AEW All Out 2025 Discussion

[The Gaffer]

Yikes, the triple threat was my piss break match of the show. Two guys in the ring with the other doing obvious spot-watching recovery, that dumb top down shot of all three of them facing each other on their knees, Okada and Takeshita drubbing each other with totally okay looking forearms, the spectre at the feast that is the Don Callis vortex still looming large over them with the constant threat that there's no need to get too excited for momentum or storylines involving these guys and that it'll be Fight Forever for the next half decade. 

I've done that thing of describing what other people love about AEW, I know. I did really enjoy most of the rest of the show, though! I thought the opener was really good fun. Stokely has brought wonderful energy to a knackered FTR act. There's decent discussion in the hows and whys of Cope's AEW run but this was a brilliant thing to get out of it. Christian's endlessly interest-affirming being on the run of his entire career still and not having him change much of anything about the character that got him there whilst slotting in perfectly to a face E&C team is pitch perfect stuff. 

Love the Hurt Syndicate but giving MVP his ringtime flowers when they were in a decidedly tough spot in the card in terms of crowd energy probably wasn't the best shout. I've already forgotten the name of great Ricochet's awful faction. Proper "You don't need one, too!" faction-itis. 

Briscoe getting a straightforward win over MJF made it more than worthwhile. 

Don't have too many thoughts on either of the women's matches or the ladder match. Enjoyed moments in all of them. 

Hook's music is still hilarious. 

I fucking loved the coffin match. Peak Ministry-era Raw is War daft bollocks. It has its place on a million hour long adult-orientated violent entertainment extravaganza. 

It was good to see Eddie back. He'll cut mental promos and get great pops for it on Dynamite so not too bothered about the match. 

Main event was okay. Fletch doesn't do it for me at the tippy top I'm afraid. That go home shtick at the contract signing on Dynamite? When that voice came out of that wardrobe I just knew I wasn't going to be able to buy it. Ruthless Aggression midcard chops. 

Strong 7.5 for me. 

 

[BomberPat]

They are much better since Moxley dropped the belt, and generally since it became clear that there was an end in sight for Moxley's title reign. In hindsight, it's almost worth the months of them dragging everything else down because it made Hangman's title win so much more satisfying. If they can keep them fresh and interesting, there's no reason for them to break up any time soon really, I would just prefer to see them done before they start to feel stale again. 

[Ro_y Disco]

Really enjoyed the show - so many bits that just made me smile, which is why I love AEW. The "he said...whatever" phone call and everyone's reactions was especially wonderful.

On 9/21/2025 at 8:48 AM, FLips said:

Tony Schiavone's "He missed" call is up there as one of the worst of all time.

I couldn't believe this.

Then later in the Moxley match he's digging in his pocket (presumably for his gig) and not only does the camera not cut away but the commentators acknowledged it! C'mon guys, Darby had just bit his ear and it was the small pocket of his jeans, what did you think he was doing?!

Moments later, Marina Shafir is clearly in the background picking up the dropped blade. I can't work out how Mox got colour if he dropped the blade? (also, not sure if I want to know)

Also, I get why they tape the ends of the forks he uses? Is that so they don't get mixed up in catering?

[Merzbow]

10 minutes ago, Ro_y Disco said:

why they tape the ends of the forks he uses?

*Taz voice* For GRIP.

I honestly have no idea but Abdullah also used to do it way back.

[BomberPat]

2 hours ago, Ro_y Disco said:

Then later in the Moxley match he's digging in his pocket (presumably for his gig) and not only does the camera not cut away but the commentators acknowledged it! C'mon guys, Darby had just bit his ear and it was the small pocket of his jeans, what did you think he was doing?!

In fairness, when he first started doing it I assumed he was digging for a fork. It was only when he was on the floor for an age that it became obvious it was the blade he was going for. Laughed out loud when Marina visibly picked it up. 

[The King Of Swing]

Agree with @The Gaffer, I just don't buy into Fletcher, as a top guy. TNT Title, is about the right spot for him. 

Good main event that that dragged on longer than it should have.

Trying to work all of her belts into her entrance, is the only decent part of Mone's act, at this point. 

This is probably going to be an unpopular one, but I hated Toni Storm's "shocked face" after she lost the title. Found it horribly distracting. 

Pac looked like he'd been found sleeping in an alleyway, and had just been woken up and dragged into the arena.

Enjoyed all the multi matches. 

Good show. 

7/10.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

10 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Something I did find irritating, and is the one thing I would change above all else about AEW, is how badly agented this show was. Way too many repeated spots and moves across multiple matches. At least two matches featured a spot I hate already, which is someone hitting a superplex and immediately popping up to hit another move, but three matches featured the spot where one wrestler German suplexes multiple opponents, and that's inexcusably poor planning.

Also the whole whipping the legs out whilst on the top rope spot. Saw that in at least the first 3-4 matches and the womens match. 

 

Im wondering, not sure how it works out, if they are going to turn Yuta out of the Death Riders and somehow bring back the Best Friends/Conglomoration with OC coming back and then have a feud with Death Riders but also bring in the Don Callis Family challenges what with Trent being there. Would make sense with Briscoe saying he wants to go after DCF and ultimately maybe bring Trent back to the face team and Stat gets Yuta to turn back too. Would also include a Willow turn as well to really mix things up. Would massively change the AEW dynamic and create some interesting new matches and twists. 

[LaGoosh]

Finally finished this show. I wasn't a fan. While there was some decent wrestling in there I found it largely unsatisfying and didn't really get me excited for whatever comes next. A few things that stood out to me:

- the three way was probably the match of the night. A good showcase for Dorada...but that just raised the question for me of why are they showcasing Dorada? Is he under AEW contract? Is he going to be a regular going forwards?

- the Kingston stuff was bad. I read that apparently Tony booked it because he thought Kingston's return being announced a head of time would create buzz. But I think booking him against Big Bill created more of a "erm, what?" reaction than buzz. Regardless, Bill was definitely the wrong opponent and this was the wrong way to bring Eddie back.

- I don't know if Eddie teaming with Weird Music Hook is the direction they are going in then but it's not really anything I want to see. I've given up on Hook actually showing anything more that makes him worth the prominent spot he's always been given. He's boring. Eddie should be in big emotional angles with the top stars. They should have plugged both him and Orange Cassidy straight into the Deathriders story.

- I liked the action of Darby/Mox but really where else is there for this story to go? They can't keep escalating it into bigger and bigger matches - it's peaked! Pac doing the Masato Tanaka Awesome Bomb spot on Allin was nuts but also made me laugh as both men are probably 1/3rd the size of Awesome and Tanaka. If they brought back Pac, Kingston and OC all in this match it would have been far more exciting and created a real buzz and anticipation for Dynamite I think.

- The Hurt Syndicate match was weird because you think you'd build the whole match around Ricochet being a shit-house weasel and MVP getting his hand on him but instead they just had a pretty straight match which the heels won completely clean. I'm not sure that finish did either team any favours at all.

- I never want to see any of these big ladder matches again. Incredibly risky, usually no storyline going into them, no emotional connection and everyone forgets about them the second they are finished. A dangerous waste of everyone's time!

Edited September 23, 2025 by LaGoosh

[DavidB6937]

45 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

- I don't know if Eddie teaming with Weird Music Hook is the direction they are going in then but it's not really anything I want to see. I've given up on Hook actually showing anything more that makes him worth the prominent spot he's always been given. He's boring. Eddie should be in big emotional angles with the top stars. They should have plugged both him and Orange Cassidy straight into the Deathriders story.

Definitely a weird one for me. I was thinking maybe it's a last ditch effort at getting someone to make Hook more interesting than he is, but it'll likely work the other way and cool Eddie right off. Well, if he's not already from that shit booking and questionable performance, but still he's one guy who could win you over again in 30 seconds on the mic. Hook's just Hook. Very weird choice all round.

[Zaheer]

23 hours ago, BomberPat said:

Something I did find irritating, and is the one thing I would change above all else about AEW, is how badly agented this show was. Way too many repeated spots and moves across multiple matches. At least two matches featured a spot I hate already, which is someone hitting a superplex and immediately popping up to hit another move, but three matches featured the spot where one wrestler German suplexes multiple opponents, and that's inexcusably poor planning.

This is my biggest pet peeve with AEW. I don't actually think the agents/match producers talk. At Forbidden Door they had three separate tombstones on the outside.
By the time it happened in the main event it was like, meh. Imagine they saved it till the main event and did it once, it would have been such a bigger deal.

Even in Britwres when we do small shows , we have a board that everyone writes a key part of their match. Lets everyone else know what is to come in each match and to plan without anything repeated. You'd think they'd do the same at AEW!
 

[DavidB6937]

22 minutes ago, Zaheer said:

Even in Britwres when we do small shows , we have a board that everyone writes a key part of their match. Lets everyone else know what is to come in each match and to plan without anything repeated. You'd think they'd do the same at AEW!
 

Comes down to how AEW matches are though. Arguably something like that should be a key part of the match but so many of the spots simply aren't, so they probably don't care about protecting them from one match to the next.

[Lorne Malvo]

I thought that was an absolute slog, to be honest. Way too long with way too many matches overstaying their welcome. 

I think I've pinpointed where I'm struggling with AEW recently. They've always done a good job of making me emotionally invested in feuds and title reigns to the point I really care about the results and the winners/losers much more than I ever did with WWE. But they've lost me the past few months. There were just way too many matches on this PPV where I didn't give a shit about who was going to win. There were a few exceptions, notable Eddie's return, C&C vs FTR and Hangman retaining, moments that I actually cared about. But for every one of those moments there was a Hurt Syndicate vs The Demand, or a three-way with (as good as Takeshita is) two heels and a guy who hasn't really been showcased effectively yet, or an instantly forgettable ladder match, or a TBS title match where they did their usual 'heres a Japanese challenger getting a title match apropros of nothing' where absolutely nobody bought Riho as a threat.

I full-on rolled my eyes at Pac making his 84th return meaning the Death Riders feud gets to lurch on another month. It's Pac. We've seen this so many times. Yes, he'll have a good match on Dynamite, then he'll be in a tag match on Collision, then he'll disappear for about 3 weeks so everything he's involved in gets diluted and loses focus, then repeat this ad infinitum.

Sorry to be such a downer folks. It's not all bad. I'm happy the Boy And His Dinosaur reunited and looking forwards to where that goes. And Orange Cassidy is back this week! So my interest is already much higher.

I'm just begging that at some point the 'more more more' approach to PPVs settles down. 

[Supremo]

Ended up having to watch this show over three or four installments, which I think helped a lot. In one sitting, I can definitely see how this would've been an endurance test.

Fun opener. Surprised how short it was. Toronto felt like the perfect place for them to have their big, blowaway match. Wasn't expecting them to go short and build further heat towards having rematches. Shouldn't be too surprised, though. Dax Harwood probably already campaigning for a seventy five minute Two Out of Three Falls Collision match. Super disappointed it was Beth running in rather than Gangrel, too. Last thing I need in AEW is Edge and Beth doing more GRIT COUPLE stuff. Dreadful.

It speaks to how great Eddie Kingston is that he can come back looking rusty, screwing up the Boss Man Slam and completely whiffing on the finish, and I still think the ultimate direction for this company should be Eddie Kingston winning the World Title in Madison Square Garden in the next year or two. He's just the fucking best, isn't he? Wearing that CLAUDIO SUCKS EGGS T-shirt when he's not even feuding with Claudio. Flipping off Big Bill during his big entrance, far more interested in having a scrap than enjoying the moment. There's no-one more authentic. No-one I root for more. It seems a bit of a waste pairing him with Hook, but fucking hell, Hook's hit the jackpot, hasn't he? The greatest mentor you could possibly have in this business is Eddie Kingston. Frankly, it's nothing short of embarrassing to think WWE could have picked him up before AEW existed and allowed him to run their entire Developmental Program. Imagine a generation of wrestlers trained by Eddie Kingston. Heaven.

MJF remains the most frustrating wrestler alive. Man's more than willing to do business. He ate shit with the best of them here and did everything he could to make Briscoe look good. Just a shame there was little to no catharsis. I didn't enjoy watching Mark get revenge for all the, "LOL DEAD BROTHER," stuff. I was just happy it was over.

As an appreciator of Bullshit Pro-Wrestling Politics, you have to hand it to the Hurt Syndicate. Getting MVP to don the tights and take a pin-fall loss to prove they're willing to do business, without Shelton or Bobby having to look a the lights. Genius. Well played, lads. It's all about the game and how you play it. You can't fool me though. Still reckon they're a Gaggle of Malakais. A Flock of Miros. You can smell it a mile off. They'll eventually prove to not be worth the hassle.

Triple Threat for the Unified Title was fantastic fun. Considering the goal was to tease Takeshita and Okada's chemistry for a singles match later in the year whilst still showcasing Mascara Dorada, this was a roaring success. Dorada has to be signed full-time, surely? I wonder if they hold off on the singles match until Takeshita and Okada meet in the Finals of the Continental Classic? What they teased was liquid wrestling!

I thought Penta without his eye makeup was the most cursed image in pro-wrestling, but then Pac turned up in street clothes! Horrible scenes.

Can't really be arsed with Moxley and Darby Allin anymore. Thought the skit backstage with the fire was goofy as fuck. But if they announce an Inferno Match? I'll be right back in. Attitude Era bollocks is my love language.

Jurassic Express reunion! I prayed for this and it happened. I was overjoyed. Love that AEW is old enough for them to pull the trigger on nostalgia reunions. Marco Stunt return please, Tony.

Great, action-heavy main event. Hangman Adam Page is the best wrestler in the world right now. Just wish he had more heel challenges waiting in the wings. Another MJF feud? No thanks*.

*Unless the other option is Chris Jericho, in which case can I just shock you? I like MJF. Think he's the perfect next World Title Challenger.

Edited September 24, 2025 by Supremo

[rollthedice]

I'd forgotten how much I like Eddie Kingston until the bell rings. His non stop Japanese tribute act is embarrassing and the finish? Just give it a fucking rest.

Moxley digging in his pocket for his blade just to remind you (not that you could ever forget) that yes, he is indeed the absolute worst, most unprofessional wrestler on TV.