AEW All In 2025 Discussion

[LaGoosh]

9 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

My enjoyment of wrestling, and AEW especially, has vastly improved since leaving Twitter and seeing far less tribal bollocks as a result, but I still see the odd thing, and it's amazing how much I've seen people try and paint AEW as the company who are petty and obsessed with WWE rather than the other way around, because they "take potshots at them on TV all the time" - something AEW haven't really done in ages, and that pales in comparison to WWE's constant efforts to actively sabotage AEW.

Yeah when you've got WWE taking pot shots at AEW every Wrestlemania week, paying for online bots to talk shit about them, counter book every major show they do, try and hire every single person from their they possibly can, make venues sign exclusivity deals that stop AEW from being legally able to promote shows in the area, etc. etc. it's pretty hard to call AEW petty in comparison. I can't actually remember the last time AEW took a shot at WWE or mention them at all...Ospreay's dig at Triple H in his that one promo he did ages ago maybe? The WWE tribal fans are also insane, hateful MAGA nutcases while I don't see any of that behaviour on the AEW fanbase side at all.

Really though it feels like AW has shaken off the bad vibes of the post Punk years and are now just keeping their head down, ignoring all the outside noise and producing cracking TV and brilliant shows. It seems to be doing wonders for them and the feel around the promotion is nothing but positive at the moment. I'm sure even Tony Khan has had media training or something because he used to put his foot in it all the time saying stupid shit but he seems calm, collected and confident these days/

[Chili]

I hope they keep ignoring it and chugging along and hopefully AEW doesn't get fucked or fucks up, because I do like watching new wrestling still. Nothing wrong with anyone working for the Fed, you'd be mad to turn down having it on your CV if you're young I guess. But they'd rather have the biggest share of a smaller pie than a big slice of a bigger pie. AAA is fucked in a few years and TNA being a nice escape to rehab won't be the same anymore either, their little renaissance is dead. All because the existence of competition means wrestlers get a bit more of a say in negotiation, which is something TKO seem to utterly despise. In TKO's view, WWE is UFC, AEW is I dunno, Bellator to them I guess. Money owned rivals who they can't just sweet talk or squish hence an offense that they exist. But this is what you get when you are the underdogs. Your billionaire owned rival stops acknowledging you so you have to fight back with counter programming. 

By the way this won't stop either. I reckon they'll counter run against all big AEW shows for the foreseeable, and they'll be grand knowing you know they're being shits about it, because they are a weird MAGA promotion and into that 'Yeah, we know you know, but fuck you' mentality. 

Really hope there is an episode of 'Stephanie's Places' in a prison one day. How's dad doing.

Edited May 28, 2025 by Chili

[DavidB6937]

I only use social media for news and results now. Just a few specific accounts. I won't watch YouTube reaction videos because they're all fake and bollocks. I can't be doing with all the live commentary and referring to other companies.

People are more interested in taking pot shots elsewhere than truly letting themselves actually ENJOY watching whatever they're viewing.

All the bollocks "I've seen enough now! This match > other company's match" posts desperate for attention.

All I want to do is sit down and enjoy wrestling. For me, I genuinely don't care which company. If it's good it's good. I find everything else surrounding it online utterly exhausting and I don't have the energy for it.

AEW have been on an incredibly consistent run and it's hard to argue when you see Ospreay talking them up in every interview. They all go out and perform like they truly believe they are they best.

[Supremo]

Three shows over the one weekend is so transparently desperate and tragic. Completely undermines the return of the Evolution concept, too. Could have been a nice thing to do another all-women show, but to only bring it back as petty content to counter-program with sort of defeats the point. In an industry built on presenting goodies and baddies, they seem utterly incapable of ever making themselves seem like the goodies.

What’s the plan if AEW have another pay per view of the year contender, and all anyone talks about is how it blew everything you did that weekend out of the water? Four shows, Jeremy? Four? That’s insane.

[Hannibal Scorch]

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

. If it weren't an outdoor show, I would say it culminates with Darby Allin coming down from the rafters, presuming he's back and cleared in time. 

Good news though, helicopters exist!

Also @Chili your episode is Stephanie’s Places sounds great, though immediately I thought of this 

Edited May 28, 2025 by Hannibal Scorch

[Infinity Land]

The stadium does have a retractable roof. Doubt they'd be doing any stunts off it. I do wonder if they'll have it open or closed? It's largely transparent and there are other areas of the building that lets light in anyway. A case of whether they think there's the benefit of retaining some of the crowd noise.

[The King of Old School]

The two title matches have nearly sold this for me already, especially the fact that we can watch it at a decent time too.

My only concern is that they are going to go all Wrestlemania 35 with it and put far too many matches on, and have it run for hours.

[Merzbow]

It's AEW, it'll definitely run long. At least you get your money's worth and I usually just split it up into two days of watching.

[RedTwoster]

3 hours ago, The King of Old School said:

The two title matches have nearly sold this for me already, especially the fact that we can watch it at a decent time too.

My only concern is that they are going to go all Wrestlemania 35 with it and put far too many matches on, and have it run for hours.

I’m totally with you on both counts. I’m beyond excited for this show, but I really want Tony Khan to be restrained and book a shorter event. I tend to skip a match or two on AEW PPVs, not because I think they’ll be bad, but mainly because I only have so much time to watch the show and do all the other things I need to do in life. 

If they’re looking to get as many people on the card as they can, I hope they do another Casino Gauntlet match.

EDIT: Come to think of it, even if they’re not, I hope they do that match.

Edited May 29, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Statto]

Yeah the Casino Gauntlet needs to be a fixture of All In - but the restraint required there is to make it be the only one of the year.

Prior to the creation of the Gauntlet version I proposed they do a once annual Casino Battle Royal at the biggest show of the year, where they actually had 54 participants (one for each card in the deck plus the 2 jokers, timed entrances in groups of 4 [all who'd drawn a 2 first, then all the 3s etc] with the 2 jokers entering solo at random points and being the surprises/comedy entries) and I still think that'd be fun, but the fact the Gauntlet can end at any time makes it and distinguishes it a bit more from the Royal Rumble.

The one they (hopefully) do this year needs to end with Max Caster halfway down the aisle.

[simonworden]

I'm probably too naive to other people's lives and mindset but surely with streaming people will end up just watching everything they want to when they want to? 

I'll probably watch Evolution out of curiosity and I'll be catching some of All in but I'm going to do it on my own time 

The shows aren't in the same town so it's not like their screwing over a load of ticket sales. 

The only thing I can think of that really poisons AEW is that their press coverage and social media gets reduced by the mass of WWE, virtue signaling womens PPV and the fact its a bumper weekend being bigger than one AEW show.

[Statto]

Attempting to drown out any media coverage is definitely part of it, the other thing to consider is that anyone watching All In via legitimate means is "paying per view" in the traditional sense.

They're presumably aiming to make people decide to keep their $45 (or whatever it is in the US) in their pocket as there's plenty of wrestling for them and the kids to watch that weekend bundled in with their existing Netflix subscription. 

I definitely think there's going to be enough households that choose to just check out the All In results/highlights or catch it later via some less legitimate means that it will hurt AEW's revenue somewhat.

[RedTwoster]

3 hours ago, simonworden said:

I'm probably too naive to other people's lives and mindset but surely with streaming people will end up just watching everything they want to when they want to? 

There are two issues here - one being avoiding spoilers. If you know the results, it takes away the joy of a show for some of us.

Secondly, it’s time. Speaking personally, between parenting, social commitments, work and other things I watch, I simply don’t have time to watch as much wrestling as I once did. Heck, parenting alone might mean I have no time to do much of any of the above on any given week. It’s hard to complain about that - I know I’m exceptionally fortunate to be a dad, and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me - but it does mean free time, when I step out of my dad shoes for a bit, is a precious commodity. 

[LaGoosh]

3 hours ago, simonworden said:

The only thing I can think of that really poisons AEW is that their press coverage and social media gets reduced by the mass of WWE, virtue signaling womens PPV and the fact its a bumper weekend being bigger than one AEW show.

Bingo!

Basically what it comes down to is WWE will take any opportunity they can to do even the slightest damage to AEW. For example, AEW have announced a residency at the old ECW arena...well WWE have just announced they're doing an NXT show there THE WEEK BEFORE AEW's residency starts. 

Really WWE should be hoping AEW flourishes as it's the best chance they've got of finding any of their future top stars because the Performance Center is a total failure and they are unable to build any of their own.

[DavidB6937]

24 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Really WWE should be hoping AEW flourishes as it's the best chance they've got of finding any of their future top stars because the Performance Center is a total failure and they are unable to build any of their own.

Especially now they're cutting back so much on house shows. They probably think it's smart from a financial perspective but cutting back those opportunities for experience and growth in front of different live audiences is a terrible idea. Not to say they should be working ALL the time but there has to be a middle ground.