12 Ups & 2 Downs For AEW All In 2023

5. Saraya's Big Moment

Would Saraya have been your writer's choice to walk out of All In as the AEW Women's Champion? Truthfully, I'd have had Hikaru Shida retain, or if there had to be a title change, Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. would've got the nod.

That said, it's tough to deny Saraya her big moment after having gone through what she's gone through in her career. Seeing Saraya standing tall, in front of 80,000+ fans at Wembley Stadium, in her home country, with her family present; that was something only the coldest of cold hearts could bemoan.

The match itself was a solid if not spectacular one, and the crowd was clearly a little exhausted after the sheer insanity of Stadium Stampede, but there was plenty of good stuff here. Not least, in seeing Sweet Saraya - Saraya's mother - screeching for her daughter to hand Toni Storm a whooping after Storm accidently punched the veteran in the face.

Of course, a larger part of the story here was the tension amongst the Outcasts, with it now looking likely that either Saraya or, more likely, Toni Storm is done with the group. If it is indeed Storm who's done with the Outcasts, that's nothing but a positive due to the excellence character work she's been doing in recent weeks as she pulls plenty from classic jilted Hollywood stars of yesteryear.

While the finish involved a race between Saraya and Britt Baker - Saraya hitting the Knight Cap on Storm at the same time that Baker tried to get the Lockjaw on Shida - the best spot of the match was Saraya putting her old PTO submission on Storm, as Britt then hit a Stomp on Toni. It looked absolutely brutal and made for a great nearfall.

Will Saraya have a long reign with the AEW Women's Title? That remains to be seen, but if that isn't the case, she at least got to have this huge, emotional moment.

Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

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