I am back with the Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer live talking everything AEW All In.
I give my real-time reaction to Sunday’s pay-per-view from London’s Wembley Stadium. I run through the entire card talking all the highlights including MJF retaining the AEW World Championship over Adam Cole.
Also, there are updates on the reported backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry.
Plus, AEW already announced All In next year for the same weekend, How might this change the pay-per-view model?
Website subscribers can hear the show by clicking below while YouTube members can click on the YouTube link above to watch.
Cassidy and Penta were on the same team for Sunday’s Stadium Stampede victory as well as in a trios match on Saturday’s Collision. This will be their second-ever singles match and first since an April 2021 Dynamite.
In either case, the champion will have recent history with Moxley. Cassidy has been involved with Moxley for several weeks as he and his Best Friends teammates have feuded with the Blackpool Combat Club while Penta recently competed in a three-way with Moxley and Trent Beretta from Best Friends in an anything goes match.
Cassidy and Moxley have never had a singles match while Moxley and Penta have had two.
Here’s the current lineup for All Out:
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy or Penta El Zero Miedo defend against Jon Moxley
TNT Champion Luchasaurus defends against Darby Allin
Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
TBS Champion Kris Statlander defends against Ruby Soho
With less than hours to go before the kickoff of AEW All In from London’s Wembley Stadium, allow me to present a Josh Nason’s Punch-Out special audio version of my preview & prediction column from Sports Illustrated this past week with some additional thoughts.
I talk about how despite what the haters (Hayters?) will say, Sunday is a massive accomplishment for both AEW and the wrestling business. I go into why there is so much hand-wringing about the show which is actually pretty simple: the fact All Out is seven days away.
I give full predictions on today’s show and how I think it will play into All Out, including some early thoughts on next Sunday’s card.
I also give some thoughts on the passing of Terry Funk and Bray Wyatt and how both men made their way into my wrestling viewing life.
It’s one of the biggest days in pro wrestling history and I’m here for it.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including an hour on Terry Funk with Dave, a look at All Out, Dynamite from Wednesday, ratings and tons more. A packed, PACKED show as always, live from London, so check it out~!
Chris Jericho believes the AEW locker room was unfairly painted as a “dumpster fire” after the AEW All Out media scrum last year.
Following CM Punk’s comments and physical altercation with The Elite that night, Jericho, Bryan Danielson, and Jon Moxley are said to have stepped up and assumed larger leadership roles. Jericho says the roster ended up coming out of the situation stronger than before.
“We just let people know that everything’s gonna be OK. We are a great locker room with great people and a lot of momentum for our company that’s still very young and things happen sometimes.’ Jericho said of the incident to The Daily Mail. “There was a lot of uncertainty. We’ve got a lot of young guys and girls on our roster who have never been through stuff like this before, but it’s a part of the business, it happens.”
Jericho continued to say that he didn’t want fans believing what they read online regarding the state of AEW’s backstage environment.
“We were really getting painted with an unfair brush by the media in a lot of ways like ‘it’s a dumpster fire in the locker room’ and that wasn’t the case. And I don’t want people to believe what they’re reading and think that it’s real, cause it wasn’t,” he continued.
The former AEW World Champion noted that he has been involved in backstage physical altercations previously, perhaps most notably with Goldberg in 2003.
“You go through things like that, fights and that sort of thing, I’ve been in them myself with locker room brawls,’ Jericho said.
“You’ve got to continue forward and Mox, Danielson and I just really wanted to grab the horse by the reins before it got out of control and just let people know that if you have concerns let’s discuss them, if you have issues let’s discuss them but let’s get through them together and come through stronger on the back end.”
“I think we really came together well which was great for the locker room and for the fans because the fans too want to know that everything is going to continue moving forward.”
Jericho believes the AEW locker room came away from the incident stronger than they were before.
“I think we did a really good job of righting the ship and most importantly letting people know that it’s going to be OK. It’s not the end of the world. These things happen and we deal with them and we become stronger as a result, which we have,” he added.
It was confirmed on Saturday’s Rampage that Miro and Hobbs will meet at All Out on September 3 at the United Center in Chicago. After Hobbs defeated Kevin Ku on Saturday, Miro addressed Hobbs. He told Hobbs that they have more in common than just their muscles, for example, he believed in a book too once. He said that now he walks alone, and would get redemption at All Out.
The two started their feud after Hobbs issued the challenge on last week’s Collision. Miro came out, but was then jumped by members of QTV, who distracted Miro long enough for Hobbs to lay him out with a spinebuster.
This is the second match announced for All Out, which takes place just one week after AEW All In in Wembley Stadium. Darby Allin will face Luchasaurus after winning the Royal Rampage match last month. Allin defeated Christian Cage on Saturday’s Rampage, but was laid out after by Luchasaurus.
Here is the updated lineup for All Out:
TNT Championship: Luchasaurus defends against Darby Allin
During an appearance on the Battleground podcast, Tony Khan spoke about AEW presenting its All In and All Out pay-per-views so close together.
The two PPVs are taking place just one week apart from each other. After holding All In at Wembley Stadium in London on August 27, AEW will be at Chicago’s United Center for All Out on September 3.
The Battleground podcast asked Khan about the challenges of holding two major shows on two separate continents on back-to-back Sundays. Khan replied:
Well, we’re going to find out. It’s exciting to do it and it’s going to be the first time anybody has tried anything like this. AEW’s got our biggest show of all time coming up very soon, August 27 at Wembley Stadium. It’s going to be a massive, massive event. I’m so excited for the show. And in particular I have to say, right now, the ticket sales are unprecedented. This is the biggest pro wrestling event in the history of Europe. No show ever in Europe has sold more tickets or had a bigger gross than this. So it’s pretty special. And it’s one of the biggest wrestling events in the history of the world now. It’s taking place later this month, August 27. The show’s going to be on early. It starts at noon Central time. It’s NFL timing. So a couple weeks before NFL football kicks off, we’re going to be in that spot.
And then All Out the next week, Labor Day weekend, we’ll be back in our classic pay-per-view spot on Sunday night. So it’s going to be just about a week apart, two huge events.
While the focus of AEW has been on this month’s All In at London’s Wembley Stadium, there are some new developments for the following Sunday’s All Out in Chicago, Illinois.
On Saturday’s AEW Collision, Powerhouse Hobbs had an in-ring promo where he called out Miro for a match at the Sunday, September 3rd pay-per-view.
Hobbs said he had been distracted lately and went home to read from the Book of Hobbs with the next chapter being called Redemption. He said after losing the TNT title and losing in the Owen Hart Foundation tournament, he had to call out “The Redeemer” for a fight.
As Miro came out to the ring to answer, Hobbs’ old QTV friends Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto attacked Miro. After Miro fought them off, Hobbs connected on a spinebuster and then laid his Book of Hobbs on Miro before leaving.
This would be the first ever meeting between them.
As of now, only one match is official for All Out as Darby Allin will get a shot at the TNT title which is current held by Luchasaurus.
According to a report from Fightful Select, the promotion has had internal discussions about bringing in the 52-year-old WWE Hall of Famer. An idea being considered is RVD wrestling Jack Perry at either AEW All In or All Out.
Perry was involved in a segment with one of RVD’s greatest rivals on AEW Dynamite last week. The new FTW Champion was confronted by Jerry Lynn after cutting a promo critical of ECW. Perry and Lynn are scheduled for another face-to-face segment on tonight’s show from Tampa.
Since leaving Impact Wrestling in September 2020, RVD has kept an active schedule including two shows for Pro Wrestling NOAH at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan last summer. He was also inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2021 and was presented with the 2020 Lou Thesz Award from the Cauliflower Alley Club.
It’s a brand new We’re Live, Pal! with myself and Andrew Zarian.
This week’s show is available for free on YouTube. Just click above to watch.
I opened up the show by paying off my bet with Andrew. We showed the clip of the bet as well as Andrew’s winnings.
We then talked about AEW Collision and where the show is with the fanbase. Andrew talked about how happy WBD is with the show and how they look at the audience differently based on how people watch TV today.
We also went into how both AEW All In and All Out are going to be PPVs and what could happen if AEW goes toward a monthly pay-per-view model.
Darby Allin was victorious in Friday’s Royal Rampage on AEW Rampage, earning himself a TNT title opportunity at September’s All Out.
One of the first four men in the 20-man field, Allin was on the defensive from the start as he was the focus of both The Butcher & The Blade, the Gates of Agony, and others at different points.
In the end, the match came down to Allin and longtime rival Swerve Strickland who was also one of the first four entrants. Allin survived several near eliminations by Strickland, including one after getting power bombed on the wheels of his skateboard (brought in by Prince Nana earlier). Allin eventually hit a flying spear that sent both men to the floor and because Strickland’s back hit first, Allin won.
Luchasaurus is the current TNT Champion while Allin has held the title twice with the second reign lasting just 28 days and ending in February of this year.
All Out is set for Sunday, September 3rd at Chicago’s United Center.
The question as to whether AEW All Out is still taking place during Labor Day weekend has been answered.
In a podcast interview, AEW senior vice president and chief legal officer Megha Parekh was asked about the company’s first-ever trip to London, England, for this August’s All In event in Wembley Stadium.
In her answer, she mentioned All Out:
“I’m excited just to go back (to London). We’ll have to come back here for All Out the week after, but it should be really fun.
AEW’s annual September pay-per-view has always taken place on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. However, with this month’s announcement by Tony Khan that AEW is heading to London on Sunday, August 27th for their first-ever All In, there was no confirmation that tradition would continue.
While the date now seems official, whether AEW returns to the NOW Arena as part of the All Out tradition is also in question.
In March, Fightful reported AEW was looking at potentially holding the PPV at Chicago’s United Center instead. That same venue has been in the news recently as the possible debut spot for the new AEW Collision TV show with CM Punk making his return as part of the kickoff.
AEW is reportedly considering holding September’s All Out at Chicago’s United Center instead of the traditional NOW Arena.
Fightful first reported the news Thursday.
Outside the 2020 edition held in Jacksonville, Florida, during the pandemic, the annual Labor Day weekend pay-per-view has been held at the NOW Arena (formerly the Sears Centre) since its creation in 2019 as well as its predecessor, All In, in 2018.
In this scenario, the report stated that the go-home editions of both Dynamite and Rampage would remain at the NOW Arena.
It’s assumed the driving force for the potential move is the size of the venue as the United Center (home of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls and NHL’s Blackhawks) can house considerably more fans.
AEW has run the United Center previously and drawn strong attendance, notably for CM Punk’s return to wrestling in August 2021 that drew over 15,000 fans. They returned last June for the first-ever Forbidden Door PPV and drew nearly 16,000 fans.
For the three All Out PPVs held at the NOW Arena, attendance has been just over 10,000 each time.
For the first time since last September’s All Out fight that saw him get put on suspension, former AEW World Champion Kenny Omega opened up about the situation — one he feels was preventable — in addition to the strange vibe he felt about AEW when he returned last August.
Omega appeared on Renee Paquette’s The Sessions for nearly an hour Tuesday.
He said that when he left in November 2021 to deal with his various injuries, he felt AEW was in a really good place and that when he returned in August 2022, he felt like Donald Glover in the famous GIF where he shows up with pizza and the entire room is on fire.
“I didn’t get it. I was like, ‘What is with this strange atmosphere? What is with this strange aura? Why does something feel so ominous right now?’ I didn’t know and couldn’t figure it out. Next you knew, there was more stuff happening,” he said.
Omega said he hasn’t yet got himself re-familiarized backstage with what he called “the new AEW” at that point with all the new faces and all the changes since he was gone. He felt an eerie feeling and then, “Stranger things started happening. ‘Oh man. What do I do? This isn’t right. Someone needs to be the voice of reason. This is silly.'”
The fight
From there, “things fell off the rails. We were just involved in a very silly situation that people are probably going to be talking about for months and possibly years to come.”
Omega said that anyone that has been involved in competitive sports and/or combat sports has dealt with situations where there are conflicts that are often worked out and sometimes even after a fight. He felt there was a point in which that could have happened, but soon came to realize this wasn’t like high school football or someone in jiujitsu training.
“It’s a shame the general public and a lot of people aren’t ever going to know how it went down or how it could have been prevented or how it could have ended differently,” Omega said, “I don’t think anyone is happy that how it happened, or is proud that it happened. I think across the board, everyone thinks it was a terrible situation that was unnecessary.”
He said since the issue, the atmosphere has cleared up backstage but that it was hard after the incident because people were forced to form their own opinions and theories and they were unable to speak on it because they were sworn to secrecy legally.
He felt that led to people leaning on the side and story of whoever they were a fan of when in reality, it could have been a combination of various theories,
While he said those involved may never get to speak about it, he is happy and thankful that no one was seriously injured and that he’s moved on with life.
“(The fight) doesn’t dictate what I do or what I say. I’m sure the (Young) Bucks are in same boat. I can’t speak to the other parties. Hopefully they are doing well and I mean that.”
The future
Omega didn’t give any hint to his future or his contract situation when asked, but the first thing that pops into his head in the next stage of his career is to be able to advise those with so much ahead of them to realize their potential sooner than he was able to.
He said he doesn’t really have goals or aspirations at this stage like he did in his younger days when he was motivated to win the G1 or IWGP Champion or match of the year. That has made him question his situation at times and if he is being ungrateful or wasting his time.
The barbed wire death match debacle
He also discussed one thing that stands out as something that didn’t end up as he liked: the end of his barbed wire death match with Jon Moxley where the explosions fizzled at the grand finale.
Omega said he was so proud of of the match and that it never popped into his head there would be an issue with the pyro as that wasn’t in his control. In the moment, he said he gave the entire situation the benefit of the doubt because it was a windy day in Jacksonville, but that changed when he learned the real reason: a last-minute change by the head of the pyro company who hadn’t been there for any rehearsals.
“I wish we would have done what we practiced,” he said.
Omega said he remembers walking to the back and not wanting to show any emotion until he got around the Bucks or people familiar with the situation. He said he saw Jerry Lynn who pleaded with him to not go off. Omega said the most upsetting part was not knowing who to blame but that he felt back for Eddie Kingston, Moxley and even himself.
He learned that it made him want to rely on as little people as possible in matches going forward other than those directly involved, but that he liked everything that happened in the match other than the finale.
