What is AEW's True Secondary Championship?

AEW has secondary championships such as the TNT, International, and Continental Championships. Which is the true secondary championship? Let's examine.

Jan 07, 2025

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was introduced to the world on January 1st, 2019 via the Being the Elite webseries. The brand has evolved over the past six years with new events, pay-per-views, and championships being added to the programming. With the AEW World Championship being the main title in the Men’s Division, there are multiple secondary titles in the picture. Let’s analyze why each of the three AEW championships could be the true secondary championship in AEW.

Analyzing AEW’s The Secondary Championship Titles

The TNT Championship

The TNT Championship was introduced with an eight-man tournament that kicked off on the April 8th, 2020 edition of AEW Dynamite. The finals were hosted at the 2020 edition of Double or Nothing on May 23rd, 2020. The tournament finals came down to Lance Archer and then AEW Executive Vice President, Cody Rhodes. Cody won the championship and went on to hold it two more times before his departure from AEW. Wardlow joins him as the only other wrestler to have held the belt three times. Darby Allin has held the title for a cumulative 214 days over his two reigns, which is the most of any other wrestler.

Argument For it to be the True AEW Secondary Championship

It was the first secondary belt to be introduced to the AEW Men’s Division and has the most history and lineage because of that. Notable names who have held the title include Christian Cage, Adam Copeland, Brodie Lee, and Sammy Guevara. The title has also been defended in a variety of weekly open challenge formats but both Cody Rhodes and Adam Copeland.

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The International Championship

The International Championship was originally branded as the All-Atlantic Championship and was announced in early June of 2022. The inaugural champion PAC was crowned at the New Japan Pro Wrestling and AEW co-promoted event Forbidden Door where he defeated Clark Connors, Miro, and Malakai Black in a four-way match. The four competitors made it to Forbidden Door after winning preliminary tournament matches on AEW Dynamite and NJPW Road To programs leading up to the pay-per-view.

The championship was re-branded to the International Championship in March of 2023, less than a year after the championship’s creation. The belt was defended in an NJPW ring as part of Wrestle Kingdom 19 when Konosuke Takeshita put the title up against the NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi in a winner-take-all match. Takeshita defended both championships successfully the next night against Tomohiro Ishii at Wrestle Dream.

Argument For it to be the True AEW Secondary Championship

AEW and NJPW have had a working relationship for a few years now that has included cross-branded events. The championship debuted at a cross-branded event and is now being held in conjunction with an NJPW/IWGP title. This gives the title plenty of creative options for challengers and storylines.

The Continental Championship

In November of 2023, AEW announced a new annual tournament that would kick off on the Black Wednesday edition of AEW Dynamite. The tournament runs from the Dynamite after Full Gear/the day before Thanksgiving until the Worlds End Pay-Per-View. Eddie Kingston won the original tournament and championship which also included the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship and Ring of Honor (ROH) World Championship. He dropped the other two championships as 2024 rolled on before losing the Continental Championship to Kazuchika Okada in March of 2024.

The 2024 Continental Classic rolled on starting on November 27th. Will Ospreay was the finalist from the Gold League while Okada was the finalist of the Blue League. Both semi-final matches as well as the finals occurred at the Wolds End pay-per-view which saw Okada victorious in winning the tournament and retaining the Continental Championship.

Argument For it to be the True AEW Secondary Championship

The Continental Classic Tournament is billed as a massive tournament in AEW. It is meant to show the best wrestlers competing with no outside interference in an effort to keep the matches as fair as possible. It is billed as being a grueling tournament that is a war of attrition for the 4 weeks that the tournament occurs. The title is the prize for winning what is considered to be a grueling tournament in AEW.