All Out 2025

[The Thread Killer]

32 minutes ago, MoS said:

Also, I get the haters, I really do, but Jon Moxley is awesome 

No

[MoS]

This match has gone way too long 

[Stiva]

Man, Tony just bringing everyone back. I’m half expecting Pineapple Pete to join the Don Callis Family at this rate

[MoS]

The Ace is here!

[MoS]

Way too much Don Callis tonight

Love the presentation and the lighting of the main event though!

[Jmare007]

Loving the presentation of this main event. These two are working their asses off and commentary is not letting it go unnoticed. 

[El-P]

Exhibits #42526 of why AEW needs to be done with old ex-WWE guys : Copeland was fun doing new things in random TV matches a while ago, but every one of his big feuds have had the WWE stench all over it. I already did not care about the nostalgia of him & Christian tagging back, but that match was the most "whatever" FTR match I've seen in a long time. Christian looks legit checked out, he probably had way more fun doing the Patriarchy bits. The Cena tribute was dumb as fuck. Yeah, sure, get a Cena chant at an AEW show, *this one* in particular. And then have the exact same angle as WWE did with the wife showing up. Jeeez. Not to mention him taking two finishers, kicking out of it and beating FTR with one shitty spear. Copeland back into my shitlist. When is this guy retiring ? (also, hopefully Beth is NOT GONNA GET INVOLVED in other stuff. Don't damage a hot women division with an old overrated WWE Diva era name)

And also, Hurt Syndicate still sucks. Benjamin was actually fun. MVP looks like a grandpa. Lashley is whatever. Match was sloppy as all hell (never was a fan of the GOA, although they surely have improved). MVP did the job so I guess it's fine ? Nah. Still a waste of time and money. Keep Shelton around, get rid of the other two. The Demand is a very dumb name too

Eddie Kingston coming back is great. That's all you can say about this ill-fated match. Not a big fan of pairing him with Hook though, as Hook as entered the "I don't give a fuck" phase to me a while ago. But love having Eddie back.

Rest of the show was terrific. Of course Mark Briscoe won, people actually expected him to lose ? I actually thought the match got a bit repetitive after a while in term of thumbtacking, but ya know, still great. (plus MJF had that iconic all-time great match the previous day, it just could not measure up)

I enjoyed Mercedes vs Riho a whole lot. Tons to love about it, and it deserved WAY better than the kinda crappy Toronto crowd gave them. Mercedes is just a pure joy to watch and Riho looked like her old self this time. 

Okada vs Takeshita vs Dorada made Dorada a star to the AEW crowd. Okada is so fucking brillant, people talking about him being washed don't know jack from shit. Really smartly laid out to feature Dorada while building up Okada vs Takeshita while making you want a lot more of this. Great, great match.

Mox vs Darby actually managed to be totally different from MJS vs Briscoe. I missed Darby trying to kill himself. Yeah, Mox is awesome, sorry haters, the Deathriders are just the most kick-ass faction in forever (yeah, I know, booking did not do them any favors for a while last year). I totally pre-shot Pac's return soon, but I did not expected it during that match. Which means : more insanity coming up. Fire table match ? (BTW, what is Andra... nevermind)

The women four way was not up to that level, but still really good and fun and an excellent display of the four. Actually got shocked/not shocked by the ending. Which sounds about right to me. Love me some Stat, that's the right choice. Toni is above the title at this point really, she doesn't even need the belt anymore. 

Ladder match was the expected insanity. Some spots were incredibly cringeworthy (damn, Speedball, your feet on these ladders), Young Bucks are still the master of the game, still finding ways to fuck around with the formula in creative ways. I did love Jungle Boy coming back and reuniting with Luchasaurus (which had been teased on BTE but again, did not expect him right there at this moment).

That main event, damn. Fletcher is like Shawn Micheals in 1994/95. You know he's the next guy. He's SO ready. Some spots were incredibly scary (you know the ones). Awesome, classic, main event men's world title match (yeah, I do LOVE the fact Page started this, a thing I had been thinking about for a while before but never thought they would actually do). 

So, the first third was very hit and miss (Briscoe vs MJF hit hard, the rest was kinda yuck), the last two third was classic AEW event.

(oh yeah, the Tweets on screen have to GO. First, X is a nazi app, stop using it. Second, no one wants to have random uninteresting Tweets pop up on screen and be a distraction in 2025)

[DMJ]

^ Mostly same feelings.

* I didn't mind the opener as much as you, El-P. I'm not a big Edge fan, but I liked the bells-and-whistles here and almost always have time for FTR and Christian. Plus, the pre-match stuff with Wendel Clark and Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys popped me. I agree that I don't need to see Beth Phoenix compete in AEW when there's not a storyline reason for her to...but I wouldn't shit on it immediately if they did come up with a good reason for her to get back in the ring. I just don't see what the story would be when she has no history in AEW or any unfinished business with any of the AEW women. Maybe Stokely recruits someone like Megan Bayne? A Bayne/Phoenix match on a random episode of Dynamite is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but I wouldn't hate it outright. What else is Bayne doing? 

* The Kingston match was the worst match of the show. One of several puzzling TK decisions. Even on paper, I'm not sure Kingston/Big Bill is a pairing that was ever going to work, especially with both guys coming in cold. HOOK's return was a head-scratcher too. Like...this was what all the videos were leading up to? The same guy coming out with the same look to go right back into a "hamster wheel" storyline vaguely associated to The Learning Tree?

Speaking of bad returns, the Jack Perry/Luchasaurus reunion was probably the worst return angle in recent wrestling history. Just super dumb. It was like watching an NBA All-Star missing a fast break lay-up on a 5-foot Fisher Price hoop. I'll break it down because it deserves to be shit on piece-by-piece: the Bucks lose, good call, but kinda got some face pops throughout the match because they did cool stuff and let everyone else shine (which has always been their saving grace even when their characters are at their most despicable). Jack Perry shows up to get revenge on a team that has just been through a 20-minute ladder match, which is a heel thing to do, and eats a superkick because its a 2-on-1 situation. He gets no sympathy because he was aggressor. The lights go out and a video plays of Jack Perry "revitalizing" Luchasaurus...who actually returned a month ago at Forbidden Door to replace Nick Wayne. I'll admit, I missed whether he fully turned on Wayne and Sabian on TV or was taken out by them (which would explain why he needed to be revitalized) after teasing a face turn at Forbidden Door but they didn't mention it on commentary so I don't know. ANYWAY...the lights come back on and the Bucks, one of the most meta teams ever, have their backs turned to Killswitch because they've never seen a wrestling show before or had this happen to them before (even though I would swear its happened to them multiple times and they've actually pulled the same ruse themselves). Luchasaurus takes out the Bucks with a double chokeslam and then him and Perry embrace, reforming Jurassic Express. So...Perry's plan was to come out and get beaten up and that was the cue for the lights to go out and the video to play?? Great strategy, moron.

This would've been so, so, so much better if they had followed the ol' K.I.S.S rule (Keep it Simple, Stupid) and saved the return for Dynamite with the Bucks doing something heelish and nefarious, beating up someone the fans have sympathy for and drawing heat, and then Perry and Luchasaurus coming out to make the save. Or, hey, don't even have it be the Bucks. Have it be Hechicero and Alexander and Don Callis because, y'know, they're full-blown heels and not the Bucks, who have spent most of the past three months eating shit because they're no longer EVPs and basically working as a comedy act. 

* As terrible as that angle was, though, there was still so much to love on this show. The main event was AWESOME. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but like I've said about Ospreay's work, if you're going to give me a "fireworks" match, give me the best "fireworks" imaginable. And, to be honest, I actually thought, considering the style of the match, they did let things "breathe" quite well and the high-impact stuff was sold sufficiently (ignoring that, yeah, we got close to 40 minutes of Fletcher taking some of the nastiest head drops ever). Kyle Fletcher is either going to be paralyzed 5 years from now or considered the best in-ring worker of his generation, its one or the other, no in-between. His execution on everything from the running boots to the powerbombs was NASTY. 

* The hardcore matches - MJF/Briscoe and Allin/Mox delivered - and I liked both women's matches, especially the shock ending to the 4-way. On a show where practically every outcome was predictable, Statlander winning the belt was unexpected but also felt earned and like it is leading somewhere interesting with the quasi-mentorship from Wheeler Yuta. 

One of the best PPVs I've ever seen, warts and all.  
 

Oh, and Takeshita/Okada/Dorado was great too. Takeshita is one of my favorites of the past few years and, like Fletcher, I just want to see him constantly in the mix from now on.