When word first broke out that there could be a four way match at AEW World’s End on December 28, 2024, the original rumour was that Jon Moxley would defend against three wrestlers: Jay White, Adam Page, and Christian Cage.
It was never announced for Cage to be in the match but he did get himself involved in the aftermath of Full Gear. Eventually it was announced, and Cage wasn’t in the match. Instead it was Orange Cassidy.
The problem with the original matchup discussion is that the only person involved to have a good argument in getting a shot at Moxley was Christian Cage. Not because he had a great record (Christian Cage has only wrestled five singles matches this year, three of which were when he was TNT Champion, one a World title shot, and then a win against Jay White in October with a record of 3-2) than everyone else, but because he holds the #1 Contendership after winning the Casino Gauntlet at All In London 2024.
This is the second time AEW has tried this “Money in the Bank” style shot, the first of which was at World’s End last year for a right to challenge the TNT Champion anytime, anywhere. Killswitch would win the match but hand the shot to Christian Cage, who used it to get the TNT Championship back from Adam Copeland the same night he lost it.
Now AEW has essentially gone back to the well by having Christian Cage once again have an anytime, anywhere loophole shot. There are a lot of things people criticize in AEW as “too much like WWE” which are unlike WWE at all. Oftentimes it’s just simple booking that has been done for decades but people always revert to comparisons between AEW and WWE.
This time? It’s absolutely a WWE concept. It’s also a terrible one.
Lucha Underground Did It Better
The “Instashot” as I will call it was done better in Lucha Underground. You see in Lucha Underground, there was no such thing as an Instashot. Instead, you always had to give promoter Dario Cueto one week to promote the title match. Automatically that elevates any Instashot from a cheap thrill to a promoted title fight.
Lucha Underground also introduced the Gift of the Gods championship, which grants the holder a shot at the Lucha Underground Championship. Again, with one week notice. It also included seven medallions, which much like the anime Dragon Ball, you had to collect all of the medallions to eventually get your wish at a championship match. This allowed wrestlers to fight over the medallions throughout the week until someone collects all seven. Once you get all seven? You got a completed Gift of the Gods Championship.
All of this is in service to story and rankings. You have to win matches to get medallions, and beat others who have medallions, who they could have had to beat tough competition to collect. Gaining the seven to form the Gift of the Gods is essentially it’s own version of a rankings because it’s not easy to just steal your way to a shot.
“Steal your way” is what WWE does with the Instashot, and it’s what AEW has been doing with Christian Cage.
Weak #1 Contenders Breed Weak Champions
AEW could have spent the past few months building up Christian Cage as a credible contender for the AEW Men’s World Championship so it wasn’t just him being lucky to win the Casino Gauntlet. While he does have a win against Jay White, he doesn’t have much of anything else. Even worse is he’s spending his time feuding with Hook.
It’s definitely a tonal shift when Christian Cage one moment is mucking it up in the undercard with Hook and the next he’s coming out like he’s ready to win the AEW Men’s World Championship off Jon Moxley with an Instashot. He doesn’t feel like a bottom card guy and he doesn’t feel like an uppercard guy and he doesn’t feel like a midcarder. He’s just this entity outside of any division.
What’s worse is that the Instashot ruins the climb to the AEW Men’s World Championship. How am I supposed to invest myself in someone like Darby Allin trying to climb the ranks to be good enough for a shot when Christian Cage can just Instashot any time? Why do I care about Page, White, or OC getting a shot at World’s End if there’s a high chance Christian just cashes in his Instashot after their hard work?
I get that it’s easy heel heat. I get that it’s about the shock pop of a sudden shot. It feels like you’re almost guaranteed a title change when someone cashes in their Instashot. But it doesn’t make the World Championship feel any more important and it doesn’t help to serve the holder or those around. There’s an illegitimacy to your title reign the moment you win like this.
In a company like All Elite Wrestling, even if they’ve never really successfully stuck to rankings? There’s still a feeling you have to earn wins to move up the card. Christian Cage has had multiple Men’s World Championship shots on pay per view so it’s not like he isn’t at some level credible. He’s one of the best heels in the business and still a high quality worker.
But would Christian Cage cashing in an Instashot feel like an Elite decision? I would say no. That sort of things belongs in WWE. If you’re not going to make it something really hard to work for like the Gift of the Gods Championship then it shouldn’t belong in AEW. There should be no shortcuts to the title. Even worse is we already had one shortcut done in 2024 when Moxley beat Darby Allin for his title shot.
“Stupid Idea From Bad Creative”
It would have been nice if AEW essentially forced Cage to put up his shot at World’s End instead of the Instashot, but instead he’s still carrying the thing with the threat of cashing in while feuding with Hook.
AEW needs to leave the Instashot in 2024. No more Instashots. Every time a wrestler win the number one contendership? We should already know what date the match will be for. There should be no backpocketing a title shot, or having a situation where there’s multiple number one contenders (unfortunately this is an idea baked into AEW as even back in 2019 they had more than one number one contender some weeks) and the goal of a number one contender should always be about creating a big fight atmosphere in weeks of build up between champion and number one contender.
I know Tony Khan is a huge fan of Christian Cage, and I’m sure there might be some promise on making him Men’s World Champion before he retires. But this is the wrong way, and it hurts all programs in AEW by merely existing. Either have someone beat Christian Cage for the shot (maybe Adam Copeland returning from injury?) who would be a better challenger against Moxley, or have Christian do the shot and fail.
In 2025, AEW needs to put Instashots behind them and make it mean something to be number one contender again.
