Why Swerve Strickland Says AEW's Continental Classic Was Great For Pro Wrestling

Eddie Kingston won the inaugural Continental Classic, becoming AEW's first-ever Triple Crown Champion in the process. The tournament proved to be a hit with audiences, as the sports-based booking allowed people to invest every week, and despite the fact he didn't reach the finals, Swerve Strickland was a fan too.

"The classic has just been a shot in the arm of what the pro wrestling industry needed," Strickland told "Jim Varsallone." "Introducing the new style of tournament bracketing with the Continental Classic and the round-robin style of like blocks and scoring points to move forward." Strickland pointed out how the traditional tournament format, such as how AEW runs the Owen Hart Cup, leads to big potential matches being missed due to being traditionally done with knockouts, meaning as soon as someone loses they're eliminated. That is what he believes made the Continental Classic so special, as fans got to see everyone within each specific league interacting at least once, even if they were mathematically ruled out.

"Everybody that was in the block was like, 'Oh, I get to see these match-ups, I get to see these match-ups. That's going to be cool, oh I don't know who's going to win here, I think this is going to be a draw.' I think a lot of the fans had a lot of fun with the scoring," Strickland said. "It made it a lot of fun, and I think whoever is truly a wrestling connoisseur can have a lot of fun with those kinds of things."

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "Jim Varsallone" with a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.