SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
- Continental Classic semfinals
- Advancement of the Devil storyline
- Promos and previews of the PPV card that I’m sure will fill up nicely by show’s end.
HITS
IS JOE THE DEVIL?
That really wasn’t answered and I’m sure that’s by design, but it sets up something big for the main event of the PPV. First of all, I don’t think Samoa Joe is the true Devil because the announcers clearly never said he was and that means something. I’m thinking Joe is a part of whatever future stable this will become and there are at least one or more “Devils” that will reveal themselves at the end of the show on Saturday night.
I liked how this “main event” was done as it took the meaningless ROH titles away from MJF and Adam Cole and the focus can clearly be on the AEW World Title on Saturday where the full plan of the Devil(s) SHOULD be revealed.
Side note: Thank goodness MJF spent much of the “match” trying to unmask the minions. That’s what everyone would do if they were him.
DANIELSON VS. KINGSTON (AND MOX PROMO TOO!)
What a match this was! It was great storytelling from the start as Bryan Danielson rightly played the role of the heel with most of the crowd getting behind Eddie Kingston. This was as hard hitting as it gets, a HUGE win for Eddie, and his reaction after the three count was perfection. You could see how much this meant to him and then, my goodness, the promo afterwards with Mox. I would put that promo up with any I’ve seen all year. Mox is unreal and Eddie’s style matched him every step of the way. I’m fired up to see this match on Saturday. Bravo to those two, who just crushed it.
SWERVE’S PROMO
It was short, but Swerve is really coming into his own. That promo after his loss put over the tournament in a huge way and you could really buy his disappointment in not reaching the final. While the match with Keith Lee is loooooooong overdue and clearly just a way to get him on the card Saturday, he will likely win and continue his ascent to the top of the card… where he should be.
CHRISTIAN-COPELANDN PULL APART
Well, you knew there had to be one of those on a go-home show. There was really no more that needed to be said for this feud so we got “jerk” Christian dressing down Lexi Nair backstage and then a violent encounter with Adam Copeland to set up Saturday. Should be a good one!
THE CALLIS FAMILY & THE PIVOT
For weeks one of my “Misses” has been the lack of the Callis Family on the show. It was great to see Don Callis back and it was a very positive sign that he still had major heat with the fans from the start. Clearly, after the Kenny Omega illness, they had to change their plans for Chris Jericho and the tag title match. I think they did as good a job as they could with this pivot. I know Sammy Guevara just turned on Jericho a few months ago, but they gave a legitimate reason for him to have soured on Callis. It was done well and, by the end, it was clearly “brothers don’t shake hands… brothers gotta hug!” If they had to change things up, an eight-man tag match where you get Sting on the card was a good call.
MISSES
THREE-WAY NO DQ IS DUMB
Now, I liked the match that opened the show and having a tournament semi-final be a three-way was one thing, but to follow the no DQ rules just took the importance away from it. If they wanted to do the three-way, just make it a regular match where if one wrestler does something to get disqualified, then they are eliminated and the other two continue. The Kingston-Danielson match really felt important. This was a lot of walk and brawl with chairs and tables. I was very happy they didn’t have any shenanigans with any other wrestlers involved at the end, but this really should have been a one-on-one match with a clean finish.
MIRO
Enough already with this Miro stuff. The guy barely wrestles and certainly not in competitive matches. Change up this gimmick and get him in some good feuds that’ll pay off and make some sense. I honestly have no idea what he’s talking about week to week.
RUSHED PPV CARD
I know there have been difficult circumstances surrounding this PPV with some last minute changes, but AEW had been doing a great job the last couple of PPVs in setting up the card many weeks in advance. Many of the matches made on this go-home show were rushed and while they will likely be good, they could have been better with more build.
As I’ve said many times, I have yet to order an AEW PPV and be disappointed so while the card may not look fantastic on paper, I think this will be another memorable show. Tony Khan makes sure fans get their money worth and I’m confident that will continue on Saturday.
RECOMMENDED NEXT: AEW DYNAMITE RESULTS (12/27): Keller’s report on Continental Classic League Finals with Moxley vs. Swerve vs. White, Kingston vs. Danielson
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: AEW media call report: Live notes on Tony Khan speaking with the pro wrestling media ahead of Saturday’s AEW Worlds End pay-per-view
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