11 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW All Out 2021
3. A Match As Inoffensive As It Was Necessary
In the end, despite it being allocated far too much TV time, Paul Wight Vs. QT Marshall was a nothing buffer match promoted purely to allow the audience a breather.
This does not warrant an 'Up' in and of itself. Wight was gassed, nobody was desperate to see QT Marshall eat sh*t, and it's some indictment of the apparent beloved legend role Wight is scheduled to play that everybody received this glorified angle with the exact same take:
"Thank f*ck Paul Wight Vs. QT Marshall lasted about three minutes!"
This didn't die a death - some members of the crowd were happy to play along with the old Big Show schtick - but it was a strategic exercise more than it was a good match.
It nonetheless resolved a core issue that has plagued every AEW PPV other than this, even the amazing ones: they all go too long and are sequenced as if everybody shares Tony Khan's boundless energy. They don't.
That can all be written in the past tense now. The crowd was white-hot for everything that mattered, and on such a life-affirming night, virtually everything did.