AEW All Out 2019

AEW All Out 2019

August 2019 - Chicago, IL

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: As this was the first AEW PPV, there were no champions crowned yet, though an AEW World Champion would be crowned in the main event.

I'm watching this via YouTube, so the show kicks off with So Cal Uncensored (Scorpio Sky, Christopher Daniels, and Kazarian) taking on Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) with Marko Stunt. Its a bit weird watching this show in late 2022 as So Cal Uncensored disbanded long ago, Marko Stunt is no longer around, and Jurassic Express are former AEW World Tag Team Champions and currently involved in a high profile storyline with Christian (who wasn't in the company yet). The action is good in this and the JE are over but not nearly as over as they would be in the years that followed. They're also not as polished and while this isn't a "carry job," Daniels and Kaz are the crispest of the bunch and the best at playing to the crowd. The SCU closes off a good 10-minute opener with their finish, a piledriver assisted by a moonsaulting Daniels known as the Best Meltzer Ever, a tongue-in-cheek reference to the legendary wrestling journalist. A solid start to the show, but not something I'd consider essential viewing. (3/5)

Next up - Kenny Omega vs. Pac. I was surprised this was on second because Kenny Omega was such a huge star (especially to the AEW fanbase) and him taking on Pac was a bit of a dream match. I must admit to not having seen much of Omega's work before AEW, so I know that parts of this match were completely lost on me as Omega has a reputation for putting layers into his work and part of Omega's storyline at this time was that he wasn't the dominant "ace" of the company (he had lost to Jericho at the Double or Nothing PPV and wouldn't be the company's first World Champion) and had been preparing for a match with Jon Moxley (who had to back out due to an elbow injury), putting him at a disadvantage when it was revealed his new opponent would be Pac (a wrestler much, much different in style than Moxley). It is these layers that are played up in the match as Omega seems overwhelmed by Pac's speed and risk-taking at times and certainly doesn't see the finish (Pac's Brutalizer submission) coming. This earned 4-and-a-quarter stars from Meltzer, but I wasn't as impressed. Yes, they hit some amazing moves and there are moments - like Omega clipping his knee on the guard rail as he hits an insane front flip dive to the floor - that "popped" me as watched in my basement mid-workout. But this is also a match so loaded with fast-paced, insane maneuvers that it never pauses to let the audience really catch up before they're onto the next big sequence. Its "too much" in a way that Omega's matches with Bryan Danielson, years later, weren't. Also, as good Pac is at a technical level and as much as I think he is a better heel than babyface, because Omega was going through a character evolution that required him to "shrink" a little in the spotlight and seem unprepared, this doesn't come across as a real dream match where you have two equals - at full strength - facing off to find out who the better man is. Omega was preoccupied with Moxley and unprepared for Pac (and facing a bit of a confidence crisis in storyline). Pac was the "underdog" heel with something to prove, but because this match was thrown together, its not really personal enough for him to get his own character across aside from just being Pac - the ex-WWE guy who deserved better and is finally being given a chance to prove it. A very good match, but not one I'd consider "must see." (3/5)

The "Cracker Barrel Clash" followed: Joey Janela vs. Darby Allin vs. Jimmy Havoc in a crazy hardcore match involving tables, staple guns, thumbtacks, and, yes, barrels. Some of the insanity in this match included Allin shoving a handful of thumbtacks into Havoc's mouth and then taping it shut, Janela hitting an absolutely wild and dangerous sunset flip piledriver on Allin through a table, Darby delivering a Coffin Drop through a barrel onto the steel steps, Janela nearly breaking his leg on a dive to the floor at one point, and Havoc opening the match by staple-gunning his own chest. Like in the opener, watching this, I was surprised by how much Allin seems like the least over and least conventionally charismatic, but if you watch closely, its Darby's bumps and selling and overall performance throughout the match that show he could do more than just hardcore wrestling - something that Janela and Havoc never really do, even if their moments are crazier and more crowd-pleasing. I was also surprised - especially considering some of the bloodbaths we've seen in AEW over the past year - how little actual blood there was in this. Compared to the recent Blood and Guts match, for example, this is tame in comparison. Was Tony not yet ready to go "all in" with death match style action on his shows? Its not really clear that's the case because he certainly gave them plenty of time (15 solid minutes). A fun match, but again, nothing I'd consider essential viewing. (3/5)

The next contest saw The Dark Order's Evil Uno and Stu Grayson take on The Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Baretta). Orange Cassidy wouldn't debut for AEW until the end of the match, which was the high point for me. There were some really good sequences in this match, but this felt like "filler" that was put on the card to give the audience time to cool off. At the time, AEW had not yet debuted their TV show so its not necessarily fair to call this a "TV worthy match" rather than a PPV worthy match, but that's undeniably what this feels like in hindsight. The Dark Order was one of the least popular acts in the company at this time and for quite awhile into their run - arguably until Brodie Lee showed up and became the leader - but they could work and by the end of this one, the crowd is with them. Not a match I'd really recommend, but perfectly fine. (2.5/5)

Riho vs. Hikaru Shida followed. This match had basically the same runtime as the previous match, but felt like much more of a war because Riho and Shida absolutely tore into each other with strikes and knees and suplexes and everything else. The crowd was into this match, though the online reception was less warm (mostly because many fans saw Shida as the clear choice to be the focal point of the division over Riho). I really liked this match, but will admit to being unfamiliar with either worker, their previous accomplishments, or their gimmicks (if they really have any?). A very good match in terms of physicality and technicality and energy, but not one that really hooked me in terms of character or story (maybe because both were ostensibly babyfaces?). (3/5)

"The Chairman of AEW" Gavin Spears took on Cody Rhodes in a grudge match next. At this point, Cody Rhodes was over as a babyface and the rivalry with Spears had good heat. This will probably go down as Spears most important career match; As much as he's a solid hand, there's just something about him that makes it obvious where on the card he belongs. The action was very intense and I really liked that they told a logical story and made "the little things" - like MJF and Tully's involvement, the use of belts as weapons, and the eventual arrival of Arn Anderson - count. I've read some reviews that called this match slow or boring, but I dug the intensity and liked that this match was very different than any of the bouts before it (and after it). Seeing MJF working as a pseudo-face is weird, but he's charismatic as all hell so his involvement only helped the match (even when watching it years later and knowing where this storyline went). I wouldn't call this the Match of the Night (like one ProWrestlingOnly reviewer did), but this was better than I expected it would be. (3/5)

If the next match, which was built on intensity, "old school 'rasslin" action, and a very clear babyface/heel dynamic, the match that followed was almost the aesthetic opposite. This was what detractors would call a total "spotfest," a match in which "the little things" - like not selling would-be career-ending moves or sequences built on overt cooperation and pre-planning - were considered minor details to be ignored for the purpose of being able to sit back and just gaze at the sheer insanity of the spectacle, risks, and bonkers amount of high spots all the participants delivered. Dave Meltzer gave the match an astonishing 5-and-a-Quarter Stars, the kind of rating that had to be invented to give proper respect to the workrate and effort and execution of such a huge array of insane bumps. The Lucha Bros - Rey Fenix and Pentagon Jr. - and their opponents, The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) had met several times previously and fan expectations were high based on their track record but they wrestle this with a very clear intention to exceed those expectations, blow the audience's minds, steal the show, and put AEW on the map. They do all of those things even before Pentagon Jr. delivers a sunset flip piledriver off a ladder through a table onto one of the Bucks (I forget which). Oh, and Pentagon also delivers a package piledriver on a ladder that is resting between the ring apron and guardrail towards the end that looks like it could've and should've crippled someone. This match is not going to be for everyone - I'm sure Jim Cornette would blow a gasket if he had to sit through this - but it might be the perfect introduction into what the Bucks and the Bros became famous for and just how far they were willing to push themselves to not just deliver a "spotfest," but to deliver a spotfest so spotfesty that it becomes a classic of the oft-maligned genre itself. (4/5) 

Main event time - "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Chris Jericho to crown the first ever AEW World Champion. At this point, Jericho was the biggest star AEW had and Page was still a relative unknown, though the outcome to this match was not 100% guaranteed despite that difference in star power as many thought a Hangman victory would be the exact right kind of "rub" to establish him as a true main eventer in a company that needed as many credible main eventers as possible (aside from Y2J, only Omega, Rhodes, and the Young Bucks could fit that bill). This match has "big fight feel" and I liked the clear face/heel dynamic and traditional pacing. There was no way that Page and Jericho would be able to outdo the ladder match in terms of crazy spots and, in terms of workrate, it would have been silly to try to do what Pac and Omega did earlier in the show. Instead, this is worked a bit like a WWE style main event, only there's blood and Jericho isn't just going through the motions or relying on signature moves. They had a nice long match, but it wasn't a great match as Jericho is definitely not moving as well as he once was and Page, while very good, is not some revolutionary worker that is going to blow your mind for 30 minutes. (3/5)

With a Kwang Rating of 3.06-out-of-5, All Out 2019 was a strong PPV to kick-off the AEW enterprise, delivering consistently good-to-great action from the start of the show to the finish. The Lucha Brothers/Young Bucks match was the clear match of the night and one of the more impressive ladder matches of recent years, which is saying something when you consider how many of these types of bouts we see on a regular basis across promotions. I wasn't as high on PAC/Omega as others, but really liked the women's match and thought Spears/Cody overdelivered by offering a different type of match than any other on the card. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand