McGuire’s Mondays: Overthink Mondays – All In edition

By Colin McGuire, ProWrestling.net Staffer

Title changes. Debuts. Surprises. And a career that lives to see another day. AEW’s All In 2024 has officially come and gone. If you’re stateside, it was a hell of a way to spend six hours on a Sunday afternoon. If you’re in London … well, perhaps you’re on pint No. 59. Whatever it is, we’re a day removed from the spectacle, so you know what that means: It’s time for Overthink Mondays – All In edition.

A DRAGON’S FIRE

Bryan Danielson can now say he’s held AEW’s most prestigious belt (not to suggest he ever even wanted to be able to say that in the first place … but you get it). The expected outcome went down as he defeated Swerve for the title in an excellent main event, ensuring that he still has that ability to show up at a random Defy show in seven years to wrestle some lucky fella. The wrestling world should be thankful for that.

But when it comes to a quintessential over-think element of the whole ordeal, I can’t help but wonder: Where was Jon Moxley? The show ended in the same way WrestleMania 40 ended, complete with an in-ring celebration that included members of Danielson’s real family and wrestling family. Shoot. Even Claudio flew all the way to Mexico and won a trophy only to make it back in time to both wrestle and celebrate with his Blackpool Combat Club stablemate. Moxley’s wife was working the show, but Mox, himself, couldn’t be bothered?

Naturally, the first thing I worry about is his well-being. Is this simply the vacation time he asked for a few years ago that he never got? Or is there something deeper going on that nobody knows about? Danielson and Moxley ostensibly started that faction alongside William Regal and while I know Moxley thrives in his lone wolf persona, he’s been waving the BCC flag as much as anyone since its inception.

Then again, maybe this is all setting up a story and maybe Danielson will ultimately drop the belt to Moxley here in a few months. Who knows? Either way, Moxley’s absence from Danielson’s celebration did not go unnoticed.

ROLLING THE DICE

All In’s 2024 Casino Gauntlet match was a ton of fun – and it was made even more intriguing with the late revelation that whomever won the thing could cash in their title shot at any moment (oh, how revolutionary that Money In The Bank briefcase has become!). There was the expected surprise (Ricochet!). There was the unexpected surprise (Nigel McGuinness!). There was the obligatory use of Kazuchika Okada. There was the G1 winner. And then there was …

… The finish.

That’s a tough beat. I’ve been as big a fan of Christian’s work in AEW as anyone else, but to borrow from something I heard someone say, I’m Christian-ed out. More so, I’m starting to think the Killswitch turn may never come because it does kind of/sort of feel like we passed that apex a little while ago. If the point is to build to something and to strike when the iron is hottest, that iron is cooling down between those two. As such, with a treasure trove of options for the company to pick, going with Christian as the gauntlet winner felt like a missed opportunity. Hopefully, AEW’s brain trust has a good story in mind for how this might eventually play out.

Also, quickly: I keep reading chatter about how the casino gauntlet is one of the best new concepts for a match in pro wrestling today. Taking nothing away from the novelty of it (because this installment, especially, was a blast), is it worth asking if fans would be as excited for this match if it just ended up being a handful of regular, old AEW wrestlers? Does this kind of match leave as much of a mark if the entrants are Roddy Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, Christian Cage, Mark Briscoe and Jeff Jarrett? I don’t think that’s an unfair question to ask, and I don’t think it’s a hard one to answer.

A TALE OF TWO MATCHES

Mariah May and Toni Storm put on a hell of a show. Britt Baker and Mercedes Mone? They did not.

It was a living, breathing summation of AEW’s women’s roster conundrum. When it’s good, it’s great. Some of the best in the world. The May vs. Storm match felt big time. A dramatic, slow-moving story that climaxed with a hell of match in front of a crowd that was dying to see it. Every single aspect of that program was and is perfect. It’s really hard to imagine anything being better in any aspect of that story.

But the DMD and the CEO? I don’t know, man. People love to talk about those two women anyway – and oftentimes unfairly criticize them for things that have nothing to do with wrestling – so the spotlight was bright for them, even if they had the unenvious task of following the Ospreay vs. MJF match. But the bout turned out to be the most disappointing of the night. It’s a shame because things felt so promising when those two first linked up. The promos were going great. It felt huge. The star power was there. It clicked.

Until it didn’t. Or, well, at least until it didn’t click as much as it once looked like it might. Maybe it was the Baker drama that played out behind the scenes and spilled into the public eye. Maybe the match was rushed into and could have used another month or so of build. Whatever it was, this viewer was expecting more than what those two gave us. It’s unfortunate because I root for that division to shine. And while it did early in the show, the latter half didn’t hold up its end.

WHAT’S COOLER THAN BEING COOL? ICE COLD!

And I don’t mean that in a good way. What once looked like the greatest tag team division in all of pro wrestling now feels … well, not that. The Young Bucks, FTR and The Acclaimed tried to heat this thing up in the weeks leading up to the match, and the triple threat on Sunday did have its moments, but there’s something about the state of AEW tag team wrestling that feels off these days.

Maybe it’s because the trios title scene bogs team wrestling as a whole down. Or maybe there are only so many times we can see the Bucks vs. FTR in some manner before our eyes begin rolling towards the back of our collective head. I’m not quite sure what it is, but it’d be nice to see that division get back to a place where it feels important. Perhaps the Grizzled Young Vets will be able to help with that moving forward. Inserting names into the mix can never hurt and GYV can more than hold their own in the ring.

My only fear is that we have now somehow traveled past the point where FTR and the Bucks can give us their best. Or, maybe worded a bit differently, past the point where the Bucks and FTR’s best simply isn’t what it used to be. It’s unfair to say either team is done, but it might not be unfair to say that they’re both closer to getting to done than they are to anything else. If that’s the case, who’s up next in the once-vaunted AEW tag team division?

ALL FUN WRESTLING

You know what? As I watched Will Ospreay celebrate his win over MJF, crowd going wild, hometown boy done good, basking in his glory, something hit me: AEW wrestlers look like they have fun when they’re out there. That sounds so simple – maybe even a bit dumb – but it’s easy to see why they stick up for this company as much as they do. Yes, when it ends for some, it doesn’t always end well – say what you want about The End, but The Beginning of CM Punk’s AEW run saw that guy smile more than a beauty queen on pageant day – but if you’re in AEW, and you’re having a good time being in AEW, it looks like you’re having a REALLY GOOD time.

And that matters. There was a long period when it looked like WWE sucked all the fun out of its employees and there was no real other place to go. These days, talent across the entire pro wrestling board seem like they are enjoying themselves much more than they used to. AEW’s case is more compelling because it’s kind of like the couple who looks to be in so much love so much of the time, but boy, when they fight, it’s a messy thing to witness. When it’s good, it’s a storybook; when it’s bad, it’s explosive.

Even so, All In, for the second year in a row, turned out to be AEW’s victory lap. Forget the rumors, the declines in attendance and television ratings. Forget the tribalism, the sometimes-questionable booking decisions. That company put 50,000 people in a stadium on one night in August and everyone seemed to enjoy the hell out of it. That’s a good thing, not just for the health of the pro wrestling business, but especially for us fans who enjoy consuming these kinds of things.

So, good on you, AEW. Even if you have no idea what the word “moderation” means (a 16-person tag team match?!?!), you had the heartbeat of the pro wrestling world in the palm of your hands Sunday night. And with it, you helped that heartbeat thrive.