By Tony Donofrio, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@TonyDonofrio)
-Please allow me to reintroduce myself. I’m not a household name amongst pro wrestling media, but I contributed on and off for the Pro Wrestling Torch from 2008-2024 and was briefly part of this parish in 2024. I have a passion for the business, including both the on-screen product and the business side behind the scenes. All opinions expressed through my columns are my own, and I’m thrilled to be back. I’d appreciate a follow on X/Twitter (see above) and/or Bluesky @TonyDonofrio. Enough about me, let’s get into it.
-Let’s start with AEW All In. While this was the fourth iteration of All In under the AEW banner, this one truly felt like AEW’s signature event. The follow-up on Wednesday’s Dynamite sealed that with the use of recap videos and what truly felt like the reboot of something big with the coronation of Will Ospreay. The All In production was the best we’ve seen from AEW since the company launched in 2019. This goes for how it was shot, the elaborate entrances, and ultimately how Will Ospreay was presented right before the main event.
AEW is still the number two company in the world, and a distant number two at that. But for one night, this was as close as AEW felt to being like WWE on a scale like that due to the production. The CM Punk and Jack Perry drama tainted the first AEW All In. AEW has used the past three years working to prop up this event as its version of WrestleMania. The 2026 All In weekend and the Dynamite follow-up finally felt like the company achieved that goal. Also, the main show only going four hours and 15 minutes was a breath of fresh air. I’m all for earlier start times or shorter AEW shows, preferably both.
-Does anyone else have Darby Allin fatigue? I’m sure I’m in the minority, but hear me out. Has anything changed about Darby since his AEW debut in 2019? Nothing about his character has changed in nearly seven years. His gimmick is that he takes a licking and keeps on ticking. He wins the TNT Title and defends it weekly until he loses, which gives the character the out that “he was such a fighting champion!” Darby worked the same title gimmick during his short AEW Title run as well.
For most of his AEW run, Darby was also attached to the hip of Sting. Now that Sting is retired, the new approach is to have Darby take on Sting’s son, Steven Borden, as his mentee. This is not a shift that excites me (if you can even call it a shift). Don’t get me wrong. I respect Allin’s ability, and his toughness truly is unmatched. This is not to take anything away from him as a worker. But, at this point, when he’s on my TV, I just don’t care and tend to zone out because it’s like watching the same rerun of a TV show for seven years straight. Allin is talented, but his character needs a long-overdue refresh.
-AEW’s tag team division looks to be as strong as it’s been since 2019. I feel like this was a bit of a missed opportunity in the early days of AEW. The tag team roster during AEW’s dawn was as strong a division pro wrestling has seen. However, the division never quite got to the level that I believe Tony Khan wanted it to get to. Santana and Ortiz never really got incorporated into the tag team mix and instead were lumped more into Inner Circle feuds. Young teams such as Private Party and Top Flight were never developed and pushed to the level that they should have been. There was a lot of failed potential to go around.
AEW now has a chance to really do what I believe it set out to do in 2019 with the tag division. In the early days of AEW, it was stated that a tag title match could headline a PPV. That hasn’t happened yet, but with the division as it is now, the possibility feels like it exists again. Beyond the Christian Cage and Adam Copeland, the Young Bucks, New Level, FTR, and the Motor City Machine Guns, who all filled the ring at All In on Sunday after the AEW Tag Team Title match, there are still The Gunns, GOA, The Rascalz, and Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong, and the aforementioned Private Party and Top Flight that are still under contract.
-The only missed opportunity from All In weekend was not using Thekla more at the company’s biggest show of the year. She deserved to be more involved and in a match. She’s loaded with charisma and is a great worker. Her act can work whether she’s a heel or babyface, and I think seeing her as a babyface for the first time in AEW will be a lot of fun. I don’t know that she went full babyface, but it’s going to be hard to keep her as a heel due to her charisma. Perhaps a feud with a debuting Kairi (speculation, not reporting) could hold off a face run at this point. Either way, Thekla has been one of my favorite characters on AEW TV in 2026.
Until next time, stay classy, pals!
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