00:00 Oh, there we are, Christmas break over.
00:02 I've eaten my body weight and bread sauce.
00:05 And it's time to re-enter the working world and wrestling again.
00:10 Easing slowly back into real life before the New Year.
00:13 And what a way to begin the New Year, or sort of end the current one, with AEW World's
00:19 End.
00:20 I'm sure.
00:21 A drama-free show where I can just enjoy wrestling without any big controversies or backstage
00:27 - AEW star set to leave after major backstage clash, NBA controversy over Chris Jericho,
00:35 and MJF loses his World title as his best friend is revealed to be his biggest foe.
00:41 Yeah, well that makes sense because 2023 sucked.
00:44 I'm Oli Davis, and this is my review of AEW World's End… in about 10 minutes.
00:49 Oh my god, and Kevin Dunn left WWE?!
00:51 Support WrestleTalk!
00:58 The zero hour pre-show opened with a match between friends Chris Statlander and Willow
01:02 Nightingale, as Ring of Honor GM Stokely Hathaway tried to drive a wedge between them.
01:06 They didn't need that wedge, though, as they botched their spots all on their own.
01:10 A bit of clumsiness throughout the match, and particularly the finish, where Willow
01:13 botched her own finisher and had to redo it, the action did build nicely to a very good
01:18 final five minutes.
01:19 Nightingale won when she eventually hit her Dr Bomb.
01:22 Next came the 20 man battle royal for a future TNT title shot that was announced on Wednesday's
01:27 Dynamite.
01:28 The future actually meaning he had about three hours.
01:31 The 14 minute match lacked a through line hook.
01:34 He was in the next match.
01:36 Thank you, thank you, Christmas Cracker jokes are still here.
01:38 As people would get a few spots, then get eliminated, Lance Archer and Kill Switch provided
01:43 late stage beef as they emerged from under the tables they were buried at at the start
01:48 to go on elimination rampages.
01:50 After Trent eliminated his own best friend Dan Howzen, the final two were Beretta and
01:55 Kill Switch, which the latter won, uppercutting Trent off the ring apron.
01:59 That awarded Kill Switch an anytime, anywhere shot at the TNT title Money in the Bank style.
02:06 Hook beat Wheeler Uta not just in his New York home turf, but also on his own advantage
02:10 FTW Rules too - with Uta's Pure Rules Championship being Hardcore Wrestling's polar opposite.
02:16 Don't adjust your set!
02:18 This isn't a New Japan pay-per-view with a random multi-man tag match to open the show.
02:22 It's AEW World's End's main card!
02:25 I thought the 8-man tag involving all the Continental Classic competitors who didn't
02:30 have anything else to do, though, was a really good idea.
02:32 Unless you were being managed by a guy's wife or embroiled in a feud that will never
02:36 happen with Keith Lee, many of AEW's main event scene and upper midcard have been embroiled
02:42 in the C2's gruelling weekly matches.
02:44 Unable to build their own feuds, this tag match acted as a fun coda for the runners-up,
02:49 allowing for badass interactions between gold and blue league fighters we haven't seen
02:53 yet, like Bryan Danielson vs Jey White, yes please, or reviving old clashes like Brodie
02:58 King vs anyone.
03:00 It also expertly elevated Daniel Garcia, who had finished bottom of the blue league, letting
03:05 him suplex King, and then rolling up, you guessed it, Jey Lethal to secure the win.
03:09 Hopefully reviving the idea of him joining his Blackpool Combat Club teammates here,
03:14 which should've happened last year.
03:16 Speaking of things that should've happened, if Andrade was going to leave your promotion,
03:19 maybe don't have him beat Bryan Danielson.
03:21 Like I said at the start, I haven't been keeping up with the wrestling dirt sheet news
03:25 over the last week.
03:26 I watched World's End with innocent kayfabe believing eyes.
03:30 So I wrote a joke at the start of Andrade vs Miro in my notes.
03:33 What is this?
03:34 A competition for who's most unhappy in AEW?
03:37 Little did I know, that's exactly what it was.
03:40 Fightful Selective reported World's End is expected to be Andrade's last date with
03:44 AEW.
03:46 After he made it clear behind the scenes at Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, he no longer
03:50 wanted to be with the company and was planning to leave.
03:53 The situation was apparently less than pleasant.
03:57 Less than pleasant title of your next AEW pay-per-view, with some sources saying a major
04:01 disagreement had unfolded.
04:03 In the post-show media scrum, Tony Khan admitted he had been unable to agree a new contract
04:09 with Andrade.
04:10 This now set him up to return to WWE as early as the January 1st, day one episode of Monday
04:16 Night Raw.
04:17 As for the match itself, most of the focus was on CJ Perry managing Andrade, rather than
04:22 the more exciting part - Andrade and Miro's wrestling in the ring.
04:26 Miro kept getting distracted by his wife, but it was CJ breaking up her own client Andrade's
04:31 Figure 8 that let Miro win.
04:33 CJ blew him kisses afterwards, but they never seemed to fully reunite.
04:36 I'd been ready for their storyline to resolve itself for about a month now.
04:40 Toni Storm defended her Women's Championship against Riho in a best vs first match that,
04:46 at 10 minutes long, was never able to get into that extra gear.
04:49 Toni worked over Riho's lower back, Luthor was ejected for interference, and then Storm
04:54 just suddenly won.
04:56 Because they seemed destined to never fight, Keith Lee was unfortunately pulled from his
05:00 match against Swerve Strickland on the day of the show.
05:02 Instead, Keith's former tag partner Dustin stepped in.
05:05 But that's the last time he'll be stepping, because Swerve then stomped his ankle through
05:11 a cinder block.
05:12 Dustin valiantly fought through the pain to still have a match, where he would go on to
05:15 wrestle for 10 minutes with a shattered kayfabe leg.
05:19 Swerve looked awesome, as one of the most over people on the whole show, but I would've
05:23 had him win far quicker as Rhodes making a comeback undermined the cinder block angle.
05:28 And also, when you're doing a match when one of the wrestlers has been replaced because
05:31 medics wouldn't clear him to compete, maybe don't do an angle with Dustin Rhodes where
05:36 the medics say he can't compete either, and then they let him wrestle the match.
05:40 Don't adjust your set, this isn't a New Japan pay-per-view either.
05:43 It's an 8 man tag to compensate for Kenny Omega having to be pulled from his tag title
05:47 shot for medical reasons.
05:49 I know it wasn't AEW's fault they had to change track, but I would've preferred
05:53 a three way tag title match here of Les X-Gods vs Bill and Starks vs the Callis Family to
05:58 give us something more substantial than what felt like another 8 man filler.
06:02 But as the match went on, another problem emerged.
06:06 Again, I went into this pay-per-view with kayfabe eyes.
06:09 But even innocent little me could pick up on the Long Island crowd's dislike of Chris
06:13 Jericho being beyond simple 'we're tired of your act on TV and the Golden Jets suck'.
06:19 Every time Jericho got some offence in, the crowd cheered him.
06:23 They cheered any heel that attacked him.
06:25 And one sign in the crowd read 'Wells NDA' - a fantastic pun, SignMaker, one presumably
06:36 referencing Nick Housman's reports from earlier that day.
06:40 Jericho and CM Punk's attorney had recently argued about whether Jericho had signed a
06:44 non-disclosure agreement after Brawl Out, where Jericho declared on X he'd never signed
06:50 an NDA in my life ever.
06:51 You won't know though, because you're not allowed to talk about them.
06:56 This led to Housman claiming Jericho had got people to sign NDAs in the past, and alluded
07:01 to Chris hiding "a lot of skeletons in your closet".
07:06 Not your closet specifically, but he was talking about Jericho.
07:09 During the post-show media scrum, a reporter from USA Today asked Tony Khan whether Jericho
07:14 had been investigated for sexual misconduct at any time while he was with AEW, to which
07:20 Tony replied he can't speak on unsourced Internet rumours, while unfortunately wearing
07:26 a comedy wig and sunglasses.
07:28 Anyway, Sami Guevara hit a shooting star to win.
07:31 Stop trying to make babyface Sami happen!
07:34 Presumably setting up a tag title shot for less sexy gods.
07:38 It'll be interesting to see, though, if AEW actually follows through on that, as pressure
07:43 on Jericho intensifies.
07:46 Julia Hart beat Abaddon in a spooky, spooky match, which the Long Island crowd debuted
07:50 this month's version of Meat, chanting "this is spooky".
07:57 Unfortunately Abaddon hadn't been built up anywhere near strong enough to be believable
08:00 on pay-per-view.
08:01 Hart won after Sky Blue interference.
08:03 The final three matches of the show, however, were brilliant.
08:07 Starting with Edge vs Christian.
08:10 Hmm, how should Edge make sure there won't be any interference like the stuff that cost
08:14 him the title last time?
08:15 I know, make it an ODQ match that allows EVEN MORE INTERFERENCE.
08:21 That said, Copeland had psychological justification.
08:24 He didn't care about interference.
08:26 He just wanted to hurt Christian with as many weapons or crowd brawling as he wanted.
08:31 And that's what happened, with a dive off part of the audience, tables, ladders, chairs,
08:35 oh my, and even that table's on fire.
08:40 Twice.
08:41 It was Nick Wayne who took the flaming bump from a Copeland powerbomb.
08:44 Edge went back in the ring, hit a Kill Switch and awesomely won the TNT Championship.
08:50 And that was it.
08:51 Copeland simply won, in a modern homage to their shared TLC history.
08:58 Just one more thing.
09:00 The Kill Switch was standing right behind him.
09:03 It was at this point I realised how money in the bank like Luchasaurus' title shot
09:08 was.
09:09 He can cash it in right now.
09:11 I wish he'd won the opportunity at least a month ago, where he could build more tension
09:15 cashing in on Christian, adding extra heartbreak to what ended up happening.
09:20 Christian told Kill Switch to give him the shot, for Christian to win the TNT title back.
09:26 Timeframe aside with Kill Switch, this was excellent booking, and sets the stage perfectly
09:30 for a proper TLC singles match to conclude their trilogy.
09:34 Jon Moxley vs Eddie Kingston in the Continental Classic final was my most anticipated match,
09:40 and it was brilliant.
09:41 They worked a tense, fiending out process at the start.
09:44 It steadily became who can hit the hardest, then it broke down completely into a strong
09:49 style Ishii out on your feet no-selling but actually really selling fight.
09:54 Both guys' selling was fantastic, not just of their injuries, but their frustration of
09:59 their own bodies failing them.
10:01 Because this wasn't a match in isolation.
10:03 It's the conclusion of a month's worth of punishment.
10:07 It's the overarching story of the whole tournament, of Mox's knee, of Eddie's
10:11 underdog comeback.
10:13 Besides, by this point, it's not your body that's going to carry you through, it's
10:17 your heart.
10:18 They shared a flurry of punches in the 17th minute, then Eddie hit a spinning backfist,
10:23 dropping Mox and making the pin to win - being presented with both his original belts and
10:29 the new Continental Championship, because there aren't enough titles already, and,
10:33 more emotionally, an embrace from Moxley.
10:36 This was fantastic from start to finish, a fitting end to a great tournament all elevated
10:41 by Bryan Danielson's terrific, passionate commentary.
10:45 My other favourite part of the whole night was MJF's entrance in his hometown - a rousing,
10:50 funny video package of loads of Long Islanders talking up Maxwell Jacob Friedman, leading
10:55 to them all putting on their Burberry scarves and declaring he's their scumbag.
11:00 He was defending his AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe, with his shoulder taped
11:05 and bandaged up.
11:06 It was a lot like his match against Jey White at Full Gear, where Max mostly sold, using
11:10 his smarts instead of his strength to fight back.
11:14 Until he didn't.
11:16 Because in one of the most shocking wrestling moments of the year, a babyface didn't get
11:20 their arm up on the third try while in a submission.
11:23 Joe had Max in the Coquina Clutch.
11:25 Referee Bryce Remsburg lifted Max's hand up once, it dropped.
11:30 Twice, it dropped.
11:32 I almost switched off, thinking forward to what will happen next.
11:35 I watched The Rock do this on a weekly basis for my whole childhood.
11:39 You always get the arm up for the third.
11:41 But on the third time of trying Max's… just dropped.
11:47 I was shocked.
11:49 Cole was shocked.
11:50 Even Remsburg, in a great piece of selling, couldn't quite believe what had just happened.
11:55 And then the realisation seeps in as he called for the bell.
11:58 It wasn't just a shocking way to end a match.
12:01 It was the end of MJF's year plus title reign.
12:06 Samoa Joe is our new World Champion.
12:10 I'm shocked, but very excited for what Joe as a World Champion in 2024 will be.
12:15 He wasn't the focus here, though.
12:17 He was off out the entrance ramp before you knew it, because instead, the Devil came for
12:23 his due.
12:24 I've always loved wrestling pay-per-view titles that reflect the main storyline.
12:28 And World's End referred totally to Max.
12:32 He lost his most prized possession, his World Championship.
12:35 Then he lost his best friend.
12:39 The Masked Men entered and restrained both Max and Adam Cole.
12:42 They're going to hit Cole, the lights cut out, come back up, and Cole is sitting coolly
12:47 on the chair they were going to strike him with.
12:50 The other men revealed themselves to be Wardlow, Roderick Strong, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven.
12:56 They beat up MJF and stood over his body to end the show, set to be the biggest faction
13:01 in AEW in 2024.
13:05 Everything did make storyline sense - Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, the Kingdom all being
13:10 unveiled as the Devil's Masked Men - but it didn't hit the emotional or storytelling
13:14 height that many other parts in MJF's story have hit in 2023.
13:19 AEW's World's End is 80%.
13:22 But what are the 10 best wrestling entrance themes of all time?
13:25 Find out by watching tables, lists and chairs now.
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