411’s AEW All Out 2020 Preview

Hello 411 readers! Welcome to 411’s AEW All Out 2020 preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas as usual, and we’re breaking down the card for Saturday’s All Out PPV. AEW has had a lot going on since their last PPV, Double or Nothing in May — Sorry Fight For the Fallen and Fyter Fest, you guys weren’t PPVs even if one of you was spread over two nights. They’re coming out of their holding pattern a bit with a limited fan capacity (which is certainly a decision that they made which has fans talking) and plenty of title matches. We’ve had a good, solid build for…more than one of these matches, I’ll say. And the rest, well…they should be fun, at least. But anyway, without further ado…let’s do this.

The Buy In Match
Private Party vs. Dark Order’s 3 and 4

I mean, I’m glad that Private Party are getting onto All Out, even if it’s just in a match that feel more like it would fit on an episode of AEW Dark. I don’t think there’s any question which was this is going to go; Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen actually have names, and 3 and 4 are literally 3 and 4. I like Reynolds and Silver just fine, and this should be a solid pre-show bout. But there’s only one way this ends, and that’s wioth a Private Party win. I honestly don’t have much more to say about this match than that.

WINNER: Private Party

Tooth and Nail Match
Britt Baker vs. Big Swole

First off, this match is no longer the pre-show match, and it shouldn’t have ever been. So that’s good news. Anyway, Baker has been endlessly entertaining in her time off and this feud with Swole has been better than I expected, leading into “Tooth and Nail” match which will be a cinematic match in Baker’s dentist office. Baker needs a big win in her return, and Swole can take a loss. This should have a lot of fun spots in it, though it of course won’t be a work rate monster just because of the environment. I suspect that the good Doctor will have some tricks hidden in her workspace that will allow her to pick up a nefarious win.

WINNER: Dr. Britt Baker, DMD

Casino Battle Royale

The Casino Battle Royale is AEW’s signature match thus far, and we know 17 of the 21 competitors in Darby Allin, Lance Archer, Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix, The Butcher, The Blade, Eddie Kingston, Shawn Spears, Billy Gunn, Austin Gunn, Jake Hager, Santana, Ortiz, Chuck Taylor, and Trent. That of course leaves four names remaining as potential surprises, and honestly my money is on one of the surprises picking up the win. That’s not to say that there aren’t good choices in here. Allin, Archer, Cage, Spears, and Kingston could all be viewed as potential contenders to win because what we need here is someone who can credibly challenge for the World Championship without necessarily being a real threat to win. It’s impossible to guess who the surprises will be, so I will limit myself to the confirmed names. Of them, I think Kingston makes the most sense because he’s an intriguing potential challenger no matter who wins the main event.

WINNER: Eddie Kingston

Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks

This match honestly just seems put together to put the Bucks on the All Out card, and there’s nothing wrong with that as a rule. Just don’t expect me to get too invested in it. That’s not a patch on either team; they’re both obviously ridiculously talented and there should be some great action here. That’s enough reason in and of itself to make it worth the time it’ll get. The Jacksons have seeminly been teetering toward a heel turn and putting them up against the babiest of babyfaces among AEW’s tag teams should progress that. There are two potential roads here: the Bucks win in some sort of assholish fashion, or Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy shock the Bucks with a win and then the Bucks go full heel in a post-match assault. Given the rest of the card, the former seems more likely to me.

WINNER: The Young Bucks

The Dark Order vs. Matt Cardona, Scorpio Sky, and The Natural Nightmares

While 3 and 4 are stuck hanging out on the pre-show where they’re sure to take a loss, things look a little brighter (darker?) for the Dark Order on the main show. Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno, and Stu Grayson have momentum on their side after Lee’s destruction of Cody for the TNT Championship. And while I like Cardona, Sky, and the Nightmares, this is a unified stable against two solo guys and a tag team. The match should be a very solid brawl, as all of these guys can go moderately to very well. But a single destruction, even of someone like Cody, does not a power stable make. The Order still needs a big win to solidify them as a group to be feared, and this could help in that. Unless Cody makes his return and somehow costs the heels the win, a move that is unlikely and would be regrettable, the Order walks away with the win here.

WINNER: The Dark Order

Broken Rules Match
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

This is a match that I could have seen going any number of ways before the stipulation that was attached to it. Not the “Broken Rules” stipulation; that doesn’t potentially change how this match could go. In fact, the Broken Rules plays very well into the heated level of this feud that was (unintentially) kicked up a notch when Guevara threw the wrong chair into Matt’s face and things got wild online. Hardy has been cutting some impassioned promos about the matter and he’s been putting Sammy over very well. But if Guevara was going to win this match, they wouldn’t have tied in the “Matt will leave AEW if he loses” deal. I know that they can have him come back in another gimmick, and that does add an element of doubt here, but AEW has also been seen to stick with its stipulations to date Note how Cody still isn’t fighting for the AEW World Title, for example. I don’t see them bringing back Matt in a new gimmick necessarily here, and there are plenty of ways to do that without this stipulation. Giving Hardy the win over Sammy here is the right move anyway, as the babyface gets revenge on the heel for the latter’s heinous attack.

WINNER: Matt Hardy

AEW Women’s Championship Match
Thunder Rosa vs. Hikaru Shida

This champion vs. champion match was one I didn’t expect to see in AEW any time soon, but here we are. And I’m excited. Hikaru Shida is obviously a great champion, but she’s reigning over a division that AEW just doesn’t know how to book right and which has been badly hurt by the pandemic’s travel restrictions. I’m hopeful that Thunder Rosa, the NWA Women’s Champion, is a step in the right direction. The first thing AEW needs to do is build the division’s credibility, as its being treated as an afterthought for months means few people care. And that’s unfair to Shida and the rest of the women of the division. Putting her in a champion vs. champion match makes people stand up and pay attention a little bit. Rosa is a very good worker and Shida can obviously go, so this should be a fantastic match. Ultimately I think there’s little doubt in my mind that Shida walks away with her title reign intact, giving the division a bit of a kickstart here.

WINNER: Hikaru Shida (STILL AEW Women’s Champions)

AEW World Tag Team Championship Match
FTR vs. Hangman Page & Kenny Omega

FTR fighting for the Tag Team Titles in AEW is something that’s been building since the team debuted on Dynamite. AEW has taken a little bit of time getting to this point, but not too much time so there’s still plenty of heat on this program — heat that’s been added to by the tension within the ranks of the Elite. Hangman got kicked out of the group after he gost the Young Bucks a chance to be fighting for the belts at this show, and that’s advanced the dissent between Page and Kenny Omega. The time is ripe for FTR to walk away with the titles that might as well have their name already imprinted on them. There are a number of ways this could go down. Omega could turn his back on Page, the Bucks could come down and interfere to cost Page and Omega the titles as revenge, or Page could turn on Omega and join FTR in an alliance. Frankly, all of those options seem viably and I just hope they don’t overbook this too much because I’m excited to see these guys tear it up in the ring.

WINNER: FTR (NEW AEW World Tag Team Champions)

Mimosa Mayhem Match
Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy

This is the greatest stipulation in the history of stipulations. (Relax, Cornette fans: I’m kidding.) In all seriousness though, it is one I see as fun even if it does telegraph what’s likely to happen here. AEW has been trying to build Orange Cassidy as a legit star in AEW for some time, and his feud with Jericho has gone a long way toward that. A lot of people who scoffed at him are taking him a lot more seriously now, and that can only be a good thing. Cassidy and Jericho have a win apiece over each other, and this is the rubber match to decide it all. The mimosa pool is an easy way to get Cassidy the win without having him pin Jericho or make him submit, protecting the Inner Circle boss (even if he doesn’t really need protecting). There is always the possibility that Jericho pins Cassidy and then Cassidy uses the mimosa tank as a way to get post-match revenge, but that would suggest the feud continues and I think this one is ending here. It should be a lot of fun, but in the end we’ll have a mimosa’d out Jericho.

WINNER: Orange Cassidy

AEW World Championship Match
MJF vs. Jon Moxley

I’ve gone back and forth on this several times, because I could see several arguments for each side. MJF is easily one of the best heels in wrestling, perhaps THE best. There aren’t a lot of contenders for that throne right now, but he is certainly one of them. And his run in AEW has been very good so far. Meanwhile, Moxley has had a great run as AEW World Champion but is also at six months with the title. It would almost seem like if there was a time to have him lose the title, it would be now. MJF and Moxley have had a mostly-entertaining feud, even if I wasn’t keen on this week’s main event segment, and it definitely gave the challenger momentum heading into what is sure to be an enjoyable match. But I’m leaning toward the champion retaining for one simple reason: MJF’s World Title win needs to be in front of a full crowd. He needs that massive heel heat when he holds the belt over his head, and he won’t get it here. While there is a part of me that could see Cody entering the Casino Battle Royale and winning it, thus bypassing his stipulation about never getting a World Title shot and then being paired up against MJF, I don’t think now is the time. Moxley’s run is going very well and there’s no real urgency to take it off him now, so I suspect that he retains in a solid main event.

WINNER: Jon Moxley (STILL AEW World Champion)

And that’s all we have for All Out 2020! AEW has put together a solid card, if not one of their best to date. I expect some great wrestling, probably some turns one way or the other, and some interesting developments in their feuds to keep things moving along here. As long as it can avoid being boring and delivers the match quality we’d expect of them, I’ll be happy with what we get here.

Anyway, thanks once again for reading, and remember that we will have live coverage of All Out right here on 411mania.com. I’d better take off before Matt Hardy thinks I look like Sammy…