Welcome to After 48 on GrapPro where we discuss an All Elite Wrestling pay per view two days after it aired. That way the hot takes cool down and we can think about it with a clear perspective. At least that’s the idea.
You can read the World’s End Preview and Predictions Here.
All Elite Wrestling ended 2024 on a much better note than they ended it in 2023. 2023 saw Samoa Joe defeat Maxwell Jacob Friedman to capture the AEW Men’s World Championship and the official betrayal of Adam Cole as The Devil. The original plan, as we can summarize, was that Adam Cole had he not got injured was actually supposed to beat MJF for the World Championship in his revelation as The Devil.
Thankfully 2024 avoided that. Unfortunately it couldn’t avoid the Adam Cole versus MJF match.
That said, 2024 is repeating 2023 in that the main event Men’s World Championship storyline is weak and pales in comparison to the absolute majesty of the Continental Classic. Once again the Continental Classic delivered from block matches to semi final to final. World’s End getting three CC matches instead of just the final likely helped it be a better show.
It wasn’t one of the best shows of the year but being firmly in the middle of the pack still means it was worth its money and still continued AEW’s streak as being the greatest wrestling PPV company of all time. As I said on Twitter I would put AEW’s five years of PPV history against any company ever. This company delivers on pay per view. For all of the teeth gnashing about Tony Khan once saying, “put your money where your mouth is” on the 2023 Continental Classic? You cannot deny that AEW always delivers when money is on the line for a PPV.
With just a few adjustments (The Continental Classic should have main evented like I said in my preview) it could have been a lot better, but that just gets you into the common AEW fan trope of focusing on what could have been instead of what you got. We got a good show to end the year. Let’s talk about it.
Favourite Wrestling Match
Best Wrestling Match
Continental Classic Final
Will Ospreay versus Kazuchika Okada
For the first time since starting the After 48 on GrapPro my favourite match is also what I think was the best match.
I will first say that Kyle Fletcher versus Will Ospreay got close. It was an absolutely fantastic match that helped establish Ospreay as a beaten down, bloody and bruised babyface with an impossible task to win the Continental Classic. It allowed him to finally get revenge against Fletcher, who after having all the answers against Ospreay in Full Gear ended up having no answer to the Styles Clash.
I also thought Kris Statlander versus Mercedes Moné II lived up to expectation as a rematch and maybe even was better than their match at Full Gear. I talked in my preview about how this PPV magnified AEW’s weakness on building up contenders for their championships but they did the right thing when it came to the TBS Championship. Don’t bother with build up. Just hit the rematch button.
One of my favourite Will Ospreay performances was at Wrestle Kingdom 15 against Kazuchika Okada. I think Ospreay has become a better wrestler since then, but it was some of his best character work as a heel. There’s a point in that match where Ospreay runs out of gas, he’s unable to effectively hit Okada hard, and he’s breathing heavily. He sounds like a child who just completed a temper tantrum unable to get what he wants. Ospreay throws forearms almost wimpering at the fact they are not hitting harder. In that match, Okada, obsessed with the Money Clip, nearly lets Ospreay get back from that moment of hysterical failure, but eventually prevails.
I feel this match was the opposite of that, in that instead of it being Ospreay’s best heel performance it’s his best babyface performance. It’s why I didn’t want Ospreay to just win everything immediately. Sure he had some spectacular wrestling performances against Bryan Danielson and Swerve Strickland, but he was merely well liked. He didn’t build a true connection as an AEW wrestler until World’s End. That was the night Will Ospreay: AEW Star was born.
But being born isn’t the same as prevailing, as that moment will be in the future. World’s End wasn’t about Will Ospreay. It’s about Kazuchika Okada finally being the Godking of Pro Wrestling AEW fans were sold on him to be. The passive performances, the indifference to the AEW roster, the “Just Visiting” attitude of Kazuchika Okada during 2024 was finally put on hold so Okada could remind everyone what The Rainmaker is truly about.
Orlando, Florida was about to witness a perfectly told story of a babyface running on almost empty after defeating his rival having to find the strength to beat a man who must finally prove his reputation. Every time Ospreay got going in this match, Okada would realize he had to step up a higher level. The tension kept rising and rising until the crescendo, which Okada is better than any wrestler alive at. The reversals, the strikes, the way every dropkick by Okada felt like a gunshot, unlike every wrestling move named after one. When Okada caught Ospreay mid-air to hit the Rainmaker? You couldn’t ask for a better finish.
Okada proved he’s every bit worthy of his reputation, winning the Continental Classic and staying AEW Continental Champion.
More Thoughts After 48
Adam Copeland: The Rated R Superstar returned to AEW after months out in injury to be the third man for FTR, forming Rated FTR in their challenge to The Death Riders. I actually predicted this in my preview. Copeland’s return is controversial, especially as the end of the PPV. Let me explain.
First, the good. Adam Copeland got a huge reaction. The fans clearly miss him. Anyone trying to say Copeland isn’t a well loved wrestler is mistaken. On social media there was a lot of buzz and excitement. Of course, a lot of it was using his former name of Edge and not Adam Copeland.
I think Adam Copeland has been great in All Elite Wrestling, but a big reason for it is because he’s ingrained himself into the AEW roster and been fine working in the middle of the card. Fighting Christian Cage for the TNT Championship instead of being at the top allowed him to be a bit humble and feel like he was trying to fit into AEW instead of AEW trying to fit into Adam Copeland.
Jon Moxley just finished winning a 4-Way match featuring two AEW originals and a guy best known as an IWGP World Champion in New Japan Pro Wrestling. The visual of Moxley (also a former WWE star) laying waste to these AEW Originals and former NJPW star, now moving directly into a program with former WWE guys still pretty much looking, sounding, and playing their old WWE characters of Edge and the Revival? It just feels very… TNA.
Listen, it sucks that some people can’t shake their past. I’ve talked in the past how it’s unfair that pro wrestling holds wrestlers to the standards of their former employment. But AEW has developed a fragile ego due to all of the old former WWE guys who’ve marched to the top of the card and shoved aside the AEW Originals. Even Jon Moxley is now being looked at differently and he is as original to AEW as one could be.
This might not be your perception of the situation. This is just a storyline to fill in the blanks until AEW is ready to do Darby Allin versus Jon Moxley. Maybe that’s Revolution. Maybe that’s Y’All In after Darby climbs an actual mountain instead of a proverbial one. Either way, even as someone who has warmed up to Copeland? It just doesn’t feel right seeing him return from injury going right after the AEW Men’s World Championship. Once again using his WWE cache to cut to the front of the line. I hope for AEW’s sake that unlike his debut? This actually draws.
Toni Storm: The fans are 100% behind her playing the fool, the rookie who is just happy to be working for AEW. I originally thought this was possibly amnesia, as she’s had breakdowns every time she loses the AEW Women’s World Championship. Now I think it is a ruse. We have to see where it goes, but I do think soon we’re going to see Toni and Mariah interact again, and it’s all going to be about foolish Mariah into thinking Toni lost her mind, and not Toni remembering how Mariah came to AEW and fooled her.
FTR: It seems like FTR has finished their betrayal of The Outrunners. Back in October I expected this betrayal to be a bit more active and physical. Like FTR attacking The Outrunners. Instead? The betrayal was a lot more of a transaction. FTR, lost in the tag shuffle, waiting for Adam Copeland to return, used The Outrunners growing popularity to give them something to feed off of. Once Copeland was ready to come back? They’ve dropped Turbo and Truth for their taller older friend. Honestly it’s best for The Outrunners.
Jon Moxley: There’s a lot of unhappiness with Jon Moxley and The Death Riders beyond simple heel tactics. A lot of talk that this run on the top is one of the weakest for Moxley and could hurt his reputation and career. I think that’s highly unlikely. It does feel strange that this is what he’s returned for. He took months off unhappy with his creative only to come back to essentially be the EVIL of AEW. The NJPW wrestler, not the concept of evil.
Or maybe he is the concept of evil. Or rather the concept of evil booking. Everything he’s doing is everything he allegedly hates. Constant interference, a bodyguard beating up supposed top contenders, the cheating, the cowardice. It doesn’t feel like Jon Moxley one bit. It feels like he’s representing everything he doesn’t like in order to have someone put an end to it once and for all. Once that happens? Any time we see these actions in an AEW Men’s World Championship program we’re going to immediately call it out as Death Riders BS and tell AEW to correct it.
Or maybe that’s just a ton of Cope.
I don’t think this hurts Jon Moxley’s career, but I think AEW as a company needs to take a good hard look at the reaction to the CC final and the reaction to the main event and realize they got it wrong. The Continental Classic? That’s All Elite Wrestling. Mox as Champ so far? AEW can do better. He wouldn’t be the first heel AEW Champion that his first few months were weak and needed a course correct (Hello Kenny.)
Swerve Strickland and Bobby Lashley: Coming out of Full Gear it felt obvious for Swerve and Bobby to face each other again in a rematch. Maybe Tony Khan didn’t want too many rematches on World’s End, already having Ospreay/Fletcher, Statlander/Moné, and OC challenging Jon Moxley again. Maybe one of them was secretly hurt. Not sure why, but Bobby Lashley hasn’t been wrestling at all since his big win against Swerve Strickland. Swerve didn’t have a match on the pay per view but did decide to humiliate Ricochet for losing the CC, which gives a hint of both men’s next program. World’s End ended early compared to other pay per views. I feel like both men deserved something more on this show.
Hangman Adam Page: I expected Hangman to get pinned and instead I think he had the best outing out of anyone in the main event. Orange Cassidy spent most of the match just getting picked on, maybe one of his worst outings in a major AEW match. He struggled to stand out. Jay White was basically there to take the pinfall. Hangman Page, on the other hand? He stirred the drink in the whole match. He’s why the 3 on 1 strategy broke down. He got the best portion of the in-ring offence.
I’ll talk in the future about how AEW has completely fumbled his heel monster and now in 2025 they are going to have to think about either pivoting or doubling down, but the one thing I can’t say is that Hangman didn’t try to deliver in the match. He was the MVP for it. Hopefully Tony Khan was paying attention.
Christian Cage and HOOK: The camera cutting to Christian Cage and HOOK in the main event was one of the dumbest things I’ve seen them do in a while for a main event of a pay per view. It completely removed the attention from the wrestlers and the match. It didn’t even play into anything. Overbooking at its worst.
The absence of the other Continental Classic participants: Last year we got a big tag match featuring the CC participants that didn’t make it. This time we got them completely absent from the show. For all of the work done by Mark Briscoe and Daniel Garcia and Shelton Benjamin and the rest? It’s a real disappointment they couldn’t get on the card. Hopefully TV going forward fixes that.
Undisputed Kingdom: The reaction to the Undisputed Kingdom reforming with Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly in the mix was pretty loud. Actually the reaction was quiet but that’s the loud part. It was a very loud WE DON’T CARE ABOUT THIS from the AEW audience. Nobody really cares about the Undisputed Kingdom, at least at the level AEW is trying to present it. KOR leaving The Conglomeration is a disappointment, and while I’ve talked about reforming Undisputed ERA in AEW to give Cole something to do outside of singles matches? AEW is dealing with an act that’s past expiration before it’s even getting a chance to go.
In 2022? It was exciting to see Undisputed in AEW. In 2025? It feels like AEW doesn’t know what to do with these guys. It’s too bad. KOR returning to AEW was one of my favourite moments of 2024. I don’t know how AEW fixes this aside from shelving the whole act for a few months in hopes people miss them.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman: I thought MJF was once again very good in the match against Adam Cole and worked hard in trying to stay heel and keep the crowd against him. I also think he’s such a superior worker to Adam Cole at this point (Cole’s injuries have really limited who he used to be) that people are now forgetting just how good MJF can be when he isn’t in a two year never ending storyline against the same people. I hope in 2025 they finally let MJF face someone new and someone at a higher level. He’s one of AEW’s biggest stars and should be treated as such. I’d love to see him challenge Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Continental Championship.
Powerhouse Hobbs: Whoever told Hobbs to sell for half the match against Konosuke Takeshita must have been the same person who told Ricochet to do it at Full Gear, and I’m glad half way through they realized it was a very bad idea. Fans don’t want to see Powerhouse Hobbs sell. They want to see Powerhouse Hobbs be a powerhouse. Hobbs shined in the second half and it made the match much better. He had an overall good performance. I do think he’s still best suited for the tag division, and with Murder Machines picking up a win? I’d love to see Hobbs and Mark Davis meet them for a real power versus power match-up.
Ricochet: Turning him heel was the best possible choice for his career and the company. I think Ricochet is going to fill in the role Sammy Guevara once had, and it maybe better for him in doing it. He’s going to be a heel that can put on spectacular high flying spots without getting cheered for it. I think feuding with Swerve Strickland is great for him and he’s really beating the criticism from Full Gear. He had an excellent showing in the Continental Classic. Time to see how far he can go as a heel in AEW.
Orange Cassidy: I’m expecting him to feud with Hangman Adam Page out of their match at World’s End, but I’d really like to see him work a program with MJF at some point in 2025. I also think, unlike the Undisputed ERA reunion, that fans really want to see The Best Friends come back together. Statlander is now longer being a heel so it might be time for those two to get back together. Trent has to be returning from injury soon and it would be nice to see him get a change of heart.
Kenny Omega: Oh Kenny. I get why they didn’t want to promote your match against Gabe Kidd. It’s honestly beneath you to work such British scum. It was great to see you look Kazuchika Okada dead in the eyes with the Y’All In poster in the background. Once you’re back 100%? I think it’s time for you to take this company back. AEW needs you more than ever before.
Road to Revolution 2025
Revolution isn’t until March 9, 2025, but it doesn’t feel like AEW is really building anything for the Grand Slam: Australia show on February 15. I thought we’d get some big matchups for it but they already had to move it out of the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane and move it to the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
It’s on a Saturday so I expect it to replace a Collision taping, but with the show happening at 2:30AM EST, AEW fans would just be getting a replay of it over Collision later that night. I think it’s going to end up a MAX exclusive event essentially. Maybe they put it on TNT as well. Maybe not.
I do think we will get two major matches on it, that being Toni Storm versus Mariah May and Kyle Fletcher versus Daniel Garcia. Both matches for the Australian wrestler to win championships on home soil. Even so, AEW has done nothing to really build for it. No matches discussed.
Instead we are on a road to Revolution, which is looking to change their PPV aesthetic to something more like Cyberpunk 2077. It is running at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, which means it’s going to need some big matches to sell the audience to buy tickets.
I originally thought the big sell was going to be Darby Allin finally climbing the mountain to face Jon Moxley and win the AEW Men’s World Championship, but after World’s End I feel like Adam Copeland is getting that spot. If they hold off Okada versus Omega to Y’All In, I could see Kenny finally getting to face Jack Perry here.
If it’s up to me? I get Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin working as a team to face Private Party for the AEW World Tag Championship. I do Copeland versus Moxley at Grand Slam: Australia instead so I can do Rated FTR versus Death Riders for the Trios Championship. Kyle Fletcher as TNT Champion can do a rematch against Daniel Garcia. Toni Storm needs a fresh opponent, someone like Jamie Hayter for the Women’s World Championship. As for Jon Moxley? If it isn’t Darby Allin facing him? Then screw this whole mountain climb. Make it Kenny Omega. Make him champion. You can have Kazuchika Okada drop the Continental Championship (say to Hangman Adam Page?) and make Okada versus Omega in Texas the main event. Darby can face Moxley without the title on the line. by that time Eddie Kingston might be ready to return to face Moxley at some point as well.
Anyway, I doubt I get even half of what I want. Which is okay! I don’t watch pro wrestling to predict things. I watch it to enjoy it.
2024 was a better year for AEW than 2023. It was honestly better than 2022 as well if you ask me, at least the second half of it. I hope for 2025 to continue that, and I hope this time AEW learns some lessons. The WBD extension is going to make them the second most profitable pro wrestling company in North American wrestling history. They don’t have to worry about survival after five years in existence. Time to stop relying on old stars of the past and instead rely on the stars they made and the stars they are best known for. They are where the Best Wrestle.
My hope for 2025 is that AEW recognizes the two world’s they have created. One world features Adam Copeland reminding everyone how old he is, NXT Greatest Hits, ROH Nostalgia, Christian Cage and his Instashot, championships without contenders, PAC being flown out to do nothing, bodyguards beating up the best wrestlers in the world, and QT Marshall getting on Zero Hour. The other world features Hangman Page, Mercedes Moné, Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay, Swerve Strickland, Konosuke Takeshita, Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe, The Young Bucks, Kyle Fletcher, and Kenny Omega (plus many more) providing the best professional wrestling night in, night out, all year long all in the name of All Elite Wrestling.
I hope in 2025 one of those world’s ends, and the other world becomes AEW’s world for good.
Happy New Year.
