wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s AEW All Out 2022 Review
Image Credit: AEW
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September 4th, 2022 | Now Arena in Chicago, Illinois
We’ve got like 73 matches set for 12 hours and I’ve got toasted coconut rum by my side.
I’m eating during the pre-show so these reviews won’t have a ton behind them as my hands are greasy.
AAA Mixed Tag Team Championship: Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo [c] vs. Ortiz and Ruby Soho
Sammy and Tay were getting interviewed in street clothes until Ortiz and Ruby interrupted by running Sammy over in a golf cart. That sparked a brawl to the ring to start the match. Ruby took a rough bump on her neck early on and it was gross. There were some big spots like a Sammy swanton and Tay being launched into a Destroyer on Ortiz. Anna Jay snuck out to go after Ruby Soho but was sent into the steel steps. They also did a Tay superplex to the outside spot that was pretty wild. Tay beat Ruby in 6:05 because Ruby is a loser. That had fun elements but was sloppy and saw Ruby nearly get hurt twice. [**]
FTW Championship: Hook [c] (12-0) vs. Angelo Parker (13-3)
Hook showed love to Action Bronson in the front row. He dominated to start as expected but then a Matt Menard distraction set up a cheap shot to turn the tide. That didn’t last too long though as Menard’s next interference attempt saw Hook no sell and kick him away before beating up Parker a bunch. He countered another move or two and won with Redrum in 3:56. That was just what it needed to be. [**½]
Matt Menard jumped Hook after the bell only for Action Bronson to hop the guardrail and save him, tossing 2.0 around with ease.
AEW All-Atlantic Championship: PAC [c] (27-7-2) vs. Kip Sabian (15-9)
It’s Kip’s first AEW match in over 500 days. This got off to a slow start as Sabian seemed intent on working the crowd and keeping PAC grounded. He’d bust out a dive or try something outside but it was mostly just stuff happening that didn’t engage me. PAC taking over on offense improved things and I liked Kip tricking him into eating a headbutt. PAC survived more Sabian offense and won with the Black Arrow in 10:25. PAC is great but Sabian didn’t click for me here and this was just okay. [**½]
PAC was interviewed after the match, making it obvious that someone was going to interrupt him. It was Orange Cassidy, looking to renew their rivalry. PAC simply said “no” because OC isn’t a wrestler, he’s a joke.
Eddie Kingston (44-19) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (1-1)
Ishii won their meeting earlier this year (***¾) and this is the first thing on the card I’m genuinely excited for. These two just chopped the hell out of each other to start. Like, they did that for like three minutes. They just slapped titties for a while and I respect the hell out of that kind of match. They popped up after big moves, slapped each other in the face, and gave me just what I wanted out of a match between these two. They botched a move but Eddie is a pro who covered it up by selling. Smart move. They traded big blows late like a back fist, lariats, and more. Kingston won with the Northern Lights Bomb in 13:27. Tremendous pro wrestling and 100% my kind of wrestling. I loved every second of this. [****½]
Onto the main card. 11 more matches to go.
Casino Ladder Match: Andrade El Idolo vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Dante Martin vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Ray Fénix vs. Rush vs. Wheeler Yuta
Winner gets a World Title shot and I feel like it’ll be at Arthur Ashe. Fénix and Yuta started this and had a fun back and forth before Rush entered the fray. Rush calmly made his entrance as Yuta nearly won. Dummy. Next in was Andrade El Idolo, giving an advantage since he’s with Rush. He also didn’t attempt to win which was comically stupid. That’s poor laying out for this match. Andrade took out Yuta with a somersault bomb on the ladder before Claudio joined the mix. They did a dumb ladder spot that just looked more awkward than anything else. Dante entered and did a lot of flips. He was trying to save this match. Pentagon was the last entrant before the Joker and he ran wild for a while. As this was starting to get good, masked men hit the ring. One pulled down the chip and it was Stokely Hathaway. The masked men revealed themselves to be Ethan Page and Hathaway’s gang. Then the Joker arrived in a mask and got handed the chip to win in 14:11. He refused to unmask. This came off super weird though the Rolling Stones song and mannerisms made it feel like MJF. The match had some good spots but didn’t make much sense and had some serious logic gaps. [**¾]
AEW Trios Championship Tournament Finals: The Dark Order (61-31, 56-39) and Hangman Page (57-19-1) vs. Kenny Omega (54-16-1) and The Young Bucks (35-13)
Several intertwining storylines here. Almost immediately it came into play as Matt Jackson got beat up on his damaged lower back and Page stopped Dark Order from furthering their assault. Matt tagged out rather than fight Hangman, giving us Page/Omega though that was short-lived as Silver blind tagged in. That set up a portion of the match where the teams started trading stuff. The Elite work seamlessly together while Dark Order and Hangman had good stuff going. Silver had a great little moment where he took out his opponents, Nakazawa, and Landon. Dark Order came close with a big series of moves on Omega though nobody believed they’d pin him. If Kenny ate the fall, it would be to Hangman. It was all really good stuff here and we finally got the actual Hangman/Kenny interaction. Their back and forth was nuts and just what you’d want from these two. As Hangman set for the Buckshot Lariat, Matt stopped him outside in the same position he was in when he let him do it at Full Gear. Hangman went for it anyway, Kenny ducked, and Nick hit him with his own Buckshot Lariat in a fantastic spot. Silver countering the One Winged Angel into a rollup was one of the best near falls in recent memory. Hangman tried the Buckshot but Kenny ducked and it hit Silver. Kenny quickly covered and the Elite won in 19:49. An incredible match where the action was as good as you’d expect but what put it over the top was the layered storytelling. The callbacks and emotion were everything. Hangman nis now back at square one emotionally and he’s going to be crushed by this. [****¾]
AEW TBS Championship: Jade Cargill [c] (36-0) vs. Athena (5-0)
I was 100% behind the idea of Statlander being the one to beat Jade. Athena? Not so much. Jade rocked She-Hulk gear and paint. Athena came out of the gates aggressively and hit her finisher in the opening minute. The Baddies were late to break it up so Jade had to kick out on her own. Athena then destroyed Leila with a dropkick into the guardrail. From there they had more of a one-on-one match with stuff in the ring that the crowd wasn’t totally into. Hogan got involved again for a moment and when Jade won with Jaded in 4:20. That was inoffensive. It was kept short and had some odd moments. [**]
FTR (33-6-1) and Wardlow (58-8) vs. Jay Lethal (20-6) and The Motor City Machine Guns (0-0)
They cut off the Guns’ theme for Jay Lethal’s which is TK’s worst decision ever. The guys all got a chance to strut their stuff and I was 100% in on everything in this match EXCEPT Jay Lethal. I just want FTR vs. MCMG. That’s it. The crowd booed some of MCMG’s tandem offense. I know they’re heels but you respect their incredible offense dammit. Wheeler ended up as the face in peril with the heels working over his legs. Wardlow got the hot tag and tossed everyone around. Watching him lay out Lethal with his clothesline gimmick was fantastic. He then won with the Powerbomb Symphony in 16:25. That was a bit too long (AEW theme) and not as good as I wanted but still mostly fun. [***]
Post-match, Samoa Joe came out and beat up the heels. They threw Sonjay Dutt in the ring and Finley, Dax’s daughter came out. She broke his pencil, Dax laid out Dutt, and Finley pinned him.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks (53-13)
I missed Hobbs’s record as I ran to the bathroom during his entrance. Starks hit the ring aggressive and went right after Hobbs which proved to be a mistake. Hobbs overwhelmed him with his offensive onslaught. Ricky found a way to fight back but made a mistake of running into a huge spinebuster to lose in 5:14. That was much shorter than most people expected but likely sets up more down the line. It did what it needed to. [**½]
Jim Ross joined commentary here so that part of the show immediately took a dive.
AEW World Tag Team Championship: Swerve In Our Glory [c] (12-2) vs. The Acclaimed (39-9)
The crowd turned the “bask in his glory” chant into “oh scissor me daddy” and that’s a 10/10 move. I like that Max wasn’t afraid of Lee, opting to step up to him and throw hands with him. It didn’t go too poorly for him either. The Acclaimed was way over, getting a massive pop for simply scissoring. It hit a point where the champs actually worked heel which made a ton of sense. Max took the heat and Bowens came in with a fun little run. I’m not used to them as faces so this felt fresh for The Acclaimed. Alas, Bowens ended up also getting his ass kicked after his previously injured knee gave him trouble. Lee as a vicious heel throwing dudes around is a good look for him. Max’s hot tag saw him step up again and Lee accidentally hit Swerve with the Pounce, opening the door for an Acclaimed near fall. The Acclaimed hit a double superplex on Lee but Swerve blind tagged in and hit the double stomp for a great near fall. He went after Bowens’s knee before Max came in for the save. The Acclaimed had several close calls that the fans ATE up. The one where Swerve kicked Lee and Bowens rolled him up was masterful. In the end though, a double stomp/powerbomb Doomsday Device ended Bowens in 22:26. That started slow but picked up in a HUGE way and was boosted by a RABID crowd. I kind of would’ve called the audible but we’ll see where they go. This was fantastic. Feels like the night to call an audible though it does give me DIY/Revival in Brooklyn vibes. [****½]
AEW Interim Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (38-13) vs. Hikaru Shida (63-14) vs. Jamie Hayter (5-2) vs. Toni Storm (16-3)
If The Acclaimed lose and Britt Baker wins, Tony Khan gotta go. Big pop for Hayter and they chanted her name at the bell. This had the action you’d expect of everyone being in the ring at once. I thought it was weird to have Britt go for a double submission with Hayter because you can’t really win that way. Rebel got involved when it was Shida battling Toni and they both headbutted her. It was a weird spot but I liked how Rebel sold it. Hayter walking Shida up the ramp on her shoulders and dumping her was such a simple but fun spot. That led to Shida getting taken to the back by officials due to injury. That left Britt and Jamie to double team Toni for a while. It didn’t take long for Shida to return with two kendo sticks. The short time behind it and the crowd being worn out from the last match might be why that didn’t get a great reaction. The crowd wanted Hayter only, popping for everything she did. She had it won only for Britt to pull the referee out of the ring. Britt all tried to steal this after Toni put down Jamie with a piledriver but Jamie kicked out. Toni then won with a DDT to a relatively mild reaction in 14:43. That had a dead crowd and they worked hard to get them back but it didn’t totally click. Still good though. [***]
Christian Cage (9-3) vs. Jungle Boy (79-41-1)
As Christian came out, Jungle Boy’s mom and sister were shown in the crowd and his mom slapped Christian. As Jungle Boy made his entrance, he looked for Luchasaurus but the big man came from the heel tunnel and attacked him, planting him with a chokeslam on the ramp. Who is writing this angle? Luchasaurus dragged him to the ring and powerbombed him through a table too. JB’s back had the marks from the grate he landed on. JB decided to fight on and survived a Spear only to lose to the Killswitch in 0:21. That was a choice. They needed to lay this out better because that’s three straight matches with calls the crowd hates. [NR]
Bryan Danielson (29-5-2) vs. Chris Jericho (46-19-1)
It’s wild that these dudes haven’t met more often. It’s also Lionheart Chris Jericho. Elliott Taylor was out to sing Danielson to the ring. We got a lot of chops from them early and honestly, some of Jericho’s would’ve felt perfectly in line with what Kingston and Ishii were dishing out earlier. He was LAYING them into Jericho. They kept this grounded for the most part, working at a slower pace than you might typically expect but it worked for them. Things picked up as Danielson survived the Walls and hit a dive to the outside. In a lot of ways this felt like a chess match between two veterans. They knew they didn’t have to do anything out of this world because they’re good enough to make simple stuff work and I appreciated that. I popped for Danielson doing the I HAVE UNTIL 5 with Aubrey Edwards though he needed to be louder with it. It all ended with Jericho using a low blow and the Judas Effect to win in 23:41. That was good but went on too long and ended with another wet fart. Like, why are they doing this to the crowd? [***¼]
Darby Allin (64-24-1), Miro (23-4) and Sting (10-0) vs. The House of Black (6-1)
New Jack Sting gotta reinvigorate the crowd. Miro handled the offense at first and was so into fighting the House of Black that he ignored Darby’s tag offer. It makes sense given their history. Darby blind tagged in only to end up taking the heat. Sting got the hot tag and had a decent run but I’m here for New Jack Sting, not Sting just working a regular match. He demanded Malakai and put him in the Scorpion Death Lock while no selling attacks from the rest of the team. Darby had it won with the Coffin Drop but the pin was broken up. In the end, Sting spit the mist at Malakai and Darby pinned him to win in 12:10. That was alright. Of course, the AEW original to win over the former WWE guy was the wrong one. Malakai looks like a total goof in AEW. He and Ruby were supposed to be treated better here, right? [**¾]
AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley [c] (57-4-1) vs. CM Punk (20-2)
Punk got the LONG BOIS tonight with the Chicago flag colors on them. I loved Moxley walking through the Chicago crowd with confidence as they were mad. He also sat like Punk in the ring and flipped him off after the bell. Punk turned the tide from Cleveland hit the GTS in the first couple of minutes for a near fall that had Moxley regrouping outside. From there, things were more level and Punk got busted open pretty badly. You know it’s a Moxley match. The crowd was more split than you might expect. 10 minutes in and Moxley was back in firm control. Moxley started stomping Punk’s head in as he was dominating yet again. Punk started fighting back and survived the Death Rider because there’s no way he was losing in Chicago. Punk hit the GTS and a stunned Moxley landed on his fallen body. They kept going a bit after and Punk won with another GTS in 19:55. A hell of a match that I’ll likely enjoy more on replays because my mind was just like “give me MJF.” [****]
And yes, the show wrapped with the reveal that the Joker was MJF who came out complete with audio from a Tony Khan phone call and callback to Punk’s “devil” promo after winning the ROH World Title. He wants the AEW Title. The move is to have MJF dethrone Punk. Anything else is a miss.
