10 Match Quality Predictions For AEW All Out

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