for and what the fans deserve.
This means Okada is also no longer going to hold the "AEW Unified Championship"—the belt created by proxy of Okada walking into his title-for-title match with Kenny Omega as continental champion while Omega was holding the AEW International Championship.
Personal Reactions & What Happens Next?:
In every podcast and article that I've had an opportunity to talk about this, I've been saying for this entire year how stupid it was to go with a "unified champion" idea. First, it wasn't actually unified in any way, as proven by what happened here. Second, the name itself was dumb. Third, and this is now going to be a problem going forward, this means Okada is the international champion while the newly-created AEW National Championship is held by Ricochet. That means there are now four midcard titles in AEW, and two of them are the international and national titles, while there's also a "continental" and a "world" champion. Tony Khan couldn't have named these anything else?!
As far as Moxley winning the title is concerned, it goes to show that the same few people always do revolve around the championships. Plenty others could have won that just the same, but Khan must have felt the itch to put a belt back on Moxley after taking the AEW World Championship away from him a few months back at All In. I'm not entirely opposed to it in theory, but I worry that this is just going to be another generic prize for him to defend in the same setup as before, with The Death Riders all doing their usual thing. If this leads to some character progression and something interesting happening, I'll be all for it, but that remains to be seen. Let's hope at the very least, the naming conventions of these titles gets cleaned up.
If you're looking for the full scope of results from tonight's AEW Worlds End 2025 pay-per-view, go here for the live coverage post.
Tell us what you think about this title change by leaving a comment below! Who do you think will be the next in line to challenge for the title, or possibly even win the belt next? Keep the discussion going!