Less than a month after All In at Wembley Stadium, AEW was back with yet another PPV: All Out from Chicago. The show kicked off with MJF taking on Daniel Garcia, their rivalry building over the past few months as MJF attempted to cripple Garcia with a piledriver from the top rope. On Dynamite a few days before this event, MJF also bloodened Garcia with a wine bottle, which is why Garcia came into this match with a bandaged forehead. Very hot opening stretch as Garcia attacked MJF before the bell. I liked the psychology there. This match went over 20 minutes and Garcia was busted open early on. I didn't like the lame count-out false finish as Garcia was seemingly incapacitated and completely knocked out for the first 9 seconds before springing up and rolling into the ring right at 9.9. I don't understand why wrestlers don't start getting up at 5, stagger around, and then barely make it by 10 the way the pros did it in the 90s. Aside from that minor criticism, the rest of this was very good and I thought the final few minutes were especially strong as Garcia targeted the neck of MJF and hit him with a big jumping piledriver. I'm not a fan of Panama Sunrises, though I do think MJF's looks better than Adam Cole's. I also wasn't as high on the amount of submissions that Garcia employed only because it felt like he came into this match looking to blooden and cripple MJF, not outwrestle him. Again, minor criticisms of a match that delivered. (3/5)
Next up - The Young Bucks defending the AEW World Tag Team Championships against Claudio Castignoli and Wheeler Yuta. I'm one of the many who is not a fan of the Young Bucks' shtick, but I'll be damned if they're not one of the most consistently great tag teams in modern wrestling history. You go into their matches second-guessing their ability to make magic and then they go out and give you a match that works because it is fundamentally sound but also features a ton of really fun, exciting, clever sequences and counters and stretches of action. And, even if I find their act cloying, they bump and sell undeniably well. Plus, in this match, you've got one of the best individual tag team wrestlers of the past 20 years in Castagnoli, who has done tremendous work as a partner to at least three very different wrestlers in Chris Hero, Sheamus, and Tyson Kidd. Most people knew that the Bucks would likely retain, but I'll give them credit - there were some really cool near falls and false finishes and I thought the babyfaces might pull an "upset" at some point just because of how good Castagnoli looked. This is a match that I wouldn't necessarily call "must see," but was very darn close. (3.5/5)
The International Championship was on the line as Will Ospreay defended against PAC. This match was never going to be anything but a balls-to-the-wall, spot-heavy bomb-throwing contest, but like PAC's match against Kenny Omega at the inaugural All Out show, if you're looking for cutting edge wrestling, this is where you'll find it done at the highest level. Flawless execution throughout and brilliant mirror work, this was an incredible battle. Some of the sequences on display defied physics, but what really stuck out to me was that they actually sold a lot of it and didn't necessarily rush through anything or shrug off much. Instead, it was counter-after-counter-after-counter and athleticism that was jaw-dropping at times. This is not always a style of wrestling that I love, but PAC adds intensity and structure to these sorts of matches by ramping up the violence and knowing that you have to save the biggest sequences to the end in order to make it all work instead of just bombarding the audience with craziness from beginning to end. A clear Match of the Year candidate for me and absolutely "must see" even if only to see where the bar is being raised to in pro-wrestling when it comes to sheer in-ring performance. (4/5)
I wasn't sure what to expect from Willow Nightingale and Kris Statlander. Their feud has been going on for months and months and they've had plenty of TV build, but that's not necessarily the same thing as being "spotlighted" as their rivalry has absolutely been booked as the third most important in the women's division between Storm and May and whatever Mercedes Mone is doing any given week. I was also unsure how Nightingale and Statlander would perform under Chicago Street Fight rules as a quality hardcore match in 2024 is not as easy to pull off as some might think. When you get ladders and tables and chairs and blood and thumbtacks in multiple matches a month in AEW, making your match and your high spots stand out take something extra. Fortunately, that "extra" here was sheer commitment. From the very start of the match, Nightingale and Statlander were clearly out to make sure their match was as hard-hitting and intense as possible. They through themselves into every bump and piece of furniture that they came into contact with and it was marvelous to see. My biggest and maybe only gripe would be the finish, not because it wasn't credible or violent enough (it was), but because after so many good nearfalls and the use of lightbulbs and thumbtacks, I think there may have been a more creative, memorable way to end things than a finish like this one (which, if I'm not mistaken, was used semi-recently on another big show). (3.5/5)
The Continental Champion, Okada, defended his title in a 4-way against Orange Cassidy, Marc Briscoe, and Takeshita in the next match. They had to follow two very tough matches, so I'll hand it to these four for making the best of a difficult of a tough situation and wrestling "their" match. This was fun and I liked the way they teased several intriguing future matches on the horizon (Takeshita vs Okada most of all). I've not been incredibly impressed with Okada, but will readily admit that I'm fully aware I've never seen his best stuff. That being said, he's not been awful in any of his outings, just underwhelming. Meanwhile, Takeshita is one of my current favorites and I wish they would've presented him as more of a killer in this match. Takeshita could be AEW's GUNTHER in my view, but in order to do that, the company needs to give him that same "rub" with a lengthy and consistent push where he's routinely beating guys like Briscoe and Cassidy on major TV or PPV shows. Anyway, this was no less than good. (3/5)
I was higher on the Mercedes Mone/Britt Baker match from All In than seemingly everyone on the planet and now I'm going to double-down and say that I thought the Mone/Baker match was more interesting (not better) than the Mone/Shida match we got on this show. Now, that's not to say that this was an outright bad match, but it lacked heat, the outcome was never in question, and I'm not sure I recognized any clear story being presented. Then, the final minutes were just sloppy. Mercedes is in a run spot in AEW. At one point, Mone was considered one of the best in-ring female workers of the past decade and her charisma was undeniable. But in AEW, she's been exposed as being a capable worker that clearly benefits from working with top level agents/producers. There's also been undeniable issues with chemistry with her and seemingly everyone except Willow (to the point that some are wondering if ego isn't part of the problem). I haven't seen anyone accuse Mone of not bringing her best effort, but this was another disappointing match and the show's obvious low point. (2/5)
Bryan Danielson defended the AEW World Championship against Jack Perry next. This was easily the best Luke Perry singles match I've ever seen, but this was "The Bryan Danielson Show" in many ways and it was his performance that carried things. I loved his facial expressions throughout, but especially when the match got "serious." I appreciated that we (finally) didn't have to get a sequence involving paramedics coming out to check on him mid-match. I thought the interference from the Bucks, especially the use of the TK Driver, and then the arrival of Killswitch, Christian, and the rest of the BCC was all well-executed and - I hate to admit it - did make me wonder if they might actually have Danielson get screwed out of the title (and his career) here. Some of Perry's bumping was out of this world, though its a double-edged sword because the ass-kicking he sold at certain times felt ignored or forgotten minutes later when he was back on offense. This was about as one-sided as a Danielson match will ever be, which is to say that he may have given Perry a bit too much here at times and I'm not sure Perry's offense or moveset was good enough to deserve it. The post-match segment started out great, but with the way Mox has been not-so-subtly turning heel after the past two weeks, I wouldn't say I was shocked by him and Claudio (and PAC) beating down Danielson. I'm curious where this angle leads aside from just Mox/Danielson, especially as it pertains to Darby Allin (who Mox has been challenging to meet him for "a conversation" on Dynamite and is also the number one contender to Danielson's World Title). If Danielson's remaining matches are him against Allin, Claudio, PAC, Mox, and Nigel McGuinness, I don't see anyone can really complain. (3.5/5)
Main event time - Swerve Strickland vs. "Hangman" Adam Page in an unsanctioned cage match. The "unsanctioned" gimmick is always a little silly to me, but I appreciate TK's commitment to the gimmick, which basically means that once the lights turn off (and then are immediately turned back on), AEW is no longer responsible for the health or safety of its worker (or fans?) despite there being a referee present and commentators announcing and, as we'd see during the post-match, medical staff on-hand that should theoretically be back at the hotel by then. Anyway...I must admit to not yet having seen Page and Strickland's infamous death match, though I've seen enough clips to know that topping that match would be nearly impossible. Its not dissimilar to the fact that, even if there were more intricate and better-executed spots in the second Shawn/Razor Ladder Match, the first one will always be considered the "classic" of the two. Here, Strickland and Page absolutely delivered the goods in terms of crazy, hardcore "death match" wrestling and they utilized the cage expertly. One of the best spots of the match was a brutal Drive-By kick to the back of Page's skull that sent him face-first into the cage. The use of the cinder block was absolutely brutal. While it was something of a "repeat," the use of the staple gun was the right amount of sickening. My biggest complaint would be the unnecessary addition of a syringe into the mix. In a match filled with so many dangerous and ultraviolent spots, the use of a needle in a pro-wrestling match was the only one that actually left me feeling sick to my stomach. All in all, though, I'm not sure how one can watch this match and not at least respect the lengths to which these two guys went to deliver on the promise of a blood feud's finale. (4/5)
Earning a very strong 3.31-out-of-5 Kwang Score, All Out 2024 might've been my favorite overall AEW pay-per-view. The main event was cringe-inducing at time but unforgettable. Danielson once again showed why he is a GOAT-level worker with his performance on this show. Ospreay/PAC was incredible. Willow/Statlander was excellent. The only match that wasn't above average was Mone/Shida, though I think it suffered mostly from having no real heat and not utilizing Kamille or building towards anything. A great, great show.
FINAL RATING - Watch It
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