By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW Worlds End Hits
Jon Moxley vs. Kyle Fletcher in a Continental Classic semifinal match: The best match of the night concluded with an outcome that truly surprised me. I could have done without Fletcher searching for the screwdriver that Okada used and then ditched under the ring during the opening match. It begs the question of why Okada and Don Callis never bothered to tell Fletcher it had been moved, but it appears the company wants viewers to be wondering about that, so we’ll see where it goes creatively. There was some terrific work in the match, but my enjoyment of the it had nothing to do with the avalanche sleeper suplex. I would say that the risk isn’t worth the reward, but I don’t even know what the reward is. After all, high-risk spots like that take fans out of the moment because they stop being caught up in the match drama and naturally move on to being concerned for the well-being of the wrestler taking the insane bump.
Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page vs. MJF in a four-way for the AEW World Championship: More good than bad. The match was entertaining, but I can’t say they ever convinced me that one of the near falls might actually end of the match. There was also no need for the brief run-in by the other members of The Opps aside from getting even more people on the show. It feels like AEW has been playing hot potato with its top championship lately, so hopefully MJF’s reign brings some stability.
Toni Storm, Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe, and Roderick Strong vs. Marina Shafir, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Daniel Garcia in a Mixed Nuts Mayhem match: I don’t get the odd match name, but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. This was fun and served as a nice change of pace from the rest of the card.
“FTR” Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler vs. Austin Gunn and Juice Robinson in a Chicago Street Fight for the AEW Tag Team Titles: There was no reason to think that Gunn or Robinson would win, but at least they were built up in advance by beating Harwood and Wheeler shortly before they regained the titles. The length of this match would have been fine had this been a Collision main event, but it felt like it overstayed its welcome by a few minutes on a long show that was filled with lengthy matches. Even so, I enjoyed the action and am optimistic that FTR’s latest title reign can breathe some life into the AEW tag team division.
Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s Championship: A soft Hit for a quality match that played to a mellow crowd that reacted to big spots, yet didn’t seem to have a strong rooting interest. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the crowd was tame around the same time there has been a lull during most AEW pay-per-view events. The fans sat through ten matches before this one. They bounced back for the last two matches, but it still begs the question of why AEW feels the need to run four-match pre-shows that do little more than get more people on the show. Putting all of that aside, Statlander is good in the ring, but I’m still not sold giving her another run with the title when she still has the same mic work and charisma issues that plagued her first reign. The company went all in by giving Statlander wins over Toni Storm, Mercedes Mone, and now Hayter, yet those major wins don’t seem to have made fans any more invested in her character.
Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron vs. Mercedes Mone and Athena for the AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles: A soft Hit for a decent match. Mone and Athena were good first pay-per-view challengers for the new champions. Typically, fans don’t expect title changes shortly after new champions have been crowned. In this case, Cameron makes her team feel like vulnerable champions, while Mone and Athena are credible enough that some fans surely believed a title change was possible.
AEW Worlds End Misses
Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita in a Continental Classic semifinal match: A major disappointment for such a highly anticipated match. Fans had every right to get their hopes up for a no-nonsense finish, given that the Continental Classic rules ban extras from ringside, and the vast majority of the matches conclude with clean finishes. So it was a big flop when Okada used a screwdriver as a weapon to steal the win. As if that’s not bad enough, the finish was horribly executed, as the referee had to turn and look at the turnbuckle pad for no reason to avoid seeing Okada hit Takeshita with the screwdriver. While it’s more than fair to question Okada’s work ethic since he signed with AEW, even Okada at his absolute best couldn’t have made up for this dreadful finish.
Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada in the Continental Classic tournament final: The man billed as the best tournament wrestler in pro wrestling history needed a screwdriver to win his semifinal match, and then couldn’t beat a wounded Moxley. This was a slow match that never quite found its groove. It didn’t help that near fall fatigue had kicked in due to the abundance of them that fans throughout the night. Moxley’s post-match promo echoed the babyface promos he recently started delivering. It runs counter to most of what his character has preached since he formed the Death Riders, which is okay if the plan is for the other Death Riders to call him on it and turn on him. But the last thing we need is a kinder, gentler Death Riders trading in the suffocation bags for AEW Sickos t-shirts. That said, the big problem with the Death Riders turning on Moxley is that none of the singles matches between Moxley and the other members strike me as being pay-per-view worthy.
Darby Allin vs. Gabe Kidd: A minor Miss. The wrestlers worked hard, but the fans have been lukewarm on this overall feud. It’s understandable, as there have been long gaps in between Kidd’s AEW appearances, so the issues between him and Allin have been stretched out. The bigger problem is that Kidd hasn’t been an interesting character on AEW television. Fans who don’t follow his work in New Japan Pro Wrestling have no reason to care about him.
(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time dating back to 1997. He hosts a weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
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