AEW returned to pay-per-view for the All Out event at the Sears Centre Arena in suburban Chicago on Saturday night, delivering a slightly more uneven show than the previous efforts form the upstart promotion. A pair of solid matches to close the show left a good taste in fans' mouths, though, as did Chris Jericho departing from the show as the first AEW world champion. Jericho bled for the gold, outlasting a spirited effort from Adam "Hangman" Page in the main event. He will now serve as the promotion's top champion -- and top star -- as they head toward the Oct. 2 debut on TNT.
The show-stealing match of the night came one bout earlier, with the Lucha Bros. retaining the AAA tag titles in a thrilling ladder match with The Young Bucks. Following the bout, a popular free-agent tag team made its debut to inject the AEW tag division with some much needed fresh faces. Largely feeling like a show that prepared AEW for weekly TV, there were still incredible highlights throughout the night, even if the card didn't live up to the lofty standards set by previous AEW pay-per-view events.
Nyla Rose wins the Women's Casino Battle Royale, earns No. 1 contendership for women's title (The Buy In):
Rose was the focus of the early part of the match, performing in the Andre the Giant role of the big threat. Leva Bates was almost the first elimination but walked on top of books at ringside to avoid her feet "touching the floor." Once she returned to the ring, she was immediately eliminated by Rose, who had eliminated all four other women who started the bout. Rose was again the only woman standing after the second batch of wrestlers were eliminated. Awesome Kong and Brandi Rhodes were in group three, working together to bring a new force to compete with Rose. Former WWE women's champ Jazz made her way out as part of group four. "The Joker" spot of the final entrant to the match was Mercedes Martinez, which drew a big pop from the crowd. By the time Martinez hit the ring, Kong and Rhodes had been eliminated from the match. The final four in the match were Britt Baker, Martinez, Rose and Bea Priestly. Priestly and Baker worked together to eliminate Martinez before Rose eventually threw Baker out as she was eliminating Priestly, earning her the victory.
Private Party def. Jack Evans & Angelico via pinfall (The Buy In):
This was the athletic tag team match you'd expect with all four men showing off their skills with wild counters and high-flying moves. Private Party held their own in every way, showing why they were a team handpicked for AEW by The Young Bucks. After a big dive from Kassidy on Angelico, Quen hit a shooting star press for a late near-fall. Evans rebounded with a spider German suplex and a standing 450 assisted by Angelico for their own two count. Moments later, Quen hit an avalanche poisonrana on Angelico before a standing poisonrana from Kassidy as well and a cutter by Cassidy on Evans for the pin. The teams shook hands after the bout before Evans and Angelico attacked and paid special attention to the knee of Quen.
SCU def. Luchasaurus, Jungle Boy & Marko Stunt via pinfall:
Decent enough six-man tag action here with the more established SCU mostly running things on the smaller members of the other team. After dives from Jungle Boy and Stunt, Luchasaurus hit one of his own in an early impressive moment. SCU took over the middle part of the match, taking advantage of the much smaller Jungle Boy and Stunt. But it was the wildly athletic Luchasaurus brought things back in hand with big offense after a hot tag, including the big man hitting a massive standing moonsault. Daniels hit a Best Meltzer Ever on both Stunt and Jungle Boy at the same time, and Stunt ate the 1-2-3. The losing trio was both referred to as "A Boy, A Boy and His Dinosaur" and "Jungle Express" over the course of the match.
PAC def. Kenny Omega via submission:
Omega, having lost out on his match with Jon Moxley after the former WWE champion was forced off the card due to MRSA, still delivered a showstopper in trademark fashion. PAC and Omega put on a near-epic with big move after big move. Both men hit big dives over the course of the match, and they also drove their own legs into the ringside barricade in the process. The lively AEW crowd assisted the match by giving a major first-time ever match a "big fight feel" from the early moments, which were heavy on mind games and taunting.
The action was not going to remain slow with these two, however, and they went back and forth with high-impact moves. There was an unexpected stumble late as a PAC poisonrana attempt was botched resulting in Omega having to effectively put himself through the move. The ending came when PAC countered a One-Winged Angel attempt from Omega into a standing variation of the Brutalizer submission. Omega faded in the hold, eventually falling to the floor with PAC maintaining it, forcing the referee to call a halt to the bout and award the former Neville the victory.
Jimmy Havoc def. Joey Janela (via pinfall) and Darby Allin:
This was less a wrestling match and more a hardcore match with periodic high-impact moves, which is not to say it wasn't entertaining. If there was any doubt the kind of match these three would put on in the "Cracker Barrel Clash," it was laid to rest in the opening moments as Havoc used a staple gun on himself. Moments later, Allin poured a cup full of thumbtacks into Havoc's mouth as he was taped to a chair before then taping his mouth closed. Allin would also hit Havoc with a flipping dive to the floor where Havoc was still taped to a chair. Late in the match, Havoc moved out of the way of a moonsault from the top rope to the floor, causing Janela to crash hard on the entryway. Allin, after using a thumbtack-covered skateboard on the back of Janela, attempted to hold a literal barrel on his back and hit a Coffin Drop from the top rope to Havoc on the ring steps only to miss. The ending came when Havoc hit Janela with a superplex onto another barrel and followed with the Acid Rainmaker for the win.
The Dark Order def. Best Friends via pinfall:
The winners of this match earned a first-round bye in AEW's tag team title tournament. This featured a surprisingly long period of dominance in favor of The Dark Order. To be honest, it seemed the crowd was checking out before Chuck Taylor took a hot tag for a brief comeback. Some big false finishes down the stretch for Dark Order after they took back over. Dark Order won after hitting the Fatality on Trent following their Creepers getting involved on the outside. Following the match, the lights went out and Orange Cassidy made his AEW debut in the middle of the ring, hitting a suicide dive on the Creepers and receiving a hug from the Best Friends, giving the crowd a measure of satisfaction after a match that seemed on the verge of losing them.
Riho def. Hikaru Shida via pinfall:
As good as you'd expect given the two very talented women involved, but it was missing some of the magic from the crowd that makes AEW feel so special. That may largely be because many fans weren't familiar with the Japanese stars involved. Still, this was a good match that saw Riho get the win with a counter into a roll-up for the three count. Riho punched her ticket to a match with Nyla Rose for the AEW women's championship with the win. Riho pinned Rose in a three-way match at Fyter Fest, so there's some story driving the first-ever women's championship bout.
Cody def. Sean Spears via pinfall:
Tully Blanchard stood in Spears' corner, while Cody brought out MJF to be his second at the start of the match. After having his head busted open by a Spears chair shot at Fyter Fest, Cody was out for blood of his own. While he didn't bust Spears open, he did get a measure of revenge in the end. After hitting a suicide dive on Spears before the match actually began, Cody dropped Tully with a right hand. Blanchard got involved shortly after the wrestlers hit the ring to "officially" begin the match helping Spears turn things in his favor. Referee Earl Hebner had a big moment during the match, laying down the law on Spears as he attempted to use his belt to attack Cody. After Hebner took the belt, Blanchard passed Spears his own , resulting in Cody being whipped on the back and chest before he "Hulked up" for a big comeback. Cody took a beating in the match with welts and blood on his back, but he hit Spears with Cross Rhodes. Blanchard distracted the ref to prevent a three-count. As Blanchard and MJF clashed at ringside, Arn Anderson ran in and hit Spears with a picture-perfect spinebuster. As the action returned to the ring, Cody picked up the win with another Cross Rhodes after a Flip, Flop and Fly and a Diaster Kick to Spears while he was holding a steel chair.
AAA Tag Team Championship -- Lucha Bros. (c) def. The Young Bucks to retain the titles (Escalera de la Muerte):
This was the show-stealing match of the card to this point. There was some worry coming into the mat that Fenix had suffered a knee injury that would impact this match. He seemed on form, however, busting out big aerial moves from the jump. The match had all the expected elements with wild dives, table spots, ladder violence and nearly any other high spot you can imagine. These two teams even began combining these things, mixing in dives through ladders and innovative ladder and table spots.
It'd be a lost cause trying to lay out the highlights of the match, but the Bucks locking Pentagon in a sharpshooter/crossface combo through the ladder is an innovative enough spot to give a sense of the wild offense on display. After a violent final stretch with the Bucks laid out after briefly unmasking Pentagon, the Lucha Bros. climbed the ladder together to retrieve the titles for the win. A pair of masked men hit the ring after the match, taking out both men before unmasking as Santana and Ortiz, formerly known as LAX.
AEW World Championship -- Chris Jericho def. "Hangman" Adam Page to become the first champion:
Jericho remains a master of his craft, putting in an impressive performance against yet another younger star. The match felt like more than just a world title match, it felt like a moment that marked how AEW wanted to move into their TV era and who would serve as the "face" of the promotion. After a hard-fought back-and-forth battle, Jericho is walking away as "the man" for AEW's immediate future. Jericho slowed the match down to a methodical pace after taking over early, working over Page's arm and legs while showboating and looking every bit the crafty veteran as he's been over the past few years. When Page managed to get the upper hand, he used his more explosive athletic abilities to outpace Jericho and hit bigger moves.
Jericho was busted open following a discus forearm from Page, a callback to Jericho previously busting Page open above his own left eye. Page continued to work the cut, leaving Jericho with the proverbial "crimson mask." Page escaped multiple Walls of Jericho attempts while Jericho managed to kick out of a Deadeye from Page. It was when Page hit another Deadeye and Buckshot Lariat and did not make a cover that Jericho had an opening. Jericho hit The Judas Effect after Page attempted a third Deadeye, leading to the three-count and his being crowned the first ever AEW world champion.
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