All in 2024

[Mr.Showtime]

I was all for a trios division in AEW as I hadn't consistently watched any company that had such a division, so I was pretty excited about it. And the amount of actual great trios around when it kicked off meant I thought it couldn't fail. But for me, a bit like said above, it just got too intertwined with the tag division at points, diluting the strength of both. And most of those initial trios/factions kicking about never even got a sniff at the trios belts. What was the point then? It's so infuriating how much AEW gets right at the same time as seemingly obvious open goals are squandered.

As for the show coming up, I'm excited mostly for the main event and MJF v Ospreay. As much as some of the story is all over the place, that initial match they had a few weeks ago sucked me right in. I really enjoyed it and I don't try to get too caught up in whether it looks like a match is going to the time limit or not, although I feel like it is happening too much in AEW lately. I can't believe how much I've liked Ospreay since he joined, he's so easy to root for in general, and as a grumpy Scot I never thought I'd say that!

Also hoping the Casino Gauntlet lives up to the hype and there are a couple of surprises or shockers. I'd like to say I'm also looking forward to Darby v Jack Perry, but I'm at that age now where a certain level of violence or stunts make me cringe. I'm more worried than anything about that one...

I hope all you folks that get to the actual show have a wonderful time!

[burchybabi]

2 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Woke up wishing Willow and I were friends but also wondering what time the Zero Hour actually is? I’ve seen 4pm and I’ve seen 5pm.

Have seen it advertised as 5pm however just watching Rampage and they have said it starts at 4. I remember last year it was due to start at 5pm as well however it started at least 1/2 hour, maybe an hour early

[King Mal the Glorious]

It's scheduled for 4pm on Triller/Fite. 

[Statto]

Yeah, last year the advertised show start time was 5pm but they did the Hobbs/Miro brawl at about half 4. The televised pre-show was 2hrs from 4pm. Assume same this year?

[Matthew]

Fantasy booking admittedly, but is there anything stopping Hangman winning the Casino Battle Royal, using his high placed friends to then get into the main event and not only retire Brian, but also screw Swerve?

[Olly1984]

2 hours ago, Matthew said:

Fantasy booking admittedly, but is there anything stopping Hangman winning the Casino Battle Royal, using his high placed friends to then get into the main event and not only retire Brian, but also screw Swerve?

The way Hangman is mentally at the minute I would say whats stopping ing him, loved the promo on Dynamite and him coldly just pulling  his suitcase over Uno's body!!! What a fucking amazing career long story arc they have managed to create with him, fully invested in every little thing he does. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Well, that was a great event. So great it broke the UKFF. Here’s me as caught after the first match finished 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

All In was great in places, but some of the matches for me felt a bit 'meh' and underwhelmed me somewhat.

Tag title match. But did like the introduction of a new team in the upper level of the tag division.

Coffin match - great surprise at the end but not that great a match for me. Expected more from Darby though. 

Main event was very very good and emotional and the first time in a long time I genuinely didn't know until the bell rang who would win. Made up for Danielson. Interesting to see where it goes with who won the gauntlet match. Very intriguing mix up and interested to see that programme. Possibly was done as a 'safe pair of hands' if things go tits up with Danielson and they have someone able and willing to step straight in.

 

Jamie Hayter though! Tazz though! Ospreay though! Pac though! Nigel McGuinness though!

Edited August 31 by Tim Healys Chutney Spoon

[Hannibal Scorch]

3 minutes ago, Tim Healys Chutney Spoon said:

All In was great in places, but some of the matches for me felt a bit 'meh' and underwhelmed me somewhat.

Tag title match. But did like the introduction of a new team in the upper level of the tag division.

Coffin match - great surprise at the end but not that great a match for me. Expected more from Darby though. 

Main event was very very good and emotional and the first time in a long time I genuinely didn't know until the bell rang who would win. Made up for Danielson. Interesting to see where it goes with who won the gauntlet match. Very intriguing mix up and interested to see that programme. Possibly was done as a 'safe pair of hands' if things go tits up with Danielson and they have someone able and willing to step straight in.

 

Jamie Hayter though! Tazz though! Ospreay though! Pac though! 

The Darby match was cut in half due to curfew, haven’t watched it back yet. Yeah there were a few duffers, but the Gauntlet, Ospreay/MJF and main more then  made  up the shortfall, for me.

Edited August 31 by Hannibal Scorch

[JLM]

All In 2024

Short review: I cried, I was drunk on THE FEELING for much of the night, I don't know if pro wrestling can ever get as good as this again for me, holy shit. (****3/4)

EXTREMELY LONG REVIEW: 

Pre-show:

The stadium and stage all looked great. It turns out 50,000 people is still a hell of a lot of people. Some of the entrances were brilliant and the atmosphere was incredible for almost the entire show.

The massive roar the first time Jeff Jarrett in his amazing jacket appeared on screen was wonderful.

The Brie interview playing on the screens before any pre-show action kicked off was superb. It did a great job on my casual fan friend as well. He was initially 50/50 on who he wanted to win, but all of the promos and video packages before the main event had him on team Danielson by the time it arrived.

Private Party/Ariya Daivari/Dark Order/Singh/Lethal/Anthony Ogogo vs Kyle Fletcher/Rocky Romero/Top Flight/Andretti/Lio Rush/Tommy Billington/Kip Sabian

Poor Evil Uno had a rough week didn't he? Announced he was in the gauntlet on Wednesday, got assaulted by his old friend and left for dead, miraculously recovered in time to make it to Wembley, but then presumably was the next guy after Luchasaurus in the gauntlet and never made it into the match. Uno vs Danielson dream match denied.  

The big pop for Kip Sabian was lovely stuff. Evil Uno using the papers made me smile. The showdown between Satnam and Lio Rush was tremendous and easily the highlight of the match. My casual fan friend (CFF for the rest of this) had never seen the classic Reynolds/Silver combination sequence and bloody loved it. It is very cool. Fun, breezy opener obviously thrown out to get loads of people on the card.

 

Willow/Ishii vs Stokeley/Statlander

Stokeley's Michael Jackson gear was outstanding, as was his performance in this match. Thoroughly entertaining match, they teased Stokeley vs Ishii well and it was a blast when they finally interacted. Ishii actually getting rocked by one of Statlander's strikes was excellent too. I have already had to make peace with All Out getting the Willow/Stat match I wanted, but this was very enjoyable for what it was and I'm glad they both got a match on the big stage. Stokeley's comedy heel goofball energy is bringing more manic charisma out of Statlander the more they continue to team too, she's way more expressive in this role than she ever was as a babyface.

 

Martha Hart desperately trying to get to the end of her speech was rather awkward.

 

Cage of Agony/Kingdom vs Shibata/Dustin/Von Erichs/Guevara

Sammy/Cage both rocking 90s X-Men/Wolverine gear was crazy. I'd be pissed if I were Brian Cage, it's been his thing for a very long time. I'd also be pissed at him if I were Ricochet for doing a shooting star press from the top rope to the floor on the pre-show. I must say it's disappointing that I've seen Shibata wrestle live twice in the same week and both times it was in nothing matches. Dustin getting good reactions on the big stage was nice, briefly seeing Toa Liona do his thing live was a plus for me personally. Some very rough and sloppy bits in this one too. The Gates of Agony launching power bomb spot on Shibata looked nasty and is not a bump he should be taking. Brian Cage wiping out on his dive was also brutal, and Sammy's Swanton made my entire audience block audibly gasp as he landed back-first onto Cage. Poor Brian had a painful evening. Not great this one, though the Iron Claw-fest and Kevin Von Erich getting the big stadium pop was a nice moment, and that's what this was all for really.

Jamie Fucking Hayter after 15 fucking months

At this point I saw there were ten minutes before the main show and was pondering going to refill my water bottle. Then Saraya's music hit and I SHRIEKED with excitement because I knew it was Jamie Hayter time. I presume the people in my block thought I was just the biggest fan of Saraya and the Knights. I am a Saraya/Harley fan but we're not on shrieking terms. I am so glad I didn't duck out of the arena and miss this! Wonderful moment, positively radiating superstar aura and swagger, and she looked like she was going to explode with how pumped she was to be back. The first of multiple times during the show I had a big old lump in my throat. Magic.

HOB vs BBG vs Patriarchy vs BCC/Pac Ladder Match

Some of the ladders were very small. One of them was very large as well, though. London Ladders are very diverse in that way. Typical batshit clusterfuck ladder match, naturally, with The Patriarchy team adding good heat and some fun comedic/story beats to supplement all the mad high spots. Brilliant reception for Pac and everything he did, and both HOB and The Gunns always excel in this sort of scramble situation. The sequence with Claudio doing all the flying uppercuts ending in the giant swing on Juice was excellent. Definitely an ideal choice to open the show. For all of the craziness in the match, the best two spots for me were Christian running for the hills as his "son" got stomped out by the entire field at the start, and him stopping Killswitch from winning the match because he's such a glory hound. Classic Christian. It wasn't the Death Triangle Wembley win of my dreams but I'm still chuffed for Pac.

Mariah May vs Toni Storm

The last few weeks leading into the PPV this lost a bit of steam, but still, I was so excited to see if they could stick the landing on this one after so much of the groundwork for it has been sensational. They most certainly did that for me. This was brilliant.

This more than delivered in the arena, with great heat and maximum melodrama. I had to watch it back on TV though, as I knew there'd be stuff I couldn't pick up in the live setting. One of the major ones was that Mariah slapped HER OWN MOTHER. Really bloody hard too! I had assumed watching in the crowd that this lady was affiliated with Toni Storm and it still worked as a spot, but man knowing that makes it so much better. Same for Toni's entrance. You could see it on the screens to an extent, but it hit harder watching the whole thing televised; Toni doing her usual schtick with a face suggesting she could burst into tears at any moment. All of this interspersed with shots of Mariah in full colour with a look of pure disdain. Mina Shirakawa looking concerned in the crowd was also a great touch. No need for her to be any more involved, but it still added even more to the drama of this. Mina has to be one of Mariah's first title defenses to show just how far gone she is. Gimmicked champagne bottle over the head. Has to be.

Easily Mariah's best performance to date. Milking everything for maximum heat and just being the WORST for the whole match. Spitting, goading and then assaulting Luther, finally giving Nigel his reward for being her biggest fanboy. Brilliant how the Storm Zero on the steps came after that big flurry of shithousing from Mariah, so Toni had time to recover and land it to get back into the match, Mariah's spiral into evil nearly cost her *and* it felt like instant comeuppance for all of the shit she'd just done. Spot on choice to have Mariah be the one to bleed here as well. Made her seem so much more dangerous and unhinged towards the end.

The whole closing stretch was note perfect. Loved all the stuff with them mirroring each other, classic student overthrowing the master stuff, likewise the master being unable to use the forbidden technique on their own pupil. She has strayed from the path but she is still Toni's child. LOVED the near fall with Mariah using the same jackknife flash pin she used to win her Owen Cup matches, and of course the only natural finish using the Storm Zero. Toni's exit was also amazing.

Loved this.

 

Hook vs Jericho

Went to get a snack during the Fozzy performance. Hook having the Tazz theme heart monitor bit before his entrance was a lovely little touch. The UK Big Bill love-in continuing was also delightful. Taz finally choking a motherfucker out after all this time was the clear highlight and the only possible justification for this being on the card at all. Bloody loved that bit, obviously. I wonder if Bryan Keith being signed and added to The Learning Tree was all done so there was a height appropriate person for Taz to choke out at this stage of his life. Long term booking. But yeah, this is the Taz/Hook/FTW title moment I wanted and it happened on the biggest stage. HAS to be the perfect time to retire the FTW title now. There is nothing better you could possibly do with it than Taz helping his boy win it back as they lock in simultaneous Tazmissions, so after this it's just going to limit Hook.

 

 

FTR vs Bucks vs Acclaimed

 

This was a very good match, but more in a "strong Dynamite match" kind of way than a PPV barn burner. I really liked the bit where Max Caster joined in for the other teams' finishers. I was hoping FTR would liberate the tag titles and get the division going again, so was disappointed with the result. Lost my mind when GYV turned up! Such a big fan of those guys. Instant massive upgrade for the tag division. GYV vs FTR, GYV vs Bucks, GYV vs MXM Collection. Give me all of those please.

 

Casino Gauntlet

Jeeeeeeesus Christ. In the arena watching this live I thought I was going to burst. Holy shit, I was losing my mind nearly continuously for the whole thing. This match type, after only a handful of outings, is easily one of Tony Khan's finest creations. It's so good it should probably only be done once or twice a year, or even tied to a PPV like All In. It has all of the benefits of a Royal Rumble, with the countdowns and the opportunity for surprises, returns, debuts etc. It also has the opportunity for dream pairings and unlikely combinations left and right. However, unlike the Rumble, it allows a debut or a dream face off the chance to work without the restriction of staying in the ring/not being able to go over the top rope. It is the best of all worlds and has not missed so far.

OC's Mr. Bean intro was outstanding. Okada coming in second was an IMMEDIATE holy shit moment. Set the tone for this being full of heavy hitters with no fucking about. Following that up with NIGEL! My god. I'm surprised I could breathe on Monday, let alone speak.

Zack Sabre Jr. was an amazing addition. A good surprise, another British wrestler and also opened up soooo many sicko dream pairings! In the middle of this match it felt like any combination of any two guys in the match was worthy of a "holy shit" chant. My CFF had never seen ZSJ before and is now his biggest fan. He was completely blown away by the counters and crazy pinning combinations, and he's never seen a Meltzer star rating in his life.

So we got this wonderful sicko section of dream pairings and technical wrestling and Holy shit moments for the perverts, THEN we get Redneck Kung Fu and a lovely bit with the Conglomeration Conglomeratin' in full effect, only for that to be ended by Hangman entering the ring playing the role of pure Hatred in human form. This was INCREDIBLE. Completely no-selling his pyro, looking like he was going in their to drink EVERYONE'S blood and annihilating anyone foolish enough to get in his way. Catching the Orange Punch in mid air right into the Dead Eye was a thing of beauty.

Who on Earth is going to stop this monster? THE LAST OUTLAW HIMSELF. Seriously, this thing just kept managing to hit new highs for me. I thought my excitement had peaked but they still had something better in store.

Electric debut for Ricochet. People can quibble whether they could have advertised this debut to promote another show, or if he should be debuting in a match he isn't winning etc. For me, he got to make his arrival on a massive stage to an insane reaction and put on an exhibition of all the  superhero shit he can do against some of the biggest names on the roster. The springboard shooting star was nuts, he lost his balance, regained his balance with pure leg/core strength and then hit the thing flawlessly anyway. There are a lot of flippy high flying guys on the roster but it still boggles the mind what he can do sometimes.

Love that they keep going back to the Hangman/Okada subplot whenever they get a chance. Okada's ultra-casual break up on the pin was amazing. The Jarrett guitar shot on Hangman has to be my favourite Jarrett guitar shot of all time. Take THAT you sonofabitch. OC and Zak Sabre Jr have the BEST chemistry and showed it again here.

The ending will definitely be polarising. I loved the use of the random time intervals aspect of the match. They set it up for this amazing sprint showdown with all the remaining competitors getting big near falls etc. and that heavily implied there was nobody else to come. So the last countdown clock got a massive pop. The announcement of LUCHASAURUS got an even bigger one. Then it was yet more classic Christian shithousery. So our man won and lost the trios titles without getting to carry the belt (much like his TNT reign), he was stopped from retaining his Trios titles this evening and was then blamed for the loss. Christian STILL then convinced him to come out AS LUCHASAURUS to throw people off the scent so he could help this prick win AGAIN? I have to know what he has on this dinosaur man. I have to know. As exciting a prospect as many of the people in this thing vs Danielson would have been, I don't hate Christian winning it honestly. His world title match with Swerve was absolutely brilliant, and the threat of the biggest scumbag on the roster ruining Bryan's dream final run at any time is interesting to me.

 

MJF vs Ospreay

My CFF was pro-MJF at the start of this and a converted Ospreay fan by the end of it. He hadn't seen Ospreay before and was blown away, eventually screaming "DO IIIIIIT!" as he went for the Tiger Driver at the end. Spine tingling heat for this one, phenomenal atmosphere in the stadium for the duration. Belter of a match. Superb shithousery from MJF, fantastic melodramatic in-ring storytelling from both guys, some of the best intensity and physical charisma I've seen from Ospreay and a rabid crowd. The build has been muddled as hell, MJF has been all over the place character/promo-wise, but I thought this delivered on the night as most of us expected it would; these two have superb chemistry together. Properly overbooked towards the end but it felt warranted to me. The whole deal felt huge, the entrances were amazing, the big pyro celebrations, Wembley at fever pitch and Ospreay looking like the most mega of mega stars coming out of it.

Most importantly of all though, I jumped out of my seat for DANNY GARCIA, as this surely means he has re-signed and all of that grim talk of him going to NXT without Daddy Magic can be put to rest.

 

Mercedes Mone vs Britt Baker

Mone's entrance was so obnoxious it made me laugh out loud. Flawless. This was definitely one of the weaker matches on the show and was also most of the crowd's piss break match. It was also in a death spot following Ospreay/MJF, and these two were never going to be able to save that with their in-ring work. The build has also been very by-the-numbers. There were certainly plenty of sloppy and rough looking bits in there too. HOWEVER, this actually had some more ambitious and impressive stuff than I expected. Some nice reversals and counters towards the end, the stomp counter into the powerbomb from Mone was cool and not something I can recall seeing before. The scoop slam off the top, and then later Britt countering a second one into a flying power slam was awesome too, and comfortably the highlight of the match. In a more favourable spot on a less stacked card I don't think it would be receiving the shit it's getting online, but yeah, in this setting it was definitely not up to par and the crowd responded accordingly.

 

 

Jack Perry vs Darby Allin (and then STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING)

This match being suspiciously high on the card (and as a result, after it had got a bit darker) massively raised my hope that we'd be getting Sting, so I was buzzing with excitement for the duration. I loved that this was almost an extended squash. It was unexpected, quite shocking actually, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Darby has been winning, he has shown himself to be a survivor of vicious beatings and that he's willing to do insane/barbaric shit if provoked. This is all established for Darby. Jack Perry has done some of these things himself but he is not on Darby's level. Him completely annihilating Darby like this massively ups his threat level in my eyes and gives his still relatively new persona a lot more credibility. Darby's head sticking out of the body bag was a bloody brilliant visual. It was somehow both unintentionally hilarious *and* cool at the same time. It was such a great visual that Perry quickly following up with an unceremonious knee and lid slam felt even more shocking. Really good stuff.

The lights going out was one of my biggest cheers of the night. Nearly fried my vocal chords on that one. I said after Revolution I'd lose my mind whenever Sting popped back in for a surprise appearance, feel extremely privileged that I got to witness it live!

 

Danielson vs Swerve

Being inside Wembley Stadium for the last 40 minutes of this show was the best pro wrestling has ever been for me. The highest highs I have ever felt watching it, the most emotionally invested I have ever been, and witnessing one of the career best performances from the greatest pro wrestler of all time. Perfection. That's without even giving Swerve his due. He is performing at such a level right now that in ANY other circumstance I'd want him to remain champion for the next five years.

The Danielson meditation video before he came out was out of this world. Starting off as a love letter to pro wrestling and then overlapping with the montage of his family. An amazing nostalgic career retrospective montage but also perfectly telling the story of a man having to choose between the two biggest loves of his life. The overlapping story of the character and the man have rarely felt more real than that. That's been the key to this whole thing for me. I totally understand the criticism that putting the career on the line telegraphs the finish, but this is one scenario where I could 100% believe he'd do it. He'd retire on the big stage, massively put over Swerve, not push his luck any further with his body and keep his promise to his daughter. Like, probably not because he can't help himself and there are more matches left to do and there's a big Washington show etc. etc I get all of that. But because it's Bryan Danielson, he COULD just call it in service of the big story on the big stage to pass the torch to Swerve, who would be an exceptionally worthy recipient of said torch.

As such, my jaded wrestling fan brain was out the window for this one. I was biting on EVERYTHING. Biting on near falls that were OBVIOUSLY not going to be the real finish BUT WHAT IF THEY WERE? What if it's that moment when Undertaker doesn't kick out against Brock and the collective life is sucked out of an entire stadium of people in unison? I was grateful to see that my entire block was standing for almost the whole match because I found it very very difficult to sit down.

Both entrances were PERFECT. First tear of the evening shed for The Final Countdown chorus in unison. Swerve felt like the biggest deal on this Earth for his. Bun B in the house for a brand new remix of Big Pressure? Outstanding. Swerve wearing the Jimmy Rave robe for his most important matches is the most lovely tribute, but isn't it the happiest coincidence that he looks magnificent in it as well. Then the extended and THUNDEROUS "Who's House?" call and response from Nana. Talk about a big match feel, god damn this was immense. Couldn't see it in the arena, but watching it back that top with the heads of his previous opponents mounted on spikes was the most Swerve thing imaginable too.

Distinctly remember going "oh fuck off!" and trying not to cry again during Roberts' introduction for Danielson and the cut to his family on the big screens.

The nervous tension at the beginning of this was something else. Bryan doing the big sprinboard somersault effectively broke the tension because he had the advantage and looked confident, so it was "safe" to start cheering again. Whenever he wasn't clearly in control he was in danger of losing; that was how it felt for almost the entire thing.

The cycle of Danielson rallying and putting together a big flurry only to be heartbreakingly shut down was done so well, helped by Danielson's look of ever increasing desperation. The big flurry of flying knees in the corner only to be shut down by a flatliner, kicking Swerve's head in into Cattle Mutilation, only to be destroyed with a vertebreaker. Hope into gut punch into hope into gut punch. Loved the contrast between Swerve and Ospreay there too. Ospreay drops Danielson on his head and the sight of the medical staff checking him over makes him question ever using the move again. Swerve drops Danielson on his head and chases the doctors out of the ring so he can follow up with the stomp.

The last of the "big rally into gut punch" heartbreakers was one of the best no-sells of a move I have ever seen. Firstly the new take on the pro wrestling "I'm sorry" was just beautiful. Danielson apologising to his family for refusing to stay down and not fully giving up wrestling for them just yet. Then the best Hulk Up spot, bloodied, manic, staring straight at his family as he powered through Swerve's kicks. Then he hits the Busaiku knee! We all lose our collective minds in the stadium, then the sound of elation turning into shock and then genuine concern that this is it for our hero. I have rewatched that bit so many times already. Similar to Hangman drinking Swerve's blood, it is so striking to hear a massive crowd of people go from cheering to a completely different emotion, in unison, over the space of 1-2 seconds. Flipping magical stuff. One of Swerve's finest supervillain moments to date, if not the best one yet. That near fall on Big Pressure there nearly ended me. I don't even know what noise I made. It was some kind of scream/howl/cheer hybrid. I thought my CFF would be laughing at me but he was right there with me by this point.

I 100% bit on the near fall after Hangman's distraction too. Again in most other scenarios I'd be cynical and suspect a false finish there, but in that moment I wanted it to be the win so badly I was willing to believe it. Then the last 5 minutes all hope of ever regaining my shit was gone. Welled up again after Swerve tapped. Glorious match, haven't felt an atmosphere like it. Ended up staying in the stadium util two thirds of the people had gone because I didn't want it to be over. Thankfully Danielson and family stuck around and the people continued singing and Yes-ing for a good spell after the PPV went off air. The "Yes" chants on the street coming out of the stadium were also tremendous.

Not a perfect show. Some of the undercard "good" rather than great, and Hook/Jericho and Mone/Baker were not All In-worthy matches. The high points were SO BLOODY HIGH though and they were peppered throughout the show (even Hook/Jericho had the Taz spot!), and the last hour I entered some kind of otherworldy pro wrestling nirvana that I will never forget. A Sting appearance followed up with one of the best wrestling matches I've ever seen that made me cry multiple times, ending with the euphoria of the result we all desperately wanted. Hard to beat that.

However, Swerve should have sold the shoulder more consistently in the middle third so I have to give it a rating of outlaw mudshow garbage. 

[RedTwoster]

I thought this was a sensational show - although I was a bit baffled by their decision to zoom in on empty seats on various occasions. 

But ultimately, it doesn’t matter. This show was the best AEW PPV in a long time, and given that the company delivers consistently on PPV, this is high praise.

May/Storm was my favourite match of the night - I think I was one of the more invested posters when it come to this feud, and even with that in mind, the match surpassed my expectations.

The Casino Gauntlet was a close second for me, it was so much fun. I would never have predicted McGuinness making an appearance, even after he disappeared from the announce desk. It didn’t cross my mind for a second that this might be why. I think they made a mistake in having Christian win though, given that Swerve had already faced him, it kind of gave away the result of the main event for me. I’m very much in favour of a Christian world title run, but I’m not sure this was the right decision.

If I’d not been watching live, I’d have skipped past Baker/Mone. It was just plain bad, and the worst kind of bad in that it was boring. Mercedes isn’t clicking as a character in AEW, and Britt really benefited from being part of the women’s division when it was weaker - if someone of her ability level debuted for the company now, I really don’t think they’d get this kind of push. It’s crazy that she’s being featured in this way, while Athena, Billie Starkz and others are buried away on ROH TV. An Athena run on the main roster is long overdue.

In spite of me feeling how I did about Christian’s win, the main event was great. I hope Swerve gets a longer title run in the future, it feels like it’s been cut short long before he’d ran out of steam. I’d go as far as to say he’s had the best AEW Workd title run since Jon Moxley’s first reign. Bryan celebrating his win alongside his family though…that was just wonderful. I’m going to miss him when he’s gone.

[Supremo]

I nearly ended up in hospital Sunday night, with a chronic case of FOMO. That fucking main event, man. Absolutely incredible. Probably one of my favourite matches of all time. I was jealous enough assuming the fans there would get to experience something similar to Wrestlemania 30. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that it would completely dwarf Wrestlemania 30! It was leagues better!

Mania 30 saw WWE essentially forced to give him the belt because they ran out of options, always intending on getting it off him as soon as possible. By contrast, this saw AEW forcing the belt on Bryan, earnestly positioning him where he’s always belonged, as the face of their company. Paying hundreds of thousands to let him come out to The Final Countdown. Fifty thousand people singing him to the ring. Give the greatest all of the flowers. This was pro-wrestling heaven.

But yeah, fuck Bryan Danielson. He has single-handedly ruined this hobby for me. It’s not even that he’s the best ever. It’s that he’s so much better than everybody else. He’s miles and miles ahead of absolutely everyone. Some people cut better promos. Some people are more athletic. A handful of people - on a good night - might even have better matches. But the whole package? Being able to make me feel something? This man is a fucking God. More gifted at eliciting emotion than anyone who has ever done it.  Hulking up via the love of his children. Jesus Christ. There isn’t another performer on the planet who could make that work. It’d be the silliest spot ever if someone tried it at The Performance Center. Here though. In this setting. With this man I’ve grown up watching. Having two kids of my own, of similar age. I could have ran through walls. When he broke that bastard’s fingers and won that belt. That was it. As good as it’ll ever get. Cried my eyes out. And then when his son didn’t give a flying fuck and was more interested in chasing the confetti than celebrating? I’ve never related to anything more in my life.

I’ll remember this match forever. The outstanding entrances. The pop for the opening bell. Swerve stomping on Bryan’s head in front of his children. Prince Nana dancing in the background as the children watch their Dad get smashed up. Swerve no-selling the Knee. Hangman’s run-in feeling legitimately dangerous and unplanned. Bryan DADDING UP. Those final few false finishes. The way the crowd went mental every time he kicked out. The pop for the finish. Pac randomly being out there in substitute for Mox, trying to keep his stoic face amongst the joy and happiness. The best. The absolute best. We’ve peaked. Might as well stop watching. No wonder the UKFF died. Close up shop.

[Kamran]

20 minutes ago, Supremo said:

And then when his son didn’t give a flying fuck and was more interested in chasing the confetti than celebrating? I’ve never related to anything more in my life.

Not sure if you saw this...but it made me laugh: 

I took the niece and nephews again this year, I got tickets about 10 days before the event when they reduced some prices. We were closer than last time so we had a good view, they all loved it, was a really good night. 

 

Edited August 31 by Kamran

[Supremo]

As we reach the final week of the Summer Holidays, I deeply related to Danielson feeling the need to Tiger Driver his kid. They just don’t bloody listen!

A few other quick thoughts…

Jamie Hayter has the best music in the business. An absolute bop. The opposite end of the spectrum to Bayley.

I expected the world from the Casino Gauntlet and they still managed to exceed my expectations. Pure joy. The best Royal Rumble of the last twenty years. I imagine this is what heroin feels like. I’m seeing loads of people suggest they turn this into a Pay Per View, but shut the hell up! That would mean we only get one or two a year! I need this hit at least every few months. Always delivers, getting better each time. Belter.

As a ratio of performance against the size of the stage, I can’t remember anyone shitting the bed as much as Britt Baker did here. She looked awful. Couldn’t figure out if she’s always been shit, was blown up, was intentionally trying to sandbag, or a combination of all three. A disaster. WHERE ARE YOU, REBECCA KNOX?!

Toni Storm vs. Mariah May might be the greatest second-match-on-the-card of all time. What should be the Death Spot, yet they absolutely nailed it. Brilliant stuff. Both these women rule. Might slap my mum in the face later.

I don’t know how pay-offs work in AEW, but whatever Chris Jericho got paid, he should split it between Big Bill, Taz, HOOK and Bryan Keith. One of the biggest carry jobs I’ve ever seen. Four blokes doing everything possible to somehow make Chris Jericho’s bullshit work on the main stage. Keith is hilarious in this Scrappy Doo character. HOOK growing his hair out a bit, combined with the eye patch, made him the sexiest Snake Plisken. Taz getting up from the desk and then giving HOOK a hug at the end was genuinely touching. And Big Bill’s final bump in this match will go down in history. So, so funny. Even my son, who hates wrestling, kept asking me to rewind it just to watch Bill fall through the table again.

It’s like he turns 2D! Hilarious.

Edited August 31 by Supremo

[Statto]

A far superior show to last year IMO. The main event and the Gauntlet were two of the best things I've ever seen with my own eyes (although I did find myself a little deflated by the finish of the Gauntlet. I'm reasonably fond of Christian but couldn't give two shits about Luchasaurus/Killswitch. And I wanted Hanger to win). 

Ended up picking up a pair of £25 tickets on Thursday evening despite reservations about the upper tier from what people had said about views/drunken crowd behaviour up there last year but was very pleasantly surprised with view of both ring & stage:

Although I didn't rely on the screens, was extra pleased with my positioning for the money when finding out people "behind the goal" only had the scoreboard screen at the far end and that had blinding lights underneath it. Very pleased to be able to see the stage this year - although I had nominally better seats last year I was seated behind the stage & I'm a big entrances guy (of which there were some great ones on this show). 

As for fan behaviour only things of note were - sat directly behind a mum who I'd assumed had been dragged along with dad and the kids as she spent every second of the show glued to social media apps on her phone, until the entrances for Ospreay/MJF. She went mental for Will, then was up and dancing/singing with MJF's music. As soon as the bell rang, though - right back to the phone for the rest of the show. And directly in front of a lad of about 8 who I'm guessing was rather more of a WWE fan - bloody loved Chris Jericho, Neville & Sasha Banks (in his own words). 

In the car on the way back, said to my mate that I reckoned they'd just about managed to shoehorn every contracted male wrestler onto the show with the exception of those who were injured & Mox/Wardlow/Keith Lee/Takeshita who were off for other reasons. Had a count up the following day and was surprised to find there were FIFTY-ONE male wrestlers listed on the roster on the website who didn't make the show (admittedly including the injured ones). That's a big old roster.