10 Match Quality Predictions For AEW All Out
In which AEW could TakeOver.
It is imperative that All Elite Wrestling delivers an outstanding show.
Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen weren't that: baggy, uneven, and at times creatively inept, Fyter Fest did well to recover from the interminable and drastically unfunny Buy In, when even attempting comedy to set the tone was in itself a terrible idea. Virtually every match at Fight For The Fallen was too long, which hardly helped the creeping notion that the promotion is a billionaire-funded vanity project. Nor did it help AEW's mission to market itself as the alternative to WWE; that both shows in themselves were draining and overlong felt hypocritical.
It was a "WWE thing to do," to quote Cody's latest shot at the enemy.
Both shows featured excellent in-ring action and gripping storyline developments, but the patchy quality of each wasn't good enough, ultimately: AEW has promised its audience a manifest pro wrestling utopia.
All Out looks significantly better, and arrives at the perfect time: the new competition, NXT, just presented the most poorly-received TakeOver event in forever. From excellent to indulgent to disappointing to dismal, an already safe formula looks in danger of faltering.
There's no better time to start a revolution.
10. BUY IN: 21-Woman Casino Battle Royale
The Casino Battle Royal format needs a rethink.
There were no onscreen cues to build anticipation, nor explain the convoluted rules. Performers seemed to arrive at random, diminishing any potential pops - the crowd was too busy looking for performers to react to them - and that weird group entrance format looked far too friendly. They weren't in teams, but they looked like they were. It just didn't work.
Except it did, somewhat, between every "shuffle of the deck" which, again, was never shown onscreen.
The action was more divisive than All In's meticulously laid-out fun, but it was agented very well. The in-ring component is there, and the match format should accentuate the positives of the announced entrants without being bogged down by a contradictory, tonal mess of farce and violence.
The raw but spectacular Sadie Gibbs should get over in a blitzkrieg cameo appearance. Awesome Kong will shift the atmosphere from fun to dangerous when she ragdolls a horde of also-rans over the top rope - a tone that should deepen when Nyla Rose enters the pissing contest and stares her down. You'd hope that the crowd will get behind Britt Baker, who is at least heading into the final four, following her recovery from a serious concussion.
Baggy, possibly confusing, but ultimately successful - a battle royal, essentially, but a d*mn good one.
Projected Star Rating: ***1/4