The final AEW PPV of 2025 is in the books, and it was another very good show with some historic happenings and some excellent wrestling. Two new champions were crowned on the men's side and a few ongoing angles were furthered. Let's get into it....
The main card opened with the long-anticipated first-time match of Kazuchika Okada vs. Konosuke Takeshita. This ended up feeling very much like a first-time match, where they were saving some stuff for later. But it was an excellent back-and-forth match for most of its 17 minutes, and then it suffered from a very bad finish. They started off methodically but built to an exciting exchange of signature moves. After a nearfall off a Poison Rana, Takeshita sent Okada into the corner, where he retrieved a screwdriver from the turnbuckle. Referee Paul Turner had to make himself look ridiculous to pretend he didn't see Okada hit Takeshita with it, turning around for no reason at all. Okada scored the pin and hid the screwdriver to advance to the finals. This just looked bad, and if they were going to have a screwy finish to a Continental Classic match it should've been something more surreptitious. Helluva match till the ending. ****
The Match of the Night by a good margin was the other CC semifinal, as Jon Moxley faced Kyle Fletcher. This was another first-time match and both guys brought it in spades. Mox was the clear crowd favorite of the four semifinalists, and he played the babyface in peril throughout, selling his leg and inadvertently cracking a tooth on the ring steps. Now every time Fletcher locked in a submission hold, the crowd rallied behind Mox to escape it rather than tap out. There was a horrifying looking spot where Mox did a reverse head and arm suplex off the top and Fletcher landed right on his head. Apparently he was totally fine but Jesus did that look crippling. They traded big moves and nearfalls, and Fletcher went to get the screwdriver from the turnbuckle, unaware that Okada had already used it. Mox hit both versions of his underhook DDT but Fletcher kicked out. Mox locked in a rear naked choke and Fletcher fought it for a while but ultimately passed out. Fantastic match. *****
Next up was the FTR-Bang Bang Gang Chicago Street fight for the Tag Team Titles. This was fun but overstayed its welcome for a match where no one really bought the challengers winning it. They brawled through the crowd early, brought out tables, chairs, kendo sticks and the belts themselves. Multiple guys bled, Wheeler did a dive through the ropes onto Austin Gunn through a table, Juice Robinson sent Stokely Hathaway off the apron and more or less OVER a table. FTR finally double-teamed Gunn, hitting him with spike piledrivers on a trash can and on one of the belts to retain. Fun match but could've been trimmed to move the show along. ***1/2
The other set of tag belts was next as the Babes of Wrath defended against Mercedes Mone and Athena. This had some messy spots but everything came together okay in the end. Lots of back-and-forth action and big moves, and it looked like Mercedes had the match won after dispatching Harley with the Money Maker and going for the same move on Willow. But Willow countered into a rollup to retain the titles and continue Mercedes' string of losses. Willow has now earned a TBS Title shot on Dynamite, and I would not argue with Willow being the one to dethrone Mercedes, though I might have her lose all her other titles first. Anyway, a fun little match that was probably by default the weakest on the show. ***1/4
Maybe my second favorite match was the Darby Allin-Gabe Kidd 13-minute bloodbath, as these two packed a ton of brutality into the modest time they were given. Kidd slingshotted Darby into the steps to bust him open, and later Allin returned the favor by dropkicking a chair into Kidd's face. Darby at one point did his signature missile dropkick off the top rope onto a seated opponent on the floor. Late in the match Darby put Kidd in the Scorpion Deathlock and we got a callback to Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin as Kidd struggled to escape, blood pouring down his face. Allin kicked out after a piledriver and countered a sleeper into a flash pin. Hopefully this won't be the last meeting between these two. ****1/2
The Mixed Nuts Mayhem match was next, and rather than be another violent bloodbath, this was more of a lighthearted party match. The Conglomeration and Toni Storm dominated the early minutes but the Death Riders came back and did a series of running avalanches on each babyface. Toni Storm turned things around with an attack on Marina Shafir. At one point Storm and Orange Cassidy tangoed in the ring, interrupted briefly by double teams on opponents, which was a fun moment. There were some men vs. women spots like Claudio hitting Toni Storm with the giant swing, and real-life married couple Roderick Strong and Marina Shafir exchanging shots. Ultimately Storm, Cassidy and Mark Briscoe triple teamed Wheeler Yuta, finishing him off with a Jay Driller for the win. Very fun match that should build to a Toni Storm-Marina Shafir singles bout. ***3/4
The AEW Women's World Title match had the unenviable task of following such a crowd-pleaser, but Kris Statlander and Jamie Hayter worked very hard to win back the crowd, and eventually they did. As expected, these two hit each other very hard, stealing each other's finishers, exchanging brutal suplexes, etc. They eventually traded standing strikes and Kris showed a bit of heelish aggression by spitting on Jamie. Jamie went for a move but Kris countered into Saturday Night Fever to retain. Another excellent showing from the champ, and Jamie looked great here too. ****1/4
The CC finals were in the semi-main slot, as Jon Moxley challenged Kazuchika Okada for the Continental Title. Once again Mox played the imperiled babyface, selling his leg and his tooth injury, while Okada looked more or less fresh as a daisy. The story of the match was Mox fighting from underneath and managing to keep the match even. They traded a ton of nearfalls and signature moves and built to a great climax, as Mox kicked out of a pair of Rainmakers, hit a Paradigm Shift for a nearfall, hit a Rainmaker of his own and another PS, Okada kicked out, and finally a Curb Stomp and a Death Rider to put the champ away. This one kinda started in the second act as Mox was selling his injuries, but it crescendoed brilliantly. Jon Moxley is the new Continental Champion, and they seemed to set up a Death Riders-Don Callis Family feud here. I guess it's possible Takeshita jumps factions? Anyway, a fine end to a fantastic 3rd Annual CC tournament. ****1/4
The main event was of course the 4-way for the AEW Men's World Title. All four looked great here and this match was nonstop action. Way too much stuff to try to recap, but there were some standout moments like MJF hitting Swerve with his pelvic thrust to the face, only for Swerve to return the favor a couple minutes later. Hangman and Swerve took out the two heels and we finally got some one-on-one exchanges between the two mortal frenemies. Late in the match MJF brought out a Destroyer as an homage of sorts to Adam Cole. Loads of finishers and nearfalls in the final third. The Opps tried to interfere but the referee pretty quickly ejected them. MJF threw Swerve into the announce table while Page hit Joe with two Buckshot Lariats. Joe was still on his feet as Page went for a third, but MJF shoved Joe out of the way and kicked Page in the groin, then hit Joe with a Heatseeker to win his second AEW Title. Having Joe only hold the belt for a month was weird, and I assume they did that just so Hangman can claim a title shot against MJF by pointing out MJF didn't beat HIM for the title. MJF does have a slew of babyface challengers, so this reign should yield some great main events. I'm still not convinced Hangman's second reign should've ended when it did, but we'll see. ****1/2
So all in all a really good PPV, no bad matches, one instant classic, and a bunch of ****+ outings. Hard to complain about that. AEW has some compelling stuff lined up for 2026 and a couple months to really arrange the chess pieces for the seventh annual Revolution show in March. MJF is back on top of the mountain but hopefully he finds ways to tweak his character and make the second reign different from the first.
Best Match: Jon Moxley vs. Kyle Fletcher
Worst Match: Babes of Wrath vs. Mercedes/Athena, by default. This match was still fine.
What I'd Change: I'd have shortened the FTR match by a few minutes, as the first third of the show felt long.
Most Disappointing Match: I'd have to call Okada-Takeshita a mild disappointment thanks to the lame finish, but I know they'll more than make up for it in the rematch.
Most Pleasant Surprise: Mox vs. Kyle far exceeded my expectations
Overall Rating: 9/10 - Not their best show this year but then again, AEW idles at 9/10 on PPV.
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