I penned a column last week about the hot shot booking approach to All Out, the pay-per-view that was scheduled for just two weeks after All Elite Wrestling hosted its second event at Wembley Stadium, which saw Bryan Danielson win the AEW world championship in the main event against Swerve Strickland. Similar to the hot shot approach with a two-week build up to attempt to sell the pay-per-view to an audience that just paid $50 for the Wembley event, the show itself was also full of hot shot tactics. Depending on your perspective, that could be a good thing , as it attempted to provide meat on the bone so to speak to give fans a reason to spend another $50 on an AEW broadcast, or it underscores some of the continuous tactics that are counterproductive to the overall growth of the company.
,There were probably some of both of those dynamics on the card that was hosted in Chicago, an important location in the history of the promotion.
The show opened with the grudge match between MJF vs. Daniel Garcia, a bout that technically had a few months of momentum behind it because of the Friedman attack that put Garcia on the shelf, but at the same time, it was somewhat forgotten about because while Garcia was off television to sell the attack, Friedman worked a feud with Osprey that culminated with a title switch at Wembley Stadium that had exponentially more interest than the MJF/Garcia storyline. This match had all the ingredients of a quality pay-per-view match, it had a narrative that saw the peaks and valleys to keep the audience guessing and it built well toward the conclusion. It was a 20-minute segment that showcased that MJF, despite his botched title reign last year, is still one of the best performers on the roster, and furthermore, the level he is capable of when he doesn’t use cheap heat as a crutch. Along with that, it’s no surprise that this contest had proper selling to maximize everything that they did, which is usually inconsistent within the All Elite product.
The problem was, if there was one, this match more or less checked all of the boxes in the first match of the night and thus the inconsistencies later in the card stood out more than they probably would’ve otherwise. This was given the time to develop into a major match, it had blood when Garcia got busted open about half way through the segment, and it had a conclusion that left everyone in a better spot compared to where they started. However, when a few other matches on the card were going to use blood, particularly the main event, there was no reason that Garcia had to bleed at the start of the show. As I wrote in the prior article, given MJF’s status, and how Garcia is usually presented, this angle was somewhat of a step down for Friedman. That said, this was probably the best that Garcia has looked in his AEW career. The only problem is, he’s only going to look this good when he’s working with MJF so it doesn’t truly boost his stock going forward. MJF got the win after using a low blow to get the pin, which made sense, because as mentioned, Friedman is a bigger priority for the company. At the same time, Garcia got a measure of revenge at the conclusion of the segment with a low blow so the baby face wasn’t buried.
The tag team title match was fine, there was nothing subpar, but at the same time, without the build up, this was more or less a TV match that was booked for pay-per-view. That’s not meant as a knock, but just to point out that this was the same high spot type of tag match that you will see from these teams on more or less a weekly basis so it didn’t really stand out, especially on a card that threw so much at the wall just to see what stuck by the time the show went off the air. The Young Bucks retained the belts, and again, this wasn’t a subpar match, but within the context of a four-hour marathon show that had too many car crash matches, this tag contest was forgettable in the grand scheme of things.
Will Ospreay vs. Pac was the dazzling spot fest you’d expect it to be, with the standard 20-minute segment that most of the major matches get on AEW PPV cards, which isn’t exactly a good thing because part of the booking process is to determine the time a match should be given based on the workers involved and the storyline, not a paint-by-numbers approach. From purely an athletic stand point, these guys are poetry in motion, they make daring aerial maneuvers look effortless with a level of grace in the process. They exchanged dives to the floor from the top turnbuckles and the spot emphasized just how skilled they both are as high-flyers. Everything they did was crisp and smooth with fast-paced, physical sequences. The downside was that this was booked in a vacuum so to speak, as it was essentially a one-off so there’s not much to follow-up on despite the tremendous quality performance. Ospreay got the win with the hidden blade to retain the International championship.
The Chicago street fight between Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale was basically a summary of the bad habits of All Elite Wrestling. Don’t get me wrong, Statlander seems to have potential to be a bigger star, and Willow is organically over with the audience. Her enthusiasm connects with the crowd, and if that’s presented in the right fashion, it can be used to draw money. That said, regardless of the heel turn from Statlander, this was a secondary feud within the AEW landscape. As a comparison, this didn’t have anywhere near the momentum of the Britt Baker/Mercedes Mone bout from Wembley two weeks earlier. It was a standard heel turn, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it wasn’t as though it was some long standing grudge match to justify the gimmicks used in this segment. If anything, the weapons used were nothing more than a cheap substitute for compelling storytelling. This match had barbed wire, tables, thumbtacks, light tubes, and a chain. More than anything, this exposes what Tony Khan hasn’t learned in the past five years, as he still uses an E-fed booking style that doesn’t translate to an actual pay-per-view. Considering the steel cage match in the main event, which used some of the same gimmicks, why book the street fight on the same card? Furthermore, why exactly use barbed wire, thumbtacks, and light tubes for this feud? It does nothing, but hinder the effectiveness of the gimmicks in the main event. Finally, while female talent are finally getting the recognition they deserve and can definitely be the top draw in sports entertainment, there’s still a chance that a portion of the audience will be soured when a woman bleeds during a match. Let’s be honest, Statlander and Willow are much prettier than Bruiser Brody so it’s much easier to watch the legendary brute bleed than some of the female talent. Statlander got the submission win, using the chain, but this was a total miscalculation in terms of what it attempted to accomplish with this segment.
The Continental title match was fun with a lot of action. It was a good boost in terms of the pace of the card and provided a decent contrast to what amounted to unnecessary gimmicks used in the previous contest. All four competitors showcased their skills in this bout, and all things considered, this was probably booked as a four-way to shoehorn a few more names onto the card. It’s somewhat disappointing when you take into account that more could be done with everyone involved, but at least three of them are currently lost in the shuffle. I know I’ve said it a few times before, but it must be mentioned again, Konosuke Takeshita has the talent to be a top guy. He shined throughout this bout, and if he isn’t going to get the chance to live up to his potential, he should look elsewhere, as it would be a missed opportunity if he spent the prime of his career under the radar in AEW. Mark Briscoe has the history and the skills to get a main event run, but is saddled with the ROH championship as a consolation prize. Kazuchika Okada finally had a spark in his work in this segment and retained the title when he pinned Orange Cassidy. Speaking of a consolation prize, Okada getting a championship that is nothing more than a prop almost seems like an artificial way to justify his hefty contract.
Mercedes Mone beat Hikaru Shida to retain the TBS title in contest that started fine, but went off the rails toward the finish. It looked like Mone might’ve accidentally been clipped with a stiff kick, as she looked either lost or out of it at one point when she was outside of the ring. The action was clunky and Mercedes botched her finisher. The crowd was quiet at certain points, and the match dragged during the latter portion of the segment.
Speaking of dragging at some points, I really think the world title bout went too long and become a rather tedious viewing experience. As I said prior, Tony used a paint-by-numbers approach to this card and it simply wasn’t the right decision for this contest. With two weeks of a build up, does Jack Perry vs. Bryan Danielson need to go 30 minutes? It was a solid match for what it was, but when nobody believes the belt is going to change hands, this segment could’ve accomplished the same goal within half the time it was given on pay-per-view. The heel turn that followed was somewhat of a mixed bag, especially because if Danielson legitimately plans to retire to have neck surgery before the end of the year, there’s not much time to book a proper payoff to such a heel turn. I have to be honest, if a revamped Blackpool Combat Club is the only reveal of Moxley’s cryptic promos then I think it will fall short of expectations. Moxley re-enacted the Flair/Funk plastic bag angle, but in typical All Elite fashion, it went too far to truly be effective. Funk had the bag on Flair’s head for about 30 seconds before Flair fell to the outside of the ring, and it was a white bag that shielded Flair’s face from the audience. Moxley had the clear bag over Danielson’s head for almost a minute and thirty seconds. It jumped the shark in some ways because while you can stretch the limits of logic with pro wrestling, someone being asphyxiated for that lengthy of time would have more serious injuries than what Danielson is going to sell for this angle.
Furthermore and this is the much bigger point, the visual of Danielson being suffocated is going to sour a portion of the audience. Jim Ross sounded legitimately annoyed during the broadcast, and he had a point. There are going to be certain fans that will see it and decide that AEW isn’t for them. That type of angle has very little upside with a much bigger downside.
Unfortunately, that trend followed in the main event as well for the steel cage match between Swerve and Adam Page to close the show. Much like their Texas Deathmatch last year, this bout was too gory to be useful for a national pro wrestling company. Sure, the diehard independent fans that jam into small venues don’t mind seeing actual staples being taken out of someone’s chest, but that type of stuff doesn’t do anything to help expand a national group. The bumps on a legitimate cider block were foolish and misguided. Finally, the needle into Swerve’s face was gross and completely unnecessary. Who exactly is that supposed to draw? Again, this is a company that has national television, not an independent league in front of a few hundred fans. Adam Page got the win, but this match was an example of everything that will hinder, not help a promotion on the national scene.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
