Powell’s AEW Worlds End Hit List: Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Hangman Page vs. Jay White for the AEW World Championship, Continental Classic conclusion

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

AEW Worlds End Hits

Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher in a Continental Classic semifinal match: The show peaked with this hot opening match. There were plenty of other strong matches and moments throughout the night, but this match was the best of the night. Ospreay avenging his loss to Fletcher creates the need for a third match in what should be a classic rivalry between the two. The only negative is that even as someone who feels blood enhances matches when done in moderation, I could have done without the gusher that Ospreay hit. Did it help tell a story going into the finals? Sure, but the excessive blood in the opening match was too much. Again, though, this was a terrific match and these are two young stars the company should be building around.

Mercedes Mone vs. Kris Statlander for the TBS Championship: The build was uneventful, but the actual rematch delivered. Mone going over clean felt like the right call because it’s not like the build left fans clamoring to see Statlander beat Mone. In fact, it will mean more if Statlander eventually beats Mone because she’s lost to her twice before. The creative forces need to start working with Statlander on her character. She beat Jade Cargill to win this championship in a big moment, but then it seemed like fan interest quickly waned during her title reign. Nothing has changed since then and I fear that history could repeat itself if she and the company don’t put in the work to improve her connection with fans.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay in the Continental Classic final: It turns out that the only story the company told going into the tournament foreshadowed the winner. Prior to the tournament, AEW ran a video package that played up Okada as a great tournament wrestler who was one shy of tying Masahiro Chono’s record of five major tournament wins. I don’t think that means anything to anyone who doesn’t fall into the sickos category, but they did tell a story. The match was strong and this was one of Okada’s best outings in AEW. While I’m not crazy about the decision to have Ospreay take another high profile loss, it’s understandable due to the angle that took place afterward. Kenny Omega’s return to AEW was very well received and the company wasted no time in teasing that he will face Okada at the All In Texas event.

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Powerhouse Hobbs for the AEW International Championship: The match had the poorest build of the bunch and yet the wrestlers came through with one of the best matches of the night. Hobbs was protected by having Takeshita target his surgically repaired knee. In fact, it felt like a case of a wrestler taking a clean loss, yet gaining something in defeat. These are two more young stars the company should build around.

Ricochet vs. Kazuchika Okada in a Continental Classic semifinal match: Don’t look now, but Ricochet is clicking as a heel. In fact, he’s off to such a good start as a heel that I would not have complained had he been booked to win the tournament. The post match angle with Swerve Strickland humiliating Ricochet got over with the live crowd, and I assume that Swerve will get his heat back by attacking Swerve soon.

Worlds End pre-show: It was uneventful and two of the three matches were fairly basic. Those may seem like knocks, but they are actually positives in this case. I don’t think pre-shows are necessary to begin with, but if AEW is going to have them, then going with a basic version is the right call. It’s better than having a pre-show filled with high spot matches with a bunch of near falls that cause the live crowd to burn out at some point during the main card.

Mariah May vs. Thunder Rosa in a Tijuana Street Fight for the AEW Women’s Championship: More of an in the middle rather than a Hit or a Miss. The wrestlers worked really hard. Unfortunately, the build to the match was a mess. They really should have developed a feud that built to a street fight as opposed to starting with a gimmick match.

AEW Worlds End Misses

Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Hangman Page vs. Jay White in a four-way for the AEW World Championship: The match had a bunch of outside interference and there was no mystery regarding the outcome. I don’t think I’m in the minority when I say this just isn’t what I want from an AEW pay-per-view main event. Why not put this match on earlier in the show? The return of Adam Copeland along with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler was fine, but closing the show with the Continental Classic final and the Omega and Okada angle would have been better. So now AEW has set up their top heel faction that includes three former WWE wrestlers to feud with three babyfaces who also worked for WWE. And then there’s a former WWE wrestler who is carrying around a Money in the Bank style contract for a shot at the AEW World Championship. And former WWE wrestlers The Hurt Syndicate are the second strongest heel faction. And former WWE star holds the TBS Championship. I typically don’t care about where wrestlers have worked in the past and I actually enjoy all of these acts, but I understand the frustration of fans who want to see the wrestlers they view as “AEW originals” featured more prominently.

MJF vs. Adam Cole for the Dynamite Diamond Ring: Is it over? Please say this feud is over. MJF desperately needs to get away from this. Cole also needs to move on from being aligned and/or feuding with the other members of the Undisputed Kingdom, but apparently that saga will never end. Who actually thought their latest in-ring reunion was going to be well received by the disinterested crowd?