AEW Worlds End 2024 Discussion

[LaGoosh]

I love that Maximum Carnage name. Sounds like what I'd have called one of my PPVs back when I ran an e-fed when I was 13.

[Guest]

I feel like they've massively toned down the "we're taking over" of the Death Riders lately, as well as the attempts at murder. They've still attacked people lately, but in a wrestling way (chairs and stairs) rather than chemicals and plastic bags. Moxley's promos have been much more about egos and him being the king (if that's not an Eddie Kingston hint for soon, I'll be so sad) and less about the young guys needing to step up too. The interference is still way too much, of course, but I thought it was way too much when Roman used to do it, and that worked, so what the hell do I know? 

Obviously the babyfaces will win on Wednesday, because of the location, but we do need someone who looks like he might actually beat Moxley to step up.  MY concern is they've invested so heavily in this I can;'t see anyone beating him before All In in June, but I'd be getting the belt on Osprey pretty fast.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Duke

[Chili]

Unless they're lying or people are fibbing, Eddie Kingston is likely not back until June 2025 so either that angle ends before Eddie gets back and everyone says what a lost opportunity that was even though it wasn't happening, or he's dropping the belt to Darby at Revolution or the April PPV, unless Darby is still intent on climbing Everest like an idiot. Then yeah, unless an angle gets hot and they pivot a title change, I don't see who ends the Mox run yet.

I hope they're lying, I'd absolutely love to have the Mad King back.

Edited December 30, 2024 by Chili

[andrew "the ref" coyne]

This is not the same company that did that fantastic Hangman Adam Page / Kenny Omega story is it?

[DavidB6937]

2 minutes ago, andrew "the ref" coyne said:

This is not the same company that did that fantastic Hangman Adam Page / Kenny Omega story is it?

The most important thing about that is that it felt as if it had a complete story plotted. They knew what they were aiming for.

This Mox stuff has had nothing beyond it being a takeover or whatever. Hence why they've either kept repeating the same shit or just not really doing much. There's no story beats to hit or any real clear destination.

[HarmonicGenerator]

I would really emphasise the fact that so few of the roster seem to care as a big part of it failing. It’s one thing to have heels not be bothered (though having just a couple say “we’re bad people but murder is too far”), but so many babyfaces aren’t fussed either. Whether it’s Swerve saying it’s a problem but he’s going to deal with Lashley first (then move on to Ricochet), or Ospreay saying it’s a problem but he’s in this tournament at the moment so no thanks, or, I can’t stress this enough, FTR saying multiple times they got no problem with the murders and don’t disagree with the methods. It just doesn’t join up with a gang of killers threatening the whole company.

[DavidB6937]

6 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I would really emphasise the fact that so few of the roster seem to care as a big part of it failing. It’s one thing to have heels not be bothered (though having just a couple say “we’re bad people but murder is too far”), but so many babyfaces aren’t fussed either. Whether it’s Swerve saying it’s a problem but he’s going to deal with Lashley first (then move on to Ricochet), or Ospreay saying it’s a problem but he’s in this tournament at the moment so no thanks, or, I can’t stress this enough, FTR saying multiple times they got no problem with the murders and don’t disagree with the methods. It just doesn’t join up with a gang of killers threatening the whole company.

Yeah, you have to go All In (sorry) on a storyline like that to make it work, and realistically you're never going to. You can't hang your entire company on the one storyline, and if you do then it becomes overkill anyway. It's a very very difficult thing to balance and it needs some smart writing where it lays out the motives and the targets etc and still allows the rest to carry on logically, rather than burying it. 

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

or, I can’t stress this enough, FTR saying multiple times they got no problem with the murders and don’t disagree with the methods. It just doesn’t join up with a gang of killers threatening the whole company.

You've said this before, and I bumped on it then, so I went back and looked at the FTR promo from a couple of weeks ago, and Cash definitely says "We may not agree with your methods but I don't disagree with your message". Is there another promo you're talking about?

[HarmonicGenerator]

3 minutes ago, Duke said:

You've said this before, and I bumped on it then, so I went back and looked at the FTR promo from a couple of weeks ago, and Cash definitely says "We may not agree with your methods but I don't disagree with your message". Is there another promo you're talking about?

There was one on Collision where they kept saying it (Dax mainly), and then one on Dynamite. I might have confused “message” and “methods”, but I don’t love FTR enough to backtrack now I’ve doubled down and forgive them for my mistakes ?

[Devon Malcolm]

Well I decided to watch this even though I was only interested in one match.

Ospreay vs Fletcher started really well. Fletcher throws a cracking chop and his crowd work is good. Then they started daring each other to hit each other, did a million moves and the usual shit. A shame.

Okada moves like Kramer when he tried wearing jeans. Ricochet as a heel isn't going to work. They've leaned into it too early and he's trying too hard because he's shit. He should have kept going as a delusional babyface for a bit. This match was boring. The after-match angle was TERRIBLE. Tony Khan couldn't wait to do the toilet roll thing, could he? Idiot.

They let Mariah May wrestle! In another hardcore match! The worst booked champion in recent history. This match was crap.

I fell asleep during MJF vs Cole and then was stupid enough to go back and finish it last night. This storyline is never going to end. Does Khan know The NeverEnding Story actually ended? Great babyface ending, too - a 5 on 1 beatdown. Match was just above mediocre.

Then Excalibur told us what was happening on Collision. Why? It's a fucking PPV!

Takeshita vs Hobbs, the only match I cared about, demoralised me at the start with the forearm duel and that stupid MEAT chant. I hate wrestling fans. But it ultimately live up to expectation, and unsurprisingly was the best match.

Mone vs Statlander was another surprisingly excellent match that went slightly too long but would it do them any harm to actually do the odd title change on the 19,000 belts they have? Fucking hell. Move Mone up to the world title picture. This was great, though.

Okada vs Ospreay was much better than I expected and easily the best thing I've seen from Okada, although that bar is shin level. Even Jim Ross sounded awake for it.

Hey look Kenny's back! To present someone with a belt he's never had any involvement with! 18 months out and that's how you bring him back? This company, man.

The main event was shite and then Edge and FTR came out and didn't improve it.

Exhausting and only intermittently good. That's AEW for you.

[Mr.Showtime]

1 hour ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Hey look Kenny's back! To present someone with a belt he's never had any involvement with! 18 months out and that's how you bring him back? This company, man.

This frustrated me too, but in another way. As far as I remember, the last time Kenny Omega was on AEW TV was in May when he was attacked in the ring by the Elite, including...Okada. And through this whole segment at World's End, the commentators didn't mention it once! Shouldn't their job be to remind people of stuff like this? Apologies if I missed it, but I don't think I did.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I agree with what Dev says, mainly. Statlander v Mone wasn't slightly too long, it was way too long. I think 16 minutes would have done.

The Continental Classic semi finals were fine but felt like a bit of salary justification. Fletcher has really started to blossom,  beating Ospreay and going competitive with Okada at the very least and possibly beating him would have established him as a star on the verge of the main event. If you don't have Fletcher beat will and you want to cement Ricochet as a heel then you have him cheat to beat Okada and possibly Ospreay. They had the chance to establish a new act and they didn't take it because they pay Okada and Ospreay more money. 

As for the Death Shiters. Moxley is shite and any angle conceived by him will continue to be shite. The least talented of The Shield shouldn't be running his own storyline. The sooner it ends the better. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I agree with what Dev says, mainly. Statlander v Mone wasn't slightly too long, it was way too long. I think 16 minutes would have done.

The Continental Classic semi finals were fine but felt like a bit of salary justification. Fletcher has really started to blossom,  beating Ospreay and going competitive with Okada at the very least and possibly beating him would have established him as a star on the verge of the main event. If you don't have Fletcher beat will and you want to cement Ricochet as a heel then you have him cheat to beat Okada and possibly Ospreay. They had the chance to establish a new act and they didn't take it because they pay Okada and Ospreay more money. 

As for the Death Shiters. Moxley is shite and any angle conceived by him will continue to be shite. The least talented of The Shield shouldn't be running his own storyline. The sooner it ends the better. 

I get what you mean, and I argued for it myself, but Fletcher has beaten both of those two in the last month. They're clearly setting up a third match between Fletcher and Osprey too, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

Quote

Hey look Kenny's back! To present someone with a belt he's never had any involvement with! 18 months out and that's how you bring him back? This company, man.

[LaGoosh]

4 hours ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Takeshita vs Hobbs, the only match I cared about, demoralised me at the start with the forearm duel and that stupid MEAT chant. I hate wrestling fans.

The forearm duel/take turns hitting eachother spot is like any wrestling spot - it's good when it fits the psychology/story of the match but terrible when it doesn't. But it's massively overused and usually bad. Even fucking John Cena did it in his final full-time years. I can see why wrestlers do it though - it's an easy pop. But I wish they would stop.

Saying that, I think it worked here. Two big hard hitters trying to prove something to eachother. And they mostly dropped it once they got into the bulk of the match.

The "meat" chants are dumb but like any dumb chants it's usually a case of fans not being given a reason to emotionally invest in what they're watching so they chant stupid bollocks. Once the match evolved to telling a clear babyface/heel story (Hobbs fighting through the pain on one bad leg against a brutal Takeshita) the fans mostly stopped the "meat" stuff and reacted as they should. 

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

38 minutes ago, Duke said:

I get what you mean, and I argued for it myself, but Fletcher has beaten both of those two in the last month. They're clearly setting up a third match between Fletcher and Osprey too, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I suppose the good thing is that Fletcher didn't win so Cloutforatu Chris is less likely to turn up and sink his fangs into him.