All in 2024

[DavidB6937]

Must admit I found the first hour or so fairly underwhelming. Mostly up until the Casino match I think. Not that it was bad as such. Just didn't feel like it was as good as it could've been. I was even disappointed in the Storm/May match for some reason. Maybe my expectations were too high or it was the placing of the match. They deserved higher than that shit heap of Britt and Mercedes anyway.

But yeah the stuff that was great was really fucking great. Especially the main event.

Ospreay/MJF was decent but I'd argue they've done better but it did what it needed to do.

I would imagine some of it I probably would have enjoyed more if I was there. But it was a really strong PPV overall for sure.

[Hannibal Scorch]

@JLM absolutely no notes, you summed up my own feelings beautifully. 
 

My best week of wrestling ever (and most expensive with almost £330 on Dynamite and All In tickets!) but it was worth every penny) and somehow making TV 3 times (4 times if you count Zero Hour) was hilarious to me to get friends send me pics by spotting me. Bring on Forbidden Door!

[RedTwoster]

3 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

Bring on Forbidden Door!

Have they confirmed a venue for that? 

[HarmonicGenerator]

First of all, if the two blokes in Block 108 who would not shut the fuck up with your stupid fucking opinions literally the entire show from start to finish without any pause for anything actually happening the fuck in front of you right fucking now are UKFFers and happen to be reading this, fuck off. Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off, just shut up and fuck off. You are the worst. For six fucking hours you would not fucking shut up about how racism is fine if you're Hulk Hogan or spending the Casino Gauntlet discussing which wrestler had the worst slave name or spending Toni's match talking about how you still would or spending the Ospreay match talking about how AAA shouldn't put their belt on Alberto Del Rio or spending that main event talking about how JBL's finisher is underrated instead of ever paying any attention to the show you have paid money to go and see right now happening in front of you. You are the exact kind of people I had to warn my wife we could be sat near at last year's show. Thank god we weren't that year or we wouldn't have been there at all last week. She didn't believe wrestling fans could be as bad as I'd warned her about. You two were worse. She was genuinely shocked that people at live shows could be like that. The 1% of Dem Wans. Fuck you both, forever.

ANYWAY.

If I pretend we were able to tune out the nonstop stream of shit coming from the twats in the row behind us, we had a fantastic time - probably a more fun show than last year's. Being one tier closer to the ring definitely helped with that - luckily just close enough that we didn't have to rely on the screens, but did find it weird our side of the ring didn't have one like the two on the sides. The chants coming from @Onyx2's block of "turn the screen on / turn the lights off / we can't see" were justified.

I won't go match by match, but:

- Loved seeing the Iron Claw be used live. Great pop for that, and Mrs HG, remembering the film, really liked the moment as well.

 - She, like @JLM, thought there'd be time after that to refill the water bottle and I had to frantically text "come back! Saraya!" She's a Saraya fan, someone has to be, so I'm glad she got an appearance. Jamie Hayter's return was brilliant.

- Opening the main show with London Ladders was a great way to have a hot crowd from the off. Fun stunt show, Christian running away then coming back all triumphant was brilliant, PAC WON!

- Amazing how the whole stadium went black and white when Timeless Toni came out. I assumed that was just a TV effect, but truly she is timeless. Good match that I think I’ll appreciate a lot more rewatching on TV. What a fantastic title reign Toni had. Highlight of the shows all year.

- I absolutely adored the Casino Gauntlet. The closest I think I'll ever be to experiencing the Royal Rumble live. I could have watched that match for an hour.

- I had never been fussed about Will Ospreay before he joined AEW - even at last year's All In I used his match with Jericho for my toilet break - but as of this show he's completely won me over. The Assassin's Creed entrance is probably the clip I've rewatched most this week. The combination of her favourite game series + the fact he was on Off Menu means my wife is now an Ospreay fan too. The pop for him here was amazing live - the "Ospreay! Ospreay!" especially. I'd sometimes half wondered if they just had those within the music track, but that definitely wasn't the case here. Guy's a megastar.

 - Mind, they definitely have the "CEO, CEO" chants just in the music track. Enjoyed seeing some Corgis, but yeah, I'd put Mercedes' music along the very worst of all time. It wasn't even that the match was that bad (though despite liking Britt Baker in the days leading up to the show, the match did not hold Mrs HG's interest). I think it's Mercedes' music just sucks all life out of every crowd that hears it. It's so terrible.

 - Didn't like the Coffin Match much, you could tell they were pushed for time, but who cares, IT'S STIIIIIIIIIING! 'Seek and Destroy' hitting was one of my favourite moments of the night.

 - That main event! Wow. Twists and turns and emotion and drama and that's what it feels like to watch a true main event. Even up to the very end I couldn't tell who would win. I definitely shouted out very loud when Swerve tapped. SEND THEM HOME HAPPY. And it was even better watching it back on TV and seeing the details and remembering the magic atmosphere through the whole match. And magic is the word. What a match!

Haven't had a chance to watch it back properly but it has been requested for tonight when I get back from work. I bet there's loads of great bits we missed, but such a fun live experience. Multiple goosebump moments.

Edited August 31 by HarmonicGenerator
I forgot to mention Toni Storm! I’m ashamed of myself

[Hannibal Scorch]

34 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

Have they confirmed a venue for that? 

No. Smart money is on the o2, I’d love it to be the Royal Albert Hall (both domes right?). But could be Eembley Arena equally. Anyone suggesting Craven Cottage is wrong.

[RedTwoster]

2 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

No. Smart money is on the o2, I’d love it to be the Royal Albert Hall (both domes right?). But could be Eembley Arena equally. Anyone suggesting Craven Cottage is wrong.

I’d love for it to be outside of London. I have to admit, I don’t really care for Forbidden Door, but if it was further north I’d probably go. 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

What a pop for Nigel! I thought people were crazy fantasy booking him vs Danielson, but I massively underestimated his popularity with AEW fans. Awesome moment. That Jarret pop too! Him and Karen look over the moon at the reactions he's deservedly getting. Lovely stuff. The Guantlet was my match of the night, winning formula.

I'll have to rewatch Swerve/Danielson when I'm not half asleep, but I'm thrilled Bryan got his moment and his championship run. Yes! With his full time career coming to an end the extra stakes to him dropping the title are off the charts. Top drama! Swerve has been the business too.

When will AEW do an arena show in London? I would actually go to that.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

40 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

I’d love for it to be outside of London. I have to admit, I don’t really care for Forbidden Door, but if it was further north I’d probably go. 

They did say, I'm sure,Forbidden Door would be London.

Tottenham Stadium maybe?

[The Dart]

I had a great time.   It was a much better show than last year I thought.  

I paid £97 for my ticket in the 100s section after paying £114 for a ticket in the 200s last year, so that was good - much better seat.   The only letdown being the guy sitting next to me was a massive bellend.

I'm assuming Forbidden Door will be in an arena, which opens up the possibility of tickets being way too expensive, so we'll see, but I'll for sure be going if tickets are reasonably priced and also availability dependent.

The crowd was great, anyone who doesn't think getting 50,000 is an incredible achievment for AEW is a bloody fool.  Perhaps they need to do what WWE does when it gets 35,000 people in a 55,000 seat stadium though and that is stagger how tickets are released so it looks full on camera even when it's not.  The constant shots of endless empty seats doesn't look on camera, however big the crowd is.

[Statto]

1 hour ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

No. Smart money is on the o2, I’d love it to be the Royal Albert Hall (both domes right?).

I said to my mate when it was announced as London but not Wembley, although you'd only get a relative handful of people in there I reckon the nostalgic in TK would love to put it in the Albert Hall. It'd look great too. 

Any stadium is out you'd think, with the football season having started.

Personally, I think I'm less likely to want to go because it's Forbidden Door and there'll be people I don't really know/care for on the show instead of people I do. Although it was still "AEW NJPW" this year there was a lot of Mexican involvement, you'd think next year it'll be that and at least a few British indy guys.

Other than Hechicero, when it comes down to it I'd rather see the likes of Silver & Reynolds than Tanahashi et al. But that's just me. 

[Infinity Land]

Chances are its the o2. In the past its been known buildings are booked but due to the promotional windowing that WWE sometimes get in place they can't be announced.

[Hannibal Scorch]

@Statto every year I say do we really need Forbidden Door, and every year they make it a great show, so I’m definitely interested even if not as much as All In.

[Jazzy G]

It was a heck of a show, although where I was sat I couldn't really see much of anything because of those bloody lights. I kept having to crane my neck to watch the screen behind me for a better chance of seeing what was happening. 

When Danielson won the title myself, my friend, and everyone around us all just hugged with delight. It was an incredible moment and reminded me why when wrestling is good it's the best thing in the world. 

When the lights went out after the coffin match I shouted out loud "oh my fucking god it's STING!" and lost my tiny mind. 

People were loving and hating my S Club Seven/Bullet Club shirt. It was one of those "if you know, you know" things. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 minute ago, Jazzy G said:

People were loving and hating my S Club Seven/Bullet Club shirt. It was one of those "if you know, you know" things. 

Pics in the T-Shirt thread please. I had a few people come up and complement my Autism 3.16 shirt. One Dad even come up to me with tears in his eyes because his son is Autistic and loves wrestling and he appreciated me wearing it. I was lucky that both shows I only interacted or saw decent folk, some of those discussed in here would have made me angry

[Devon Malcolm]

I watched this! The board's been down so long I forgot half the matches so I had to look them up on Wikpedia.

* Pre-show - I saw the last couple of minutes of the Willow Nightingale match. Why was Ishii in this? Why was Willow Nightingale only on the pre-show? She should be in the main event. The 10 man tag was fine, I like a good massive tag match. Why wasn't Maria with Mike Bennett?

* Big ladder match - Lots of fun, a really good way to start the night. Mrs. Wayne fucking up her spots was funny. I see Pac still takes half an hour to hit top rope moves. But I enjoyed this a lot.

* Mariah May vs Toni Storm - Absolutely excellent. Mariah has been brilliant through this entire storyline and the ending of this was perfectly done. She'll be a great babyface one day as well, I just sense that her turning will be a huge deal.

* Hook vs Chris Jericho - Nope.

* Tag team triple threat - I like FTR and hate the Young Bucks and have no opinion on The Acclaimed. Anthony Bowens looks a huge talent, they need to do some singles stuff with him. Caster not so much. This was tolerable when the Jacksons weren't fucking about.

* Gauntlet match - For some time I didn't know what was going on in this but I enjoyed it anyway. Obviously delighted with Christian Cage's work, still the best heel in wrestling. Some nice moments and returns but also Ricochet, so you can't have anything.

* Will Ospreay vs MJF - As excellent as this match was I think I mostly can't be doing with MJF anymore. Maybe I didn't like him as much as I thought I did but he just gets on my tits as a character and not in the desired way. But this was very, very good.

* Mercedes Mone vs Britt Baker - This started slowly and uncomfortably but got much better as it went on and even the crowd seemed to wake up by the end. Mone has been a disaster, hasn't she? Khan hoped he would get NXT Four Horsewomen Sasha Banks and fair to say that hasn't happened. At least this eventually worked.

* Jungle Boy vs Darby Allin - This was absolutely pathetic. It's uncomfortable watching Darby Allin do his stupid shit even if he is Darby Allin. Jungle Boy has got nothing whatsoever, he's shite. At least it didn't last very long.

* Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland - There's definitely room for a conversation here about the logic and even danger of making Danielson champion when his neck is fucked, and turning Swerve heel when he had ascended to the top babyface in the company, especially with him having Hangman Page stalking him. But pushing all that aside, this was a brilliant match, obviously, and one that had that rare thing these days of people caring. I still think Swerve should have won and shook Danielson's hand at the end and turned back babyface. A statement win would have done him wonders. Can't fault it as a match though.

Better than last year's show, from what I remember.