AEW All Out 2023

A week after the historic All In show from Wembley... we get the All Out PPV from Chicago.

So a week ago, CM Punk made some news, getting into a scuffle with young Jack Perry over something that has been discussed elsewhere and I'm not feeling it here. Long story short, one day before the All Out PPV and hours before that night's Collision show, Tony Khan publically fires CM Punk WITH CAUSE. So naturally, without ol' Phil, this All Out show is going to absolutely fall apart, right?

Right?

ROH Tag-Team Champions Adam Cole and MJF (your reigning AEW World Champion, by the way) defeated John Silver and Alex Reynolds of the Dark Order in a perfectly acceptable tag match with all the crowd pleasing spots to retain the titles. And as they go up the ramp, Samoa Joe comes down for his match, pushes MJF, and this prompts Max to come at Joe and gets choked out as a result. Well, there's our next program and I approve.

ROH Television champion Samoa Joe defeated some dude via choke to retain his title. Too short to be memorable, but hey, Joe got another payday and good for him. That's one more PPV payday than Phil.

TNT Champion Luchasaurus (wait, I thought that was Christian Cage?) defeated Darby Allin to retain the title. This was the usual Darby match; he does a bunch of stuff that almost gets him killed, almost goes for the win, but ultimately gets beaten. Then Lucha beats up Darby some more before the security geeks run in to save the day. Which of those geeks have a father...

Miro defeated Powerhouse Hobbs in a big ol' meat slapping contest. And of course, AEW sells a MEAT shirt because sure, why not? I just hope a cut of those profits goes to Big E because the poor bastard could use the money. Anyway, this is a classic hoss fight, two big fuckers beating the fuck out of each other, straight and simple, nothing fancy. Gets the job done.

Afterwards, Miro offers a handshake, but Hobbs beats up Miro some more, which brings out the hot and flexible wife herself, who hits Hobbs with a chair. Not enough to phase him, but enough for Miro to recover and run Hobbs off. Miro does not embrace the hot and flexible wife and walks out on her... maybe he's still salty over that Lashley deal.

By the way, I have no problem with AEW never calling her by name and only referring to her as the hot and flexible wife. You could probably trademark that, at least.

TBS Champion Kris Statlander defeated Ruby Soho with an assist from the NEW Toni Storm (who prevented Ruby from using the Beautiful People's paint spray gimmick) to retain the title. So does that mean the Outcasts are no longer a thing? Does it really matter? The match was alright, but nothing special.

Bryan Danielson - once again coming out to Final Countdown and this time, the crowd plays along because they're not completely fucking useless like Toronto - defeated Absolute Ricky Starks in a fucking awesome, fucking brutal strap match. Bryan Danielson is a sick, depraved individual. He beat the crap out of this young upstart and the finish - locking poor Starks in a LeBell Lock while wrapping the strap around his neck and choking him so hard Justin Roberts is having flashbacks - is such a nasty piece of business. This match kinda pissed me off - not because of the content, but because I'm thinking about the reaction Bryan could have gotten in Wembley. Now yes, Danielson hurt his arm months ago and that's why he wasn't on All In... and there's a brilliance in his doing spots on the uninjured armed while doing nothing with the other that nobody would have noticed unless you either paid attention or somebody told you. The wrestling world will be worse off once Bryan Danielson decides to call it a career, so might as well enjoy the ride while we can.

Also, I agree with Scott Keith. They should fire CM Punk more often - you get better shows like this as a result.

Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta defeated Eddie Kingston and Shibata in a perfectly acceptable tag team with copious amounts of violence. The Claudio/Eddie feud must continue... and so it shall.

That Takeshita guy defeated Kenny Omega in the best match of his career. Hell of a win for this young fellow. Clearly, that evil bastard Don Callis has an eye for talent, yo.

Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, ROCK HARD JUICE ROBINSON... and the Gunns for some reason) defeated The Young Bucks and Fuck The Revival in an eight-man match. For those waiting for CM Punk chants as well as someone in the Elite to get booed, this is the match for you. Amazingly, other than this match, the crowd seemed really into the show and didn't try to hijack anything. Yeah, CM Punk may be Chicago's favorite son, but AEW is their baby. It started with the original ALL IN and look at where we're at. So naturally, they were going to root for the company if they delivered the goods and so far, the goods were more than delivered.

Jon Moxley defeated AEW International World All-Atlantic Western States Heritage Champion Orange Cassidy in a brutal, BRUTAL main event to win the title and end the storybook reign of Orange Cassidy, who has had one of the best title runs in recent memory, especially in AEW. In all seriousness, I've enjoyed this match tremendously. Hard-hitting, both guys gave more than their best efforts, and the ending was just a perfect topper.

Your mileage may vary as to who should have won the match, but I was fine with Mox being the guy to end the streak. The guy's a big enough star, so he can give the title some added value, Orange finally hit a wall that he couldn't overcome and went down like a fighting champion, and when all was said and done, Orange got the big standing ovation. The way I see it, you could have gone either way, but this was a good time as any to do it and if you want to do the big rematch somewhere down the line, you can do that. Freshly Squeezed has done more than his fair share of work; let someone else carry the ball for a bit.

People had every reason to write off All Out as a forgettable, throwaway PPV taking place a week after All In. I certainly didn't think much of the show, especially after the Punk nonsense... but if there is a lesson to be learned, it's to not always trust a build to an AEW PPV. Sometimes, the poor build lowers your expectations to a degree that the actual show will more than overdeliver. And that was certainly the case here. Congratulations, AEW and crew. You've delivered two solid shows in a row. I'd tell you not to do this again, but TK seems pretty set in making this a thing...

WWE should hire CM Punk... just so they can fire him.

Just saying.