AEW All In Review - July 12, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: The Sons of Texas (AEW World Tag Team Champion Sammy Guevara and AEW World Trios Champions The Von Erichs and AEW World Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes def. Shane Taylor Promotions

This came together after what happened between the two groups on Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor pay-per-view on Friday night. It was an excuse to get the Texas natives on the show, and the match was perfectly passable. The crowd popped for Kevin Von Erich locking in The Claw on Anthony Ogogo right before the finish. Don't expect to see The Von Erichs on anything AEW-related for another year (prior to tonight, their last AEW in-ring appearance was All In 2024).

Zero Hour: The Conglomeration (Big Boom! A.J., Kyle O'Reilly, Hologram and NJPW Strong Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii) def. The Don Callis Family (RPG Vice, Hechicero and Lance Archer)

I'm among those who still find the stuff with A.J. and the Costco crew to be a guilty pleasure, and I must not be the only one considering the reaction they got when they came out and during the match. This was along the same lines as his other outings in that it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but it was a fun time while it lasted and it was a welcome addition to the pre-show.

Zero Hour: FTR def. The Outrunners

I was wondering why their original encounter wasn't saved for this show, but in retrospect, I'm glad we got it on Collision first because it was a much hotter, more intimate atmosphere. It was a better bout in general, but this was a quality contest in its own right. I wasn't a fan of FTR cheating to win this time, but perhaps the idea was to protect The Outrunners in defeat and build to them picking up a big win if there's a third match.

AEW World Trios Champions The Opps (Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs) def. The Death Riders (Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli) and Gabe Kidd

This was a strange choice to start the show with considering the depth of the card. The Opps are over, but I can't imagine many people give a shit about the AEW World Trios Championship these days. Hell, this was the first time the titles have been defended since The Opps won them in April! This was solid and well worked, albeit nothing really out of the ordinary. The post-match attack on Joe successfully created doubt he'd be able to aid Adam Page during the main event and leaving fans wondering whether Page would need different backup instead.

MJF Won a Men's Casino Gauntlet Match to Earn a Future AEW World Championship Opportunity

I love the Casino Gauntlet match concept. I do. But there is such thing as too much of a good thing. The longer this went, the less interesting and realistic it got. I mean, seriously: Why would there be so many people out there yet knocked out at ringside? That got slightly ridiculous. I enjoyed this on the whole, though. MJF winning made the most sense given his character. He was also overdue for a return to the AEW World Championship picture,

AEW World Tag Team Champion and AEW World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes def. Daniel Garcia, Kyle Fletcher and AEW World Tag Team Champion Sammy Guevara in a Four-Way Match to Win the Vacant AEW TNT Championship

First and foremost, Adam Cole announcing he had to vacate the title due to health issues and implying retirement was a legitimate possibility was heartbreaking. Here's wishing him the best and that he will be able to wrestle again eventually, but his health should be the top priority. The crowd sat on their hands for the subsequent four-way because of the depressing Cole news and because they probably thought it was obvious Fletcher was winning. Rhodes taking the title instead was shocking and rather random, but I assume AEW wanted to deliver a feel-good moment, especially with Rhodes being a Texas native. Fletcher can always take it from him in the near future. Soon, Rhodes will be in possession of more belts than Mercedes Mone!

Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay def. The Young Bucks

On a show that ended up being as long as it was, the entrances didn't need to be so lengthy. Ospreay and Strickland's were awesome, but the Bucks' entrance was excessive (which I understand was intentional but you get my point). I have very little complaints about the match itself, though. It was slow to start, but the Bucks getting into their usual shtick with all of the nearfalls and no-selling made for an exciting second half and it woke the crowd back up. This honestly could have gone either way, but I'm relieved the Bucks will no longer be on-air EVPs anymore (Strickland and Ospreay wouldn't have been eligible to challenge for the AEW World Championship for one year had they lost here). This was excellent.

ROH Women's World Champion Athena Won a Women's Casino Gauntlet Match for a Future AEW Women's World Championship Opportunity (Non-Title)

I'm disappointed that this was very similar to the men's Casino Gauntlet in that there was too much outside interference and drawn-out entry times, specifically at the end. It was equally entertaining, but the action was all over the place and it didn't have as coherent of a flow. On the bright side, Athena winning was terrific. AEW has been sleeping on her for so long that I didn't think they'd ever actually pull the trigger with her, but better late than never. The fact it happened in her home state of Texas was even cooler.

The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) def. The Patriarchy (Christian Cage and ROH World Television Champion Nick Wayne) and JetSpeed in a Three-Way Tag Team Match

The live entrance for Hurt Syndicate was sweet. The story was that they could've lost the titles here without being pinned, but them holding onto the gold was the correct call. It was well paced, but it was as uneventful as Hurt Syndicate's other title defenses. This division is in desperate need of a shot in the arm and the reunion of the returning Cope and Christian can be a huge help. The post-match angle with them, The Patriarchy (who officially turned on Christian) and FTR was really well done.

AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm def. AEW TBS/RevPro Undisputed British Women's/EWA Women's/CMLL World Women's Champion Mercedes Mone (AEW TBS Championship, RevPro Undisputed British Women's Championshi, EWA Women's Championship and CMLL World Women's Championship Were Not Defended)

Needless to say, this was a vast improvement over Mone's match with Britt Baker at All In last year. Of course, I realize that's not saying much. At any rate, this was a strong match from the top two female wrestlers (and wrestlers in general) AEW has to offer. I could've done without Mone kicking out of Storm's finisher so many times, but otherwise, this was the above-average affair they were capable of. This was a lose-lose because as neither outcome was ideal, but I preferred Storm retaining and thus I was happy with the result.

Kazuchika Okada def. Kenny Omega to Become the Inaugural AEW Unified Champion

This the unification of Okada's AEW Continental Championship and Omega's AEW International Championship. Tony Khan teased earlier this week that the winner might be holding all three belts, but I truly hope that won't be the case. Anyway, this was a wonderful match from the longtime rivals. They aren't who they once were as wrestlers, but they're still super talented and they had a terrific match on the whole (even if you could tell the crowd was clearly exhausted by this point and the interference was a bit much). Okada winning genuinely surprised me. I wonder what this means for Omega going forward.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Jon Moxley in a Texas Death Match to Win the AEW World Championship

This was essentially the equivalent of what WWE did with Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 40, except infinitely more hardcore. Death matches have never been my cup of tea, but as the culmination of one of AEW's biggest storylines ever, I understand why they went above and beyond to make the most of the stipulation, and that they did. The overbooking with the interference actually added to the excitement because all of it was logical. The closing stretch was spectacular and couldn't have been better executed. This was a masterclass in storytelling and I was invested for every second of it. The Death Riders nonsense went on for way too long, but they blew it off in epic fashion. Hats off to AEW for what was arguably their best pay-per-view ending to date (right up there with All Out 2021).

Overall Show

I'm well aware I said this about last year's installment as well, but All In 2025 will go down as one of AEW's greatest events ever. All In truly has become their version of WrestleMania by featuring the biggest bouts and satisfying story payoffs. This installment had plenty of both, to the point where the egregious length (the main card went almost six hours, and that's not including the two-hour pre-show!) didn't bother me this time. AEW definitely needs to trim the runtime for their shows, including All In, but this show in particular benefited from starting in the afternoon as opposed to at night. Runtime aside, this pay-per-view was very much worthy of two-thumbs up and then some. I had a blast with it and even the weaker matches (the opener for example and the Casino Gauntlet matches not hitting the same as they have in the past) didn't take away from the three outstanding main events and other memorable moments throughout.

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