Special Event: All Elite Wrestling presents ALL IN (2023)

August 27, 2023 7:55 AM

Five years ago, Cody Rhodes made a bet with Dave Meltzer that an indie wrestling show could sell 10,000 tickets, and then he and the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega changed the business. This year, All Elite Wrestling shipped 81,000 tickets for a single night at Wembley Stadium, breaking the paid attendance world record for a pro-wrestling event to stage "The Biggest Event in Wrestling History".

The card, much like some other big-event AEW shows, has been subject to changes, with last-minute visa issues compounding the usual unfortunate injuries, but the announced card looks like this:

Zero Hour (free pre-show):

ROH World Tag Team Championship Match: Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) (c) vs. MJF and Adam Cole

FTW Championship Match:Jack Perry (c) vs. Hook

Main show card:

Tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

AEW Women's World Championship Four-way match: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Toni Storm vs. Saraya vs. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.

Coffin Match: Darby Allin & Sting vs. Swerve Strickland & Christian Cage (with Prince Nana and Luchasaurus)

The Golden Elite (Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega, and "Hangman" Adam Page) vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Bullet Club Gold (Juice Robinson and Jay White)

Stadium Stampede match: Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy, Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta), and Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta), Santana and Ortiz

Will Ospreay (with Don Callis) vs. Chris Jericho

"Real World Championship" Match: CM Punk (c) vs. Samoa Joe

AEW World Trios Championship Match: The House of Black (Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews, and Brody King) (c) (with Julia Hart) vs. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) and Billy Gunn

AEW World Championship Match: MJF (c) vs. Adam Cole

posted by The Pluto Gangsta (21 comments total)

Aesthetically, I do enjoy that the first entrance of the special is Samoa Joe emerging from an LED tunnel of fire. On the other hand, back when CM Punk faced the Undertaker at Mania 29, WWE got Living Colour to play his theme live. C'mon Tony, you couldn't swing it, or did they not want to share a venue with Fozzy?

I do enjoy that the chyron threw shade at Punk, calling him the "claimant to the Real World Championship".
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:09 AM on August 27, 2023

We had blood the hard way in the Zero Hour FTW match and now Punk gigging in the opener... this is SOOOO a British wrestling event.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:14 AM on August 27, 2023

FOUR NAAN?!?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 10:27 AM on August 27, 2023

Don Callis has portraits... of himself and Takeshita... depicted as muscular horseman... shooting shirtless firing bows and arrows. I AM DYING.

Fun fact: Ibushi is the only man on either side of this match who hasn't been a member of Bullet Club at some point.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:31 AM on August 27, 2023

Cash Wheeler like “What if Darby Allin but 70 pounds heavier?”
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:23 AM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ooooh, the FTR/Young Bucks match is like a crash course in these four men: starts off as classic old-school style meets the Bucks' indie style, then after both pairs exhaust their usual ammunition they call back to the finishes of their earlier matches! Wheeler failing a 450 splash, the stereo submission attempts, the Bucks attempting a Shatter Machine, every spot a history lesson.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:46 AM on August 27, 2023

Stadium Stampede.

Oh no.

My wince muscles.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:47 AM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I guess if you’re going to let Mox’s skin hang off his face you might as well get a closeup of it.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:52 AM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I know, right? That was like a war movie, but with breaks for costume changes and Sue serving cookies.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 11:53 AM on August 27, 2023

A surprising number of mom spots in this PPV.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:01 PM on August 27, 2023

A wrestler winning a title in her hometown?

::Bryan Alvarez voice:: Who books like that?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:07 PM on August 27, 2023

Shida has the Bray Wyatt problem where I always think her tats are blood.

The women did a good job with what they had. Storyline progression and character work.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:07 PM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

The Trip but it’s just Eddie and Claudio brawling through the Lake District
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 12:20 PM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Once again I marvel that Sting is 62 years old and threw himself at Swerve on a table, and then when it didn't break, went back to do it again with a Yokozuna splash.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:26 PM on August 27, 2023

Thanks to Jericho, the number of Freddie Mercury shout-outs at this show has increased to THREE.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 12:34 PM on August 27, 2023

House of Black coming out with extreme pagan drip, plus a lantern as a Bray Wyatt tribute.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:25 PM on August 27, 2023

I don't know if a main event match has ever made me laugh as hard as this MJF/Cole match. Matching t-shirts? MJF amazed at his own first topé? Double clothesline? And then trading a steel chair back and forth until MJF decides to Pillmanize himself?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:48 PM on August 27, 2023

HUG IT OUT
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 1:54 PM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also this match finale and aftermath is the most melodrama and I'm here for it.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:57 PM on August 27, 2023

This show was an extended commercial for the quality of British lumber. Unbreakable tables; unbreakable skateboards; unbreakable announcers’ desks.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 2:01 PM on August 27, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yes, but they used to make steel!
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 2:58 PM on August 27, 2023 [1 favorite]