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NEWS & NOTES
•Wrestle Dynasty takes place from the Tokyo Dome this Sunday. The show will be available on Triller.
•Kenny Omega made his return to AEW following Kazuchika Okada defeating Will Ospreay to win the Continental Classic, seemingly teasing a match between the two for All In: Texas.
INTRO
This past weekend was Worlds End and what a show it was. There were three incredible matches. If you haven’t seen them, got out of your way to see it.
With 2024 in the rearview mirror and having arrived in 2025, hopefully AEW can turn it around and get hot again this year. It all starts with “The Mother of All Simulcasts,” tonight’s “Fight for the Fallen” edition of Dynamite which begins the era of Dynamite streaming on Max. The show will be headlined by Rated FTR fighting Mox & The Mechanics. Also on the card, Jamie Hayter battles Julia Hart in Hart’s return match back. This should be a very good show and of course all proceeds go to the victims of last fall’s hurricane in Asheville, S.C.
Jon Moxley vs. Jay White vs. “Hangman” Page vs. Orange Cassidy
Latest Developments
Jon Moxley retained the AEW World Title with help from the Mechanics before finding his most immediate threat in the FTR and a returning Adam Copeland.
Analysis
The story of this feud was the inability of OC, White, and Hangman to present a united front against Mox & The Mechanics. That’s why Mox was so confident. The faces and Hangman showed some unity on the go-home Dynamite. They showed unity in the early going of the main event at Worlds End overcoming an early ambush by the Mechanics to put Mox through a table with a Shield Bomb. Hangman quickly turned his attention to Jay White. As they fought amongst themselves Mox got back into the match and the Mechanics regrouped. Pin attempts by OC and White were broken up by Claudio and Yuta. Marina attempted to interfere but got caught by White with the Blade Runner she’s been flirting with for weeks now. That distraction allowed Yuta to hit a Busiku knee which Mox followed with a Death Rider for the pin.
The match was fine although it definitely suffered from predictability. Mox proved his point, that a united Mox and the Mechanics will beat a disunited opposition every time. I think, if looked at more as storytelling device, it was successful. My one issue was pinning Jay White. I still assume he’s getting the title match in Australia so pinning him in this match was a peculiar choice.
After the match, Mox was attempting to further injure Jay White (something to come back to later) when FTR came out to make the save. They didn’t come alone, though. Adam Copeland joined them, making his return from the injury suffered in May. Copeland speared Mox and then got on the mic and called Mox out.
As predicted, Rated FTR are here. It’s good to see Copeland back. One unfortunate thing is that Rated R fell into the pro wrestling trope of having to wait to make the big return until after the match even if it made them look somewhat foolish. That said, the return was well-executed. I would hope the forthcoming Cope vs, Mox match is for TV, perhaps the “Maximum Carnage” Dynamite in Cincinnati. It’s certainly not a PPV match.
The one part of this I’m over is Christian Cage hanging out in the background like a specter waiting to cash-in his contract. He’s not going to win the title, so get the contract off of him already. The whole point of this Mox story is crown a new babyface champion. Having the threat of Christian making an appearance dampens the potential celebration.
Grade: B+
Thunder Rosa vs. Mariah May
Latest Developments
Mariah May defeated Thunder Rosa in Tijuana are street fight to retain the AEW Women’s Title.
Analysis
By the standards of women’s street fights in AEW, this one was incredibly tame. Yes Rosa got slammed into tacks and the match went all over the ringside area but it felt like the match never quite hit that second gear. Mariah won after blinding Rosa with dirt “from the graveyards of Tijuana” and hitting a Storm Zero off the apron.
The women worked hard, but this match was handcuffed by the fact that it had no reason to be a street fight. The feud just didn’t merit it. It also didn’t help that it didn’t feel like Rosa had a chance. She fell into the trap every other opponent Mariah’s had, just another time-filler on the road to Mariah clashing with Toni Storm again.
About Toni Storm. Her sit down segment with R.J. City two weeks ago was great. Given her history of mental health issues, it’s fully believable that she could have trauma-induced amnesia. Even Tony Schiavone wisely brought that up on commentary Wednesday night during Toni’s match with Taya Valkyrie. I really think this is “Timeless” Toni playing the role of an amnesiac rookie Toni (hence why Toni was emotional at her return).
Grade: B
Mercedes Moné vs. Kris Statlander
Latest Developments
Mercedes Moné retained the TBS Title after another excellent match with Kris Statlander.
Analysis
The build to this was pretty bare bones. Stat challenged Mercedes to a rematch. She said she went on a downward spiral after she lost the TBS Title and winning it back would be part of her road to redemption. Along the way she made an effort to repair her friendship with Willow Nightingale. Mercedes confidently accepted the rematch.
Once the bell rang on Sunday, these two absolutely killed it. The match was great, in my opinion better than their first encounter which got high praise in part because the quality was unexpected. This match went 25 minutes and never felt too long. The bigger, stronger Statlander somehow believably worked from underneath against the smaller, crafty heel.
Stat took both a powerbomb and piledriver on the apron. Mercedes hit a sequence of seven suplexes instead of the normal Three Amigos. At one point Mercedes thought she had it won by count when Stat slid in the ring at the last possible second. This was shot perfectly and proved that when done sparingly the nine-and-nine-tenths spot is great.
Mercedes won the match with a inventive crucifix type pin in which Mercedes ended up flat on her belly underneath Stat. It wasn’t the smoothest, but that was perfect because Mercedes was desperate at that point.
This match was great, possibly the best women’s match of the year. These two have really good chemistry. Hopefully Stat continues to work on repairing her things with Willow and getting back over as a face. Mercedes meanwhile heads to Japan this weekend for a title vs. title match against Mina Shirakawa. I predict Mercedes is going to look like 1997 Ultimo Dragon by the time Wrestle Dynasty is over.
Grade: A-
Adam Cole vs. MJF
Latest Developments
MJF defeated Adam Cole to retain ownership of the Dynamite Diamond ring. Cole got his heat back afterwards hopefully bringing this rivalry to a close.
Analysis
Between the “Holiday Bash” Dynamite and Collision from the Hammerstein Ballroom, Cole and MJF tried to add some fuel to this feud through a couple of intense promos. While the promos were good, they simply couldn’t save this moribund mess.
The match couldn’t either, to be quite frank. Both guys tried. They bled (or in Cole’s case, tried to). At one point they had a mid-match hockey fight preceded by MJF screaming that he hated Cole. MJF got Matt Taven and Mike Bennett ejected in a way that made the ref look none too bright.
In the end MJF pinned Cole with the Heat Seeker after kicking him low. After the match, MJF was going to break Cole ankle when Roddy Strong made his return. Kyle O’Reilly appeared to chase MJF back to the ring where Cole punched him with the ring and embraced his Undisputed Kingdom friends.
This match was what it was. Because of the ring, MJF had to be booked to win, but Cole got the last laugh and hopefully everyone can move on.
Also, I’m relived that the UK didn’t turn on Cole. If the choice was between that and them reuniting, I’ll take the reunion for sure. That said the crowd didn’t seem to care about it so I don’t know how much it’s going to do for Cole. He’s been in a rough spot since his return and the best that he can hope for is that being away from MJF will give a bit of a reset and being with his friends won’t drag him down.
Grade: C+
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Christian Cage vs. Hook
Latest Developments
Hook defeated Nick Wayne at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
Analysis
This was pretty straightforward. Hook, on his home turf in New York City, defeated Nick Wayne in the main event of the very last Rampage. The following night he positioned himself in a suite down from The Patriarchy, ostensibly to prevent Christian from cashing-in.
The feud is fine. It’s probably time for the Christian/Hook singles match but perhaps they’re waiting for Hook to cost Christian his cash-in.
Grade: B
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