The inaugural All In was symbolic and monumental. A group of wrestlers not associated with WWE sold out an arena. Last year’s event from a sold-out Wembley Stadium was likewise symbolic and monumental. A record crowd, whether you believe the official 85,258 given by AEW or the lower 72,265 at the turnstiles from Brent City Council. The fact a company other than WWE put so many butts on seats in one of the most iconic stadiums in the world can’t be dismissed.
This year’s will have over 50,000 people. While that’s less than last year, a five-year-old wrestling company did this despite signs of decline elsewhere. The normalization of AEW being “under attack” means any AEW success is instantly countered.
This year’s All In build is symbolic in showing the company trying to build a bridge between its past and present. Compared to last year’s event, the card is more worthy of being the biggest PPV of the summer. The build has generally been stronger. Hopeful and restorative during a turbulent time.
I attended All In at Wembley last year and I will be attending All In again this year. That experience was religious and communal. An experience I’ve never felt before as a wrestling fan. It was special to me because it inspired me to write about wrestling. What would later become my AEW gets modern masculinity article being the first thing I wrote.
Last year All In was perhaps AEW’s best PPV of the year, despite the matches on paper not feeling marquee. Not all the matches and builds have been standout. Yet last year’s event was elevated by the feeling and this in turn perhaps elevated the wrestlers to a standout PPV.
Will that same feeling carry Bryan Danielson to the AEW World Championship?
How to Watch
Date: Sunday, August 25
Time: The main broadcast starts at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT / 7 p.m. BST / 4 a.m. AEST (Aug. 26)
Watch in the U.S.: Bleacher Report, Triller TV
All In Card:
- Zero Hour Match: Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway vs. Willow Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishi
- Casino Gauntlet match for a future AEW World Championship match
- Four-way London Ladder match for the AEW Trios Championship: The Patriarchy © W/ Mother Wayne vs. The Bang Bang Gang vs. The House of Black vs. TBD on Collision
- AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks © vs. FTR vs. The Acclaimed
- Last Chance match for the FTW Championship: Chris Jericho © vs. HOOK
- Coffin match for the TNT Championship: Jack Perry © vs. Darby Allin
- TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné © vs. Dr Britt Baker, DMD
- AEW American Championship: Maxwell Jacob Friedman © vs. Will Ospreay
- AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm © vs. Mariah May
- “The Final Countdown”: Title vs. Career, AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland © vs. Bryan Danielson
Fuller Previews for Two of the Biggest Matches on the Card
25 years & one of the most storied legacies in professional wrestling. At #AEWAllInLondon, @BryanDanielson puts his career on the line for a chance at the #AEW World Title. Will 25 August 2024 be the Final Countdown for Danielson?
Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/GpkcEcYtRz
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 15, 2024
I am not going to preview the AEW American Championship match between MJF and Will Ospreay. Nor will I preview the main event The Final Countdown, career vs. title match between Swerve Strickland and Bryan Danielson.
You might be wondering why. How can I not dedicate 300 words to two of the most important matches?
It’s because my colleague Noah Buckingham Reed and I have written our own separate Match Point articles on these matches.
#AEWAllInLondon is LIVE on PPV THIS SUNDAY at 6pm BST / 1pm ET / 10am PT
Order it on @DAZN_sport now!https://t.co/Q9LPpLTlkc pic.twitter.com/rDlSdYz69R
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) August 23, 2024
Match Point is an ongoing series of articles at Last Word on Pro Wrestling, where we look more in-depth at big matches. Part preview and part analysis, we explore the various aspects of these matches to explore their potential. To help us as fans get even more excited for what might happen.
You can read my Match Point on The Final Countdown here
You can read Noah’s Match Point of MJF vs. Will Ospreay here
Show-Stealer of the Night: TNT Championship Match
So much history exists between the two men competing for the TNT Championship in a coffin match. So much that binds, as well as connects them with this stipulation. From day one, Darby Allin and Jack Perry were young and hungry and opposed in terms of characters. Allin the scrawny, grunge-inspired daredevil, and Perry the photogenic son of an American TV legend.
The potential for this match to become a legacy feud is there given both men’s incredible in-ring abilities for their age. There was a reason they were bound together as part of “The Four Pillars”. Yet their ascension was unequal.
Always in-ring, Perry had the tools. What Jack lacked was the ability to create a character that connected with the crowd. Last year at All In, after his match with HOOK, Perry’s career was altered forever. Capitalizing on the experience and taking full advantage of his second chance, Perry crafted the Scapegoat persona in NJPW.
Animosity seems to have always existed between the two. Last year before Double or Nothing, Allin made his feelings about Perry being handed opportunities as a nepo baby clear. At this year’s Double or Nothing, Allin set Perry on fire. At Blood and Guts, in homage to Raven, Perry was willing to be sacrificed and be burned again.
Will those snippets of violence lead to an even higher form of escalation on Sunday?
Coffin matches are Darby’s signature. Last year’s nearly stole the show (until the main event). Perry is no stranger also to grave consequences. See the most dynamic and potentially the best buried alive match against Christian.
Add to this perhaps a glass phone booth or glass coffin (real glass) and there may be blood and magic. There may be rivers of blood rather than tears this year.
Gamble of the Night: AEW Women’s World Championship Match
The feud between Mariah May and “Timeless” Toni Storm will feature on many pundits and fans’ best-of lists by the year’s end. Best angle with Mariah’s Owen Hart Memorial victory and turn. How Mariah smiles and presses her face against the tragically crying and bleeding Storm is real symbolism. Their faces mirrored the traditional happy and sad theatre masks.
As a storyline, it has been the best AEW women’s storyline ever. For some, even the best AEW storyline this year. The tragic end of Storm’s “Timeless” character was foreboded as soon as Mariah arrived. Mariah’s involvement allowed the character to be a success during its infancy.
The question/worry is: can the match deliver on the storyline’s promise?
There is a lot to deliver on and on the biggest stage of the year for the two women involved. The pressure is on. Fans want to know if the pay-off will result in the best-ever AEW women’s match.
When I analyzed the “Timeless” character’s development (here), Storm has found a way to make the character work in-ring to deliver higher quality matches that are in line with the AEW ethos. That hasn’t always been consistent and ranged depending on Storm’s chemistry with her opponent.
Having never wrestled May on AEW programming, there is the risk that despite their on-screen chemistry as characters it might, in that rarest of coincidences, not be matched in the ring. It’s unlikely given Mariah May’s matches and squashes have displayed a similar hard-hitting joshi-inspired style.
The Glamour has shown she can look, wrestle, and be Toni Storm. Now it’s time to be herself. Is May ready to be the next AEW Women’s World Champion?
Already a bloody sequel seems inevitable for All Out.
More From LWOS Pro Wrestling
Header photo – AEW – 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 on Wednesday nights at 8 PM ET on TBS. AEW Rampage airs on TNT at 10 PM EST every Friday night. AEW Collision airs Saturday at 8pm Eastern on TNT. More AEW content available on their YouTube
