10 Things We Learned From Attending AEW All In 2023

5. A Coffin Match Doesn't Need To Only Signify One Genre

Darby Allin Sting
AEW

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.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.