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The announcement of All Elite Wrestling‘s new championship on Wednesday night has many people buzzing, given the title’s history. AEW’s Tony Khan and Tony Schiavone revealed the news before Dynamite, with several participants already revealed for the big match to determine the inaugural AEW National Champion. A Casino Gauntlet match, which occurs at the upcoming AEW Full Gear, determines the first-ever National Champion in the promotion. The first individuals to reveal their participation included The Hurt Syndicate’s Shelton Benjamin and Bobby Lashley, as well as Ricochet. However, many more individuals are likely to contend for the championship. A recent clip features former WWE star Tommy Dreamer, who has a connection to the NWA due to its eventual growth into Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Dreamer joined ECW in 1993 at NWA Bloodfest and achieved several championships in the organization, along with the WWE’s now-defunct Hardcore Championship. Read more: AEW Announces New Championship Details for Full Gear 2025 NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 20: A detail view of the AEW World Tag Team Championship during a visit of celebrities at SiriusXM Studios on September 20, 2022, in New York City. (Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images) Dreamer regularly appears as part of SiriusXM’s “Busted Open” coverage of professional wrestling, which includes discussions of WWE and AEW, among other topics. During a recent hot take, he suggested there is one guy who comes to mind —also formerly in WWE —who should become the first-ever National Champion. “[Someone] who can really benefit for this title and be the person to cement the legacy that this title’s not gonna get lost in the mix, and it is gonna have value. Who’s gonna benefit the most from that? I would have to go to a guy who could really add something to the group that he’s in, and that is Claudio,” Dreamer said. He mentioned that if Claudio held a championship and stablemate Jon Moxley didn’t, it could add “dissension or some jealousy or some new leadership” as a major storyline for the AEW stable. Who does @THETOMMYDREAMER see as a good candidate to become the inaugural #AEW National Champion?Find out NOW and Tommy's #AEWDynamite Recap on the #BustedOpen247 Podcast#BOAD | #ProWrestlingNation247 pic.twitter.com/M4TNQ5QbWv— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) November 6, 2025 “Claudio is the man, and wearing a title in AEW may be helpful for the next level of Claudio because you know you’re always gonna get a good match,” Dreamer said, “He’s never been ‘the guy.’ Maybe this is the chance to make him ‘the guy.'” Along with working in ECW and WWE, Dreamer appeared in other prominent promotions, including several TNA runs and an appearance in AEW’s Casino Battle Royale at its inaugural pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, in 2019. Claudio Castagnoli famously appeared in WWE for a while as Cesaro and held the United States Championship, as well as WWE’s Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships with Sheamus. Within Khan’s AEW, he’s only held the AEW World Trios Championship with Pac and Wheeler Yuta, so becoming the first-ever National Champion would bring another great addition to his professional wrestling legacy. Read more news: WWE Star Maxxine Dupri Gets Brutally Honest About Rhea Ripley Match Former WWE Champ Picks Rising Star as John Cena’s Final Opponent WWE Fans React to Major Change for Raw Superstar For more about WWE and professional wrestling, visit Newsweek Sports.
