AEW All Out

[...TG]

Whoever is directing this show loves cutting to crowd shots, specifically crowd shots of women. 

The ladder match is pretty much a dead genre at this point. There were some good spots, and a couple of nutty ones, but lots of down time setting them up which just kills it for me. 

[sek69]

LAX!

[NintendoLogic]

Jesus, I just realized we still have the world title match.

[Ricky Jackson]

Ladder match finished up pretty well I thought. Probably best match so far. Main needs to deliver big time 

[tallmike]

I said this in a slack that I know a couple of people here are in, but I'll say it again.

The chaos of the ladder match would have felt a lot more special had they not already done a car crash multi person match with a lot of weapons and dumb bumps earlier in the night.

[tallmike]

Why is the title belt already so scratched up? They haven't done anything with it. Did somebody drop it backstage or something?

[Cowboy Hats 4.0]

2 hours ago, Coffey said:

It's depressing how dead this thread is.

It’s Saturday night!

[...TG]

From next week's Observer: "Psychology-wise, this was the best match of the night". 

The crowd is trying to hang in there, but this doesn't seem to be working. 

[NintendoLogic]

The crowd seems burned out.

[Ricky Jackson]

Orange Cassidy was still the best thing of the night 

[Boss Rock]

All in all I thought it was a very good show but 4 hours is just too long, even for your biggest ppv of the year. Kenny-PAC, Shida-Riho, and the ladder match were my picks for MOTN.

[Migs]

Thought the show was good, not great. I think I'd say the ladder match was match of the night, although I feel like I've seen other Bucks ladder matches that were at least equivalent. Dug Cody-Spears but Spears just didn't have the juice to be taken seriously, glad Cody ended up winning. Main event and Kenny-Pac were good, although I don't think we'll be discussing them in the long-term.

Had a couple of non-fans with us in the room tonight, and they had a lot of fun, although they were a bit skeeved out by some of the stuff in the three-way (mostly everything involving thumbtacks).

[Sean Reedy]

Tully getting the chance to properly heel in 2019 in front of this big of an audience makes the entire existence of AEW worthwhile.

[Dale Wolfe]

Tully was the best thing on the entire show. 

[SirEdger]

Only saw the Arn Anderson spinebuster spot on Shawn Spears but Tully Blanchard's expression told the whole story. I'm really curious to see if and how they're gonna follow up on that.

[SteveJRogers]

46 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

Only saw the Arn Anderson spinebuster spot on Shawn Spears but Tully Blanchard's expression told the whole story. I'm really curious to see if and how they're gonna follow up on that.

I really hope it becomes “The view never changes” 2019 style

Nothing like a good Arn turn after luring the face into a false sense of security! 

[War is Raw]

7/10 or 8/10 show. Crowd was fantastic. Prolly would have been 9/10 if Mox didn't get hurt and PAC was the unadvertised surprise. 10/10 if Punk or AJ Lee showed up.

It kept my interest for 5 hours, although I was getting sleepy 11:35PM EST. AEW feels completely different than NXT, WWE, or NJPW. It feels like anything could happen.

And yes, JR sucked, just like post-prime Solie sucked. JR isn't even playing a character anymore- he's himself, which is a frustrated old dude. He shit on Riho and Havoc's matches and sounds like Elmer Fudd. I loved Excalibur and Golden Boy.

Streaming the Buy In on TNT's YT channel instead of AEW's official or BR.live was a huge miscue- only had around 13K live viewers.

My favorite were the 3-way hardcore and ladder matches. Only real bomb was the women's battle royal. Had high hopes for Omega, Cody, and Riho's matches, but they were slightly off. Jericho/Page was exactly as expected. Had low expectations for all the tag matches, so was pleasantly surprised (except I'm not into Best Friends).

Can't say enough good things about the characters/costumes/gimmicks. I like the intrigue and world-building on the march to TV. 

 

[Blehschmidt]

Only about half way done with the show, but I have to say I am excited to see more of Hikaru Shida.

I know they are All In on Riho, but her tiny girl who gets fluke roll ups gimmick seems like it will lose re-watchability fairly quickly. 

My first time seeing Shida, and I was very impressed with her stuff.

[tallmike]

Definitely something where the women's match for TNT feels like really poor booking.

First of all, I guess AEW's lucky that TNA had the reverse battle royal, so that the Casino Battle Royal is not the absolute worst designed battle royal in wrestling history... and that's still pretty close. Five people coming to the ring at once means that nobody looks special. Nobody looks like a star. But on the results...

Nyla did not have a good night last night. Her stuff looked bad, lost grip on power spots, and there were definitely points where she was outshone by far by several other women in the ring. But even beyond that, if she was going to be one of the people you're putting in this situation, why the fuck was she booked like she was previously? Dinked out in one match and pinned in the other?

Oh the Riho-Shida match, Shida's physical charisma carries her a lot further than Riho. She comes off like a star while the other stuff, like the language barrier, is coming across. I know that Riho is Kenny Omega's favorite or whatever, but Shida definitely comes off as more of a star to a casual audience.

Britt Baker vs. Shida, Awesome Kong vs. Shida, (if they sign her) Mercedes Martinez vs. Shida... I 100% buy those as better choices for the first match. Fuck, you could do Brandi in that spot. Have Kong be the enforcer, Aja comes down, continues that program, scares her off, and Shida gets the win and the strap. 

This match beyond Riho pinning her last show, has no hook at all.

[El-P]

The fact there isn't more replies says less about the show than about the board, really...

I thought it was an excellent show, with Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks easily getting MOTN and honestly, this was a MOTYC to me. Just insane. And they really didn't fell into the most tired ladder match tropes like the slow climb (which they made fun of on BTE). Matt Jackson is such a terrific mind for details too. I guess Fenix's leg was okay... LAX won't be called LAX I guess. I wasn't crazy about the way they showed up though. The matches between these three teams are gonna be crazy though, LAX vs Lucha Bros in IMPACT was great stuff.

Second best match was Omega vs PAC. Great match too and quite the surprising result. I like how they are doing stuff that make sense. Omega had his mind set on Mox, he overlooked PAC and got caught.

Riho vs Shida was probably my third favourite match of the night. I agree Shida should be the star, damn that girl is dynamite. Not that Riho is anything less than very good, and I get the underdog vs monster story they want to tell for the first championship match. Speaking of which, Nila is not ready. She's better than Nia Jaxx when she was thrown into the mix, but she's too green still to be put in this position. I hope she doesn't get the title already, because it could hurt her if the perception is she isn't ready (which she isn't). Anyway, I want to see more of Shida, I'm a fan already.

Jericho vs Hangman was a very good match, but it had no shot of following the Bucks vs Lucha Bros, which emptied the crowd of its energy. It's clear also no one really wanted Hangman to win yet. Plus he should settle down on those shooting star press, although the counter on the outside by Jericho was the greatest thing ever in that it made an otherwise awkward spot into something cool . Jericho is AEW's Terry Funk. He'll have a really hard time getting booed. I thought he looked fantastic, better than Page. Right man won. Page's wife was funny in that she was having way too much fun ! Page is still young and had shitload of potential. Cool entrance on the horse too.

Cody vs Shawn Spears was tons of fun. Not a great match, just good, but excellent booking. Honestly Spears was just there. And it was designed that way too. Tully was the second best guy in the match. Seriously, he did a better manager job than I've seen in years. The Arn spot I could see coming from miles away after, but was cool nonetheless. They are slowly building Cody vs MJF, and that is gonna be gold, probably.

Loved the six-men SCU vs Jurassik Express match. That Jungle Jack boy is something (more on that later). Totally the kind of opener you want to get the crowd going. SCU are awesome at this.

The Dark Order gimmick needs to be revamped badly. They are not over and although their in-ring work is good, they just drag whoever works with them into a hole of silence, despite the goodwill of that crowd. Worst match on the show and still technically good, but yeah, that gimmick is a failure. Kill it before the TV. And it's like they know it, since Orange Cassidy showing up was there to make you forget about the Dark Order.

Janela vs Havoc vs Allin was exactly what I thought it would be. Ok, with Janela throwing a tennis racket away, and since we know Corny & Callihan were actually working a rivalry online, I'm that close to expecting Corny showing up in AEW at one point like he did in ECW back then for a showcase against Janela. Allin is going to kill himself, but hey, what are you gonna do. Janela was the star of the match in term of personality What the hell was that orihara moonsault BTW ? The monkey flip in the chair was hilarious. Havoc was kinda hidden by the other too, and in a way he was the smarter worker in not taking the biggest bumps, and I guess the paper cut spots are fine the first time you see them but...

The pre-show match with Angelico & Evans vs Private Party was the greatest flippiest match ever. Evans & Angelico as heels is exactly what you need. PP are not ready for anything other than doing awesome spots yet, let's see if they can grow out to be more than that. They certainly have charisma too.

Yeah, the women battle royal was a miss. Felt rushed. No real big surprise. Tenille Dashwood from IMPACT working the show was certainly interesting. I hope Ivelisse gets signed. I'm glad Scarlett didn't show up there, would have been a waste. I get what they want to do with Nyla, but when you have a lot better workers around her, I dunno, I would hope the don't go Nia Jaxx with her (although she's got a much better presence). Some good spots at the end though, Britt looks like a star. 

So yeah, tons of fun, love the presentation and production, love the approach they have with zero backstage segment and stuff.

The announcing... Ok, Excalibur is excellent, that's a fact. I have no idea what Goldenboy is here for. Thus far he doesn't display much personality, doesn't add anything to the booth. And then there's good ol' JR. Sorry to say, but he wasn't good. Jungle Jack ? Again and again and again ? And it's not like it's something new. He used to mix Chris Jericho & Chris Benoit in 2000. Did not know how to put Riho and Shida over at all (to say the least), basically saying they have no chance against Nyla anyway. Seriously, I know he's valuable as a name, but his performance here was pretty damn bad. You want a classic voice ? Put Schiavone in. Hell, call Corny, who has been *great* (despite the bullshit) in AEW. Call Don Callis, who's simply a terrific, terrific announcer who also adds humour and character to his stuff, something that is really lacking from this announcing team (hell, even super serious NJPW announcing during the G1 had a lot more flavour and personality). So yeah, that's my big criticism. JR just isn't up the snuff and will not grab a younger audience with this kind of announcing. Goldenboy, I have no idea. Keep Excalibur, he's he anchor.

Anyway, terrific show, can't wait for the debut on TV. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I had a blast at this show live.  Aside from the battle royal, I didn’t find anything to be particularly bad, and that likely has more to do with the format being completely inscrutable.  I didn’t love PAC/Omega but it was pretty good.  Looking forward to when they get to do Moxley/Omega.

Shawn Spears was certainly no great revelation (safe to say he was utilized at a level commensurate with his talent in WWE) but...  2019 wrestler of the year Cody F. Rhodes made that match compelling, along with Arn and Tully.  Cody is so wildly over that it’s jarring as someone who has never been in the crowd at a major wrestling show when a company is hot.  Two years ago I watched him have a match with Omega in New Orleans that felt like it would never end and I actively hated.  Now, his match is the one I most look forward to on every AEW show.

Orange Cassidy rules.  Aside from Arn, he had the biggest pop of the night from where I was sitting.  Ladder match was obviously bonkers (so pumped to see LAX come in) and I enjoyed that, along with the Cracker Barrel match.  Darby is going to be such a star.

The main event was solid enough but Page just doesn’t do it for me.  The standing SSP’s and bullshit like that make me want to gouge my eyes out.  I thought Jericho delivered to the level that he can and I loved the timing on the finish.  He’s definitely the correct choice to have as their first champion.  I can’t wait for the TV to start and for more people to be introduced.

[Boss Rock]

14 hours ago, tallmike said:

Definitely something where the women's match for TNT feels like really poor booking.

First of all, I guess AEW's lucky that TNA had the reverse battle royal, so that the Casino Battle Royal is not the absolute worst designed battle royal in wrestling history... and that's still pretty close. Five people coming to the ring at once means that nobody looks special. Nobody looks like a star. But on the results...

Nyla did not have a good night last night. Her stuff looked bad, lost grip on power spots, and there were definitely points where she was outshone by far by several other women in the ring. But even beyond that, if she was going to be one of the people you're putting in this situation, why the fuck was she booked like she was previously? Dinked out in one match and pinned in the other?

Oh the Riho-Shida match, Shida's physical charisma carries her a lot further than Riho. She comes off like a star while the other stuff, like the language barrier, is coming across. I know that Riho is Kenny Omega's favorite or whatever, but Shida definitely comes off as more of a star to a casual audience.

Britt Baker vs. Shida, Awesome Kong vs. Shida, (if they sign her) Mercedes Martinez vs. Shida... I 100% buy those as better choices for the first match. Fuck, you could do Brandi in that spot. Have Kong be the enforcer, Aja comes down, continues that program, scares her off, and Shida gets the win and the strap. 

This match beyond Riho pinning her last show, has no hook at all.

My thing is that Britt hasn't really had a chance to stand out much. She got the win at Double or Nothing but Nyla felt more like the star of that match. And while some of that hasn't been Britt's fault due to the concussion, I feel like she could use a quick tune up feud. Nyla also came off as a big deal at Fyter Fest even though she took the pin. Brandi or Kong feels way too much like "heel authority figure's chosen champ". Even if either one lost in the end it's easily my least favorite trope in wrestling and one I don't want near the title. Now would Shida have been a better choice over Riho? Probably. But I think Riho has a ton of potential as an underdog babyface.

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I think they might have a problem with Riho as the underdog babyface vs Nyla, because the fans REALLY want to cheer for Nyla.  For how weak the battle royal was as a whole, she got a great reaction when she won.

[Boss Rock]

I get that and I think one of the reasons I'm OK with Nyla winning is that she seems to have the most buzz out of anyone on the women's roster.

[El-P]

Nyla didn't look that good in the battle royal. She might be really exposed in a single match, depending on Riho's performance. Then again, she might do ok. She clearly has tons of potential. 

I must say, about the pre-show, there was some really disgusting transphobia going on on the youtube chat. I know, Youtube is like Twitter, it's the pits of hell, but still, some WWE fanboys comments were repulsive.