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Friday, December 29, 2023

Casual Friday Featuring The LWSW "AEW Worlds End" Preview



Good morning! It’s another pay-per-view week for All Elite Wrestling, with Saturday bringing us Worlds End. No apostrophe in there, either – this is the end of many worlds, not just the one!


I sincerely hope you had a great Christmas, or just a nice Monday off if that’s how you celebrate. It was a bummer of a holiday here at the Pequeño household, as we lost our beloved little pug on Christmas Eve. She was my sidekick for the last five years, and provided the calming snoring I needed to stay focused while I started this whole writing thing over a year ago. 


My wife drove from our home in Colorado to our friend’s sister’s place in Michigan, picking up this little creature that was no bigger than a can of pop. Charming, sweet, lovable, loud, and stubborn, Curmudgeon a.k.a. CM Pug will be with us in spirit forever. It continues to sink in that she’s not gonna run down the hallway with her little dinosaur in her mouth. Just yesterday, I had to move her little “meal crate”  downstairs because big brother Ditka kept sniffing at the blanket inside and crying…which then led to me kinda bawling. It was a whole thing.


"Mudgie in the Bank" was one of our WWE 2K22 pay-per-views

Hug your pets! I know this is only a year and change after I lost my old man, and I promise next year’s blog will be a little more upbeat, as we’ve instituted a “no dying in 2024” clause in the contracts of the remaining three pets and both me and the wife. It’s the only way to be safe, really, and we all should have one. But I digress…we’ve got a metric ton of stuff to catch up on, and less time to do it in, so let’s get to work!

It’s A Soap Opera With More Suplexes and Less Violence

AEW’s programming has, in my opinion, improved dramatically with the Continental Classic being the focus of Dynamite and Collision. When the company started, it billed itself as a sports-based alternative, where records mattered and professional wrestling could thrive. I still believe it can be that company, and the in-ring product is reliably amazing, but this recent focus on matches as story-drivers has really made the product worth watching. 


So after a good Gold League final that saw John Moxley defeat Swerve Strickland and Jay White by pinning the Switchblade, I got what I expected in an Eddie Kingston victory over a man he’d never previously defeated, Brian Danelson. Both guys cut incredible promos after their match, but nobody was nice enough to put those on YouTube, so we’ll see if we can’t embed the AEW tweets here:




WWE was on autopilot last week with shows highlighting the best matches of the year for Raw, NXT, and SmackDown, so I didn’t catch any of those. I am impressed and happy that the Fed gave their performers the week off, which never would have happened with the old management. It’s nice! 

We Watched Some Wrestling!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but basically every match in the AEW Continental Classic delivered. Highlights from the past week included that Danielson/Kingston brawl, Danielson and Claudio Castignoli fighting to the only draw of the tournament, and Daniel Garcia finally earning a win by defeating the enormous Brody King. Keith Lee had a fun match with also-large Brian Cage in a match that didn’t quite hit BIG MEATY MEN SLAPPIN MEAT gear, but it came close. And we got the in-ring return of Thunder Rosa in a fun match where La Mera Mera helped out new pal Abadon before Abbie’s title match this weekend against Julia Hart.


The devil story also moved forward, hopefully leading to a resolution at Worlds End. Our buddy Adam was right (as usual) when I pointed out that we had 3 segments to knock out with only a half-hour of Dynamite, and he called the non-match to finish the show. After the participants were announced, Samoa Joe was the last to get his entrance music and he…wasn’t there. A camera backstage showed Joe writhing on the ground in pain, and MJF decided to defend the Ring of Honor tag belts by himself. That was a poor decision, as there were two masked dudes in the ring but another three or four outside, and the numbers led to Max losing. Joe then limped to the ring with a steel chair as the beatdown ensued, but after the big screen showed the devil, followed by a “Pleasure doing business with you,” Joe pulled a Michael Myers head tilt and whacked Max in the back. So Joe clearly worked with the devil, but also isn’t the devil himself.


I still feel like Britt Baker would be the most fun reveal as the devil, but it’s starting to look like Adam Cole is the most logical choice. Which, fine, logic is fine. It’s just not as enjoyable sometimes. Swerve Strickland, Wardlow, Roddy Strong, or MJF himself are still on the table to varying degrees, but I think many people are just prepared to be disappointed regardless of the identity of the devil. I’m a little exhausted with the storyline, but I feel like we’re at the end of it anyways, so whoever is under the mask, at least we’ll have a new big bad to go against Max in 2024. 


As I mentioned, WWE took the week off of television, but CM Punk and Dominik Mysterio battled in the annual Madison Square Garden house show, giving fans there a holiday treat and the chance to see the Best in the World return to a WWE ring for the first time in years. 

It’s the Let’s Watch Some Wrestling AEW Worlds End Preview!

We’re gonna skip Remembering a Guy and the Mailbox (please submit your questions in the comments or on socials!) this week, and jump right into the preview for this weekend’s big AEW show. If anything is added on Rampage, I’ll jump in and update this preview. Here’s the card, as provided by the ever-reliable Wikipedia!

Pre-Show: 20-Man Battle Royale for a TNT Championship title shot

Not knowing who’s participating makes this a little hard to call…but as I’m going to assume that Christian Cage will remain our Patriarch and our TNT champ, it’s gotta be a good guy. So let’s say (scrolls through AEW roster page) Hangman Adam Page. He’s in need of a feud, and Swerve needs to be shot to the moon ASAP, meaning he doesn’t have time to deal with the Anxious Millennial Cowboy right now. So, sure, Hanger / Cage would be fun!

Pre-Show: Hook © versus Wheeler Yuta in an FTW Rules match for the FTW Championship

Yuta is so good at being the irritating guy who pals around with the tough guys. That’s not to say that Wheeler isn’t a good performer, or even a good wrestler, it’s just that his character work is really good and he’s really hateable because of it. I would prefer HOOK keep his title though, as this multiple-champ thing is getting a little overused. It’s understandable, as AEW and RoH share roughly four dozen titles, but separation of belts would be a nice way to start the new year, and with Yuta already holding the RoH Pure title, maybe he could hang out on Ring of Honor TV for a while.

Ricky Starks, Big Bill, Konosuke Takeshita, and Powerhouse Hobbs versus Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin, and Sting in an eight-man tag team match

When Kenny Omega went down with diverticulitis (get well soon, buddy) it seemed like Jericho was just going to grab a replacement-level Canadian and burn the Golden Jets’ title shot. However, with attacks by Ricky Starks and Big Bill during the Callis Family segment on Dynamite, we ended up with this eight-man brawl featuring some great performers passing the time. It’s hard to get excited for this type of match, even if I know I’m watching some of Sting’s last performances in a wrestling ring. The good guys will win and Stinger might even get the pin, unless Guevara was brought back early to help ease the loss of Omega. If that’s the case, the guy deserves to pick up the victory. 


While it’s not related to the outcome of the match, I’d really like for Don Callis to take a back seat to these guys in his Family. Takeshita was primed to become one of the breakout international stars of AEW, and my sweet Cinnabon son has defeated Kenny By-God Omega in that ring. How he’s not featured in weekly matches is beyond me. And Hobbs has shown talent outside of just being a real big dude, working with that bad book gimmick as well as QTV for weeks and weeks. Personally, I’d love the two to team up and overthrow the bald blowhard before going their separate ways, amicably or otherwise.

Swerve Strickland versus Keith Lee

Swerve is easily the hottest person on the roster right now, and resuming this Keith Lee feud isn’t exactly using that momentum. Still, it’s closure we never got when the two were battling after their tag team breakup, and they’re bound to put on a good match. Swerve has to pick up the win here, and move on from Lee (no offense to Keith) and into the main event level.

Miro versus Andrade el Idolo

I heard a podcast that suggested this be a Loser Leaves Town match that both Miro and Andrade walk out of for a double-countout. While that’s a funny idea, I don’t keep up with the backstage stuff enough to really know if Miro and Andrade are so mad that they’re ready to go back to the Fed, which is apparently where everybody who leaves AEW wants to go if you believe the internet. These two are capable of having a great match, and as long as they’re in the mood to do business they should do just that. I’ll say Miro wins, because it feels like he hasn’t had much to do since his return and a win could put him on the right path. Andrade had a great showing in the Classic, and I hope he’s got something coming up in the new year as well. 

Claudio Castignoli, Bryan Danielson, Mark Briscoe, and Daniel Garcia versus Brody King, Jay White, Rush, and Jay Lethal in an eight-man tag team match

A late addition to the card is this match, featuring some of the participants in the Continental Classic. It’s a nice way to showcase the talent that’s been carrying Dynamite and Collision for the past several weeks, but it doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day. And while I’d usually go with the good guys when the result is inconsequential, I think we’re getting that in the aforementioned Sting and Pals match. So, Bad Guys win, because they put in some great work in the tournament. And it gives Danielson something else to be mad/sad about on his flight to Japan for next week’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom match against Okada.

Christian Cage © versus Adam Copeland in a No Disqualification match for the TNT Championship

The first of five championships to be defended on the main card (technically seven, if you count the 3 in the Continental Classic, but I digress…) is this rematch between Cage and Copeland. It should be a lot of fun, in that old guys doing moves slowly but selling them dramatically kind of way. I think Christian retains, but there will be some shenanigans from the other members of the Patriarchy that’ll cost Copeland. The former Edge can move on from here, although I wouldn’t rule out another rematch later in 2024. 

Julia Hart © versus Abadon for the TBS Championship

This creepy matchup should be a win for the rising star that is Julia Hart. She’s got the new, evil Sky Blue backing her up, as well as whatever evil sorcery the House of Black provides, and while it’s been nice to see Abadon get a push for the last few weeks, I can’t imagine they come out of this with much more than a “thanks for eating the pin.” Thunder Rosa might get involved to even the odds against Hart and Blue, although we had Willow Nightingale make the save on Dynamite for Kris Statlander while Abadon lurked in the background…so unless we’re just getting all the women involved (and that’s not necessarily a bad move) I’m probably just overthinking things. It is a little surprising that Nightingale and Stat aren’t on the show, with both of them hailing from Long Island, but two women’s matches already strain the Tony Khan booking style. Never count out more pre-show matches being added, however!

Eddie Kingston versus Jon Moxley in the Championship Final of the AEW Continental Classic for the Ring of Honor World Championship, NJPW Strong Openweight Championship, and the AEW Continental Championship

For all the fantasy booking that the Continental Classic let us perform, this feels like it was the inevitable conclusion. Jon Moxley is the face of AEW, and it seems like most of the major championships run through him. Eddie Kingston put two championships on the line just to make this tournament feel more important, and so it only seems right that he earned his way into the final to essentially defend those titles. 


I’m not sure if the Continental Championship belt is another title to be defended, or if it’s a tournament trophy like the Owen Hart Classic belts. I really hope it’s the latter, because the last thing we need is more belts to pass around in AEW/RoH. Regardless, this match is gonna be bonkers, and if it weren’t for the devil storyline basically requiring the championship match to go on last this should have main evented. 


Eddie mentioned in his many stellar post match promos that he’d never defeated Bryan Danielson, until he did. He has also mentioned that he’s never defeated Moxley, and what better place for him to finally get that win over his longtime friend than in his own backyard? Eddie wins, we all cry, and that nifty new belt gets to hang, undisturbed and undefended, on Kingston’s wall for a year. I hope.

“Timeless” Toni Storm © versus Riho for the AEW Women’s World Championship

The pop Riho gets every time she comes out is always a welcome surprise for me. I think she’s great, and I think it’s great that fans recognize the talent of the beloved Kenny Omega protege. I couldn’t tell you WHY people love her so much – it’s probably a combo of that Joshi pedigree, her in-ring talent, and the inherent underdog status given to the 80-pounds-soaking-wet Riho, despite her being a former AEW Women’s Champ. 


That being said, Toni Storm has a strong gimmick that people like, and she’s 1/1A with Kris Statlander as far as match quality in 2023. There’s no reason to take the title off of her just yet, and with Mariah May waiting to debut on next week’s Dynamite, the belt should stay on Toni just to be a part of that “understudy makes a play for the big role” story. Toni should win clean, but there’s also the lore of the butt-plate that she used to win the title in the first place to consider. I’ll say Toni Storm goes steel Sweet Cheeks Music to retain.

MJF © versus Samoa Joe for the AEW World Championship

And finally, the main event, the end of the devil, and the big reveal. I think. We’ve already gone over my outlandish predictions for the reveal – although an interesting thing I’ve heard is that maybe some of Max’s former pals in MLW might be among the devil’s associates – but let’s focus on the match itself. MJF has defended both his title and the RoH tag belts on his own for months. He managed to retain both until this week, when a guy he was told to trust by best pal Adam Cole turned on him. So now he’s doubly beat up, rightfully paranoid, and probably feeling a little unappreciated as a nice guy. 


Apparently Twitter is way better at predicting matches than me, because everybody seems to definitely know the predictable ending to this match – which is funny, because there are so many different results . I don’t see a clear winner, myself. Joe is deserving of a title, and I would think the big reveal would be made even more dramatic if the devil is flanked by the new Ring of Honor tag champions as well as the even-newer AEW World Champ. It also makes sense for MJF, a good guy for several months, to get the comeuppance he deserves despite his change of heart. After all, just because he’s been nice to Adam Cole and select others doesn’t make up for the absolutely horrendous things he did to so much of the roster over his career. 


HOWEVER, one could see MJF retaining as necessary for the devil story to move on. The hero of this story, regardless of his past, is Max – unless we’re shown otherwise. He, and those who have associated with him, have been the victims of these devilish attacks, and he’s been adamant that other people have been attacked because of their willingness to join him. And if he can somehow overcome the odds, perhaps by offsetting the masked goons with his own crew of loyal new pals, then we end 2023 on a happy note, showing that redemption is possible and giving Maxwell Jacob Friedman a full-on character arc. 


But this is professional wrestling, and sometimes the obvious thing is obvious because it’s the most appropriate way to move the story forward. I just don’t know what that is! So I’ll go with my heart and support my one true king of television, Samoa Joe. I’m sure I’ll feel like an idiot for missing several obvious clues once the big unveiling has happened, but until then BRITT BAKER DMD IS THE DEVIL.


Closing Up Shop

And that’s it! Thanks for coming with me on that journey. Enjoy Worlds End as a nice, clean finish to both the Devil storyline (I hope) and the year of wrestling! We’ll talk results next week, as well as WWE’s return to live programming with the Day One edition of Monday Night Raw, NXT’s New Year’s Evil, and SmackDown’s New Year’s Revolution. Should be a busy week! Do I dare tease a second blog? Reader, I will not. Every time I do I either forget or get bogged down by other stuff. If I do, though, I’ll be sure to let you know on the socials.


We’ll see you next week for the usual Casual Friday blog. If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow us on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.


Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and we’ll see you back here next Friday. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!

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