AEW All In Review - August 25, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: Top Flight, Action Andretti, Lio Rush, "Dynamite Kid" Tommy Billington, Kyle Fletcher, Rocky Romero and Kip Sabian def. Ariya Daivari, Anthony Ogogo, Jay Lethal, Satnam Singh, Private Party and The Dark Order (John Silver and Alex Reynolds)

I believe this was announced earlier in the pre-show. Yes, it was incredibly random, but I can't call it pointless because it's clear it was designed to get as many of the lower-level stars on the show as possible to give them a WrestleMania-esque payday. In that case, I get it, especially since it was just the pre-show. A 16-man tag team match was excessive, sure, but it was fine for what it was and they kept it interesting throughout.

Zero Hour: Tomohiro Ishii and CMLL World Women's Champion Willow Nightingale def. Stokley Hathaway and Kris Statlander

This actually exceeded my expectations. I know Nightingale and Statlander work really well together and they once again did here, but I thought the stuff with Hathaway would be played up for comedy much more than it was. That said, it was well done. He even hit Ishii with a spinebuster at one point, but Ishii immediately retaliated and gave Hathaway his comeuppance by pinning him for the win. By virtue of their victory, Nightingale can choose the stipulation for her rematch with Statlander at All Out.

Zero Hour: Katsuyori Shibata, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Von Erichs and ROH World Tag Team Champions Sammy Guevara and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes def. The Undisputed Kingdom (Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) and Cage of Agony (Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony)

I'm glad we didn't get Undisputed Kingdom facing The Conglomeration for a change, though I'm ready for them to move on from facing Rhodes, Guevara and The Von Erichs as well. Undisputed Kingdom as a whole needs to end if Wardlow and Adam Cole (who I realize is still injured) aren't going to be a part of it. This was a well-worked eight-man tag team match with more star power and less chaos compared to the tag match from earlier. It's astounding unimportant Guevara has felt since returning.

Zero Hour: Jamie Hayter Attacked The Outcasts

Finally! We haven't seen Hayter in AEW since she lost the AEW Women's World Championship at Double or Nothing 2023. The report was that she was out with a shoulder injury this entire time, but it's been so long that perhaps there were other injuries or it was just more serious than originally expected. Either way, she's coming back at the perfect time with the women's division heating up. Saraya is a fine first feud for her, unless it's just a one-off. The segment was well done, but I wish it happened on the main card so more people would've seen it.

Pac and Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) def. The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch and Nick Wayne), House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews), and Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson and The Gunns) in a Four-Way London Ladder Match to Win the AEW World Trios Championship

We get so many Ladder matches in WWE/NXT and AEW these days that it's hard for any of them to really stand out, but this was quite the entertaining car crash. There were a ton of people involved that the action was difficult to follow at certain points, but on the whole, it was a strong start to the show. Pac has mentioned multiple times wanting to get his "Wembley moment," so him winning for his team was logical. Maybe AEW didn't want The Lucha Brothers involved/capturing the Trios titles if they're on their way out? Will Pac be made a member of Blackpool Combat Club soon?

Mariah May def. "Timeless" Toni Storm to Win the AEW Women's World Championship

There is no doubt in my mind that Storm and May have had the best women's feud in AEW history, and there's probably more to come. They've been building toward this for almost a year and it delivered in spades. Not only was it excellently wrestled, the attention to detail with the storytelling was immaculate. May even slapped her own mother at ringside! May winning the title was always the correct call, but everything leading up to it was wonderful.

Hook def. "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho in a Last Chance FTW Rules Match to Win the FTW Championship

It's wild to think that this feud has lasted almost exactly six months, and I don't say that as a good thing. Has Hook truly benefited from working with Jericho for this long? If anything, he feels a lot less over than he did before the program started. In fact, the crowd was largely quiet for this contest other than when Big Bill got involved. Push the man, damnit! It was another silly FTW Rules brawl that I didn't care for, but Taz assisting his son and getting physical for the first time in many years was a nice moment. Hook getting the belt back yet again does nothing for me. Meanwhile, Jericho desperately needs an extended break from AEW TV.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. FTR and The Acclaimed in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

All three of these teams are talented, but the build to this bout was so lazy that I wasn't looking forward to this match whatsoever. Sure enough, it was solid at best. There was nothing wrong with the wrestling, but I honestly wasn't overly excited to see any of these teams walk away with the titles (FTR would've been the best bet because the Bucks and The Acclaimed are so stale at the moment). If nothing else, The Grizzled Young Veterans popping up was a pleasant surprise. Here's hoping AEW has signed them because I'd definitely be down for a feud between them and FTR.

Christian Cage Won a Casino Gauntlet Match to Earn a Future AEW World Championship Opportunity

There's been only three of them so far, but the Casino Gauntlet has quickly proven to be the best gimmick match that AEW has to offer. My sole nitpick is that there were several points where most of the competitors could be shown standing/laying at ringside doing nothing as they waited for their next spot. The camera shouldn't have picked up on that. Otherwise, this was a blast. It was wisely paced and Nigel McGuinness and Ricochet were awesome surprises, but the execution of the finish fell flat for me. I have no issue with Christian being back in the world title mix, but the latest tease for Luchasaurus betraying Christian was lame because the story has been going on for what feels like forever.

Will Ospreay def. MJF to Win the AEW American/International Championship

This was on par with their exceptional match from Dynamite last month. Of course, that shouldn't be too shocking given how great both guys are. I preferred their original encounter slightly more, but this was still a hell of an outing despite the shenanigans. I didn't even think about Daniel Garcia costing MJF the win, but it makes sense after how MJF brutally attacked him earlier in the summer. Reportedly, Garcia still hasn't re-signed, so that's an interesting story to follow. Plus, Ospreay hit the Tiger Driver '91 for the first time since Dynasty when he "injured" Bryan Danielson, so that was a fantastic finish.

AEW TBS Champion and NJPW Strong Women's Champion Mercedes Mone def. Britt Baker (NJPW Strong Women's Championship Was Not Defended)

This was easily the biggest disappointment on the card. The rivalry has had its ups and downs, but this was one of the biggest women's matches AEW could book and it didn't live up to the hype. They didn't click very well as opponents and it looked like Baker was wrestling in slow motion in some spots. The abrupt finish didn't help. While far from a bad match, it was certainly underwhelming. Hopefully they can redeem themselves in the inevitable rematch.

AEW TNT Champion Jack Perry def. Darby Allin in a Coffin Match

Coffin/Casket matches aren't my cup of tea, personally, but this was enjoyable. It was on the shorter side, but perhaps that was for the best. Allin has talked before about being undefeated in this sort of stipulation, so it meant something for Perry to beat him. Sting showing up afterward to save Allin from Perry and the Bucks got a loud pop as you'd imagine. The outcome seemed obvious with Allin already having earned an AEW World Championship shot at Grand Slam when he won Royal Rampage.

Bryan Danielson def. Swerve Strickland in a Title vs. Career Match to Win the AEW World Championship

AEW has had some stellar matches this year and this ranks high up there among them. Although I wasn't fond of the stipulation because I felt it telegraphed the finish, it did add to the drama and make this even more of an outstanding main event than it would have been without it. Between "The Final Countdown" entrance for Danielson and the crowd being so invested in everything they did, this was a five-star masterpiece for my money. Strickland had a top-notch reign as AEW World Champion and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him with the belt. It will be cool to see Danielson as champion, if only for a little while.

Overall Show

Say what you will about the general lack of buzz around the product this year, but AEW has been knocking it out of the park pretty consistently with their pay-per-views and All In was no exception. Granted, it wasn't a perfect event (I could've done without Jericho vs. Hook and Mone vs. Baker missed the mark), but the atmosphere was electric once again and it was a significant improvement over last year's installment. It felt like there was an extra emphasis on stories being paid off and that made for an eventful evening with so many championships changing hands. The vast amount of surprises was also very fun. Two thumbs-up for All In 2024.

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