AEW Worlds End Hot Take by Mike Johnson

'To be AEW is to be under attack.' - Tony Khan

It all comes to this. The end of the world.

All Elite Wrestling will present its final milestone event for 2023 on Saturday December 30th, emanating across the globe exclusively for TrillerTV internationally from the historic Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, NY, the aptly titled WORLDS END.

AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOWDOWN

If there was one man who defined All Elite Wrestling in 2023, it was the reigning and defending World Champion MJF. The year began with Maxwell Jacob Friedman as one of the most despised personalities in all of combat sports, but by the end of the year, MJF maintained a strong grasp on the championship, stood victorious at All In: London before a record setting live crowd of 80,000-plus fans, found himself accepted by the AEW faithful and for perhaps the first time in his life, built a legitimate bond with his best friend Adam Cole.

The fact that MJF was able to accomplish all that he did in the ring, and even beyond it with his work in the acting world, despite being under regular attacks from all directions as the most hunted man in All Elite Wrestling was nothing short of inspirational, even from a talent who can be so overly obnoxious and toxic. While he may be the longest reigning AEW World Champion of all time currently, MJF has one more obstacle to achieve if he looks to exit the year stronger than ever - defeat Samoa Joe.

At World's End, The Samoan Submission Machine is looking to add yet another accolade to his lethal list of accomplishments. Already the only man on Planet Earth to have held the Ring of Honor, TNA and WWE NXT World Championships, Joe relinquished the ROH World Television Championship in order to fully target MJF and the AEW World Championship, seeking to make history one more time by hoisting the most prestigious championship in all of All Elite Wrestling on his shoulder.

While MJF will certainly have the home field advantage with this main event emanating from his native Long Island, New York, Joe has always had the monstrous ability to break down competitors with his patented ground and pound style, shattering bodies and spirits at the same time inside the squared circle. MJF has proven to be incredibly resilient inside the ring over the last year, even returning from a knee injury to defeat Jay White, but Joe is a different breed of competitor - the real life "Final Boss" from a video game, a hard-nosed brawler who has choked out endless competitors and pinned multiple legends across the decades.

Joe has made his legend many times over, at AEW Worlds End, he's seeking immortality. To achieve that moment, Joe will have to take MJF out in his hometown. While MJF has found himself channeling the AEW faithful in the ring this year, he's also publicly acknowledged that he will enter this championship bout with a torn labrum. With a relentless predator chasing his championship, one who uses the Muscle Buster as a signature finishing maneuver, could MJF's homecoming actually be where his luck runs out?

As if facing the kaiju known as Samoa Joe isn't fearsome enough for MJF, the dark shadow cast upon all of All Elite Wrestling by the mysterious individual known only as The Devil continues to command his minions to attack and decimate AEW stars while playing mind games as he targets MJF. Will that distraction prevent MJF from focusing on a game Samoa Joe? Will The Devil and his crew reveal themselves at Worlds End? If they do, what does that mean not just for the AEW World Championship but the entire AEW landscape as 2023 melts away with a new year upon us?

Will 2023 close with MJF or Samoa Joe as AEW's kingpin…or are we looking at a demented twist of fate that no one could have ever predicted? At Worlds End, the final chapter for AEW's year will be inscribed into history with TrillerTV's global audience standing witness live as it happens.

LIVING ON THE EDGE: NO DQ

While this past year was about the dominance of MJF, it was also about the legendary Adam Copeland entering All Elite Wrestling. In a move that shocked the world at AEW Wrestledream, Copeland arrived to rescue Sting and Darby Allin, a turn of events that not only stunned fans that believed Copeland was edging into retirement but left the reigning TNT Champion Christian Cage irate.

Not only had Copeland ruined Cage's plans to take Allin and Sting out once and for all, but his arrival in AEW also meant that once again, The Rated R Superstar had arrived to steal the spotlight from Christian. From their formative days training under the legendary Ron Hutchinson in Canada to their E&C tag team glory years to the fragmenting on their friendship, Cage has always held the belief that he, not Copeland was the definitive star and the competitor who deserved all the success that Copeland found over the course of his singles career.

Now entrenched as the TNT Champion and the patriarch of a twisted family that will follow his every command, Cage enters the Nassau Coliseum seeking to once again defeat Copeland, although the rules have changed since their most recent encounter on AEW+'s Dynamite. With Copeland issuing the challenge for a No DQ match, this blood feud can now be taken to the extreme with absolutely anything and everything legal until one competitor can lay waste to the other and emerge victorious.

These are two men who know each other so closely, there was a period of time they were promoted publicly as brothers. From the days of The Brood through 2023 and really, until the end of time, Christian Cage and Adam Copeland will be intertwined, but at AEW Worlds End, they seek to end this embittered rivalry, once and for all. Cage is looking to send Copeland back into retirement, shamed and humiliated. Copeland is seeking to destroy Cage by taking the one thing he holds most dear in his life: The TNT Championship.

While Copeland has battled some of the greatest competitors across the world, so has Cage. Copeland brings one of the most celebrated spears and a Flatliner to the ring as his lethal finishing maneuvers but he's also walking into a match stipulation that greatly favors the defending champion. After all, as if Cage isn't ruthless enough, it will be completely legal for Killshot and Nick Wayne to run interference. Could the numbers game add up to the demise of Adam Copeland's championship dreams?

What was once an unbreakable bond that was forged decades ago has shattered into a jagged, twisted blood feud that in all actuality will never die, but will Worlds End be host to the most violent chapter ever known? International TrillerTV viewers will see two men enter a war of attrition on December 30th, one in which there can be no true victor, only a survivor - and to that survivor goes the spoils of war: pride, victory, and the TNT Title.

AEW WOMEN'S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

The rise of the reigning AEW Women's World Champion Toni Storm has seen the most electric electron warrior of all time tantalize fans across the world by mesmerizing opponents into defeat. A true throwback talent, Storm has brought back so many forgotten elements of stardom while evolving her strategies inside combat sport's squared circle.

At Worlds End in New York, Storm looks to once again strut victoriously out of the ring, but in order to close the technicolor year in perfect fashion, Storm will have to outlast and defeat a ghost from the past, the Japanese Superstar known as Riho. The first-ever AEW World Women's Champion recently returned to the ring after an extended absence thanks to a previous attack from Storm and her former cohorts in the Outcasts. While Storm had moved on to a grander stage, Riho never forgot and trained hard to return, finally doing so and in the process, earning her Worlds End Championship match.

Everything that was old is new again. Storm now has to contend with someone who knows all too well how to shock the world, as Riho did when she stunned Nyla Rosa to become the first ever champion. As soft-spoken as Riho is before the fans, her work inside the ring speaks volumes and can never, ever be underestimated. If she can stun and defeat Storm, not only will Riho win her second AEW World Championship, she will also kick off 2024 as the most talked about international women's professional wrestler in the world.

While Riho's work ethic inside the ring is never in question, one can't automatically tip the eyes in her favor. While Emi Sakura taught her protege well, Riho will have to contend with a far different Toni Storm, someone who has evolved into her ultimate form as a fierce competitor ready to do anything to maintain her championship position. Plus, Riho will have to contend with Toni Storm's butler Luther, Alfred to Toni Storm's Batman, willing to do anything necessary to insure her championship success.

The fate of the Women's Wrestling World is in the air at Worlds End and only one competitor can lay claim to all the power that comes with the championship. TrillerTV international fans will see exactly who will preside over AEW from their throne at Worlds End!

This triple main event will be augmented by additional AEW clashes and spectacles to be announced in the days ahead, including the finals of the Continental Classic tournament, which will see AEW's finest seeking to earn the Triple Crown Championship comprised of the Ring of Honor World Championship, the Continental Classic tournament and New Japan Pro Wrestling's Strong Openweight Championship. There will be a new power broker in town when the Continental Classic hits its climax!

As AEW closes 2023, TrillerTV will tag in and bring one of the most fantastic evenings presented by professional wrestling's rebel alliance to the masses. We may be at Worlds End, but an entire universe is still to be conquered - and the next chapter in that fantastic war is about to be waged live from the Nassau Coliseum!

Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.