ALL OUT 2024 Review: AEW = XPW

Against my better judgement, I watched AEW All Out thanks to a friend ordering the PPV and did a watching along on Pro Wrestle Time with Phil Marks. I was told by all the AEW fans to “Enjoy all wrestling” and to keep an open mind about the product. And in a moment of weakness, I buckled and decided to watch the PPV card at 8 pm after a full day of football and give open assessment and try to enjoy it.

Boy, was I wrong about the whole thing and warning to everyone reading this column, this is going to be just a pure rage against stupidity and carelessness. And the sad part is that I am sober writing this but just irate at how far AEW has fallen with no end in sight.

Let’s start with the first match and just go from there; Match 1 MJF defeats Daniel Garcia. In 2021, MJF was touted as a can’t miss star and the face of AEW and with good reason as he has everything you want. He can talk, mostly looks the part of what a pro wrestler should look like, and has charisma. He was matched very well with guys like Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Chris Jericho and Hangman Page. And the truth is that when you put him in there with those guys, he didn’t just hold his own he helped elevate them.

Fast forward to 2024 and he is now paired with Daniel Garcia, a guy who doesn’t look the party, doesn’t have the charisma to match him and someone who has zero special qualities. Instead of MJF working with the bigger names and being in the world title chase scene, he has found himself on the opening card in a feud with nothing of importance

Most opening matches set the tone for the rest of the card with the caveat of not trying to do too much and burn things out. Instead, this match was 25 minutes of bleeding, kicking out of finisher moves, long extended time in submission holds and even low blows.

It did nothing but hurt MJF that a guy who is a former World champion and probably has a twenty-pound advantage barely beat a guy who looks like a middleweight. Then after beating him, MJF offers the hand of respect, tried and fails for a low bow, gets beaten down and then left lying by Garcia.

Nobody got anything out of this match as MJF looks weaker by being taken to the limit while Garcia comes up short. What made it wore was that nobody seemed to care for large portions of the match and it dragged way past the time it should have been.

We then move to the next match where the Young Bucks defeat Blackpool Combat Club to retain the Tag Titles. At this point, the Bucks are just toxic for wrestling fans as their act has grown stale, the gimmick has become staler and they are not what they once were. The match was very indy-riffic, crowd didn’t do much and to make matters worse, the Bucks win again and do so by making BCC look stupid.

By the way, we are now an hour into this Pay Per View and my prediction was that they were going to extend this to 11:30 am, which meant a FOUR and A HALF HOURS from Pre-Show to Main Event. As Mr. Tito can tell you, that is not a happy thought having to watch this driven.

The next match was Will Ospreay defeating Pac in a match filled with tons of high spots and lots of moves that made me cringe. I actually like both men but after all the talk of CTE, concussions and neck/spine injuries, watching Ospreay and Pac getting slammed and suplexed on the ring apron and mat are worrisome. Both men at times don’t sell enough to tell the story as it often feels like they are trying to get their move set in. And don’t get me started on why Ricochet (who they just signed) was not even on this card because… Tony Khan folks.

In a Chicago Street Fight, Kris Statlander defeated Willow Nightingale by submission in one of the best matches on the card. Both women used plunder without going over the top and worked to their strengths. Statlander is someone who deserves a bigger platform in AEW and Nightingale has gotten better as the year has gone along. While the action at times felt too rushed and there was seemingly zero stakes to this match, I for the most part really enjoyed it.

However, we were followed with the Four way match that AEW seems to be famous for with Kazuchika Okada defeating Orange Cassidy, Mark Briscoe and Konosuke Takeshita for the AEW Continental Championship.

Remember when TNA was rightfully blasted for wasting Okada then AEW should take heat for wasting him as well. Remember when he was touted as the big main event star by Tony Khan and signed to a big contract?

Its now been over 9 months and Okada has been turned into a smiling, middle finger flexing goof and far away from the main event scene. Gone is the Rainmaker who was considered the best in the world and instead another member of a stable with go away head.

Anyway, back to the match and like every AEW Fatal Four way, it features zero storyline sense, everyone getting in their big moves, lots of dives and basically just spot fests. If you watched this match, you probably forgot anything about it within thirty minutes of it passing because it was as generic as possible.

At this point, I was cursing the fact I paid fifty bucks for this and that because we are now at 10 pm Eastern and I realize that this card was going to at least midnight.

In a match that was as stupid and underwhelming as everyone feared, Mercedes Mone defeated Hikaru Shida for the TBS Title. The more I watch Mone, the more its clear that she is not the wrestler she was in WWE and doesn’t care as much. Blame it on wanting to be a singer/fashion designer/actress/celebrity but she just has gotten sloppy. Too often I watched the match and its clear she doesn’t have the strength to do alot of these moves. Despite Kamille being banned from Ringside, Mone beats Shida and is on pace to beating everyone in AEW. All because she has creative control which history has shown us is a bad thing in pro wrestling.

And just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, AEW found a way to outdo itself and that says something.

In the co-main event, Bryan Danielson defeated Jack Perry to retain the AEW World Title in a match that was average at best. But the worst was the after-match shenanigans which made zero sense and proves that AEW is hot shot booking. And because it was so much clutter, I figure I would list them in order

Young Bucks interfere in the match after a ref bump, beat up Bryan only to then get chased off by BCC’s Yuta and Claudio.

After beating Perry, Danielson is then jumped by Killswitch who then teases an alliance with Perry that leads to … nowhere

Christian Cage and the Patriarchy make their way to the ring, teasing Cage cashing in his Title shot contract

The Moxley and the BCC meet the Patriarchy at the ring apron, mild stare down (4 men vs. 2 men, a teen and a woman… how brave babyface-ish of the BCC) only for the Patriarchy to retreat to the back slowly

After, Danielson and the BCC hug and celebrate in the ring, Mox, Pac, Claudio and Marina Shafir jump Danielson, beat him down, choke him with a plastic bag around his head, while Yuta is held back like a small child as he is crying.

To recap, Danielson looked like an idiot, the BCC turned on him for zero reason and with no build, and the guy who is considered a “Young Pillar” takes a clean loss and comes away with nothing to gain. And that Elite are running the AEW Angle that Tony had taken a tombstone for has no payoff really.

And at this point it is past 11, we got one more match to go, and I am ready to throw the towel in and consider that nothing else on this card can upset me.

But just as I thought that, Swerve Strickland and Hangman Page made me foolish in thinking that as the next match was… It was hot garbage and literally has made me still seething.

In a Lights Out Steel Cage match, Hangman Page knocked out Swerve Strickland in what I can politely call a gutter trash match.

This match featured Swerve no selling getting stapled a half dozen times and then stapling Page in the spine, head and face. He nearly suplexed Page onto a CEMENT BLOCK in which he scraped and cut up Page’s back. (Was lucky he did snap his spine by mere inches but hey, “Enjoy all Wrestling.”)

Swerve then nearly attempted murder by taking a wooden spike and ramming it into the head of Page. After more barbwire antics, tables, plunder, Page then gets in control… and powerbombs Swerve, spine first onto the cinderblock. How nobody died at this point or got crippled is a miracle of God as it stopped being wrestling.

The ending though was the perfect way to surmise this horseshit of a match as Page first STUCK A SYRINGE INTO SWERVE’s MOUTH. A Hypodermic syringe shoved into his inner cheek that if he wasn’t lucky could have gone more inside and really killed him. And then just like AEW knows how to do because they believe in REAL Pro Wrestling… Page knocks out Swerve with an unprotected steel chair shot on Swerve’s head.

And at this point, its midnight, I am just sick to my stomach, tired and have realized that this promotion is just a lost cause.

First for the AEW sickos and diehards who refuse to criticize or blame Tony, you part of this problem and have enabled them. Countless times we have seen this promotion nearly cripple and hurt its wrestlers because of the lack of oversight, dangerous moves and nobody seems to care.

But the next person who tells me that “Enjoy Pro Wrestling” or “WWE does this” … you can go screw. This is not pro wrestling but more just a spot fest between backyard wannabes who use tables, lightbulbs, staple guns, syringe’s, cinderblocks and anything else they think is cool.

Imagine what WBD officials will think when they see highlights of this and realize they are right now in bed with this company. Honestly, if David Zazlav cancelled AEW the next day, I wouldn’t blame him as this is just embarrassing for everyone associated with this company.

But what makes it more upsetting is that after 5 years, the product has gotten worse, there is nobody who seems to have an idea how to market the product beyond the sick niche fans, and this company continues to shoot itself in the foot.

Honestly, I am praying that AEW loses its TV deal and they go under and disappear because they are doing more harm and good.

Let TNA, NWA and MLW take their spot as all three promotions are run by actual businessmen and not some rich kid who has zero idea what he is going. WWE can also take some of the talent while the rest can go to TNA and NWA and actually work wrestling matches that are (gasp) actual wrestling matches and not XPW homages.

If you try to compare WWE and AEW right now, WWE actually has legit real wrestling matches that follow what fans grew up watching. You don’t see too many wrestlers getting broken bones or concussions because of stupid moves and that is on design. Its run by adults who understand how dangerous this business is and don’t want to see someone die in the ring.

Meanwhile Tony Khan continues to allow the inmates to run the asylum and its once again a small miracle nobody has died. It nearly has happened to Matt Hardy thanks to Sammy Guevara and other wrestlers who have been dropped on their heads, but thank God for small miracles.

I end this by saying to any AEW wrestler who reads this and think I want you to lose your job and money; I would rather you become a free agent and hate my guts than have to watch you become paralyzed or maimed. All because some sickos and a rich child playing promoter thinks its a “cool” spot. I am sorry but I just care for your well being too much to see you ruin your health for nothing.

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