The AEW Thread

All these results are excellent and correct.

O'Reilly def. Mox
Briscoe def. Fletcher
Stat def. Moné
Joe def. Hangman

Huge congrats to Statlander! Big career progression from when she was from Andromeda on Dark.

Yeah this was an awesome show. Good flow to the night and everything was clicking.

If the big loss means Hangman/Swerve vs Joe and the Opps, then I’m all in.

This is what I get out of the Continental Classic:

Why is Moxley blading in a tournament match against a guy in his own faction? Oh, WOW, Claudio pinned him! Maybe a bit late in his career, but okay, let's see. Oh, wait, he Claudio just got beat by random mask guy. Way to establish that everybody's a mid-carder Tony.

I dunno, man. This year's C2 was probably the best one yet. Lotta drama and I love the feeling that anyone can win a given match. Claudio has had an interesting sidequest against luchadors this year, he specifically sought out a CMLL title because he has a known "weakness" against lucha guys.

Mox's story was killer-- he spent most of 2025 being absolutely hated, but the crowd was cheering him on by the end. The semifinals and final were fantastic. Mox busting his tooth off in the semis is icing on the cake.

It's a tired expression at this point, but World's End really was another card of fantastic bangers. Not just the level of in-ring action, but a lot of interesting stories playing out and stacking on additional layers. Several finishes I didn't see coming at all. Great show all around.

I think tournaments like that should be used to boost someone off if it's not going to be for the title. I'm not saying they have to win, but a series of upsets for one person and then maybe they lose in the end to a more established guys. Like I said, beating a top guy and then losing to a somewhat no name just makes everybody feel mid-card. But I guess that's why we don't see a lot of these because they're difficult to book strongly.

While I get your point about Claudio, he still came out looking like a killer. Speedball and Kevin Knight were both put over in big ways. Fletcher and Takeshita were presented as monsters.

No one really came out of the tournament looking any worse.

Banner year for AEW, 2025 > 2021 in my opinion. Worlds End and New Year’s Bash really felt like the end of a season. Going to be difficult to follow up, but Omega back in the title scene is a great start.

Omega needs another run

Hate that he’s the first one up

Swerve and Hangman are still in the mix, Joe and the Opps lurking, Bandido gets his shot at Maximum Carnage. Really feels like we’re in for some shorter reigns for a time (which is a good thing IMO).

Title scene is definitely hot. I think Kenny’s got a good chance at another run.

As far as poaching wrestlers from AEW, WWE should have their eyes on Thekla next. She seems to have "it" and I don't trust Tony to make her a star. I could be wrong.

Thekla is instantly one of the coolest wrestlers of all time. She seems to understand every aspect of the game and has amazing charisma that feels completely natural.

…and now’s she’s immediately getting a rematch after Stat just beat her clean. Sounds like TK is striking the hot iron.

I’m all for riding momentum, but if this is how she gets the belt it simply makes me feel bad for Statlander. I’m fine with a course correction, but this is sloppy and really undercuts Stat’s reign (which hasn’t been booked that well).

But whatever, Thekla is gonna kill it with some gold around her waist. This could all easily lead to some more anarchy in the arena/blood and guts for the ladies, so **** it let’s get toxic.

Is it me or has AEW struggled to book a decent Face champion reign in years?

I think you’re definitely right, there. Sort of a traditional problem in wrestling historically, always seems tougher to book face champions.

I don’t know a good answer, either. I love Statlander, but I don’t know specifically what would make her reign better. Even seemingly good ideas, like grouping her with Willow and Harley, can kinda fall flat and actually decrease the focus on everyone involved. The women’s storylines are floundering a bit overall, so Stat’s reign could be more of a symptom of that.

These complaints aside, the show has been pretty great lately. The last few Dynamites have been fire.

Andrade has jumped back and forth enough to finally confuse someone into believing he's a top guy.

And Fuck Ice.

Stupid sexy Andrade is a gimmick I can get behind.

And **** ICE.

Just turned on Collision expecting a Grand Slam preshow. Didn't realize it WAS the show.

And apparently Thekla won the belt after my DVR cut off on Wednesday. I think I have a 10 minute overrun, maybe only five, but I'm frequently missing the end of Dynamite. Guess that's the consequence of never watching wrestling live anymore.

Oh yeah, Dynamite always has some significant overrun. I just watch the replays on HBO.

Wasn’t expecting MJF as the mvp of a John Oliver ep

But here we are

Can’t wait for Vegas to host WM and how terrified of it H is goona be

Its very weird that the MAX version airs fast forwardable commercials. I mean, I didn't even try till halfway through the show.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but I feel like Swerve is or at least at recently was their most popular star. I feel like they did nothing with his title run and now a heel turn just seems like Tony is missing the boat here. He should be THE TOP babyface.