After months of build and hype, AEW All In delivered a jam-packed event with 12 matches spread out, three matches during the pre-show, and nine for the main card. With what felt like a company survival on the line, tensions were high and anticipation through the roof. Did AEW deliver on promises?
Yes. Indeed they did.
The pre-show kicked off with three fun bouts. The Sons of Texas and the Von Erichs defeated Shane Taylor Promotions in a rowdy opener. Great to see the Von Erichs get some love in Texas. Next up saw a light-hearted match turn serious when The Conglomeration and Big Boom AJ defeated The Don Callis Family. A real shocker spot when Trent shoved “Big Justice” to the ground. The dude pushed a kid. AJ lost his marbles and rampaged to help his team get the win. But wow. They really pushed the envelope on that one.
Finally, FTR defeated The Outrunners. I was a bit disappointed Magnum and Floyd didn’t get the W. I hope this feud isn’t over. It appears the Outrunners are improving exponentially, and one more rodeo with FTR would be great.
Could you imagine, FTR defeats the Hurt Syndicate for the championships somehow, and this leads to the Outrunners getting a title shot… and winning?
The main show was six hours of non-stop wrestling. Felt a bit like ECW and NJPW influence with the format of the show. The majority of matches felt completely and truly unpredictable.
Kicking off featured The Opps retaining the Trios Championships against The Death Riders. I would really like for Gabe Kidd to stick around while PAC is out. Going back and forth multiple times, it truly felt like either team could have won. Give us Kidd vs. Hobbs one on one please. After a tremendous physical bout, the losing Death Riders opted to target Samoa Joe and seemingly injure him.
Guess this will explain why he needs to be off TV for a while. Does Hook come back to replace Joe?
MJF wins the Men’s Casino Gauntlet Battle Royale
The gauntlets are fun and wild. The highly personal feud between MJF and Mark Briscoe was featured sporadically during the match. However, MJF in classic heel fashion spent most of the time hiding or skulking around the ring. MJF began with Briscoe, then were joined by Ricochet. However, a rivalry not to be forgotten, as Mistico was the fourth entrant and immediately went after Maxwell. Takeshita and Josh Alexander entered shortly afterwards to rund out representation from the Don Callis Family. When Brody King entered, all hell itself broke loose. If not for the heavy hype for MJF to win, I would have picked Brody as the ideal winner. Other entrants included: Anthony Bowens, Roderick Strong, Beast Mortos, Bandido and Kota Ibushi all amazingly had their moments to stand out. The big surprise, came in the form of a returning Juice Robinson and as non-participants, The Gunn Club. Very fun and wildly entertaining match.
MJF’s win, while predictable, makes the most sense. He’s been eyeballing a second run as World Champion, his alliance with the Syndicate pushes this further into reality.
Dustin Rhodes wins a Fatal Four Way for the Vacant TNT Championship
It is a real damn shame about Adam Cole. The guy puts his heart into every match, but unfortunately injuries continue to catch up with him. He cut a promo before the match announcing the vacancy and his time away from the ring. I really hope he gets better and honestly, he doesn’t have to come back into the ring. He’s been good on commentary or in a manager role. Of course no one wants to be put into a position one doesn’t want to be in, but hopefully Cole is able to remain involved somehow.
Dustin defeated Kyle Fletcher, Sammy Guevara, and Daniel Garcia to win the title. What a match. At first I thought this would be a neat way to get the championship on Fletcher, but pulling a small package to win? Brilliantly shocking. I jumped for joy. Good for Dustin and seriously, how did no one think of this sooner? It’s about time he gets a run.
By the way, in case one wasn’t keeping track, Dustin and Sammy competed three times 24 hours. Ring of Honor on Friday, and TWO matches at All In.
Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay defeated the Young Bucks
Show-stealing match of the night. Unbelievable how good this was. There was a fast-paced sequence halfway through which appeared UNGODLY and defies every rule of physics. Please watch a replay of this. Swerve and Ospreay’s tandem offensive was smooth and well executed to counter-attack the Bucks trademarks. Again, a major match which was extremely difficult to predict the longer it went on. A collective gasp from the live crowd echoed for a while after Ospreay accidentally decked Swerve with a hidden blade. Thankfully this did not impact their resolve in working together. The Bucks left frustrated and resigned, Swerve and Ospreay hit their finishers simultaneously for the pinfall victory, thus ending the EVP reign of the Bucks.
Athena wins the Women’s Casino Gauntlet Battle Royale
What a match. Excellent match. Athena winning was a perfect decision. Lots of very deserving women in the contest, further evidence how far the women’s division has come since AEW’s inception. Kris Statlander and Megan Bayne started the match, looking like Wonder Woman and Big Barda slugging it out over Olympus. During the match, they would wind up joining forces to get rid of interference. I have to say, if there’s a change in the future, I wouldn’t mind seeing Bayne and Statlander working together. Other entrants included: Tay Melo, Thekla, Willow Nightengale, Julia Hart, Athena, and the debuts of Syuri Kondo and Alex Windsor. At one moment, Penelope Ford brawled with Anna Jay and seemed to have the advantage until a returning Harley Cameron sporting a pink animal (bunny?) mask came in for the save.
Athena’s run towards the AEW Women’s Champion will be incredible. As the “Forever Champion” of Ring of Honor, one has to wonder if she will be the one to dethrone…
The Hurt Syndicate retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships against the Patriarchy and JetSpeed with FTR on commentary.
Overall a pretty good match, but lacked a bit in some aspects. Running a bit chaotic with frequent run-ins rather than tags, this felt more like a Tornado Tag match. Despite commentary questioning whether the Syndicate could retain, Benjamin and Lashley would go on to maul both teams, inevitably pinning Christian Cage after a spear for the win.
The real story came afterwards, as Nick Wayne turns on Christian. With Kip Sabian and mom in tow, and with some encouragement by FTR, it seemed Cage would fall prey to the Con-Chair-To. However, Cope returned, hit the ring, and drove everyone off. He tells Christian to “Go find himself.”
Yep, the boys will be back together soon enough.
“Timeless” Toni Storm defeated Mercedes Mone to retain the AEW Women’s Championship in what might be the Match of the Year
I mean it. A spectacular championship bout. A blend of slow, methodical exchanges and counters, turned into where one woman dominated the other, and then broke into a barrage of undeniably amazing spots which left everyone either breathless or losing their damn minds. Neither maintained advantage for too long, as each continued to out-wrestle or outmaneuver the other. Towards the end, Mone was relentless in applying submission holds, until Storm busted out a trifecta of Storm Zero Piledrivers. When all else failed, Storm took Mone up the turnbuckle, delivering a crushing Storm Zero which appeared to be similar to a Rhino Driver from ECW.
The performance of a lifetime from both women.
Kazuchka Okada defeated Kenny Omega for the AEW Intercon… Unified Championship
Sorry, I had to do it.
While this wasn’t up there with their bouts over the past decade, it was still an impressive back-and-forth in which Okada was pushed the hardest since his debut in AEW. Of course the Diverticulitis has to be brought up without delay and repeated over and over every time Omge is punched or dropped on his gut. After a while, thankfully the team moved on and focuses on each wrestler’s strengths and weaknesses throughout the match. Omega appeared to have victory in-hand, however interference and underhanded tactics allowed Okada to outlast the Cleaner, hitting the Rainmaker lariat more than once to secure the championship.
I am willing to bet a rematch will be in the works, however I would very much like to see Okada on TV more often to defend the championship or at the least have Eliminator matches against worthy opponents.
“Hangman” Adam Page defeated Jon Moxley to regain the AEW World’s Heavyweight Championship
The final match of the night was no ordinary match, but contested under Texas Death Match Rules.
Hangman came out through the babyface tunnel and to his old theme music. Brilliant call by whomever planned it, but the camera was set on the heel side and jumped across the stage when Hanger came out through the opposite tunnel. Our Anxious Millennial Cowboy is back!
In case one wasn’t sure what this meant, Page went psycho within the first few minutes by stabbing Mox in the head repeatedly with a fork. It was gory as hell. There was no blading here. All fork. Chairs, tables, glass shards, all used throughout the match. Instead of a straight up brawl or fight, there was plenty of actual wrestling engaged during the match as well. This might have been Mox’s best match since initially winning the championship. Hangman’s tenacity was on full display, refusing to die each time Mox thought his challenger would give it. A bed of nails came out towards the end, and Mox ate it.
The conclusion felt like a wild ride circa 1996 WCW or WWF as wrestlers came in to interfere or stop the interference. The Death Riders came out, but just then on the big screen DARBY ALLIN delivered a grave warning to Moxley. A man in a Blue Panther-like mask charged the ring, pointing skyward in familiar fashion before hitting the Busaiko Knee on Mox. Darby came down from the rafters! The Young Bucks tried to interfere! Prince Nana handcuffs Marina Shafir to the time keeper’s table! Swerve Strickland fought off the Bucks! Ospreay was taken out by the Death Riders in the same fashion as Samoa Joe! Swerve turns the tide as Hangman hits repeated Buckshot Lariats but can’t keep Mox down for the count! He tosses a chain to Adam Page who lives up to his name by HANGING MOX over the ropes! He taps out! It’s over! FINALLY! NEW CHAMPION!!
Great moment as Hangman opens the briefcase, revealing the AEW World Championship!
The celebration begins as a new era in AEW is here!!!
We wanted the Death Riders angle to end so badly, that when it did, we freakin’ loved every moment of it. I suppose in hindsight then they did their job. We hated it so bad, that when Mox was finally defeated it felt even more special than imagined.
This PPV ticked all the boxes with hits one after another.
I imagine if they were this prepared, then the follow up will not be lacking in any way. AEW is back on track and let’s keep this train rolling!
