All Elite Wrestling’s All In pay-per-view from Wembley Stadium is in the books, and there should largely be a positive outlook for the company going into the fall. However, there were undoubtedly conflicting narratives that muddied the waters and somewhat hindered the presentation of some segments. Still, this was a rather strong offering from the organization at a time where they needed to deliver a quality event.
The show opened with the trios ladder match, which is questionably because to start with the car crash segment, it puts at least the next few matches that follow with a hill to climb. A stiff headlock simply isn’t going to seem as devastating after seeing more than a dozen bumps onto ladders ten minutes earlier. With four teams involved, this bout got very clunky and very crowded at certain points, and I’m not sure if any of that could’ve been avoided. There were times when it looked like a traffic jam for wrestlers to either get out of the way of the next spot or to get set for the next spot, and unfortunately, it looked overly choreographed, even for a segment that you expect to look overly choreographed. Another aspect that goes along with the territory is that you have literally a dozen wrestlers involved, and the amount of table spots, ladder bumps, and dives completely gets lost in a potpourri of chaos. A few of the still dangerous, but less spectacular bumps could’ve been eliminated and it truly wouldn’t have affected the quality of the contest. Ultimately, there were unneeded risks, and that’s something that should be limited, based on the injury rate in AEW. Most importantly, how many of these dangerous bumps are the audience going to remember after a four-hour pay-per-view?
Pac really shined here with a series of dives, the guy is poetry in motion, and if he’d be on the shows more often, the argument could be made that he could be a bigger asset for the organization. Juice Robinson took a nasty bump off the apron and the table didn’t break in the latter portion of the match. The spot where The Gunns climbed on the backs of their opponents on the ladders just for everyone to fall through tables was odd. Pac got the belts to win the match for his team, which got a nice reaction from the crowd to give him the hometown moment. That said, it didn’t seem like the crowd was actually invested in what team won the match, but rather how many bumps there were going to be, which suggests that the Trios titles lack importance. Again, the pop at the finish was for Pac getting the win in his hometown, not exactly that he won a championship on a makeshift team with the Blackpool Combat Club.
Mariah May beat Toni Storm to win the AEW Women’s championship, and this bout was an example of conflicting narratives that took away from the overall presentation. Based on the bloody beat down when May turned on Toni, this had the set up for a solid grudge match, but it wasn’t exactly worked that way. About half way through the contest, May was bleeding, in theory a rightfully act of revenge for her sneak attack against Storm, but instead of selling it with a level of shock, as if the heel is surprised they finally got what they deserved, Mariah sold it by crying, which puts her in the position of a sympathetic figure. Along the same lines, just before that, May slapped her mom at ringside. First of all, there was no context as to who she was and she’s never been on any of the shows before so she’s not established in any way for the audience to be invested into her involvement. Secondly, why exactly did Mariah slap her own mom? If there was a backstory, it was never told so it was completely random and came off as a flimsy, desperate attempt to get cheap heat, which added nothing because the previously mentioned turn on Toni was more than enough to sell this match on pay-per-view. After the exchange, Toni eventually went to hug Mariah’s mom. Again, why is this happening? Do they know each other and is there some background that wasn’t explained? Most importantly, Toni Storm is in the middle of a grudge match for the championship with an opponent that bloodied her on television, but she’s going to stop in the middle and hug the random lady in the front row? It was established that Mariah is dangerous because of the prior attack, why would Storm be willing to turn her back on an opponent?
This was a well wrestled match as far as the performance of each maneuver, and these two are more than capable of putting on a quality pay-per-view match, but the over-the-top theatrics took away from that. Finally, after Toni lost the belt, she was smiling and waving on her way backstage so unless this is the start of a change in her character, why would she smile after losing a title?
Hook beat Chris Jericho to win the FTW title, but this was more of a segment than a match. It was three-on-one for most of the segment, and it was just an extended beat down that became very tedious, despite the fact that it only went 10 minutes. It appeared that this was the conclusion of the angle, and it should be, but if that was the case, they probably would’ve been better served to have a 10-minute match to be able to work some type of pace to the action rather than this clunky segment. Eventually, Taz choked out Bryan Keith, which was cool and got a major pop, while Hook made Jericho tap to win the title.
The three-way tag team title match was fine, but it never really got into second gear and didn’t develop into anything too memorable, which is somewhat of a letdown, taking into account the talent of the teams involved. Quite frankly, FTR are too talent to get less than 12 minutes in a stadium for a match that was thrown together to more or less shoehorn more names onto the card than anything else. Don’t get me wrong, this was entertaining for what it was, but you’d expect more on this stage, especially because of the focus the company put on tag team wrestling in the past. As much as the early portions of the angle that turned the EVPs heel made sense, The Young Bucks haven’t really done much as champions for this particularity reign. The Bucks retained when they hit Dax with the double knees. Post-match, The Grizzled Young Vets showed up and attacked Cash Wheeler. Adding more wrestlers to the roster is exactly what AEW needs to do, right?
The gauntlet was fun, with the surprise entrants of Nigel McGuinness and Ricochet. This was a really nice moment for Nigel, who through a series of unfortunate injuries and health issues never truly got the credit he deserves for his career. At 48, Nigel should probably consider this cameo his proper sendoff rather than a potential comeback. Given the same history of injuries that hinder his career as an in-ring wrestler in the big leagues, there’s no reason for him to risk potential injuries in the ring at a significantly older age. As I wrote an in article about Ricochet’s rumored arrival to AEW, it makes sense for him to make the jump because he was typecast in WWE, but it wouldn’t be surprising at all if he gets lost in the shuffle in a matter of weeks in AEW. Christian getting the win to secure a title shot at anytime was somewhat puzzling, specifically because there was already the Christian/Swerve main event storyline just a few months ago so it’s more or less a total retread. All things considered, this was probably a missed opportunity to set up a scenario to elevate someone else on the roster.
At this point in the show, we’re about half way through the broadcast, and while nothing was subpar, there wasn’t anything epic either. Thankfully, the latter portion of the card was the meat of the matter so to speak. I will still say that Will Ospreay should’ve been booked to win the AEW world title to maximize the moment and opportunity in Wembley Stadium, as it’s fairly obvious that the International belt is just a prop among the countless titles in the company. Still, Ospreay and MJF delivered a top quality performance that had the in-ring action that you’d expect from an All Elite PPV, but had enough psychology to have the peaks and valleys to make the most of the situation. This went about 25 minutes so they could’ve trimmed off a few minutes, but it built really well toward the conclusion and didn’t drag during the segment. This is easier said than done since athletes of this caliber are rare, but if AEW had more of this and less of the usual nonsense, it’s doubtful there would be sluggish ratings, which suggests that Tony is a great matchmaker to put together two talented stars that can have a great match, just a subpar booker in terms of weekly television. One of the details that made this contest as good as it was at Wembley, was the fact that they both took the time to properly sell the major spots to make the most of the narrative. Ospreay beat MJF with the tiger driver, which was the only logical finish because of the storyline that they used for the past few months.
Next up, Britt Baker challenged Mercedes Mone for the TBS title. This bout was somewhat sloppy, suggesting that Britt might have some ring rust, but it was still very solid because these two worked with an intensity that usually isn’t seen in most AEW matches. This looked like a grudge match and the level of intensity can sometimes excuse some of the sloppiness with certain spots. This was a physical, fast-paced contest that had the audience following the action to see who was going to get the advantage toward the conclusion. Mone landed her finisher to retain the title. I’m nor sure what’s next because in theory, a stadium showdown would be the payoff to a feud, but these two could easily get more mileage from this rivalry on television.
The TNT title match was a 10-minute sprint, which was a good decision because the ladder match earlier in the card already had the extended time that it takes to set up spots. This was more or less what you’d expect from a Darby Allin pay-per-view bout, there’s going to be a car crash segment with completely unnecessary risks, but somehow it’s going to remain intriguing throughout the match. Darby gluing tacks to his face was ridiculous. The dive he took into the casket lid was brutal. Jack Perry using a bag of broken glass to remind everyone that the biggest star that AEW ever had now works for the WWE and draws much bigger numbers than anything All Elite can generate was also a reminder that AEW is still amateur hour by comparison, which is a shame given the quality of some of this card. Perry landed a knee to put Darby in the casket to retain the title. The Sting cameo was really fun, and it’s often said that pro wrestling is about the moments, this was definitely a really cool moment. The stadium singing along with Seek and Destroy while Sting dispatches the heels is great stuff.
The main event went almost 30 minutes and I thought it got verbose at some points, but overall it was mission accomplished. Speaking of moments, this main event gave Bryan Danielson the underdog comeback to win the championship and celebrate with his family in the ring while Final Countdown blared in Wembley Stadium. Taking into account how talented and beloved he is, it’s tough to argue that this wasn’t the right way to finish the pay-per-view, regardless of the path it took to get there. The only problem is, and this underscores the conflicting narratives that were mentioned earlier, Swerve Strickland got pushed to the title because he organically got over as a baby face during the feud with Adam Page when he was initially slotted to be a heel. The audience turned Swerve baby face, and in many ways, this storyline tried to shoehorn him into the role of a heel again, which is way too early in terms of the progress of his character. The result could be that Swerve ends up indifferent as a character without any direction.
Still, the main event will be memorable for the quality finish. The second half of this show was very strong, and in some respects, showed what All Elite is capable of when it plays to its strengths as a brand. Reportedly, Danielson plans to finish his career and expects to need neck surgury by the end of the year so if I had to guess, I’d say he will drop the title in his home state of Washington at the Wrestle Dream pay-per-view.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
