By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
AEW All In Hits
Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay for the AEW World Championship: An outstanding match that finally crowned Ospreay as the AEW World Champion. The presentation was tremendous, with the awesome Ospreay introduction video and the backstage stroll where he encountered numerous wrestlers who have played key roles during his career. Omega was awesome and went above and beyond to make this the best match possible. The big negatives were the needless Tiger Drivers, including one that resulted in Ospreay dropping Omega on his head. Regardless of Ospreay’s story with the Death Riders, some moves just aren’t worth the risk. Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed the match. The predictability of Ospreay’s didn’t work against it. This was his night, and that was the show’s biggest hook. They still managed to make the fans buy into several Omega near falls, and they popped big when Ospreay kicked out. As much as I have complained about AEW pay-per-views being absurdly long, I didn’t mind the main card running 15 minutes past the four-hour mark that Tony Khan stated was the show length because it eliminated the predictability of when the match would end.
Willow Nightingale vs. Mercedes Moné for the AEW Women’s Championship: Willow entered the match with a hand injury, and Mercedes suffered an apparent broken nose early, and yet these two had one of the most physical matches of the night. This was one of the best women’s matches in company history, and one can only hope that this will be a long-term rivalry that will be revisited at key times. Mone finally won AEW’s big one after coming up short in previous attempts. I would have been fine with Willow retaining, but putting the belt on the top wrestler in the division is a logical move. Thekla received a great reaction when she played to the live crowd on the pre-show, and I could see her being a strong babyface challenger for Mone if they want to move her in that direction.
Kyle Fletcher vs. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazuchika Okada in a three-way for the AEW International Title: They had me the moment this match seemed like it was even a possibility for All In. Fletcher and Takeshita work extremely well together, and they bring the best out of Okada at this stage of his career. Okada going over was a fun call, though I don’t think they could have gone wrong with any of the three. I wasn’t sure if Fletcher would actually raise Okada’s arm afterward, but I got a kick out of Don Callis telling Fletcher he would raise Okada’s arm with him and then actually doing it. Okada is the champion, and it will be interesting to see how Fletcher responds to this loss. I’m also curious to see what’s next for Takeshita. He’s such an amazing wrestler that the company can get away with just booking him in bangers with the right opponents, but hopefully he’ll get a strong storyline.
Adam Copeland and Christian Cage vs. “The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson for the AEW Tag Team Titles: A good match with an outcome that surprised me. I thought we’d see new champions, but I have no problem with extending the reign of Copeland and Christian. They can’t really claim that Copeland didn’t see Christian use a low blow to set up the win unless they don’t plan to show the actual footage, because he was clearly watching at that point. The post-match angle involving FTR, Motor City Machine Guns, and the New Level set the table for some intriguing matches and even perhaps a strong tag team tournament. By the way, I don’t include many pre-show matches these days, but I liked the approach of ending the pre-show before Kofi and Austin Creed made their debuts.
Jon Moxley vs. Nigel McGuinness in the Continental Challenge Cup tournament final for the AEW Continental Championship: The tournament matches that led to this one were predictable and underwhelming, but the final delivered. There was no reason to think that McGuinness would win despite the show being in his hometown, but some of the near falls they built to were so convincing that the fans really bought in.
Kevin Knight vs. Darby Allin in a Falls Count Anywhere match for the TNT Title: Crazy spots, a big brawl, and at least one truly insane spot – this was everything one would expect from a Darby match. The big spot on the stage was wild, but it looked like the landing area was padded. The insane spot was Darby being crotched on top of some chairs that were sitting upright. I’m amazed that the guy keeps getting up from these crazy stunts. The spots with Sting and Steven Borden were really fun. Sting is still very agile for a 67-year-old guy of any background, let alone a senior citizen who wrestled for forty years. It was a cool moment when he and his son both climbed opposite sides of a ladder, before Sting stepped aside to let Steven perform the big dive. It will be very interesting to see what comes next for Knight. Is there a bounce-back plan, or will he move away from the secondary title picture?
Megan Bayne and Lena Kross vs. Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor for the AEW Women’s Tag Team Titles: More of an in-the-middle than a Hit or a Miss. The hometown gals going over was predictable, but not in a bad way. I wish the build had made things feel more personal between the two teams so the win meant more for Hayter and Windsor. It will be interesting to see if Bayne and Kross continue to tag together or if this will lead to them becoming singles wrestlers. I assume there will be a rematch at the very least, and I’d probably keep the heel duo together, in part because AEW has a shortage of quality women’s tag teams.
AEW All In Misses
A Casino Gauntlet match for a future shot at the AEW World Championship: A minor Miss. I thought there might be some surprises during this match, but none were hinted at, let alone advertised, so I’m not holding that against the match. It was OK. It seemed likely that Andrade El Idolo or MJF would win. Andrade earning a future title shot was fine, especially since it doesn’t feel like they need to justify MJF getting another title shot given his credentials. To close on a positive note, AEW produced a great stadium event. It looked and felt like a major event, and the key matches lived up to extremely high expectations.
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(Jason Powell, founder and editor of ProWrestling.net, has covered pro wrestling full-time since 1997. He hosts the weekly podcast, Pro Wrestling Boom, and also appears regularly on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast. Reach him via email at dotnetjason@gmail.com and on social media via @prowrestlingnet.bsky.social or x.com/prowrestlingnet. For his full bio and information on this website, click here.)
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