AEW WORLDS END

Uniondale, New York (Long Island)

WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. KRIS STATLANDER (13:29): This was a good show. Most of the matches were at least entertaining, though the show probably suffered because the crowd wasn't that great plus there weren't any match-of-the-year contenders. It also didn't have any members of The Elite (Omega, The Bucks, and 'Hangman') on the show, which was a huge negative since almost every great match in AEW history has had one of them in it. This show got ripped apart by a lot of people online for whatever reason, but I enjoyed most of it. This pre-show match wasn't particular great, though. Willow tried to pick up Statlander and couldn't do it and dropped her. Finally she sort of got her up to slam her. So it was too sloppy, plus the sold out crowd was still filing in the building so the place was half empty. *1/2

BATTLE ROYALE (KILLSWITCH) (13:51): A lot of wrestlers weren't on this show for whatever reason. The Elite, Orange Cassidy, Penta, Brian Cage, Malakai Black, The Acclaimed, and FTR. You figured that, maybe, some of them would be in this Battle Royale for a TNT title shot. Nope. This was mostly the Rampage crew (Action Andretti, Lance Archer, Danhausen, Dalton Castle, etc.). It was entertaining, though nothing special. It did tie in to a match later on the show, though, which was good. Luchasaurus is now called Killswitch. I guess to get him away from the Jurassic Express thing? Jungle Boy is also just Jack Perry now, though who the hell knows what's going on with him since he hasn't been seen since he was suspended for getting in a fight with CM Punk at All In. Well Killswitch won and gets a TNT title shot whenever he wants...which would be later, sort of. **1/2

HOOK vs. WHEELER YUTA (10:18): This was for the FTW title, which means Fuck the World, though the announcers never say that. They used trash cans and a hockey stick in this match. It was entertaining. Hook is still doing the same thing he did two years ago but these days he's not as over as he was. Maybe, like, give him something more to do? 

BRYAN DANIELSON, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, DANIEL GARCIA & MARK BRISCOE vs. BRODY KING, JAY LETHAL, JAY WHITE & RUSH (17:16): This was the first match on the regular show. All of these guys were in the Continental Classic tournament but didn't make the finals. The CC was a G1 type of tournament that was a big success. The only problem with the tournament was that a lot of big names weren't in it like MJF, Jericho, Somoa Joe, 'Hangman', Orange Cassidy, and 'Hangman.' The reason the G1 is so great is because all of the big stars are in it, even the champion. Plus, the winner of the CC doesn't get a title shot, which makes it fairly superfluous. This match was fun, but more just a typical Dynamite match. Matt Menard was on commentary and they had Brody King get in his face and then clock him. Now that's a match we all want to see! Menard vs. Brody King! Sigh. **1/2

MIRO vs. ANDRADE EL IDOLO (15:12): This was Andrade's last match in AEW, which we only learned afterwards. His contract is up and he's probably going to WWE. AEW never really pushed him for whatever reason. The only memorable thing he ever did in AEW was that flaming table spot on Dynamite with Cody. He's a great wrestler but he seemingly always wanted to leave and so they never pushed him. Miro will probably be gone soon, too, as he's also unhappy for whatever reason and is never pushed. The big deal in this match was that CJ Parker, Miro's wife, was Andrade's manager but turned on Andrade in this match. Shocking! Match was mostly a bore and pointless. *1/2

'TIMELESS' TONI STORM vs. RIHO (11:45): This Long Island crowd was pretty quiet for most of the night (they loved the Edge/Christian match, though) but they did pop for the entrances and for the big spots. Toni Storm always gets a big pop now that she has this weird, 'timeless' gimmick. I don't really get it, either. It's kind of amusing...but she's a good wrestler and when she wrestles now she does the gimmick instead. Riho, on the other hand, was obvious losing this match because she disappears from AEW for chunks at a time for unknown reasons. She was last in AEW in the Spring and I don't think she was hurt. Does she live in Japan? I give up. Match was okay. The women's division is kind of a mess these days. Storm retained the title. They actually did the TBS women's title match later...which makes no sense. I guess because they know the crowd gets tired late and they wanted this match to be hotter since it was for the more prestigious women's title? Who knows? **

SWERVE STRICKLAND vs. DUSTIN RHODES (9:28): Keith Lee wasn't cleared to wrestle so for unknown reasons they put Dustin Rhodes in his spot. Hmmm. They seem to be pushing Swerve for a title shot so maybe they just wanted to give him a spot on the show regardless and a win to boot. Before the bell rang, Prince Nana put Dustin's leg on a cinderblock and Swerve jumped off the apron onto Dustin's leg and broke the cinderblock. That meant that Dustin was maimed and had to have a miraculous comeback in the match to survive. Considering his leg was apparently shattered, how did he still wrestle for ten minutes? The Keith Lee/Swerve match was supposed to happen in the Fall...of 2022! And they still can't get it done! 1/2*

CHRIS JERICHO, DARBY ALLIN, SAMMY GUEVARA & STING vs. BIG BILL, RICKY STARKS, KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & POWERHOUSE HOBBS (15:42): They were supposed to have a tag team title match between Omega & Jericho vs. Big Bill & Ricky Starks but Omega got diverticulitis (which killed boxing trainer Emanuel Stewart, so it's no joke). Instead they did this multi-man match. At least this got Sting and Darby on the show. Sting looked bad so it's good he's retiring. I thought Darby was climbing Mt. Everest? What happened? And Takeshita's push has seemingly evaporated. He beat Omega twice in one week and never got a title shot or big push out of that? Odd. Match was fun and action packed. The crowd loved every move Sting made. **1/2

JULIA HART vs. ABADON (11:57): Abadon is like a Halloween ghoul. It's a dumb gimmick. Nobody thought she'd win. She's not even a good wrestler. Julia Hart kind of botched her moonsault finish but landing on her feet. Skye Blue tried to interfere but was thwarted. Hart retained the TBS title. Hart has gotten better but she probably needs more ring work and a better opponent. 1/2*

ADAM COPELAND vs. CHRISTIAN CAGE "NO DQ MATCH"/ KILLSWITCH vs. ADAM COPELAND (25:00): This was the best match of the night. The crowd was super hot for pretty much every second of this. They chanted, "We want tables!" and then, "We want fire!" Funny, because they got fire. They did a flaming table spot that was kind of botched. Copeland lit a table at ringside on fire and power bombed Nick Wayne on it but Wayne kind of only hit the edge of it and the table flipped over instead of breaking. Still, I love a flaming table spot. They also battled in the crowd and Copeland jumped off a balcony. They also used chairs and a ladder. Christian did a Sunset Flip power bomb on Copeland off of the ladder. After Copeland won the TNT title, Killswitch came out to use his TNT title shot contract that he won earlier by winning the Battle Royal. Christian forced Killswitch to give him the title shot and ended up pinning Copeland to get the TNT title back. Entertaining, wild match. I thought the title switch was pretty creative to continue the feud. ***

EDDE KINGSTON vs. JON MOXLEY (17:16): Everyone online loved this match. I thought it was boring. Oh, well. This was the finals of the Continental Classic tournament. The winner got the ROH title, the NJPW Strong title, and the Continental title. The problem is that Kingston was already the ROH champ and the NJPW Strong champ. He relinquished those titles just to win a tournament and win them back. At least give the winner an AEW championship title match. Otherwise, what's the point of this tournament? *1/2

SOMOA JOE vs. MJF (17:52): I think one reason a lot of people didn't like this show was because the ending of the show was a total downer. MJF not only lost the title in his hometown, but Adam Cole, his best friend, turned on him and is a heel now. Happy New Year! MJF had his shoulder in a sling so the match was all about Joe destroying his shoulder. Somoa Joe did a sidewalk slam on the apron on MJF that looked brutal. Eventually, MJF tapped when he was in a submission. That ending was totally flat. At least do a pin when you change the title. This match was nowhere near as good as their match at Arthur Ashe stadium. It was decent, though nothing spectacular. Adam Cole was at ringside and on crutches. Once the ref got bumped and was out, MJF asked Cole for his ring to use to knock out Joe. Cole took too long fishing it out of his pocket and Joe grabbed Cole before he could use it. After MJF lost, the masked Demon thugs came in the ring. They grabbed Cole and MJF and were going to hit one of them with a chair. Both Cole and MJF screamed, "Hit me!" because they're friends and wanted to take the blow themselves and save their friend. The lights went out. When the lights came back on, Cole was sitting in a chair with the masked men standing behind him. Cole took the devil mask out of his coat. The masked men took off their masks to reveal The Kingdom, Roderick Strong, and Wardlow. They beat up MJF and Wardlow gave MJF a power bomb and the show ended. In the last few months, a mystery man with a devil mask was wreaking havoc and the big mystery was who is it? Everyone said it was Adam Cole. A few other guesses were Jack Perry, Britt Baker, or perhaps MJF. I thought it'd be Britt Baker because she's been gone for awhile and that'd be cool. The big problem was that usually a mystery is something the fans get invested in and it's a big deal and everyone can't wait for the reveal. After this show, everyone was like, "Well I'm glad that's over with and we can now move on." So nobody really cared too much about it. Plus, Adam Cole was everyone's choice so it wasn't really a shock or anything. The other problem with this is that Adam Cole is injured. He had surgery on his foot. He's in a cast. They won't be able to do Adam Cole vs. MJF until probably Double or Nothing at the earliest. MJF is also probably going to take time off to heal from his shoulder injury. So they set up a big feud that won't happen any time soon. With all that said, I did like the way they did the reveal. And at least the PPV ended with a status quo change and something fresh. And a heel Cole vs. a baby face MJF should be a really big match whenever it happens. So that's good. Maybe MJF will turn more of a heel as well since he'll be pissed off...because MJF was always better and more entertaining as a bad guy. We'll see. Next up is Revolution with Sting's retirement and presumably Swerve vs. Somoa Joe for the title. I'm really curious what they're going to do for Sting's last match. Just please don't make it a singles match. **1/2

ROH FINAL BATTLE

Garland, Texas

TAYA VALKYRIE vs. JAZMIN ALLURE (4:30): This was a 5 hour and 7 minute long show. Yikes! I suppose if you paid for it you got your money's worth. The show had some good matches but overall it wasn't anything special or anything. The very small crowd was at least pretty enthusiastic and loud for most of the matches, which helped. I guess only the super hardcore wrestling fans would even go to something like this, hence why they made a lot of noise and were into a lot the show. Ring of Honor does have a few wrestlers that are, supposedly, strictly ROH wrestlers. A lot of the others were just here to boost the superstar factor (Jon Moxley, Brian Danielson) and a lot of others seem to be in the AEW graveyard. Taya Valkyrie, Nyla Rose, and Keith Lee haven't been on AEW TV lately so they've seemingly been pushed into ROH because Tony and the writers don't know what else to do with them right now. Taya was brought in to be a big time opponent for Jade Cargill, who recently left for the WWE. Taya is now doing squash matches on the pre-show of a ROH PPV. Oh, well. There literally wasn't anything to this. 1/2*

THE VON ERICHS vs. THE OUTRUNNERS (6:10): The Von Erichs are the sons of one of the famous Von Erich wrestlers. The one who is still alive. The Von Erich's were famous wrestlers but I never saw them because as far as I can tell they were never in WWE or WCW and I doubt any Texas wrestling was on TV in Pennsylvania when I was a kid watching wrestling. There's a new movie coming out called The Iron Claw about the Von Erich's. I guess that's why they were on this show and on Rampage (which aired at the same time as this show). This was another forgettable match. No one looked particularly good. 1/2*

BRYAN KEITH vs. JACK CARTWHEEL (7:14): Jack Cartwheel is awesome. He's pretty much just a modern RVD. Too bad his name is horrendous, albeit apt. I always wonder about when someone picks a name, like say a band picks a name. Don't you want to envision that name being the headliner at a big stadium? There's so many stupid band names and you have to wonder if they thought about, well, what if we get famous and have this stupid name? What if Jack Cartwheel headlined Wrestlemania? No one can imagine the main event of Wrestlemania being so-and-so vs. Jack Cartwheel because it's a stupid, comedy name. Change it to Jack C. or J.C. or something. It's probably why AEW or any big company hasn't signed him. Too bad, because he's super athletic and super exciting. He also lost here, which made no sense, as the winner got to be in the Survival of the Fittest match later on. ***

DANIEL GARCIA vs. BLAKE CHRISTIAN (12:16): This was a fun, exciting match. The fans really like Garcia and he's a good wrestler. Will he ever be pushed to a bigger stage, though? Probably not, which is a shame. **1/2

EL HIJO DEL VIKINGO vs. BLACK TAURUS (16:29): Black Taurus has one of the coolest looks in wrestling. He wears a Minotaur mask with the ringed nose and horns. He looks menacing as hell, and is a big, thick dude who does a bunch of power moves plus some high flying. Both of these guys are in AAA, although you wouldn't know that since Vikingo is on Rampage every week. While this was a really good match with a lot of big moves...the problem was that Taurus beat the living shit out of Vikingo non-stop. It was kind of ridiculous. **1/2

THE MOGUL EMBASSY vs. TMDK (12:03): The Gates of Agony, the tag team, were just in New Japan's tag team tournament. I didn't watch any of those shows so I have no idea how they did. Brian Cage was probably the star in this anyway. He's another guy that's kind of been sent to the purgatory of ROH for no apparent reason. I remember a few year's ago his wife bitched online that he wasn't being pushed. That made me think he would quit...but he's still here, being used sparingly, I guess just happy he's getting paid for not wrestling a lot. TMDK is Zack Sabre, Jr.'s stable. Without Zack, though, they're mostly a bunch of scrubs. The match was entertaining at least. **1/2

ETHAN PAGE vs. TONY NEESE "I QUIT MATCH" (20:05): Mark Sterling, Neese's manager, had to be handcuffed to the post for this match for unknown reasons. Of course he got out anyway after a while. Page did a cool Diamond Cutter off the apron through two tables at ringside. Page ended up handcuffed at one point. They used a 45 pound weight and steel chairs to hit each other. Neese quit when Page was choking him with the handcuffs. Pretty entertaining match. **1/2

NYLA ROSE vs. VERTIVIXEN (2:41): This was a squash. Nothing to see here. -No Stars-

KYLE FLETCHER vs. BRYAN KEITH vs. DALTON CASTLE vs. KOMMANDER vs. LEE JOHNSON vs. LEE MORIARTY "SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST MATCH" (25:54) This was an elimination match for the TV title. Somoa Joe relinquished the title for no reason. By the end of this match, when Fletcher and Kommander were trading devastating, wild moves to each other, the place was going ape shit. The crowd also loved everything Dalton Castle did. Castle was being tossed out of the ring by everyone constantly so when he finally reversed Fletcher and tossed him out the place went crazy and Castle walked around like he won the title. That was funny. Kommander did all of his insane high flying, rope walk stuff which was great as usual. This was the best match on the show. Very entertaining. ***

WHEELER YUTA vs. TOM LAWLOR (13:11): Yawn. These Pure matches without Shibata are always dull. And the ending was kind of anti-climatic and came out of nowhere. Yuta retained the Pure title. 1/2*

KEITH LEE vs. SHANE TAYLOR (14:40): I thought this would be better, as Shane Taylor is actually, usually in pretty good matches. They did some big, surprising, devastating moves which were cool, though, including a top rope flip into a Canadian Destroyer that was wild. Maybe because they're both big and slow it didn't work, as having one small, fast guy against a big, slow guy would work better. It was decent but I just expected something better. **

BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB vs. FTR & MARK BRISCOE (29:37): These guys wrestled for 18 minutes and were brawling by the stage when they were all counted out. Mark Briscoe took the mic and said that he wanted to continue because this match was in honor of his late brother. They continued the match as a hardcore, no rules match. Mark Briscoe was tossed off the top rope onto a barbed wire ladder. Dax gave Moxley a pile driver through a thumbtack covered table. And Moxley used a fork to get everyone to bleed. I figured with all these big names this would have been the main event. Maybe it should have been. It was entertaining but probably too long. They should have just started with the hardcore stuff. ***

EDDIE KINGSTON vs. ANTHONY HENRY (5:45): Kingston was the ROH champ...but for no good reason they let the winner of AEW's Continental Classic tournament be the ROH champ. No, I don't understand that, either. Henry is in The Workhorsemen tag team. No, I don't know why this match was on this show. It wasn't even good. 1/2*

ATHENA vs. BILLIE STARKZ (28:30): Starkz is 19 but looks 30. She's decent though obviously a little green. Athena retained the title. This is the 2nd straight ROH PPV with an Athena main event for the title. The last one was better. This started kind of slow and was boring in parts. The crowd was into this match which was shocking considering the show was 5 hours long. By the end with the near falls and the ref bump and everything it was fairly dramatic and exciting. The next ROH PPV should be in Philly because Wrestlemania is there in April. I'm wondering if they'll do it at the Liacouras Center or maybe the ECW Arena. Maybe I'd actually go...though I doubt I could talk anyone into going to a 5 hour wrestling show. **1/2