AEW Worlds End preview & predictions: No sympathy for The Devil

The following is an opinion-based preview and reflects the views of the author.

AEW’s gift to us this holiday season was a wonderful wrestling tournament that got us through the winter doldrums and into the always promising new year. 

By any objective measure, the Continental Classic was/is a tremendous success — a reminder and throwback to the foundation that AEW was built on which is an incredible in-ring product. Building a series of shows around high-quality matches has breathed much-needed life into AEW as it feels exciting again and reinvigorated.

The best Dynamite of the past few months was the December 13th episode. No skips, no filler, just good in-ring action with some necessary story exposition. Folks, that’s all it takes. The Devil storyline took a deserved backseat — the sooner this is and the rest of MJF’s version of As The World Turns is over the better — and the focus was almost entirely between the ropes. The sun AEW should revolve around is whatever happens between the bells, not who is under a Party City mask.

Everything falls neatly into place when the shows have something to revolve around rather than just someone. Anchoring the show around one main character can be burdensome to the viewer. How many 20-minute MJF solo promos can we take? This is not a reflection of his talent, which remains generational, but it’s not working as well as it should. For over a year, MJF has been the linchpin of the show, for better or for worse. Giving so much focus to the Continental Classic gave him space to breathe and gave him time to rest. And let’s face it, the last few months in the MJF-verse haven’t been good. When he first won the title, he talked about going on a HHH-esque reign of terror. If only we knew how accurate that would turn out to be.

Saturday’s Worlds End looks strong on paper and with AEW never missing at pay-per-views, I have high hopes for the last big show of 2023. Let’s run through the matches and give some predictions.

Andrade El Idolo vs. Miro

Andrade was one of the breakout performers in the Continental Classic. It might seem strange to refer to someone who has been wrestling since the early 2000s as a breakout, but this was by far his best work — not just in AEW, but since he’s been a regular in a major US wrestling promotion. The dude had his working boots on for every match and fully opened up the engines. When engaged and motivated, there is nothing he can’t do in the ring. Being reminded of that these past few weeks was wonderful. Let’s hope he carries the momentum into 2024.

It would have been easy to do something corny about Miro and CJ Perry’s IRL marriage. Instead, AEW decided to tell a story with nuance and layers which are things not typically associated with wrestling storylines. CJ wants to get back to what she was great at; managing and elevating talent. She’s upset that her husband wants to wrestle on his own, but she’s soldiering on doing what she wants. Miro, now no longer feuding with God, just wants to focus on wrestling. 

It’s not going to win any awards or breathlessly be described as cinema, but this is a program that means something without any gold attached to it. This should be a good one!

Prediction: Andrade El Idolo

Keith Lee vs. Swerve Strickland

For whatever reason(s), Keith Lee in AEW hasn’t worked out like most (I am most) thought. The AEW Tag Team title run with Strickland was excellent, but other than that, nothing has been memorable. He has, somehow, become an afterthought. Or perhaps he’s been surpassed by others with greater gifts than his own. Maybe even a bit of both. There was a time when he was looked at as a no-doubt future World champion. Does that ceiling still exist? I hope it does. Wrestling is more fun when Keith Lee is regularly hossing people around the ring and making everyone roll their eyes when he’s doing a backstage promo.

This is going to be good, but it’s not hot. I’ll give AEW some grace on this one, though. Too often they are pumping the card full of last-minute matches, but with the C2 running until this week, they had no choice here. This does feel like a step down for Strickland who remains on a months-long heater. He might not have won the C2, but he maintained his momentum coming out of it and is positioned for a massive year in 2024 – one that should include an AEW World Championship reign. Anything less would be uncivilized.

Prediction: Swerve Strickland

Big Bill, Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs & Kyle Fletcher vs. Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Sting & Darby Allin

I continue to love the Bill/Starks pairing. It’s self-aware and smart enough to work. They aren’t friends and there is no ‘can they co-exist’ storyline. This is just two dudes who recognized each other’s immense talents and thought ‘Yeah, this should work.’ Wrestling is better when it’s not all brothers and best friends tag teams. Homogeneity is boring. There’s a reason Baskin Robbins has 31 flavors.

Guevara continues, unceasing, ebbing and flowing, between character alignments like tides that lick the coast of the Atlantic. He turned on Jericho in October, went on paternity, and came back to his waiting arms. Sure, whatever. Why was he so upset about the painting of his daughter? A young queen with five kings supporting her? Seems good to me! But alas, here we are yet again, closing 2023 with another Guevara/Jericho pairing that no one asked for and even fewer wanted.

Prediction: Jericho, Guevara, Sting & Allin

Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston in the Continental Classic finals

The Continental Classic was destined to come down to this. The King of The Bums vs. the man who has done everything in pro wrestling. It took Kingston into his 40s to achieve what Moxley was doing in his late 20s. Bound together since the early years of AEW, the two men who know each other best go to war on Saturday. It’s going to be messy, it’s going to be brutal, and it’s going to be beautiful. Sometimes wrestling is just two dudes hitting each other really hard and is the most perfect thing in the world.

This year checked a lot of boxes for Kingston. The absolute madman won the Ring of Honor World title from his forever rival, wrestled in the G1, and is now in the finals of the C2. He is primed to win the American Triple Crown and follow in the footsteps of all his heroes. Getting to do it in his home state is the cherry of all cherries to cap off a hell of a 2023. 

There are certainly people who don’t love or believe in him, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule. Those who love him do so loud and love him fiercely. They will be out in full force for his coronation on Long Island.

Prediction: Eddie Kingston

TBS Champion Julia Hart defends against Abadon

Hart just won the TBS Championship and is going to stay winning. She continues to grow in the ring and adds to her overall presentation on what seems like a weekly basis. She is AEW’s biggest homegrown success and her future is bright…or dark…or however she prefers it, really.

Abadon’s look and presentation are just incredible. Even the most ardent of haters have to admit that her character just works. In a sea of similar gimmicks and aesthetics, she stands out. She’s just not going to win the TBS title. Too much time was invested in building Hart into what she is now for her to lose the title less than two months after she won it.

Prediction: Julia Hart

TNT Champion Christian Cage defends against Adam Copeland in a no DQ match

It’s likely that you, the intelligent wrestling consumer that you are, have already decided if you’re going to like this match. This is the Copeland special. These are the matches he loves to have with plunder and weapons galore. It will likely be too long. It will likely have a few missed pinfalls and submissions. It will likely be a bit overwrought. It can be all of those things and still be good because as always, this is subjective. If that is your type of match, I have some good news. You’ll probably get an excellent version of it on Saturday night. If this is your preferred brand of vodka, get ready for top shelf. If not? You can probably squeeze in a 40-minute nap during the match.

Recently, AEW has shied away from doing trilogies. The Orange Cassidy vs. Jon Moxley and Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page programs wrapped up (for now) after two matches. I can’t help but feel that will be the case at Worlds End, too. Christian has done yeoman’s work making the TNT title important again — important enough that Copeland winning it will feel like a big deal.

Prediction: Adam Copeland

AEW Women’s Champion Toni Storm defends against Riho

Your opinion on Storm is a telling character decoder. Do you think she’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen? Perhaps broaden your comedic horizons. Do you think it’s terrible and an embarrassment to this business? I would encourage you to allow a little light and levity into your life. The highs are high and the lows are cause for shaking your head, not changing the channel. The truth is this probably skews more towards good than a transcendent character, but Storm is the singular focus of the women’s division.

There is too much juice left in the Storm orange to change the title here. AEW is invested in her current character and future program with Mariah May. Taking the title from her here makes no sense.

Prediction: Toni Storm

AEW World Champion MJF defends against Samoa Joe

There is no good reveal for the Devil. It’s low floor, low ceiling storytelling and the type of storytelling that AEW should do well to avoid. What is a good reveal here? It’s a rhetorical question, but is there anyone on the roster that would make this amount of TV time worth it and make some storyline sense?

Even if it leads to a returning Kyle O’Reilly, would an Adam Cole reveal really move the needle? The best they could do in that situation would be if the entire injury was a work, leading to him costing MJF the title. Even if that’s the case, we’re still in for another long MJF melodrama program — the same type of program Cody Rhodes would get killed for if he was still in AEW, by the way — and something has to change. After Wednesday night’s show-closing angle, something has to change immediately. Put this to bed and never talk of it again.

Regardless of anything else that happens at Worlds End, Samoa Joe should walk out with a World title on his shoulder. Even at 44, he remains a singular force of nature in wrestling. His presence and menacing delivery on the microphone scream monster. He can be that final boss. He can be the person everyone is terrified of. Let him run roughshod over AEW for a few months while the next big babyface (Swerve Strickland) gets primed for a run on top.

It should be a big deal when MJF drops his belt as he is the longest reigning champion in company history, after all. But the reign has been lackluster ever since Cole became his best friend and why am I still writing about a friendship storyline in December?

If Joe doesn’t win here, I don’t know what’s left to do. MJF is hurt and carrying 1.5 lame-duck storylines by himself. Let him heal up and give Joe the one thing he’s never had and the one thing he deserves: a World title in a major company.

Prediction: Samoa Joe