AEW All Out review: Splinters, cinder blocks, and syringes

I’m not going to forget what happened between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page at this year’s All Out.

I mean, how can I? Page took a vertebreaker on a real concrete block. Page then proceeded to powerbomb Swerve on top of said concrete block. Swerve, still furious over his house being burnt down days prior at the hands of Page, took a splinter from the doomed house and stabbed him in the head with it. Then Page took a hypodermic needle, pushed the needle inside Swerve’s cheek, then ended him with a steel chair head shot to end all head shots to win the match. Just an incredibly brutal, bloody bout.

It’s hard to express this match in terms of star ratings. As far as wrestling is concerned, their other matches were better. More heated too, as I think people were shocked by what they were seeing live. Still, this was a spectacle match for the ages. It’s going to be hard to top something like this in terms of violence and honestly, I wouldn’t recommend someone trying that.

Although the first half was better than the last half, All Out overall ended up being a strong show-of-the-year contender, with many of the matches being good to great, and one reaching match-of-the-year caliber.

The opening match between Daniel Garcia and MJF was excellent. A lot of hard strikes and emotions here between the two. I don’t know if I would have gone with that finish as I feel Garcia needs a big win more than MJF does. But Garcia low blowing and piledriving MJF off the middle rope at least gets his heat back. I think this may have something to do with Garcia’s contract status which, hey, if he’s not signed, I get it. I do have to wonder what the reaction would have been if Garcia had done all that to MJF after winning.

Young Bucks retained the titles over Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta in a very good match. I thought Castagnoli looked great here and seeing him work with the Bucks was pretty enjoyable. There doesn’t seem to be a clear direction for The Young Bucks going forward. It’s kind of astonishing how much that Tony Khan attack angle fizzled with the follow-up, but they can always get the heat back somehow.

You are going to be stunned hearing this, but Will Ospreay and PAC had a match-of-the-year contender. Some of the reversals in this match have to be seen to be believed. I can’t comprehend some of the stuff I saw here between the poison ranas on the apron, the scary release suplexes, and the insane bumps Ospreay took on his neck, I mean wow. And also, ow. Ospreay continues to build a resume for wrestler of the year, even if he doesn’t end up as AEW World Champion. But if I were AEW, after this Bryan Danielson storyline concludes I feel Ospreay should be that guy at the top.

Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander had to follow the Ospreay match, but they did a good job of doing so and ended up having an excellent street fight. People got into so many spots with the tables, the thumbtacks, and the steel chain. They worked their butts off and it paid off, though Nightingale losing clean by submission probably isn’t something I would have booked. Not that we’ll never see her again, but she always gets over and probably should be going for one of AEW’s titles.

I thought the Continental title match was just fine, with lots of action and good near falls. Honestly, when I heard about this match, my initial thoughts were I would have liked to see a singles match between Okada and one of the men he was facing here (Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy, and Konosuke Takeshita). Probably would have ended up being a better match, too. Oh well. Regardless, this was good.

The biggest problem with Hikaru Shida and Mercedes Mone was that the crowd wasn’t into it that much, and was put in a position where it was going to be hard to get people into it. I also don’t think many people thought Shida had a chance of beating Mone, despite Kamille being barred from ringside. The work was hit and miss as well, as some stuff looked good, and some stuff just felt off. A match that just didn’t work and never got going.

Bryan Danielson defeated Jack Perry to retain the AEW World Championship. This was a very good, hard-hitting match. There were teases that The Young Bucks were going to interfere, but it only led to one spot where Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta came in to run them out. Of course, while this was a very good match, most will probably remember the beatdown that took place after with Moxley and Claudio turning on Danielson, seemingly kicking him out of the Blackpool Combat Club after attempting to suffocate him with a plastic bag. Seems like we’re seeing Danielson vs. Moxley before Danielson leaves. 

And that was All Out! I feel like it will do strongly during Observer Awards season. Up next for AEW will be WrestleDream next month in Tacoma. It’s nice there are no pay-per-views for a few weeks. I need a breather!