The 2025 AEW Continental Classic tournament is officially underway following the Thanksgiving Eve edition of “AEW Dynamite,” but 4 more AEW stars still needed to get their campaigns began, they usually did so on the Thanksgiving edition of “AEW Collision.”
The Death Riders got off to a flying start with Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli each won their first bouts, picking up three points each in the method, leaving PAC to attempt to make it a hat-trick in his first Gold League match against “Speedball” Mike Bailey. PAC had the early control, using all the pieces to his advantage to maintain Bailey from using his lethal kicks, but when Bailey did get going, PAC tried to maintain his distance to slow Bailey’s momentum, which didn’t work for too long as Bailey hit a Moonsault to the skin. “Speedball” was on top throughout the business break, but when he got the motion back within the ring, PAC hit an enormous Belly-to-Belly Superplex once the break ended.
PAC would then use Suplexes while Bailey would use his knees to attempt to stay on top, and each men were so evenly matched that they each hit one another with dueling Dropkicks on the skin. PAC hit a German Suplex but Bailey would hit a Moonsault. PAC would hit one other German Suplex, but Bailey would hit a Roundhouse Kick. It was only when “Speedball” missed the Ultima Weapon where PAC hit a Lariat, locked within the Brutalizer, and compelled “Speedball” to pass out. PAC picked up his first three points, and now looks to doubling his tally when he faces Kazuchika Okada on next week’s episode of “Dynamite.”
Rounding out the primary set of league matches was a Blue League match between Roderick Strong and the present IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita. The match started off very evenly, but Strong lived as much as his nickname of “The Messiah of the Backbreaker” and targeted Takeshita’s back within the early going. With that said, Takeshita turned things around with a Blue Thunder Bomb onto the guardrail as Strong landed awkwardly on his neck. Takeshita would dominate nearly all of the match, despite Strong trying to search out a way back in.
Within the closing stages, Strong would escape a Brainbuster on the turnbuckle, and after a Gutbuster, a Backbreaker, and a kick to the face, he thought he had the match won. Nevertheless, Takeshita swung the match back in his favor with a Chaos Theory Suplex, a Power Drive Knee, and eventually the Raging Fire for the win and all three points. Takeshita joins the aforementioned Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli at the highest of the Blue League with three points, with Moxley and Castagnoli each facing one another next week.