This isn’t recency bias talking, but I genuinely believe that this is one of the greatest matches in the history of the AEW women’s division. 2025 was a banner year for AEW as a company, with many fans believing that it matched, or even surpassed, the beloved 2021, and having the final match of the year be one of the most anticipated rematches in the women’s division was a decision that couldn’t have gone wrong.

Both women walked into this bout having undergone some major changes. For Willow Nightingale, she had finally gotten some gold back around her waist in the form of the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships alongside Harley Cameron in the Babes of Wrath, who actually eliminated Mercedes Mone and Athena from the tournament to crown the inaugural champions. As for “The CEO,” she had reached the pinnacle of the industry by holding 13 belts representing 11 different championships from companies across the world. She was the longest reigning AEW TBS Champion, and was aiming to finish 2025 by matching Jade Cargill’s record of 25 successful defenses.

With that said, Mone had lost the ROH Women’s World Television and RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championships in the lead up to this match. She failed to take the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships from The Babes of Wrath at Worlds End 2025, and was still haunted by the fact that she had yet to win the AEW Women’s World Championship. Mone had become erratic and aggressive, unhinged and dangerous, and that was evident in the way she carried herself through this match. She had already gotten close to her final form in AEW, and was having arguably the greatest year of her career, but would her emotions get the better of her?

At times, yes they did get the better of her, but it was Nightingale who made all of Mone’s mistakes count. She channeled all of the people who helped her get to where she is today in order to get over the line, and with both women having so much on the line going into, every near fall was believable and exciting. Nightingale and Mone weren’t going to let AEW head into 2026 with a whimper, they were going to throw everything they had at each other in order to come away with the win.

In a world where finishers are less effective than a chocolate teapot left out in the sun, the sight of Mone not kicking out of the Doctor Bomb and Nightingale getting the win was something that genuinely surprised people, but that’s what made it so great. Easily the best AEW TBS Championship match ever, the best title change the belt has seen so far, and with “The CEO” still yet to wrestle in 2026, a rubber match between the two ladies in AEW could finally be the moment where a women’s match main events an AEW pay-per-view.