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AEW International Championship

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AEW International Championship
The AEW International Championship belt (2023–present)
Details
PromotionAll Elite Wrestling
Date establishedJune 8, 2022
Current champion(s)Konosuke Takeshita
Date wonOctober 12, 2024
Other name(s)
  • AEW All-Atlantic Championship
    (2022–2023)
  • AEW International Championship
    (2023–present)
  • AEW American Championship
    (2024; unofficial)
Statistics
First champion(s)Pac
Most reigns2 reigns:
Longest reignOrange Cassidy
(1st reign, 326 days)
Shortest reignJon Moxley
(17 days)
Oldest championRoderick Strong
(40 years, 221 days)
Youngest championMJF
(28 years, 124 days)
Heaviest championKonosuke Takeshita
(231 lb (105 kg))
Lightest championOrange Cassidy
(161 lb (73 kg))

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 reigning champion is Konosuke Takeshita, who is in his first reign. He won the title by defeating the previous champion Will Ospreay and Ricochet in a three-way match at WrestleDream on October 12, 2024 when he pinned Ospreay.

Established as the AEW All-Atlantic Championship on June 8, 2022, the title was created to represent AEW's fans from around the world with no particular focus on the Atlantic Ocean or countries surrounding it. The inaugural champion was Pac. On March 15, 2023, the title was rebranded as the AEW International Championship, while during MJF's reign from July to August 2024, he unofficially rebranded the title as the AEW American Championship. Since its establishment, the title has been defended in the Revolution Pro Wrestling, Over the Top Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, and Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling promotions, although most of its defenses have occurred in AEW, which has also included defenses against wrestlers from NJPW.

History

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

The championship was unveiled by the American professional wrestling promotion 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 an event for Britain's Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), which was later shown on AEW's YouTube show, Dark, on July 12.[9] Pac also defended the title at an event for Ireland's Over the Top Wrestling (OTT) on July 22.[10] Since then, the title has been defended in NJPW,[11] Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL),[12] and Canada's Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling (MLP).[13]

Record-tying two-time champion Orange Cassidy; his first reign is also the longest reign at 326 days and he has the longest combined reign at 471 days. Cassidy originally won the title as the All-Atlantic Championship and it was renamed to International Championship during his first reign in March 2023.

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.[14] 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,[15] but the title history was later amended to show that it was the same championship with Cassidy's reign as one continuous reign from when he originally defeated Pac for the title.[16]

During Dynamite: Blood & Guts on July 24, 2024, reigning champion MJF, who won the title from Will Ospreay at the previous week's Dynamite 250, unofficially rebranded the title as the "AEW American Championship". He also introduced his own custom version of the title belt to reflect this unofficial name change.[17] After Ospreay regained the title at All In London the following month on August 25, the title was restored as the International Championship.[18]

Inaugural All-Atlantic Championship tournament

[edit]
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[a]15:05[8]
Netherlands Malakai BlackPin
Japan Tomoaki Honma11:29[19]
United States Clark ConnorsPin
United States Clark Connors13:21[20]
Japan Tomohiro IshiiPin
Japan Tomohiro IshiiPin
Japan Yoshinobu Kanemaru19:01[19]
  1. ^ Connors replaced Ishii who was not medically cleared.[7]

Belt design

[edit]

Ron Edwardsen of Red Leather Belts designed the standard version of 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 (UK), 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.[21]

Custom design

[edit]
The custom AEW American Championship belt used by MJF during his reign from July to August 2024.

During Dynamite: Blood & Guts on July 24, 2024, reigning champion MJF threw away the standard version of the championship belt. He then introduced his own custom version, which he unofficially rebranded as the AEW American Championship. It featured the overall same design as the standard version, but the strap was painted like the American flag, the globe at the center was replaced by the contiguous United States, also painted like the American flag, and the upper banner read "American" instead of "International". Additionally, the two inner side plates mocked the UK, as well as UK native Will Ospreay, who MJF beat to win the title, as one side plate said "Better Than Will and the UK Knows It", a play on MJF's catchphrase of "better than you and you know it", and the other side plate said "Only Country That Matters", with the text for each written in red, white, and blue except the UK text, which was adorned as the UK flag. The grappling wrestlers on the outer side plates were also replaced by MJF himself posing, showing him kneeling on one knee and flexing his bicep. MJF's logo also replaced AEW's logo at the top of the center plate and was also placed at the top of the inner side plates. This custom belt was also designed by Ron Edwardsen.[22] After MJF lost the title back to Ospreay at All In on August 25, the title was restored as the International Championship.[18]

Reigns

[edit]
Current champion Konosuke Takeshita

As of December 27, 2024, there have been 10 reigns between eight champions. Pac was the inaugural champion. Orange Cassidy and Will Ospreay are tied for the most reigns at two, with Cassidy's first reign being the longest reign at 326 days, and he has the longest combined reign at 471 days. Jon Moxley has the shortest reign at 17 days. MJF is the youngest champion, winning the title at 28, while Roderick Strong is the oldest, winning the title at 40.

The current champion is Konosuke Takeshita, who is in his first reign. He defeated previous champion Will Ospreay and Ricochet in a three-way match at WrestleDream on October 12, 2024, in Tacoma, Washington.

Name Years
AEW All-Atlantic Championship June 8, 2022 – March 15, 2023
AEW International Championship March 15, 2023 – present
AEW American Championship July 24, 2024 – August 25, 2024
(unofficial name used by MJF during his reign)
Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific champion
Days Number of days held
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days
1 Pac June 26, 2022 Forbidden Door Chicago, IL 1 108 Defeated Clark Connors, Malakai Black, and Miro in a four-way tournament final to become the inaugural AEW All-Atlantic Champion. [8]
2 Orange Cassidy October 12, 2022 Dynamite Toronto, ON, Canada 1 326 The title was rebranded as the AEW International Championship on March 15, 2023. [23][24]
3 Jon Moxley September 3, 2023 All Out Chicago, IL 1 17 [25]
4 Rey Fenix September 20, 2023 Dynamite:
Grand Slam 		Flushing, Queens, NY 1 20 [26]
5 Orange Cassidy October 10, 2023 Title Tuesday Independence, MO 2 145 [27]
6 Roderick Strong March 3, 2024 Revolution Greensboro, NC 1 84 [28]
7 Will Ospreay May 26, 2024 Double or Nothing Paradise, NV 1 52 [29]
8 MJF July 17, 2024 Dynamite 250 North Little Rock, AR 1 39 During this reign, MJF unofficially rebranded the title as the AEW American Championship. [30][17]
9 Will Ospreay August 25, 2024 All In London, England 2 48 [31]
10 Konosuke Takeshita October 12, 2024 WrestleDream Tacoma, WA 1 76+ This was a three-way match, also involving Ricochet. [32]

Combined reigns

[edit]

As of December 27, 2024.

† Indicates the current champion
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns 		Combined days
1 Orange Cassidy 2 471
2 Pac 1 108
3 Will Ospreay 2 100
4 Roderick Strong 1 84
5 Konosuke Takeshita † 1 76+
6 MJF 1 39
7 Rey Fenix 1 20
8 Jon Moxley 1 17

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b 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. ^ "New Japan Road Night 4 (June 20) Preview". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. June 13, 2022. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  3. ^ Casey, Connor (June 8, 2022). "New AEW Championship Unveiled During AEW Dynamite". ComicBook.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Barnett, Jake (June 8, 2022). "6/8 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. the Casino Battle Royale winner for a spot in the Interim AEW World Championship match at Forbidden Door, Pac vs. Buddy Matthews, Thunder Rosa vs. Marina Shafir for the AEW Women's Title, Hangman Page vs. David Finlay". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  5. ^ a b Powell, Jason (June 15, 2022). "6/15 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AEW Tag Titles, Chris Jericho vs. Ortiz in a hair vs. hair match, Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker, Will Ospreay vs. Dak Harwood, Ethan Page vs. Miro in an All Atlantic Title qualifying match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Barnett, Jake (June 22, 2022). "6/22 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho and Lance Archer, Bryan Danielson addresses his future, Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher, and Mark Davis vs. Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, and Rocky Romero, Penta Oscuro vs. Malakai Black in an All Atlantic Title qualifier". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  7. ^ a b 【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.
  8. ^ a b c d e Powell, Jason (June 26, 2022). "AEW-NJPW Forbidden Door results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the Interim AEW World Title, Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page vs. Adam Cole for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, Thunder Rosa vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Title, Will Ospreay vs. Orange Cassidy for the IWGP U.S. Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  9. ^ Lee, Joseph (July 13, 2022). "Tony Khan Says AEW All-Atlantic Title Will Be Defended Differently Than Other Belts". 411mania. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
  10. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (July 4, 2022). "PAC To Defend AEW All-Atlantic Title In OTT Wrestling". Fightful. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  11. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (April 16, 2023). "NJPW Collision In Philadelphia Results (4/16): Orange Cassidy In Action, Archer vs. Rosser". Fightful. Retrieved March 26, 2024.
  12. ^ Rose, Bryan (July 19, 2024). "MJF to defend AEW International title in CMLL". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved July 20, 2024.
  13. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (October 14, 2024). "Konosuke Takeshita To Defend AEW International Title Against Josh Alexander At MLP Forged In Excellence". Fightful. Retrieved October 14, 2024.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ G., Joey (March 15, 2023). "Orange Cassidy Defeats Jeff Jarrett To Become The First AEW International Champion". Wrestling Headlines. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  16. ^ "International Championship History". All Elite Wrestling. Archived from the original on June 1, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2023.
  17. ^ a b Russell, Skylar (July 24, 2024). "MJF Throws Away International Championship, Introduces American Championship On 7/24 AEW Dynamite". Fightful. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  18. ^ a b Nason, Josh (August 25, 2024). "Will Ospreay defeats MJF for AEW International title, Daniel Garcia returns". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  19. ^ a b "New Japan Road 2022.06.20". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved June 20, 2022.
  20. ^ "New Japan Road 2022.06.21". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved June 21, 2022.
  21. ^ All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (June 8, 2022). "Here is a better look at the brand new #AEW All-Atlantic Championship crafted by #RedLeatherBelts that was shown for the first time on TONIGHT's LIVE #AEWDynamite" (Tweet). Retrieved June 8, 2022 – via Twitter.
  22. ^ Boone, Matt (July 24, 2024). "AEW American Title Debuts On Dynamite, MJF vs. Will Ospreay II Set For ALL IN". PWMania. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  23. ^ Powell, Jason (October 12, 2022). "10/12 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson for the ROH Championship, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. Luchasaurus, Toni Storm and Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter, Swerve Strickland vs. Billy Gunn". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
  24. ^ Powell, Jason (March 15, 2023). "3/15 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of House of Black vs. The Elite vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, and Daniel Garcia for the AEW Trios Titles, Orange Cassidy vs. Jeff Jarrett for the AEW International Title, MJF's Re-Bar Mitzvah, Jade Cargill's Canadian open challenge for the TBS Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 17, 2023.
  25. ^ Powell, Jason (September 3, 2023). "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Orange Cassidy vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW International Title, Luchasaurus vs. Darby Allin for the TNT Title, Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks in a strap match, Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  26. ^ Powell, Jason (September 20, 2023). "AEW Dynamite results (9/20): Powell's live review of MJF vs. Samoa Joe for the AEW World Title, Saraya vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's Title, Claudio Castagnoli vs. Eddie Kingston in a title vs. title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 20, 2023.
  27. ^ Powell, Jason (October 10, 2023). "AEW Dynamite results (10/10): Powell's live review of Adam Copeland vs. Luchasaurus, Rey Fenix vs. Adam Copeland for the AEW International Title, Jay White vs. Hangman Page, Chris Jericho vs. Powerhouse Hobbs". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  28. ^ Powell, Jason (March 3, 2024). "AEW Revolution results: Powell's live review of Sting and Darby Allin vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Titles in Sting's final match, Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  29. ^ Powell, Jason (May 26, 2024). "AEW Double Or Nothing results: Powell's live review of Swerve Strickland vs. Christian Cage for the AEW World Championship, Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Mone for the TBS Title, Anarchy in the Arena". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 27, 2024.
  30. ^ Powell, Jason (July 17, 2024). "AEW Dynamite results (7/17): Powell's live review of Will Ospreay vs. MJF for the AEW International Title, Swerve Strickland vs. Kazuchika Okada in a champion vs. champion match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  31. ^ Powell, Jason (August 25, 2024). "AEW All In results: Powell's live review of Swerve Strickland vs. Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Mariah May for the AEW Women's Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  32. ^ Powell, Jason (October 12, 2024). "AEW WrestleDream results: Powell's live review of Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, Will Ospreay vs. Ricochet vs. Konosuke Takeshita for the AEW International Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 12, 2024.
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