By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
AEW presents its final pay-per-view event of 2024 when Worlds End emanates from Orlando, Florida at Addition Financial Arena. As usual, there’s no doubt in my mind that the show will deliver once the bell rings. But, also as usual, in many cases the show has fallen short in terms of storyline build. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve enjoyed the Continental Classic and am interested to see who ends up winning. But, in more cases than not, it’s the usual AEW formula of “here are two great wrestlers – they’re going to have a match.” And there’s an audience for that kind of presentation. I’m just not sure how widespread it is. In any event, let’s run down the card.
Jon Moxley vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Hangman Page vs. Jay White in a four-way for the AEW World Championship. In my view, the Jon Moxley storyline is a hot mess. I think there was a time where Tony Khan was trying and hoping to bring in someone like a Shane McMahon to be the payoff. Reports indicate that this seems to have fallen through so now we’re getting this mish-mosh of a match. And this may be a “me” thing, but I have always found, whether it’s WWE or AEW, fatal four-way title matches to be lazy booking. Instead of identifying a top contender and telling a story, they just took a bunch of would-be top contenders and lumped them together. What’s worse, Moxley is still presented as the favorite. As the heel, he should at least feel threatened that three contenders are coming after his title, but the story is more centered around the contenders’ ability to work together.
Don Predicts: Jon Moxley retains the AEW World Championship.
Gold League winner Ricochet vs. Blue League runner-up Kazuchika Okada in a Continental Classic semifinal match. This is going to be a great match – that much we know. But, I will be interested to see how it’s presented since both wrestlers are being booked as heels as of late. I’d like to see Okada scale back the arrogant comedy a bit and tap into what made him the top star in New Japan. With Ricochet, bad laugh aside, they’re onto something with his recent heel persona and I’m interested to see where this goes. Should this match go the way I think it will, it will be fun to see how Ricochet reacts.
Don Predicts: Kazuchika Okada defeats Ricochet to advance to the Continental Classic finals.
Blue League winner Kyle Fletcher vs. Gold League runner-up Will Ospreay in a Continental Classic semifinal match. This one is also likely to be off the charts, if their first match was any indication. Fletcher is hot right now; however, I think the story here is that Ospreay is fighting from underneath after losing a couple of matches in the tournament. Plus, he’s looking to avenge his previous loss to Fletcher. Given this, I see Ospreay moving to the finals and have him face guys like Darby Allin and Ricochet who beat him during the tournament. Moving forward, I can only hope that they can find a way to keep Fletcher relevant and since he has a win over Ospreay, they can easily position him as a contender.
Don Predicts: Will Ospreay defeats Kyle Fletcher to advance to the Continental Classic finals.
The finals of the Continental Classic tournament for the AEW Continental Championship. There’s not much to say here since the match isn’t official but you can likely guess my prediction from the above.
Don Predicts: Will Ospreay defeats Kazuchika Okada to win the Continental Classic tournament and the AEW Continental Championship.
Mariah May vs. Thunder Rosa in a Tijuana Street Fight for the AEW Women’s Championship. May has been doing some fine heel work and Rosa thrives in street fights so this one should also be good. That said, there’s no reason to believe that Rosa poses as a threat to the title.
Don Predicts: Mariah May retains the AEW Women’s Championship.
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Powerhouse Hobbs for the AEW International Championship. This could have been a well-told story culminating in a great match if “start and stop” booking combined with injuries didn’t impede Hobbs’ progress. Unfortunately, even though Takeshita will make this a good match, there’s no real mystery here as to the outcome.
Don Predicts: Konosuke Takeshita retains the AEW International Championship.
Mercedes Mone vs. Kris Statlander for the TBS Championship. This is a contender for women’s match of the year and one of the better matches of the last several months. I’m surprised they’re running it back so soon. This could be a sign that they’re looking to move the title off Mone, but I just don’t see that as a possibility. I would expect some kind of interference to protect Statlander in the loss.
Don Predicts: Mercedes Mone retains the TBS Championship.
MJF vs. Adam Cole for the Dynamite Diamond Ring (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett will be at ringside). This was one of the main events at All In in 2023 and now, due to injuries and bad booking, it doesn’t nearly have the same anticipation that it did before. I’m not even sure why the Dynamite Diamond Ring is still a thing, but here we are. I’m expecting Taven and Bennett to turn on Cole and align with MJF and, potentially, Kyle O’Reilly to continue the never-ending story between the circle of friends who pair up and feud in every promotion they’re in.
Don Predicts: MJF defeats Adam Cole.
Pre-Show match predictions: Jeff Jarrett over QT Marshall, Toni Storm over Leila Grey, and The Outrunners and Top Flight over Lio Rush, Action Andretti and the Murder Machines in an eight-man tag match.
Stop back for live coverage of AEW Worlds End on Saturday night.
So are you picking Ricochet or Okada? You have Ricochet beating Okada but then Ospreay beating Okada in tbe finals
Whoops. That should be Okada beating Ricochet and then Ospreay beating Okada. My error. I had Ricochet’s new heel persona on the brain and literally reversed my pick.
And I couldn’t tell by what you said because you said it will be fun to see how Ricochet reacts. So I’m like hmm is he thinking it’ll be fun to see how reacts to winning? Or losing? I think just from the last couple weeks Ricochet is going to be a great heel and WWE should have tried it at some point over the years. The way he has been playing to the crowd has been great and that horrible sound he makes is a great heel sound
Yeah. Sometimes my brain and my fingers are on two different tracks. I think, if they’re going to have Ospreay win this thing, you want him to beat the defending champion. Of course they could always have Ospreay beat Ricochet, which gives Okada a beef. But I think they’ve already done Ospreay and Ricochet several times recently so I don’t think they want to make that the final even though the match would be good.
And yes. Agreed on Ricochet’s heel work. I definitely like what I’m seeing so far. Aside from the laugh but as he’s a heel, I’m not supposed to like it.