Saturday, December 28 closed the book on AEW’s final pay-per-view entry for 2025 with Worlds End. Emanating from AEW’s pseudo-forming grounds of the NOW Arena in Hoffman States, Illinois, the show would see the AEW Men’s World Title up for grabs in a four-way match and crown another Continental Classic winner.
There is plenty more to talk about from the first pay-per-view defense of the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship to New Japan’s Gabe Kidd taking on Darby Allin, arguably AEW’s biggest advocate, so let’s get into the show.
Zero Hour
The evening began, as always, with a pre-show. Worlds End would see the return to the Zero Hour format on streaming and digital after three Tailgate Brawl pre-shows that also aired live on TNT. No reason was given for why there wasn’t another Tailgate Brawl with Worlds End.
Whatever it is called, it featured four additional matches to lead into the beginning of the main pay-per-view card.
The first match saw Julia Hart and Skye Blue, aka Sisters of Sin, taking on the team of Hyan and Maya World. While the Sisters of Sin would pick up the win, the real story coming out of the match was Hyan and Maya World.
The two reportedly had a lot of positive buzz backstage at AEW for stepping up when Nixon Newell and Miranda Alize walked out of a Collision taping due to disagreements of the pair’s planned tag team match in early November. Hyan and World, who were also there as extras/enhancement talent, were asked to step in on short notice for a match against the team of Tay Melo and Anna Jay. Since then, World and Hyan have appeared on TV as extras or enhancement talent multiple times and reports of the pair’s positive buzz backstage soon followed.
Zero Hour was the cresendo as after the match, it was announced Hyan and Maya World were officially signed. The news was met with almost universal acclaim by fans online, many of whom had been calling for the both to get signed by a major promotion.
Second on Zero Hour was Eddie Kingston taking on Zack Gibson, one-half of the team Grizzled Young Veterans with James Drake. The two had a short but physical match that saw Kingston pick up the win with a snap DDT. Kingston was jumped by Drake immediately after the three-count as Gibson recovered and joined in. Ortiz, who hasn’t been on AEW TV since suffering a torn pectoral muscle in January 2024, returned to save Kingston from GYV.
Next was the Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido teaming with CMLL’s Mascara Dorada versus Mark Davis and Rocky Romero of the Don Callis Family. Another relatively short match, Bandido and Dorada picked up the win after a back-and-forth match where the luchadors got to show off their athleticism, Davis was fittingly physical, and Romero was the proverbial “weasal” in the match. After the win, another tease for Clon interrupted and revealed he would be making his in-ring debut in January 2026 on Collision.
Last on Zero Hour was an eight-man tag match that pitted Kevin Knight and ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey of JetSpeed and ‘Jungle’ Jack Perry and Luchasaurus, aka Jurassic Express, against The Don Callis Family’s Josh Alexander and The Demand, comprised of Ricochet, Toa Liona, Bishop Kaun. Given the eight involved, it was a fun, quick, chaotic match to bring the pre-show to a close. It ended with Perry scoring the pinfall against Ricochet, the current AEW National Champion, earning Perry a shot at the National Title on AEW Dynamite: New Year’s Bash on Wednesday, December 31.
RATING – 3/5
While there was some big news coming out of the Zero Hour, it was largely what fans have come to expect from AEW’s pay-per-view pre-shows. The matches were varying degrees of good, but nothing fans need to go out of their way to see.
Continental Classic Semi-Final – Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Worlds End started big with the first of two Continental Classic, or C2, semi-final matches on the show as Kazuchika Okada, the defending champion, took on his stablemate in the Don Callis Family, Konosuke Takeshita.
Aside from the C2 league play resulting in Okada and Takeshita finally facing off one-on-one, tensions had been building between the two for several months.
Things started slow between the two as the match began as they felt each other out for several minutes. Okada would then take control of the match and kept things slow as he worked on breaking his opponent down. Takeshita would fight back at multiple points, landing some big strikes, but would quickly get shut down by Okada.
Okada would eventually set up for the Rainmaker when Takeshita is finally able to swing back control and land some big offense on Okada. This forced the defending Continental Champion to match Takeshita’s offense for a physical closing stretch. However, Okada ultimately punched his ticket to the finals thanks to a screwdriver planted in the top turnbuckle and would leave with Don Callis in tow, leaving Takeshita in the ring confused at what just happened.
RATING – 3.5/5
Okada and Takeshita’s first pay-per-view singles match got the show kicked off right with a very good match that let both wrestlers shine. That said, it was also clear that these two were holding back and setting the stage for more to come in 2026, especially with AEW Revolution right around the corner.
Continental Classic Semi-Final – Kyle Fletcher vs. Jon Moxley
The second C2 semi-final match quickly followed as the Don Callis Family’s Kyle Fletcher battled Jon Moxley of the Death Riders in what was easily the match of the night.
Heading into the semi-finals, Fletcher had been part of a competitive Gold League field that saw all six participants tied heading into the final day of group play matches where Fletcher punched his ticket. Meanwhile, Moxley secured his spot in the semi-finals on the same night to end group play with nine points in the Blue League.
Moxley had also been wrestling and sounding more like he did before the Death Riders started over the course of the C2, hinting that a full babyface turn is in the near future. This continued into the semi-final match in arguably the best match in the tournament and the best match of World’s End.
After a back-and-forth first few minutes, Fletcher was able to take control when the two began brawling on the floor. Fletcher then trapped Moxley’s left leg between the stairs and post and dropkicked the stairs on the leg that has been a consistent issue for Moxley since match with Kyle O’Reilly at Full Gear. The next stretch saw Fletcher control the pace of the match, with Moxley only getting brief bursts of offense before Fletcher shuts him down.
In the closing stretch, Moxley would start regaining momentum and force Fletcher to try and put the match away quickly. He would hit Moxley time after time, even putting him in multiple submission locks, but couldn’t keep Moxley down. Fletcher then goes looking for the hidden screwdriver Okada used in the previous match, but is shocked when it missing. After scrambling momentarily, Fletcher tried to go back on offense but was ultimately caught in a sleeper hold by Moxley and passes out, forcing the referee to call the match and send Moxley to the C2 finals.
RATING – 4.75/5
Easily the match of the night, Fletcher and Moxley were on point for this entire match. Fletcher continues to shine, even in losses, as he marches toward the main event scene while Moxley is looking more and more like the Moxley fans loved. It has also introduced many interesting wrinkles to stories surrounding both the Don Callis Family and Death Riders, and even more would be introduced during the C2 finals.
AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship Chicago Street Fight – FTR vs. Bang Bang Gang
Third up on the show was the Chicago street fight that saw the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Champions FTR defend against Austin Gunn and Juice Robinson of the Bang Bang Gang.
After failing to win the titles at AEW Dynamite: Holiday Bash thanks to Dax Harwood’s foot being on the rope, Gunn and Robinson challenged FTR to a street fight at Worlds End for the titles to take the ropes out of the equation which Stokely Hathaway accepted on behalf of FTR.
The match was largely a fun, if messy, brawl between the two teams that seemed to be fighting an uphill battle with the live crowd after the opening two matches. Trash cans, can lids, and tables saw plenty of action in the match, too, especially the latter between a massive suicide dive by Cash Wheeler onto Gunn and Stokely missing a table set up at ringside after being knocked off the apron.
FTR seemingly had it won after isolating Robinson and hitting him with a Shatter Machine, only for Gunn to break up the pin attempt.
FTR then focused their attention on Gunn, who attempted to fight back by hitting Wheeler with a low blow and then going for a Fame-Asser on Harwood. Harwood was able to sidestep and then hit Gunn with a piledriver on a trash can and went for a pin, but Gunn kicked out. FTR quickly hit two stuff-piledrivers on Gunn and were able to keep his shoulders down to successfully retain the Tag Team titles.
RATING – 3/5
Whatever was forced to follow the opening C2 semi-final matches was always going to have an uphill battle with the crowd, and that is just what happened. It was by no means a bad match, but it was definitely one of FTR’s less-memorable tag title matches in their AEW careers.
AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship – Babes of Wrath vs. Athena and Mercedes Mone
One tag title match deserves another as the first pay-per-view defense of the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship followed the men’s tag title match. Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron, aka the Babes of Wrath, defended their newly won titles against the TBS Champion Mercedes Mone and Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena in a rematch of their first round bout in the women’s tag title tournament.
The women didn’t waste time as they came out the gate fast and kept the pace up all match. Any bit of momentum one team would get going would immediately swing back to the other team one way or another, such as Nightingale hitting Mone with a powerbomb on the ring apron before Athena takes out Nightingale with an extremely fast suicide dive between the bottom ropes.
Cameron continued to shine, as well, and show why she is a top contender for most improved wrestler of the year. She was able to keep up with veterans like Mone and Athena with seemingly no issue and gave as good as she got against the team of champions.
The match’s home stretch started in big fashion as Mone and Athena hit Nightingale with a Tower of Doom, followed by Athena using Mone to hit a Gory Bomb on a prone Nightingale. Mone went for the pin only for Cameron to rush in and break it up.
A brief exchange followed between the four women that ended with Mone alone in the ring with Nightingale, who attempted a Babe with the Powerbomb. Mone managed to escape and go for a backslide pin, but Nightingale caught it and synched in a pin for the three to retain the tag titles.
RATING – 3.75/5
These two teams delivered in their opening round tournament match and they delivered once again on pay-per-view. It also furthers Mone’s spiral as it is another high-profile loss at a big show since Full Gear. Later in the show, Mone would challenge Nightingale to a TBS title match at Dynamite: New Year’s Bash, which was confirmed a short time later.
Darby Allin vs. Gabe Kidd
Next on Worlds End saw New Japan star and “mercenary” for the Death Riders Gabe Kidd taking on Darby Allin.
The match came about after Kidd attacked and challenged Allin at Dynamite on 34th Street, laying out Allin backstage when he jumped him during an interview. Allin responded the following night on Christmas Collision, interrupting Kidd’s promo.
As fans have come to expect, the match was a physical war between Kidd and Allin as they did everything within the bounds of a normal singles match to try and hurt each other. Allin suffered perhaps the worst blow when Kidd caught him while they brawled on the floor and slingshot Allin into a metal plate covering the top of one of the steps, busting Allin open.
Allin gave as good as he got, though, throwing himself at Kidd with reckless abandon has he is known for. This included Allin hitting his diving dropkick from the top turnbuckle to the floor, with Kidd seated in a metal chair before getting hit by Allin. He’d return the favor on Kidd, as well, and bust the New Japan star wide open.
Allin would eventually catch Kidd and lock in the Scorpion Deathlock in the middle of the ring, looking poised to win the match. Allin broke the hold, though, due to what appeared to be exhaustion and gave Kidd enough room to land a massive lariat. Kidd attempted a sleeper shortly after but was caught by Allin, who flipped out and kept Kidd down long enough to get the pin.
RATING – 3.5/5
The match was as physical as fans would expect between these two, with Allin hitting all his recognizable offense while Kidd swung for the proverbial fences on all his strikes. The finish, along with the roughly-12 minute match time, also hinted that this could just be the first of multiple matches between these two depending on what Kidd’s New Japan future holds.
Mixed Nuts Mayhem – Death Riders vs. The Conglomeration and ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm
Before heading into the homestretch of Worlds End card, there was the Mixed Nuts Mayhem match pitting Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Daniel Garcia, and Marina Shafir of the Death Riders against ‘Timeless’ Toni Storm and the Conglomeration’s Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, and TNT Champion Mark Briscoe.
It was as much of a house match on pay-per-view as fans could have been treated to here.
The match, itself, lived up to the name as it was mayhem from the first bell, with both teams brawling wildly in and around the ring. Most of the early action was just brawling, with two sliding in to the ring at different points to get their moment to shine.
As with many mixed tags in AEW, recently, it also featured a fair share of intergender action as Storm and Shafir had no problem mixing it up and besting the men. These included Shafir going kick-for-kick with Cassidy, Storm hitting big German suplexes on Yuta and Garcia, and Strong and Shafir trading blows.
The general chaos continued into the ending stretch as both teams traded big offense in between pin attempts. Storm and Briscoe were ultimately able to isolate Yuta, with Briscoe hitting a Jay Driller to secure the win.
RATING – 3.25/5
Mixed Nuts Mayhem was the exact match it needed to be, right where it needed to be. A chaotic, fun match to give fans a moment before the two World Title matches and the C2 final. And given where the night ends, even this could play into the Death Riders’ immediate future.
AEW Women’s World Championship – Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter
It is time for the first for two world title matches as Kris Statlander defended the AEW Women’s World Championship against the former champion, Jamie Hayter.
Compared to some of the other matches, the build for this was about as straightforward as it possibly could have been. – Hayter wanted the Women’s World title back and Statlander was determined to continue her reign as champion after scoring pay-per-view wins against Toni Storm and Mercedes Mone.
The offense of both women meant this was a physical, hard-hitting affair from the start of the match. Hayter and Statlander traded momentum over the course of the 18-minute match, with every shoulder tackle or forearm strike being returned in kind. It escalated as time passed as both women pulled out bigger and bigger offense to try and keep the other’s shoulders down for the three count.
Hayter had one of the biggest pieces of offense when she and Statlander were trading blows on one of the turnbuckles. She then synched-in on Statlander and hit her with an exploder suplex from the top turnbuckle that looked like it hurt for both women.
Not wanting to be outdone, Statlander eventually catches Hayter on the top turnbuckle and hit Hayter with an avalanche Michunoku driver.
After all the heavy offense, Hayter and Statlander began trading finishers to bring the match to a close. Statlander would then get caught in a fireman’s carry, but escaped and picked up Hayter to hit her with the Staturday Night Fever to retain the Women’s World Championship.
RATING – 4/5
While the crowd didn’t do the match any favors, Statlander and Hayter was as physical as fans could have hoped to see. Hayter will absolutely hold the World Title again, but it was not meant to be at Worlds End and Statlander now moves on to her next opponent.
Continental Classic Finals – Jon Moxley vs. Kazuchika Okada
The semi-main event of the evening saw Jon Moxley and Kazuchika Okada face off in the finals of the 2025 Continental Classic.
While both wrestlers were tired heading into the match, Moxley was in much worse shape due to how much Kyle Fletcher focused on his leg and not to mention the broken tooth he suffered. Okada would continue this approach for the finals, targeting Moxley’s leg at several points in the hopes of retaining the Continental Championship.
Okada would remain on top for most of the match and forcing Moxley to fight for ever bit of offense he is able to get in on Okada. It got worse for Moxley as things went, though, as Okada would lock in multiple submissions on Moxley’s bad leg to try and get him to tap.
Moxley would manage to escape, but he was slowly being broken down over the match. Moxley did get a measure of payback on Okada for a low-blow to him, hitting one in return to reset overall momentum in the match.
Okada would then attempt to hit a Rainmaker on Moxley, who used every evasion he could think of to avoid the Rainmaker without Okada losing wrist control. Moxley would manage to turn one of these into an Rainmaker of his own on Okada and quickly following up with the Death Rider DDT to synch the 2025 Continental Classic.
RATING – 3.75/5
Another physical match on a night of physical matches, the first singles match between Okada and Moxley delivered in the ring. Many fans were seemingly caught off-guard when Moxley won, with many presuming Okada would retain the Continental Title. Instead, it was made clear Moxley is being positioned to a babyface turn, especially with his post-match promo, and possibly a short feud with the Don Callis Family to help build to it.
AEW Men’s World Championship – Samoa Joe vs. MJF vs. ‘Hangman’ Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland
Bringing the evening to a close, the AEW Men’s World Championship was on the line as the champion Samoa Joe defended the title against ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, Swerve Strickland, and MJF.
Originally announced as a three-way following Joe’s victory over Page and Strickland’s return at Full Gear, it became a four-way when MJF returned to execute his Casino Gauntlet contract for a Men’s World Title match. MJF made it clear he was doing this as a way to shove it in Page’s face and prove he is still better than his three opponents at Worlds End.
The four would hit the ground running after the bell rings and didn’t slow down much over the course of the roughly 20-minute match. It began with Page pairing off with Joe while Strickland went after MJF, and the four would trade direct opponents at multiple points during the match.
Highlights included MJF and Strickland trading crotch bumps to the other’s head, Joe hitting a diving elbow strike on both of them, and Page and Strickland trading blows in a match for the first time in well over a year and the first time since burying the hatchet at All In Texas.
The Opps would eventually run down to help Joe try to retain the title, opening the door for him to hit a muscle buster on Page. However, Page managed to kick out and Strickland hit a Swerve stomp to the outside to take out Joe’s teammates Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs. Joe attempted to choke out Page with a Coquina Clutch, only for Strickland to break that up as well. He looked poised to possibly win with a Swerve Stomp to Joe when MJF pushed Strickland off the top turnbuckle to the floor.
Page would take the opportunity to knock MJF to the floor and go for two Buckshot lariats on Joe, only for MJF to low blow Page on the second attempt. MJF quickly hit a Heatseeker on Joe and rolled him back into the ring to secure the pinfall, becoming a two-time AEW Men’s World Champion.
RATING – 4/5
Another strong pay-per-view main event to close out AEW’s 2025 and head into 2026 with a new champion at the top of the promotion. All four wrestlers looked in top form as they traded offense over the course of the match. MJF being champion heading into the new year also has multiple opponents lined up or being lined up to defend the title, starting with AEW Dynamite: Maximum Carnage against Bandido. As for where Strickland and Page go after Worlds End, but their willingness to work together after everything they’ve been through almost guarantees anything they do in AEW going forward will be something of interest.
OVERALL SHOW RATING – 3.75/5
Worlds End was an overall good pay-per-view from AEW, but hardly on the level of some blow-away shows they have had in 2025. Fletcher vs. Moxley was easily the match of the night while Moxley walking away with the Continental Championship was the most surprising and intriguing outcome going forward for Moxley, the Death Riders, and The Don Callis Family, which itself has plenty of issues it may need to resolve thanks to the planted screwdriver. Where it actually ends up going, only time will tell.
Minimum Wage Nerd 