AEW_International_Championship

AEW International Championship

AEW International Championship

Men's professional wrestling championship


The AEW International Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a secondary championship for male wrestlers, and unlike AEW's other titles, which are almost exclusively defended on AEW programming, the International Championship can also be defended in other promotions globally. The current champion is Roderick Strong, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating Orange Cassidy at Revolution on March 3, 2024.

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Established as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship on June 8, 2022, the title was created to represent AEW's fans from around the world, but with no particular focus on the Atlantic Ocean or countries surrounding it. The inaugural champion was Pac. Since its establishment, the title has been defended in the Revolution Pro Wrestling, Over the Top Wrestling, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions, although most of its defenses have occurred in AEW, which has also included defenses against wrestlers from NJPW. On March 15, 2023, the title was rebranded as the AEW International Championship.

History

Inaugural champion Pac, who won the title as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship

The championship was unveiled by All Elite Wrestling (AEW) on the June 8, 2022, episode of Dynamite. It was originally established as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship and was created to be a secondary title for the men's division. Despite its original name seemingly centering on countries around the Atlantic Ocean, the company announced that the championship "[represented] the AEW fans watching around the world in over 130 countries".[1]

The inaugural champion was crowned in a four-way match which was held at the Forbidden Door pay-per-view event on June 26, which was co-produced with the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). To determine the competitors in the four-way, six qualifying matches were held. Three of these featured wrestlers from AEW with the three winners advancing to the four-way match.[1] The other three qualifying matches were held between four wrestlers from NJPW in a single-elimination tournament fashion. The winners of NJPW's preliminary qualifiers faced off and the winner of that match advanced to the four-way at Forbidden Door.[2][3] On the AEW side, Pac,[4] Miro,[5] and Malakai Black[6] won their qualifiers; on the NJPW side, Tomohiro Ishii qualified but suffered a legitimate left knee injury and had to be replaced with the runner-up, Clark Connors.[7] At Forbidden Door, Pac became the inaugural champion by submitting Connors.[8]

In an interview with Robbie Fox on the My Mom's Basement podcast, AEW president Tony Khan confirmed that the championship would be defended differently than the company's other titles. Khan said that holders of the championship would defend the title internationally in other promotions, in addition to AEW. This interview came shortly after Pac defended the title at a Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) event, which was later shown on AEW's YouTube show, Dark, on July 12.[9] Pac also defended the title at an Over the Top Wrestling event on July 22.[10] During Orange Cassidy's first reign in April 2023, he defended the title at an NJPW event,[11] while during his second reign in February 2024, he also made a defense at a RevPro event.[12]

On the March 8, 2023, episode of Dynamite, Tony Khan announced that Orange Cassidy's defense of the title that night was the final as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. The following week on March 15, in celebration of the release of the Warner Bros. film Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the title was rebranded as the AEW International Championship due to AEW's broadcast partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery.[13] At the time, AEW had considered this to be a new title, with Cassidy regarded as the final All-Atlantic Champion and inaugural International Champion,[14] but the title history was later amended to show that it is the same championship with Cassidy's reign as one continuous reign from when he originally defeated Pac for the title.[15]

Inaugural All-Atlantic Championship tournament

Preliminary Qualifiers
New Japan Road
(June 20, 2022)
Qualifiers
Dynamite
(June 8, 15, and 22, 2022)
New Japan Road
(June 21, 2022)
Final
Forbidden Door
(June 26, 2022)
Australia Buddy Matthews10:32[4]
United Kingdom PacPin
Canada Ethan Page9:25[5]
United Kingdom PacSub
Bulgaria MiroSub
Bulgaria Miro[8]
Netherlands Malakai Black[8]
Mexico Penta Oscuro9:49[6]
United States Clark Connors[lower-alpha 1]15:05[8]
Netherlands Malakai BlackPin
Japan Tomoaki Honma11:29[16]
United States Clark ConnorsPin
United States Clark Connors13:21[17]
Japan Tomohiro IshiiPin
Japan Tomohiro IshiiPin
Japan Yoshinobu Kanemaru19:01[16]
  1. Connors replaced Ishii who was not medically cleared.[7]

Belt design

Ron Edwardsen of Red Leather Belts designed the championship belt. At the top of the center plate is AEW's logo, while at the center of the plate is a globe with flags representing six countries: Mexico, China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Japan. Originally, the banner above the globe read "All-Atlantic", but this was changed to "International" with the championship's rebranding on March 15, 2023. Another banner below the globe reads "Champion". On each opposing side of the globe are lions standing upright. Sitting on each side of the center plate are two side plates. The inner side plates include AEW's logo over a globe, while the outer side plates feature two wrestlers grappling. Filigree fills in the rest of each plate.[18]

Reigns

Current champion Roderick Strong

As of April 28, 2024, there have been six reigns between five champions. Pac was the inaugural champion. Orange Cassidy has the most reigns at two and his first reign is the longest reign at 326 days, while Jon Moxley has the shortest reign at 17 days. Rey Fenix is the youngest champion, winning the title at 32, while Roderick Strong is the oldest, winning the title at 40.

Roderick Strong is the current champion in his first reign. He defeated Orange Cassidy at Revolution on March 3, 2024, in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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Combined reigns

As of April 28, 2024.

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See also


References

  1. Defelice, Robert (June 8, 2022). "AEW Introduces All-Atlantic Championship, First Champion To Be Crowned At AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door". Fightful. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  2. Casey, Connor (June 8, 2022). "New AEW Championship Unveiled During AEW Dynamite". ComicBook.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  3. 【新日本】石井智宏が左ヒザ負傷で『AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door』大会欠場 [[NJPW] Tomohiro Ishii will miss the "AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door" event due to a left knee injury]. proresu-today.com (in Japanese). June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  4. Lee, Joseph (July 13, 2022). "Tony Khan Says AEW All-Atlantic Title Will Be Defended Differently Than Other Belts". 411mania. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
  5. Lambert, Jeremy (July 4, 2022). "PAC To Defend AEW All-Atlantic Title In OTT Wrestling". Fightful. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  6. Lambert, Jeremy (April 16, 2023). "NJPW Collision In Philadelphia Results (4/16): Orange Cassidy In Action, Archer vs. Rosser". Fightful. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  7. Defelice, Robert (February 18, 2024). "Orange Cassidy Appears At RevPro High Stakes 2024, Successfully Defends AEW International Title". Fightful. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  8. Russell, Skylar (March 8, 2023). "AEW To 'Level Up' All-Atlantic Championship Into AEW International Championship On 3/15 Dynamite". Fightful. Retrieved March 8, 2023.
  9. G., Joey (March 15, 2023). "Orange Cassidy Defeats Jeff Jarrett To Become The First AEW International Champion". Wrestling Headlines. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  10. "International Championship History". All Elite Wrestling. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  11. "New Japan Road 2022.06.20". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  12. "New Japan Road 2022.06.21". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved June 21, 2022.

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