The Pro Wrasslin' Thread (WWE, WWF, WCW, TNA, ROH, NWA, NJPW, etc)

[PAOerfulone]

My thoughts on AEW All Out (2021):

Pre-Show - Jurassic Express and Best Friends vs. The Hardy Family Office and The Hybrid 2: Solid pre-show match. Very fast-paced, lots of action for the time they got. Pretty much the expected result. A good pre-show opener to get the crowd ready for the main card. B-

TNT Championship: Miro vs. Eddie Kingston: A very strong way to start the show. A hard-hitting, heavyweight bout between two tanks that could move. The crowd was VERY much behind Eddie Kingston and wanted him to win the title BADLY. And he came very close at some points, even escaping Game Over, they did enough (at least for me) to make you think Kingston might actually win the title. But Miro, the dastardly Heel that he is, uses the ref distraction to give a low blow and get the win. A very solid and strong opener to get things started. B

Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima: Much like the opener, this was a hard-hitting, physical match. Kojima, at 50 years old, can still hang with the best of 'em. He's not the main event star he once was, but he's still got it! These guys didn't have as much time as they probably could have had to have a better match. But for what it was, it was a good contest. B-

(Post-Match: HOLY FUCKING SHIT! MINORU FUCKING SUZUKI! HELL YES!!! Dynamite is going to be in Cincinnati, Moxley's hometown, and they already advertised a match with him and Suzuki on the show. That is going to be AWESOME!)

AEW Women's Championship: Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. vs. Kris Statlander: These two had a very stellar match. They both looked great and like they had solid chemistry together. Statlander is good in the ring and Baker has come a very long way from where she was when she first started in AEW. These two were really pulling out some big moves and got some good near falls. And this was the most emotional we have EVER gotten out of Orange Cassidy in all the time he has been in AEW, X'D. In the end, the right woman won. Britt retained, but Statlander looked strong in defeat. A very good match that shows that the Women's Division is continuing its upward trend. B+

Steel Cage Match for the AEW Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks vs. The Lucha Bros.: This match. This. Fucking. Match. HO-LY SHIT! If this is not the best Tag Team match in AEW history (Bucks vs. Omega/Hangman), this is #2. This match was FUCKING INCREDIBLE!!! They told the old, tried and true story of the arrogant, asshole, sadistic heels vs. the underdog, sympathetic, fighting babyfaces BEAUTIFULLY!!! The Lucha Bros got their asses KICKED in this match. There were points in this match where I was like "Jesus, guys! This is a bit much, don't you think?!?" But they hung in there, they fought back valiantly. The crowd was behind them 110%. They were going 1000 MPH as they built to the finish. And in the end, the Babyfaces, despite it all, stood tall and we have NEW AEW TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS!!! I'm gonna need some time to decide whether or not this is the greatest Tag Team match in AEW history, because that match with Omega and Hangman was fucking fantastic, I'll have to watch THAT again to compare. (And what's the common denominator for both these matches?) Absolutely BRILLIANT! A+

21-woman Casino Battle Royale for a shot at the AEW Women's Championship: Boy, I sure got this one wrong in terms of the winner. XD But this is a case where I'm happy to be wrong. I'm glad they didn't go with Thunder Rosa here. Don't get me wrong, I love her. She's awesome. But it's not time to go back to her and Britt Baker just yet. They still need to build to that slowly, take their time with it. Rosa will be fine, give her someone to feud with and big matches to win to build her up and give Britt a longer and more established reign. Then once we get to the new year, THEN we start going back to that! But for now, just keep them apart and build them up separately. And I'm also pretty happy with the winner here. In one night, they have immediately made a new star and top player in that Women's Division. Ruby Soho will be a big shot in the arm for that division which has slowly but surely been on the rise for the last year. If the Women's Division can continue to grow and raise its game, ESPECIALLY if it can get close to the Tag Team Division... OHHHHH BOY! As for the Battle Royale itself, well as far as Battle Royale's go, it's about what you'd expect. The finish is what really brought it up and made a good one. B

Chris Jericho vs. MJF, if Jericho loses, he must retire from in-ring competition in AEW: If you watch this match and think Chris Jericho can't go anymore or is a shell of himself, you need to get your eyes checked. Yes, he's put on some weight, he's not as agile and springy as he used to be. But he can still go out there and put on a great match like he did tonight. Especially when you give him a great opponent to work with and in AEW, it doesn't get much better than MJF. He is just a natural as a Heel and he is a master at selling and facial expressions. As soon as I saw him sell the back, I knew they were building to the Walls of Jericho. Wardlow and Jake Hager was a nice touch. I was caught off guard by the false finish, (And it looked like Jericho was cutting it VERY close there.) but it was done very well. And the Inner Circle celebrating with their triumphant leader was a great way to cap off the end of this feud... Assuming this is the end... Hopefully. B+

CM Punk vs. Darby Allin: This was THE match that everyone was looking forward to. And if there's one problem I have with this show, it's that this match should have been the Main Event. (Although given what happened AFTER the Main Event, I certainly can't blame them for going that direction.) CM Punk in his very first match in 7 1/2 years facing Darby Allin... And he looked like he never left! These two went in here and just had a great wrestling match. I wish they had gone a little longer and I still don't like the idea of having Darby lose, I would've gone with the time limit draw (Which I knew wasn't going to happen as soon as they announced the 60 minute time limit.) But you also can't beat Punk in his first match in 7 1/2 years in his own hometown. And I love how they handled the post-match stuff! Even though Punk was the winner, the spotlight was still on Darby Allin. He looked strong in defeat in what was the biggest match of his life thus far and he'll be fine. A very great match. 2nd best on the card in my view. Welcome back, CM Punk!!! A-

Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall: The piss-break match. 3 minutes, in and out. Paul Wight got the win. Not much else to say. C

AEW Championship: Kenny Omega vs. Christian Cage: The crowd was mostly dead for part of this main event, after a freaking awesome PPV with the matches we've had thus far they didn't have much energy left. They were able to get them back towards the end and these two put together a worthy world title bout. Kenny went over, as we expected, but that Avalanche One-Winged Angel was awesome! A very good match between two great wrestlers, but it was brought down somewhat by a beat crowd, which made for a kind of flat main event. B

(Post-match: WHAT A WAY TO CLOSE THE SHOW! As soon as the entire Elite came down and started to beat up Christian, a gigantic smile graced my face and I got so hyped because I KNEW what was coming! I started CLAMORING for Final Countdown and Bryan. I started chanted YES! YES! YES! And when the lights went out, I nearly jumped out of my chair! "OH SHIT, THIS IS IT!" And imagine my shock and surprise seeing ADAM COLE BAY-BAY walk out?!? THANK GOD he made the right choice and went to AEW! And then immediately floored and kinda deflated when he turned Heel and joined his Elite buddies. Will be interesting to see how they explain THAT considering how they killed him when he left ROH. And THEN they got BRYAN FUCKING DANIELSON! No Final Countdown, that's the only bummer. But HOLY SHIT! CM Punk?!? Bryan Danielson?!? Adam Cole?!? Imagine all the fucking possibilities!!!)

Final Thoughts: In my opinion, this is the best show AEW has ever done. And that's a GREAT thing too. With CM Punk and the rumors about Bryan Danielson, this will probably break their record for the highest PPV buy rate. With more eyes and more attention on them than ever before, this show absolutely NEEDED to deliver. And man DID IT FUCKING DELIVER!!! I have to think about where this might rank on my list of all time PPVs, but it's up there! This is the PPV of the year so far. And if there's a PPV that can top this one, OH SHIT, I can't wait to see THAT one! But for AEW specifically? This was their WrestleMania 17. This was their grand showing. After this show, it feels like the tide is turning in wrestling and AEW's momentum is just building. Getting bigger and bigger like a snowball rolling down a mountain. If they can keep up this growth and momentum. There's no telling how big they can become!

Last edited by PAOerfulone - on 06 September 2021