AEW World’s End 2024 airs tonight on pay per view at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.

Due to the AEW Continental Classic 2024 we did not do a match by match preview throughout the week. This will contain preview and predictions.

AEW President Tony Khan secured the rights to November Rain by Guns N Roses for Full Gear 2024, a salvo towards the ECW nostalgia going on to get the rights to the iconic 90s song used by Extreme Championship Wrestling for video packages on their November to Remember show. AEW paid tribute with their own video package and did a decent job of making it feel like their own thing instead of just ripping the ECW version.

It feels like Tony Khan got Guns N Roses songs in a package because World’s End now uses Welcome to the Jungle. My hope is the next time we hear Civil War, which might have worked better for the PPV.

“And when you’re high you never, oh never wanna come down”

This is pretty indicative of AEW these days, forever chasing the high of 2021 in the eyes of critics and slighted fans. People want to feel like this isn’t just a stable financially successful alternative to the mainstream bubblegum pop of the WWE. It needs to be more than that. It needs to be competing with the mainstream and constantly increasing their ratings and attendance.

Entertainment in all walks of life have been seeing drops on live attendance and TV viewership. So much so it has become a running joke that the NBA is essentially getting the same “What about the Nielsen ratings?” narratives that AEW has endured over the past few years. It’s really easy to point to TV ratings going down and say something has to change, instead of realizing that this has been happening to television for years now and live sports and pro wrestling were the last to be hurt by it.

Pointing these things out just doesn’t satisfy those who want AEW to mean something more, and that includes those in the company and observing the company. There’s a reason AEW keeps talking about new eras and shifting paradigms. There’s a reason why the Elite took over followed by Jon Moxley’s Death Riders taking over followed by whatever new era is to come with the new TV deal in 2025. Everyone is constantly looking for that new answer to bring viewership back and fill the arenas.

“And when you’re high you never, oh never wanna come down”

This isn’t to deflect criticism of the product. AEW is now in a similar place they were in 2023, albeit with a better product (I have long maintained that 2024 has been far better of a year for AEW than 2023 and I still feel that way. Honestly I think it’s better than 2022 as well) in which the championship programs are nowhere near as hot as they should be, especially for the Men’s and Women’s World Championships, but it’s easy to ignore due to the quality that the Continental Classic brings.

The Continental Classic has once again made December AEW must see TV, and the matches have done well in quarter hour breakdowns compared to other segments. People want to see the CC and they are absolutely into the twists and turns and character arcs of those involved.

Unfortunately the championship programs that make up much of the card are not hitting the same. The Women’s World Championship is pretty cold, built up for a street fight based on… Thunder Rosa showing up ringside to Mariah May’s matches to be annoying? The Men’s World Championship has been a complete mess, effectively killing Hangman Adam Page’s heel run because the crowd sees him as an AEW Original who could defeat Jon Moxley more than the other two men in the match.

It’s once again an AEW Men’s World Championship 4-Way that would be better off two singles matches than a 4-Way. What’s up Double or Nothing 2023?

This leaves a split among AEW viewers on either feeling like this pay per view is going to be the culmination of the Continental Classic and worth it just for the three CC matches they will be paying for. Or it’ll just feel like AEW barely making it across the finish line with weak build up championship matches and having to throw multiple Continental Classic matches onto the pay per view because AEW didn’t properly plan for losing a week in their build up compared to 2023.

When it’s all said and done? I’m sure no matter what side of the fence you’re on? The matches will deliver. That’s what pro wrestling fans come for. Go ahead. Find the vein and stick it in.

Any negative you hear in my tone for a lot of the matches? It is what it is. I’m buying this pay per view for the Continental Classic. That’s my drug of choice in December. I’m ready for my re-up.

“If you got the money, honey, we got your disease”

World’s End
Zero Hour
Toni Storm versus Leila Grey

I wrote on Toni Storm last week but I’m now thinking I was off base. I don’t think she is actually having a bout of amnesia. I think this is all a masterplan to trick Mariah May into believing she has lost her memory.

We don't really know yet. But it's good to remember that Mariah May debuted in AEW pretending to be a clueless rookie just happy to be there and meeting all these stars and then latched herself to Toni with a half year long plan to stab her in the back. And what do we see Toni Storm doing?

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— Aaron – GrapPro.com (@aaron.wrotkowski.ca) December 27, 2024 at 6:31 PM

Either way, I do like the Toni Storm story and it’s clear that the fans also love taking part in it. It’s like Joseph Park in Impact Wrestling. Fans like being part of the story. Being smart and knowing she hasn’t really lost her memory isn’t as fun as claiming she’s a rookie.

Toni wins and keeps up a winning streak towards Grand Slam: Australia.

Winner: Toni Storm

Zero Hour
8-Man Tag
The Outrunners and Top Flight versus Lio Rush, Action Andretti, and Murder Machines

I would love to be in the room when Tony Khan pitched this.

“I should book a tag match for Zero Hour”

Does he involve the Trios Champions? Does he involve the Tag Team Champions? No.

“I did an 8-Man Tag last year didn’t I?”

World’s End 2023 had an 8-Man Tag involving those who didn’t move on in the Continental Classic. This year that would have involved Brody King, Komander, Darby Allin, Claudio Castagnoli, Shelton Benjamin, Daniel Garcia, The Beast Mortos, and Mark Briscoe. None of them will be on this show apparently.

“I’ll have The Outrunners in it.”

Would make sense for it to be FTRunners right? Especially since FTR is in a trios match against Death Riders at Fight for the Fallen. Nah. Just The Outrunners.

So now we have The Outrunners teaming with Top Flight against Lio and Action with Murder Machines. For some reason. Okay. Also, Lio and Action? Because of their coats I call them the Koopalings now.

Winners: Lio Rush, Action Andretti, and Murder Machines

Zero Hour
Jeff Jarrett versus QT Marshall

Alex Reynolds. Angelico. Angelo Parker. Anthony Bowens. AR Fox. Big Bill. Bishop Kaun. Bobby Lashley. Brody King. Bryan Keith. Buddy Matthews. ROH Men’s World Champion Chris Jericho. Christian Cage. AEW Trios Champion Claudio Castagnoli. TNT Champion Daniel Garcia. Darby Allin. Dax Harwood. ROH World Tag Champion and Six Man Tag Champion Dustin Rhodes. Dutch. Evil Uno. Hologram. Hook. AEW World Tag Champion Isiah Kassidy. Jack Perry. Jay Lethal. John Silver. Josh Woods. Katsuyori Shibata. Kip Sabian. ROH TV Champion Komander. Kyle O’Reilly. Lee Johnson. Lee Moriarty. Malakai Black. Mark Briscoe. Mark Davis. AEW World Tag Champion Marq Quen. Daddy Magic. Nick Wayne. AEW Trios Champion PAC. Roderick Strong. Rush. ROH World Tag Champion Sammy Guevara. Satnam Singh. Swerve Strickland. The Beast Mortos. Toa Liona. The Butcher. AEW Trios Champion Wheeler Yuta. ROH Women’s World Champion Athena. Hikaru Shida. Jamie Hayter. Leyla Hirsch. Penelope Ford. ROH Women’s TV Champion Red Velvet. Riho. Queen Aminata. Serena Deeb. Willow Nightingale. Yuka Sakazaki.

Not on World’s End or Worlds’ End: Zero Hour.

QT Marshall and Jeff Jarrett? Can’t forget them!

Winner: Sigh.

AEW World’s End 2024
Continental Classic 2024
Blue League Semi Final
Blue League Winner Kyle Fletcher versus Gold League Runner-Up Will Ospreay

The moment we saw that Fletcher and Ospreay were on opposite leagues we knew they would be meeting each other for a match at the pay per view. Originally it felt like it would be the Continental Classic final but once they said the runner up’s would switch leagues it became clear this would be a semifinal match.

Fletcher has had an absolutely phenomenal 2024, going from an ROH guy waiting for his tag partner Mark Davis to get healthy to being a solo wrestler capable on his own in AEW. By the time Davis had returned, the 25-year-old proved he’s the best young superstar in the company. Reforming Aussie Open was no longer the plan.

Fletcher defeating Ospreay was shocking, but a lot of skeptics immediately believed this would be another instance of AEW taking the foot off the gas on a young wrestler push. But having Fletcher in the Continental Classic, and then winning the Blue League? That’s going in the right direction. AEW deserves kudos (or maybe you think this should be standard and don’t want to congratulate them for just doing their job, that’s fine too) for keeping focus on the Protostar.

That’s what makes this matchup with Ospreay interesting. Ospreay has had some absolutely phenomenal matches in the Continental Classic, especially the match against Darby Allin. Ospreay also made a promise that once the CC was over he would have Darby’s back against the Death Riders. That’s why I think Ospreay isn’t winning this. It’s time for Fletcher to win the feud and move on to the final of the Continental Classic. He also owes someone a win.

Winner: Kyle Fletcher

Continental Classic 2024
Gold League Semi Final
Gold League Winner Ricochet versus Blue League Runner-Up Kazuchika Okada

Speaking of great heel runs, the heel turn of Ricochet has been absolutely what the doctor ordered. After a lackluster International Championship shot at Full Gear, Ricochet has started to embrace the fact people find him annoying. The HA HAAAAAAA pulled straight from SNL’s Insane Clown Posse sketch and being a prick on Twitter (that one he probably needs to pull back on) has helped him become something AEW has been missing since Sammy Guevara decided he wanted to be loved instead of the most annoying man alive.

Ricochet winning the Continental Classic Gold League wasn’t something I expected at all, and I think it was absolutely the right choice. Just the fact he won after a draw against Darby Allin just adds to him being so frustrating. He may be another former WWE wrestler coming to AEW for a short babyface push before a proper heel turn but it’s what needs to happen.

The runner-up of the Blue League is Kazuchika Okada, still the current holder of the Continental Championship. Okada has been starting to move babyface as fans absolutely adore him and see him as the wrestling God he is, but it might be time for Okada to start proving it in the ring. I’ve said before it made sense for him to be a little lazy in his first year because he thinks he’s above all of this. Now that he’s in a situation of losing the Continental Championship on a loss? We need to see some of that Rainmaker magic.

Ricochet losing here doesn’t hurt him because he lost to Okada. It also allows Ricochet to move to a new target in the new year. Okada needs to win this, since I think Okada in the final is inevitable.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada

AEW Women’s World Championship
Tijuana Street Fight
Thunder Rosa versus Mariah May (c)

The other day when talking about All Elite Wrestling I said that 2024 is one of the best years for the company ever when it comes to the product. I got a bit of disagreement and some people feeling it’s one of the worst. I realized that the split comes from whether you value championship programs or in-ring action most.

If you value in-ring action? This is absolutely one of the best years ever for the company. If you value championship programs? You’ve been pretty starved at times.

Thunder Rosa has essentially built this match up by showing up ringside to Mariah May matches and being a nuisance. Did she win a number one contenders match? No. She is 4-1 in her last five singles matches but her last five singles matches goes all the way back to August and two of them include facing Harley Cameron. Rosa didn’t have to beat Jamie Hayter or Willow Nightingale or Hikaru Shida for this. Actually her one loss in the last five was against Hikaru Shida. But hey, she beat Leila Grey and Harley Cameron and Deonna Purrazzo.

Back in September I preached patience when it comes to Mariah May. AEW rewarded our patience by completely fumbling building up credible contenders for Mariah May to face before she was able to face Mina Shirakawa. Then they made that a TV match and shoehorned her against Thunder Rosa and the company hopes by making it a Tijuana Street Fight you’ll care about the result.

Everyone knows that this is just filling time until they can get back to Toni Storm versus Mariah May. It’s too bad. Mariah May and the AEW Women’s World Championship deserved better.

Winner: Mariah May

AEW International Championship
Powerhouse Hobbs versus Konosuke Takeshita (c)

I’m happy that Powerhouse Hobbs returned as a babyface even if they are not making him a tag team wrestler yet. The story does make sense for the former member of the Don Callis Family to challenge Konosuke Takeshita. Unfortunately the challenge was done in an awkward manner, with Callis seeming to reject the match only for it to still get booked.

Takeshita is going to have a very busy next few days, with the AEW International Championship prominently defended at Wrestle Kingdom 19 against Shingo Takagi and possibly at Wrestle Dynasty if Takeshita defeats Shingo.

Takeshita has yet to defend the title since his defence against Ricochet at Full Gear, which is unfortunate since if he was going to be iced out of title defences then he should have been competing in the Continental Classic.

Back to the match. This is going to be a great place for Powerhouse Hobbs to prove his worth in the upper cards for AEW and prove he can hang with someone like Konosuke Takeshita. I expect this to be a hard hitting, power for power, big meaty men slapping beef kinda spectacle. The card could use something like this to separate from some of the other styles that will be on display.

Takeshita wins, but I hope this isn’t going to mean Hobbs is forgotten. Him and Mark Davis had some chemistry. Maybe make them a tag team.

Winner: Konosuke Takeshita

Dynamite Diamond Ring
Adam Cole versus Maxwell Jacob Friedman

Adam Cole has been box office poison for AEW lately.

Looking at the quarter hours, any quarter involving him or this storyline has led to drops in the audience. This storyline has gone on for way too long and people really don’t care too much about it.

I think Adam and Max did a good job trying to get people to care again this past week but involving The Kingdom doesn’t help things.

I’ve heard people suggest this won’t be the end of the storyline and my god what a bad idea that would be. This needs to end. These men need new programs.

Adam Cole just can’t cut it right now as a premier singles wrestler. He needs to be protected in tag or trios situations surrounded by higher level workers. His speed isn’t there. His intensity isn’t there. The injuries have absolutely ravaged the wrestler he used to be. Until he one day gets his speed and intensity back he needs to not be put in high profile singles matches.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman had to work around his film schedule as he’s been getting more and more calls from Hollywood and that’s great. I’ve actually liked his work throughout this storyline when he is around. It’s just unfortunately a story that can’t really be saved. Maybe Adam and Max show some of that chemistry and have a great match. It would be nice. But we can all smell the bullshit that’s bound to come from The Kingdom’s involvement and the side storyline with Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly. I don’t know where this ends up going, but I just hope it ends it all.

Oh yeah, the Dynamite Diamond Ring is also involved somehow.

Winner: Maxwell Jacob Friedman wins his ring again

TBS Championship
Kris Statlander versus Mercedes Moné (c)

It would be nice to know the reason why it feels like Jamie Hayter is not allowed to get involved with Mercedes Moné or Mariah May. You’d think she’d be a number one contender by now. Guess not.

Statlander and Moné were fantastic last month at Full Gear so I’m completely fine with them having this match again. It’s two of the best in the division facing off for the TBS Championship. I’m good with that. I would have liked Statlander to have more than just wins against Penelope Ford and… Tootie Lynn? Yeah Tootie Lynn.

That said, it’s completely acceptable in pro wrestling for a title match to just be so good that the losing challenger gets a rematch just because you know there’s an audience asking for it.

I could honestly see Statlander winning tonight. It would be a good way to give Mercedes something to overcome after months and months of being unbeatable on top. However, similar to Takeshita, she has matches in Japan to defend that title and I doubt New Japan Pro Wrestling is going to accept a substitute.

I don’t really know where Mercedes goes next with this title run, but with Athena still ROH Women’s World Champion? The company should be thinking about how to get them against each other by Y’All In.

Winner: Mercedes Moné

AEW Men’s World Championship
4-Way
Orange Cassidy versus Jay White versus Adam Page versus Jon Moxley (c)

I’ve said a lot about this program.

Two Steps Back

That’s Our AEW Men’s World Champion?

Full Gear 2024: Orange Cassidy versus Jon Moxley

The Death Riders

It isn’t because I hate it or I hate AEW. I’m actually heavily invested in the Death Riders angle. I think I know where it’s going. I think I know the purpose. Jon Moxley effectively killing Rampage (I’ll do a post mortem on Rampage later next week) after a giant brawl with the AEW roster was the final moment before this pay per view. This is supposed to have weight.

But the program feels like Jon Moxley and Tony Khan planned the beginning (steal Darby’s title shot and murder Bryan Danielson) and the ending (Darby Allin ascends the mountain and defeats Jon Moxley) but have absolutely no clue what to do in between. They have the sandwich bread and it’s some of the freshest bread baked. They had no clue what to put between it to make the sandwich.

They have continued to tease an Instashot that I hope never happens, or at least doesn’t result in a title switch. Christian Cage isn’t on the pay per view at all. I’m sure like at Hammerstein he’ll appear in the stands at one point just to remind us he exists.

Instead of having Cage in the 4-way they took the Full Gear main event and smashed it with the Jay White versus Adam Page match to come up with this Men’s World Championship match. It’s not the number one contenders. It’s just the three men who had the guts to stand up to Jon Moxley and the Death Riders. These are the men to stop Jon Moxley?

AEW spent weeks beating them down for their bravery. It wasn’t about building up credible contenders who people could believe can beat Moxley. Instead it was week after week after week of showing these men as inferior to the challenge at hand, only to come together in the final week. It’s a reverse of what should have happened, as I explained in Two Steps Back.

Having Orange Cassidy state his goal isn’t to become champion but simply stop Jon Moxley was good. That actually made the 4-Way not just be every man for themselves. Orange Cassidy can’t break up a pin in this match if it’s the case. He has to be fine with Page or White beating Moxley or each other. Heck, he should essentially let someone pin him if it leads to Moxley losing the championship.

Jay White already laid out that he’s not doing this for AEW but for himself. That’s fine. His two wins against Page actually give him a legitimate argument to be number one contender.

Then you have Adam Page.

Oh Hangman. You deserved better. Your heel turn deserved better.

I knew the moment, the absolute moment, you put Moxley and Page in the ring that the AEW audience wouldn’t see two heels. They’d see the heel world champion and then see the AEW Original they helped make AEW Men’s World Champion back in 2021. They’d see their Cowboy. They’d see the Prince that was Promised.

It undermines Darby’s ascent to get Hangman Adam Page involved in this because he’s just as deserving of defeating Jon Moxley to become AEW Men’s World Champion. Nothing would (as much as I hate the term) “Restore the Feeling” quite like giving Page his re-do on his World Championship run. It reminds one of how Bret Hart’s first run in 1993 was ended prematurely so Hulk Hogan could be champion again only to later win the title and for the whole locker room to lift him up as their champion. A correction of the error.

Every week we’ve seen fans frothing at the mouth to see Page and Moxley go at it again. They remember Texas Death. They remember their program. They even remember that the ladder match Hangman Page won to get his shot at the title came by returning from absence to confront Jon Moxley. These two men are bound in ways.

But this isn’t Hangman Adam Page’s mountain to climb. It never was supposed to even involve him really. He was supposed to have turned into the greatest monster of the AEW roster. But now, involved with the Death Riders, the redemption that Page thought was never coming for him may end up coming afterall. The fans are going to make up for their mistake of rejecting him for Swerve Strickland. They are going to choose him here.

And he’s probably going to be pinned for it.

For you see, if Orange Cassidy gets pinned? It means nothing. He’s already lost to Moxley. If Jay White gets pinned? It erases the work done for Jay in beating Adam Page twice. But if Page loses? It cuts this narrative at the legs and allows the focus to eventually go back to Darby Allin.

I say eventually because, and I hope this isn’t a spoiler to anyone, but a certain Rated R Superstar is returning soon. It wouldn’t surprise me if he comes out after this match is over to move the attention onto him.

Hopefully they leave that for Dynamite, but I doubt it.

Winner: Jon Moxley

Continental Classic 2024 Final
AEW Continental Championship
Will Ospreay versus Kazuchika Okada (c)

I expect this to be the main event of World’s End, though we haven’t heard that be the case yet.

When Fletcher defeated Okada in the Continental Classic, it absolutely shocked New Japan Pro Wrestling fans who felt Okada had something against the youths of the world. Okada looked like he’d only lose to people on his level and wouldn’t work at all with the likes of Yota Tsuji and Shota Umino aside from beating them. The way he absolutely embarrassed Kaito Kiyomiya is another good example of his disdain for the younger generation. And then he loses to Fletcher?

I think there’s a reason for it. Fletcher is going to give him his win back. Fletcher can afford it since I believe his target will be the TNT Championship at Grand Slam: Australia against Daniel Garcia. Fletcher losing to Okada doesn’t hurt his ascension as an upper midcard heel in the company. It also helps remind Kazuchika Okada of who he needs to be in 2025.

The other reason I think this will be the main event? I expect Okada to win and be met by the Battle Cry of Kenny Omega’s music.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada

There’s a lot of title matches here I’ve been unhappy with the build up. There’s a lot of choices I thought were the wrong choices to make. But if they end the Continental Classic the way it deserves? I’ll be quite forgiving. The Continental Classic is AEW in its purest form. Give me the pomp. Give me the glory. End the night right. Make 2025 about the ascension of Darby Allin, the rebirth of Kazuchika Okada, and the return of Kenny Omega.

In the words of Ian Riccaboni? Happy Wrestling everyone.

Photos by All Elite Wrestling