The first-ever AEW Continental Cup is almost upon us as both the rules, and the first round draw, have been made official by Tony Schiavone and AEW President Tony Khan during the "Selection Special" on the company's YouTube channel. Much like the Continental Classic tournament, there will be no outside interference in the Continental Cup, but the one difference is that there will be no time limits, meaning each bout must have a winner. 16 men were entered into a blind draw for the first round, and here is how the randomly selected bouts will play out.Starting on the August 8 episode of "Collision" in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Orange Cassidy will kick off the tournament by taking on Matt Sydal. On that same show, Claudio Castagnoli of the Death Riders will go one-on-one with Ace Austin of the Bang Bang Gang, and in the third and final first round match for the August 8 event, Jake Doyle of the Don Callis Family will take on the first-ever AEW Continental Champion, Eddie Kingston.The first round will continue on the August 12 episode of "AEW Dynamite" in Las Vegas, Nevada with two matches. The rivalry between the Bang Bang Gang and The Dogs will continue as Jay White takes on David Finlay, and the man who is putting his AEW Continental Championship on the line in this tournament, Jon Moxley, will kick off his run against "Jungle"Jack Perry.The final three first round matches will also take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, only this time on the August 15 episode of "Collision." An all Don Callis Family affair will go down as Hechicero will take on Brian Cage. An all Conglomeration affair will also go down as Roderick Strong takes on Kyle O'Reilly, and completing the first round bouts, Nigel McGuinness will go one-on-one with Katsuyori Shibata.The eight winners will go back into the hat for the randomly selected quarter-final draw, with those matches taking place on the August 19 episode of "Dynamite" and August 22 episode of "Collision." The four winners of those bouts will once again be randomly drawn into two semi-final matches that will take place in Glasgow, Scotland on the August 26 episode of "Dynamite" and potentially the August 29 episode of "Collision" depending on scheduling. Finally, the two winners will move on to Wembley Stadium to fight over the Continental Cup and the AEW Continental Championship at AEW All In London on August 30.
