14 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW In 2020

2. All Out*

Matt Hardy
AEW

* to an extent.

AEW is the good mainstream North American wrestling company. AEW holds itself to a very high standard.

All Out fell well short of it.

All Out was not a terrible show. It was a good-to-great show when it peaked. But it was wildly uneven, sequenced badly, and the disaster it invited too readily engineered an eerie downer of a vibe that undermined what was great.

Jon Moxley Vs. MJF was f*cking great. A philosophical battle told with such depth and intelligence that it perfected a story uneven in the build, the tactical gamesmanship erupted into a fantastic, full-on brawl that legitimised the challenger's prodigy persona. The subdued atmosphere that met Hangman Page and Kenny Omega Vs. FTR only slightly detracted from the agonising implosion of the babyface Champions.

Mimosa Mayhem felt tonally strange in the semi-main. The Casino Battle Royal was an over-thought and overlong mess. Matt Hardy turned purple and was inexplicably allowed to continue following his terrifying and concussive (?) stunt bump. The question that lingered over his injury sat as uneasily as the distressing incident itself. This was a huge indictment of AEW's medical protocol.

All Out itself was the natural culmination of Dynamite's uneven summer period and thirst for danger.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!