AEW World’s End, the final PPV of 2025. Mama, we made it.
- MJF wins AEW World Championship
- Jon Moxley wins the Continental Classic
- Kris Statlander retains
- Darby Allin and Gabe Kidd murder each other, as a treat
Here are my 6 biggest takeaways from AEW World’s End 2025:
1. Jon Moxley wins 2025 MVP trophy
Takeshita should’ve won the C2; his 2025 storyline, stacking global tournament victories to prepare for the final tournament of the year against Okada, “the greatest tournament wrestler of all time,” says the commentary team, the obvious conclusion: Takeshita over Okada in the C2.
While Takeshita was dominating Japan and Okada was giving people the finger, Jon Moxley and The Deatt Riders held every TV show in the palm of their hands.
The C2 was never about the Don Callis Family.
It was always about Moxley.
Rarely do we see a wrestler go from truly despised at the end of one year to nautrally becoming a babyface in front of our eyes, not through lame ass promos where they announce “hey guys, I’m good now”, or The Rock dropping into a random TV taping to annoint someone face or heel like a wrestling fairy godmonther, then disappear with no follow-ups, just a direct deposit and a lazy IG post.
At the end of last year, Moxley declared war on the laziness in AEW, looked around and realized he needed to just improve this shit himself.
two matches in one night, chipped tooth, lost his literal voice, and still put his everything into a promo.
jon moxley you will ALWAYS be famous pic.twitter.com/QTkduWmv3A— pau (@316REIGNS) December 28, 2025
He’s earned the right to give a Stone Cold Steve Austin-voiced promo but most importantly, he’s earned the right to be cheered by the fans.
His match with Kyle Fletcher was a classic.
The Death Riders are going into 2026 at the peak of their powers.
2. Ricochet better turn 2026 into the best year of his life
The plethora of titles in AEW bothers me not.
They work exactly as intended.
They heat wrestlers.
A wrestler goes on a winning streak to win a belt and a string of title defenses, and suddenly, Kyle Fletcher is in the main event every night, no one confused as to how or why he got there.
Title chases and follow-up reigns are microwaves.
Look at the excitement around Willow Nightingale right now.
She stacked wins in the tag team title tournament, defended against Athena and Mercedes, two women warm from their title reigns, and now, she has a TBS championship match on Dynamite’s New Year’s TV special, with a decent chance to leave with two belts.
Mercedes Mone collecting belts obviously works.
We can pretend to be above it, but someone covered in championship belts always looks cool, especially when they can wrestle their ass off, as Mercedes can.
And she’s a week away from using her belt collection to potentially propel Willow into outer space.
However, with only 4 hours of television a week, not every title can shine simultaneously.
Ricochet won the National Championship and 3 title defenses: a Ring of Honor win over Dalton Castle, a Collision win over Ace Austin and a RevPro win over Nino Bryant.
This title is an opportunity to break a new singles star into the men’s division.
What if Ricochet and Lee Moriarty had a hot feud. put the belt on Lee and now, a year after his incredible singles match against Hangman Page for the World Championship on Dynamite this year, Lee becomes a weekly presence on AEW TV, without having him stand behind Jon Moxley or Don Callis for 9 months?
But it only works if Ricochet raises the belt’s value. 2026, Ricochet needs to hoop. He is in position to establish the prestige of a new championship nad solidify his own legacy as one of the best in-ring workers in the world.
3. MJF stress test
Again, Jon Moxley won 2025.
Meanwhile, MJF was filming movies that, a decade ago, would have been released direct-to-DVD, between a long build-up to joining The Hurt Syndicate, week-after-week-after-week-after-week, wondering if he could finally convince Bobby Lashley to throw the thumbs up, only for, and this is my guess, MVP discover how the story was ending and elect to pull his guys, without warning to the audience, and a longer than neccesisary but ultimately satisfiying feud with Mark Briscoe.
Last MJF title run was a limp to the finish line, storyline blown up by CM Punk, a former professional fighter, finally winning his first fist fight, Adam Cole’s leg exploding and MJF’s own body betraying him.
MJF is capable of more than what we’ve seen. His feud with Bryan Danielson and the subsequent 60-min iron man title match was unbelievable. The Hurt Syndicate stuff was working, if they had only committed to it.
My fear? The lazy “American” MAGA-adjacent character he uses against all foreign opponents, especially frightening when his first title defense is scheduled for next month against Bandido.
This year is a vibe check.
Does MJF still have the sauce or nah?
4. Kris Statlander vs. Jamie Hayter Match of the Night
Not every title reign can revolve around home invasion and arson. Sometimes you just put two performers in the ring and tell them, “Hey, you have 4 weeks to sell this fight. Go.”
no notes. Kris & Jamie i’m sorry I wasn’t your crowd pic.twitter.com/06YsuPzfGQ
— aliyah ✭ (@mercedesbnkss) December 28, 2025
Given one more minute than Austin fucking Gunn, Kris and Jamie, two of the best workers in the company, did their job (I’ll talk about doing your job more later).
Kris’s title reign won’t be defined by a long, personal feud or her mic work or how much she bleeds.
She has 3 title defenses: Toni Storm, Mercedes Mone and Jamie Hayter.
We are going to look back at Kris’s first AEW world title run and realize she beat all of the best of her generation. Bring in Bayley from WWE to come take an L next. Feed the beast.
5. Let’s put the Bang Bang Gang on ice
Awful timing. Juice Robinson finally returns but Jay White just got injured and Colton Gunn blew his shit. Healthy wrestlers disappear from television all the time. Britt Baker is healthy as hell, at home every Wednesday night.
I don’t care if Juice Robinson and Austin Gunn win or lose shit. It’d be like if everyone in Degeneration-X got injured, leaving behind only X-Pac and Hornswoggle.
Big Bill and Bryan Keith held the tag division together like Spider-Man keeping that train on the tracks. They microwaved every team before they got their push.
From The Gates of Agony to The Patrioarchy to The Acclaimed, Big Bill and Bryan Keith showed up to pick a fight with guys Tony Khan chose over them.
Bryan Danielson once said Bryan Keith is his son’s favorite wrestler.
Send Juice and Billy’s weird son home, unleash Big Bill and Bryan Keith.
6. Do the job
Shout out to Hyan and Maya World, hoisted into the heroic position of “jobber”, thanks to the internet, universally, which almost never happens, dunking on Tegan Nox and her lame ass girlfriend, who refused to lose to TayJay in 3 minutes, under the belief she and her lover needed more time to get over.
Immediately replaced by the young, hungry, Hyan and Maya World, who gladly accept their short matches, knowing it’s better to be on TV. paid than on the internet, mad.
This is a lesson to everyone, yo. The economy is being held together by an AI bubble growing inside a chamber of thorns.
We’re like, one random, flimsy tarriff away from feudalism.
Get paid, yo. It’s a mess out here.
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