AEW World’s End 2023 PPV Review

MJF defends his record world championship reign against Samoa Joe in his hometown, the Continental Classic concludes, and Adam Copeland goes no disqualifications with Christian Cage in a stacked show to close the year for AEW!

Bryan Danielson, Daniel Garcia, Mark Briscoe, & Claudio Castagnoli vs. Jay White, Brody King, Jay Lethal, & Rush

Daniel Garcia def. Jay Lethal via Pinfall at 17:16

Everyone got their chance to showcase themselves in this match and the showdowns we got were awesome to witness. Pretty consistent overall, actually tells a nice story considering it’s just an all-star match, and it really touched my soul seeing Garcia get that roll up pin twice for the victory. Despite losing almost all of his matches in the tournament he still managed to get his moment and I’m really happy that he got that. Very good opener!

Miro vs. Andrade El Idolo

Miro def. Andrade El Idolo via Submission at 15:14

The story is kind of hard to get interested in and this kind of went on a bit too long, but overall, it’s a decent conclusion to a chapter of this weird story between Miro and CJ Perry. Nothing outstanding, but no complaints besides the ones I’ve already said.

‘Timeless’ Toni Storm(c) vs Riho | AEW Women’s World Championship Match

Toni Storm def. Riho via Pinfall at 11:39

The awful offense from Riho towards the beginning of this match took me out of it almost immediately. They had an awkward pace for most of the match, but managed to bring me back at the end of the contest with some close calls and a crowd that seemed to be waking up. Overall a very hard contest to rate, but it wasn’t terrible, I guess.

Swerve Strickland vs. Dustin Rhodes [In place of Keith Lee]

Swerve Strickland def. Dustin Rhodes via Pinfall at 9:28

I respect this match as an extended beatdown and a good showcase for Swerve. It’s unfortunate that Keith Lee couldn’t make it for this match, but we still got something. Dustin sold the leg well, not very sure about him hitting all those big moves, but it’s AEW so whatever you know. Decent encounter.

Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevera, Darby Allin, & Sting vs. Ricky Starks, Big Bill, Konosuke Takeshita, & Powerhouse Hobbs

Sammy Guevera def. Ricky Starks via Pinfall at 15:42

Before we get into the match itself, I’d just like to say to hell with Chris Jericho. All of my support goes out to Kylie Rae and any talent in general affected by power play and s*xual abuse. Now for the match itself, thank God at least some of the crowd was aware of Jericho’s terrible deeds. The match itself is your usual moves of doom for 15 minutes with the expected psychology problem. At this point I’ve seen like 30 of this exact same match. Someone should’ve shot on Jericho though…

Julia Hart(c) vs. Abadon | AEW TBS Championship Match

Julia Hart def. Abadon via Pinfall at 11:57

Just a really boring bout here with nothing much of a development throughout and a confusing pace. They kind of just did moves for nearly 12 minutes. The botched moonsault at the end did not help. Appreciate the “this is spooky” chant towards the beginning of the match though!

Christian Cage(c) vs. Adam Copeland | AEW TNT Championship No Disqualification Match

Adam Copeland def. Christian Cage via Pinfall at 24:48

Killswitch proceeded to attack Copeland, hand over his TNT Title Opportunity to Christian Cage, and Cage immediately won the belt back…

Well, I’m disappointed with the booking of the aftermath, but the match itself is a pretty fun brawl with some nice callbacks to their careers together and some violent moments that made for an enthralling experience. Probably the only exciting moment of the night so far which is unfortunate.

Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston | AEW Continental Classic Tournament Final

Eddie Kingston def. Jon Moxley via pinfall at 17:16

A pretty good fight here to conclude the tournament. To me it wasn’t great, but I enjoyed it overall. I love that Eddie won this tournament and the story of him recovering from loss to get to the final cannot go unnoticed. Props to both men for creating a good fight and shoutout to Eddie for becoming a triple crown champion!

MJF(c) vs. Samoa Joe | AEW World Championship Match

Samoa Joe def. MJF via Submission at 17:52

An enjoyable bout here with some nice arm work from Joe and of course great selling of said arm work from MJF. I’m surprised by the clean win from Joe, but considering what took place after, I guess a dramatic finish could’ve possibly made for overbooking? I’m not sure to be honest. Adam Cole being revealed as the devil post match was a good reveal, in my opinion, and his crew being Roddy, Wardlow, Taven, and Bennett, was an exciting thing to see. The whole build to this reveal, however, took way too long and might have been AEW’s worst main event storyline yet. It’s unfortunate considering how good I felt about the reveal itself.

Overall Thoughts: A very frustrating show to rate here. There’s some good qualities and some bad qualities. A few good matches, but the mid card was full of mid with nothing exciting until the final 3 matches. Even those matches have problems within themselves, mainly the booking. Just a lot of questionable booking decisions that made this a very bitter sweet show to watch. Might be their worst PPV if I’m quite honest. AEW is going down the hole and as someone who used to absolutely love the product, I’m very disappointed at the current state of it. At least we finally got a conclusion to the devil bullsh*t….

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