How can you not get romantic about pro wrestling?
This paraphrased line from the all-time sports film Moneyball is wholly applicable to All Elite Wrestling’s latest PPV event, All In London 2024.
While you can criticize AEW for a great many things (and Lord knows there’s enough podcasts, think pieces and YouTube videos doing just that), there is one intrinsic truth about All Elite Wrestling — this company loves pro wrestling.
That sounds like a very silly statement — don’t all wrestling companies care about wrestling? The answer is of course they do … to varying degrees. See, some companies just live to get radical and don’t see the spiritual side of things. They are here for the viral trend, the trending spot, the “moment” that will burst through the pop culture divide and engrain its way into the cultural zeitgeist, and of course to generate boatloads of cash.
AEW, to both its success and detriment, create PPV’s to super-serve its hardcore fanbase. It’s very much a “we’re here to earn your money, not take your money” type of situation. And on August 25 at All In London 2024, AEW earned every red cent from the 50,000+ in attendance and those streaming it across the world.
The event was a love letter to everything that professional wrestling fans want. There were shocks and surprises, blood and violence, heartbreak and tear-filled emotion. It was a night that men and women from around the world achieved dreams. It was a night where even the most ridiculous elements of professional wrestling storytelling paid off with huge dividends. It was everything we tune into for pro wrestling for.
Now let’s get into the matches on AEW All In London 2024:
Top Flight, Lio Rush, Action Andretti, “The Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington, “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher w/Don Callis and “Super Bad” Kip Sabian vs. Private Party, The Dark Order, Anthony Ogogo, “One in a Million Santam Singh” w/Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal and Ariya Daivari: An absolute cluster in the best way possible. This was a fun way to get a lot of talented people, who mostly weren’t on the show last year, to get some moments to shine — especially long-time and under-used talents like Sabian, The Dark Order and Private Party.
Winners: Top Flight, Lio Rush, Action Andretti, “The Dynamite Kid” Tommy Billington, “The Protostar” Kyle Fletcher w/Don Callis and “Super Bad” Kip Sabian
Stokely Hathaway & Kris Statlander vs. “The Babe with the Power” Willow Nightingale & “The Stone Pitbull” Tomohiro Ishii with the Winning Team Picks the Stipulation for Statlander vs. Willow at All Out 2024: Kind of stunning this was so early in the show. Stokely Hathaway has finally found his place in AEW at the side of Kris Statlander. They’re perfect together and he was outstanding here — even delivering a legit awesome spinebuster to The Stone Pitbull. Ishii has been this wonderful undercard addition to AEW as everyone loves him and he has not missed in any of his matches. Stat and Willow? They went out did and what they do best — get the crowd fired up by killing it in the ring.
Winners: Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii
Note: I very much hope Willow chooses a street fight for her match with Statlander. It’s become her signature match, and Stat has proven on more than one occasion she can thrive in this environment as well.
Jamie Hayter Ruins Saraya’s All In Moment: AEW did this whole deal where Saraya and Harley Cameron come to the ring and gripe about Saraya’s lack of inclusion on the main show, especially after she won the title at las year’s show. Harley has really found her groove in AEW after the QTV debacle as this bonkers lackey to Saraya. Saraya, on the other hand, has had a lackluster run since winning the belt. Jamie Hayter’s music hits and everyone loses their collective minds. Hayter lays out members of “The Knight Family.” That’s in quote because it was members of their entourage not the actual family.
In the post-show Saraya went on an obscenity-fueled rant about Hayter and how she (Saraya) has been treated in the company. Easily her best work since joining AEW. Give me a foul-mouthed, blood thirsty Saraya and not whatever the past year has been. As for Hayter .. as the poets would say… LET’S GO.
“The Natural” Dustin Rhodes, “The Spanish God” Sammy Guevara, The Von Erichs & “The Wrestler” Katsuyori Shibata w/Kevin Von Erich vs. The Cage of Agony (Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun, Toa Lioana), The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven & Mike Bennett): Dustin Rhodes getting his flowers over the past year has been incredible and here’s hoping this all a build to All In 2025 in Texas with his retirement match. The Von Erichs looked good here and Sammy seems to be getting back into form. All the heels did their job here, and as always Bennett & Taven shine in this role.
Winners: Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara, The Von Erichs & Shibata
AEW Trios Title Ladder Match: The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, Nick Wayne) w/Mother Wayne vs. The Bang Bang Gang (The Gunns & Juice Robinson) vs. The House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews & Brody King) vs. Claudio Castagnoli, PAC & Wheeler Yuta — Winner Takes All:Â The trios division of AEW has been a mess since Jump Street. Will this match and its outcome solve things? Probably not. However, this was a very fun opener that highlighted what could be a very, very deep and talented division. In a theme that would run throughout the night — the hometown hero PAC looked like a million bucks here and ended up securing the W for his sometimes and current allies Claudio and Yuta.
Winners (and New): Claudio Castagnoli, PAC & Wheeler Yuta
AEW Women’s Title: “Timeless” Toni Storm (C) vs. “The Glamour” Mariah May: The culmination of AEW’s signature storyine hit all the perfect notes, and did the thing any good story does — it leaves us with so much opportunity for more. The story between Toni and Mariah is far from over. Mariah and Mina Shirakawa are on a collision course. Toni’s character is obviously going to evolve. Chef’s kiss. Oh, and the match — an absolute physical fight.
Winner (And New): “The Glamour” Mariah May
EXCLUSIVE: What’s next for “Timeless” #ToniStorm?
Did you miss the #AEWAllInLondon PPV? Order it right now!
🔗 https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj#aew #allelitewrestling pic.twitter.com/OEv7ZaX1mY— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 25, 2024
FTW Title Match: “The Learning Tree” Chris Jericho w/”The Bad Apple” Bryan Keith & “The Redwood” Big Bill vs. “The Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil” Hook: This match was perfectly okay. Did it elevate Hook? Given the reaction from the Wembley crowd — yes it did. Did we get a brand new star in Big Bill? This would be the happiest of accidents for AEW if the UK response to the big man translates across the pond. The moment here, though, was Taz slapping the Tazmission on Bryan Keith to a huge (and deserved reaction).
Winner (And New): Hook
AEW World Tag Titles Match: The Young Bucks (C) vs. FTR vs. The Acclaimed w/Billy Gunn: Everyone had their working shoes on this match. The Acclaimed has really found a higher gear in regards to their in-ring, but man do they need to break-up. Max Caster is primed to be a heel and Bowens is a readymade babyface star. Regardless, this was a strong match and The Bucks retaining is the right call.
Winner (And Still): The Young Bucks
Note: Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zach Gibson) showed up and made their presence known to The Bucks and FTR. The tag division is in dire need of fresh talent and GYV is going to be just that.
Casino Gauntlet Match: Orange Cassidy, “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada, Nigel McGuinness, Kyle O’Reilly, Zack Sabre Jr., Roderick Strong, ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe, Hangman Adam Page, “The Last Outlaw” Jeff Jarrett, Ricochet, Christian Cage, and Luchasaurus: Chef’s Freaking Kiss. This is AEW’s signature match and do they ever know how to book it. One could say this match is easy to book because you throw a whole bunch of names into a hat, pick one out and off to the races, no thought necessary. However, the reason this worked is because the wrestlers being paired off and squaring off was done so masterfully. We got face-offs between people we’ve never seen together before (or rarely) plus we got the absolutely unexpected return of NIGEL MCGUINNESS, who looked like he never quit, and then Ricochet debuting and doing a million bonkers moves. It was just terrific. Oh, and we did get storytelling for all you dorks who say AEW doesn’t do this with Hangman and Double J’s bad blood continuing. The finish was a bit sudden, but the right guy won — Ol’ Reliable Christian Cage.
Winner (And Receives a Title Shot): Christian Cage
AEW American/International Title Match: MJF (C) vs. “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay: A fantastic second chapter in what should be a “fight forever” feud between the two faces of AEW. We talk about “next guys up” with AEW all the time and let’s face it these are guys are it. Ospreay has stepped into the Kenny Omega “Best Bout Machine” role while MJF has filled in the role Cody Rhodes sorta kinda had as the sports entertainment adjacent old school heel. These guys are the pillars and we are lucky enough to see them ply their craft. The match itself was not on the same level as the Iron Man Match, but it didn’t need to be. This was about Ospreay finding his killer instinct again. For all the online pearl clutching about the Tiger Driver angle, the crowd was here for it and it felt satisfying to see Ospreay hit the move for the W.
Winner (And New): Will Ospreay
In FULL Assassin’s Creed mode, “The Aerial Assassin” Will Ospreay HAS ARRIVED HOME in Wembley!
Order #AEWAllInLondon LIVE on PPV right now! https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj@WillOspreay | @Assassins_UK | @Ubisoft_UK pic.twitter.com/BplDjYr4TC
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 25, 2024
TBS Title Match: “The CEO” Mercedes Mone (C) w/Kamille vs. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D.: Let’s grade this one on a curve. Was it a good match? Not really. Was it as bad as everyone said? Of course not. Let’s realize that Britt Baker was in her third match after two major injuries plus a TIA, so let’s get off her back. These three things would force any regular person to call it a day. Mercedes is also less than 10 matches back in her return, and has never been one to carry matches. Let’s hope they can run this back at some point with better results.
Winner (And Still): Mercedes Mone
TNT Title Coffin Match: “The Scapegoat” Jack Perry (C) vs. Darby Allin: A fun brawl with good intensity behind it. Could it have been more? Yes. Was the result correct? Yes. Is Jack Perry in a much better place on the card than a year ago? Absolutely.
Winner (And Still): Jack Perry
Post-Match: The EVPs come down to light the coffin on fire, but STING returns to save the day to an ungodly reaction. It was a phenomenal moment to see The Stinger back, and let’s hope he can remain a mentor to Darby as he’s sorely missed as a presence on the show.
IT’S STIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
Order #AEWAllInLondon on PPV right now!
🔗 https://t.co/JlBXZPLNGj@boy_myth_legend | @DarbyAllin | @YoungBucks | @Sting pic.twitter.com/lzESlWeEco— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 25, 2024
Main Event – AEW World Title Match: Swerve Strickland (C) w/Prince Nana vs. “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson: An absolute all-timer. Swerve deserves so much credit here. He wasn’t the heel in the match. He wasn’t the bad guy. He was a true villain. He was monstrous, vicious, indestructible at times, and did everything with self-righteous hate, disrespect and intensity. If not executing all of these to a masterful degree this match does not have the same emotional resonance. Him shaking off (LITERALLY) the Busaiku Knee was iconic. Danielson cemented himself as the best to ever do it with this match. He was able to blend all things dramatic and theatrical about pro wrestling with the brutal intricacies of in-ring athleticism. Him taking kicks from Swerve while professing his love to his family, a masterpiece. Him winning the belt was a highly emotional moment, and a perfect way to end a show that celebrated all things we love about wrestling.
Winner (And New): “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson
