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.
We’re in a strange place folks.
We now have AEW fans defending a booking decision based on who they think it may or may not offend.
According to Wrestling Observer, the title switch at Full Gear 2025 wasn’t because Samoa Joe was the best possible wrestler to become AEW Men’s World Champion. It also wasn’t what I had guessed, which is that Hangman Adam Page had run out of heel contenders and it made more sense to put the title on a heel to face the much deeper contender list of babyfaces.
No, it was to get the title on Maxwell Jacob Friedman without beating Adam Page.
Is pro wrestling really back to his? We can’t just have the heel beat the babyface champion? People are really that worried about a backlash from the fans? Some of us have been waiting since 2022 for AEW to do this title change. Chris Jericho to Jon Moxley to Kenny Omega to Hangman Adam Page to Maxwell Jacob Friedman. That’s how it was supposed to be in 2022 until someone decided to get that changed. The change upset MJF so much he tried to walk away from AEW for months.
No, we can’t do it? Why? It’ll upset Hangman fans? Hangman fans are already upset! They wanted his title run to go longer. There was no changing their opinion on it. Why wouldn’t you just put it on MJF? And why would you book a four way at World’s End with the intention of putting the title on MJF without beating Page when Page could have just walked into World’s End in a four way and do the exact same result?
This is some of the weirdest “political” booking maneuvering I’ve seen in All Elite Wrestling in some time, trying to make big egos all happy instead of telling the best possible story. It would have felt good to have 2025, a year of redemption and regrowth in the company, the removal of the Death Riders as the great evil of the company, all to come crashing at World’s End. Feel good as in “a good story told” not “Wow this is what I wanted.”
Hangman Adam Page’s run should have been a babyface with the weight of the world on his shoulders having to deal with the fallout of All In Texas. His rematch with Jon Moxley should have been on pay per view. I was good with his matches with MJF and Kyle Fletcher as they are top heels. Samoa Joe made sense story-wise as sort of the complications of everyone helping him finally beat Moxley. He has to eventually face the ones to helped him. Those who made you king will one day want your throne.
But to have Joe beat him in a rematch due to a Hook interference (who had no involvement in Page’s win at All In Texas) and then just turn into a generic heel cutting hammy promos and doing funny faces when babyfaces say something sharp? One month of that before going to MJF? What are we even doing here?
I don’t see any good defence in this decision. Page should have dropped to Max at World’s End. The man with the weight of the world holds the championship until the end of the year, when that weight becomes too much and a devil takes advantage and chops out his knee. MJF can walk into 2026 as champion with a murderer’s row of babyfaces wanting to take him out, not just because he’s world champion? But because he still never earned it. He’s the antithesis of Hangman Adam Page, and he’s the poster boy for everything even the Death Riders hated and wanted gone.
Instead it’s just MJF won the title in a four way cashing in his stupid Instashot a week early and beats a heatless ROH Alumni in a match that might have featured two guys who he should face on pay per view but maybe not. Sigh.
Oh yeah. I liked the pay per view.
Favourite Wrestling Match
Best Wrestling Match
Continental Classic 2025 Semi Final
Kyle Fletcher versus Jon Moxley
I had spent most of this year feeling like the best wrestler in All Elite Wrestling, and arguably in the world, was Hangman Adam Page. The Continental Classic has given me someone else to feel that way about: The Protostar Kyle Fletcher.
Fletcher wrestled 29 singles matches in 2025. It’s not just that all of the matches were good. The weakest ones on the list are his matches with Jay Lethal, AR Fox, and Adam Cole (maybe the closest to a mediocre match) but the rest of them are all very good to absolutely great.
Every match with Mark Briscoe, his two with Hangman Adam Page, the cage match with Will Ospreay, the Chicago Street Fight with Dustin Rhodes, his first TNT defence against Tomohiro Ishii, the Forbidden Door match with Hiromu Takahashi, Ace Austin, the pair with Kyle O’Reilly, and then you got the Continental Classic. The matches with Kazuchika Okada, Kevin Knight, PAC, and Jungle Jack Perry were all great. The match with Speedball Mike Bailey is an all timer. And then, just to top that? He has this match with Jon Moxley.
This was the best straight up wrestling match Jon Moxley has had since his 2023 bout with Orange Cassidy, and it’s better than that. It’s better than the match that made Wheeler Yuta in 2022. It’s better than Moxley against Danielson at Revolution 2022. It’s arguably the greatest straight up singles wrestling match in the career of Jon Moxley. Think about that for a second. No stipulations, no gimmicks, straight up one on one. This 27 year old Kyle Fletcher gave Jon Moxley his absolute best.
There’s a famous quote from Minoru Suzuki talking about how what makes Jon Moxley great isn’t what he can do but what he can’t do. It’s his imperfections, the holes in his game, that make him interesting. Kyle Fletcher fits this just as well, and showed it in the match. Fletcher can go strike for strike, he has technique, he has speed, and he has resilience. For some he’s an all round wrestler with no holes in his game. But this match showed he does have holes. He has no submission game.
Fletcher knew Moxley was coming in with a weakness in his leg and he worked down his leg as much as he could, but when it came time for Fletcher to lock a submission and make the guy who has been caught tapping multiple times do it again? Fletcher knew a single crab but he couldn’t keep it held. He tried to find ways to modify it to add the pain and it got him caught in a bulldog choke. When he tried to do an ankle lock, Bryan Danielson pointed out his struggles of putting it on properly. He did finally get the form, but it was too late by that point. Fletcher’s inability to beat Moxley by submission was part of his downfall in this match. I hate to say it, because you get it, but I have to say it with how fucking dumb pro wrestling analysis can be today: this is great in-match storytelling.
Because Fletcher couldn’t beat Moxley by submission, and because Moxley was getting up from some of Fletcher’s biggest moves, Kyle got greedy and went for a weapon. Earlier in the match, Bryan Danielson warned Kyle Fletcher of ever turning his back on Jon Moxley. Fletcher did just that, looking for a screwdriver that Kazuchika Okada already used earlier in the match. That extra time to look for a weapon to cheat to win gave Moxley the time to recover and ultimately defeat Kyle Fletcher, punching his ticket to the Continental Classic final.
If it wasn’t for the Hollywood Ending and the Owen Hart final at Double or Nothing 2025 between Page and Will Ospreay? This would be my match of the year. Incredible story, incredible wrestling, it was everything you could ask for in the Continental Classic and everything you could ask for in All Elite Wrestling.
More Thoughts After 48
Maxwell Jacob Friedman: There have been many discussions about MJF online. Is it good heat that he bothers people with misogyny and bigotry? The people bothered, will that make them want to see him get beat up or will it just make them tune out of the show? The best indicator we have on whether or not the AEW audience is interested isn’t really TV ratings anymore (they were a bad indicator anyway since Nielsen has always been an estimate, but now we don’t get the numbers of people watching on HBO Max so it’s pointless and incomplete) but pay per view buys. Did the show do better than last year? Did it do better than the last pay per view? Did it do better than the last champion? That’s the only real indication we have now. MJF gets to wait until March to find out.
I generally like MJF. He’s also one of the most frustrating wrestlers in that he’s his own worst enemy. It’s part of his character that he suffers a crippling jealousy and obsession to be loved that it fuels everything he does, but it honestly feels part of the person in the way he can’t help himself to lean on trying to pop crowds with 2000s style Friar roasting over just being a good heel. Ricochet shouldn’t be a better heel character than MJF but right now he is.
My hope is that MJF can re-calibrate in 2026 and focus on just being a guy people want to see beat up instead of a guy that people want to turn the channel on. I think he can do it, but I also think he could be running right back into his first run of turning him babyface if he once again just wants to be loved and keeps up the jokes.
The biggest goal for MJF as world champion is he needs to look at FTR, who are squandering the best tag team division in years by facing teams nowhere near the top, and instead work the best wrestlers in the company. If his run is defined by matches with Bobby Lashley and Adam Copeland instead of Swerve Strickland and Adam Page? It’s just going to feel like another champion dodging the best of the division. Facing Bandido is a good start. He’s at least a guy people could see as a top guy in the very near future. But if at Revolution he isn’t facing one of the many great babyfaces near the top of the card in the main event, and instead just re-starting the Hurt Syndicate storyline? Count me out.
You keep saying you’re the best Max. Prove it.
Swerve Strickland: Loved his Green Lantern tribute. Thought he was very good in this match. He feels like the most inevitable top contender for MJF but we will have to see what happens. There was a point where him and Page broke down in the match. Do they keep this uneasy alliance up or do they break down into a feud again?
Hangman Adam Page: Page looked a little off at the start of the match without his usual impeccable timing. I feel bad not proclaiming him the best wrestler of AEW in 2025 after all he’s done, but Fletcher had the advantage of the Continental Classic. Speaking of which, hey Adam? It’s time. 2026. Schedule it. No having babies before or during the C2. No world titles. It’s time to be in the Continental Classic.
Samoa Joe: If he wasn’t selling a move or doing one of his finishing match signatures? Samoa Joe was absent in the main event. A main event he was walking into as champion. A main event he sold the Collision before World’s End with… a backstage promo. Congratulations Samoa Joe. Great title run. At least you didn’t get injured in the first week and cut a promo about how the title is about getting better and not having stinker matches. You get to be called the second worst champion instead of the worst. Please drop the Trios Championship to a team that will actually defend it regularly and then do something that’s actually on your level so I can stop criticizing you so much.
Jon Moxley: Moxley winning the Continental Classic was a surprise. I didn’t think that was the story being told here. They spent a lot of shows closing with Takeshita and Okada. It felt the most sensible to have Takeshita beat Okada in the final instead of losing in the semi final. I’ll talk more about that later. The fact everyone came into this expecting a Death Rider turn and they never did it was interesting. Moxley as Continental Champion keeps him out of MJF’s way which is likely the point.
Am I a fan of Mox turning babyface? Not really. There’s a lot of stories having to be left on the floor due to this. Kyle O’Reilly is in a pretty weird place if Mox is now being cheered. The Death Riders are in a weird place if all of them are still evil heels except the leader. Worst of all is Will Ospreay was injured at end of Forbidden Door at the hands of Jon Moxley. Does he just return and never get revenge? That will be pretty awkward. But the crowd has shifted. They are ready to cheer Moxley again. You gotta make due.
Kazuchika Okada: Okada defeating Takeshita but losing to Moxley before Wrestle Kingdom is pretty interesting. Okada still gets to walk around as AEW International Champion, the title he beat Kenny Omega for, but no longer gets to proclaim himself a Unified Champion. I didn’t get the best of Kazuchika here like I did last year. His matches with Ricochet and Will Ospreay were better than these ones with Konosuke Takeshita and Jon Moxley. Something was just missing. I liked Okada’s matches with Bailey and Perry better.
Konosuke Takeshita: I truly thought I was going into World’s End about to see the match of the year between Takeshita and Okada. Ever since the Continental Classic started I was preparing for that to be the final match, and one of the greatest matches I’ll watch. Instead I got the tune up. Both Takeshita and Okada were not working to have their greatest match. I don’t know what their plan is but it definitely felt like a rematch will be in store for them to have a bigger performance. Will it be Forbidden Door? Will it be Revolution? Will it be in New Japan Pro Wrestling? I don’t know, but it’s a bummer. I was really hoping to see more from Takeshita. I thought he was winning this. He now has to focus on Yota Tsuji at Wrestle Kingdom 20.
Kyle Fletcher: I don’t know what else to say about Protostar. I do think they run a three way match between him, Okada, and Takeshita at Revolution due to the screwdriver story. But yes. He’s my wrestler of the year. 2026 should be huge for him. There’s no question he’s ready to be a top guy now.
Kris Statlander: I feel bad for Stat. She’s facing the same problems Adam Page did in his run. AEW didn’t prepare good enough heels for her. She has one heel that I think people look forward for her to face in Megan Bayne, and they went with her doing a face versus face match against Jamie Hayter instead. Both women worked hard, and it wasn’t a bad match, but I really struggled to get into it due to the fact there was no fire on either side. It felt like an exhibition match instead of a big title fight. They now got weeks to build up a program against Megan Bayne, if they go with her.
Mixed Nuts Mayhem: I’ll defer to what I said on Bluesky:
Why isn’t AEW pushing Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta as a regular tag team? They should be terrorizing ROH at least.
Darby Allin: Great match by Darby. Buckets of blood. Made me think a lot of his match with Sammy Guevara at Revolution 2020 with the risks and the way they tried to steal the show. Is the AEW Men’s World Championship next for Darby or is he just going to sidestep MJF’s run?
Gabe Kidd: What a fantastic striker. Wish he was a little less goofy on the selling. Sometimes you can be a little too 80s throwback to the point where it makes little sense in a 2025 context.
Babes of Wrath: There were a lot of terrible looking spots in this match and it’s unfortunately because as hard as she tries? Harley Cameron is just not up to working this level. Willow, Athena, and Mercedes Moné are some of the best pro wrestlers in America. Harley just can’t reach that level. Having her be the first Women’s Tag Team Champion is a nice accomplishment, but this tag team wasn’t the right team to win (should have been Toni and Mina. You still could have done the Mixed Nuts Mayhem by just flipping Toni and Willow) and they are going to look really bad if AEW ever remembers that they are a company that should be incorporating joshi into the roster. Then again, I already labeled them as SCU so this is a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy run.
Mercedes Moné: I really like how they are handling her downfall story by not just having her lose over and over but make it a bit more of an up and down situation. Real curious if Willow ends up beating her for the TBS Championship. I’m not saying I expect it to happen, but this downfall story now makes these title defences more exciting by the prospect of Moné losing being in the cards.
FTR: I said when talking about MJF, but FTR should be having an all-timer tag run facing the best babyface tag teams in the world. Instead they are wrestling Bang Bang Gang three times in like two months. Ortiz better not have returned just so him and Eddie Kingston can be bumped to the front of the line to face FTR. You got JetSpeed. You got Jurassic Express. You got Brodido. You got The Conglomeration. You got the Bucks. Hell, you might have Swerve and Adam Page. Look at those options! If you’re just going to skip them and go to Adam Copeland and Christian Cage, or some other team? Sigh. That’s the last time I support this team.
Juice Robinson: I want Juice Robinson feuding with Ricochet.
Ortiz: Speaking of Ortiz, welcome back. One of the hardest working and entertaining wrestlers out there. AEW is better with Ortiz.
Zero Hour: Eddie Kingston, Bandido, Mascara Dorada, JetSpeed, Jurassic Express, Josh Alexander, and Ricochet all on the pre-show. Maybe that’s a testament to the depth of AEW but it also just feels wrong.
Road to Revolution
We are 76 days away from Revolution. 76! No pay per views from now until Revolution, with only Grand Slam Australia breaking things up a bit.
This is a good thing for AEW President Tony Khan, who was going pretty hard at it with the Continental Classic and had himself having to rush the final round with taped shows in the Hammerstein Ballroom. I’ll talk more about how he could relax that a bit in the Continental Classic 2025 Review.
Entering 2026, AEW can focus on their weekly shows and building up programs that get us closer to Revolution and figure out exactly who our contenders are for the many championships. We’ve had too many examples lately of champion versus champion. It’s now time to build contenders properly. The TBS Champion can’t be always facing the Women’s World Champion and Women’s World Tag Team Champions. You got a TNT Champion, Continental Champion, International Champion, and National Champion. You got Men’s World Tag Team Champions with several strong contenders. And you have a Men’s World Champion with some of the best possible contenders one could ask for. Make it happen.
Last year AEW started terribly. 2025 was not a good time. But AEW got through it and learned lessons from their mistakes. 2026 will see if they can carry on from those lessons learned, or if the new champions mean old habits creep back up. There’s a lot of good AEW has done this year, but that doesn’t escape it from its mistakes. Especially the mistakes getting actively made.
Overall I’ve loved this year of AEW. Started horribly, got itself into a great place, and ended the year with tired legs at the finishing line. 2025 will set up 2026 better than 2024 set up 2025, but 2026 will also be the first year without Chris Jericho. How his veteran presence ends up missed (or celebrated) will yet to be seen. How AEW handles veterans going forward, whether if they continue to always put them over the youth or if they allow the guys in their prime hold the top spots, we will have to see. AEW has an incredible roster that’s always getting better. Just look at how Speedball Mike Bailey has provided week in and week out a higher level of pro wrestling quality. They’ve added new divisions with championships that need to be matured and refined. Their men’s world champion is 29 and women’s world champion is 30.
It was a good year and they are set up to have another one.
Thanks for reading and thanks for visiting GrapPro in 2025.
