AEW All Out 2024 - September 7th

[LaGoosh]

That main event was an emotional roller coaster. My beloved hero Hangman fallen so low screaming "BEG FOR MERCY!" at a broken Swerve was heartbreaking. Trying to jam a broken piece of wood from a man's childhood home into his eye was seriously fucked up. Hangman at the end looking on in a moment of self reflection at what he's done then fully embracing evil as he screamed in bloody triumph. Incredible. I'll never watch it again but as a piece of storytelling it's some of the best I've seen.

Weirdly I couldn't really get into Ospreay/Pac. Incredible crowd but it felt like just a bunch of (amazingly executed) spots to me and didn't tell much of a story and didn't really sell the escalation that these types of matches need.

Danielson/Perry was really good but had just a few too many near falls at the end. It's only Jack Perry he shouldn't require quite that much to put away. Perry's turned into a great little dickhead though - who knew he had it in him? 

The Moxley turn was disturbing but in a way that felt right. I'm not quite sure why people are bothered by it - far more insane stuff has happened in wrestling over the years. Yuta's crying really sold it. I'm intrigued to see where this goes.

Best match of the night was easily Willow vs Statlander. It was fucking awesome in every way. They beat the shit out of eachother and all the crazy spots felt natural and earned. Two brilliant performers who I love dearly. Statlander winning was a welcome surprise too. 

Can we please not have the "dangerous spots" discussion that we always have after every PPV? It's incredibly boring. 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

The main event sounds like ridiculous gross rubbish that I'll never watch. There is the bones of a classic rivalry between Hangman and Swerve, but the arson, house invasions and blood drinking could only build to this. And the more ridiculous it gets, the less invested I am.

PPV was great up until the bag angle. As intriguing as the Mox angle is I just have no faith in AEWs storytelling. Hopefully there's some meat to it beyond just doing shit for shock value.

Perry/Danielson, Willow/Stat, Pac/Osprey and MJF/Garcia were all cracking though.

[The King of Old School]

Wheeler Yuta looked beyond pathetic as Pac held him back.

[RedTwoster]

39 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Can we please not have the "dangerous spots" discussion that we always have after every PPV? It's incredibly boring. 

If people didn’t want to talk about it, the discussion would quickly fizzle out. We’ve seen so many careers end prematurely due to daft spots, so as long as it keeps happening, there will be people who want to talk about it. I mean, heck, Adam Copeland is out for months, on the back of one of those spots - and the clock was already ticking on his career. It’s kind of hard not to bring dangerous spots up on a show full of them. If you’re good with them, that’s fine, just don’t engage with that side of the discussion. There’s plenty of other things to talk about in relation to the show, and these things are being discussed here too.

Edited September 8 by RedTwoster

[DCW]

Bryan no selling the initial uppercut from Claudio was a bit shite to begin with, but bag spot was pretty crap-looking too. Mox turning on Bryan doesn't need that hokey bollocks at all. Pity cos Perry/Bryan was really good, even if the crowd were fairly dead for the majority of it. We'll get a great match out of Mox/Bryan, it's the story leading up to it that I'd be worried about.

Willow/Stat was an absolute cracker of a match. hats off to both of them.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

I find it really cute that you all think that Swerve v Hangman has finished as a match. That was an unsanctioned match, the ref who is an AEW official has no authority to call for the bell to finish the match. That's one of the problem with calling it unsanctioned. 

As for the over discussion of dangerous spots I'm with Twoster sorry Gooshy. If there was one or two them to harp on about them gets a bit much but when there are more dangerous spots than my teenage face then it really stifles the discussion, and from the looks of it the health and safety assessment from last night looks a little rushed. 

[Chili]

I have no problem with the dangerous spots discussion so long as people don't seem to be all high almighty about it and slating people who don't think it's an issue or see it differently and think they're above it, which this thread isn't doing because we're all not dickheads. But it's wrestling, Adam Cole jumped off a ramp in a run-in and has been out longer than people who needed neck surgery or fucked their ACL. If they're doing it in the safest way possible in a 'sport' that is grossly exaggerated for visual affect sometimes (and AEW/WWE is very much a lot more on the ball than say anything ran by Ian Rotten) we can both enjoy it or be a bit put off if it's visually a bit much.

Edited September 8 by Chili

[Infinity Land]

One of the few AEW PPVs where there doesn't appear to be any reports of injuries coming out of it. Just Swerve & MJF taking time off to sell the storylines, and appear in a movie in MJF's case.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

36 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

I find it really cute that you all think that Swerve v Hangman has finished as a match. That was an unsanctioned match, the ref who is an AEW official has no authority to call for the bell to finish the match. That's one of the problem with calling it unsanctioned. 

 

Totally agree. If it's unsanctioned then how comes AEW provide officials? Surely you'd get some non-AEW bod in to do the officials job so that you don't end up with someone from AEW saying 'enough is enough' when, like you say, they shouldn't have any authority.

[Hannibal Scorch]

@DCW I’ve seen this said a few times. It was Claudios standard up it, like his own chops. It normally makes someone step back, not take a bump and yet it knocked Danielson on his arse. I saw nothing wrong with it but clearly I’m missing something others aren’t.

[JLM]

All Out 2024

Pre-Show: 

Skimming through the pre-show to get to the matches but stopped at the right moment to hear Renee call Double J "Slapnuts". Wonderful. 

Iron Savages vs The Acclaimed

Of course the Iron Savages would do a bit with the Costco Guys. Things I find intensely irritating converging in ways I never imagined. Have I ever mentioned that I hate the Iron Savages? I do. I hate them. Max Caster lifting up Boulder was impressive, that's all I've got. The only worthwhile thing about this was, as Scorchers showed above, the cut aways to MXM watching it.

This one was also gold

Dustin/Sammy/Hologram vs Premier Athletes

Lovely stuff at the beginning of this with Hologram looking like a superhero. Other than that this was pretty standard pre-show filler. 

Bang Bang Gang vs Dark Order

This was a cracking six man sprint. I say this every time, but the blistering pace BBG can maintain during these multiman matches is astounding to watch. Dark Order are more than capable of hanging with them too. Easily the best pre-show match of the three so far. 

Nice to see Skye Blue get an appearance on the Chicago show. Her back and forth with Mariah on the mic was awful. Mariah's bottom of the barrel heel schtick promos are not working at all. Attacking a legitimately injured person was some good unhinged villainy though, and Mariah vs Aminata should be a solid second defense for her. 

Top Flight vs STP and Mortos vs Undisputed Kingdom

I watched this for Mortos, this time wearing a very spiffy looking red mask with gold horns. Haven't seen that one before. Also Mortos vs Shane Taylor would be great, bit of a shame they were on the same team here. Best bit was Mortos tagging in at the start and completely wrecking everybody's shit with Daddy Magic losing his mind on commentary. He's a man of impeccable taste. He was doing it so well that Dante cutting him off was met with boos. Other than that the finish was pretty clever. Mortos hitting his powerbomb/backbreaker hybrid on Andretti, Roddy kneeing Mortos in the head half way through it to take him out, then stealing the pin on Andretti. Very well timed. Fine match highlighted by Mortos because he is bloody brilliant and I love him. 

Main Show:

Nice lively 8,000 strong crowd. You love to see it. 

MJF vs Danny Garcia

MJF using the recap of his attacks on Danny as his entrance video was a superb idea. Huge fan of that. Daddy Magic on comms for this one. Correct. This was excellent. So much  rage and intensity. Frankly disgusting amount of spit and snot involved, but it added to the whole thing being an extremely dirty and scrappy fight borne out of hatred. Daddy Magic was amazing throughout as he is any time he's on comms for a Garcia match. The bit where Danny was in the ZSJ-esque submission with three of his four limbs trapped was an incredible moment. The crowd had a bit of a split at the start but were fully behind Danny by the end, and especially for that particular bit. Gutted it ended with a very stock MJF finish as I obviously wanted to see my boy get the big win. Glad he still got his revenge super piledriver and sent that bastard out on a stretcher. Along with Takeshita, Garcia is extremely high on my list of people who MUST be in Continental Classic Round 2. 

Young Bucks vs BCC

Really enjoyed this. I didn't really buy the BCC winning it but they put on a cracker and I was juuust about biting on some of BCC's near falls towards the end. Certainly way better than the tag title 3-way at All In. Claudio's hot tag was amazing and he put in another superhuman performance overall, but I appreciate how strong Yuta has been in all of these matches since his return from injury. He takes a whupping but has these long rallying sequences where he looks almost as powerful as Claudio, and they've made sure to have him pick up the pinfalls when the BCC team wins on a few occasions. As the commentators were saying, he is looking more like Claudio's equal in the team rather than his understudy now, and I feel like that's been put across well in the matches. The Bucks were great too, particularly Nick with his incredible timing during the sprinty closing stretch. Also liked the callback to the big triple swanton spot from Collision the night before, only this time it went wrong and Nick got thrown into Matt. Ultimately ended as predicted, but yeah, this over-delivered for me. 

Pac vs Ospreay

Red hot atmosphere for this one. Lovely stuff. Jody Fleisch shout out on commentary! My mum's favourite UK Indy wrestler, which is better than any PWI 500 placement in my opinion. Absolutely bananas spotfest, naturally. That release german suplex on the apron was terrifying. Some truly breathtaking sequences and counters here, two freak athletes with great chemistry doing crazy video game stuff. That said, I think Ospreay is at his best when the opponent is a different flavour of wrestler to him, to rein in his excesses a bit and provide some structure to proceedings and make all of the wild sequences matter a bit more. It was a hell of a spectacle but not as good a match as Ospreay/Danielson or Ospreay/Swerve. 

Willow vs Stat

Faaaaahkin' HELL. I knew this would be bloody mental and these two are the queens of the Streetfight and Statlander is a trained stuntperson and they are both up for doing anything and everything. I knew all of that, but it still went above and beyond my expectations. What an absolute belter. Non stop, balls to the wall madness for the duration. No long periods of plodding about waiting to set up the next thing either, it just kept going at a staggering pace and had me on the edge of my seat. The big stunts off the stage and through the barricade were stunning, the light tubes and a FURIOUS Willow chasing Stokeley away with their pointy remains were both amazing. The SPLITS ON THE THUMBTACKS spot was a stroke of genius. Everything worked, the hatred was there, Willow the angriest she's ever been, Statlander with Swerve-esque psychotic determination, they had the whole building at fever pitch by the end of it. Man I love these two, so glad they finally got their big match on a big stage and completely smashed it. Awesome. 

Ricochet trying not to smile too much having a go at Ospreay was quite sweet. Also thought he sounded alright! Maybe being allowed to swear is the crutch he needs. 

Okada vs OC vs Briscoe vs Takeshita

Another cracker! What a consistent show up to this point. Great fiery performance from OC and lots of wonderful feel good Conglomerating from him and Briscoe. Thought they both got a lot of time to shine even though the headline here was the glorious, tantalising glimpses of Takeshita vs Okada. My goodness I loved every second of their interactions. Those two in separate blocks in Continental Classic and then meeting in the second stage. Please give that to me. 

Shida vs Mone

The Draft Kings read from Excalibur was hilarious. It was like something from dystopian fiction. PLACE YOUR BETS ON OUR UNSANCTIONED FIGHT TO THE DEATH! Who will bleed first, will either competitor attempt to use gasoline? Amazing. Honestly thought this over-delivered. I loved that they got straight into it. They wrestled like two people who don't like each other at all. Hard hits, scrappy, not pretty at times but I thought that added to it. Starting hyper-aggressive and getting straight into the grudge match also meant we skipped Mercedes' slow-mo holds/lucha arm drags she does at the start of most matches. It was much better for it. Mercedes also wrestled like a clear heel, had good aggression and, as always, took some gnarly looking bumps. The knee to the face where she got folded in half was a particularly strong one. The closing stretch with Shida not-quite-hitting some of the katanas and maybe they weren't full power because of the knee... I get what they were going for but I don't think it was conveyed that well. The last minute or two let this down but yeah, other than that I thought this was better than expected. 

Danielson vs Perry

Danielson's entrances are going to get me choked up every time until the end now aren't they. Although this run (aside from this match) has the threat of any match being the end, it also feels like a glorious victory lap to celebrate a beautiful career. The pop from Chicago when they realised they were getting Europe was lovely. Perry did a good job drawing heat and being a little prick as ever. Danielson's facial expressions are just the best. The little details and the way he communicates with the crowd throughout the match are such a bit part of why he's the greatest. At the beginning Perry won a few exchanges and had the upper hand. When Danielson caught his leg on a leapfrog and took control for the first time, the change in his demeanour and little nod to both himself and the audience to say "OK we're good" were classic little details that he does so well. The match was solid but ultimately they were never going to be able to convince me that Perry was winning this, so it still had the feel of a routine title defense. While it was actually a bit of a relief to watch this one without the knot in my stomach I had for thirty minutes at Wembley, it meant it was never going to hit any great dramatic peaks. The final bit with the slaps and Danielson firing up were good stuff, but yeah, there was always a ceiling on how good this could be. 

Post-match was bananas. I knew the threat of a Christian cash-in would be solid drama to add to any Danielson title defense. I expected Mox to turn on Danielson *and* the rest of the BCC, definitely blind-sided by Claudio and Pac defecting. Actually got a bit emotional watching Yuta's reaction to it all, partly because of how upset he was at the betrayal of Danielson, but also because Claudio has betrayed Yuta. I love their little sub-unit of the BCC and they've been on fire lately. What the hell man. So guessing Mox is not loving this sentimental "give him his flowers" retirement tour for a guy with one foot out the door? We shall see. 

Hangman vs Swerve
 
Hangman not having the crazy eyes during his entrance this time was perfect. He looked the most calm and focused he's been in months because he's finally getting what he wants. The shot of him in the chair in front of the fire for his entrance video was brilliant, Swerve's gear even better. Prince Nana having to save them both from themselves because they were prepared to accept mutually assured decapitation was incredible, one of the best spots of the match for sure. 

I was wondering if I'd been too desensitised and whether they'd be able to do something that would make me recoil in horror like the blood drinking in the death match. The syringe definitely did that. It was gross, but this is the most hate-filled rivalry conceivable. They're going way way too far and that's the whole bloody point of it. I know it's not to everyone's taste but I'm never going to clutch my pearls over it and I feel it's been more than earned in this feud. I don't see it as "geeks" using shortcuts to get cheap heat, it's an extremely heated rivalry and these two have brought out the absolute worst in each other. I think it was Schiavone who had the great call "they both have themselves to blame for this!"

If two people randomly had a death match on the show and started using weed whackers to try and get a cheap pop I'd understand the criticism more, but this could not be further from that scenario. Hangman was (and, crazily enough, still IS) one of the most authentic and relatable babyfaces in wrestling, the main character of this promotion, and he has been so consumed with revenge that it's eating his humanity away. One of the worst people did some of the worst shit to him and was CELEBRATED for it. It has broken him. Him doing the most depraved, unforgiveable shit is in service of telling that story. 

Jim Ross was the best he's been in forever for the main event. Almost sounded like his old self at times, really sold how fucked up the whole situation is. The burnt piece of wood from the house fire was a masterstroke. What a fantastic idea. The most personal weapon you could bring, somehow even more meaningful than stapling pictures of Swerve's family/house to Hangman's body/face.  

What a wild ride and, as others have said, everything Hangman did after the match was amazing. The moment of realisation at what he'd done, flirting with the idea of going back to do MORE, then just going fully deranged at the end of it all. He's got his "win" and he's got his revenge on Swerve, but boy oh boy he does not look like it has brought him much peace. 

A more consistent show top to bottom than All In for me. Nothing reached the insane highs of the Casino Gauntlet or Swerve/Danielson (I'm not sure if anything in pro wrestling will do that for me any time soon) but I enjoyed everything on the show and it didn't have any duffers for me. Good stuff. 

 

Edited September 8 by JLM

[Snitsky's back acne]

1 hour ago, LaGoosh said:

 

Can we please not have the "dangerous spots" discussion that we always have after every PPV? It's incredibly boring. 

The fact it is after every PPV kind of proves the point several people, myself included, are making about it being overdone. 

[TheScarlettChad]

It means fuck all when its every PPV. And they can't keep getting more and more "dangerous". What's next for Hangman and Swerve? Is Swerve going to be beheaded?

[Chili]

9 minutes ago, TheScarlettChad said:

It means fuck all when its every PPV. And they can't keep getting more and more "dangerous". What's next for Hangman and Swerve? Is Swerve going to be beheaded?

Obviously not, stop veering into Helen Lovejoy.

Edited September 8 by Chili

[DavidB6937]

No one is getting beheaded. Hangman is obviously shooting Swerve in a duel.