ALL OUT VII - 9/20/2025

[Zimbra]

45 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I mean, I want there to be a rule where there is no two wrestlers on the ladder at the same time! No dual fight over the belt at the top in a ladder match, are you crazy? But it could be done. 

Ladder match with an OSHA inspector at ringside to DQ anyone who breaks safety rules

[jaedmc]

Why even have a ladder? Just make it a Broken Escalator Match.

[Log]

18 minutes ago, Zimbra said:

Ladder match with an OSHA inspector at ringside to DQ anyone who breaks safety rules

There just has to have been a Chikara ladder match where one participant had a clear path to the belt but was stopped by the warning on the ladder about not standing on the top couple of rungs, right?

[Matt D]

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

Enjoy!

This was tremendous.

[Dolfan in NYC]

22 hours ago, tbarrie said:

Also, Moxley beating Darby in Darby's signature match is a bold prediction, in my opinion.

The Undertaker's "signature match" was a coffin match and I think he was like 2-10 in those.

[tbarrie]

1 minute ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

The Undertaker's "signature match" was a coffin match and I think he was like 2-10 in those.

True. But Darby was undefeated in AEW coffin matches until recently, and I'm pretty sure he still only has the one loss.

Plus, I'm pretty sure the Darby-Mox feud culminates in a Darby victory. And it would seem weird for him to job in "his" match then beat Mox in a match with some other stipulation. To me, anyway.

[Curt McGirt]

Tony clearly knows about the Taker over/under and wants to reverse it.

[driver]

GREEN BASTARD IN THA MUTHA PHUCKIN' HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Natural]

Congratulations Kris Statlander. First woman to win the AEW Women's World Championship and AEW TBS Championship.

[The Natural]

Welcome back, Eddie Kingston.

[The Natural]

One word before I call it a night as it's 01:10 over here:

Whatever.

[Cobra Commander]

perhaps Eddie shouldn't use a uraken as a finish if it's gonna whiff as badly as it did tonight (not gonna blame it on Eddie or Bill specifically)...

maybe a guy or two can duck Eddie's uraken in the future and get hit with a DDT for the finish, but as long as they don't look as dumb as Alex Wright vs Arn Anderson

[HumanChessgame]

I didn't sleep for shit last night and dozed off for a few parts of this, but the show was fine if unremarkable. 

Mercedes is best when she's working from underneath and her strength is in her selling, and she made someone as miniscule as Riho actually come off as a threat. The outcome was never in doubt though.

Happy Stat won but keep her away from the Death Riders.

The main event was longer than it needed to be, but a good match. I honestly thought Fletcher might win after he hit that brainbuster towards the end. He reminds me of a lot of 00s indy guys who went by their real names and had generic ring gear. Plain but a good worker.

I thought the stip for MJF/Briscoe was stupid, but they actually made the thumbtack bumps mean something early on.

The three way was entertaining even if I wasn't wild about Okada retaining . 

[Curt McGirt]

ALL OUT

Spoiler

I was actually sober for this one! So it felt a little long for a change, which they all are. But we had a good time. 

- All the preshow matches were great. Garcia/Shibata severely rocked the house, they sold like motherfuckers and destroyed each other. Doing a spot where you smash a guy's head in between the edge of a set of stairs and a ringpost, who almost got retired from a brain injury, is nuts. They must've worked it out to be super safe. Mina Shirakawa coming to the ring dressed like Mayumi Ozaki would to a street fight was niiiiiiice. Poor BBQ pit got a receipt for fucking up the spot.

- I didn't have the video up but when I heard Mike Smith's voice my ears perked up like a dog. CHRISTIAN, BUBBLES DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HIS DAD OR HIS MOM YOU DICK. And then they somehow teleported Bubs into the Green Bastard costume not ten feet away, I don't know how the hell they did that. Beautiful, just beautiful. I was still getting used to the video being a little choppy and was a bit distracted so I didn't catch all of it. Edge stealing Cena's stuff and burying FTR's big moves until they put him away was funny. I still hate handcuffs in wrestling.

- You should have heard the maniacal laughter in this house when Eddie came out. Match was about as good as you could expect. Of course you worry about Eddie being hurt again/still being hurt with a lot of the hanging on to the ropes that he did, but he did some running; finish wasn't perfect but Keith eating another backfist made up for it. Hook needs something like a bell to announce he's there because the lights drop doesn't work and neither does the theme music. Nobody remembers that shit. KING~!

- Of course my match of the night would be the bloodiest, but not just cause of that, but because Mark got his revenge for Max denigrating the memory of his dead brother; also, consider what Bryan brought up about, basically, Class War (of course it would come from Bryan, who I guarantee has some Emma Goldman in his library) because of that enormously tasteless shirt Max came out in. Psychology, people. And guys getting penetrated with thousands of thumbtacks too. Can't beat it. The blood splotch on MJF's crotch is something you can show people not into wrestling and they will probably look at you like you have two heads.

- Wow, Hurt Syndicate/GOA wasn't at all the match expected. Montel Vontavious Porter came in with the gloves, the nose tape, and the Punisher gear ready to rock, and rock he did, bad knees or no (which GOA expertly pick apart). Bobby must've been so beat up from the other night he kind of took this one off. Meanwhile, Shelton can toss you so high on a back bodydrop it practically turns into an offensive move. This was really good and gives them a lot of room to continue the feud. Hell, I expected a big Toa/Bobby showdown and we didn't even get that!

- Mercedes has a Belt Harem! Not really a fan of either performer but I watched. They worked hard and I'm sure if you like them, you liked this. I will be nice tonight. 

- Would have preferred for this to just be Okada/Takeshita but they're saving it for down the road so clearly needed an extra player to take the fall, Dorada was there and Okada was feeling nostalgia for the mole across the border down south, so we got him. Not a fan of three ways but they worked that out well with some solid faceoff between our Japanese giants and Dorada doing his spectacular stuff as always. Not a lot of one guy hiding behind the apron as I recall, which is always a bonus. There was a scary moment where Takeshita looked to snap his neck like a twig on a Destroyer; it was funny that my feed froze on the exact second his neck crimped to the side. Lucky man...

- Oh boy this one. First off Moxley does the always chuckle-worthy bit where he walks down the wrong way, has to turn around and go the right direction to the ring. I don't know if this was on purpose this time. Then, we not only catch him in full view digging his blade out of his pocket, but the announcers point it out (for shame), and then THEY CATCH MARINA PICKING IT UP IN THE BACKGROUND. But the funniest was when five people, including someone who is ostensibly the strongest man in the world (or at least in wrestling), drop the casket. Total comedy of errors and Botchamania fuel. Aside from that? Good stuff, pretty much what was expected. Nasty ear bladejob from Mox and shoot getting stabbed with the fork, guarantee fingers of both guys got broken, Darby bounces off of solid metal once again, Moxley indulges what we in the Discord supposed might be a penchant for being choked (Renee would know more about this but I'm not asking). The bloody plastic bag was quite a visual. Pac shows up looking like Wade Barrett? 

- Good lord. First off you notice the absurd outfit Toni's wearing with the red tubes coming up over her tits (?), THEN you notice that her makeup makes her look like the female mask that Leatherface wore in the first Texas Chainsaw Massacre (?!). This is another "out of my element" match but they strung together some really cool spots. Thekla is growing on me. She certainly has some incredible core strength. Bet you she can pop out 100 Hindu squats no problem. Stat wins her first (which shocked me) championship and she certainly deserves it. The comments on the side read "LEAVE HER ALONE YUTA STOP" and yeah that is some real stalker behavior. (BTW, I called it seconds before it came, and sure enough "FUCK YOU YUTA" made an appearance in the last match. Man that kid got some heat.)

- Frankly, ignored this one. Not for me. At least Brodito kept the titles. Hope that Speedball's okay, whatever happened to him (missed it and the replay too). 

- Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus is back, it's 2021 all over! Happy days, happy days...

- I thought for a second that Darby was gonna spray Mox with the Febreeze but guess that's another job for Renee. They are gonna have a fire match, aren't they? God... the possibilities are unsettling. 

- If Hangman is nearly as tall as Fletcher you know he's enormous. This was very much a Hangman match -- bombs bombs bombs -- but incredibly well-paced, with a sense of escalation, solid selling, and Fletcher seeming like he had it in hand at times. He's the man, quite frankly; I firmly believe he's the best main event performer in the company right now. He's just got IT. Personality, size, talking, movez, selling, dresses like if the Pink Panther was a pimp. And I just love his yelling in his matches when he's flying in with a kick or something. AND he will make a head drop look like he's Misawa in the '90s without eating it like Misawa in the '90s somehow. Excellent main. Plus the moment Danielson totally loses his shit marking out while Callis stands next to him somehow no-selling it was utterly hilarious. 

Maybe it's just how I'm wired, but I liked the lower-card stuff more than the upper-card, besides the main. That doesn't really matter though because the quality was there. Solid, solid PPV. NOW GIVE IT TO US FREE ON MAX, TONY. DAMMIT. 

[Curt McGirt]

Holy shit I wrote a lot. You don't have to read all that 

EDIT: A question, though. Was it just me or was the crowd pretty subdued tonight? Is it just hangover from the Arena crowd being insanely hot? (They should definitely had King return out there instead.)

Edited September 21 by Curt McGirt

[colonial]

Watched it off and on ... had some phone calls and a store trip that took priority during the show.

-- The Kingston match was acceptable. He's clearly rusty so I'll give him some grace. Regardless, the reaction to him was incredible -- he's everybody's crazy uncle you're not supposed to talk about who shows up every Thanksgiving to eat all the stuffing and peeve off his siblings, but quietly gives his nephew $10 and a high-five, reminding him to stay strong in school.

-- Mascara Dorada in the three-way reminded me of 2 Cold Scorpio challenging Barry Windham for the world title at that one Clash of Champions. Being in the match doesn't make sense at first but, as time wore on, he's showing he belongs and gets the crowd behind him. And just like Scorp, he's doing so much crazy poop that's hitting that you're believe he has a chance of winning the title.

-- Congrats to the Death Riders for purchasing PAC some clothes. I honestly didn't know who he was at first because he was, well, dressed. Also, AEW seems to have some kind of makeover artist backstage -- it was Serena Deeb last year with the sequins and capes, and now Marina Shafir shedding the Debbie Gibson hats and looking classy.

-- The choice to assist the Bucks in going after Jack Perry seemed ... odd. Guess they dropped off Cutler and Nakazawa somewhere in California a few years back and can't find them.

-- Surprised with the Stat win. Curious if AEW will do something with Toni after she went into a "catatonic state." Might be time for a short-lived gimmick makeover.

-- Roderick Strong is confused about Kyle O'Reilly being in two factions. Harley Cameron is apparently part of Conglomeration, QTV and is in a "faction of her mind" with Stat. For some reason, I've always wanted to see a storyline of a new wrestler, acting like a high school freshman on the first day of school, attempting to join every faction in a promotion to feel popular. Harley may be the one wrestler who could pull that off.

[tbarrie]

Just got back from the show and got my brother on the road. A few random thoughts:

• We arrived a bit late; Shibata and Garcia's match had already started when we got to our seats. So we missed the Joe/Hobbs vs Workhorsemen match entirely. I suspect I can guess who won, though.
• I liked the bit in the eight-woman brawl near the beginning where the faces irish whipped their opponents together, and all the heels except Megan Bayne fell down. Little things like that to keep Megan strong add up, in my opinion.
• Opening match was fun. Surprised that apparently neither of C&C's feuds are resolved yet, though.
• Great to see Kingston back, but just going to the three-count after completely missing the backfist looked pretty bad.
• Watching Riho dominate Mercedes in the opening stretch of their match was surprisingly fun. (Not powerhouse-style dominating, of course, but Riho came out of every early exchange looking faster and/or more skilled.) The whole match was good, really.
• The three-way for the Continational title was great. Loved hearing the crowd gradually get behind Dorada.
• Between Mox beating Darby and Toni losing her title in the four-way, I didn't do great prognosticating. Those were the two matches I'd have called closest to a sure thing.
• The ladder match was the ridiculous spectacle I expected. Have to love that several-minute stretch in the middle where none of the wrestlers seemed even vaguely interested in trying to win the match.:/
• LUCHAFUCKINGSAURUS threw away his "Killswitch" belt!!!! Our long global nightmare is over!
• AEW's tag team scene seems to have generally recovered quickly from their needing to scrape to put together a tournament to challenge the Hurt Syndicate. Plenty of teams that feel like they matter now.

 

[Nineteen]

Was really happy to finally C&C vs. FTR even if the match fell apart at the ending. Bell shot and spike piledriver gets a kickout but then a few minutes later we're supposed to take the spike piledriver seriously. It kinda took me out of that a little.

All hail the mad king! (Claudio sucks eggs!)

Really glad Mark got the win after pretty much eating shit from MJF for the past few months. Mark Briscoe getting a major win on a PPV is one of great things about AEW, where this probably couldn't happen in a different company. And hey some news about the returning Conglomeration member!

For a foregone conclusion match, Mercedes and Riho totally ruled. I say this every time she pops back up but I hope she sticks around because Riho fucking rules

Okada/Takeshita whenever it takes place is gonna be tremendous. Been a pretty dope for year for Takeshita with the NEVER belt, a G1 win, the Kenny match, now this program with Okada

Holy shit KrisStat, I loved the little deflection during the media scrum where she pointed out that Orange Cassidy and others used the seatbelt as a bit of plausible deniability for all the Death Riders stuff. It's gonna be heartbreaking when she turns on Harley.

I... had such a warm happy feeling for Jack and Luchasaurus there, me and my friends had over even did the arm wave when the Baltimora hit too.

Hanger and Fletcher was totally wonderful prowrestling with the tildebang

Wonderful afternoon of wrestling that leaves you glad for being a fan.... this one of the shows that calls for an AEW rules the motherfucking world

[Curt McGirt]

40 minutes ago, colonial said:

Congrats to the Death Riders for purchasing PAC some clothes. I honestly didn't know who he was at first because he was, well, dressed.

Dunno if that was you in the Discord that said the exact same thing, but... yeah.  I was surprised I missed the nose and the jughandle ears (the Death Triangle!) but was too busy thinking Wade Barrett got fired and decided he wanted to go against doctor's orders. 

20 minutes ago, tbarrie said:

• Great to see Kingston back, but just going to the three-count after completely missing the backfist looked pretty bad.

Announcers tried to cover for it by saying it might've hit him on the chin, oh yeah it definitely hit him on the chin. After saying it was a "glancing blow" at first. Or maybe it was the classic "he didn't quite get all of it". 

I sincerely thought KOR was talking to an invisible phone at first.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I'm very tired so I'll probably write more tomorrow but this was another great PPV from AEW.  Yes, they could have trimmed it down some but you know what?  I spent $40 on HBO to watch this and it was all action from beginning to end. There were no commercials at all.  They gave us fans of wrestling 5 hours of..... wrestling! What a concept that is.  

Another thing I love?  There was all kinds of wrestling on the show.  If you're a fan of classic/mat wrestling and submissions you got that. If you like lucha, you got that. If you like bloody death matches or main event epics, you got all of that.  

[Death From Above]

I thought the main event was very good. It was almost inconceivable Fletcher would win but this match accomplished something important for him which is that he was in a main event for the world title and he absolutely looked like he belonged there. AEW has a ridiculous amount of riches when it comes to guys they could put in top slots if they want. Honestly the match didn't feel like 30 minutes to me it really flew by. I will also say I was shocked the "no interference" stip was honoured, usually in wrestling that kind of thing is a wink wink kind of finish but this was the rare case of it being the real deal. That was a pleasant surprise.

Rest of the show for what I've seen was very good. Nothing blowaway all-time great but all pretty entertaining. Overall a very strong show. I'm not the biggest Riho fan but I thought her match with Mercedes was very good. Briscoe beating MJF is a really nice moment. Honestly did not see Statlander winning but good for her. AEW has honestly been pretty loyal to the people that helped get it off the ground and even if this run turns out to be a Gold Watch Moment it's a deserved one. And if it ends up getting her more over, even better.

[Pete]

Think about the whirlwind weekend MJF had - hell, the 18 hours he had. Fly to Mexico City, have a classic bloody brawl with Mistico at 1 am ET, put him over clean as a sheet. Fly to Toronto, have a classic bloody brawl with Mark Briscoe at 4 pm ET, put him over clean as a sheet. That's God-tier work, and I can't fathom how fucking exhausted he had to be afterwards. He needs the mother of all honeymoons now and rest up.

[Steventon]

Good show, everything was enjoyable at the least.

- C&C vs FTR was good, though they clearly have better in them. The finish felt a bit duff though the post-match angle with Beth was pretty dastardly and gives us reason for more between these guys. I expect we'll end up with FTR winning the next and then a final 3rd match.

- Kingston vs Bill was fine. TV level match but fine to get Eddie to blow the cobwebs off. Great reaction for him. Shame about the whiffed finish though the commentators made it so much worse trying to backtrack and cover for it. Not sure Kingston really needs Hook, but I can see the benefit of having him work a bunch of tags to get rid of the ring rust in the short term

- MJF vs Briscoe was nasty fun. Thought they did a pretty good job with the gimmick and it felt like a good payoff to this feud seeing Mark go over strong. My only complaint is that, given he wore white, we could have done with more blood from MJF!

- Mone vs Riho was really good. Probably the best match Riho has had in AEW and I'd echo those who said Mone did a class job making her look a threat. This played to both womens strengths and was a big W despite the outcome never being in doubt

- Unified Title triple threat was good, though they played it a bit too safe never having Okada and Takeshita really boil over beyond some standard exchanges. Dorada was really forced to carry this and he stepped up and looked awesome. 

- Mox vs Darby was of course fucking psychotic and nuts. This felt like it should have been the cathartic win Darby needed, but I guess they aren't done yet. Otherise PAC's return, while surprising, will feel like another lame Death Rider win via interference. 

- Speaking of the DR's, it seems pretty clear Stat is going to turn on Harley now and join them. I'm not sure there is enough interest in Death Riders 2.0, not from me at least. Cool moment for Stat, though the match was one of the weaker on the show and Stat felt like the least impressive woman in it. That pre-match vid was fucking outstanding though.

- Ladder match was as expected. Lots of nutso spots, some which were cool, some which made no sense. How no one got seriously injured I do not know. Jurassic Express reunion wasn't on my bingo card and feels like a regression for both guys, though they are kinda of stuck with what to do with them otherwise seemingly

- Main event was very good. It felt too long, on a show that was already quite long, but the layout was really well done with Fletcher taking most of it and controlling Hangman with his superior athleticism and smarts working over the injured neck. Hangman was reliant on his guts and getting his big comeback spots in here and there. They of course went crazy with some of the big spots, some of those DeadEyes had me wincing, but all in a really strong match that elevated Kyle in defeat

[DreamBroken]

fuck statlander. Could've just had Athena win it last month but

Killed my interest, but did at least mark out for bringing back the epic Tarzan Boy theme.

[For Great Justice]

This show felt like a love letter to the origins of AEW. Such a feel-good show; a complete 180 from last year’s All Out

Man if you didn’t do the arm wave with a stupid-ass grin on your face when Tarzan Boy hit, this just might not be for you.