On August 27th, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) will hold the biggest show in its history (and one of the biggest shows in wrestling history, to be honest) when All In takes place in Wembley Stadium in London. Of course, the name of the event comes from the “indie super show” that happened in Chicago in 2018, promoted by Cody Rhodes, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson in association with Ring of Honor (ROH).
While AEW didn’t exist yet, the show is often considered the precursor to the start of the company as its success showed many people (including Tony Khan) that there was a market for another big wrestling company in North America. What’s interesting is that many of the wrestlers who competed at the original All In are now members of the AEW roster. In fact, a lot of them will be wrestling at Wembley. Let’s take a look at who they are.
We will never forget times like this😎
At #AllIn in 2018, @CodyRhodes and @RealNickAldis faced off for the NWA World Championship.
See the original ALL IN right now on #FITE before #AEWAllIn on August 27.
*Available in select International markets pic.twitter.com/A3tjjAnVVi
— FITE (@FiteTV) August 11, 2023
Zero Hour
The first match of the night happened on the Zero Hour preshow, featuring SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) defeating The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe). Of course, Jay Briscoe tragically passed away due to a car accident in January 2023, but his brother Mark is now a member of the AEW roster.
Unfortunately, he’s out with an injury. SoCal Uncensored joined AEW at the start of the company. Scorpio Sky is still with AEW (though he isn’t featured very much these days), while Zarian left the company and is currently signed to IMPACT! Wrestling.
The other preshow match was a 19-person Over Budget Battle Royale. Out of the 19 competitors in that match, eight currently work for Tony Khan (Chuckie T/Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, Brian Cage, Ethan Page, Austin Gunn, Billy Gunn, Colt Cabana, and Brandon Cutler) while Rocky Romero occasionally wrestles in AEW and Marko Stunt was formerly a roster member as well.
Out of those named, only Taylor and Beretta are officially booked for All In London, as they will be in a Stadium Stampede Match against the Blackpool Combat Club and three mystery partners.
Main Card
Onto the actual show. As he mentioned on AEW Dynamite recently, Maxwell Jacob Friedman opened the original All In, losing to Matt Cross. MJF is now, of course, AEW World Champion and he will headline the 2023 All In London against Adam Cole. This means he went from opening the show to closing it in just about five years.
Christopher Daniels (accompanied by Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) defeated Stephen Amell in the second match of the PPV. Daniels is currently wrestling primarily for ROH, but he is also the Head of Talent Relations for AEW and is allegedly banned from AEW Collision.
AEW is holding a four-way match for the AEW Women’s World Championship at All In. There was also a four-way women’s match at the original All In. The common link between the two? Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. In 2018, she competed against Chelsea Green, Madison Rayne, and Tessa Blanchard, who won the match. Rayne is also currently signed to AEW, where she wrestles in addition to being one of the coaches of the women’s division.
Cody (not legally able to be Rhodes at this point) defeated Nick Aldis for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship at the show. Of course, Cody was a founding member of AEW and and EVP, before heading back to WWE. On an interesting note, one of the people who accompanied Nick Aldis to the ring was Jeff Jarrett, who not only wrestles for AEW today, but he is also the company’s Director of Business Development.
Hangman Page defeated Joey Janela in the next match. Both men were early signees with AEW, with Janela staying with the company until mid-2022, while Hangman Page is often considered to be the “main character” in AEW. He will be competing in Wembley, alongside Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi against Juice Robinson, Jay White, and Konosuke Takeshita.
Jay Lethal defeated battle royal winner Flip Gordon in a match for the ROH World Championship. Lethal is currently a member of an AEW stable with Jeff Jarrett, Karen Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt, and Satnam Singh. They were most recently seen being terrorized by Leatherface.
Kenny Omega defeated Penta El Zero in the next match. Kenny Omega is, of course, an EVP with AEW while the now-named Penta El Zero Miedo is a member of the roster as well. Omega will be in the aforementioned six-person match with Page and Ibushi at All In, while Penta will take part in the Stadium Stampede match.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Marty Scurll in the second-last match of the show. Interestingly, this is the only match of the night where a current member of the AEW roster did not compete. That said, Okada has appeared on AEW television, most recently in the build to Forbidden Door (where he lost to Bryan Danielson in the match event).
The final match of the night featured the Golden Elite (Kota Ibushi, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) defeating Bandido, Rey Fénix, and Rey Mysterio. As mentioned, Ibushi will be in another six-person match in London. Matt and Nick Jackson were scheduled to compete in a marquee match against FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) at the show.
However, that is now all up in the air, due to Wheeler’s alleged complications with the law. While Rey Mysterio is obviously back with WWE now, both Bandido and Fénix are on the current AEW roster. Fénix will be a part of the Stadium Stampede Match at All In London.
What is very interesting here is that there was only one match from All In 2018 that didn’t feature a current member of the AEW roster (though Jarrett’s role was in a non-wrestling capacity).
Overall, there were wrestlers 24 from the original All In that now work for AEW (though Jeff Jarrett didn’t wrestle on the show, Kota Ibushi isn’t officially signed to AEW, and Billy Gunn is apparently retired).
Of those wrestlers, 11 are currently booked for All In 2023 (Matt and Nick Jackson, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, Dr. Britt Baker, Penta El Zero Miedo, Rey Fénix, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor, and Maxwell Jacob Friedman). Of course, more matches could still be added so that number could change.
More From LWOS Pro Wresting
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world. As well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can catch AEW Dynamite Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS and AEW Dark: Elevation (Monday nights) and AEW: Dark (Tuesday nights) at 7 PM ET on YouTube. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night.
