Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s annual review of AEW Worlds End, the show that has now wrapped up the ContinentalClassic for the second year in a row! But Worlds End has never been fully defined by the round robin tournament while the specter of The Devil and the MJF/Adam Cole storyline hung over last year's event, this year's will likely be remembered for Mercedes Mone and Kris Statlander putting on the longest women's match in company history (again), Kenny Omega returning to renew hostilities with Kazuchika Okada, anda revived Adam Copeland leading FTR into battle against The Death Riders.
We're going to cover all that stuff, and indeed, most of the card though apologies are in order for Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Konosuke Takeshita, which didn't make the WINC staff feel anything strongly enough to write about it here. As always, our Worlds End results page is here to help with any objective facts you may have missed, but if you're ready to hear what we thought of the PPV, it's time for three things we hated and three things we loved about AEW Worlds End 2024.
Toni Storm's Zero Hour match with Leila Grey didn't stand out on its own. Sure, Grey got in some cute offense, and it must have been a really enlightening experience working with a wrestler as (current storyline disregarded) experienced as Storm, but the actual in-ring goings of the match were nothing really to write home about. However, it is the context surrounding Storm's Zero Hour match that I find particularly pleasing in multiple regards.
Storm is fully convinced that she is an AEW rookie. Whether you think it is some split personality or retrograde amnesia or elaborate acting job, Storm is completely fronting as a newcomer to AEW. I appreciate that she is being treated as one, not just by other wrestlers such as Deonna Purrazzo, who challenged her to a match on the upcoming January 1, "mother of all simulcasts" episode of "AEW Collision," but by AEW bookers. It makes complete and total sense that an AEW newcomer wouldn't be thrust in to a high-profile pay-per-view match, for a title or otherwise. AEW is really trying to sell us the fantasy: they are doing everything they can to make us believe Storm is a genuine rookie in the AEW women's locker room. It's a small thing, but booking Storm for a pay-per-view pre-show satisfyingly balances the need to get a (again, current storyline disregarded) big name like Storm on the pay-per-view card without compromising her current storyline by putting her in a big pay-per-view match. These small things help with narrative immersion, which is definitely needed in an ambitious storyline such as this.
The choice to book Storm on the pre-show instead of the main show also is a good move in a booking sense. Because Storm is not on the main card, that means a lot of other talented AEW women have the opportunity to be in her place at little to no cost for Storm. Storm isn't being hurt or buried or kept in catering she is still on the pre-show, with eyes watching her. However, in keeping her away from the title scene specifically, we are allowed to see more of AEW's wide array of women. With so few women's matches (an issue AEW has to solve apart from this Storm booking decision), it is incredibly hard to stand out as a women in AEW programming. Because Storm is away from that title scene, those incredibly coveted spots on the card open up, and the opportunity for other women to make a name for themselves is there. If Storm was just reinserted into the title picture right away, would we have seen Mercedes Mon and Kris Statlander break the record for the longest women's match in AEW history? Would Storm have been in Thunder Rosa or Mariah May's place?
Storm's current booking situation works out for all parties involved. More women are getting their pay-per-view checks and exposure, and AEW gets to keep one of top stars as an advertising draw without compromising her story.
Written by Angeline Phu
I went in to the Tijuana Street Fight between AEW Women's Champion Mariah May and challenger Thunder Rosa with low expectations, and that was all on AEW and the fault of its booking. My personal New Years resolution here at work is to make sure I'm caught up on "AEW Collision," but I can't say I was anywhere near in the know during the holiday hubbub of life this month. Which sucked for me, because the entire build to this Women's Championship match was on the Saturday show, which I didn't see too much of. And, for whatever reason, AEW decided to build the match for its main women's title entirely on that show, which it's done for the second time in recent memory now with May. I do know there were no in-ring promos between the two to set up the match, which is pretty silly. I did catch the short brawl between the two women on the last "Collision" of 2024, which I guess was something.
AEW is also doing a really great job at making me feel like Rosa is nowhere near the contender she used to be, and it's hard to see her getting another run with the championship, which is sad. The match itself was pretty good, but the crowd was really not having it for the longest time. It wasn't until Rosa pulled out the thumbtack pinata that things started to pick up in the noise department in Orlando. There was also a super weird moment where Rosa kicked out of the May Day on the tacks, which is something annoying that happens in both main promotions too often people kicking out of finishers and it being no big deal, but it was enhanced tonight for me when it happened on tacks of all things. Worlds End also had plenty of blood in places it didn't exactly make sense, with both MJF and Cole being cut open in their match, and Ospreay with a crimson mask in the opening of the show. You'd think they'd let the women get some color in a match with an actual hardcore stipulation. AEW's done it before in the division on pay-per-view, and it seemed a little off that there was none to be found tonight.
Thankfully, all of Mercedes Mone's TBS Championship feuds have all been established and furthered on "Dynamite," at least. But, AEW is doing an extremely poor job of putting its main women's title, and its champion, on its flagship show. Hopefully that's something that changes in the new year, or fans are still going to be upset over how the women's division is treated in AEW.
Written by DaisyRuth
The days of Better Than You Bay Bay, Wembley Stadium main events, and double clotheslines seem like they happened in an entirely different universe at this point because Adam Cole and MJF are still feuding. But mercifully, after a year that just didn't do either of them any favors, their feud is finally over ... hopefully.
Now this might sound like a loved on face value, and to be perfectly honest the feud being over is one of the main things that has me excited for 2025, but the main problem I have with Cole and Friedman's match was actually the blood. I'm not squeamish or anything, I'm one of the people who actively loved Swerve Strickland and "Hangman" Page nearly kill each other at All Out, but unlike that bout, this match at Worlds End did not warrant, or even deserve to have a shed of color.
Will Ospreay bled buckets in the show opener against Kyle Fletcher to tell the story of the valiant babyface enduring one of the toughest nights of his life by the time his match with Kazuchika Okada was over. Thunder Rosa and Mariah May had some blood because it was a street fight, and Jon Moxley bled hardway in the main event because of course he did, he's Jon Moxley. But this match having not one, but both guys run the blade? Go to bed.
The build up to this match has been cold and dry, but that is something that can sometimes be saved by the match at the pay-per-view being a show stealer, but the only thing this match stole was the time out of everyone's lives who ended up watching it. I don't like openly trashing wrestling, but the fact that this feud, THIS FEUD, the feud that actively turned people away from the company this time last year was reanimated into a form where Cole and MJF had swapped roles making it infinitely less interesting, and was given a PPV match bothers me.
Which is why the blood bothers me as well. Color in wrestling can make a good match great, and a great match a classic. However, this was never going to be a classic because people didn't care. This story was done, we were away from it, and now Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong, both of whom have had very strong years respectively, have been sucked back into this hellscape of a rivalry that almost torpedoed the company's goodwill. Instead, the blood in this match was brought out because the feud has gone on for so long, and it was noy only unnecessary, but it cheapened the other bloody faces we saw on this show. I hope to the wrestling gods that this feud is done forever, and I hope the next time either one of them runs the blade, they make it mean something.
Written bySamPalmer
I was severely clocked out by the time we hit this match on the Worlds End card. I was alive and present for the Continental Classic semifinals, and the Tijuana Street Fight was like, okay. After that, my interest in this pay-per-view waned and waned. By the time Kris Statlander and Mercedes Mon showed up on my screen, Worlds End felt like a million years long. Dear reader, my mind was exhausted, my eyes were strained, and I was one minor inconvenience away from turning off Worlds End to go watch Squid Game 2, or something.
Mon and Statlander brought me back to life.
My coworkers were quick to point out that Statlander might have better in-ring chemistry with Mon than long-time rival Willow Nightingale, and I am inclined to agree. Mon and Statlander absolutely blew the matches preceding them out of the water with their equal shows of strength, daring, technique, and acting. Statlander had never been my favorite woman on the AEW roster, and Mon hasn't had the best matches in AEW, but she and Statlander were willing to put everything on the line for the TBS Title, and their commitment made them stand out in the Worlds End midcard.
I think Mon and Statlander have really taken to each other. They were comfortable in the early goings of the match, with Mon sarcastically extending a hand to her challenger after Statlander came back from the champion's offense with a kip-up. It's a small gesture, but I don't think Mon would have granted that if she wasn't already comfortable with Statlander. Their chemistry really showed, however, as they fought the longest women's AEW match in recorded history. That in and of itself should be a testament to not only how much they trust each other, but how much AEW administration trusts them to fight for that long and churn out a halfway decent product. They kept the energy alive throughout the entire near-half hour, with Statlander tossing Mon around with confidence that hasn't been seen since her days against Bianca Belair in WWE, and Mon showcasing her acting chops which, historically, haven't been her strong suit with Statlander. It's one thing to have an incredibly physical Street Fight, or a masterclass in technical wrestling. It's another thing to have a lock-up that is great from a technical standpoint, and also flows naturally when seen from a dramatic or theatrical standpoint.
The only quip I can understand with this match is the ending. After such a long and hard battle, I don't see the point in the roll-up game, and both women were pretty tired from holding the Worlds End midcard on their backs. I can see where the finish's messiness might have lost some viewers, but I think it was the most excusable a less-than-desirable finish has ever been. Mon and Statlander absolutely stole the show tonight. If this continues to be the standard for AEW's women's roster, I have no issues moving forward with them into 2025.
Written by Angeline Phu
I have made it crystal clear over recent weeks how much I appreciate the constant flow of excellent sports-presentation wrestling that has come with the 2024 Continental Classic, and Worlds End continued that run of form with a little extra with its finals. The night started with a Will Ospreay-Kyle Fletcher bout that served as the perfect precursor for the story told within the final, with Ospreay bleeding profusely and barely surviving his semi-final while defending Continental Champion and as painstakingly reminded by commentary, on track to be the greatest tournament wrestler Kazuchika Okada got through his own with Ricochet with a relative degree of ease. It stacked the odds further against Ospreay who was already coming against someone proven to have his number extensively in the past, especially when Okada was being heavily earmarked to level the round-robin tournament record set by Masahiro Chono. But that also helped to establish Ospreay as the hopeless challenger that, given who he is, always stood a chance of getting the win when all was said and done. It made the many near-falls believable, and they both went all out to demonstrate their claim to the mantle of greatest wrestler, bell-to-bell. Ospreay looked at several moments to have had loaded the killshot only for the champion to kick out.
Wrestling, specifically the type Ospreay celebrates, is very anime-coded. But this was the equivalent of a Souls-borne boss battle for Ospreay, throwing everything he had at his relentless foe with it ultimately proving futile. Okada simply had more in the tank than Ospreay, as demonstrated in the final pinfall; Ospreay jerking as if he wanted to kick out but simply couldn't following the last Rainmaker. The exchange that led into that had been the last injection of energy from Ospreay, it was all he had left and it still wasn't enough. It's a very good decision to keep Okada as the anchor point for the Continental Championship, given that throughout his career singles victories against him have proved to be elusive in themselves a milestone and he remains one of the most complete wrestling acts in the world. That sentiment is amplified even more with what transpired after he had beaten Ospreay, too, as Kenny Omega made his long awaited return to AEW to present Okada with the Continental Championship he had just retained. Omega had won the G1 Climax in 2016 to set up their legendary showdown at Wrestle Kingdom 17, so it was something of a full circle moment for Okada to win the Continental Classic and be confronted with his arch-rival ahead of a potential Omega-Okada V. To extend the video game-anime reference, this is the evergreen Cloud vs. Sephiroth battle that sustains the core of what AEW was always meant to be: great, balls-to-the-wall, professional wrestling. This was more than worthy of being the main event in itself.
Written byMax Everett
AEW Worlds End closed with a four-way for Jon Moxley's World Championship. Orange Cassidy, Jay White, and Adam Page each wanted the title, but wherever Mox goes, the Death Riders aren't far behind. Save for PAC, they got involved early on, and continued getting involved until the Worlds End main event resembled nothing so much as a RomanReigns WWE title defense. We also saw The Patriarchy watching from a suite,ChristianCage gripping the contracthe can cash in for a world title shot at any time.
This match was chaotic, but that's what happens when you combine a four-way and an unhinged stable that takes their orders from the world champion. At Full Gear, Marina Shafir embarrassed White by putting him in Mother's Milk. He got his revenge by delivering a Blade Runner to her after delivering one to Mox. The finish of the match felt abrupt, however, as Wheeler Yuta nailed White with a Busaiku Knee and Mox hit a Death Rider for the sudden win.
Then it was time for post-match shenanigans. This time, it was FTR who stopped the Death Riders. They weren't supposed to be back until "Fight for the Fallen" on Wednesday, but they also weren't alone, as the former tag champs had their good friend, Adam Copeland with them, returning from the injury he suffered at Double or Nothing. After Copeland used the leg of the chair to put Moxley in a crossface (as he had previously done to the two other members of The Shield), he declared "Rated FTR are taking it all." The show ended with a staredown between Copeland and Moxley, as Copeland has seemingly leapfrogged himself into title contention.
While this year's Worlds End was much better than last year's, the world title scene is complicated. The Death Riders started out fun and intriguing, but now the whole thing is confusing and it isn't clear where this is going. It seems that Moxley will be champion for the foreseeable future; meanwhile, while they're stalling Allin's eventual title match (and potential win), where does this leave Page, White, and Cassidy? It seems extremely counterproductive to shelve all these guys, most of them AEW originals, in favor of a recently hired ex-WWE star especially if this is all actually building to a revisitation of Copeland vs.Cage.
AEW has been known for telling really good stories, but have had some misses. While the Death Riders story is not at the level of The Devil storyline, its veering off track and it needs to be pulled back as quickly as possible, because this main event was a huge step in the wrong direction.
Written bySamantha Schipman
