AEW All Out 2021 Review
What a night, what a night in pro wrestling. The All Out Pay Per View is over and it was good. So good that I’m actually going to try and review it. I’m not going to go over the matches move by move. Just going to share my overall thoughts on the matches and their builds, and also share some screenshots I took during the show.
The Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Wheeler Yuta, and Chuck Taylor) & The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasauras) vs The Hardy Family Office (Matt Hardy, Jack Evans, Angelico, Marq Quen, and Isiah Kassidy)
It’s your Buy-In Main Event! So this match got added to the card last minute because the Andrade/PAC match got cancelled. There was some build to it though since the Best Friends have been feuding with the HFO. During the go home Dynamite the Jurassic Express ran in to save The Best Friends after a post match beat down. They kind of wrapped up the feud the week prior with a Matt Hardy/Orange Cassidy match and I can’t say I was happy to see more of it but it was fine.
The match itself was quite fun as everyone got to do their spots and there was a big everyone is doing submissions spot in the middle. I admittedly didn’t get to see all that much of the match because I was trying to find a better way to watch the show. Bleacher Report redid their website and app and now the video player is super small and the app doesn’t work on my TV. But did end up working on Xbox for whatever reason so I ended up watching it there.
The match ended with Jungle Boy submitting Angelico with the Snare Trap. Afterwards The Butcher made his return, running wild on the babyfaces before the babyface locker room came out to make the save. We then got a big Best Friends hug spot with all the faces to end the segment. Good stuff!
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
Like I said I didn’t get to see that much of the match but I liked what I saw and this was an excellent match to put on the Preshow. Onto the main show.
Eddie Kingston vs Miro for the TNT Championship
The opener and one of my most anticipated matches on the show. A big hoss battle between two beefy guys. They’re also great talkers. The build for this match started with the debut of Friday Night Rampage four weeks prior where Fuego Del Sol was given a TNT Title match against Miro. If he had won it he would have gotten an AEW contract. He failed but afterwards his buddy Sammy Guevara came out with a contract anyway. Miro then went after him for getting into the company the easy way but later changed his mind and decided to “forgive” him for his sins (Forgive here meaning a beatdown) because there was an original sinner who had gotten into the company the same way, Eddie Kingston.
The feud wasn’t all that long since didn’t really start up until the third episode of Rampage when the two had a brawl. Then on the go home Dynamite and Rampage we got some very good promos from the two, including Kingston saying the line “Redeem Deez Nuts!” You’ll all be happy to know that two days afterwards, that’s a T-shirt now.
The match itself was very hard hitting as they chopped the shit out of each other. Miro especially had big nasty bruises on his chest late in the match. Then towards the end Kingston accidentally pulled a turnbuckle pad off and later got his head sent into it. A few Macha Kicks and Kingston was done. Miro retains!
Rating: :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
Great match! It was exactly as violent as I thought it would be. These two beat the shit out of each other and I loved it. And with the cheating to win you can do this match again later. Perhaps at the New York show they’re going to do in a few weeks?
Jon Moxley vs Satoshi Kojima
So I don’t watch all that much New Japan in spite of how good it is, so I wasn’t particularly familiar with Kojima going into this. The build for this was after Moxley lost the IWGP US Championship he sent out a bunch of contracts to New Japan for more matches but only Kojima responded. This pissed Moxley off and he vowed that he would beat the shit out of Kojima at the PPV.
Moxley came out in a GCW Hoodie, the day after he showed up in GCW and beat Matt Cardona for the World Title. This match was a lot like the last one in that it was very hard hitting. Kojima’s fifty years old and the dude can still go. He did a lot of very athletic spots. Mox ended up winning the match after hitting the Paradigm Shift.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
A very good match, it was very similar to the first match and while that’s not a bad thing I would have maybe not had the two big brawl matches back to back.
Post match who should come out but MINORU SUZUKI!!!
Him and Mox have a quick brawl and later in the show we find out that the two will be having a match on Wednesday. It’s going to be great!
Kris Statlander vs Britt Baker for the Women’s Championship
So storywise this match was probably the one I was the most unsure of simply because the build hadn’t been that great. It started with Britt beating Red Velvet on the debut Rampage. Afterwards she beat on Red Velvet some more when Statlander ran in to make the save. But then Jamie Hayter made her redebut as Britt’s muscle and beat down Statlander. From there we got a lot of promos from Britt and some okay matches with Statlander so I wasn’t too sure about how this match was going to go.
This was Kris Statlander’s first PPV match since she came back from injury in March. The match was a slow build of a match. They ramped up from holds to progressively larger moves. We also had a Boop spot where Statlander forced Britt to Boop her own nose.
They had Rebel and Jamie out their but they didn’t do anything since Orange Cassidy was out there to back up Statlander. We did get to see the rare appearance of fired up Orange Cassidy when he started cheering on Statlander late in the match.
Anyway, things got really fired up when Britt hit a Pittsburgh Sunrise on Statlander followed by a chain of moves that ended with Britt submitting Statlander with a lockjaw.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
Good match, it started out slow but really picked up by the end and got the crowd into it.
The Lucha Bros vs The Young Bucks for the Tag Team Championships in a Steel Cage match
So this was fucking great. The Lucha Bros got an awesome musical entrance by Mikey Ruckus (Who made their entrance and a few others) and Muelas De Gallo. The Young Bucks meanwhile came out with better looking gear then they usually have. They made up for it though with Nick Jackson’s facial hair.
So the build for this match was that the The Elite kept interfering in each others matches and so to put a stop to this they held a tournament with the Top 4 ranked teams and the winner would face the Bucks in a Steel Cage match. The Jurassic Express beat Private Party, The Lucha Bros beat The Varsity Blondes, and then The Lucha Bros beat the Jurassic Express. Then on the go home Dynamite the Elite ambushed Christian and the Lucha Bros and trapped them in the cage to give them a beat down and sell how big and dangerous the cage is.
My words cannot describe how great this match was. We had all kinds of great spots involving dudes being thrown into the cage, dude bouncing off the cage to deliver moves, Great double team moves, just excellent. Eventually the Bucks took over and starting being huge dicks by tearing at the Bros masks and bringing a shoe covered in thumbtacks into the ring.
Eventually the Bros got the shoe away from them and bloodied them up. They then all did a great superkick exchange that left everyone laying. Then it was time for the finish when they started hitting the big moves culminating in Fenix climbing to the top of the cage and diving off of it. They then hit the assisted Pile Driver for the win.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
This was fucking excellent. I loved every second of it. And I’m really happy that Lucha Bros won this match. I’ve been a fan of both of them since their Lucha Underground days and I’m glad that they finally got some gold. Also Penta’s family was their and he went and hugged them while covered in blood.
Women’s Casino Battle Royale
And so here we have the Women’s Casino Battle Royale, which was originally going to be on the Buy-In before Andrade/PAC got cancelled. There wasn’t much build for this match other then The Bunny and Penelope Ford making an alliance and the return of Anna Jay to save her friend Tay Conti. Also a staredown between Nyla Rose and Jade Cargill.
So, these matches are usually clusterfucks and this one was no different. It also moved so fast that most of the wrestlers didn’t actually get entrances, you didn’t get to see them until they were in the ring. Also most of the eliminations happened so fast that I couldn’t tell you who did them. But anyway here’s our participant list.
Clubs
- Hikaru Shida
- Skye Blue (Local talent that had an impress match on Dark earlier in the week)
- Emi Sakura
- The Bunny
- Abadon
Diamonds
- Anna Jay
- Kiera Hogan (First No Entrance Entrant)
- Kilynn King
- Diamante
- Nyla Rose
Hearts
- Thunder Rosa
- Penelope Ford
- Riho (Who got thrown out under the bottom rope)
- Jamie Hayter
- Big Swole
Spades
- Tay Conti (Only one in this batch to get an entrance)
- Red Velvet
- Leyla Hirsch
- Jade Cargill
- Rebel
And don’t forget the Joker: Ruby Soho!
So I’m just going to skip to the end of the match, because the final portions of these matches are usually great. It came down to Ruby Soho and Thunder Rosa. They had a great brawl that ended with them both on the apron and Ruby knocking Rosa off.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
This was fun, hard to follow in the middle but the end was quite great. I’m quite happy to see Ruby Soho in AEW (And so is she based on her reaction to the crowd cheering her) and I look forward to her and Britt and everyone else she ends up fighting.
Chris Jericho vs MJF
Ah yes the big one, this one had the most build out of all the matches. it all started when it turned out the MJF had been sabotaging the Inner Circle from within in order to soften them up for his debuting heel faction, The Pinnacle. The Inner Circle then challenged The Pinnacle to a Blood & Guts match which they lost, then a Stadium Stampede match which they won. Then everyone split up to all have their own singles feuds. I don’t know, the booking on this felt backwards.
But anyway, for Jericho to get his match against MJF, MJF made him go through five labors (Fights) in order to get to him (Even though he was the fifth fight). After beating Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juvantuud Guerrero, and Wardlow, Jericho got defeated by MJF by submission. Jericho couldn’t accept that though, having lost to him three times now. He had to beat him, and he was willing to put his career on the line to do it. MJF accepted and the match was on.
MJF teased the Crowd with a Titantron reminiscent of Jericho’s old WWE Entrance.
Jericho meanwhile came out with the Fozzy guitarist to play an acoustic version of the song for the fans to sing along with. It didn’t go as well as during the last MJF match where there was no music at all.
The match was another slow build, the main thing that happened before the end was Jericho doing a spinning Powerbomb on MJF that landed him on the apron and hurt his back for the rest of the match. Later on Wardlow ran out to help MJF but Jake Hager came out to stop him. A bunch of referee’s came out to break them up and while everyone was distracted MJF hit Jericho with his own bat Floyd, and then hit a Judas Effect for the pin! WHAT? But wait, Jericho had gotten his foot on the rope before the three count. And one of the refs breaking up the fight saw it so the match is restarted! Jericho gets MJF in the Walls of Jericho and gets the submission! He gets to keep his career! The Inner Circle then comes out and celebrates with him while everyone sings Jericho’s song.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
A good match, they honestly had me hooked for most of it. Because while I was certain that Jericho was winning there was a small part of me that thought he wouldn’t.
CM Punk vs Darby Alin
In what was an amazing moment, we go the return of CM Punk after seven years on the second episode of Rampage. Dude looked absolutely blown away. He gave a big speech about his departure from wrestling and his return and made it known that he wanted to fight Darby Alin.
Darby accepted but first had to deal with Daniel Garcia and 2.0 who kept attacking him and Sting. Once that was done Sting announced that he wasn’t going to be at ringside for the match so that he wouldn’t distract from it.
For entrances we got Darby doing another short film involving a helicopter and him jump out of it.
Punk of course got a huge reaction from the Chicago crowd. We opened the match with a sit off between the two.
This match was another slow builder. Punk seemed like he was slowly getting back into the groove as the match went on. The best spots were when Punk GTSed Darby out of the ring by accident and when Punk dodged a Coffin Drop by sitting up. The match came to an end when Punk hit another GTS and got the pin.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
Good match! I’m glad to see that Punk still has it after seven years away. Darby also looked awesome and did not look weak losing this match.
I think that’s the big difference AEW getting WWE guys and WCW/TNA doing the same. WCW and TNA would grab WWE guys regardless if they were any good and push them over their own guys. AEW on the other hand pushes everyone and makes everyone look strong. Because yes, while Punk is a big star, so is Darby and he’s going to be a big star going forward.
Also post match Sting came out to check on Darby and shook hands with Punk. Punk then shook hands with Darby once he stood up. A great show of respect for all.
Paul Wight vs QT Marshall
Welllllllll it’s the piss breeeeeaaaaaakkkkkkk! No I actually liked this match. This was easily going to be the worst match on the card for the shear, “Why is this happening?” Of it.
Anyway the build was QT Marshall deciding to bully Tony Schiavone and his son for some reason (Sorry I tune out whenever QT’s on screen). Then Tony’s Dark Elevation commentary partner Paul Wight came out to save the day and challenged QT to a match. On the go home show Tall Paul was fighting with QT and his gang when Billy Gun and his sons came to the rescue. But no! Billy Gunn attacked him with a chair! Never played into the match though. There was no sign of the Gunn Club tonight.
Anyway, QT gets some hits in before Tall Paul makes his come back, destroys Nick Comorotto and Aaron Solo, before Chokeslamming QT for the win.
Rating :skull: :skull: out of Five
This was always going to be an okay match no matter what but it was exactly what it needed to be, short and sweet.
Christian Cage vs Kenny Omega for the World Championship
It’s your Main Event! Kenny Omega vs Christian Cage. So this match was originally going to be Omega vs Hangman Adam Page but Page has a kid on the way around the time of the PPV so he decided to take time off. So instead they went with Christian Cage. Christian in the build managed to get an Impact World Title shot against Omega on the first episode of Rampage, which he won! Honestly it was a good match and I’m glad they did it because as much as I like Christian, him in the main event didn’t sound like a big match. But the Rampage match made the case for him being able to keep up with Omega.
So this match was quite good, they both went all out (heh) and did some hard hitting stuff. There was a point where Cage speared Omega through a table and the leg burst through to slice him but he was fine luckily. The Good Brothers did a run in but Cage was able to fight them off (No Kazarian for whatever reason) Cage went to do a top rope Killswitch but Omega managed to reverse it and delivered a Bret’s Rope One Winged Angel.
Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
Good match! Both men delivered and Christian in his late forties is still a very good wrestler. I do think it was hurt a little bit because I don’t think anyone thought that Christian would win. But that didn’t bother me personally.
Postmatch, The Elite came down to beat down Christian. The Jurassic Express ran down to make the save but were beat up too. Omega got on the mic and declared that there was no one who could beat him. The Lights went out…
Who should come out then but Adam Cole Baby! Oh but he super kicks Jungle Boy. Turns out that he’s here to be with his buddies, The Elite. Omega gets on the mic again to end the show when who should appear.
Bryan Danielson! Who comes out to a metal remix of the Flight of the Valkries(?). The crowd goes wild and he along with Christian and The Jurassic Express drives off the Elite to close the PPV.
Overall Rating :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: :skull: out of Five
This was honestly the best PPV AEW’s ever done. I loved every match, even the Tall Paul match ended up being good. I would highly recommend anyone with an interest in wrestling check it out.
