Eddie Kingston and The Real Winners and Losers From AEW Worlds End 2023 Match Card
AEW presented the very first World's End pay-per-view Saturday night from the historic Nassau Veteran's Memorial Coliseum, with a card that featured all of the promotion's top titles up for grabs and the conclusion of the Continental Classic that has dominated the company's programming for the last two months.
Eddie Kingston defeated Jon Moxley to retain his Ring of Honor World and New Japan Pro-Wrestling Strong titles and win the AEW Continental Championship.
He headlines the list of winners and losers from the show.
Who joins him and why?
Find out with this recap of the extravaganza.
Results
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The results of the 2023 Worlds End pay-per-view:
- AEW World Championship Match: Samoa Joe def. MJF to win the title
- Continental Classic Final: Eddie Kingston def. Jon Moxley to win the AEW Continental Championship
- No Disqualification Match: Adam Copeland def. Christian Cage to win the TNT Championship (Cage won it back seconds later.)
- TBS Champion Julia Hart def. Abadon
- Sting, Darby Allin, Chris Jericho, and Sammy Guevara def. Ricky Starks, Big Bill, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Konosuke Takeshita
- Swerve Strickland def. Dustin Rhodes
- AEW World Women's Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm def. Riho
- Miro def. Andrade El Idolo
- Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Mark Briscoe, and Daniel Garcia def. Brody King, "Switchblade" Jay White, Jay Lethal, and Rush
- Zero Hour: FTW Champion Hook def. Wheeler Yuta by submission
- Zero Hour: Killswitch won the TNT Championship No. 1 Contender's Battle Royal, last eliminating Trent Beretta
- Zero Hour: Willow Nightingale def. Kris Statlander
Winner: Daniel Garcia
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Daniel Garcia was one of the few undisputed winners coming out of Saturday's show, thanks to an Eight-Man Tag Team Match that was framed around him.
He was spotlighted, despite sharing the ring with the likes of Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, Mark Briscoe, and the physically imposing Brody King, and earned the win for his team to the delight of the fans in Long Island.
It was the latest in a career renaissance that began with hints that he was no longer satisfied with being a sports entertainer and continued with his run through the Continental Classic Blue League.
He may not have won that tournament, but he has momentum on his side for the second time in his AEW career. The first time, it was derailed when he was inexplicably added to the Jericho Appreciation Society in a booking decision that did him no favors.
Now, the talented technician with an undeniable crowd connection has a second shot at establishing himself in AEW. Not as a faction or saddled with a dancing gimmick that he got over anyway, but as himself.
The commentary team put over the reluctant respect he earned from the Blackpool Combat Club and while that figures to be a story thread to watch in the coming weeks, Tony Khan and Co. should resist jumping him from faction to faction.
Let him sink or swim on his own and, if nights like this, in front of passionate fans are any indication, he will prove he can thrive.
Loser: The Entire Eight-Man Tag Team Debacle
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There was not a single person involved in the Eight Man Tag Team Match pitting Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Sting, and Darby Allin against Ricky Starks, Big Bill, Konosuke Takeshita, and Powerhouse Hobbs that benefitted in from it.
Thrown together at the last second to make up for Kenny Omega's diverticulitis scare, it felt like it.
The action was messy and disjointed, it looked at points like performers were not on the same page, and the crowd's utter disinterest hung over the contest like a dark cloud.
That Starks, the one guy who most needed protection by the outcome, was pinned only enhanced everything wrong with the match.
Excalibur emphasizing that Guevara pinned Starks, one-half of the AEW World Tag Team Champions (with Bill) suggests that AEW booking will bring The Spanish God and Jericho together to challenge the titleholders.
Another booking decision that, based on what and how things unfolded here, would be the wrong creative choice.
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Winner: Swerve Strickland
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Swerve Strickland entered Saturday expecting to face Keith Lee in a match that may have made sense given their history but felt like a step down given how hot he had been as a main event-level competitor.
When Lee revealed he was dealing with an injury that would ultimately result in his removal from the card, and the announcement of Dustin Rhodes as the replacement, it felt like the hottest guy in the company was being wasted.
In hindsight, it still does, to an extent, but as he's done so many times throughout his career, Strickland managed to make the most of the situation.
Rhodes is a grizzled veteran who is trusted by management and beloved by fans so it's not surprising he was able to get the crowd to both feel for him and resent Strickland.
Swerve was great as the heartless, ruthless villain who targeted his opponent's ankle by stomping it through a cinderblock and hobbling him for the rest of the match. He was merciless in his attack, caring not for his opponent but, rather, about sending a message to anyone else who dared to stand in his way.
It was not a great match and may not do much to generate excitement about his night in Long Island, but it further established the cold-blooded side of Strickland and is a nice building block coming out of the pay-per-view.
Loser: TNT Championship Booking
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Adam Copeland defeated Christian Cage in a No Disqualification Match to win the TNT Championship Saturday night.
Until the dino-masked Killswitch attacked and reluctantly allowed Cage to cash in a shot at the title he, himself, had earned by way of a battle royal win earlier in the night. The weasely heel escaped the with his title, again, begging the question: what was the point of any of it?
Months of television and the match that preceded the angle were all for naught as the story was essentially reset, taking it right back to December 4, where Cage managed to manipulate his way emerging victoriously from his first showdown with The Rated R Superstar.
AEW tends to get cute and extend stories longer than they need to be and, while Cage has been great, we do not need another three months of him and Copeland feuding ahead of Revolution.
This really should have been the blowoff.
Beyond that, the last thing fans needed amid a match featuring two former WWE guys repeating spots that they popularized in WWE, with a finish right out of WrestleMania 22, was a replicated Money in the Bank cash-in.
It did not work, the big flaming table spot featuring Nick Wayne was contrived and did not work nearly as well as intended, but it does not matter because we are poised to run it back, again, starting Wednesday on TBS.
Winners: Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale
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The AEW women's division was highlighted Saturday in the form of three matches across the show's run time, but none was better than the Zero Hour kickoff show bout between Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander.
Put in an unenviable position of kicking off the entire night of action, in front of an arena that was a quarter full and with no real backstory to speak of, the competitors did not allow the circumstances to hamper their performances.
Instead, they delivered a good, physical match that accentuated the power of both wrestlers before ultimately putting Nightingale over.
The match occurred amid the introduction of a storyline involving Statlander and Stokely Hathaway but outside of the latter's involvement on commentary during the bout, it was a match that was allowed to unfold until the always-smiling babyface scored the hard-fought win.
Statlander could have folded under the silence or lack of investment. Instead, they worked hard and delivered a match that ultimately won the fans over. More of this, and lucid storytelling, for the women's division.
Winner: Eddie Kingston
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Eddie Kingston's AEW run has been the perfect microcosm of his career. He has been overlooked, overshadowed, looked down on, and taken for granted.
Never by the fans, though, whose intense connection to the New Yorker has never wavered.
Saturday night, after a long and grueling climb to the top, the reigning Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling Strong Champion added another title to his collection: the AEW Continental Championship.
Kingston defeated Moxley in a physically grueling match, absorbing and enduring everything his opponent threw at him before catching him from out of nowhere with a back fist and scoring the win.
The match was enhanced by Bryan Danielson on commentary, who expertly broke down Kingston's strengths and how he advised Moxley on how to combat them. It felt real, like an actual color commentator explaining the mindsets of the combatants.
Everything about it was great, including the post-match embrace between the victor and the runner-up, and Moxley walking off to allow Kingston to enjoy his moment.
This was the easiest creative layup on the card and Tony Khan executed it perfectly, something that could not be said for the majority of the broadcast.
Winner: MJF
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MJF was very obviously injured entering his AEW World Championship defense against Samoa Joe in Saturday's main event. He sported a significant sling to protect a badly injured shoulder and suffered from a bad hip, both of which he admitted to in his article for The Player's Tribune.
Fueled by his desire to perform and to do so in his hometown of Long Island, and despite the injury, he turned in one of the gutsiest performances in recent memory.
This was not the case of a guy nursing boo-boos and just getting through. He took big bumps on seriously injured parts of his body, which generated sympathy from his fans, family, and friends.
Adam Cole was at ringside, absolutely, most not foreshadowing any major angles at the end of the show or anything, and cringed along with all of us after each suplex, slam, or bump on the ring apron.
It was uncomfortable to watch at times, especially considering the injuries, and put over the toughness of "our" scumbag.
If there was one thing that would have helped hammer home the story both MJF and Joe told, it would have been a slower descent into unconsciousness, ala the "Stone Cold" Steve Austin performance in the WrestleMania 13 Submission Match.
That is nitpicking, though.
MJF, battered, bruised, and not 100 percent, dropped the title in a fashion that made sense given everything else he endured.
By the time Cole ultimately betrayed him after the match and revealed himself to be The Devil, it became abundantly clear that if all involved can play it right, The Salt of the Earth will be the biggest babyface in the business when he comes back from whatever absence his injury ultimately commands.
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