The holiday season is always an exciting one for AEW as the Continental Classic tournament becomes one of the company’s main focuses as the calendar year draws to a close. The round robin competition has produced some of the best TV matches in the history of AEW since it was first introduced in 2023, and has become something many fans look forward to at the end of each year.
However, with certain events like All In and Forbidden Door being moved to different months in 2025, could the Continental Classic be moved to a different part of the AEW calendar? During the recent media call to promote AEW Worlds End 2025, AEW President Tony Khan admitted that the possibility of moving the tournament is interesting, but that the tournament being such a talking point at such a busy time of the year is very important for the shows in which tournament matches take place on.
“It’s a very interesting thought…” Khan said. “Certainly, I think it’s really nice to have awesome programming around the holidays, and also I think it does, if you want to have a very glass-half-full perspective on some of the benefits when it could be a challenging time to bring viewers in around the holidays, I think it gives an attraction to the shows. It provides something really strong, when even though there might be other aspects of the holidays that are very, very important, like spending time with your family, which is first and foremost for so many people, and rightfully so, and when there are a lot of important things outside of professional wrestling to also be doing around the holidays, I love that there’s awesome AEW wrestling that is a draw for people.”
AEW have gone one step further over the past two years as the annual Christmas episodes of “AEW Dynamite” and “AEW Collision” have taken place in the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, with the final league matches of the Continental Classic being the focal point of “Collision” in particular.
Tony Khan Knows The Importance Of Wrestling During The Holidays
As many people know by now, Tony Khan knows his stuff when it comes to the history of professional wrestling, and he is fully aware of how many major moments have taken place during the holiday season. Most notably, Starrcade was moved from Thanksgiving weekend to the Christmas period when WCW separated itself from the NWA in the early 1990s, and Khan wants the Continental Classic to have the same effect. “There is a great tradition of professional wrestling around the holidays. We all know that Thanksgiving and Christmas and these times have also been, at times in America, very strong for professional wrestling.”
There is also a business reason behind the tournament being part of the Christmas period for AEW as Khan revealed his knowledge of TV ratings that Football gets around this time of year thanks to being on the Fan Engagement and Major Events Committee of the NFL. Khan has seen the numbers that sporting events can bring in over Christmas and is hoping the Continental Classic can do that for AEW.
“I would love it for people to want to watch AEW, potentially, I hope, with their family and friends on the holidays, and having great wrestling on these days can be, I would hope, a draw, and make people watch AEW, and certainly that is always a goal, and make these must-see episodes when there could be an incentive, you know, to watch these episodes around the holidays and make them must-see programming, and just like big sporting events that happen on these holidays and are associated with these holidays, like big football games and such, make them part of the holiday season and try to make that a positive.”
Please credit the original source when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
