Ricky heel again and Hobbs questioning the people he surrounded himself with…ooooo you wanna reunite so badly you wanna reunite so baaad ooooooo PLEASE PLEAAASE

AEW All Out 2020 Review

Okay...lot to unpack there All Out is in the books but not all of it was positive vibes, but there was still a lot of good stuff here that I’m gonna run down So Obviously, Spoilers for All Out

I’d like to preface that this has not been AEW’s best PPV, but parts of it was not AEW’s fault, I also have to add that the card took some heavy shuffles, starting with moving the Casino Battle Royale and Tooth and Nail match to the main card, quickly adding two new Buy In shows. The Buy In Joey Janela (w/Sonny Kiss) vs Serpentico (w/Luther) - Winner: Janela (Pinfall via Elbow Drop) A nice fun opener, Luther doesn’t do it for me but Serpentico definitely does, Janela looked very solid as Serpentico sold for him, some pretty decent athleticism and some solid heelish brutality from the Snakeman. Kiss got a hit in on Luther’s interfering and the result was fine, Janela then put over Kiss on the hard cam saying he’d win the Battle Royale. Private Party vs Dark Order Members John ‘3′ Silver and Alex ‘4′ Reynolds - Winner: Private Party (Pinfall via Gin n Juice) Another fun opening tag match, the kind of energetic tag you get from Pre-Shows really. Both teams were solid but it was the Dark Order who had the better share of the tag synergy. That being said, Marq Quen literally ignored gravity for a moment with a Moonsault and Silver rocked Quen with a Burning Hammer F-5 (I think it’s called the Spin Doctor) for a near fall. Many fans would be convinced that Dark Order should’ve won, and in hindsight they probably should have, but a small flurry got them the Gin n Juice for the win. Main Card Tooth and Nail Match, Britt Baker (w/Rebel ‘Reba’ Tanea) vs Big Swole - Winner: Big Swole (KO) After heavy fan demand, Tony Khan decided to move the match onto the main card as the opener. Swole rolled up with a BLM armband and a fancy car into Baker’s office, met by ‘Reba’ acting as the receptionist. After hitting her with a clipboard Swole was mentally tormented a little by blood in the sink and chattering teeth as Baker quietly stalked her and then hit Swole (kinda lightly really) with her diploma. Baker looked to torture Swole for most of the match with dentistry equipment, some solid landings on the unprotected floor did sell a bit of intensity, when Swole rallied they went to the back where Reba also returned, she was dunked into a nearby bin via Britt’s ‘Role’s Royce’. Britt returned to the advantage as she looked to inject Swole with something (I think it’d be a numbing agent), but ended up taking it into the leg herself as Reba funnily screamed ‘You Stabbed Her!’, a dazed Swole then used another Diploma to do ‘Dirty Dancing’ through the diploma on Reba, another Dirty Dancing on Britt knocked her into the Doctor’s chair as Swole finished Baker with some anesthetic. As cinematic matches go it was a mixed bag, some bits were funny but some of it was just ‘silly bobbins’, a theme with AEW’s women’s matches sadly is that JR really can’t commentate on Women without saying something wrong or outdated (more on that later), it probably should’ve stayed on the Buy In where it would’ve been afforded more time and less seriousness, also odd that Baker took the loss on her return. The Young Bucks vs Jurassic Express (w/ Marko Stunt) - Winner: The Young Bucks (Pinfall via BTE Trigger on Jungle Boy) A PPV-quality tag match, Jurassic Express and the Bucks started with a lot of energy as the Bucks started leaning into their asshole heel attitudes. Isolating Jungle Boy and infuriating Luchasaurus, there was a fair amount of Back and Forth which usually ended with the Bucks once more doubling on the Big Man to focus on JB. At one point, Marko Stunt (in a crutch after being demolished by Jake Hager on a prior AEW Dark match) pulled Matt off the ring apron as he mocked JB to tag him in. Eventually Luchasaurus did what he does best: the Hot Tag, taking both on with his unique offence, he also added what I could only call a ‘Chokesault’ since he chokeslammed Nick so hard onto Matt that he basically moonsaulted onto his prone brother. Jurassic Express wowed with their airborne abilities with JB using Luchasaurus to hop over the top rope onto Nick for a perfect crossbody but were again undone when the rana setup led to JB being powerbombed on the apron and Luchasaurus hit with a destroyer. The Boy and his Dinosaur almost got the win by reversing a Meltzer Driver setup into an Extinction Level Event but the pin was broken. Marko’s action before came to haunt him as Matt kicked away Marko’s crutch in torment, then murdered him with a superkick that wrote him out of interference. After the Bucks were set over the guard rail, Luchasaurus took himself out by launching from the ring over the barricade to the group of uncarded wrestlers (including Griff Garrison, Brandon Cutler - who was on the opposite end of the ring to Peter Avalon who split from him on Dark, and the Gunn Club) in a gravity-defying dive. But this left Jungle Boy at the mercy of the Bucks, eating a superkick for 2, then a Superkick Party also for 2 but then being destroyed by a BTE trigger for 3. A great birds eye shot of a limp Jungle Boy encapsulated the match as once again Jack Perry (and Luchasaurus) light up AEW’s card even in defeat, tremendous resilience as we see a much more heelish Bucks come about. Casino Battle Royale - Winner: Lance Archer (eliminated Eddie Kingston) The Casino Battle Royale started strong with Trent, Hager, Fénix, Blade and Christopher Daniels. No eliminations took place until the next bunch came out; Kazarian, Santana & Ortiz, Taylor and happy surprise Will Hobbs! And Hobbs was the first to get an elimination, taking out the Blade, CD was taken by Hager until the next group came about, Best Friends renewing hostilities with Santana and Ortiz. The third group was Billy Gunn, Penta El Zero M, Ricky Starks, Brian Cage and Darby Allin. The Latter quickly went for Team Tazz as Gunn went for the bigger fish, only to be eliminated by Cage, Allin then surprisingly eliminated Fenix as Santana and Ortiz doubled to take out Chuck. The final group of entrants came with Sonny Kiss, Eddie Kingston, the Butcher, Lance Archer and Shawn Spears - who lingered on the sides for a bit to cut a promo. Sonny Kiss made a quick impact by eliminating Hager, but was then eliminated by Cage and left prone to Hager’s wrath. Trent overcame the double team by eliminating Santana and almost got Ortiz until Archer through Trent over as Ortiz ducked...then Archer dumped Ortiz. Kazarian also got a surprise elimination of Penta as the Butcher then avenged him, Allin got some payback on Team Tazz by eliminating Starks to Tazz’s dismay, but this led to a brutal beatdown on Allin, with Starks pulling out a body bag for Cage and Cage ‘filled’ it with Thumbtacks, stuffed Allin in it completely then brutally dumped the bagged (and thus blind to impact) Allin out of the match. The Joker would soon arrive and it was someone nobody expected: Matt Sydal. The former Evan Bourne looked to make headlines and he did...for the wrong reasons. Unfortunately as he set up his beautiful shooting star press, he botched the jump and didn’t make the rotation, falling flat on his back (Props to Hobbs though who quickly rolled to check on him). A soured taste to a decent royale, Sydal did manage to rally by eliminating Spears before eating a Spinebuster from Hobbs, Kingston sticking in the corner with the Butcher as his shield while Cage began to clean up house. Cage and Archer had an exchange as the Machine went to deal with Hobbs, but Hobbs pulled Cage over with him leaving Archer to dropkick both of them off. Sydal then managed to take the Butcher out but was thrown out by Kingston in his decimation by Archer. This left some head scratching though, because Kingston went under the bottom rope in his exchange with Archer to the apron, but as he pulled the Murderhawk Monster over with him, it looked like there might be a double fall, Kingston was put onto the top turnbuckle but looked to knock away Archer, it’s only when Jake the Snake used his bag with a ‘snake’ (we never saw it) in it that Kingston was distracted for Archer to chokeslam him into his gang for the win. A good winner, still would’ve preferred Kingston, but the finish was weird, he went to the apron under the bottom rope so he should’ve still been legal, but I guess when he sat on the top turnbuckle that counted as in-ring? A fun royale though marred slightly by Sydal’s botch and that finish, Will Hobbs as well impressing many on a big stage. Broken Rules Match, Matt Hardy vs Sammy Guevara - Winner, Matt Hardy (via Sammy not answering the 10-Count) Ho boy. This one. So it started out very good, outside the stadium Matt called out Sammy, who had commondeered a golf cart of his own to chase Matt with, Matt weaved him to have Sammy crash into some boxes and bins as the fighting continued. The controversy began with a table spot involving a Scissor Lift, Matt looking to throw Sammy off it onto two merch tables below only to have Sammy Spear them both. Unfortunately, the trajectory was a bit over, Matt’s feet hit the first table which meant his landing onto the second was overshot and Matt landed head-first into the ground. Aubrey quickly checked on him and pulled up the X, but Matt seemed adamant to continue so they started the 10 count. Sammy noticed that Matt wasn’t going to stand for 10 so ‘attacked’ him to keep the match going but Matt continued to lose footing as fans felt unease on whether it was a work or shoot. The X was called again and the bell rang as Commentary noted the risks in wrestling, but by then Matt was walking on his feet and Sammy pulled nearer to the ring, the match controversially restarted with Matt blindsiding Sammy from the side, sprawling to the stage as they climbed scaffolding and dumped Sammy into the floor for the 10 Count. Concussed, AEW has gotten criticism for letting Matt continue, even to a rushed finish so that the storyline remained intact. I’m 50/50 myself, Khan later noted that the Doctor felt he could continue enough and they did limit his movement, they didn’t climb as high as they intended and Hardy was quickly rushed to hospital. Despite his wife’s fuming and angry fans looking to smear AEW like a shark in bloody water, they did as much as they could without ending the match super abruptly, and if anyone says ‘we’d be slaughtering them if WWE did this’, WWE did do this, memory serves me right Becky Lynch was concussed and kept going with the iconic ‘bloody Becky’ moment, Undertaker was concussed and kept going when the streak ended, Kairi Sane had 2 concussions in 2 different matches and finished both matches. It’s a shame, because the two did look like they had a lot of ideas, but this match did very much taint the first half of All Out and will overshadow a lot of positive vibes that came from the show as a whole. AEW Women’s Championship, Hikaru Shida (c) vs NWA Women’s Champion & TJPW International Princess Champion Thunder Rosa - Winner: Hikaru Shida (Pinfall via ‘Three Count’ Knee Strike) With a sour taste in the mouth, the anticipated Women’s match was just what fans needed to regain some excitement - though I personally questioned the card structure from here since Mimosa Mayhem and an 8 Man tag was still to come. Before the match I also popped for Shida getting streamers for her entrance, I fucking love streamers it’s a great way to involve the crowd. Shida and Rosa put on a strike and technical show which demonstrated why they were at the top of their divisions, Rosa proved to have scouted Shida’s movesets a lot by counter moves and cutting Shida off when she was getting momentum. But Shida would also pull out counters of her own, a great backbreaker and knee strike flowed with the back and forth nature of both champions, Rosa rocking Shida with a DVD on the apron but Shida wasting Rosa with a Meteora on the ramp. Both women also wore the other down with submissions, Rosa working the back with various stretches as Shida locked in the Stretch Muffler. Rosa looked to rally again as she kicked out of a Falcon Arrow at 1 and reversed a second attempt, but like lightning Shida struck with the Three Count, wiping her out for the win. This was the solid bout we needed to start the second half, both women looked strong and tough, Rosa lost nothing from the defeat and Shida was thoroughly challenged by her, it definitely met the expectations set out for it and hopefully we can see more of Rosa in AEW’s future. The only real criticism I can give for this match is commentary again, JR just can’t commentate a good women’s match anymore, and frankly I think for these matches we should really look towards having Veda Scott, Renee or Mauro be brought in, at least for these matches, let JR commentate matches that are more his speed or genre but that is the only criticism, and it’s not against the women. Segment: Interview with Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford A short, oddly-placed, segment came next as Penelope announced that she and Kip were getting married. Selling a wedding segment for Dynamite, Kip noted that first must come a Bachelor Party and he’s found a perfect best man for it. Kip notes that he’ll reveal who on Dynamite. Expect a debut or a faction formation, is my TH2 x Kip/Penelope faction hopes coming true? There was also a slight dig at WWE’s controversial edict to not approve third party monetization as Kip promoted his twitch channel with a disclaimer beneath saying that AEW approve it. The Dark Order (TNT Champion Mr Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson) vs The Natural Nightmares (w/ Brandi Rhodes and Allie), Matt Cardona and Scorpio Sky - Winner: Nightmare Family (Pinfall via Rollup on Cabana by Dustin) A match that seemed a dead cert for the Dark Order to win especially since they failed on the Buy In, the 8-Man had a steady as each member showed off their athleticism, Sky and Cardona also getting some impressive moves on Uno and Grayson, but Lee was always prepared to clean up house as he also mocked Brandi at ringside. Dustin - appearing jarringly in blue this time - was the surprising speedster of the match, upping the pace was his hot tag as he set up the energy of the match. As Sky and Brodie confronted with the latter the illegal man, Anna Jay snuck up from behind but was blocked by Sky and booted out of her heels by Brandi before being pulled apart by Grayson (JR joking that she had a wardrobe malfunction did not sit well for many, including me). Grayson managed to rally for the Dark Order as QT Marshall was isolated by the Quartet, but Brodie stared a hole in Dustin in some solid storytelling, telling Cabana to tag him in despite a sure win, Brodie goaded Dustin into the match by throwing QT to tag Dustin in as they brawled. It was a bit of a hoss but it was great and well-timed, with Brodie wiping Dustin out with a delayed Discus Clothesline. Content, Brodie offered the pin to Cabana and tagged him in, but Cabana then made the misstep by missing the Moonsault, the Nightmare family pulled the Dark Order away as Dustin rolled up the hurt Cabana for 3. As the Nightmare Family praised Dustin, Brodie fumed at Cabana for going for the Moonsault when Dustin was already finished, shoving Cabana as he walked his frustrations off. Evil Uno proved to be the Good Cop as he helped Cabana up after Brodie left. Dustin was interviewed by Tony in a very 80s esque promo as Dustin kinda felt like he was jacked on ‘vitamins’, it was entertaining at the least and set up Brodie vs Dustin for the TNT Title. A surprise outcome for booking but not one I hated, this pushes a TNT title match and the Cabana story, I am upset we didn’t see Tay Conti show but maybe they’re saving it for later, Allie didn’t really involve herself at all with the match after all. AEW World Tag Team Championship, Kenny Omega & ‘Hangman’ Adam Page (c) vs FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard) - Winner: And NEW Tag Champions, FTR (via Pinfall by Dax on Page after a Spike Piledriver) The story of one of the more anticipated matches on the card was clear: the challengers, one of the best purist tag wrestlers in the world arrived together with little showmanship, and the champions, two of the most talented singles wrestlers in the world with their solo entrances, including the name plate guy having Hangman’s as ‘I don’t care what the graphic says anymore’. The match showed off the duality of both teams but it was the champions who started well, a hesitant high 10 from Kenny sowing the small seeds within the match as it became a war of Talent vs Cohesion. FTR worked their pace of isolating the legal man (mainly Hangman) as the solo wrestlers would look for their opening. For a while Kenny showed his Best Bout Machine talents to handle FTR but would be thwarted by their tandem offense of catch wrestling and lifts. Hangman would return to equalize at points including stopping a Goodnight Express on Kenny, but miscommunication was often in the air on Kenny’s part, one time even knocking Hangman off the apron in his attack. Hangman got a pop from a swanton onto FTR and Tully onto the outside while FTR wiped both men out individually with a Tower-of-Doom-esque Bulldog, Kenny’s outside the ring but Hangman’s inside. Hangman once again pushed back, getting his Fallaway Moonsault Slam from the top rope, but this led to the finish as Kenny motioned for the ‘Last Call’, Hangman had hesitations but went with it and got V-Triggered for his troubles, FTR threw Kenny out and landed the Spike Piledriver. But Hangman kicked out at 2! Bafflement on his face, Dax looked to an exhausted Kenny and then to Tully and went for the Spike Piledriver again, after nudging Kenny away it landed as Dax stared gladly at Kenny in great psychology; FTR let Kenny knew that they won, not just physically but mentally too. A bit of an abrupt end led into the aftermath of the match, Kenny rolled to grab what looked like a small coffee table from under the ring. After considering laying into Hangman, he threw the weapon away to the revenant Hangman’s relief, but as he went to embrace Kenny, Kenny side steps him as Hangman collapses. Some poetic storytelling there as Kenny just seems to give up on Hangman, a switch gone in his head as the camera follows him out, venting to the Bucks as he leaves and hints that they need a ‘clean break’. The saga continues, but the Cleaner is still kept in arm’s reach. So the match was a great wrestling match, and the end was good storytelling, but this would miss the mark with many since people were expecting the Cleaner, for the trigger to be pulled and for it to have the same emotional weight as the Bucks match. But at least for the latter, it is a tall ask, and it still was the correct booking decision. Mimosa Mayhem Match, Chris Jericho vs Orange Cassidy - Winner: Orange Cassidy (via Submerging Jericho into a pool of Mimosa with two Superman Punches) So the setup and positioning of this was weird, it was clear that AEW wanted a palatte cleanser between the heavy storylines but the match already looked super gimmicky. Two pools of Mimosa either side like a kids gameshow with tables of Bubbly, it wasn’t what I imagined at least. Jericho and Cassidy came out uncharacteristically alone and without their stablemates as they went for their rubber match, starting with an excellent opener as Cassidy’s charge was met with a codebreaker. Jericho controlled a lot of the match as he tried to dip Cassidy in Mimosa, getting a foot and his hair in there at different times and smashing a plate over Cassidy on the left side. Cassidy came to life a few times with some solid counters as he mostly looked for a pin, but he would often be caught by Jericho in tense situations, at one point being at the mercy of a powerbomb drop as he hammered at Jericho’s head, only to be sent through a table which still had the Bubbly, Glasses and Plates on it. Welted on his back, Cassidy wiped Jericho out but the Birds Eye shot conspicuously showed Aubrey adjust a glass. This unfortunately telegraphed its use later as Cassidy got caught in the Walls of Jericho, with no rope breaks Cassidy used the glass to throw Mimosa in Cassidy’s eyes, a Superman Punch led to a near fall as both looked to put the other away. Having to tightrope around the pool of Mimosa, Cassidy caught Jericho with a Superman Punch after escaping a suplex, Jericho lingered but the second did the trick, with Jericho soaking in this pool of Mimosa. Frankly I wasn’t all invested in this match, it was a bit too much especially since at this point it was 4am, but both men did good and OC gets very over as Jericho soaks in another ‘moment’. I was very surprised that the Inner Circle didn’t get involved at all, why were there two pools? Why was Hager wearing white? Something tells me that plans led to this match being condensed a little. AEW World Championship Match (If Moxley uses the Paradigm Shift he will be Disqualified and forfeit the title), Jon Moxley (c) vs MJF (w/ Wardlow) - Winner, Jon Moxley (Pinfall via Paradigm Shift) Unfortunately, the 5th hour of AEW was met with a lot of fatigue from the audience, to the point where the Main Event was hoped to be a short affair. MJF continued his Presidential Homages by wearing Red, White and Blue tights as Moxley appeared in his usual camo rogue uniform, Wardlow also had the a MJF scarf-styled tie. The Psychology of this match though was good, MJF frustrated Moxley with quick counters, pins and rest holds. After cooling off a bit, Moxley played smarter by baiting MJF into his offense, while reminding Wardlow that he was in the ref’s eyeshot. Moxley was twice enticed to use the Paradigm Shift but had to fight against his instincts, as MJF looked to quickly sneak advantages in, Wardlow would prove to gift him a big opening as his lingering gave MJF time to drop Moxley’s shoulder hard on the apron. Fighting with one arm now, MJF focused in as he groomed Moxley for the Salt of the Earth, but Moxley’s rabid offence would hit back, locking in the rear naked choke, but MJF would then counter himself and get the cross armbreaker on the hurt shoulder. MJF sold the idea that he could win by a pretty big blade job when Moxley took things to the outside, attacking with the guardrail as he has often done in his defenses, a third Paradigm Shift was shifted to a Money Clip but the arm gave out on the Gotch Piledriver, the two hammered at each other back and forth as Moxley scrapped him, even resorting to biting, MJF would return the favour after locking in a brutal-looking armbar after a vicious top rope double stomp on Moxley’s arm, biting the fingers in the process. Adrenaline proved Moxley’s fiend as his landed the Gotch Piledriver, swiftly knocking MJF down with suplexes and clotheslines, but only getting 2 because his injured arm prevented him from hooking the leg. MJF’s violent side looked to finish the champion as he used a rope-assisted facebuster but only got one, attempting the second granted Moxley the Air Raid Crash for 2, the two hit each other as they got to their feet, Moxley seeming immune of pain or caring as MJF seemed driven by blood and fury. The finish was how I predicted though, MJF’s usual last resort is the diamond ring, which would be handed to him by Wardlow as he makes a distraction. Only this time, when Wardlow threw the ring at MJF, he wasn’t ready. A brief stare ensued between Champion and Challenger as Moxley added up the numbers, MJF giving his ‘oh shit’ look as he realised in telling Moxley that the ref is distracted, he gave him an opening. A Paradigm Shift followed as Moxley then beckoned the distracted ref to count the fall, Moxley retains with a secret Silver Bullet. After the match Jake and Archer watch on with smiles as Moxley gives them the finger.  A great title match that did what it intended to do, look MJF look a million bucks. The schism between MJF and Wardlow will be the story that drives him forward until he is ready to lead the division, this also continues to sell the protection of the Paradigm Shift, through this match we are highlighted that while Moxley can win by other means he struggles without it, which can be a telling weak point in the future. For now though Moxley continues to prove himself to be a survivor, but how do you survive when Everybody Dies? Conclusion AEW All Out 2020 was not AEW’s best PPV. But it was still a very good PPV, outside of the Sydal Botch, the Hardy injury and the mixed response of the Tooth and Nail match (which really is the fault of fan demand forcing Khan’s hand, you got what you wished for and now you see why Khan was right all along) we got some great progression of storylines, great matches, and several talent got over. Will Hobbs had an impressive PPV debut making it into the final stages of the battle royale, Rosa and Shida were excellent and successfully brought the fans back into the match, Bucks, JE, Kenny, Hangman, FTR, Moxley, Archer, Kingston and MJF were all excellent in their matches too, it’s a little unfair that Hardy’s injury overshadows all that. Of course I hope he’s okay, but Wrestling comes with risk and they finished the match without having Matt take any serious bumps after.  Living in the UK the card was a bit long for me, the card shuffling did seem to upset the pace because of how abruptly the Buy In was changed again due to fan demand, I do feel like the card structure was a little off and that Tony and JR probably need to be talked about with their commentary of women. A lot of the energy got sapped out by their lack of enthusiasm. But despite what people may tell you, All Out was good. The matches were good, the wrestlers got over, the character directions all look promising and we have storyline progression which entices people to want to watch the next Dynamite Overall, 7/10 - which is also how many I got right in predictions (well 7/11)