By Will Pruett, ProWrestling.net Co-Senior Staffer (@itswilltime)
Seven years of AEW! We should have celebrated with a seven-hour pay-per-view!
– Maxwell Jacob Friedman now begins his third reign as AEW World Champion after an exciting match against Darby Allin. This was the assumed outcome when MJF lost the title to Darby in the midst of an interesting second title reign. MJF as the lead antagonist in AEW going into Wembley Stadium and All In feels like both the safe choice and a bit of a boring one. He’s already had both a main event match in Wembley and a match in Wembley against Will Ospreay. It’s not an especially inspired choice, but MJF is an inspired performer. I have no doubt he can make magic with Ospreay in August. Their two matches in 2024 were excellent – particularly the July 17, 2024, Dynamite match that went almost one hour.
– Darby Allin was one of AEW’s best Men’s World Champions in the company’s seven-year history. His reign was short, but exciting and completely focused on the story of Allin wrestling his heart out until the wheels fell off. I’m sure another wrestler could not pull off a reign like this (the closest we’ve seen in AEW is Orange Cassidy’s long run with the International Championship). Everything about both this title reign and the intense series of matches in it screamed “Darby”. I was encouraged to see AEW give Darby a direction coming out of this title reign as well. I wondered if he would have to disappear (like Hangman Page has). What a run, reminiscent of Lex Luger winning the WCW Championship in Summer 1997 (this is a compliment), Darby Allin had.
– Speaking of Darby Allin’s story after this match and title reign, let’s talk about Kevin Knight. Knight has been constantly involved in Darby’s business since Darby won the AEW Men’s World Championship. Knight constantly saved Allin when he was being attacked, was there to make challenges, and delivered awkward promos with Speedball Bailey. Knight has to stand on his own two feet as a confident heel. It’s a big swing for the wrestler to make and a large step forward. AEW is showing a lot of trust in Knight to put him in a role like this (the trust level required to close a pay-per-view with a semi-shocking turn is also high). Knight will have to deliver a lot more aura and confidence going forward. I wonder how much this has to do with Swerve Strickland, given their exchange a couple of months ago, and how much Swerve and Knight might see teaming up.
– AEW has an annual match at Double Or Nothing that feels meant more to be a party than a regular match. They load it up with wrestlers and allow them to have a blast with creative ideas ranging from dangerous to delightful. This match is always either Stadium Stampede or Anarchy in the Arena. While Stadium Stampede was the originator of this concept for AEW, I have to confess something to you – I prefer the tropes of Anarchy in the Arena more. I’ve been in the audience live for two of them and Anarchy always feels a little more intense. It also always has the big needle drop moment where fans get the joy of singing and jumping along to a song (“Let the bodies hit the floor” from last year was amazing). Stadium Stampede always skews both too silly and too long for my tastes. This year had some great moments, but I will never go back and watch this match in its entirety.
– FTR vs. Adam Copeland and Christian Cage for the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship was an absolute violent blast. This was the blow-off match this feud desperately needed. I’ve been waiting two months for that Beth Copeland run-in moment. FTR was already in the conversation as the best tag team in this era, and this title reign helped to cement that. Great major matches with The Rascalz, The Young Bucks, Brodido, and Doyle and Davis made this reign feel truly important. For Copeland and Cage, this feels like a reclamation of their tag team legacy. This was one of Copeland’s best matches ever. I hope we get to see a nice curated collection of matches from Copeland and Cage against some of the best tag teams of today (especially The Young Bucks).
– I feel like we have been waiting a full year for the Don Callis Family to finally part ways with Konoske Takeshita, but the moment on this show worked just like it was supposed to. I assumed this turn would actually happen at World’s End in the first match between Kazuchika Okada and Takeshita. The match itself was among Okada’s best in AEW. Takeshita is a really talented babyface. We saw that when he came into AEW in 2022. Fans have wanted to cheer him for a long time, and now finally don’t have to deal with Don Callis to do so. Kyle Fletcher being the wrestler to fully kick Takeshita out of the Don Callis Family is an interesting touch. Fletcher vs. Takeshita will be a blast. We may also one day see Callis have to make a similar call between Fletcher and Okada. The Callis Family has become one of my favorite long-term stories/stables in wrestling.
– Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O’Reilly for the AEW Continental Championship was a demonstration of what happens when a push is delayed too much. I know there was nothing to be done about the timing of O’Reilly’s injury, but it is so depressing that he seemed on the precipice of something huge after beating Moxley multiple times, only to come back from injury and lose to Moxley. O’Reilly felt like a made man last Autumn and now seems to be living in the upper-mid-card of AEW for the foreseeable future. Moxley was great in this match, and his current character as Continental Champion is the most interesting that the title has ever been. It was not the time to move on from Mox.
– Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe was the best match of Ospreay’s comeback thus far. Ospreay continues to show his new and improved neck against dangerous opponents, even if he is not showing off his new and improved submission skills in these matches. While Ospreay winning the Owen Hart Tournament seems like a foregone conclusion (see my earlier thought on MJF’s title win), AEW can still present interesting and complex matchups in the tournament like this one. Now Ospreay needs to deliver that mission statement promo again on Dynamite.
– Athena, at this moment, looks like the best bet for AEW going through the women’s Owen Hart Tournament bracket. I feel like this was why her knee injury was a key focus of the match with Mina Shirakawa. Athena will be battling her own history of losing the big one in AEW and a likely nagging knee injury to make it to the Owen Hart finals and All In. This tournament bracket makes the four-way for the AEW Women’s World Championship on this show seem even more ill-advised than I normally think four-way title matches are. This would be a better tournament with Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander in it. Can Athena’s story save this Thekla title reign?
– Swerve Strickland vs. Bandido laid out a nice story for Swerve going through the Owen Hart Tournament, and gave him a purpose beyond weird promos about power. Swerve trying to redeem his loss to Bryan Danielson in 2024 and going to the main event in Wembley again, and winning is a great goal. Swerve, as the primary antagonist in this tournament, standing in the way of Will Ospreay’s boyhood dream, is basic but will be really effective. Those two had a great main event match together at Forbidden Door 2024. I believe we will see them reprise that at Forbidden Door 2026 with the All In main event on the line.
I might have cheated by including multiple thoughts in one here to make my artificial and very official limit of ten work, but that is how much happened on this show and how much I needed to say! Seven years! As a wrestling fan and analyst of the wrestling industry as a whole, I am so glad AEW exists. It was the paradigm shift this business needed.
Will Pruett writes about wrestling and popular culture at prowrestling.net. To see his video content subscribe to his YouTube channel. To contact, check him out on Bluesky @itswilltime, leave a comment, or email him at itswilltime@gmail.com.
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