AEW ALL IN

London

ADAM COLE & MJF vs. AUSSIE OPEN (6:58): When they announced this show, everyone mentioned about how it would have to be the greatest card ever and the biggest show ever and everything because Wembley Stadium fits 90,000 people for wrestling or boxing. That apparently didn't matter, as they sold most of the tickets before the card was ever announced (they didn't sell out but did get over 81,000 to break the all time paid attendance wrestling record...the non-paid record is from two shows in North Korea). The eventual card for this show turned out to be a typical AEW PPV card, which disappointed some people. But what kind of a dream show did they envision? Early on, people mentioned possibly having Sting's retirement. It was also mentioned that they should do Omega vs. Ospreay (which they ended up doing at Forbidden Door) or Omega vs. Okada. The only "dream" match I could think of was have Omega vs. CM Punk for the title in the main event, since those two haven't wrestled yet in AEW. None of that happened. The one match that was supposedly scheduled was Bryan Danielson vs. Kenny Omega. Danielson was injured so that match was out. Jamie Hayter was also supposed to defend her title in the 4 way but she was injured. And PAC and Fenix were supposed to be in the Stadium Stampede match but PAC was injured and Fenix couldn't get a Visa to go. The other change was Christian took AR Fox's place for unknown reasons (something about AR Fox not being able to get into England and finding out late). Forbidden Door actually had a bigger card than this show, considering they had Ospreay vs. Omega and the dream match of Danielson vs. Okada. And while this wasn't a spectacular card or anything, it was a good card and the show turned out to be very entertaining and a lot of fun. The best thing about the show was that there wasn't a bad match on the show. There wasn't a match of the year candidate either, though, although the main event was pretty great. The pre-show was 2 hours long and the main show was 4 hours long. Before this match they did a few other things on the pre-show. They had a contract signing between Hobbs and Miro. They did a short skit with Jeff Jarrett and his crew and Grado, some UK wrestler. Grado hit Jeff Jarrett over the head with a guitar. This match was for the ROH tag titles, which Aussie Open held. It was a good match but super short. The best part was that it was early so this was the loudest the crowd was all night. When MJF did his Kangaroo Kick, the place went nuts. This stemmed from the fact that MJF and Cole were facing an Australian team so they went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse and were going to watch Crocodile Dundee and then they were watching kangaroos fight on Youtube. As stupid as the Kangaroo Kick is, it worked. When Cole and MJF lost to FTR and didn't win the AEW tag titles, everyone bitched that it was the wrong decision and they should have a rematch on this show. It turns out that it was the right decision. Cole and MJF won the ROH tag titles. Fun opener. **1/2

HOOK vs. JACK PERRY (8:23): Supposedly, before the show, Jack Perry and CM Punk got into a fight backstage. They apparently got into an argument on a Collision show about using fake glass or real glass for a spot. I think this just cements the fact that CM Punk is, in fact, the trouble maker and the problem considering this is the second backstage brawl he's been involved in. Anyway, I'm not entirely sure turning Jack Perry heel was a good idea. I think they just didn't know what to do with him after breaking up Jurassic Express. This match was good, though. Perry came out in a limo and they ended up brawling on top of it and smashing the windshield on a slam. Hook won the FTR title. **1/2

CM PUNK vs. SAMOA JOE (13:58): Good match. Crowd was really rooting for Joe, though Punk wasn't booed out of the building or anything. It was a fairly simple match. Joe swung Punk into the side of the announce table and the bottom cracked open and Punk was bleeding. That was a cool spot. Punk retained the "real" AEW title...which means they'll have to do a unification match down the line somewhere. They definitely have plenty of big shows in the future to do it at. Next week is All Out in Chicago. That show only has 3 matches; Hobbs vs. Miro, Luchasaurus vs. Darby Allin, and Omega vs. Takeshita. And Omega vs. Takeshita wasn't even announced until the All In post-show press conference. And they have the U.S. Open show in a few weeks. MJF vs. Punk was like a 6 month feud in 2021-2022 but it worked, so doing it again for the title unification will be great. **1/2

JAY WHITE, JUICE ROBINSON & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. KENNY OMEGA, KOTA IBUSHI & 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE (20:28): The one disappointment on this show was not having a Kenny Omega singles match. They're doing one next week at All Out, so I guess it's not the end of the world. The problem with this match was besides having Ibushi in it, it was kind of similar to just a random Dynamite main event. The match was good but not great or anything. It did feature the only heel win on the show (or, at least, the only time the crowd was sad at who won). Takeshita rolled up Omega and pinned him quickly and the crowd went silent. Everyone did all of their big moves, though, and it was fun and exciting for the most part. Ibushi looked better here than he did in the Blood & Guts match, although he's definitely not at his former peak (he did slip on the Golden Lovers double moonsault spot but reasserted himself to do the move). **1/2

FTR vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (21:45): This was a good match but definitely the weakest of the 3 these teams have had. Dax was either jet lagged, tired, hungover, injured, or stressed out from his recent police troubles (it came out this week that he was arrested in July for waving a gun at someone), because he looked fucking winded and was moving slower than usual. Besides that, everything else worked and they did a ton of near falls with both teams kicking out of the other's finishers. Since The Young Bucks just signed a new contract in AEW, I kind of thought they might win. The crowd was definitely rooting for FTR. I figure, since FTR is on Collision and MJF is on Dynamite, they probably didn't want to have all the belts on just one show so they let FTR retain the titles. Good match, but I thought it was probably going to be the best match on the show it wasn't at all. **1/2

BEST FRIENDS (CHUCK TAYLOR & TRENT BERETTA), ORANGE CASSIDY, EDDIE KINGSTON & PENTA EL ZERO vs. BLACKPOOL COMBAT CLUB (JON MOXLEY, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & WHEELER YUTA), SANTANA & ORTIZ "STADIUM STAMPEDE MATCH" (21:21): There was a lot of sloppiness in this match, but it was very entertaining and also very bloody. This had the same problem as the other Stadium Stampede and Anarchy in the Arena matches; the cameras couldn't capture everything that was going on. At one point they did a split screen for a while. There's probably too much to even mention that happened in this match. Moxley pulled out the wooden skewers and Penta jammed them into Moxley's head. That got a huge pop. They do that all the time in Big Japan and Freedoms but I doubt many people watch them so it was a new, cool thing to see. Trent's mom, Sue, drove her mini-van out and handed them cookies on a cookie sheet and they hit each other over the head with the cookie sheets. Penta took a slam on two chairs side by side and got "injured" then returned in a new, red outfit. That didn't really work as the crowd was probably just confused. Penta tried to climb up a ladder and it broke while he was climbing it. I guess they used another ladder because he still did a slam off the ladder through two tables. Kingston and Claudio were brawling up in the Royal Box where the King or Queen usually sit for events. Ortiz slipped off the ropes but got back up to suplex someone off the top rope through a table at ringside. There was also a barbed wire board used. But the highlight of the match was when Orange Cassidy used duct tape to tape his hand up and then dipped the hand in a bucket of glass so that the glass stuck to his taped hand. Then he super punched Claudio with the glass hand to get the win. That was such a unique, cool spot. It was sure messy but it was wild and crazy and engrossing to watch. ***

SARAYA vs. HIKARU SHIDA vs. BRITT BAKER vs. TONI STORM (8:43): This was one of the better women's matches AEW has had of late. It's probably because it was short plus with four wrestlers in there at the same time it never got boring. They told the story that the Outcasts, Toni and Saraya, were falling apart as a team and turning on each other. Toni Storm accidentally punched Saraya's mom at ringside and Saraya got pissed. Then, in a super creative spot, Toni Storm got hit and fell on Saraya and the ref started to count to 3. Saraya kicked out and thought her friend was trying to pin her. Ruby Soho eventually came out as well to try to stop her team from falling apart. Britt Baker tried to get her Mandible Claw finisher on Shida at the end but Saraya ended up pinning Toni Storm after spraying her in the face with spray paint. It was cool to see Saraya celebrating in the ring with her family after winning the title since they're a wrestling family from England. **1/2

DARBY ALLIN & STING vs. CHRISTIAN CAGE & SWERVE STRICKLAND "COFFIN MATCH" (15:49): I kind of thought there might be some crazy, high dive off a balcony or something on this show since it was AEW's biggest show ever. Darby Allin would probably do that, right? Well, there was no crazy highlight dive tonight. Darby did do a coffin drop off the top rope onto the coffin on the floor. Sting jumped off the apron onto a table that didn't break and then did it again with a leg drop. Sting was in his TNA Joker mode, a thing we all probably wish we could forget. The match was entertaining, though nothing spectacular or anything. It probably would have been better with AR Fox in it or Nick Wayne, who did show up only to get chokeslammed by Luchasaurus onto a skateboard. Swerve put Sting in the coffin and then spit on Sting's bat and threw that in the coffin as well but when he shut the lit, Sting put the bat on the edge to keep it open. That was a cool spot. The crowd was into most of what Sting did, although after the Stadium Stampede match the crowd was a little tired and more quiet. They did still pop for most of the big spots throughout the night. I don't really blame them. I don't think any show should be more than 2 and a half hours long. **1/2

WILL OSPREAY vs. CHRIS JERICHO (14:55): This was probably the one match on the show that was kind of a big deal considering this was a big show that should have big deal matches. Ospreay had to win since he's from England, and he did. Jericho definitely tried harder than usual because of how big this show was, although he's still too old to keep up with Ospreay. Jericho missed a few spots here and there and was a bit slow on some things, but most of this was really good. Jericho did an awesome German suplex on Ospreay on the apron. Ospreay did a top rope twist flip to the floor. It was definitely high level stuff even though Jericho is practically an old man at this point. It was probably the best match these two can have these days. **1/2

THE ACCLAIMED & BILLY GUNN vs. THE HOUSE OF BLACK (BRODY KING, BUDDY MATTHEWS & MALAKAI BLACK (9:38): They just did this match at Double or Nothing. At this point, I really just want to see Malakai Black in some single matches. The match was good, not great. It was kept short so never got boring or stale. The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn won the trios titles and the crowd was happy and popped for that. They got Julia Hart involved when she pulled the ref out of the ring to stop a pinfall. They gave her the scissor leg drop from the top rope. Her outfit was amazing by the way. She had on white fishnets, white boots with high soles, and a white leather one piece corset thing. The House of Black all came out with white Japanese kimono outfits and masks. Very cool. Match was pretty standard but it was entertaining. **1/2

MJF vs. ADAM COLE (27:29): This was the longest match on the show and the best match on the show. Throughout they teased that they were both going to turn on each other and started doing little things like MJF poking Cole in the eyes and MJF wanting to use his ring to knockout Cole but not doing it. AEW is great at doing long term story telling and using things from past matches. These two wrestled in June in a 30 minute draw. Cole wanted five more minutes and MJF told him no. They ended up doing a double clothesline and got a double pin on each other and it was a draw. Cole said he wanted five more minutes. MJF said no, we'll just keep going to till there's a fuckin' winner. The crowd loved that. MJF ended up winning with a rollup after Cole decided not to use the belt to hit MJF when the ref was down. Roderick Strong came out twice to interfere, kicking MJF in the balls at one point and then trying to get Cole to use the belt. The story of Cole and MJF being friends and being torn at turning on each other and cheat was fantastic. I was kind of wary about this storyline because usually in a big show you want the babyface to beat the heel to win the title. They didn't do that and decided to have Cole and MJF become friends. It was different and I think it worked out as this was very compelling and dramatic. Really good main event to end a good show. And they announced that they're actually doing this again at Wembley next year on August 25th. That's kind of insane, considering they only get like 3,000 people for their TV shows in the U.S. these days and maybe 8,000 for most PPV shows. They got 80,000 for this but everyone thought it was a one time thing. I guess we'll see what happens next year...but this show was definitely a resounding success. ***1/2

WWE SUMMERSLAM

 Detroit

LOGAN PAUL vs. RICOCHET (18:00): Dave Meltzer noted recently on his show that the WWE is the hottest it’s been since 2001. That’s pretty crazy, considering they don’t really have a huge star like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin, or The Rock. Roman Reigns is considered the big star these days, and The Bloodline storyline is supposedly the main catalyst for the WWE’s recent surge in popularity. Meltzer also noted that Dominick Mysterio and his various storylines have helped the WWE’s popularity. But is the WWE any good? Or, at least, better now than it has been in all those less popular years? Not really. I did think the Sami Zayn vs. Roman Reigns storyline was the best thing the WWE has done since The Summer of Punk way back in 2011. Sadly, the WWE didn’t have Zayn fulfill his quest, thus negating that storyline. Sami Zayn wasn’t even on this show, which tells you how much the WWE botched the ending to that story. This show filled up Detroit’s football field with around 50,000 fans. I suppose that means that nobody cared that Sami Zayn didn’t win the title…or Cody at Wrestlemania. Considering the huge crowd and this being the 2^nd biggest show of the year for WWE, I thought it was a little disappointing. There weren’t any great matches, although there were some good ones and it was entertaining throughout for the most part. The one reason I like AEW more than the WWE is because AEW has great matches. The last great match the WWE had was probably Gunther vs. Sheamus way back in September of last year. As for this opener, it was fun with a lot of high flying moves. This was put on first so Logan Paul could get a flight to Dallas to be there for his brother’s PPV boxing match against Nate Diaz. That fight went the ten round distance and Jake Paul won a decision. While Jake Paul did knock down Diaz once, Jake Paul didn’t exactly look like a great fighter or anything considering Diaz looked and acted like he not only didn’t want to be there, but he didn’t care. I was kind of hoping for at least one, big, crazy move in this match, considering they did that in both the Royal Rumble and in their Money in the Bank match. They tried a Spanish Fly from the apron and both were supposed to land on their feet but Ricochet kind of fell over. So this was a little sloppy, although Logan Paul is actually super athletic and a fun wrestler to watch. This wasn’t even spectacular or anything but one of the better matches on the show, plus the crowd was still awake and alert and thus into it. **1/2

CODY RHODES vs. BROCK LESNAR (17:29): The big Detroit crowd was not the greatest. Like most WWE audiences, they don’t care about the actual wrestling, but they’ll stand up when someone goes on the top rope and they’ll cheer for title changes or interference. They did cheer when Brock kept beating the shit out of Cody and tossing him out of the ring but Cody kept making the ten count at the last second. Considering Cody is supposed to be this big star and top wrestler and in line to win the title, why did they have Brock beat him up mercilessly for 99% of this match? They were kind of showing to the audience that Brock is better. Eventually Cody delivered his finisher three times and pinned Brock. Lamely, Brock raised Cody’s hand after the match even though Brock had been kicking his ass non-stop in heelish ways for the last three months. Brock even broke his arm at one point, even though a broken arm takes months to heel yet Cody is miraculously cured. I kind of wish they had done more of a 50/50 match to make Cody look better, but it was fairly dramatic and entertaining. Will Cody finally be the one to beat Roman for the title? Presumably in Philly next year at Wrestlemania? If so, why didn’t they just fucking do it this year? **1/2

BATTLE ROYAL (LA KNIGHT) (12:46): LA Knight is super over and I don’t understand why. I don’t watch Smackdown a lot, so I didn’t see his “rise” occur. I remember he was a heel in NXT, so I have no idea why fans are cheering him now and yelling his “yeah” catch phrase. I did watch him talk on this week’s Smackdown and he kind of talks in the Stone Cold, tough guy, anti-authority type of way. I guess fans enjoy that bit. Well LA Knight won this Battle Royal, although I’m not sure what the winner gets. LA Knight isn’t beating Roman Reigns, that’s for sure, although that would be hilarious if he did. The big story early was Omos was just destroying everyone and eventually they all teamed up to toss him out. Bronson Reed, Sheamus, AJ Styles, and Knight were the last ones left. Knight eliminated Sheamus to win. The final few minutes were good. **

SHAYNA BASZLER vs. RONDA ROUSEY (7:26): Ronda is apparently leaving the WWE so this might be the last time you see her. I don’t know if she’s gone for good or coming back later. It is strange how her popularity has plummeted. The WWE hasn’t given her much to do lately, anyway, besides put her in a forgettable tag team with Baszler. This was an MMA rules match, which means the crowd was a silent tomb. It was very boring, but also nobody cares about this feud. -No Stars-

GUNTHER vs. DREW McINTYRE (13:43): Everyone thought this would be a good match, probably because Gunther vs. Sheamus last year was great and Gunther vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre was good. This was too short and Gunther seemed to win too easily. I guess Drew’s “push” is over. They really should have given him the title at that gigantic Cardiff show last year. I still feel bad for all those Cardiff fans having to go home sad. Gunther is awesome, but his unbeatable run is getting pretty monotonous. Plus there’s very few wrestlers in the WWE that can have a great match with him, considering he’s a great wrestler and everyone else is an entertainer. Gunther should go to New Japan. Fuck, that’d be awesome. *1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. FINN BALOR (18:27): This was a good match, although not having Finn win the title is such a bad decision. The WWE is really bad at ending storylines on a high note. Finn beat Seth at Summerslam years ago to become the first ever Universal champion. Finn injured his shoulder in that match and had to relinquish the title. He never got the title back…ever. Now these two are having a title match at Summerslam. The perfect ending would be to have Finn win the title he never got a chance to enjoy having. But no, the WWE writers are fucking morons, just ask Sami Zayn. Besides the bad ending, the match was actually pretty good. The crowd wasn’t into it until Damian Priest came out with his MITB briefcase and then eventually Dominick and Rhea Ripley showed up. They all interfered, although it backfired and Seth gave Finn a curb stomp on the briefcase to retain the title. Good match. I feel bad for Finn Balor. The WWE gave him that new, stupid name and now they’re fucking him over yet again. ***

BIANCA BELAIR vs. ASUKA vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (20:45)/ IYO SKY vs. BIANCA BELAIR (0:10): The crowd was either tired or just didn’t care about actual wrestling, because they were pretty quiet while all three were delivering wrestling holds and moves to one another back and forth in the center of the ring. They did a storyline in this where Bianca injured her knee going off the top rope and then being helped to the back. Of course she returned and climbed up the top rope to do a 450. Huh? I thought she was hurt? How is she even standing on the top rope? Bianca then won the title from Asuka, but Iyo Sky ran down and cashed in her MITB briefcase and won the title. Most people thought Charlotte was winning the title because the WWE wants her to get the record for title defenses. Iyo Sky is great and the crowds love her, but I doubt she’ll have a long run as champ. For whatever reason this match did not work. All three just didn’t really mesh well together. *1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. JEY USO (36:04): The big problem I had with this main event was the fact that Jey Uso was obviously not winning the title. At your 2^nd biggest show of the year, you kind of want to at least deliver a glimmer of hope that a title change will occur. And while this Bloodline storyline is the reason the WWE has surged in popularity, at this point if just feels like they’re beating a dead horse. If you remember, when Roman won the title in 2020, Jey was his enemy. They even had a Hell in a Cell match for the title in October 2020. Then Jey eventually joined Roman. So Jey was a babyface, then a heel, now he’s a babyface again. His brother, Jimmy Uso, interfered in this match and turned on Jey, costing him this match. So Jey was a heel and with Roman, then a babyface and against Roman, now a heel and with Roman. Jesus Christ. Aren’t people sick of all of this shit? They should have just had Zayn win the title by beating Roman. That was the perfect ending to The Bloodline storyline. Now it’s just going to go on forever and ever until Roman Reigns retires. They’re also teasing a Solo Sikoa babyface turn, because in this match Roman inadvertently speared him. Nobody wants to see a Solo vs. Roman match. They aren’t giving the title to Solo Sikoa, so why do that match? And it would be one thing if these matches were any good, but they’re not. Lately, these Bloodline matches have been way too long. The Uso’s are usually very entertaining as a tag team, but individually they’re not. I’m just so over this storyline. I’d have rather seen Zayn or Cody as champ successfully defending their title on this show. That would have been fantastic. Could’ve, would’ve, should’ve. Sigh. **