“7 FUCKING YEARS. I’M BACK MOTHERFUCKERS.”

MITB 2011 aside, that was the most I enjoyed a pay-per-view from start to finish since 13 year old WMS watched ECW One Night Stand in 2005.

Loved the cage match. That tag match reminded me of why I used to love wrestling. And how many tag matches I loved in the past. The TLC II at Mania 17. Dragon Gate six man in ROH. This was right up there, if not better. Four fantastic athletes. And a story to boot.

I’ll go into more detail when I’m not so tired, but Punk got me back and AEW has kept me on board. The homegrown AEW stars performances last night - MJF and Allin in particular - have me every bit as excited for the future as the superb signings of Danielson and Cole. Gotta keep this momentum going. God bless professional wrestling!

The greatest night in the history of our sport?

The greatest way to sum it up is.. potential realized.

AEW has been dweeb-TV for so long. But the inclusion of Christian (you cannot downplay how significant his contributions have been, and will be furthermore) Punk, Danielson, Cole, Black, Andrade, Soho, etc and the notable absence of Cody and lesser focus on Jericho and his dropkick friends. That, and using 'real' music to create a different atmosphere to WWE.

This is the AEW finally living up to the hype.

Something I wanna touch on real quick. It's nice to see AEW finally figured out their production issues, specifically with entrances. That was a major complaint over the first couple years from fans watching on TV.

It used to be that you couldn't hear theme music over even normal crowd noise, let alone cheering. I was worried once crowds returned entrances would suffer again, but noticed they had figured it out on recent episodes of Dynamite. The debuts over the past couple weeks would have really suffered if they hadn't fixed this.

Also Adam Cole's new theme is an absolute banger. I love it. YA KNOW IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BOOM

Sept 7, 2021 4:40:46 GMT @admin said:

The greatest night in the history of our sport?

*Minoru Suzuki wants to know your location*

That CM Punk photo @admin posted is legendary.

Heck of a show. Everything felt fun & had some sort of energy to it. I dug the tag time match way more than I thought I would, despite there being some silly sequences. CC brought it to Kenny. I feel like the mesh well. Give me more Eddie vs Miro.

In the hype thread we discussed how All Out was somewhat underwhelming, but it did everything to dispel those negative expectations.

Every match on the card felt special and delivered, a number of great surprises, and a general feeling of AEW becoming bigger, grander, more spectacular.

This may be a cliché thing for pro-wrestlers to say, but MVP of the night has to be the crowd. They are really into the promotion, and rightfully so. They don't go overboard with corny indie "This is awesome" type chants, they really help elevate the matches and the big moments.

Question: Why does Justin Roberts always yell "North Carolina" during Kenny's entrances? Is it some inside joke I'm not in on?

North Carolina is a play on how the state treats Michael Jordan.

It's been reported Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Eric Bischoff, Mike Chioda, Scott D’Amore, Zelina Vega & Sarah Logan were backstage at ALL OUT.

Read into it what you want..

Starting to catch up on the show, I'm glad the majority of you enjoyed it.

With the reputation of the show I'll likely watch multiple matches a few times just to get a better feel but these are my first impressions.

Miro vs. Eddie Kingston - Miro always had the edge but it felt too back and forth for my liking. Miro is supposed to be this dominant champion and he's constantly powdering out of the ring and rarely getting any of his stuff in. I feel like he's down to two impressive moves - the matchka kick which everyone already does anyways and the Game Over which is just a nice variation of the camel clutch. I enjoy Kingston enough on promos but feel his performances are a bad imitation of AJPW. Everything he does looks sloppy and it doesn't really suit him. Felt like Bryce Remsberg got way too much shine at the end and if AEW is going to separate itself hiring competent officials would be a nice start.

Skipped Moxley/Kojima heard the highlight was Suzuki's appearance.

Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander - I struggled to get a good handle on this so this is definitely one match I'll return to. Definitely felt sloppy in parts with the curb stomp spot being the obvious stand-out. Statlander still feels a little lost when she wrestles and struggles to put together coherent spots. Felt like the defining spot was Statlander missing a moonsault off the apron which made her look silly and then Baker just hit three big moves to put her away. A stronger build would have helped this match significantly, this just felt like a match you take a few spots out of for the highlights reel and add to Baker's record.

Young Bucks/Lucha Brothers - I have some really conflicting feelings on this. On one hand there were some really nice sequences one that comes to mind right away was where Pentagon went through this sequence and ended it on a sweet looking backbreaker. When the match went down that path it was neat. When the match divulged into a circle or literally doosey do spots it just became overly ridiculous and this went forever. Like Baker/Statlander this would have worked better with a stronger build but it felt really thrown together. I guess they did a big blow-off angle on the go-home that I missed since a lot of fans ended up going with the Lucha Bros. Some fans really enjoyed it, but I feel like the ladder match these two teams had two years ago was better.

Skipped the women's battle royal, I'll come back to it but I felt the show was really dragging by this point.

Jericho vs. MJF - I felt like the match floated through my eyes after the entrance where the guitar completely drowned out the fans trying to sing Judas. Only spot I recall was Jericho's call-back to Wrestlemania 2017 with the powerbomb onto the apron then they did the fake-out finish to once again throw their referee under the bus. The finish was fine, I get the feeling they'll meet again with MJF getting the last laugh but this fell flat and didn't really give MJF any momentum.

Punk vs. Darby - This was the final match I saw and was the match of the night. Not the greatest CM Punk match but they showed some nice restraint which made sense and it built into a really exciting finish with some believable near-falls. I thought they did a good job of getting a duel chant going and I like the idea of Punk being fine with a count out finish - what does he have to prove? I like that little wrinkle and it's important they go in that direction and don't let him become a greatest hits wrestler. Going back to the spot, but Darby's sell on both GTS were all-time, love the bump out of the ring.

Skipped right to the post-match of Omega/Christian. I will watch that match later and I presume it'll be my MotN but that was the highlight of the show and I can't remember two surprises like that. I've seen a lot of references to the Outsiders but that was weeks apart and didn't immediately tease a showdown between the two new recruits.

Still not feeling a Wrestlemania X-7 vibe from it or even top tier TakeOver. The Danielson appearance is big but it's pretty standard for shows like this - the last two WWE PPVs featured pretty much the exact same segment and neither were that memorable. I've read a lot of Outsider comparisons which makes me think fans don't really get what made the Outsiders special. It wasn't the fact they were ex-WWF stars appearing, it was how they appeared and how novel it was for the time. This is basically Lex Luger appearing at the Mall of America levels, except you don't get the tweener thing Lex was going for.

Sept 8, 2021 15:00:47 GMT Big Pete said:

Still not feeling a Wrestlemania X-7 vibe from it or even top tier TakeOver. The Danielson appearance is big but it's pretty standard for shows like this - the last two WWE PPVs featured pretty much the exact same segment and neither were that memorable. I've read a lot of Outsider comparisons which makes me think fans don't really get what made the Outsiders special. It wasn't the fact they were ex-WWF stars appearing, it was how they appeared and how novel it was for the time. This is basically Lex Luger appearing at the Mall of America levels, except you don't get the tweener thing Lex was going for.

Thank for you this perspective. Some of the comments made about the show struck me as very hyperbolic. Greatest PPV ever? Nah.

I wonder if people would have had the same reactions had Adam Cole and Brian Danielson not debuted at the end of the show - and that there was no expectation of this happening. An AEW All Out with CM Punk's return match, all the other matches, and no new signees. Would people be calling it the greatest PPV ever? I seriously doubt it. Would it even be an above average AEW show? Based on the match quality alone? I'm doubtful.

I've not actually seen all the matches, but the ones I saw were very good and exceeded expectations. Miro vs Kingston and Cage vs Omega were both a lot better than I expected. Skipped the tag match, and Pete's review means I'm certainly not going to return to it because it's exactly the type of wrestling I hate. But without Ruby Soho, Adam Cole and Brian Danielson to add that extra layer of excitement, it's just a decent show that's historic for having CM Punk's first match in 7 years.

It's absolutely significant and probably the most iconic night in AEW's history (up against CM Punk's return). But as a wrestling show, it's nothing too special.

Sept 8, 2021 15:00:47 GMT Big Pete said:

Starting to catch up on the show, I'm glad the majority of you enjoyed it.

With the reputation of the show I'll likely watch multiple matches a few times just to get a better feel but these are my first impressions.

Miro vs. Eddie Kingston - Miro always had the edge but it felt too back and forth for my liking. Miro is supposed to be this dominant champion and he's constantly powdering out of the ring and rarely getting any of his stuff in. I feel like he's down to two impressive moves - the matchka kick which everyone already does anyways and the Game Over which is just a nice variation of the camel clutch. I enjoy Kingston enough on promos but feel his performances are a bad imitation of AJPW. Everything he does looks sloppy and it doesn't really suit him. Felt like Bryce Remsberg got way too much shine at the end and if AEW is going to separate itself hiring competent officials would be a nice start.

Skipped Moxley/Kojima heard the highlight was Suzuki's appearance.

Britt Baker vs. Kris Statlander - I struggled to get a good handle on this so this is definitely one match I'll return to. Definitely felt sloppy in parts with the curb stomp spot being the obvious stand-out. Statlander still feels a little lost when she wrestles and struggles to put together coherent spots. Felt like the defining spot was Statlander missing a moonsault off the apron which made her look silly and then Baker just hit three big moves to put her away. A stronger build would have helped this match significantly, this just felt like a match you take a few spots out of for the highlights reel and add to Baker's record.

Young Bucks/Lucha Brothers - I have some really conflicting feelings on this. On one hand there were some really nice sequences one that comes to mind right away was where Pentagon went through this sequence and ended it on a sweet looking backbreaker. When the match went down that path it was neat. When the match divulged into a circle or literally doosey do spots it just became overly ridiculous and this went forever. Like Baker/Statlander this would have worked better with a stronger build but it felt really thrown together. I guess they did a big blow-off angle on the go-home that I missed since a lot of fans ended up going with the Lucha Bros. Some fans really enjoyed it, but I feel like the ladder match these two teams had two years ago was better.

Skipped the women's battle royal, I'll come back to it but I felt the show was really dragging by this point.

Jericho vs. MJF - I felt like the match floated through my eyes after the entrance where the guitar completely drowned out the fans trying to sing Judas. Only spot I recall was Jericho's call-back to Wrestlemania 2017 with the powerbomb onto the apron then they did the fake-out finish to once again throw their referee under the bus. The finish was fine, I get the feeling they'll meet again with MJF getting the last laugh but this fell flat and didn't really give MJF any momentum.

Punk vs. Darby - This was the final match I saw and was the match of the night. Not the greatest CM Punk match but they showed some nice restraint which made sense and it built into a really exciting finish with some believable near-falls. I thought they did a good job of getting a duel chant going and I like the idea of Punk being fine with a count out finish - what does he have to prove? I like that little wrinkle and it's important they go in that direction and don't let him become a greatest hits wrestler. Going back to the spot, but Darby's sell on both GTS were all-time, love the bump out of the ring.

Skipped right to the post-match of Omega/Christian. I will watch that match later and I presume it'll be my MotN but that was the highlight of the show and I can't remember two surprises like that. I've seen a lot of references to the Outsiders but that was weeks apart and didn't immediately tease a showdown between the two new recruits.

Still not feeling a Wrestlemania X-7 vibe from it or even top tier TakeOver. The Danielson appearance is big but it's pretty standard for shows like this - the last two WWE PPVs featured pretty much the exact same segment and neither were that memorable. I've read a lot of Outsider comparisons which makes me think fans don't really get what made the Outsiders special. It wasn't the fact they were ex-WWF stars appearing, it was how they appeared and how novel it was for the time. This is basically Lex Luger appearing at the Mall of America levels, except you don't get the tweener thing Lex was going for.

I just saw it last night and I agree with everything you just said.

I really hope these guys don't start taking advantage of Khan like the WCW guys did Bischoff and Turner.

A few assorted thoughts:

I quite enjoyed Miro and Kingston even though it was predictable. Despite his in-ring shortcomings, Kingston remains one of my favourite AEW talents with his authenticity, and this was a solid brawl. They worked the neck story well. I'm surprised they protected Eddie in the finish to that extent but at least they don't overdo this stuff.

I don't know what this Moxley NJPW tour is about but it results in another very average match against a man I've never heard of. The forearm contest with Suzuki cracked me up, but I'm not sure if that was the idea. Is this the best use of Moxley? He doesn't look great at the moment.

The women's title match was pretty good and told a good story with a quick pace. Statlander, who I'm much lower on than the average person on here, had a good showing here highlighting her strengths and working much more a style she should be working rather than the same athletic style that she's too sloppy to execute.

I'm not your man for a review of the cage match. It is what it is, they hit all the stunt stuff very well and the Lucha Bros sold it like death and the crowd peaked at the finale which is unusual in these spot-fests - credit to them. Of course, Matt Jackson was caught on camera on his back chewing gum and not selling because he's fucking useless. It was a mark on an otherwise good showcase for this sort of thing.

The Casino Battle Royale is a weird concept and something of this length with this many jobbers shouldn't be featured on the main card, although it got more women onto PPV which was needed. Ruby Soho I'm not too familiar with.

I liked the finish to MJF and Jericho. It protected MJF and got Jericho one big win in the feud. They did it well and popped the crowd with the second ref and then the succession of near-falls after that really got over. The match was ordinary up to that point but had a memorable finish. The Y2J fake-out was awesome, classic pro wrestling showmanship.

Punk/Allin was easily my match of the night, I really enjoyed it. Perfect psychology - Punk wrestled exactly as a guy who's been off for 7 years and is facing a quicker opponent should. He grounded him, took every advantage, and took his time. Allin's selling was fantastic even in the post-match. This was really good and underrated I feel. Punk will be a breath of fresh air with his storytelling.

Giant came out in a ridiculous piece of gear and squashed the bowling guy. Don't care.

Main event was alright, you have to get people to care though and they haven't through this angle. It was fine, nothing wrong with it, but the impending Danielson debut loomed over this like the Rock's presence in Cena/Miz at WrestleMania. The match was an afterthought. The debuts were cool, particularly Adam Cole, but now he's in the Elite how much longer is that going to drag on for? This Elite crap will not attract casual fans IMO and needs to die. Danielson's debut was great and he raised hell.

This was a good to very good show with a variety of matches. It doesn't match some Takeovers for match quality. For huge matches, moments and impact, the comparisons to Mania 17 are absurd and time will sort all that out - we wrestling fans have a tendency to hyperbolise everything. But what a good show nevertheless.

I'll touch on the Outsiders thing too as Pete did. These are not signings that are as big as the Outsiders. As Meltzer has said, they're actually bigger. The Outsiders weren't even the biggest signings WCW made over that last couple years. The Outsiders signing was one of the biggest moments in pro wrestling history because it signified a change in presentation for a company with lapsed fans (WCW). Punk and Danielson going to AEW isn't going to do that, it's going to be more of the same but with more famous wrestlers doing it. So it's not an unfavourable comparison for Punk and Danielson, but rather an invalid one.

Since Inhavent seen the show I just have one note of interest for me in what I have seen my biggest takeaways from the WWE folks that showed up is how abnormal it feels for WWE to have let these guys come in and leave with their presentation in tact. Adam Cole is still Adam Cole and still saying baybay, Daniel Bryan changed his name but has mostly the same entrance music, and CM Punk is doing the same stuff he did seven years ago with the same name, same entrance, etc.

I’m sure Vince didn’t love seeing a handful of things his company made famous show up on AEW.

To be fair, CM Punk and Brian Danielson were doing those things PRE WWE (RoH, etc) that's why when they happened in WWE, the fans who followed them loved it.

The comparison to X7 isn't right in terms of cultural significance.

X7 was victory over WCW, an all star show of shows to show they had won the war. It was VM Day - victory on Monday Nights. A celebration of WWF.

It was also the first time in many years, WWF was doing those massive stadiums for Wrestlemania again.

ALL OUT was more like Wrestlemania XIV. A momentum shift. ALL OUT next year will be their X7 if they can maintain this momentum, tighten up the usage of Black, Andrade, PAC, etc

In terms of matches and the overall event. X7 takes the cake.

Sept 8, 2021 22:43:53 GMT iron maiden said:

To be fair, CM Punk and Brian Danielson were doing those things PRE WWE (RoH, etc) that's why when they happened in WWE, the fans who followed them loved it.

As was Adam Cole using it prior.

My point was that Vince McMahon’s way for a long time has been the repackage. We’re gonna change the name, give you the gimmick, make your music, and own the trademarks. But so much of that wasn’t done with these three and I’m sure it burned him a little bit. And if it was done to please RoH fans then I’m sure he’s really pissy about it lol.

Watched all the matches now, brief thoughts.

Kingston vs Miro was surprisingly good, and a big part of the match was the angle with Miro's neck being vulnerable. They played into that really well. I've never been able to take Kingston seriously as a threat, but he was a threat here.

Moxley vs Kojima was, as expected, a lame imitation of strong style, but I preferred it to his recent match against Nagata. Suzuki's appearance was great. The forearm strike exchange is routine in Japan but Suzuki has made it one of his signature spots because of his mannerisms and the fact he's able to deliver the stiffest-looking forearm strike in the world. That sequence is especially over in the West, just listen to the crowd.

Baker vs Statlander was really solid. Easily Baker's best title defense, but admittedly that's not saying much. Smartly worked match, flowed well, some great spots, and no interference which strengthens her victory.

I lied, I didn't watch all the matches. Skipped the cage match, but I did watch the Lucha Bros entrance which was fantastic.

MJF vs Jericho exceeded expectations. Everything felt meaningful. Powerbomb on the apron spot was great, and MJF sold it hard for the rest of the match. False finish was great despite the fact you could see the restart coming a mile away. Actual finish was also great.

Agree with Todd that CM Punk vs Darby Allin was match of the night, and it wasn't even close. Punk looked absolutely phenomenal. Both guys were on the same page, great chemistry, great psychology, slick spots. The surprise GTS halfway throguh the match was a real treat, as was Punk being content to take the countout victory. Fantastic near falls and a great finish. He executes the move way better than KENTA does these days, although Allin is a light guy which makes it easier. I noticeed some of the nods to Bret vs 1-2-3 kid, but not all of them. Excellent match.

Paul Wight had a match. I was expecting QT to get more offense, don't know what the point of that whole feud is unless Wight is going to wrestle some more.

Omega vs Christian was much better than their first match and a fine main event. I don't remember much of the details, but it was hurt by the fact that Christian had 0% chance of winning. In that sense Christian's previous victory over Kenny hurt the match. The intended effect was to show it was possible for Christian to win, but it had the opposite effect for the return match. So Omega kicking out of the Killswitch was not a surprise in the slightest, not for me nor the crowd. They did build up to a great finishing sequence.

Don't care for Cole one bit. The guy is over, but I'm glad he's with the Elite, so he's contained in the group of guys I don't care about.

Brian Danielson is awesome and I can't wait to see what he does. Well, fighting against The Elite probably, but he can get a great match out of anyone.

Forgot to talk about the Casino Battle Royale.

It made me think about how hard it is to work a Battle Royale for everyone involved: the wrestlers and the ring crew. WWE does Rumbles so incredibly well that it's weird to see when it's not produced to that impeccable standard. Most of the eliminations were caught on camera but there were a few that were missed. Riho's elimination appeared to be invalid because she was shoved under the bottom rope, not over the top. Camera cleverly hid the key moment behind Nyla Rose's body but the crowd booed heavily when Riho was announced as eliminated, suggesting it wasn't legit.

I think the card gimmick is kinda dumb. Understand that don't want to (or can't legally) copy the Royal Rumble, so it's a tough one. But having five wrestlers enter in a batch is kinda weird. Can't focus on the entrances when there are five women coming down at once. The first one cleans house and the entrances of the others are largely ignored.

For the most part though I enjoyed the match, never a dull moment. The final few minutes were fantastic, Thunder Rosa dumping Nlyla Rose got a huge reaction. To be honest I thought Ruby Soho kinda sucked. Never liked her in WWE, and so far she has not convinced me she's any better in AEW.

Sept 8, 2021 13:27:54 GMT NATH45 said:

It's been reported Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Eric Bischoff, Mike Chioda, Scott D’Amore, Zelina Vega & Sarah Logan were backstage at ALL OUT.

Read into it what you want..

Most were in town for another show.  Logan was there for Ruby, Vega for Black.  

JR is said to be working hard to bring in Lawler.  

I know the internet peeps don't care, but if AEW gives us one PPV with JR and Lawler announcing it; holy smokes. SHOTS FIRED AND CONNECTED.

Sept 8, 2021 22:11:29 GMT mikec said:

Since Inhavent seen the show I just have one note of interest for me in what I have seen my biggest takeaways from the WWE folks that showed up is how abnormal it feels for WWE to have let these guys come in and leave with their presentation in tact. Adam Cole is still Adam Cole and still saying baybay, Daniel Bryan changed his name but has mostly the same entrance music, and CM Punk is doing the same stuff he did seven years ago with the same name, same entrance, etc.

I’m sure Vince didn’t love seeing a handful of things his company made famous show up on AEW.

All three guys came into WWE with their gimmick and just went back to it afterwards.  I think this will be the end of Vince allowing people to keep their indie gimmicks and names though.  Too many people using WWE stuff on this show.   Ruby, Cole, Bryan, Punk...

Bryan only has the music because they could not get Final Countdown for him.  I assume the music is temp until they find something better.

Sept 9, 2021 13:37:28 GMT c said:

Sept 8, 2021 22:11:29 GMT mikec said:

Since Inhavent seen the show I just have one note of interest for me in what I have seen my biggest takeaways from the WWE folks that showed up is how abnormal it feels for WWE to have let these guys come in and leave with their presentation in tact. Adam Cole is still Adam Cole and still saying baybay, Daniel Bryan changed his name but has mostly the same entrance music, and CM Punk is doing the same stuff he did seven years ago with the same name, same entrance, etc.

I’m sure Vince didn’t love seeing a handful of things his company made famous show up on AEW.

All three guys came into WWE with their gimmick and just went back to it afterwards.  I think this will be the end of Vince allowing people to keep their indie gimmicks and names though.  Too many people using WWE stuff on this show.   Ruby, Cole, Bryan, Punk...

Bryan only has the music because they could not get Final Countdown for him.  I assume the music is temp until they find something better.

Apparently Final Countdown costs $50k per play in royalties and Tony Khan was like yeah fuck that.

Bryan never liked the song and only used it as a joke, but it stuck so he had to keep using it. Rumour has it even Europe hates the song and they charge so much because they don't want it played.

Wrestlers going to WWE would be smart to trademark their gimmicks going forward.

He should have went way back and busted out Self-Esteem again.

Sept 9, 2021 15:04:20 GMT c said:

He should have went way back and busted out Self-Esteem again.

I wouldn't have even remembered that theme. That would have fallen pretty flat.

Trap of the Valkyries was the way to go. It's a pretty dope theme I hope he keeps it.

I hate him using Valkyries. It feels really lame IMO.

I'm not a fan of Valkyries either, but it's become his entrance theme.

Sept 9, 2021 14:36:11 GMT RT said:

Sept 9, 2021 13:37:28 GMT c said:

All three guys came into WWE with their gimmick and just went back to it afterwards.  I think this will be the end of Vince allowing people to keep their indie gimmicks and names though.  Too many people using WWE stuff on this show.   Ruby, Cole, Bryan, Punk...

Bryan only has the music because they could not get Final Countdown for him.  I assume the music is temp until they find something better.

Apparently Final Countdown costs $50k per play in royalties and Tony Khan was like yeah fuck that.

Bryan never liked the song and only used it as a joke, but it stuck so he had to keep using it. Rumour has it even Europe hates the song and they charge so much because they don't want it played.

Wrestlers going to WWE would be smart to trademark their gimmicks going forward.

WWE’s movement away from famous Indy guys will help them there, but also I’m surprised someone like Adam Cole they didn’t give a different name that they would control aka Dean Ambrose.