WrestleTalk News | December 2023 by WrestleTalk - Dailymotion

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00:00 Oh, there we are, Christmas break over.

00:02 I've eaten my body weight and bread sauce.

00:05 And it's time to re-enter the working world and wrestling again.

00:10 Easing slowly back into real life before the New Year.

00:13 And what a way to begin the New Year, or sort of end the current one, with AEW World's

00:19 End.

00:20 I'm sure.

00:21 A drama-free show where I can just enjoy wrestling without any big controversies or backstage

00:27 - AEW star set to leave after major backstage clash, NBA controversy over Chris Jericho,

00:35 and MJF loses his World title as his best friend is revealed to be his biggest foe.

00:41 Yeah, well that makes sense because 2023 sucked.

00:44 I'm Oli Davis, and this is my review of AEW World's End… in about 10 minutes.

00:49 Oh my god, and Kevin Dunn left WWE?!

00:51 Support WrestleTalk!

00:58 The zero hour pre-show opened with a match between friends Chris Statlander and Willow

01:02 Nightingale, as Ring of Honor GM Stokely Hathaway tried to drive a wedge between them.

01:06 They didn't need that wedge, though, as they botched their spots all on their own.

01:10 A bit of clumsiness throughout the match, and particularly the finish, where Willow

01:13 botched her own finisher and had to redo it, the action did build nicely to a very good

01:18 final five minutes.

01:19 Nightingale won when she eventually hit her Dr Bomb.

01:22 Next came the 20 man battle royal for a future TNT title shot that was announced on Wednesday's

01:27 Dynamite.

01:28 The future actually meaning he had about three hours.

01:31 The 14 minute match lacked a through line hook.

01:34 He was in the next match.

01:36 Thank you, thank you, Christmas Cracker jokes are still here.

01:38 As people would get a few spots, then get eliminated, Lance Archer and Kill Switch provided

01:43 late stage beef as they emerged from under the tables they were buried at at the start

01:48 to go on elimination rampages.

01:50 After Trent eliminated his own best friend Dan Howzen, the final two were Beretta and

01:55 Kill Switch, which the latter won, uppercutting Trent off the ring apron.

01:59 That awarded Kill Switch an anytime, anywhere shot at the TNT title Money in the Bank style.

02:06 Hook beat Wheeler Uta not just in his New York home turf, but also on his own advantage

02:10 FTW Rules too - with Uta's Pure Rules Championship being Hardcore Wrestling's polar opposite.

02:16 Don't adjust your set!

02:18 This isn't a New Japan pay-per-view with a random multi-man tag match to open the show.

02:22 It's AEW World's End's main card!

02:25 I thought the 8-man tag involving all the Continental Classic competitors who didn't

02:30 have anything else to do, though, was a really good idea.

02:32 Unless you were being managed by a guy's wife or embroiled in a feud that will never

02:36 happen with Keith Lee, many of AEW's main event scene and upper midcard have been embroiled

02:42 in the C2's gruelling weekly matches.

02:44 Unable to build their own feuds, this tag match acted as a fun coda for the runners-up,

02:49 allowing for badass interactions between gold and blue league fighters we haven't seen

02:53 yet, like Bryan Danielson vs Jey White, yes please, or reviving old clashes like Brodie

02:58 King vs anyone.

03:00 It also expertly elevated Daniel Garcia, who had finished bottom of the blue league, letting

03:05 him suplex King, and then rolling up, you guessed it, Jey Lethal to secure the win.

03:09 Hopefully reviving the idea of him joining his Blackpool Combat Club teammates here,

03:14 which should've happened last year.

03:16 Speaking of things that should've happened, if Andrade was going to leave your promotion,

03:19 maybe don't have him beat Bryan Danielson.

03:21 Like I said at the start, I haven't been keeping up with the wrestling dirt sheet news

03:25 over the last week.

03:26 I watched World's End with innocent kayfabe believing eyes.

03:30 So I wrote a joke at the start of Andrade vs Miro in my notes.

03:33 What is this?

03:34 A competition for who's most unhappy in AEW?

03:37 Little did I know, that's exactly what it was.

03:40 Fightful Selective reported World's End is expected to be Andrade's last date with

03:44 AEW.

03:46 After he made it clear behind the scenes at Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, he no longer

03:50 wanted to be with the company and was planning to leave.

03:53 The situation was apparently less than pleasant.

03:57 Less than pleasant title of your next AEW pay-per-view, with some sources saying a major

04:01 disagreement had unfolded.

04:03 In the post-show media scrum, Tony Khan admitted he had been unable to agree a new contract

04:09 with Andrade.

04:10 This now set him up to return to WWE as early as the January 1st, day one episode of Monday

04:16 Night Raw.

04:17 As for the match itself, most of the focus was on CJ Perry managing Andrade, rather than

04:22 the more exciting part - Andrade and Miro's wrestling in the ring.

04:26 Miro kept getting distracted by his wife, but it was CJ breaking up her own client Andrade's

04:31 Figure 8 that let Miro win.

04:33 CJ blew him kisses afterwards, but they never seemed to fully reunite.

04:36 I'd been ready for their storyline to resolve itself for about a month now.

04:40 Toni Storm defended her Women's Championship against Riho in a best vs first match that,

04:46 at 10 minutes long, was never able to get into that extra gear.

04:49 Toni worked over Riho's lower back, Luthor was ejected for interference, and then Storm

04:54 just suddenly won.

04:56 Because they seemed destined to never fight, Keith Lee was unfortunately pulled from his

05:00 match against Swerve Strickland on the day of the show.

05:02 Instead, Keith's former tag partner Dustin stepped in.

05:05 But that's the last time he'll be stepping, because Swerve then stomped his ankle through

05:11 a cinder block.

05:12 Dustin valiantly fought through the pain to still have a match, where he would go on to

05:15 wrestle for 10 minutes with a shattered kayfabe leg.

05:19 Swerve looked awesome, as one of the most over people on the whole show, but I would've

05:23 had him win far quicker as Rhodes making a comeback undermined the cinder block angle.

05:28 And also, when you're doing a match when one of the wrestlers has been replaced because

05:31 medics wouldn't clear him to compete, maybe don't do an angle with Dustin Rhodes where

05:36 the medics say he can't compete either, and then they let him wrestle the match.

05:40 Don't adjust your set, this isn't a New Japan pay-per-view either.

05:43 It's an 8 man tag to compensate for Kenny Omega having to be pulled from his tag title

05:47 shot for medical reasons.

05:49 I know it wasn't AEW's fault they had to change track, but I would've preferred

05:53 a three way tag title match here of Les X-Gods vs Bill and Starks vs the Callis Family to

05:58 give us something more substantial than what felt like another 8 man filler.

06:02 But as the match went on, another problem emerged.

06:06 Again, I went into this pay-per-view with kayfabe eyes.

06:09 But even innocent little me could pick up on the Long Island crowd's dislike of Chris

06:13 Jericho being beyond simple 'we're tired of your act on TV and the Golden Jets suck'.

06:19 Every time Jericho got some offence in, the crowd cheered him.

06:23 They cheered any heel that attacked him.

06:25 And one sign in the crowd read 'Wells NDA' - a fantastic pun, SignMaker, one presumably

06:36 referencing Nick Housman's reports from earlier that day.

06:40 Jericho and CM Punk's attorney had recently argued about whether Jericho had signed a

06:44 non-disclosure agreement after Brawl Out, where Jericho declared on X he'd never signed

06:50 an NDA in my life ever.

06:51 You won't know though, because you're not allowed to talk about them.

06:56 This led to Housman claiming Jericho had got people to sign NDAs in the past, and alluded

07:01 to Chris hiding "a lot of skeletons in your closet".

07:06 Not your closet specifically, but he was talking about Jericho.

07:09 During the post-show media scrum, a reporter from USA Today asked Tony Khan whether Jericho

07:14 had been investigated for sexual misconduct at any time while he was with AEW, to which

07:20 Tony replied he can't speak on unsourced Internet rumours, while unfortunately wearing

07:26 a comedy wig and sunglasses.

07:28 Anyway, Sami Guevara hit a shooting star to win.

07:31 Stop trying to make babyface Sami happen!

07:34 Presumably setting up a tag title shot for less sexy gods.

07:38 It'll be interesting to see, though, if AEW actually follows through on that, as pressure

07:43 on Jericho intensifies.

07:46 Julia Hart beat Abaddon in a spooky, spooky match, which the Long Island crowd debuted

07:50 this month's version of Meat, chanting "this is spooky".

07:57 Unfortunately Abaddon hadn't been built up anywhere near strong enough to be believable

08:00 on pay-per-view.

08:01 Hart won after Sky Blue interference.

08:03 The final three matches of the show, however, were brilliant.

08:07 Starting with Edge vs Christian.

08:10 Hmm, how should Edge make sure there won't be any interference like the stuff that cost

08:14 him the title last time?

08:15 I know, make it an ODQ match that allows EVEN MORE INTERFERENCE.

08:21 That said, Copeland had psychological justification.

08:24 He didn't care about interference.

08:26 He just wanted to hurt Christian with as many weapons or crowd brawling as he wanted.

08:31 And that's what happened, with a dive off part of the audience, tables, ladders, chairs,

08:35 oh my, and even that table's on fire.

08:40 Twice.

08:41 It was Nick Wayne who took the flaming bump from a Copeland powerbomb.

08:44 Edge went back in the ring, hit a Kill Switch and awesomely won the TNT Championship.

08:50 And that was it.

08:51 Copeland simply won, in a modern homage to their shared TLC history.

08:58 Just one more thing.

09:00 The Kill Switch was standing right behind him.

09:03 It was at this point I realised how money in the bank like Luchasaurus' title shot

09:08 was.

09:09 He can cash it in right now.

09:11 I wish he'd won the opportunity at least a month ago, where he could build more tension

09:15 cashing in on Christian, adding extra heartbreak to what ended up happening.

09:20 Christian told Kill Switch to give him the shot, for Christian to win the TNT title back.

09:26 Timeframe aside with Kill Switch, this was excellent booking, and sets the stage perfectly

09:30 for a proper TLC singles match to conclude their trilogy.

09:34 Jon Moxley vs Eddie Kingston in the Continental Classic final was my most anticipated match,

09:40 and it was brilliant.

09:41 They worked a tense, fiending out process at the start.

09:44 It steadily became who can hit the hardest, then it broke down completely into a strong

09:49 style Ishii out on your feet no-selling but actually really selling fight.

09:54 Both guys' selling was fantastic, not just of their injuries, but their frustration of

09:59 their own bodies failing them.

10:01 Because this wasn't a match in isolation.

10:03 It's the conclusion of a month's worth of punishment.

10:07 It's the overarching story of the whole tournament, of Mox's knee, of Eddie's

10:11 underdog comeback.

10:13 Besides, by this point, it's not your body that's going to carry you through, it's

10:17 your heart.

10:18 They shared a flurry of punches in the 17th minute, then Eddie hit a spinning backfist,

10:23 dropping Mox and making the pin to win - being presented with both his original belts and

10:29 the new Continental Championship, because there aren't enough titles already, and,

10:33 more emotionally, an embrace from Moxley.

10:36 This was fantastic from start to finish, a fitting end to a great tournament all elevated

10:41 by Bryan Danielson's terrific, passionate commentary.

10:45 My other favourite part of the whole night was MJF's entrance in his hometown - a rousing,

10:50 funny video package of loads of Long Islanders talking up Maxwell Jacob Friedman, leading

10:55 to them all putting on their Burberry scarves and declaring he's their scumbag.

11:00 He was defending his AEW World Championship against Samoa Joe, with his shoulder taped

11:05 and bandaged up.

11:06 It was a lot like his match against Jey White at Full Gear, where Max mostly sold, using

11:10 his smarts instead of his strength to fight back.

11:14 Until he didn't.

11:16 Because in one of the most shocking wrestling moments of the year, a babyface didn't get

11:20 their arm up on the third try while in a submission.

11:23 Joe had Max in the Coquina Clutch.

11:25 Referee Bryce Remsburg lifted Max's hand up once, it dropped.

11:30 Twice, it dropped.

11:32 I almost switched off, thinking forward to what will happen next.

11:35 I watched The Rock do this on a weekly basis for my whole childhood.

11:39 You always get the arm up for the third.

11:41 But on the third time of trying Max's… just dropped.

11:47 I was shocked.

11:49 Cole was shocked.

11:50 Even Remsburg, in a great piece of selling, couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

11:55 And then the realisation seeps in as he called for the bell.

11:58 It wasn't just a shocking way to end a match.

12:01 It was the end of MJF's year plus title reign.

12:06 Samoa Joe is our new World Champion.

12:10 I'm shocked, but very excited for what Joe as a World Champion in 2024 will be.

12:15 He wasn't the focus here, though.

12:17 He was off out the entrance ramp before you knew it, because instead, the Devil came for

12:23 his due.

12:24 I've always loved wrestling pay-per-view titles that reflect the main storyline.

12:28 And World's End referred totally to Max.

12:32 He lost his most prized possession, his World Championship.

12:35 Then he lost his best friend.

12:39 The Masked Men entered and restrained both Max and Adam Cole.

12:42 They're going to hit Cole, the lights cut out, come back up, and Cole is sitting coolly

12:47 on the chair they were going to strike him with.

12:50 The other men revealed themselves to be Wardlow, Roderick Strong, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven.

12:56 They beat up MJF and stood over his body to end the show, set to be the biggest faction

13:01 in AEW in 2024.

13:05 Everything did make storyline sense - Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, the Kingdom all being

13:10 unveiled as the Devil's Masked Men - but it didn't hit the emotional or storytelling

13:14 height that many other parts in MJF's story have hit in 2023.

13:19 AEW's World's End is 80%.

13:22 But what are the 10 best wrestling entrance themes of all time?

13:25 Find out by watching tables, lists and chairs now.

MAJOR AEW CLASH! Chris Jericho Allegations, AEW Worlds End Review | WrestleTalk

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WrestleTalk News | December 2023

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