AEW Dynamite: Continental Classic Night One Results

All Elite Wrestling is looking to deliver one of the biggest and best tournaments in professional wrestling with its newly announced Continental Classic. Taking pages out of New Japan's iconic G1 Climax, the AEW Continental Classic is a round-robin tournament that sees 12 of the company's best competitors compete through the end of 2023 in hopes of winning the inaugural competition. On Wednesday's Thanksgiving edition of Dynamite, the Continental Classic officially kicked off with three great matches.

The 12 competitors in the AEW Continental Classic were split into two groups: the Gold League and the Blue League. Each competitor will face all of the other wrestlers in their league during the group stage, earning three points for a win and one point for a draw (occurring if the 20-minute time limit is reached without a victor). Wednesday's Dynamite began the action with three Gold League matches, giving three men a leg-up on their competition. 

The first match saw Swerve Strickland — coming off a memorable and unthinkably violent match against Adam Page at Full Gear — take on Jay Lethal. Continuing his hot streak, Strickland won the match and picked up the first three points of the tournament. Later in the episode, Jay White rebounded from his Full Gear main event defeat to beat RUSH and pick up three points of his own.

The final Continental Classic of Wednesday's Dynamite saw former AEW World Champion Jon Moxley take on Mark Briscoe, in perhaps one of the most anticipated matches of the Gold League. It was the first time the two beloved wrestlers met in a one-on-one match. While the fight itself likely lived up to the expectations of fans, Moxley ended up getting the pin and taking taking a share of the lead in the Gold League.

Those six wrestlers make up the entire Gold League in the AEW Continental Classic. The Blue League includes Eddie Kingston, Bryan Danielson, Daniel Garcia, Claudio Castagnoli, Brody King, and Andrade El Idolo.

In addition to winning the Continental Classic Championship, the last man standing at the end of the tournament will also take home two other titles. Eddie Kingston announced at Full Gear that he was putting up his Ring of Honor World Championship and NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship as part of the tournament. That will make the Continental Classic's victor a "Triple Crown Champion" that ties together AEW, ROH, and NJPW.

AEW Full Gear Results

The start of the inaugural Continental Classic comes on the heels of Saturday's Full Gear pay-per-view event, which saw MJF defend his World Championship against Jay White and Swerve Strickland defeat "Hangman" Adam Page in one of the most shocking matches in AEW history. You can check out the full results below.

• AEW World Championship: MJF (c) def. Jay White

• AEW TBS Championship: Julia Hart def. Kris Statlander and Skye Blue

• Texas Death Match: Swerve Strickland def. "Hangman" Adam Page

• Will Ospreay signs with AEW

• Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho def. Young Bucks

• AEW World Tag Team Championships – Ladder Match: Ricky Starks and Big Bill (c) def. La Facción Ingobernable vs. FTR vs. Kings of the Black Throne

• AEW Women's Championship: "Timeless" Toni Storm def. Hikaru Shida (c)

• AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) def. Jon Moxley

• Sting, Darby Allin and Adam Copeland def. Christian Cage, Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne

• Zero Hour – ROH Tag Team Championships: MJF and Samoa Joe (c) def. The Gunns

• Zero Hour – ROH World Championship: Eddie Kingston (c) def. Jay Lethal

• Zero Hour: Claudio Castagnoli def. Buddy Matthews