If you’re reading this, I hope that you and yours have had a wonderful holiday season, full of love, joy, and being surrounded by the people you care for most.
With Christmas now behind us, it’s time to get back to wrestling. AEW is about to present its final pay-per-view of 2025, Worlds End, coming to us from the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. According to WrestleTix, there will be a shade over 9,000 fans in attendance, and they’re sure to be rowdy for the action.
Speaking of action, we have nine matches on the main card, including five with titles on the line. There’s a lot going on, so I don’t want to waste any more time.
Let’s have some fun.
Kazuchika Okada vs Konosuke Takeshita – Continental Classic Semifinal (If Okada loses, he vacates the AEW Continental Title, guaranteeing a new Continental Champion in the Finals)
What a way to start the show. Wow. This is a pay-per-view main event caliber match anywhere in the world, and this is the first ever one-on-one bout between the two.
A “holy shit” chant breaks out at the sound of the opening bell. This is a huge deal, with the “big fight” feel that it deserves.
There’s a bit of a slow pace in the opening minutes. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think these guys were saving up for a match that is going to go long. It’s the kind of match that ends up going 40+ minutes in the Tokyo Dome.
To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Okada and Takeshita are really laying it in here. Stiff strikes galore from both men.
I love the story being told here. Not only are these two of the best wrestlers alive today, but they’re also stablemates in the Don Callis Family, so they know each other very well. Neither man is able to build up a ton of momentum before having something countered or reversed by their opponent.
Sigh. Tony Khan’s continued fetish with making his Referees look mentally handicapped continues. Okada pulls out a screwdriver behind Referee Paul Turner’s back, and he goes to use it on Takeshita, but Takeshita moves out of the way. Okada nearly hits Turner with the screwdriver, but he pulls away at the last second. FOR NO FUCKING REASON WHATSOEVER, this causes Turner to completely turn his back on the action and have him look around ringside like a fucking moron for a few seconds. Okada uses that to his advantage, finally hitting Takeshita with the screwdriver, and he gets the pin and the win. What a stupid finish.
The match itself was really good, right up until that dumb fucking ending. My favorite part of the match is that it was set up in such a way that they delivered high quality work, but also saved a bunch for the inevitable rematch on a bigger stage. It seemed like they were going to go long here, but the pace picked up, and while I don’t have the exact length of the match, I know the match didn’t quite reach the 20-minute mark, although it did come close. 4.25 Stars
Jon Moxley vs Kyle Fletcher – Continental Classic Semifinal
In case you’re unaware of how things like Semifinals and Finals work, the winner of this match will go on to face Kazuchika Okada later tonight to crown the Continental Classic winner and the AEW Continental Champion.
Mox is definitely getting some very noticeable face reactions recently, and that continues here. I think most fans are already under the assumption that a full-fledged face turn for Mox is coming soon, and probably when he receives a beating from the Death Riders crew because of all his recent losses.
Yeah, Mox is even wrestling this match like a face. Fletcher has been working on Mox’s left leg after pinning it between the ring steps and the ring itself, and Mox has basically been a one-legged man ever since. Mox is also bleeding a bit from the mouth, and we haven’t been able to get a good close-up from the cameras, but it almost appears as though one of Mox’s front teeth is chipped.
As soon as I finished typing that, we finally did get that close-up, and sure enough, it appears as though one of Moxley’s two front teeth is broken in half. Good Lord.
Both men are trying to control the pace here. Mox wants to slow it down and punish Fletcher, but Fletcher is looking to make things as quick as possible.
Holy shit… Mox just tossed Fletcher from the top rope, and Fletcher landed on the back of his head and the top of his neck. It looked bad live, but it looked REALLY bad during the slow motion replay. Honestly, I don’t even know how Fletcher didn’t break his neck there. That was as ugly of a landing as you’re going to witness.
We’ve really gotten hot here. Both men are dropping bombs on each other, but time and time again, it isn’t enough to put the other one away.
Mox with the Bulldog Choke on Fletcher, who fights and fights and fights, but he can’t break free. As he begins to turn purple, Fletcher passes out, and that does it. Mox picks up the win and moves on to face Okada later tonight.
What a match. I’m still worried about Kyle Fletcher’s head and neck area. When the adrenaline wears off, he’s going to be in a world of hurt. Because they weren’t building to a rematch, Mox and Fletcher were able to let loose, and they delivered an incredible match because of it, going nearly 25 minutes from bell-to-bell. Lots of back-and-forth action, an insane final stretch, and the continued build to another face run for Jon Moxley. Great stuff all around. We’re off to quite the start on this show so far. I might even be underselling the grades for both matches. I’ll have to go back and watch them again later, checking them out with no distractions, to find out. 4.5 Stars
FTR vs Juice Robinson & Austin Gunn – Chicago Street Fight for the AEW Tag Team Titles
As soon as the opening bell rings, these guys are brawling it out, and things have already broken down. They’re fighting in the crowd, on the stage, and just about everywhere other than inside of the ring.
We may have reached the point in every AEW pay-per-view where the crowd wears themselves out after a couple of really hot matches, and it affects their noise level for at least a match or two. I wouldn’t say they’re quiet here, but they certainly don’t have the same level of enthusiasm that they did for the previous two matches.
Juice Robinson is the first man to end up bloody in this match, coming up with… juice… after a title belt shot to the forehead.
Gunn is taken down, and FTR is now picking Juice apart, working on his knee. They’re wearing him out like boots and shades.
We almost had another ugly spot. Cash Wheeler performs a suicide dive to the ringside area, where Austin Gunn is standing in front of a table set up against the barricade. I don’t know if Cash overshot it, or if Austin didn’t catch him, but Cash basically hit the table head-first, crashing through it. Alright, guys, slow it down.
Right on cue… there’s another table set up at ringside, and Juice shoves Stokely Hathaway off the ring apron, and Big Stoke was supposed to go crashing through the table, but he overshot it, barely brushed it, and hit the floor with a thud.
Austin Gunn is busted open, and FTR are like sharks smelling blood. They’re picking up the pace now.
FTR picks up the win, and almost literally received zero reaction with the pin. That was a lot more one-sided than I was expecting it to be. Both challengers are bloody messes in the ring, and the last several minutes were spent on a methodical beating that put them in that spot. I would’ve preferred a little more back-and-forth there, and judging by the complete lack of reaction to the pin, I guess I’m not alone. That didn’t need to be on pay-per-view. 3 Stars
Willow Nightingale & Harley Cameron vs Mercedes Moné & Athena – AEW Women’s Tag Team Title Match
Yeah, the crowd is definitely saving themselves for matches later in the show. They’re pretty quiet for the start of this one.
Look… I find Harley Cameron to be an entertaining character, and she’s certainly nice to look at. With that said, her in-ring work just isn’t where it should be for someone getting this much time on television and pay-per-view. Everything comes crashing down when she’s in the ring.
Athena and Mercedes have had some weird timing issues here, especially with their tag work.
Willow gets the pin on Mercedes. Okay. Cool. Back-to-back matches that should’ve taken place on television instead of wasting time on a pay-per-view, but hey, how else would this show last nine hours? Nothing offensive here, but nothing worth talking about, either. 2.5 Stars
Darby Allin vs Gabe Kidd
Can they get the show back on track?
Decent enough crowd reaction for Darby’s entrance, but little-to-no reaction for Gabe Kidd. Oh, boy.
They run right at each other at the sound of the opening bell, but that pace doesn’t last. Darby is shoved out of the ring, tumbling over the top rope, hitting his head/neck/shoulder area on the ring apron on the way down. We’ve slowed things down since that spot.
Nice of three random dudes to start a “Darby Allin” chant that didn’t catch on whatsoever.
Darby is a bloody mess after having his head driven into the ring steps. The crowd doesn’t react to it, even after Kidd gets Darby’s blood on his fingers and licks it off. You almost literally drank another man’s blood for no reason. Brutal.
Darby has a laceration on his ribs, and now, Gabe comes up bloody from the forehead. Yet again, it’s to zero reaction from the crowd. The man is an absolute mess, with blood all over his chest, stomach, and legs, and it’s getting nothing from the crowd. No gasps. Nothing.
He’s done the move a billion times in his career, but it still blows me away when Darby does a Coffin Drop from the top rope to the floor at ringside. There’s such a small margin for error there.
Darby with the Scorpion Deathlock on Gabe, but then his eyes go wide… but the camera cuts to a shot of Gabe, and we miss what happens next. It is said on commentary that Darby was lightheaded from everything that happened, and he almost passed out. Way to go, production team.
Well, it was better than the previous two matches, but it certainly wasn’t enough to get the show back on track. Darby sneaks out of here with a rollup win. 3.5 Stars. Hard-hitting, as you would expect. It just didn’t have enough to reach “great” status. Still entertaining, though.
Mark Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Orange Cassidy & “Timeless” Toni Storm vs Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta & Marina Shafir – Mixed Nuts Mayhem
That’s a pretty dumb name for a match, but what are you gonna do?
The rules are relayed to us as follows… no tags are needed, but the fall must take place inside of the ring. Simple enough, I guess.
The crowd is waking up a bit. They’re louder than they’ve been in a while, especially coming to life for Orange Cassidy’s unique brand of offense. They started the show off hot, then went quiet for a few minutes, and might be getting hot again for the show’s biggest matches. It’s the same story every single time. Maybe AEW having 36 matches on every pre-show isn’t the best of ideas.
For the last few minutes, this match has been nothing but the Death Riders putting on what can only be described as a train of offense. With an opponent in the corner, they’ll run around and around and around, hitting the opponent with move after move. Claudio hits a running European Uppercut, then Marina runs in a second later with something, then Wheeler, then Daniel Garcia, then Claudio again, then Marina again, and so on. They did it to all three male members of the opposition.
We’ve been building to man-on-woman or woman-on-man violence for a while now, and it finally happened… between real life husband and wife Roderick Strong and Marina Shafir. The crowd went crazy for that. Marina kicks her husband directly in the face, and Roddy responds by chopping the hell out of his wife’s back. That was fun.
The face squad picks up the win in what ended up being an entertaining match. It was a nice mix of action and comedy, with Orange Cassidy and Toni Storm showing a lot of in-ring chemistry together. 3.5 Stars
Kris Statlander vs Jamie Hayter – AEW Women’s Title Match
Two of the biggest badasses in the entire women’s division… and as I type that sentence, my internet goes out. It came back on, but I missed the first few minutes of the match. When I finally get to see something, Stat is posing at ringside before rolling Jamie back in the ring for a pin attempt.
They’re showing why I called them two of the biggest badasses in the women’s division. Each woman is putting a little extra pizazz behind their offense tonight.
Hayter just hit Stat with a Lariat that sounded like a gunshot in the arena, but Stat immediately recovered and ended up getting the pin and the win.
I don’t feel comfortable giving an actual grade for the match since I missed a chunk of it, but what I did see was entertaining, albeit really slow and plodding. If you’re a fan of Stat and/or Jamie, you’ll enjoy this one.
Kazuchika Okada vs Jon Moxley – Continental Classic Final for the AEW Continental Title
After we got the first-time-ever singles match between Okada and Konosuke Takeshita earlier, we’re now getting the first-time-ever singles match between Okada and Moxley. It seems rare that you would have a single pay-per-view event with two first-time-ever singles “Dream Match” bouts. Don’t come at me and point out how often it happens. I’m not saying it has never happened. Just that it seems like a rare occurrence, made even more rare by the fact that Okada has been involved in both matches.
The fucking NERVE of Bryan Danielson to say that the Continental Classic is becoming the most grueling tournament in all of wrestling. This is the seventh match of the tournament for both men, with the first match coming 31 days ago. Seven matches in 31 days is cool and all, but New Japan’s G1 Climax tournament saw eventual winner Konosuke Takeshita wrestle seven matches (four tournament matches and three tag matches) in the span of eight days. Danielson, of all people, should know better.
After a grueling match against Kyle Fletcher earlier, Mox is nowhere near 100% for this one, and Okada is taking advantage of it, working on Moxley’s already injured leg. Okada isn’t called the “Greatest Tournament Wrestler Of All-Time” for nothing.
Oh, hey, now it’s Stephon Smith’s turn to look like a fucking moron. He gets trapped in the corner, and Okada lines up for a Rainmaker attempt on Mox, but Mox moves out of the way. Stephon completely turns around and covers his head, standing there for several seconds, allowing Okada to hit Mox with a low blow. It’s nowhere near as stupid as Paul Turner looked at the end of Okada vs Takeshita, but pretty stupid nonetheless.
Bit of a slower paced match here. Mox is still selling everything he went through earlier, but it’s not like he was flying around the ring like 1996 Rey Mysterio Jr. to begin with. Okada, though, is more looking to stalk his opponent here, seemingly overconfident that he’s going to win yet another tournament in his legendary career.
I think we’re too accustomed to big-time matches featuring multiple pin attempts following finishers, because Mox just went for the pin on Okada, and I watched as the three count took place, but it didn’t register in my brain right away. With everything we see, I was fully expecting Okada to kick out, followed by Mox kicking out of a bunch of stuff later, and Okada kicking out of more stuff. Instead, we got Mox winning the Continental Classic somewhat out of nowhere, becoming the brand new AEW Continental Champion.
Really entertaining match, even though it was a bit slow at times, as I said. 4 Stars. Two of the best in the business, and you know what you’re going to get from them, especially in these big-match situations.
After the match, the rest of the Death Riders got in the ring and celebrated with Mox. He cut a face promo, saying that the Continental Title belt isn’t about him, and instead, it’s about the rest of the men in the tournament who busted their asses every week to put on the best show they possibly could. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one, but I was just waiting for the group to turn on Moxley, but they never did, even with Mox cutting a fiery babyface promo.
Samoa Joe vs “Hangman” Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland vs MJF – Four-Way Match for the AEW World Title
Main event time. The opening bell rings at the 3:39 mark of the show.
Hangman with a Moonsault from the top turnbuckle, attempting to take out all three of his opponents at ringside, but he overshoots it, completely missing Joe and Swerve and basically rubbing MJF’s arm on the way down. Sheesh.
After some double team work from Swerve and Hangman takes Joe out of the ring, the crowd erupts as Swerve and Hangman go face-to-face, reigniting their rivalry. Their mini-partnership can only go so far when the World Title is on the line.
As is the case with all of these types of matches, you’re going to have a bunch of spots where one or more wrestlers gets taken out and stays at ringside for several minutes at a time, allowing for two people to fight in the ring. Then, it’s almost like a tag match, because one of the men at ringside will get back in the ring, take someone out, send them out, and it’s back to a “singles” match in the ring.
The Opps are here. Katsuyori Shibata, Hook, and Powerhouse Hobbs run to ringside and attack all of Samoa Joe’s opponents. It doesn’t lead to much of anything, though. A group of Referees run out to send The Opps to the back. For what? There are no rules here.
Hangman hits Joe with back-to-back Buckshot Lariats, and he goes for a third one, but MJF pushes Joe out of the way and kicks Hangman in the groinal region. One Heatseeker later, and MJF is your brand new AEW World Champion.
Maybe it’s just me, but this match didn’t have the same “big fight” feel that the Continental Classic matches had. It was good, and the crowd enjoyed it, but it just didn’t have the same feel to it. If Okada vs Moxley was the main event, and this match went on right before it, I don’t think anyone outside of the “WORLD TITLE MATCHES SHOULD ALWAYS MAIN EVENT” purists would complain.
Either way, good stuff from all four men here. The match didn’t quite reach “great” status, but that’s perfectly fine. 3.75 Stars. The second World Title reign for MJF should be an interesting one.
Overall, it was a really good show, with all of the same positives and negatives that you can say about every AEW pay-per-view. It was too long, but it had a bunch of really good-to-great matches. The crowd started off hot, completely fell off a cliff for a few matches, and then got hot again to finish the show. Referees look like they have single-digit IQs.
You know… that old chestnut.
Still plenty to enjoy, though, so I’m giving it a recommendation to check out if you haven’t already done so.
