On Saturday, September 7th, AEW returned to the “Windy City,” Chicago, IL, to present its annual show, All Out. The show was headlined by a huge main event which saw Swerve Strickland face-off with Hangman Page in a “Lights Out Steel Cage” match. This is a rivalry that has gotten very personal, especially recently when Page burned down Strickland’s newly brought childhood home.
However, the action didn’t stop there as we also saw The Young Bucks defend their AEW Tag Team Championships against the Blackpool Combat Club’s Wheeler Yuta and Claudio Castagnoli, Bryan Danielson put his AEW World Championship on the line against Jack Perry, and so much more. So what were the top three moments of the show?
3. Will Ospreay retains his AEW International Championship against PAC
In one of the more highly anticipated matches on the card, Will Ospreay put his AEW International Championship on the line against PAC. This came just two weeks after Ospreay defeated MJF for the title at All In in Wembley Stadium. PAC earned a shot all the way back in July for the International Championship and finally got his opportunity at All Out.
This started the build for this very highly-anticipated match. However, at one point we were unsure if we’d even see this match. About a week after PAC earned his shot, Ospreay dropped the title to MJF who retooled it as the American Championship. But obviously, this would change and we ended up getting the huge match between Ospreay and PAC.
This match more than delivered on every front. It was the third one of the night, and both Ospreay and PAC wasted little time taking the fight to each other. Ultimately the end of this match saw Ospreay hit a styles clash, followed by a hidden blade to secure the win and retain his title. On a night where not many big moments were destined to happen, this was a must-watch match.
2. Bryan Danielson retains/Jon Moxley’s new group runs wild
In one of the biggest matches of the night, Bryan Danielson put his newly won AEW World Championship on the line against Jack Perry. Danielson won the AEW World Championship by defeating Swerve Strickland two weeks ago at All In inside of a jam-packed Wembley Stadium in London.
On the other side of things, Jack Perry is the current TNT Champion, having defeated Darby Allin at All In two weeks back in a coffin match. Since his return to AEW, Perry has gone on arguably the greatest run of his career. It all culminated at All Out in Chicago when he finally got a shot at the top prize in AEW.
This match itself was a lot of fun. Danielson ultimately retained his title, but the bigger story came after the match. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, PAC, and Marina Shafir turned on fellow Blackpool Combat Club member, Bryan Danielson. This was a ton of fun, and it’s going to be a blast seeing Moxley’s new group.
1. Hangman Page knocks out Swerve Strickland
In the main event of All Out, we saw Hangman Page go one-on-one with Swerve Strickland in a “Lights Out Steel Cage” match. Page and Swerve have been in an ongoing rivalry for the better part of 2024, and it is one that quickly took a personal turn when Page recently burned down Strickland’s recently brought childhood home.
Page and Strickland was the perfect choice to main event All Out. Swerve comes into this match having lost his AEW World Championship two weeks ago at All In. So, he definitely had something to prove tonight. This match wasn’t sanctioned by AEW, which means that they were not responsible for the violence that ensued.
Both Page and Strickland left it all out in the ring. This match was about as violent as it got, and it was a ton of fun. Ultimately, Page would go on to be victorious after a very violent match. This has been an incredibly fun rivalry. It remains to be seen if it continues or not, but if it doesn’t this very well could go down as being one of AEW’s greatest rivalries.
