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AEW All Out PPV Review Part 2: Less Than the Sum of Its Parts

If you didn't read part one of this review of AEW All Out, then you're doing it wrong. Scroll down to the table of contents at the bottom of this article and read that first. Or maybe you're a rebel who does things your own way. That's fine. Go ahead then. Ready part two first. See if we care!

Natural Nightmares, Scorpio Sky, and Matt Cardona vs. Dark Order

The bad things about this match: Scorpio Sky was barely featured and The Dark Order didn't need to be taking a loss here. They've taken way too many losses. The good things about this match: it moved along Colt Cabana's story, and Dustin Rhodes came out looking great and cut a fire promo after the match. The in-ring work was fine. I don't yet know what to think about the booking of Matt Cardona. He's not really getting a push, which is surprising since he is one of the bigger names from the WWE releases earlier this year, but that's actually probably a good thing. While this was a good match, I'm not sure it had a place at All Out. This could have easily been a much bigger deal as a Dynamite main event and cutting it would have given more time to the battle royale. It didn't really add or subtract anything from the PPV, though it did help put some more distance between the Hardy disaster and the final three matches of the night. However, something related that happened during this match did subtract from the PPV.

All Out Mistake #4 – Not Putting Jim Ross in Check Over Sexism

A lot of people complain about JR's commentary on AEW, but it normally doesn't bother me when Ross acts like a senior citizen. After all, he is a senior citizen. And I understand that since his wife died, JR has been openly horny on Twitter constantly, and that's his prerogative. But on AEW commentary, he shouldn't be making comments about hoping Anna Jay has a wardrobe malfunction, or in general making comments about the female wrestlers that he wouldn't make about the men. And I'm not even talking about this from a moral perspective, because business is inherently amoral. From a pure business perspective, it's just not professional and it doesn't fit the product or the brand of AEW, it degrades the value of AEW's women wrestlers to treat them as sex objects or to act shocked and impressed when they exhibit basic wrestling skills, and I have to imagine it's harmful to AEW's attempt to grow its audience in younger and more female ratings demos, something the company presents as an important measure of their success. I'm not saying to fire Good Ol' JR. I just think somebody with authority (that's you, Tony) needs to explain to him that it's not the 90s anymore and the lecherous old man gimmick is detrimental to the product and he should knock it off.

Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. FTR

This was a really good match. It didn't rise to the same level as Page and Omega vs. the Young Bucks in terms of workrate or emotional resonance, but that was an all-time great match. This one was very good on both of those levels in a different way. It told a story that contrasts with Page and Omega vs. Bucks in that now, with the relationship between Kenny and Hangman, as well as Hangman's confidence, so eroded, they were now unable to come together as a team and make magic happen. Kenny and Hangman lost their tag team titles, and Kenny leaving Hangman alone in the ring was the right kind of heartbreak. And it wasn't overdone. There was a certain level of restraint — Kenny deciding not to attack Hangman after the match, but still leaving him to fall flat on his face — that made it feel even more real. This has been a long time coming and this match delivered.

Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy Mimosa Mayhem Match

This match was never going to be a technical classic. The purpose of the match was for Jericho to end up humiliated by being dunked in a giant vat of mimosa, and that is in fact exactly what happened. Orange Cassidy comes out of this feud looking great from a storyline perspective and Jericho, having worked so hard to make another young wrestler into a star, comes out looking great from a business standpoint. And the fans got to see what they wanted, which was Jericho in the mimosa tank after a fun match. What's not to love about this?

MJF vs. Jon Moxley AEW Championship Match

This was a great match and a great main event for All Out. The story of the match was clear and simple. MJF took away Moxley's ability to use the Paradigm Shift with a contractual stipulation. Then he aimed to take away Moxley's ability to use extreme violence by keeping the match grounded in old school wrestling and keeping it in the ring. When MJF was able to do this, Moxley was ineffective. Whenever Moxley was able to work outside these bounds, MJF didn't stand a chance, but these opportunities were kept brief until the end of the match. Finally, with his strategy working, MJF grew too confident and tried to take on Moxley outside the ring and he paid for it. And then in the perfect touch, the finish was MJF trying to cheat by using a foreign object to hit Moxley while the referee was distracted, only for Moxley to beat him at his own game (cheating) by hitting the paradigm shift behind the ref's back. Everything was well-executed and so this match delivered on every level, including by proving that MJF can put on a great match when he does eventually get his run with the title, which I imagine will be sometime next year.

AEW All Out Was a Good PPV with Flaws that Disproportionately Dragged it Down

Nothing about the matches or booking on this PPV was bad, and it featured four very good matches, three matches that were fine or better, one match that was poorly executed (the Casino Battle Royale), and one match that was ruined by an accident, which is outside of everyone's control. But the decision to restart that Hardy match was a really bad one and it shadow hung over the entire night. And when taken in context with the other mistakes I mentioned above, I think it paints a picture of a company with leadership that, for whatever reason, was afraid to make difficult choices or have tough conversations, and it hurt them tonight. Tony Khan should have stood up to fans by keeping Baker vs. Swole on the pre-show. He should have stood up to Jim Ross ages ago and made him cut it out with the sexist comments months ago. He should have stopped that Hardy match regardless of what Hardy wanted or what he was afraid fans in the arena and viewers would think (and restarting achieved the opposite anyway). And the Casino Battley Royale concept needs to be dropped or retooled because it isn't conducive to a well-paced wrestling match.

As a lifelong wrestling fan who's been watching since the 1980s, and one who suffered through two decades of absolute torture in the WWE monopoly era, nobody appreciates AEW more than I do. In many ways, AEW has restored the joy of watching pro wrestling that was lacking since the late 90s for me personally. And it isn't just me. I hear it from my kids, from friends and family who watch wrestling (or more imporantly who used to and stopped) — AEW makes wrestling fun again.

I want nothing more than for AEW to succeed and continue to grow and to put on the kind of wrestling that, 99% of the time, I enjoy more than anything in the past twenty years, for a long time to come. And I was able to set aside the flaw last night and enjoy All Out. So I'm not saying any of this as a hater or with any agenda other than to provide some straightforward, realistic feedback that I hope AEW will consider if they read it.

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