WORLDS END III - 12/27/2025

[Mike Campbell]

1 hour ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

Yesterday was my birthday so I was out but I just watched the show this morning. 

We share a birthday! Happy belated to you!!

[The Natural]

2 minutes ago, Mike Campbell said:

We share a birthday! Happy belated to you!!

Belated happy returns. Now you get one in the relevant thread.

[The Natural]

*Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame*

"Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got into this situation…"

[NoFistsJustFlips]

If you look at where we were in July and where we are now, how can anyone claim AEW was well booked this year?

Mega heel group help top heel keep winning non stop, multiple attempted murders, holding the belt hostage in a bag. We build up the ace of the company to finally dethrone him. This causes the heel to go on a run of being a big pussy and tapping right away. Which somehow leads to him becoming a world beating ultra face that does the corniest rah rah AEW speech after winning the CC. Meanwhile that ace you built up drop the belt quicker than he won it and is now stuck trying to make Hook happen. How can anyone say that was a successful use of Danielson's retirement? Or Mox's long heel run stranglehold on the belt? It made no one. And worse it makes no sense in hindsight.

For someone who didn't really dig The BCC and straight up hates The Deathriders, this is not a fun promotion for me to watch anymore. Everyone that has been involved with The Deathriders (except Marina Shafir) has come out in a worse spot than they were when going into it. Everyone has their own tastes and all that. But for my tastes, this is the final straw.

[just drew]

Man, idk, I agree about Hangman Page, even though I don't think his story is done being told yet. As far as Mox goes, this is a guy who chose ruthless violence. Taking shortcuts at every turn. Recruits an army of hitters and various shitweasels to do his bidding. It works for a while, but along the way Mox loses what made him dangerous. He loses his title. His dignity. He taps. A lot. Even to (ugh) Kyle O'Reilly. Then he enters the C2. In the weeks leading up, it was clear DR was about done with him. Then he digs deep. He finds something during that match with Takeshita that reverts him back to the Mox we all loved. The guy who didn't know defeat, struggle or pain. A guy with the resolve and grit within himself to overcome any obstacle. Most importantly' he succeeds where the other DR members fail. That's what's going to cause his group to turn on him. The idea that "hey man, we were doing this the way you told us to, and we're all fucked. Meanwhile, you threw all our shit to the side and beat the greatest tournament wrestler of all time for his Title. The fuck?" 

Mox lost his way. He found it in what originally forged this character; violent competition.

[Niners Fan in CT]

30 minutes ago, Mike Campbell said:

We share a birthday! Happy belated to you!!

Happy bday to you as well! 

I would argue Hangman Page is still in a better spot.  He's cemented himself as an S-Tier guy in the promotion who can be heated up at any time for another run.  Him and Swerve facing off got one of the loudest pops of the night.  He's a made man.  But I can't argue that the Mox arc came quicker than expected and I can see why some people just want a break from Mox.  I felt that way too but he's been so good it's hard to ignore. 

[Troubles]

Every time there's an AEW pay per view I'm reminded of why I honestly hate dealing with most wrestling fans. The knee jerk reactions, dramatic Grand standing, and it always just ends up with "oh well, now I get it but still" because too few people in the modern fandom will admit they have fallen out of love for wrestling and need a recharge. 

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

If you look at where we were in July and where we are now, how can anyone claim AEW was well booked this year?

Mega heel group help top heel keep winning non stop, multiple attempted murders, holding the belt hostage in a bag. We build up the ace of the company to finally dethrone him. This causes the heel to go on a run of being a big pussy and tapping right away. Which somehow leads to him becoming a world beating ultra face that does the corniest rah rah AEW speech after winning the CC. Meanwhile that ace you built up drop the belt quicker than he won it and is now stuck trying to make Hook happen. How can anyone say that was a successful use of Danielson's retirement? Or Mox's long heel run stranglehold on the belt? It made no one. And worse it makes no sense in hindsight.

For someone who didn't really dig The BCC and straight up hates The Deathriders, this is not a fun promotion for me to watch anymore. Everyone that has been involved with The Deathriders (except Marina Shafir) has come out in a worse spot than they were when going into it. Everyone has their own tastes and all that. But for my tastes, this is the final straw.

This was my least favourite year in AEW history by far mainly for the Death Riders and the booking but I still enjoyed it. Just not to the extent I have others.

Edited December 28, 2025 by The Natural

[SturmCRF]

How has nobody mentioned how insultingly fucking stupid it was to telegraph MJF winning the title by having Bandido win his Dynamite Diamond Ring gimmick with a right to challenge the world champion, three days before the Pay Per View? Did anyone think he was going to walk in with the special MJF signature ring and challenge Joe or Hangman or Swerve on the 14th? Bafflingly dumb.

Apart from that everything was great. Loved Mox vs Fletcher. Love that Mox can be convincingly tapped out by Kyle O Reilly but then win a gruelling tournament, because he's Jon Moxley. That's what happens in sports. If Manchester City get knocked out of the cup by Sunderland, there's still every chance they'll win the league. That's the AEW I love. Fuck that MJF win though, spoiling your own main event, total morons.

[Cobra Commander]

having your two go-home shows for a PPV air on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day was kinda unfortunate at best

also, this doesn't resolve the whole spoiling of the outcome but they could have had Bandido vs Ricochet at Worlds End, since neither of them had a match on the actual show card (both in multiman matches on the preshow)

at the risk of creating a Josh Alexander, Kaun, Liona, Davis and Romero vs Dorada, Jet Speed, and Jurassic Express preshow match

the match being a 4 way does create a certain amount of "which heel/face wins" if it's paired with the Diamond Ring finish... the problem being that MJF was a lot more likely than Joe and I think Swerve/Hangman winning would have had the same probability if Ricochet had won that title match

Edited December 28, 2025 by Cobra Commander

[The Natural]

55 minutes ago, SturmCRF said:

How has nobody mentioned how insultingly fucking stupid it was to telegraph MJF winning the title by having Bandido win his Dynamite Diamond Ring gimmick with a right to challenge the world champion, three days before the Pay Per View? Did anyone think he was going to walk in with the special MJF signature ring and challenge Joe or Hangman or Swerve on the 14th? Bafflingly dumb.

Apart from that everything was great. Loved Mox vs Fletcher. Love that Mox can be convincingly tapped out by Kyle O Reilly but then win a gruelling tournament, because he's Jon Moxley. That's what happens in sports. If Manchester City get knocked out of the cup by Sunderland, there's still every chance they'll win the league. That's the AEW I love. Fuck that MJF win though, spoiling your own main event, total morons.

I forgot to so thank you.

[SovietShooter]

Bandido vs Swerve, Hangman, or Joe would absolutely slap.  Bandido vs MJF is kinda "ugh" because I expect him to cut a semi-racist promo, and then spend the match going after Bandido's mask, trying to recreate the magic he had with Mistico. 

Edited December 29, 2025 by SovietShooter
Fixed a massive error...

[Casey]

The concept of Hangman’s character being racist would tear a hole in the fabric of reality.

(I know you mean MJF)

[SovietShooter]

54 minutes ago, Casey said:

The concept of Hangman’s character being racist would tear a hole in the fabric of reality.

(I know you mean MJF)

Whoa, I totally typed the wrong name. Fixed it now.  

[Go2Sleep]

I will say a Mox redemption arc was not something I saw coming out of the CC, and I dig it for that alone if nothing else. It makes sense if you interpret Mox's rough patch as an elite guy losing his way, not as a fraud who was only propped up with smoke and mirrors. Going back to a simple no nonsense wrestling tournament with no interference forced him to rediscover his toughness and more importantly his love of wrestling. I will say to really wrap up the story, though, they will need to have him make amends with Bryan. You can stretch the boundaries of what people will forgive and forget in pro wrestling over time, but that one needs some extra work.

The worst part of it was splitting the belts back after a unification match less than 6 months ago. How many meaningless and interchangeable men's singles titles are out there now? 

I did love the bit of story telling they did where they made sure to point out Fletcher wasn't watching the Okada/Takeshita match and then couldn't figure out why his screwdriver went missing. That avalanche sleeper suplex was straight out of 2003 NOAH. I shouldn't encourage it, but since he's putting in the effort, I will say his full name Kyle "King of the Head Drops" Fletcher.

Gabe/Darby was a pleasant surprise and Stat/Jamie had some nice stuff in it too.

[Jenalysis]

8 hours ago, mystman said:

I was absolutely shocked that Okada got pinned a week out of Tanahashi's retirement match. I wonder how pisses NJPW is.

 

I don't think it pisses them off much.   First off it's a former champion of theirs and AEW Ace Mox, in a tournament final, and secondly it's a retirement match not the championship (and Soup lost in a screwdriverjob to Okada, which is also ok)

 

I gotta say watching things with a more inexperienced fan in my wife- some of y'all are way too jaded and crusty.   She loved Mox's run, saw it as a great underdog story.  MJF winning didn't do a lot for her, but she wasn't down on it, and she loved the women's matches, as she always does.

She can't stand WWE at all (and I'm glad), but AEW, women's US indy (she loves a lot of NC indy women) ,  and Stardom stuff she likes.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 29, 2025 by Jenalysis

[Cobra Commander]

2 hours ago, Casey said:

The concept of Hangman’s character being racist would tear a hole in the fabric of reality.

(I know you mean MJF)

"Bro bro bro, what if Hangman... was actually a liberal racist, bro"

[username]

10 hours ago, mystman said:

I was absolutely shocked that Okada got pinned a week out of Tanahashi's retirement match. I wonder how pisses NJPW is.

I haven't gone back and checked, but my gut feeling is that TK almost always has one of his guys do an in-house job before they lose a match elsewhere, so while I assume he gave NJPW a heads-up at least as far as Takeshita goes I'd wager they know the score by now.

 

Mox being a face again so soon is a bit silly but all audiences are unique in their own ways and AEW's generally responds to horrific line-crossing actions with love shortly thereafter (see: Swerve and Page) so it tracks well enough.

[DreamBroken]

2 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

I will say a Mox redemption arc was not something I saw coming out of the CC, and I dig it for that alone if nothing else. It makes sense if you interpret Mox's rough patch as an elite guy losing his way, not as a fraud who was only propped up with smoke and mirrors. Going back to a simple no nonsense wrestling tournament with no interference forced him to rediscover his toughness and more importantly his love of wrestling.  

I did love the bit of story telling they did where they made sure to point out Fletcher wasn't watching the Okada/Takeshita match and then couldn't figure out why his screwdriver went missing. That avalanche sleeper suplex was straight out of 2003 NOAH. I shouldn't encourage it, but since he's putting in the effort, I will say his full name Kyle "King of the Head Drops" Fletcher.

Love it. the C2 forcing Moxley into a situation where he couldn't rely on the Deathriders in order to reclaim it all on his own is one of my favorite parts of this booking. Great storytelling. 

Moxley having that string of losses going in leading to the crowd slowly getting behind him throughout the tournament helped make the turn feel more organic.

[Cobra Commander]

so would the next time the DRs try to help Moxley and it somehow backfires, he would get real mad about that and then get the ball rolling back towards a breakup?

[Dolfan in NYC]

 

 

[Brandon Bones]

I’d wager that NJPW has their expectations managed.  They will often have the champ lose matches within the borders and framework of the existing G1 tournament.  I seriously doubt they’d be unaware or even have a fear of it casting any sort of dark cloud over WrestleKingdom.  

Edited December 29, 2025 by Brandon Bones

[NikoBaltimore]

It bums me out reading this thread and even some discussion on Discord about the show.  I only saw the CC matches and the main so far but thought the CC matches were fucking incredible with the main being pretty good.  I get why people are against MJF having it but he was the only one that made sense to me.  Joe was always gonna be the transitional champ though that leads to questions regarding why more wasn't done with him.  Swerve just came back and him winning would have felt cold to me.  And Hangman I'd rather see him win in a one-on-one match down the line.  I find MJF's promos insufferable but like the idea of him as champ.  In order to make it mean something you have to have the right person to dethrone him.  I'm not saying "Just enjoy it" but I'm willing to see where they go with it.

[Nice Guy Eddie]

13 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

 

 

That plastic bag would look good on Don Callis giant dome. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

1 hour ago, NikoBaltimore said:

It bums me out reading this thread and even some discussion on Discord about the show.  I only saw the CC matches and the main so far but thought the CC matches were fucking incredible with the main being pretty good.  I get why people are against MJF having it but he was the only one that made sense to me.  Joe was always gonna be the transitional champ though that leads to questions regarding why more wasn't done with him.  Swerve just came back and him winning would have felt cold to me.  And Hangman I'd rather see him win in a one-on-one match down the line.  I find MJF's promos insufferable but like the idea of him as champ.  In order to make it mean something you have to have the right person to dethrone him.  I'm not saying "Just enjoy it" but I'm willing to see where they go with it.

I didn't know you had me on ignore  

The show was pretty fucking great in my view.  People can decide for themselves whether they like the Mox redemption arc or MJF being back on top but the matches themselves were mostly good to excellent.  The PPV was well worth my $40 and I'm not someone who would lie about that. If I felt I threw my money away, I'd say that.