AEW All Out: September 5, 2021
by Samoa Rowe
Live from the sold out Now Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Our hosts are Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, and Excalibur.
TNT Championship:
Miro © vs. Eddie Kingston
Yes, the fans are red hot for this, and react to every little swing and finisher tease. Miro is forced to take a timeout and the fans chant "F*** him up, Eddie." Kingston throws some machine gun chops, possibly to impress Kojima, but Miro gains the upper hand with smashing offense on the floor. Eddie tries a crossbody off the apron, but Miro counters into a power slam. Eddie is selling back pain, but escapes a chinlock. Miro hits a dropkick and corner splash, but Eddie answers with chops and a jumping enziguri. Miro blocks a dive, but Kingston improvises with a Saito suplex. Eddie gets the better of a slugfest and hits another Saito suplex for a good nearfall. Eddie hits a desperation "elbow suicida" to send Miro into the rails. Fisherman suplex by Eddie gets 2. Miro aggressively punches the lower back and hits a German suplex, unaware that Eddie pulled off the buckle padding. Kingston survives Game Over with a rope break! The fans are going nuts. Miro resists using the padding as a weapon, and Eddie capitalizes with a DDT for a nuclear nearfall. Eddie's back was too hurt for him to properly pull Miro's leg in the cover. Miro backs the ref into a corner and low blows Eddie, allowing him to finish with a running kick at 13:20. Great opener, partly thanks to the fans' eagerness to see a title change, but also because these two guys are firing on all cylinders right now, ***¾.Winner and still TNT Champion: Miro
Satoshi Kojima vs. Jon Moxley
I'm surprised this is following Miro/Eddie, as they are bound to be stylistically similar. Moxley slaps away a handshake and sticks his middle finger into Kojima's face. They go straight into a slugfest. The fans give them a dueling chant as Moxley hits a well aimed tope suicida. Kojima responds with his patented machine gun chops and then a flying elbow. They exchange bites on the top rope and Kojima nails a superplex. Kojima then hits a DDT onto the apron for a breather. Moxley briefly applies the bulldog choke and then spins Kojima in a suplex. Kojima avoids an armbreaker and they stiff each other to the crowd's approval. The Koji Cutter gives them another breather. They slug their way back to their feet and Moxley hits a massive lariat. Bulldog choke by Moxley, but Kojima gets the ropes. Mongolian chops by Kojima, but Moxley reverses into a Paradigm Shift! Moxley hits a second Paradigm Shift for good measure and wins at 11:51! Good stuff, Moxley's one man crusade is fun, ***¼.Winner: Jon Moxley
Moxley's celebration is cut off by none other than Minoru Suzuki! Enough fans in the Now Arena know who he is (or at least pretending) that he gets a superstar reaction, complete with singing along with his music. Suzuki and Moxley tear into each other and are clearly enjoying themselves while the fans go nuts. Suzuki leaves Moxley down and out with a piledriver and stands tall over his kill.
AEW Women's Championship:
Dr. Britt Baker © (with Rebel and Jamie Hayter) vs. Kris Statlander (with Best Friends)
The fans are really into Britt's act, but like Statlander well enough too, and react strongly to Britt getting knocked off her feet. Statlander hits a mule kick, but Britt counters with a spinning neckbreaker out of the buckles. Kris tries to block a penalty kick, but Britt stomps her head into the apron. Statlander escapes a shoulder lock and pummels Britt into the buckles. Sling Blade by Britt, Kris dodges a curb stomp and nails a Falcon Arrow for 2. Spike DDT by Britt also gets 2, and some applause. Britt's glove goes on, but Statlander cuts her off with a roundhouse kick, but Big Bang Theory is reversed. Britt hits a Flatliner into the buckles. Statlander pops up (no sells) and traps Britt for a dead lift superplex! Statlander misses a 450 splash and desperately reverses Lockjaw into an electric chair slam! Scissors kick by Statlander gets 2! "This is awesome" chant. Statlander misses a pendulum moonsault and hits the floor. Britt leaps off the ring steps for a curb stomp! Orange Cassidy shows rare emotion by shouting at Kris to get back in, and she beats the count. Britt blocks Statlander's Spider Crab with heel kicks to the face. Britt doesn't want to stop kicking Kris and shoves the ref. Britt hits Panama Sunrise, but STATLANDER KICKS OUT! Curb stomp by Britt, but KRIS KICKS OUT AGAIN! Britt is done playing around and finishes with Lockjaw at 11:34! They kept a great pace and packed in a ton of action, character moments, and drama, ***½.Winner and still AEW Women's Champion: Dr. Britt Baker
Alex Marvez asks Andrade El Idolo and Chavo Guerrero if they're responsible for Pac's travel issues. Chavo pleads that he doesn't have American Airlines' number, um, assuming he is on American Airlines. Chavo pivots to arguing that Lucha Bros. would be better off without Pac.
AEW Tag Team Championship (Steel Cage Match):
The Young Bucks © (Nick and Matt Jackson, with The Elite) vs. Lucha Bros. (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix, with Alex Abrahantes)
Lucha Bros. have a guest rapper for their entrance and it rules. The cage is here to stop the Bucks from benefiting from outside interference. It's tornado rules. The Bucks try a quick escape, so Lucha Bros. knock them off the wall with a tandem dropkick. Stereo enziguris by Lucha Bros., Nick gets smashed into the cage, and Fenix follows with a rana off the ropes. Lucha Bros. hit the WASSUP missile dropkick for 2. Lucha Bros. hit stereo spears against the steel, but the Bucks smarten up and dodge. Bucks hit Fenix with a draping double stomp and Matt seamlessly rolls into a backstabber on Penta. Matt powerbombs Fenix head-first into the cage. Matt somehow finds a chain and chokes Fenix. Fenix reverses into a rana against the cage, giving Lucha Bros. room to come back. Fenix kicks off the cage while hitting a tornado arm drag, and then a tilt-a-whirl. Lucha Bros. miss superkicks and hit each other. Fenix recovers with a rolling double bulldog, and Penta hits Matt with Made in Japan for only 2! Fans give them a LOUD "This is awesome" chant. Bucks come back with a sharpshooter on Penta, and German onto the apron on Fenix. Bucks hit Penta with an assisted somersault senton for 2. Bucks hit an Indie Taker/Senton combo for another 2. Fenix dodges the BTE Trigger, but Bucks retain control with some well aimed low blows. More Bang for Your Buck, but Penta breaks the pin. The fans chant for Lucha Bros while the Bucks tear up their masks. Cutler heaves in a bag, and out comes a sneaker covered in thumbtacks! Matt puts on the loaded sneaker, Penta shields Fenix, and eats a superkick to the face! Fans chant "@sshole" while Nick drives Fenix into the tacs. All hope looks lost until Fenix musters a comeback, snatching the loaded sneaker for some headshots and hitting a driver on Matt for 2! Matt and Penta stare each other down while hitting package piledrivers on their brothers. Penta answers with a SUPER DESTROYER! All four guys stumble up to "Fight Forever" chants. An epic SUPERKICK PARTAY leaves everyone down again. Lucha Bros. hit Fear Factor on Nick, but Matt breaks the pin! Fenix climbs to the top and hits a measured flying crossbody onto the Bucks (and Penta). Lucha Bros. finish with a tandem piledriver at 22:03, and the roof blows off the arena. Just incredible, this is the kind of match that leaves you wanting a cigarette, even if you don't smoke. *****Winners and NEW AEW Tag Team Champions: Lucha Bros.
Lucha Bros.' emotional celebration makes an already cool moment even better. Penta embraces his family, and awkwardly gets blood all over his wife and young daughters, but it's still nice, I swear.
Casino Battle Royal:
Just for the record, there are 21 entrants, entering in waves of 5, with the final "Joker" entrant being a surprise. The first entrants are Hikaru Shida, Skye Blue, Emi Sakura (with Lulu Pencil), The Bunny, and Abadon. They keep a lively pace early, with Sakura and Shida hitting stereo backbreakers, before getting spooked by Abadon. Lovable local favorite, Blue, gets dumped by Abadon, who in turn is dumped by The Bunny. Sakura puts Shida into the Romero Special while Bunny frolics around. They fill some time until the next wave of Anna Jay, Kiera Hogan, KiLynn King, Diamante, and Nyla Rose (with Vickie Guerrero) hit the ring. Anna goes right after Bunny. Shida eliminates Sakura with a running knee strike. Hogan got dumped off camera. Rose clotheslines King to ringside. Rose then powerbombs Shida over the ropes, bouncing off the apron (crowd is mad). Anna and Bunny are still at it while Rose fends off Diamante. The next wave of Thunder Rosa, Penelope Ford, Riho (to a massive pop), Jamie Hayter, and Big Swole freshen things up. Riho still makes me nostalgic for 2019 AEW and she hits a double 619. Swole headbutts Diamante off the apron, but then gets scooped out by Hayter. Diamante and Swole brawl their way out. Fans chant for Thunder Rosa while she lights up Rose with a shotgun dropkick. The final suit of Tay Conti, Red Velvet, Leyla Hirsch, Jade Cargill (with Mark Sterling), and Rebel. Conti immediately hits Bunny with a Tay-KO. Leyla hits Ford and Rose with Germans! Rebel showboats on the apron and gets kicked off by Velvet. Jay superkicks Bunny off the apon, but Ford knocks Jay down after. Jade press slams Leyla over the ropes onto a pile of losers. The Joker is revealed to be none other than RUBY SOHO! DESTINATION UNKNOWN, RUBY RUBY RUBY SOHO! Of course J.R. calls her Ruby Riott, but it's all good. Ruby goes right for Jade and kicks her jaw. Rosa steps off Ruby's back to hit Rose with a rana. Jade pump handle slams Ruby and tosses Hayter. Ford pump kicks Ford, but then eats a hook kick. Jade throws out Velvet and flexes, allowing Nyla to easily toss her. Conti eliminates Ford with a head scissors, but Rose sneaks up to dump her. Rose hits Rosa with a Samoan Drop, and puts Ruby into a Tree of Woe. Rosa eliminates Rose with a low bridge! It's down to Rosa vs. Ruby and the crowd gives them a LOUD dueling chant. Ruby gets Rosa onto the apron, but gets pull over in a face hook. Rosa stomps at her, but Ruby answers with a swift knee strike. Ruby blocks a DVD, and knocks Rosa out with an enziguri and wins at 21:56! Wow, this was tons of fun, and provided a nice showcase for a severely underutilized division, ***.Winner: Ruby Soho
Career Threatening Match:
MJF vs. Chris Jericho
We start with a fantastic troll job when a classic Y2K countdown leads to the graphics "Jericho's Last Match" and we get MJF out first. Jericho isn't one to be overshadowed, and enters to a live musical performance from his Fozzy guitarist. Of course, Jericho's AEW in-ring career is on the line. They lock up while fans chant "@sshole" at MJF. They reach a quick stalemate and duke it out. MJF gets a dangerously close roll-up and takes the fight to ringside. Jericho casually throws a stand at MJF's head, the ref allows it. Springboard dropkick by Jericho, but MJF counters the baseball slide by trapping him in the apron. MJF takes control, focusing on the arm. Jericho comes back with a suplex, but MJF dropkicks his arm. MJF hits a mean piledriver onto the apron, but Jericho rolls out. Jericho desperately powerbombs MJF onto the apron. They slug it out, MJF rakes the eyes, Jericho punches the lower back, and MJF counters with a mid-air Codebreaker (of sorts) for only 2. MJF sells his lower back like a pro, but blocks the Walls. Lionsault by Jericho is good for 2. Jericho hits some (weak) turnbuckle punches, but MJF counters with an avalanche spinebuster. Jericho recovers with a flying Codebreaker for only 2. Wardlow tries to interfere, but Jake Hager cuts him off at the pass. MJF capitalizes with a bat shot, who knew that Floyd would turn on Jericho? Judas Effect apparently ends it at 18:15! ... but Jericho had a foot on the ropes, and luckily a second referee had the wherewithal to tell Aubrey Edwards. Since the stakes are so high, the match continues! MJF shoves Aubrey in rage, and Jericho rolls him up for a close nearfall. MJF reverses into Salt of the Earth, and the crowd pleads for Jericho not to tap. Jericho reverses into the Walls of Jericho, and MJF TAPS THE F OUT at 21:08! I'm not sure this was the classic they envisioned for themselves when this program started an entire year ago, but they had the fans eating out of their hands at the finish, ***½.Winner: Chris Jericho
The Inner Circle gather together for the first time in months to celebrate.
Hype video for CM Punk vs. Darby, followed by one of Darby's super cool home movies. This time, a helicopter carries a body bag into the air and Darby jumps out.
Darby Allin (without Sting) vs. CM Punk
They size each other up from seated positions while the fans chant for Punk and then "Holy sh!t." They lock up and Darby scores first with an armdrag. Punk cautiously grabs a headlock, Darby reverses into a hammerlock. Punk escapes and hits a scoop slam. Darby hits a sneaky shoulder tackle, they run the ropes, Allin flees to avoid the GTS. Darby returns for a flurry of offense, but Punk smashes Allin through the buckles with a nasty reverse Irish whip. Punk only gets 2, and he struggles to apply a Bow and Arrow. Darby survives, so Punk hits a back suplex. Darby breaks a chinlock, but Punk cuts him off with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Code Red by Allin gets a good nearfall. Darby reverses a superplex, Punk fires back with the GTS, but Allin lands on the floor. Punk takes a breather while Darby beats the countout. Punk hits a mean clothesline and dramatically signals another GTS. Darby instinctively elbows the face and then nails a slick tope suicida. Allin nails a beautiful swanton bomb to ringside! Crowd chants "This is awesome!" Allin mocks the GTS gesture and goes for the Coffin Drop, but Punk nonchalantly sits up like the Dead Man. Allin surprises with a pinning predicament, blocks the GTS, and pulls Punk's leg over him for modified jackknife cover for 2! Punk hits a tight leg lariat and reverses a poison rana into the GTS for the win at 16:42! They wrestled a conservative style to help get Punk's sea legs back, Darby turned up the speed and aggression when needed, and the final result was a satisfying crescendo, ***¾.Winner: CM Punk
Sting marches out to shake Punk's hand and to play peacemaker between him and Darby. Looks like there's no hard feelings, and it's easy to imagine them teaming up sooner or later.
QT Marshall (with The Factory) vs. Paul Wight
Wight clears out the Factory and foils QT's sneak attack. Wight doesn't seem to be moving too comfortably, not surprising considering his surgically repaired hip. The fans are polite while Wight shushes them to chop QT's bare chest. QT boots the face and dropkicks the hip area. QT dropkicks the head for only 2 and he gets tossed. Wight foils more Factory interference, back drops QT, grabs Aaron Solow by the hair to knock him around, and punches Nick Comoroto in the face. QT flies into Wight's hand and eats a chokeslam and gets pinned at 3:10. This was on the lesser end of what I was expecting (which wasn't much to begin with), but served a noble purpose of letting everyone exhale between big matches, ½*.Winner: Paul Wight
AEW World Championship:
Kenny Omega © (with Don Callis) vs. Impact World Champion Christian Cage
Christian side steps Kenny's sneak attack and teases an early Killswitch. They duke it out, Kenny sends Christian packing with a rana, but Christian dodges a baseball slide dropkick and sends the champ into the rails. Christian isn't messing around and hits a top rope crossbody to ringside! Don's distraction lets Kenny send Christian into the steps, Christian reverses a suplex away from a table. Kenny regains control in the ring. Kenny hits a moonsault off of the barricade, despite initially slipping. Back in the ring, Kenny hits Ushigoroshi for only 2. Christian cuts Kenny off on the top rope for a super rana! Christian blocks One Winged Angel and hits a flurry of punches, steps on the back, floats over for an uppercut, and Kenny blocks the Cloverleaf. Christian hits a reverse DDT and then a tornado DDT for nearfalls. Leg lariat by Omega, and then a V-Trigger and Snap Dragon. Christian flips the bird while eating second and third Snap Dragons, and another V-Trigger. They take turns teasing finishers through a table, but it's Christian who spears Omega off of the apron and through the table for a horrific landing. Back in the ring, Christian hits a pair of spears for a good nearfall. Omega blocks the Frog Splash, but his back is too injured for a Doctor Bomb. Instead, Kenny hits some short range V-Triggers. Christian reverses into a Texas Cloverleaf! Don summons the troops, and Christian has to fend off the Good Brothers, and tricks Omega into knocking down Doc! Killswitch, but KENNY KICKS OUT! Christian chases off Don, looks for a top rope Killswitch, but Kenny reveres into an AVALANCHE ONE WINGED ANGEL! That ends it on a hot note at 21:19! About midway through the match, the fans all seemed let go of any preconceived notions of who should win this, which made for a stellar second half. Really great match, especially when you consider that his was supposed to be Hangman Page's night before plans had to change, ****.Winner and still AEW World Champion: Kenny Omega
The Elite put the boots to Christian, and manage to fend off Jurassic Express. The fans have a good idea of what's about to happen and chant "YES YES YES!" Kenny gloats on the mic, the only people who could beat him are retired or dead. The lights go out, and out comes ADAM COLE to killer new music! Cole is NOT who the fans expected, so they go apesh!t. The only problem is that the bad guys in the ring just so happen to be Cole's best friends, so he superkicks Jungle Boy and embraces The Elite with a group kiss. Kenny tries to end the show with a kiss off, but wait, THE FLIGHT OF THE VALKYRIES hits, and they're interrupted by BRYAN DANIELSON! Bryan joins the battle line on the side of Christian and Jurassic Express, and they brawl with the Elite to loud YES chants. They clear out the ring, and Bryan hits a running knee on Nick Jackson for the exclamation mark! You could say that business has picked up (the next Dynamite would do 1.3 million viewers and beat Raw in the key demo). Five Star show closing angle.
Final Thoughts: All. Time. Classic. In 2015, I was fretting that I had wasted my life with wrestling. In 2021, I am so glad that I came back.
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