10 Things We Learned From Attending AEW All In 2023
5. A Coffin Match Doesn't Need To Only Signify One Genre
After a difficult week in professional wrestling following the deaths of Terry Funk and Windham "Bray Wyatt" Rotunda coming just 24 hours apart and 48 hours before bell time, there'd been some calls to quietly abandon the coffin stipulation for Darby Allin and Sting's party brawl with Swerve Strickland and Christian Cage.
This wasn't bad faith heckling or concern trolling. Far from it, in fact. Traditionally the preserve of The Undertaker and or feuds that require somebody being locked inside a death box, the ties life's darkest side are transparent and intentional. But the four men and anybody involved in the arrangement of this match made sure no such spots came even close to disgracing or in anyway disparaging the memories and legacies of two heartfelt favourites.
A joyous fusion of violence and comedy, the match favoured the experience of Sting and Cage as much as it did the bumps of current young guns Allin and Strickland. Rotunda and especially Funk would have loved all of this, and the match that could have been the most disresepctful was in fact one of the most fitting tributes.