I attended AEW All Out 2021 at the NOW Arena and here’s what I thought happened.
0. Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, Wheeler Yuta, Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus vs. Matt Hardy, Private Party & The Hybrid2
Pitch perfect is a term of hyperbole but here we were, a 10-man tag team match that as a live attendee I can guarantee you was pitch perfect. Still means like 3.25 stars max, but still: they kept it moving or at least interesting, and both Jungle Boy and Orange Cassidy continued looking like megastars. The people love the Dino too. ***1/4
The beginning of the show was less advertising and more energy-inducing: Tarzan Boy singalong then the Pixies then a nifty match then the return of The Butcher and clap-a-long for JR’s Sooners then everybody chanting in unison for Eddie F’N Kingston.
1. TNT Title: Miro [c] vs. Eddie Kingston
Eddie turns Hoffman Estates into Yonkers and instead of boos for Miro the people just seemed pissed off like it was 1982 and the discovery was still happening. They didn’t waste much time jumping forward to mid-90s Japan too, a real heavyweight fight mostly based around strikes and slams like a nasty powerslam to the floor and a backdrop suplex by Eddie they built to and delivered on.
Mostly strikes though, and those strikes hit — probably because they actually did, but also because Eddie was dead eye selling all over the place. The people love Eddie: the pop when he got to the ropes in the Accolade was outstanding, as was the near fall on his DDT considering they just built it up last week. Miro’s range of match styles as TNT Champ continues to be a story too. ****1/4
2. Jon Moxley vs. Satoshi Kojima
Kojima’s entrance theme remains grand; I got downright emotional as he entered but not really in an introspective way — it was more like a beautiful piece of art and the effort that led to it was washing over me and demanding I embrace it. They kept the match to current Kojima’s basic style so it read a little like 12 minutes of Greatest Hits but man — those hits still work, especially when most of the crowd respects Koji and lives for Mox. When Kojima hit that superplex… chef’s kiss. ***1/4
After the match, Minoru Suzuki’s music hit and he entered, stared down Moxley, laid him out and put his boot over his fallen body. I’m not sure I’ve ever genuinely marked out so hard for an entrance (sorry Punk), or was at least so surprised by one — Suzuki was in the country, but this crazy company was basically advertising another big appearance later. What else was to come?!
3. AEW Women’s World Title: Britt Baker [c] w/ Jamie Hayter Rebel vs. Kris Statlander w/ Orange Cassidy
What could’ve easily been relegated to a match in a “tough spot on the card” ended up delivering some real championship wrestling and a perfect palate cleanser between King Suzuki and a Steel Cage. Statlander got to show off her power early and often while the word that comes to mind for Baker is confidence. Baker’s Panama Sunrise was a tremendous bit — little did we know… ***1/4
4. Steel Cage Match – AEW World Tag Team Title: The Young Bucks [c] w/ Brandon Cutler vs. The Lucha Bros w/ Alex Abrahantes
Sometime after this match I overheard these two old-timers by the concessions recalling the experience like they just got back from the Boston Garden, a genuine excitement as one proclaimed (and the other agreed) it was “the greatest Cage Match I’ve ever seen.”
Look. I’ve seen a lot of Steel Cage matches. Some real cool ones, fun ones, straight-up brutal ones. Lot of bad ones too. Either way, I think I agree with those guys.
They started punching and bumping right away and didn’t really stop, only slowing down for bleeding or mask-ripping or rubbing faces into sneakers that had thumbtacks glued to the soles. An expectation comes with these two teams now anytime they wrestle as if it’s just easy to pull off the high-flying they do on a consistent basis, but here they were showing the reputation is there for a reason: elite high-flying, wrestling drama, and plenty of “OH FUCK” emanating from NOW Arena.
Pro wrestling finds its’ art from multiple directions: carnage (Fenix flew full-speed into the cage multiple times), grace (he tightrope walked on top of it later), excitement (the BTE Trigger near fall AHHHH), and sometimes just a well-timed shot to the balls. They did it all inside this BIG ASS CAGE, another element of what made the match feel like such a major deal.
It was the fifth match on the show that received a “This is Awesome” chant, but there’s got to be something else now — “This is Insanely Good and I Am Impressed but also Concerned for your Health” or something of the sort. Two 2-man dynasties swung their dicks out and had a serious, fun, jaw-dropping, bloody and badass wrestling classic. *****
5. 21-Woman Casino Battle Royale
Plenty of filler brawling, but this packed in enough story bits to not be a total miss — just not a total winner until Ruby Soho made her debut in yet another phenomenal and cathartic wrestling return. I still feel like someone needs to personally explain to me why Riho was eliminated so fast though.
Ruby and Thunder Rosa ended up the (correct) final two and delivered a great match trailer, including Rosa going all goofball on the elimination teases. The roster is developing and with at least this particular crowd incredibly popular too. **3/4
6. If Jericho Loses, He Retires: Chris Jericho vs. MJF
We had a sing-a-long, ass-kicking, Japan, ladies, cages — now here’s Chris Jericho. Starting with MJF’s troll Millennium Countdown entrance, ignoring the awkward instrumental “Judas” entrance, and ending with a potentially annoying but well-executed restart finish, these two put on a good show. Like a pair of professionals they used arm work, signatures, and a few pieces of bullshit to weave a crowd-pleaser of a tale. It was basic but productive and seemed like something WWE could’ve done one day if the Performance Center wasn’t so whatever it is. ***1/2
7. CM Punk vs. Darby Allin w/ Sting
Besides the PANTS, CM Punk’s approach in a wrestling ring after a 7-year break hasn’t changed much. What he lacks in variety and gracefulness he makes up for in being giving to his opponent and just being over as shit. This felt live a little like him doing an Antonio Inoki match, and not just because of the cobra twist — he’s got a style mismatch of an opponent and there’s many stretches where he’s holding Darby down in a chinlock to fill in the gaps. It’s not boring though: our boy’s in a fight and he’s got to do what he’s got to do!
Darby Allin brought to the table exactly what got him the match in the first place and did an especially good job slowing down the speed down for Punk, who sometimes felt a step behind but only because Darby is always so balls out. Punk’s sit-up to counter the Coffin Drop and grin afterwards was brilliant too, like he was trying all match to either keep up or keep Darby down then found the solution by just being a clever dick. Quality return match, a story to care about, and real good post-match vibes. ****
8. Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall w/ The Factory
Special attraction veteran squashes company douchebag – there’s a place on the show for it, but it was probably earlier. Wight seemed more limited than ever and even the “shhh” spots felt silly considering the energy of the show. They’ve been able to cover for Sting’s age appropriately, now do Paul. DUD
9. AEW World Heavyweight Title: Kenny Omega [c] vs. Christian Cage
Christian has a great checklist of a match that will start just fine and eventually rope you into the genius in front of you. He did the Damn Thing again here too, but the awesome catch was about 75% of the way through that list Kenny started rocking him with some especially brutal V-Trigger’s that Christian sold like a guy who is really good at this – maybe one of the best!
He was a fallen fighter shocked to be struck down in the middle of a routine, and his attempts to persevere as Kenny cut him off again and again by way of knee to face was a great twist. This also felt completely different from their (also great) Impact Title match, maybe a little more Kenny then Christian. The folks were waiting for Bryan Danielson, but the checklist and V-Triggers and a top rope One-Winged Angel made sure they paid attention. ****
Post-match, The Elite all got together for a little celebration and anyone at the NOW Arena who was anticipating the possibility of Bryan Danielson showing up (most people) began to… anticipate. AEW used the occasion to debut free agent Adam Cole (Bay Bay), who immediately joined The Elite and talked shit until AEW also brought out free agent Bryan Danielson too. It was only September, but wrestling Christmas was here.
As people exited the arena, there was an energy in the air like everybody just got laid. I was practically glowing as I recounted with strangers all the major moments of the night: Adam Cole, Bryan Danielson, Ruby Soho, that Cage Match, Minoru Suzuki… THE BUTCHER!!!
Happy Thoughts: There it is, the perfect wrestling show. They loaded it up with moments and surprises that ranged from fun to industry-changing, but strip that away and the wrestling was great too. Hallelujah. 5.0 / 5.0
