AEW All Out vs. WWE Wrestlepaloza: A quick review

Yesterday was the first real showdown between WWE and AEW, and it looks like both shows went all out to provide fans with great wrestling moments. While we don’t know how much WWE’s counter-programming actually hurt AEW—and we might never truly know, despite Dave Meltzer trying to spin it to hype AEW—we as fans definitely benefited from it.

I want to start by saying that I actually didn’t watch All Out, mostly due to budget and scheduling issues since I don’t have that kind of money to spend on a PPV and I had other stuff to do. But I did read the results for most of the show and, quite frankly, it looked like a strong event overall with some nice surprises. I was so happy to read that Kris Statlander won the AEW Women’s Title, because if there was ever a women’s wrestler who deserves it, it’s her. She’s been in the company for almost their entire existence and was mostly treated like an afterthought for much of her run despite being one of the best in the division. So congrats to her—I just hope she gets a long reign and this isn’t just a way to transition the belt onto Mercedes Moné without hurting Toni Storm.

Now on to Wrestlepalooza. While I’m happy that WWE opened with Lesnar vs. Cena as a counter to AEW running long on purpose, I think WWE made a mistake by waiting 15 minutes before the match started. The goal was to take fans away from AEW. I’m sure some did switch over at 7 p.m., but I’m also sure a lot of those same fans went right back to All Out once they saw WWE stalling. In the end, this whole strategy was counterproductive and probably hurt WWE more than it helped.

As for the match itself, while it wasn’t a technical masterpiece, it was a masterclass in how to hook fans into what was happening in the ring from start to finish. When Cena finally lost, the camera shots of fans being stunned—and even kids crying—were awesome and helped tell the story. I have a feeling we’ll get the rematch in three weeks at Crown Jewel.

Next up was The Usos vs. The Vision. I didn’t watch the pre-show, so LA Knight being the special guest referee caught me off guard. Honestly, it didn’t play as big of a role in the match as it should have. Another issue was that the crowd was so burned out from the opener that they didn’t react as strongly here, which hurt the match. Still, having The Vision go over one of the greatest tag teams of the modern era shows just how hard WWE is pushing them.

Iyo vs. Vaquer for the Women’s Title was probably the best match of the night. It was a back-and-forth wrestling clinic that made Stephanie Vaquer a major star in the division, which I’m glad to see. I was also glad they didn’t do an interference angle with Asuka costing Iyo the match, as I was expecting, since that would have hurt both women. Instead, they had a clean finish, showed respect afterward, and gave Stephanie the spotlight she deserves.

From there, we went to the mixed tag match. Again, credit where it’s due—it was booked to perfection. Most of the match was worked by the guys, and they milked the hot tag to AJ for what felt like an eternity. When Punk finally tagged her in, the crowd went berserk, and the excitement was off the charts.

Yes, you could tell AJ Lee had some ring rust, but I give her a pass. For someone who’s been out of the game for 10 years, she looked pretty good overall. She was able to hang with Becky and give fans what they wanted: her scoring the win over Becky. Now I think they can split this into a separate feud. The bigger test for AJ will be whether she can deliver a strong singles match with Becky.

Finally, we got to the main event. Quite frankly, just like with AEW’s PPV, I don’t get why this was in the main event spot. I understand both companies wanted their World Title match to close, but both bouts felt more like TV matches than PPV/PLE main events. This one especially felt like every Cody match we’ve seen in the past year and a half—the same old “babyface in peril” formula before rallying at the end to beat the heel of the month and retain.

I get that Cody just won back the title and needed a first challenger, but I think they made a mistake not taking the belt off him and putting it on Drew. Hopefully, while this wasn’t their best outing, the feud continues and eventually leads to McIntyre winning the title. He’s too good of a heel to just keep jobbing to every babyface in the company.

The only big difference between both shows was how they were shot. Both had about the same number of fans in attendance, but WWE looked more packed because of how they set up the arena. From the pictures I saw, AEW left one side of the arena empty, like they often do in bigger venues, which limits how they can shoot without making it look half empty.

Also, congratulations to Stephanie McMahon on being announced for next year’s Hall of Fame. I was surprised they revealed it this early, but I get why—they wanted headlines for their first ESPN broadcast. The question is whether fans will still care by the time tickets go on sale.

Outside of that, both shows delivered for their respective fanbases, and that’s what matters most in the end.