AEW deserves credit where it is due for finding a way to balance building two PPV cards – All In and All Out – within a short amount of time. Also, for making each one feel distinct.
Each event creatively offering both strong conclusions for some feuds and offering jump-off points for others. Compare AEW in terms of creative to one year ago and, despite issues with ratings and attendance, it’s a reminder that the turnaround between hot and cold is a marathon.
History is to be written. Come Saturday night, there’s a chance to add the full stop to the past.
Potentially, depending on how things go on the night, rewrite some of it. Move towards finding that creative nirvana more consistently.
Sometimes, AEW still reaches at times. A full analysis of AEW creative issues can be read here.
With only eight matches announced, could another match be added? Perhaps a third women’s match with Jamie Hayter vs. Saraya?
Some matches have been slow builds beyond the two-week window between the PPVs. Both the AEW World and AEW International Championship matches have been backburner matches.
Table setting for Jack Perry’s championship shot has been built since his return. Others, like the AEW World Tag Team Championship and Continental Championship, have come from nowhere, but may still offer quality contests on the night.
Maybe a surprise if the multi-man match is designed to set up a new feud or new champion. There’s potential and optimism.
There are bangers and deeper more emotive moments of catharsis on offer Saturday night at All Out.
How to Watch
Date: Saturday, September 7
Time: The main broadcast starts at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT.
Watch in the U.S.: Bleacher Report, Triller TV
AEW All Out Card:
- MJF vs. Daniel Garcia
- Chicago Street Fight: Willow Nightingale vs. Kris Statlander
- AEW World Tag Team championship: The Young Bucks vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta)
- AEW Continental Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. TBD vs. TDB vs. TDB
- AEW International Championship: Will Ospreay vs. PAC
- AEW TBS Championship: Mercedes Mone vs. Hikaru Shida
- AEW World Championship: Bryan Danielson vs. Jack Perry
- Steel Cage Lights Out: Swerve Strickland vs. “Hangman” Adam Page
Gamble of the Night: AEW World Tag Team Championship Match
A few weeks ago on the Dynamite preview, I wrote about how The Young Buck’s first title defense against The Acclaimed was a chance for the champions to step up and reinspire the division. Despite a strong contest, the DQ finish to build to the All In three-way felt mechanical.
This is despite the passionate promos of Anthony Bowens and Max Caster and the hatred in their match against FTR. Their All In defense was fun but not genre-pushing.
Compared to the tag bout the year before, it did not get me or other fans in the stadium off our feet. The tag and trios divisions are stagnant.
The Bucks being the champions and having their names in the company are held rightly or wrongly responsible. This tag team contest offers something fresh.
Fighting Blackpool Combat Club won’t redefine the tag team genre. However, if there is a wider story this match either connects with or builds to, then it’s a step towards change.
The pairing of Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta has been a fun team, which meshes well together and against everyone they face. Castagnoli is the workhorse for all seasons – evergreen and incapable of not being awesome in the ring.
The scrappier, frustrating terrier that is Yuta could be a good foil who might benefit from The Bucks’ blood-boiling antics. While as a character, Yuta has plateaued, against The Bucks, that underdog fire might blaze bright again.
Given it’s Chicago and near enough the anniversary since CM Punk left the company, there is potential for shots to be taken and to get the crowd invested in a Bucks’ ass whooping. Long-term, some fresh contests, and some new storyline threads are what both the tag and trios division need.
Scapegoat vs. The Goat
When Jack Perry returned to AEW as part of his second chance and redevelopment in NJPW, some thought Perry should have challenged straight away for the world championship. Strike when the iron is hot.
Right when The Elite’s corporate turn started, the promise of a power struggle storyline felt like it could lead to something seismic. Some thought that putting Perry as a world title contender might have been best for business.
The slower build has worked logically. Perry is undefeated and has pinfalls over Bryan Danielson from Double or Nothing, and defeated another number-one contender, Darby Allin, in his own match at Wembley.
Perry hit Tony Khan, won the TNT Championship, and has had some fun character-driven defenses. The logic is fine but the emotional investment is lacking – a historic issue for AEW I’ve discussed here.
Perhaps, in part, due to Perry’s lack of presence on Dynamite and weekly programming. His lack of ring time perhaps hurts Perry because that is where he is at his strongest and most engaging.
It’s why, for me, Perry was an honorary mention in my five fresh opponents Danielson should wrestle before retirement list (here). Yet, on the night and on PPV, Perry has despite cold feuds and builds delivered consistently.
You can read here why Laci Schaltz believes Perry will leave All Out as a top star. Now, as a more complete package, this return to Chicago may be a coming-out party for Perry.
Especially against Danielson, who is incapable of losing his connection with the crowd. Returning to Chicago at NJPW’s Windy City Riot was the catalyst for The Scapegoat’s AEW return.
This might be a chance for Perry to move on from Punk and “real glass” with a standout performance at All Out.
Steel Cage Lights Out
Yesterday, I recapped and analysed the year-long history of what many believe is AEW’s greatest feud. In twelve months, “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland have packed in more memorable moments, lines of dialogue, and escalation than any other feud in AEW.
Punk vs. MJF was bloody and pasts were referenced but never burned to the ground. On the go-home Dynamite, the contrast between the pair’s first contract signing, their state of minds were similar and yet vastly different.
Strickland is still the cold calculating killer. A week ago, he talked about stalking Page’s pregnant wife and making it public that Page has a second child.
Yet, his humanity was displayed before Dynamite with the purchase of his childhood home. Page, on the other hand, has relapsed.
His mental health shattered but his anxiety and Imposter Syndrome turned into a more violent kind of darkness. Page has become more like Strickland, in terms of his relentless self-focused obsession with his goal: vengeance.
Finally getting revenge on Strickland for invading his home, by burning down Strickland’s house, will not ease Page’s pain. Not until he beats Strickland.
I would love this feud to take inspiration from ECW and Tommy Dreamer vs. Raven. Page chasing Strickland for years to come.
As for the match itself, the double stipulation, and the history of mutilation in matches prior… Is this going to be a snuff film? The history of Lights Out matches in AEW was diluted and worn out.
This match at All Out could both renew and elevate the stipulation to a new pinnacle. Add the cage… But can this feud realistically be caged?
The chaos may be even more shocking and controversial than their Texas Death Match. This bout isn’t for the faint of heart.
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
