Will Ospreay’s Perfect Booking, Biggest Takeaways From AEW World’s End 2024 Results

AEW delivered its final pay-per-view of 2024 Saturday night in Orlando with Worlds End, a show that felt very little like the end of something and more like the beginning of a march into the new year with the returns of Adam Copeland and Kenny Omega.

Both of those noteworthy moments were among the biggest takeaways of the broadcast, as was a flawless night for Will Ospreay.

Dive deeper into all three with this recap of the December 28 extravaganza.

All Ricochet had to do was run his mouth and he instantly became one of the most despised competitors in AEW. That much was on full display Saturday night in Orlando as the fans rained down on the generational high-flyer with a thunderous chorus of boos before, during, and after his Continental Classic Semifinal against Kazuchika Okada.

From chants mocking his baldness to the overwhelming support of The Rainmaker, it was clear that Ricochet’s path to main-event greatness in AEW involves him embracing the role of villain, something he has been keen to do thus far.

His in-ring work has never been questioned and we saw as much in his match with Okada, but his promos are a clear weakness and have earned him some scorn from fans who recognize how out-of-place they are on a major wrestling promotion’s TV in 2024.

He was never going to connect with the AEW audience simply by being a great in-ring performer because there are so many of them in the company. How he leans into his promos, plays up his natural cockiness, and embraces the role of villain will ultimately determine how much success he finds at the top of the AEW card.

If his night at Worlds End is any indication, he will be a sustainable main event performer fo the foreseeable future.

Mariah May capped off a breakout year in 2024 by successfully retaining her AEW Women’s World Championship Saturday night over Thunder Rosa in a Tijuana Street Fight.

To do so, The Glamour overcame a ferocious attack by her opponent, he sought revenge and her first reign with the gold since 2022. May, as she did all year, played mind games by targeting Rosa’s father at ringside. It threw the challenger off her game just enough for May to stay in the fight despite the physical toll it took.

Late in the match, she used dirt from a Tijuana graveyard to blind Rose and delivered a piledriver through a table to secure the hard-fought victory and successful title defense.

The winner of the Owen Hart Classic, the champion leaves 2024 behind having exploded onto the scene in AEW, rose through the ranks in the women’s division, and won its top prize while simultaneously ending “Timeless” Toni Storm.

Whether May crosses paths again with Storm remains to be seen but barring a significant injury, there is no reason to believe The Glamour cannot replicate the enormous success of her first year on TV.

Well over a year after it began, the rivalry between Adam Cole and MJF finally wrote its final chapter Saturday night at Worlds End.

The latter manipulated the referee, utilizing the Dynamite Diamond Ring, and pinning his former tag team championship partner for the tainted victory.

The crowd in Orlando was not as hot as it should have been for the rivalry or match, reacting almost exclusively to MJF’s attempts at garnering heat rather than for any of the character or story work along the way.

Tony Schiavone even noted on commentary the crowd sitting on its hands, chalking it up to MJF being in control of the action. In reality, it was the result of a fan base that had stopped caring about the rivalry long ago.

Not even the Undisputed Kingdom getting their heat back on MJF hit as hard as it should have, a lackluster conclusion to an overly long program.

The positive? Both Cole and MJF are free to move onto literally anything else now.

Finally.

For the second, consecutive AEW pay-per-view, Mercedes Moné and Kris Statlander tore the house down with an instant classic for the TBS Championship.

For the second, consecutive AEW pay-per-view, Moné got the best of her challenger.

The competitors once again set the standard for women’s wrestling in the company, delivering an extraordinary match that saw Moné narrowly outwrestle her opponent and catch her with a pinfall for the win.

So good was Saturday’s match, and their Full Gear showdown, that the rivalry has earned a third chapter, one in which Statlander finally bests Moné and takes the title.

The fans’ reaction to the challenger after the match was one of respect and gratitude for the action the fans in Orlando had just seen. The demand for such a match is there, especially after the sequel lived up to expectations.

Booking it in time for Revolution on March 9, in the company’s Cypto.com Arena debut, feels like the right move if AEW chooses to take that route.

Regardless of where it takes place, the company can set the tone for the women’s division moving forward. It should take advantage of it and immortalize a feud that has delivered the two greatest women’s matches in the promotion’s history.

Will Ospreay is already one of the best wrestlers of his generation and, arguably, the standard-bearer in AEW this year. It is fitting that he reiterated as much with a perfect performance across two Continental Classic Tournament matches.

The Aerial Ospreay bled significantly as he battled Kyle Fletcher, seeking revenge for a loss at Full Gear and the opportunity to advance to the finals. He did, absorbing everything his former protege threw at him and countering what he could, ultimately delivering a Styles Clash to end that chapter of the rivalry.

His face was painted with the crimson mask and there were questions about what he would possibly have left to offer in the finale against Kazuchika Okada.

He answered any doubts with a gutsy performance that saw him trade counters, reversals, and finishers with Okada before succumbing to the Rainmaker as the former New Japan star earned the victory.

From the rivalry with Fletcher playing out to perfection in the semifinals to being faced with the opposition of one of the greatest tournament wrestlers ever in the finals, both of Ospreay’s matches had meaning beyond the Continental Classic itself.

More of that creative, where stories are weaved into the matches themselves instead of booking them for the sake of good wrestling, would do the company as a whole a great service.

Look no further than the extraordinary reaction for Ospreay across both matches and how much the fans genuinely cared about him and his pursuit of the tournament victory.

AEW fans got what they have waited over a year for, the return of Kenny Omega, moments after Okada bested Ospreay to win the Continental Classic.

Described as an EVP by Christopher Daniels and the commentary team, Omega made his way to the ring with the AEW Continental Championship and presented it to the victor, but not without a tense staredown.

Omega has a long and rich history with The Rainmaker dating back to their time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In that promotion, they helped revolutionize the sport through a series of instant classics. In AEW, it was Okada who joined The Young Bucks in beating Omega down and contributing to his long absence.

The tease of unfinished business or an impending match-up not only set things up for an exciting new year but also created mystery about Omega’s role. Will he feud with his former Elite mates? Does he set aside the personal element of their rivalry and unite for the sake of battling The Death Riders?

Will he take on an authority figure role to tide him and the fans over until he is ready to take on a more consistent in-ring presence?

Whatever the case, Omega’s return generated considerable fan interest and the pop for his return was among one of the loudest in company history, indicative of the love the AEW faithful have for The Best Bout Machine.

Adam Copeland made his much-anticipated return to AEW in the closing moments of Worlds End, joining FTR to take down The Death Riders and set up a gigantic Six-Man Tag Team Match on Wednesday in Ashville, North Carolina on Dynamite.

The return was an exclamation point on the show, sent fans home happy, and set up a big main event for Wednesday’s show, all positives.

Even with all of that, though, it felt like a short-term answer to the uninspired Death Riders storyline.

There is no unpredictability or drama to speak of in the Jon Moxley-led program. The champion beats people up, declares a hostile takeover, cheats to win, retains his title, and things remain status quo.

The sudden re-emergence of Copeland and his pairing with FTR as they combat the villains may lead to some renewed interest for a week or two but is far from the long-term answer to a storyline that has not struck a chord with fans.

AEW needs to address the shortcomings of the storyline and figure out a way to fix it or bring it to an end sooner rather than later because the top of the card is exponentially hurt by it at this point.