Tony Khan Clarifies AEW Continental Title Rules, Doesn't Mention ROH Or NJPW STRONG
Tony Khan has clarified some rules about the AEW Continental Championship. Kazuchika Okada defeated Eddie Kingston to capture the title this past week on "AEW Dynamite," leaving some fans confused as to the title originally dubbed the "Modern Day Triple Crown," consisting of the Continental, ROH World and NJPW Strong Openweight titles.
All three titles were on the line for Kingston's prior defenses against Bryan Danielson, Trent Beretta, Wheeler Yuta, and Gabe Kidd, but Okada only walked away with the Continental title on Wednesday. Khan addressed the Continental Championship confusion in a recent interview with "Comicbook Nation."
"Whoever is the champion going into the Continental Classic, they will put the title up going into the Continental Classic," he said. "[The champion] will have the opportunity to retain it by winning the tournament. The Continental title will be defended under Continental Rules for the rest of the year. No outside interference, nobody allowed at ringside. Whoever is the champion coming out of Full Gear, they will defend the title in the Continental Classic, and at Worlds End, we'll determine who will be the Continental Champion."
What's clear is, despite the previous verbiage, the ROH World and NJPW Strong titles are no longer considered one with the Continental title. The concept of the "Triple Crown" was touted in the lead-in to the tournament when Eddie Kingston declared his entry and stated that he would defend the titles he already held, having won the ROH and NJPW titles separately beforehand. However, that seems to have been dropped with Kazuchika Okada as the new champion. Kingston is scheduled to defend the ROH World title against Mark Briscoe at Supercard of Honor.