AEW All Out Review - September 7, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: The Acclaimed def. Iron Savages

It's bad enough that Iron Savages are overexposed on AEW TV and ROH TV, now they're being featured on on a pay-per-view pre-show as well. I hate to sound like a broken record, but their gimmick is atrocious and The Acclaimed's scissoring shtick isn't much better. I don't understand why this had to last as long as it did if The Acclaimed winning was never in doubt. Needless to say, The Acclaimed have cooled off considerably since their hot match with Swerve in Our Glory two years ago in Chicago.

Zero Hour: Hologram and AEW World Tag Team Champions Sammy Guevara and AEW World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Dustin Rhodes def. Premier Athletes (Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari and Josh Woods)

Being on Zero Hour is better than not being a part of the pay-per-view at all, but it was still wild to see Guevara wrestling in a random match on the All Out pay-per-view considering how highly positioned he was on the card prior to this year. He and Rhodes have a good thing going at least. This felt like it belonged on Rampage or Collision, but it was well worked and it was cool to see Hologram spotlighted on a bigger stage.

Zero Hour: Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson and The Gunns) def. The Dark Order

Bang Bang Gang faced off with Cage of Agony backstage last night (I don't remember whether it was Collision or Rampage), so clearly those two teams/trios are headed for a match soon. I just don't understand why we wouldn't have gotten that here. It's silly to put Dark Order on the card instead of Cage of Agony. This was a very basic bout with another obvious outcome.

Zero Hour: Queen Aminata Saved Skye Blue From AEW Women's World Champion Mariah May

Blue was offering an injury update with Tony Schiavone on the stage when she was interrupted by May, who said previously that she'd be holding her championship celebration on this show. I was surprised she got as physical with Blue as she did, so maybe Blue is nearing an in-ring return? Hopefully Aminata making the save means she'll be next in line for a shot at the AEW Women's World Championship.

Zero Hour: The Undisputed Kingdom (Roderick Strong, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett) def. Top Flight & Action Andretti and Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor and ROH Pure Champion Lee Moriarty) & The Beast Mortos in a Three-Way Trios Tag Team Match

These three-way trios tag team matches are such a mess. There wasn't anything technically wrong with this one, but the action is almost impossible to follow because there's so many damn people involved. And for what? It's not like a future AEW World Trios Championship opportunity was on the line. It was a nice match, but it's going to take more than a pre-show win to make Undisputed Kingdom feel like a legitimate threat again.

MJF def. Daniel Garcia

This was an excellent choice to start the show. The crowd was quieter than I thought they would be early on, but they ended up getting into it as it progressed. Garcia proved he could hang with MJF and it took MJF resorting to underhanded tactics (per usual) to put him away, so Garcia was thankfully protected in defeat. Garcia didn't fall for his B.S. afterward and left him laying, so the feud will continue as it should.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks def. AEW World Trios Champions Blackpool Combat Club (Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli)

For a match that was announced only a few days ago, this was quite the enjoyable outing. I'd say that was to be expected, but it's felt like the Bucks have been phoning it in for a while now. This was a welcome change of pace, even if the Bucks retaining was pretty predictable. Coming out of this event, would it be too much to ask for AEW to start putting more effort into their tag team feuds and begin rebuilding the division?

AEW International Champion Will Ospreay def. AEW World Trios Champion Pac

You had to know these two would go in there and burn the house down (all due respect to Adam Page). Not only did they deliver, they somehow exceeded my lofty expectations. This was a wild spot-fest in the best way possible and the crowd ate up every second of it. I'm already anticipating what kind of craziness Ospreay and Ricochet will be capable of when they face off again soon, ideally at WrestleDream.

Kris Statlander def. Willow Nightingale in a Chicago Street Fight

Nightingale didn't come out with the CMLL World Women's Championship here, so I won't acknowledge her as the CMLL World Women's Champion in the headline. Apparently company politics played a role in the title not being defended on this show. Nonetheless, this was a hell of a hard-hitting affair. Seriously, they didn't hold anything anything back. I know AEW does hardcore matches to death, but this is one of my favorite ones in recent memory. Maybe they'll face off again (this time for the title) at a CMLL event one of these days.

AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada def. Orange Cassidy, Konosuke Takeshita and ROH World Champion Mark Briscoe in a Four-Way Match (ROH World Championship Was Not Defended)

Generally speaking here, I really want Okada to wrestle more often going forward. The heel Elite angle flopped and he's been a background character for most of 2024. That needs to change in 2025 because he's too talented to be marginalized. At any rate, this was a fun four-way. I assumed Okada would retain because the qualifiers for this match were held last night on Collision, but I'm glad Takeshita wasn't pinned because Okada vs. Takeshita one-on-one can be saved for another time.

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

This was disappointing. Mone and Shida had quality chemistry when they first faced off on Dynamite last month, but for whatever reason, they didn't click as well here and there were several awkward moments. The crowd not buying into Shida as a legitimate threat to the title didn't help, but even the finish didn't look smooth. I'm genuinely shocked that the weakest match on the main card was one involving Mone.

AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson def. AEW TNT Champion Jack Perry (AEW TNT Championship Was Not Defended)

Compared to most people, I actually didn't hate the decision for Perry to challenge Danielson on this show. The AEW TNT Champion shouldn't be losing when it isn't necessary, mind you, but it was an easy opponent for Danielson to beat on a pay-per-view that had only two weeks' build. It was a solid match and Perry was made to look credible in defeat, but even with the interference from the Bucks and Blackpool Combat Club, I don't think anyone honestly bought into the idea that Perry would win. The post-match chaos with Blackpool Combat Club fending off The Patriarchy only to attack Danielson (except for Yuta) was much more exciting. I'm curious to see where that goes.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Swerve Strickland in an Unsanctioned Lights Out Steel Cage Match

Truthfully speaking, I wasn't enamored with the Death match Page and Strickland had at Full Gear last year, but I love how their feud has become so much more personal since then with a lot more layers added, so making this Steel Cage match (with an unnecessary Unsanctioned Lights Out stipulation) as uncomfortable as possible made total sense to me. They gradually upped the intensity and destroyed their bodies with some insane spots. It's not my cup of tea, personally, but the storytelling was spectacular, right down to the finish and immediate aftermath. I was wondering how they'd be able to top what we'd seen from them previously and they managed to do just that. I don't think there can be any question now that Page vs. Strickland is AEW's greatest rivalry to date.

Overall Show

For the record, the Zero Hour pre-show was completely pointless. The main card, however, was strong and the wrestling delivered per usual. Strickland vs. Page was my most anticipated match coming in, but Ospreay vs. Pac and Nightingale vs. Statlander were also outstanding. Did AEW go too far with the suffocation angle with Danielson and some of the stuff in the main event? Arguably yes, but that didn't take away from the overall event for this viewer. In the future, there needs to be more time in between All In and All Out, but they hit it out of the park despite the quick turnaround.

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