The King of Stats previews the 2023 AEW Continental Classic – Blue League by Wayne Little
G’day one and all and welcome to PWDownUnder’s preview of the 2023 AEW Continental Classic, I am your host The King of Stats, the man who is once again here to break down the numbers to predict who will win the inaugural tournament and become the first ever Triple Crown Champion. After taking a look at the Gold League bracket the other day it is now time for us to take a look at the 8 competitors who make up the Blue League bracket.
For a quick reminder here are te criteria that I am using to determine who is the favourite to come out of this bracket the winner:
- Career win/loss record:- A look back at how well the wrestler has performed their entire career.
- Career singles record – This is a singles tournament after all, so this takes a look at how they have performed in 1on1 matches only.
- AEW record – This is an AEW tournament so this takes a look at how well they have performed within the company
- 2023 record – Each wrestler’s current record, how well each wrestler is performing in recent memory.
- Individual record against fellow competitors – Singles records against the fellow participants
The best record in each criteria gets 6 points down to the worst getting 1, thus giving a wrestler a possible maximum score of 30t. So without further ado let’s take a look at the 6 wrestlers competing in the Blue League of the Continental Classic, from least favourite to win down to the overall favourite.
Underdog – Daniel Garcia – 5 points
Career: 134-170-4 (43.5%)
Singles: 85-88-4 (48.0%)
AEW: 47-49-0 (49.0%)
2023: 21-27-0 (42.9%)
Individual: Brody King 1-0-0
Bryan Danielson 1-2-0
Andrade El Idolo 0-1-0
Eddie Kingston 0-2-0
Having the least experience of anyone in this tournament there is no bigger underdog than Daniel Garcia. In fact Garcia looks like a fish out of water compared to the other talent involved. One thing in his favour however is the fact that he has faced 4 of the other 5 in this bracket and 2 of them he has picked up victories against. This proves that Garcia can hang with the best despite his lack of experience and that he has what it takes to beat them if they make a mistake. This tournament offers Garcia a big chance to make his name a major commodity here, a few upset victories can see him rise in the rankings here and surprise everyone as the unexpected champion.
Longshot – Eddie Kingston – 13 points
Career: 528-513-25 (49.5%)
Singles: 321-295-18 (51.4%)
AEW: 69-28-0 (71.1%)
2023:36-10-1 (76.6%)
Individual: Daniel Garcia 2-0-0
Claudio Castagnoli 3-9-1
Bryan Danielson 0-2-0
Brody King 0-2-0
Despite coming into this tournament holding 2 of the 3 belts that form the prize for the ultimate winner, compared to the rest of the talent involved Kingston is definitely a longshot to retain. His previous meetings with his fellow competitors have not really been in Kingston’s favour, losing more than he has won. But if Kingston has shown us anything over the years is that he won’t go down easy, fighting all the way to the end and he can hang with the best of them. The question is though, is there just to many of the best of them in this tournament for Kingston to make an impact?
Outside Chance – Claudio Castagnoli – 16 points
Career: 1086-1236-32 (46.1%)
Singles:573-490-21 (52.9%)
AEW: 49-17-0 (74.2%)
2023: 45-14-0 (76.3%)
Individual: Eddie Kingston 9-3-1
Bryan Danielson 3-11-0
Andrade El Idolo 1-0-0
It shows the calibre of the Blue League when Castignoli finds himself not even in the top half, but this bracket is definitely the harder one to advance from. Castagnoli however is no longer a wrestler who has untapped potential, proving himself with his recent reigns as the ROH World Champion. This could very well could be the tournament that will help him continue on his upward trajectory. He has shown us time and time again he can beat everyone, but considering he isn’t even the best wrestler from his stable in this group, well this might just not be his time.
Minor Chance – Andrade El Idolo – 19 points
Career: 907-752-13 (53.9%)
Singles: 256-222-6 (52.9%)
AEW: 22-13-0 (62.9%)
2023: 10-2-1 (76.9%)
Individual: Brody King 1-0-0
Daniel Garcia 1-0-0
Claudio Castagnoli 0-1-0
Bryan Danielson 0-3-0
Andrade El Idolo came into AEW with a lot of hype behind his name but various issues during his time have not seen him live up to his true potential, this tournament could very well be the chance he needed to show us all that the hype was worth it. Since his return he has been in fine form and his new alliance with “Hot and Flexible” CJ Perry can only see him rise higher. While Perry can’t help El Idolo at ringside due to the rules of the tournament the support she will offer from behind the scenes could very well vbe the push Andrade needs to finally start rising to the top of AEW and it can all start here.
Major Chance – Brody King – 22 points
Career: 198-159-11 (53.8%)
Singles: 85-64-4 (53.8%)
AEW: 32-11-0 (74.4%)
2023: 17-5-0 (77.3%)
Individual: Eddie Kingston 2-0-0
Daniel Garcia 1-0-0
Andrade El Idolo 0-1-0
While it may come as a bit of a shock seeing Brody King this high the more I look at those stats the more I realise this is where he belongs. While King has only been a part of the wrestling world for 8 years he has shown in that time he is a force to be reckoned with. Standing a massive 6”5’ and weighing nearly 300 lbs King poses a menacing figure and while the House of Black can not get involved the mind games that they offer can only help but give King the advantage over his opponents. Brody King can very well be the surprise packet of the Continental Classic this year.
Favourite – Bryan Danielson – 30 points
Career: 1174-696-61 (60.8%)
Singles: 678-375-39 (62.0%)
AEW: 64-14-2 (72.1%)
2023: 16-4-0 (80.0%)
Individual: Claudio Castagnoli 11-3-0
Andrade El Idolo 3-0-0
Eddie Kingston 2-0-0
Daniel Garcia 2-1-0
Scoring perfect points means it is quite obvious who our favourite for this group is, but when you are Bryan Danielson you are pretty much the favourite in every match you enter. Danielson’s record speaks for itself, winning 3 of every 5 matches he is involved in and having the positive record against all 4 of his competitors he has faced before gives The American Dragon a great advantage heading into all of his matches. Then considering he is in his final year as an active competitor you know he will be putting in is all to make this one of the best years of his career and winning the Continental Classic will be a great start to his retirement run.
So there you have it. The stats have predicted an all Blackpool Combat Club final between Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson winning the Gold and Blue Leagues respectively. So then who does the stats believe will win it there? Well comparing the first 4 stat groups we come out at 2-all so it comes down to who has the better record between them when they face 1on1. Therefore with a record of 9-3-1 in his favour (though I will point out it is 0-2-0 in AEW) the stats predict Bryan Danielson will win the 2023 AEW Continental Classic and become the Triple Crown Champion.
Well that is it for my preview of the Continental Classic. I would love to hear your thoughts on the predictions here so you can either leave your comments below, or you can e-mail me at zzzorf@yahoo.com. I will be back in the future with some more statistical goodness or my regular Wayne’s World opinion articles but until then remember THE STATS NEVER LIE.
