AEW World's End 2025 Review
AEW's last PPV of the year capped off a great year for AEW and culmination of this year's Continental Classic Tournament. 2024 was the year that saw AEW coin the phrase 'restore the feeling', a chant wishing to become a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it kept stumbling between highs and lows, until 2025 where it finally found a sense of self, matured after the peaks of 2021 and troughs of 2023: a consistently great product throughout the year. Their PPVs which are good even in their worst periods were all bangers this year, which brings us to the last one of the year.
The story of World's End is intertwined with the story of the Continental Classic tournament. Both the tournament and the PPV debuted in 2023. Continental Classic (C2), a double round robin tournament, established and re-energized the wrestling aspect of the brand after a year of flirtation with 'sports entertainment'. In World's End 2023 PPV, Eddie Kingston was crowned the inaugural winner of the C2, and MJF's reign as the World Champion was ended by Samoa Joe (and the disastrous Devil storyline with Adam Cole). That PPV marked the end of the first chapter of AEW's history. The emphasis and the tumult of a promotion's early years, the Elite, BTE, Cody, debut of Adam Cole and Brian Danielson at All Out 2021, the entire CM Punk Saga, all this was done. It was time to rebuild; growth through challenges. The stars that were created after that, the storylines that emerged are now main eventers and headliners. Watching this year's World's End felt like a full circle moment, with Kyle Fletcher and Jon Moxley being the MVP of C2 in the last two years, and Samoa Joe being the champion facing MJF, whom he dethroned in his first reign in the first World's End PPV, and Swerve and Hangman who were his rivals after that MJF match.
Takeshita - Okada (C2 Semifinal)
The C2 semifinals and finals, with their gradual weeks-long build, usually generate far more story-line based excitement than the usual World Championship matches which follow a linear, often predictable, structure. This year's C2 was all about the Don Callis Family, with the simmering feud of Okada and Takeshita waiting to explode, and Kyle Fletcher looking to play the spoiler. The brackets all but guaranteed a Takeshita-Okada final, which is why it was slightly disappointing to see them square off in the semifinals. Clearly Tony Khan doesn't intend for the feud to blow off just yet. Whether that is a good decision remains to be seen, but this not being the C2 final somewhat dampened the feverish excitement the two had been creating. Takeshita has been phenomenal the entire year, Okada as the cocky heel 'senpai' makes their rivalry currently my favorite ongoing storyline in wrestling. The match was good but they left a lot on the table for their future matches. Okada won by sneaking a screwdriver from the turnbuckle, meant for Fletcher that would later be revealed, and attacking Takeshita in a manner that made the referee's job of being believably oblivious extremely hard.
Fletcher - Moxley (C2 Semifinal)
Kyle Fletcher was the breakout AEW star of 2024, had a great run in previous year's C2, and along with Takeshita is likely to enter and stay in the main event soon. Moxley had the strangest 2025. His year started with intense go-away heat from the crowd due to the Death Riders' storyline going nowhere meaningful. After the cinematic loss to Hangman Adam Page at All In, the storytelling of his pathetic downfall as the leader of the Death Riders has been great. His submission losses to Kyle O'Reilly and struggle to back up his big words raised his stock in the aftermath. So much so that the audience willed his gradual face turn which started with this match. The match was great; energetic offence by Fletcher dominating Moxley for most of the match, but by the end, Moxley's babyface determination, with the entire arena cheering for him, won over the increasingly panicking Fletcher. An interesting bit towards the end highlighted Fletcher's great acting and storytelling ability in the ring. With Moxley refusing to die, Fletcher turned to use his trusty yellow screwdriver towards the ending of the match. Only, the screwdriver wasn't where he had hidden it as it was stolen away and used by his stablemate Okada in the previous match. While Fletcher ran around and failed to find the screwdriver that was supposed to be there, his face sold the panic and frustration that would precede his downfall imminently. So, Okada not only 'screwed' Takeshita by cheating in his C2 semifinal, he also screwed over Fletcher by taking away his opportunity to cheat. This has the potential for a Protoshita team-up against Okada, and a possible break from the DCF. My only reservation is that while Tony Khan is great at setting up story beats but he struggles to follow up with all of them with such a stacked roster.
FTR - Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn (AEW Tag Team Championship - Chicago Street Fight)
The Bang Bang Gang has lost of lot of stock in the last year with injuries to Jay White and Colten Gunn and by now they have been out of tag team gold contention for a while. They have been on the come up since Juice's return but nobody expected them to win this one. Their chemistry with FTR is solid and the match was good although lacking heat.
The Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron) - Mercedes Mone and Athena (AEW Women's Tag Team Championship)
The match served its purpose of continuing to establish Mone's downfall since she was the one pinned by Willow. Athena looked great in the match with her crisp athleticism and powerful offence. The quick set up for O-Face to Harley was spectacular. They need to wrap up Athena' RoH reign soon so she can develop long-term storylines on Dynamite. I initially thought that the Tag Titles would be perfect for Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa (The Timeless Lovebombs) as the perfect new storyline for Toni after her long World Championship reign. But they decided to go with Willow & Harley which is made all the more confusing because in the very next Dynamite, Willow defeated Mercedes for the TBS title. In my opinion, that is the right storyline for Willow but what does that mean for the Tag Titles? Probably Tony Khan is front-loading the new titles in the beginning with all the big names before settling on the established tag team division players TayJay and the Sisters of Sin.
Darby Allin - Gabe Kidd
The next match saw Gabe Kidd defeated by Darby Allin. I did not really understand the point of this match. Gabe Kidd's sporadic appearances in AEW and his associations with The Death Riders does not serve any purpose except to keep him hot for a potential signing (which is ironic considering Gabe Kidd fought Kenny Omega for the honor of NJPW at Wrestle Dynasty at the beginning of this year). There was a lot of blood in this match, almost too much, the impact of which was diluted by the pointlessness of the match. Apart from Darby's obstinate feud with The Death Riders that is, even as Moxley turned face in the same event.
"Timeless" Toni Storm, Roderick Strong, and The Conglomeration (Mark Briscoe and Orange Cassidy) - Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia, Wheeler Yuta, and Marina Shafir) (Mixed Nuts Mayhem)
The Mixed Nuts Mayhem match was the surprise hit of the PPV. A usual 4 vs 4 showcase match, it was insane amounts of fun. Toni Storm is a joy to watch, interacting with everybody in the large talent pool of the match. Claudio gave her a spin-around, her and Orange Cassidy danced together and cartoon-fought off Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia. The face-off and the sparse interaction between Roderick Strong and Marina Shafir (real life married couple) was played up perfectly and delivered in just the right amount. AEW has recently been experimenting here and there with intergender wrestling, and so far they are getting the formula just right for the general crowd: some comedic undertones, sparse but pop-worthy interactions, and the right choice of performers. Both Conglomeration and Death Riders, and Toni Storm, were just the right people for this. Orange even climbed onto Toni's lap for a celebratory spin a la Mina Shirakawa. Absolute fun match.
Kris Statlander - Jamie Hayter (AEW Women's World Championship)
Kris Statlander vs Jamie Hayter was the first AEW Women's World Championship match in over two years to not feature Toni Storm. Kris Statlander has been a world champion caliber wrestler for a long time, but her character and promo work have remained inconsistent. The problem for her seems to be finding the right character that the audience can connect to. Her gimmicks and persona choices are interesting on paper but do not give audience a hook to lean into. Jamie Hayter too has been inconsistent character-wise since coming from her injury break. The Daphne-Velma fusion look from Scooby Doo has been a hit and miss. Furthermore, the lack of a clear storyline coming into the match made it lacking in heat, but also strangely difficult to predict. On one hand, Statlander needed to win to boost her reign with some new feuds and high profile victories (apart from Mone which was more of a finale of the old rivalry for the TBS title). On the other hand, a loss could hurt Hayter's trajectory which has been shaky enough already. In the end, Kris beat Jamie in a definitive fashion in what was a very hard fought and hard hitting match between the two powerhouse wrestlers. They performed each others' moves, and there was a scary Michinoku driver from the turnbuckle where Hayter landed on her neck. Along with Fletcher taking a similar bump on his neck, there were two scary spots which made the news in the aftermath of the PPV. Thankfully, nobody was injured, but I hope the wrestlers stop being so reckless with their heads, necks, and spines.
Okada - Moxley (Continental Classic Final)
This was the first match ever between Kazuchika Okada and Jon Moxley, and because of that it should have been bigger than it actually felt. I feel the lack of any direct storyline connect between the two cooled off the spectacle part of it somehow. Okada has feuds with Takeshita (and Fletcher?) while Moxley is on his organic babyface turn (somehow independent of the rest of the Death Riders). The match was basically the face turn of Moxley in action, with the audience cheering and leading him against an overconfident and mocking Okada, the perfect heel for such occasions. I don't have much to say about the match itself. Moxley's win was followed by a babyface speech to an arena-wide applause. It will be interesting to see the dynamic between a heel group and a babyface leader. I don't think the backstabbing and the ouster will come anytime soon though. He might just be kept strategically apart from the rest of the Death Riders. In my fantasy booking, Okada would have beat Moxley in first semifinal, Takeshita would have beat Fletcher in second semifinal, leading to an Okada and Takeshita final. It definitely would have been a better conclusion to the Continental Classic. There might be some pragmatic reasons as to why this route was chosen, my speculation being:
- to extend the Okada-Takeshit feud till Revolution or Dynasty.
- cementing Moxley's babyface turn as the next trigger for the Death Rider civil war.
- with Unified Championship divided again, Takeshita and Okada can fight for the International title, and one or two people from the trio of Okada, Takeshita, and Fletcher can move to the World Title scene.
Samoa Joe vs MJF vs Hangman Adam Page vs Swerve Strickland (AEW World Championship)
The four-way match for the World Championship was originally a triple threat match between Samoa Joe, Hangman Adam Page, and Swerve Strickland, when, a week before the PPV, a returning MJF cashed in his Casino Gauntlet contract to enter the match. With MJF's return and inclusion being a cool surprise, there was only one right finish to this match, that being MJF winning by pinning Samoa Joe. And thankfully that is what happened. Although my favorite Hangman's reign could have been better, there was no reason for him or Swerve to win the belt again. MJF as the new heel champion has the potential to be more interesting than both Samoa Joe and Jon Moxley. Hangman and Swerve can hunt the Opps for some time while the world championship feuds can use some variety and fresh faces and match-ups. The long-term goal, rightly, is Will Ospreay, but it depends on his health by the time All In returns to Wembley this year.
Closing Thoughts
All in all, it was a great PPV. One of the consistent bangers of the year. While it did not have the highs of Revolution (Toni-Mariah 'Hollywood Ending'), Double or Nothing (Ospreay vs Hangman Owen Hart Cup Final), or All In (Mox vs Page 'The Main Character Returns'), it had the consistent quality of matches that has been the upgrade that AEW has done to their PPVs this year. The 'floor' of the PPV has been pushed higher, with no fluff or bad matches. The Continental Classic tournament continues to be a winning formula but AEW needs to figure out their title mess. Unified title appeared, now it has been divided again, there are too many mid-card belts with the National Championship added just now. The prize of Continental Classic (Continental Championship) does not feel like a just or big enough reward for a tourney that is longer than and as exciting if not more than the Owen Hart Cup. Hopefully, Tony Khan will figure it out before the Continental Classic 2026. Looking forward to more great matches and storylines in AEW in the year 2026!