7/22/2025

Unlike many of my friends that I met this past weekend, who had to wake up early and catch flights, I got to sleep in. In the quiet hour of about 10 o’clock in the morning, I woke up, packed my things, and headed out onto the road (but not before stopping at Cracker Barrel one last time to have a really, really good plate of pot roast). And as I shouldered the quiet burden of having to drive four hours home alone during a Sunday afternoon storm shower, I reflected on the times that I had over the last four or five days, because it’s almost impossible not to do that when you have the dulcet tones of Orville Peck accompanying you over the stereo, the wide Texas sky looking out over the horizon to greet you, and the ever-present drone of the open road beneath you.

I wouldn’t call myself a woman of faith, because I don’t go to church (anymore) and I don’t read the Bible. But I do pray, to whomever and whatever might be out there, and I think I started by thanking them for the past week and for keeping me safe on the way back. It’s something my ‘woman of faith’ mother has always stressed on me to do. But after the routine stuff, I breathed a sigh of relief and I said, “thank you for allowing me to be alive so I can witness such beautiful art.” Because that’s what this weekend was to me – art. It was the divine expression of a multitude of human souls working together in tandem to create beautiful stories. I am pretty sure I started crying saying it aloud, because I’m crying as I type this out right now. This is one of those ‘few and far between’ moments in my life where I am happy, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be alive and to exist in the world.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

And I guess saying that reminded me of Hangman and the promo he cut at the end of the night, after the broadcast ended and he stood – leaned – against the bloodstained white ropes of the AEW ring, and he told damn near thirty thousand strong that tonight – “I am happy.” The last time I wrote about Hangman for y’all, I wrote about how I had gone through a deep, dark hole in my life, post-divorce. I’ve always felt like a lot of what goes on in my life parallels what we see Hangman go through, as if our lives oscillate like a roller coaster with the same radio frequency, but they aren’t quite perfectly aligned – it’s always felt like I’m a few steps behind him. But this weekend, I think it’s safe to say that we were both able to put our past behind us and revel in the joy of reaching the greatest peak.

Something I chose not to say last time around (as the article would’ve gotten long, and this one unabashedly will) was that I actually had the opportunity to meet Hangman in person, about seven months after my divorce. It was July 2022, and Hangman had just lost the world title for the first time about a month and a half prior. Consequently, I was scheduled to meet both Hangman and Adam Cole at a convention, but Cole was unable to make it – for similar reasons as this weekend where he had to vacate the title. So, instead of seeing both of them for a meet & greet, a panel, and a photo op, I took it upon myself to see Hangman a total of five times in two days. I won’t lie, I think one of those times I rambled so nervously that I genuinely think I made him skittish. But at the panel discussion, there is one thing I remember vividly – I asked Hangman about Jon Moxley. You see, ever since the late summer of 2019, I had it in my head that Hangman and Moxley would be an interesting match up the likes of which we had never seen, which was helped by the podcast episode of “Talk Is Jericho” that Mox did post-“Double or Nothing”, where Chris Jericho asked Mox at the end of the show who he’d like to wrestle in AEW, now that he was a part of the roster…and the first name out of his mouth was Adam Page.

© Scott Lesh

In the first two years of AEW, Hangman and Moxley were in the ring together a total of two times – once, early in October 2019 in a tag match, where they wrestled about 2 or 3 minutes, and then one more time in October of 2021, when Hangman was the Joker entrant in the Casino Ladder Match for a shot at the AEW World Championship, which we all know he ended up winning. But it felt like, at least to me, Mox and Hangman were due to converge after Hangman became world champ, but Mox took a great personal responsibility for his health and could not enter the tournament to crown the first contender for Hangman’s title. So I asked Hangman: “Is Mox dodging you, or are you dodging him?”

It was a very bluntly worded question, and I want to slap myself silly every time the memory plays out in my head. But Hangman answered it with grace, as I suspect very few people in this world can do. He told me that he for sure wasn’t dodging Mox, but that the only thing he could think of for why they really hadn’t wrestled was that it was just “fate,” a “ships in the night” sort of thing, but that he would gladly fight Mox if the time ever came. I remember, very distinctly, the moderator for the panel piping in at this point asking, “Texas Death match?” to which my fangirl heart shouted YES. Hangman looked over at the moderator with intrigued eyebrows and a sparkle in his eye and said, “Yeah, Mox likes death matches, right?”

Two months later, their ships would converge fatefully in Ohio. Hangman would lose due to a concussion, and there was a young woman in Texas who watched the match with all the guilt in the world as she believed this was, somehow, all her fault for bringing it up. By some miracle, the feud continued even in Mox’s loss of the world title, and my on-boarded dream of a Texas Death match felt like it was on its way. After Hangman’s match with Kip Sabian, you can see Hangman blow a kiss to the audience. I was holding up a sign in the front row that said, “Cowboy, you stole my yee-heart,” as it was the day after Valentine’s Day, and he looked directly at me. When Mox came out, he made the challenge to Hangman for Texas Death – but it was in California, a bazillion miles away from me – a broke bitch.

Do you see where I’m going with this yet?

© Leap Epic Experiences

Fast forward to last week, and I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Hangman again in Texas. I was in full cosplay, in an outfit that I was fully prepared to be mistaken for Elphaba from Wicked (and it did – countless times). But it didn’t matter to me, because I knew that the moment I saw him again, he would know exactly who I was…and I was right. Not a month after I met him in July 2022, Hangman did a videogame stream with Evil Uno on the AEW Games Twitch channel, in which Hangman played through a few levels of Banjo Kazooie, a game he referred to as one of his favorites from that era of game console. I should preface this by saying they were both probably about three or four energy drinks in, it was a TV day, and they probably had next to no sleep, but this cowboy asked Evil Uno a question about the villain of the game, Gruntilda, with all the seriousness in the world: “Ya think Grunty’s hot?”

Evil Uno seemed taken aback by the question, because he replied, “…No?” Hangman then realized he had to defend his question, and you could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke, arguing that it’s her confidence that’s so hot, to which Evil Uno was able to agree that confident women are hot, yes. Hangman continued on to say that Gruntilda has a hot attitude, and she is a bad bitch.

I ask again: Do you see where I’m going with this yet?

So Hangman saw me at Starrcast on Friday, in full witch costume, the pink and purple striped scarf and leggings that are intrinsic to this very specific Nintendo 64 witch, the green body paint holding relatively well on my skin despite sweating in the Texas heat & humidity for the better part of the past six hours – and he forgets to say, “Hello, I’m Hangman,” as he had with every other person in the line before me, because he just blurts out, “Are you Gruntilda?” and I say, “YES.” I’m holding a speech bubble of the quote in my hand, and I ask him if he remembers saying this. Gently, he replies, “I said that?” And I have to assure him that, yes, he did. We both move in for a hug, before we both pull back when we realize at the same time that my green body paint may or may not hold for much longer, and I would never want to stain his jacket (I have the same one in my suitcase ready for “All In” the next day).

After I thank him for the photo, I say to him – “Um, we met before, in Houston, in 2022.” And he looks at me and he says, “I remember.” I had given him a letter after our first photo, something I had felt very scared of doing, and I remember him taking it and asking me if I wanted him to read it in front of me. I had told him no, because I was the first person in front of a very long line and he had many more people to see. “That makes my heart really happy to hear you say that,” I say, before grabbing my things up off the floor. Before I left, though, I said one last thing. It wasn’t a question, but a declarative statement: “You’re gonna win tomorrow.” And he nods at me and goes, “Oh, yeah.”

This felt like the bookend to that first meeting in 2022, not only because I got to see him again, but because we were book-ending almost every moment from the time he lost the World Championship to him winning it again the next night – wrapping them up, stuffing those difficult years in a box, shoving them in a closet, and choosing to be happy again.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

After many years, I finally got to see the matchup I had wanted to see, live and in person. I witnessed Texas Death within the electric atmosphere of Globe Life Field, with so many of my darling friends in attendance all across the stadium. I’ve rewatched the show on television in the days following, and I have to tell you – if you weren’t there, I wish you had been. I cannot overstate the excited energy of this crowd during the last three matches, and I can guarantee you that if any sole person deserved a mic near them for the broadcast, it was me. I sat in the lower bowl, right next to the glass pane around the Rangers dugout, and the security guards on the floor below me turned around in intrigue every time I shouted obscenities at Mox or lost my ever-loving mind when Hangman would get some stiff shots in, or when I had to rally him to stand and not give up, whipping my red Hangman bandana in the air. My diaphragm still hurts and I’ll probably have a burning headache for the next month, but I like to think I did my part in being as loud, excited and feral as I could possibly be. I am pretty sure that I almost fainted a few times with the elation of being there for my favorite little guy. I was on my feet for hours in heeled cowboy boots that could probably stomp a mudhole in someone if prompted (and trust me, they tried), but the rush of adrenaline from experiencing the rabid nature of Texas Death in the main event muted every bit of the pain.

© AEW

As soon as the shenanigans started – which I would argue are probably the best booked shenanigans to ever end a PPV – I was hoping, waiting, pleading for Swerve Strickland to come out and hand Hangman the chain. I knew it was coming, there was no way it wasn’t, and the absolute euphoria of that moment had me hugging my friend and screaming my lungs out. Strickland, in my mind, is second only to Hangman in my heart. Their feud and subsequent relationship has lit a fire in me that is impossible not to get riled up about. It feels good to know that enemies can put their troubles in the past, because it gives me hope that the people who have left my life can always find their way back to me if they choose to. His story has been a beautiful one, from being a back-stabbing son of a bitch that would do any vile, reprehensible thing to make it to the top of the mountain, to becoming the kind of man that would put his newfound friends and family first. The man who said he had “no sympathy for human life” and “no regard for anybody,” chose to put his own life on the line for Will Ospreay, and then he set his personal issues aside to give the assist to the man he knew would lead the company forward in the perfect direction.

The blood, the (real) glass, the fork, the tables, the barbed wire, the chain – all of this was the red frosting on the proverbial cake to me. I never want to hear another white male podcaster say that deathmatches can’t main event a show, or that women, of all people, will not want to watch this. It’s time for men to look themselves in the mirror and realize that they are projecting their own qualms onto others so they don’t bear responsibility for their words. There’s a whole section of Globe Life Field that can attest to this – women fucking love that shit. People with uteruses bleed every month and it sucks and we keep going and you could never deal with the pain that we go through. Man up and say what you really want to say – you aren’t as sick as me and my GOAT:

This Texas Death with the usurper king Jon Moxley, the photos with Hangman (and Swerve, and Toni, and Mina, and Mox, and Ricochet – listen, you get it) at Starrcast, meeting all of my friends for the first time throughout the weekend, witnessing Moxley getting choked to death, seeing Hangman pull the AEW Men’s World Championship out of the briefcase – all of this was the pinnacle of my love and loyalty to a character that has consistently won my heart, over and over and over and over again in the past six years of my life. It was the perfect climax of emotions to bring about a new chapter for me, a new chapter for Hangman, a new chapter for this promotion. This culmination of moments will be a reminder to me that good prevails, that the fires of the past can be choked out and reduced to embers and ash to make way for the prospect of the future – a future paved in friendship and solidarity with our fellow man, and an overwhelming inner peace that cannot be taken away, no matter how hard anyone tries.

A couple months ago, I told y’all that he helped me become more comfortable with myself. I think this weekend proved it. As Hangman would also tell you, I am proud of the tears I shed this weekend. I am proud to buy into the magic and bear witness to the art of professional wrestling. I am proud to be a fan of our AEW Men’s World Champion, Hangman Adam Page.

© AEW

AEW

All In: Texas

July 12th, 2025
Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas, USA
Watch On: Amazon Prime/Triller/ITVX

The closing of AEW’s biggest ever North American show ended with a fitting image – a single man, bloodied by the combat which had come before, kneeling next to a bed of nails with the AEW Men’s World Championship in his hands, marking the end of his journey back to the top of All Elite Wrestling. There was nothing except his own emotions to distract from the feeling, not even any confetti falling around him. This was a moment of triumph for the 33 year old Virginian – and for AEW as a whole.

The main event of “All In: Texas” brings to a close a challenging three years for Page, who has detailed his battles with depression during the early part of that period in various interviews, as well as his very real belief that he would not make it back to the stage he last achieved in November 2021 before dropping the title to CM Punk in May 2022, and everything which followed thereafter. The program between himself and Jon Moxley has not shied away from that, with subtle and (in the case of one Jon Moxley promo) not so subtle acknowledgement of the dual nature of his journey as both a performer and a character that led him to this point.

The program with Jon Moxley, whose Death Rider group was divisive to the same level as it will be seen now as ultimately successful, allowed AEW to combine multiple stories for the culminating moment – seeing off not just the heel takeover story of AEW Men’s World Title by the Death Rider unit, but also the end of the Young Bucks heel EVP story, an important marker point in Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland and the closing of the Hangman Page character redemption arc. It was the amalgamation of all of these defining narratives that led to this feeling like such a moment of completion for so many parties, as well as generating the business results seen for this event.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

What is perhaps most thought invoking when looking back at how this epic main event came together, though, is that it was not always Page meant for this spot. In fact, the Death Riders program had usurped the heel turn Page had undertaken over the course of summer 2024, leaving him with a lack of clear direction, and then having other plans interrupted in order to be inserted into the title program last November. It is that moment at “Full Gear 2024” though that begins the kayfabe line that brings Page onto his current path, with an up to then unstoppable Jon Moxley showing genuine fear of Page in the run-up to the four way main event at “World’s End” in December and Christopher Daniels being the first to tell the Hangman that he could be the one to end the Death Riders’ hold over AEW in the weeks beforehand. The match, at the time, would ultimately be a set up to promote the return of Adam Copeland rather than focus on the stories within it, but the seeds were planted there for much of the narratives that they were able to use for the final build to this main event.

Moxley was yet to find the man who would stand up for this company, who would “die” for it and who could overcome him by joining everyone together in opposition to his faction. He would continue his dominance on the roster, having narrowly escaped the man that had started the path that led him to this point. Page had come out unsuccessful in that match, alongside the other babyfaces, due to their inability to work together. He then went on to retire early mentor Christopher Daniels in a Texas Death Match, sparking the beginnings of a face turn, before moving into a one PPV program with MJF.

The decision to turn Page earlier than they originally planned ultimately ends up with this destination. The fanbase rallied to him during this period, giving him a strong numbers case that could not be ignored (across multiple metrics) to combine with his incredibly detailed character work, strong promos and high calibre in ring. His gaining of momentum culminated in defeating Will Ospreay at “Double or Nothing 2025”, a month after having witnessed the Young Bucks aid in costing Swerve Strickland his shot at Moxley at “Dynasty”. Both PPVs had closed focusing on Page, becoming a preview for the summer ahead. The result of this match has been very much locked in since that point, with a belief by some that this Moxley title run would go to “Wrestledream” (now confirmed for mid-October in St. Louis) said to be inaccurate by multiple sources within the company. Indeed, the plan was always to end this reign on the biggest stage.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

The work in the build has been nothing short of masterful, giving the babyface challenger ample opportunity (and some of his own creation) to cut promos that talk people into the building and also define his character, angles that present him as strong whilst maintaining Moxley and the Death Riders as a threat – whilst weaving in the Bucks, Ospreay and Strickland to the top narrative as well. It is, by far, the best work of Moxley’s title reign, and arguably his best overall program and feud since his first meetings with Page in 2022/2023.

Page finally completed his babyface turn in the entrance to the match, as a video of him crossing the Texas plains to a set of stables played on the screens, whilst Australian performer Molly Lewis whistled the theme from “A Fistful of Dollars”, with accompaniment from guitarist Thomas Stankiewicz. It is the type of stripped down but eclectic entrance we had almost come to expect from Page, ending with him reaching for a saddle. Everything stopped for a moment before a solo horse ran across the screen for the first time since March 2024, as “Ghost Town Triumph” rang out. Page emerged, for the first time since then also, out of the babyface tunnel. The moment was aided by a clever, deliberate camera shot that switched between the tunnels in order to indicate the change in the character. He stood alone, in the jacket he stood in prior to his first Texas Death Match with Jon Moxley, and finally wearing white, once more signalling that his darker time period was over.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

He was met by Jon Moxley, surrounded by his infantry, as their pick up truck sped into the arena. The lighting in the arena was turned darker to indicate the threat (aided by a very real storm breaking out in the Texas sky at that moment) that the group and the Champion brought, something that had been built up throughout this title reign. The importance of building up the numbers game, and having it as a direct contradiction to the single man opposite, was massive here in not allowing for this to feel like a procession, creating the exact type of obstacle to get a crowd really behind the babyface and invested in the outcome that they wanted to see. It also took away the advantage that Page had accrued over Moxley during the build and during their own history; we knew Adam Page could defeat Jon Moxley in a singles match, we knew he could defeat him in a Texas Death Match and we knew he manipulated Moxley into accepting the match more on his terms, so they needed the numbers plot device in order to add extra opposition for Page. This played out earlier on in the show as well, when the Death Riders took out Samoa Joe (which also meant the rest of the OPPS would not be able to support). This was a choice which meant that there was not the usual high energy opener we have come to expect from AEW shows, but instead a finish that was all about building tension around the main event.

Page’s promo that added the stipulation they had been playing towards for weeks beforehand also normalised that there would be interference in the match from the start, whilst increasing the interplay between his character and Marina Shafir. This allowed for Shafir to be part of the match pretty much right away but also to be at ringside to help aid the flow of the match. Shafir was excellent here, with the Buckshot Lariat she took on “Dynamite 300” two weeks ago making her presence and participation easy to accept. She was there to rescue Moxley whenever Page got a distinct advantage, including a spot where Page had flipped himself over the ropes to set up a Buckshot and Marina jumped onto his back to stop him, only to be lifted up into a fireman’s carry and then driven down through a table that you completely forget was there. The speed of the spot and the execution was fantastic – and a real highlight of the match. What was perhaps even better in the way that Shafir was presented was that she got a measure of revenge on Page towards the end of the match, when she was able to lift Moxley up at the count of nine from the floor and give Page the middle finger. The Shafir character was not just there to be shock value as a female heater, she had developed as a character throughout the reign of this faction, and her loyalty to Moxley was evident throughout this bout, even in leading to her following his instructions around the briefcase that saw her handcuffed by Prince Nana in the match’s final moments.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

Shafir’s weren’t the only interference spots that were well done, either, with all the interference in the match coming without big entrances, with people only relevant to the narrative and at times that did not take away from the action. This was not the Jon Moxley title match structure of months past, where twenty minutes of heel control grappling played out to a quiet crowd as the audience anticipated the interference more than the babyface comeback which would proceed it. Claudio and Wheeler Yuta only became involved when it was clear Page had a distinct advantage, Ospreay was taken out when he attempted to even things up to deter others from following, and Danielson and Darby Allin only become involved when the faction felt that they had to resort to the plastic bag after every other attempt to kill Page off was unsuccessful. They kept these interruptions so that the heels interfered with the challenger, but not one babyface inflicted any sort of offense on the heel champion, save the challenger himself. There was also a clever use of timing to immediately do a big spot between Page and Moxley in the aftermath of these interruptions, which immediately got the focus of the match back on them. It meant that the extra arrivals are in addition to the match, rather than overrunning it. Interference in major matches is not for everyone, but if you are going to use it to emphasize a match, then this is exactly how to do it.

The closing moments, with Swerve Strickland seeing off the Young Bucks and passing Page the chain, was the sort of character moment that is built for this sort of stage and that can only happen on the back of such careful detail work in the months and years preceding it. The chain was just one of a number of weapons used in the match – from the fork spot early on which removed any malaise from the crowd following the end of the Omega-Okada match that preceded it, to barbed wire, tables, shards of glass, to the bed of nails involved in the match’s closing stages – but it was set up by the previous death match between the two, as well as Page’s encounter with Swerve Strickland in the same match type, as the most important one. They did an incredible job of foreshadowing the ending in the build without quite giving it away.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

Even with all the weaponry and the extra additions to this matchup, the reason this resonated so strongly in the moment was not the gimmick match type or the extra personnel – the hold of the audience and the emotions surrounding it were very much built upon the performers involved: Page, the defiant babyface who could not be killed, who captured the crowd every time he got back up to his feet. Jon Moxley, the defiant Champion who displayed the full range of his emotions as he went from a Champion in control to realising that the game was up. Both men were incredible in their roles here, with Moxley’s sell on the chain finish an absolutely top bit of business that only increased the value of the moment.

Two weeks ago, Hangman Adam Page had told Jon Moxley to give him everything or give him death. Moxley was unwilling to give death to his conqueror, and instead gave up everything. He had found the man he had claimed he wanted for AEW, someone who would die for the promotion and bring everyone together. He had succeeded in putting AEW on the right track (whether the character was honest in its intentions or not).

The main event, with very strong support from three other drawing matches on the card, led this year’s “All In” show to some of the most impressive PPV business results in company history. Dave Meltzer’s first PPV buy estimate of 175,000 has the show as the fourth highest in company history, only currently behind the Sting retirement at “Revolution 2024” (180,000), the first Wembley show (200,000) and “All Out 2021” (215,000). The first estimate sits at the high end of the first estimated number for “Revolution 2024” and in the same range as for “All In 2023” – meaning that, with late buys, it still has the possibility of moving even higher.

Where this number sets itself apart from the others is that there was no gimmick involved in generating the number: no retirement (or threat of a potential one), no return to wrestling after seven years and no first visit to Wembley Stadium. In this year, it was the strength of the stories, the stakes involved, and the connection of the audience to the characters that drove business, with this being the biggest number the company has done for a show centered around a World Title change.

© WWE

The other consideration in regards to this number is that it encountered significant counter programming from WWE, which ran three shows across the course of the weekend in order to attempt to damage the PPV number and split attention from fans and media between the two companies. Ultimately, the counter programming failed to damage the buy rate due to the strength of the AEW programming, and WWE were even put on the defensive as AEW ran into the broadcast window for “Saturday Night’s Main Event”, which suffered a 39% demo drop compared to its last outing in May. It was the first time that AEW has gone on the offensive in regards to its PPV structure, having previously moved things around in order to protect from the impact of competition.

One side effect of WWE’s efforts to put “Saturday Night’s Main Event” head-to-head was the move of this show to a 2pm CT start time. This made the PPV much more manageable for audiences in Europe as well as for the live crowd, who may have struggled far more with the length of the show had it been an evening presentation.

WWE had attempted to restrict the attendance number also, by providing an alternative ‘destination’ weekend in Atlanta and announcing a series of TV tapings and the ever rarer house shows across Texas in the weeks surrounding the AEW event, in an effort to restrict the numbers who may drive up to the show. The flooding came around “Double or Nothing”, when the Globe Life Field show sat at around 15,000 tickets out, having moved under 10,000 tickets during their December 2024 on sale period. WWE may have thought it possible that they could help to restrict the show to under 20,000, especially considering that the build for last year’s event at Wembley Stadium added around 13,000 tickets to the distributed count, around 24.5% of the eventual overall total.

© AEW

Tickets accelerated after the May 25th event, though, with sources inside the company noting to us and to the Wrestling Observer that they had reached 28,500 distributed by the morning of the show. Even without walkup, that would put the tickets distributed during the build for this show at 47.5% of the overall attendance number. The gate, according to an AEW source to Post Wrestling, crossed $3 million, vastly eclipsing the previous company North American record of $1.2 million for the “Forbidden Door 2023” show in Toronto, Canada.

It makes Page and Moxley the first people in the company to hold $1 million and $3 million domestic gates for the company, with Page having headlined for the first shows with gates that achieved both numbers. The success of the event should solidify Jon Moxley’s Hall of Fame case, whilst it also solidifies Page as the most successful chaser in AEW’s history, having had two money-driving runs towards the title up to this point. It was the first stadium PPV main event for both competitors as well.

Whilst the majority of the credit for the numbers will go to the main event, this was anything but a one match show, with two other “official” main events and one other match that was treated on the same level.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

The semi main event of the show was the match which had been set up on screen the furthest out, with the initial Kazuchika Okada attack on Kenny Omega taking place last May, and their first staredown under the “All In” banner coming at “World’s End” in December. The legendary series between the two in New Japan Pro Wrestling and the ability to finally do this match on US soil (it was previously planned for Madison Square Garden in 2019 before Omega’s departure for AEW) meant that there was a different level of expectation going into this match than most others on the card. The anticipation was something that could be felt at the first bell as well, as the crowd went crazy just seeing the two men standing across from each other in the ring.

It is the weight of expectation that was perhaps the biggest challenge for this match. Both Okada and Omega are very different performers in 2025 then they were in 2017/18, with a lot more physical wear on their bodies. The build had set this match up to be somewhat different from the start, with the focus on Kenny’s weaknesses brought on by his battles with diverticulitis. It lacked a lot of the explosive sequences that we have somewhat come to expect from Kenny Omega (especially in stadium matches in particular), and had a series of long control periods from Okada that worked in that the crowd was desperate for Omega to come back from them.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

It is perhaps because of these long control periods that the finish felt so strange, Omega did rally late on, hitting a series of V Triggers before a top rope Dragon Suplex; he was met in reply by a spinning tombstone and a spinning rainmaker for a near fall as the match racketed up towards the level I believe a lot were expecting going in, with Omega still playing on the injury angle in the middle of it, especially when he was unable to go for a pin following a Croyt’s Wrath. Instead of this continuing into a rush of big match exchanges from there, where we would see if Kenny’s body and resolve could overcome everything laid out in the match so far, it devolved into interference. First Rocky Romero hit the apron, only to be pulled down by Kota Ibushi, who was seconding Omega for the match. Then Omega successfully hit Okada with the One Winged Angel, only for the referee to be dragged from the ring before the count of three by Don Callis. A replacement referee hit the ring but did not remove Callis as the action continued. Omega again went for his finisher, but Okada slipped out. He came close with a roll up but Okada escaped that one, too, before hitting a Rainmaker for the three. The crowd was stunned, almost not believing the sudden finish. Omega, who had been on the losing end of the build for most of it, had not been able to avenge what had come before this match. The interference can be argued to have protected him in some ways, but it felt far away enough from the finish that the ending felt relatively clean.

This is a match which has divided opinions in the aftermath, with the part of the AEW audience who has not seen any of the original series somewhat higher on it than the majority of those who witnessed the New Japan matches in real time or saw them thereafter. Perhaps it leads to a rematch down the line under no interference rules that are now in place for the new Unified Championship? Perhaps that match will live up more to the tremendously high expectations that many came with into this one? It feels almost daft to feel unsatisfied by the match, but such is the standard that these two competitors have operated on for much of their careers, that it was the most prevailing emotion that I was left with in the aftermath.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

The third part of the triple main event offering was for the AEW Women’s World Championship, as Mercedes Moné looked to add the most important belt to her collection against Toni Storm. This was the first up of the three, and marked a significant pick up in the crowd, highlighting the part of the card they had actually come to see.

Mercedes had the more glitzy of the two entrances, with a car bringing her up to the stage, where she was met by the Texas Six Shooters, who each wore one of her belt collection. Toni’s timepiece entrance was also fitting, with both these and the intro video beforehand adding to the immediate match atmosphere.

The crowd started out with dueling chants, with the lion’s share going to Storm. Moné took the initiative at the start before Storm began to get in her head. Mercedes was definitely distracted by it, ending up having her face run across the middle rope by Storm (who was on Luther’s shoulders) before being tossed off of the apron and onto the floor. Mercedes fought back, taking out both Luther and Toni with a Meteora. Mercedes took control from there with a series of powerbombs both in and outside the ring.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

Her focus thereafter was working over the arm in order to set up for submissions, whilst looking also towards the methods she had previously used to put away the likes of Jamie Hayter and Kris Statlander (which was aptly explained on commentary in one of their better contributions to the show). Toni also looked to use finishes from her own past, with even the small package feeling like a potential match ender because of the way it has been established prior to the bout, including when Storm won back the title in February.

Both showed signs of frustration in not being able to put the other away, but it was Storm that remained the more focused, just as Moné’s overconfidence (that had carried over from the build into the match) began to ebb away. The closing sequences carried a frenetic energy that roused the crowd even higher than before. Mercedes somehow made it out of a triple Storm Zero, and even hit a Moné Maker before being put away with a final Storm Zero from the top rope.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

The win cements Toni Storm as one of AEW’s top stars and sets Mercedes Moné off on a journey of discovery, having not been able to acquire the one belt that she does not have. It was another shining example of Mercedes delivering in a big match spot on the biggest of stages, illustrating that she is very much the strongest Western in-ring worker in those situations. It is also right to acknowledge how far Toni Storm has come in the ring from when she started this gimmick. She is now able to deliver at a real champion’s level whilst staying true to the character.

 The unofficial fourth main event came at exactly the right point on the card, giving the show the up in tempo it needed before the other three big matches took over the mantle later on. The Young Bucks are no strangers to this role on shows; it often feels like they volunteer for such spots that others might shy away from. In Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay, they found the perfect dance partners.

© AEW / Ryan Loco

This match was another one with big time entrances – Ospreay leading with another Assassin’s Creed style entrance and an absolute truck load of pyro, before Swerve had Jojo Offerman, with fireflies gently moving across the background, providing a soulful rendition of his former independent entrance theme “Ain’t Nobody”. The light ambiance of his pre-intro gave away to a fiery entrance, with Strickland once again looking like the coolest motherf*cker in the world. The new power structure in AEW, with their three top babyfaces in place, have them set for years to come.

AEW’s EVPs appeared to have a simple entrance at first, with a surprisingly small amount of pyro. We should all know better than that, though. Matthew and Nicholas Jackson took to a boat, as Justin Roberts began to run through a declaration that appeared to be more widely worded than just to their contributions to the company in character. The Bucks are brilliant at toeing the line on these things, illustrating their ability to rile a crowd but also to entertain them. It would have been even more hilarious if their confetti cannons had worked as practiced.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

This match had high stakes on either side, with Will Ospreay offering for him and Swerve to be removed from World Title contention for a full year if they were unable to see off the former Tag Team Champions. In return, the Bucks EVP titles, which have been abused on a regular basis since last spring, were also on the line. This was another match that played right into its build (once more illustrating the strength of the stories leading into this show, as Ospreay and Strickland were unable to match the Bucks in their communication and co-ordination early on, with the heels holding control). They allowed the crowd to build behind the babyfaces during this period, before exploding out in the middle of the match.

Matt Jackson launched himself over the top rope with Hangman Page’s Buckshot Lariat, and from there began an incredible sequence of offense between all four men that has to be seen to be believed. It ended with a Hidden Blade from Ospreay and a House Call from Swerve that set off the stadium, with everyone jumping to their feet. It was the first moment on the entire show to invoke that type of reaction, and the match only built from there.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

All four performers were at their athletic best here, as Swerve and Ospreay worked through the miscommunication that led to Ospreay hitting Strickland with a Hidden Blade, with Swerve getting to the point where he was the one standing in front of a defenseless Ospreay, in a complete turnaround from the situation the two found themselves in with the Bucks in Portland. It was Swerve and Ospreay with the effective double team offense at the end, coming close with a Stormbreaker/Double Stomp combo before disposing of Nick Jackson to the outside. That left Matt isolated and helpless against a Hidden Blade/House Call combo that gave the babyfaces the win. The double finisher gave me flashbacks to the Hangman Page/Kenny Omega Last Call combo. Strickland embraced Ospreay after, in what felt like a rare show of emotion for him towards another wrestler. It was a tremendous feel-good moment for a show that really needed it at that time.

The non-compete for the World Title was an intriguing one, particularly when considering the relationships both have with current World Champion Hangman Page. It was something discussed as a potential option but would carry enormous risk if there were to be injuries at the top of the card, and also takes away two of Page’s strongest potential opponents for his title reign. Ultimately, it was clear that the EVP story needed to come to a close, with the Bucks now heading towards a slow burn face turn after a period of suffering in the immediate fallout.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

The big multimans on the shows were the casino gauntlet matches, with the women’s match the stronger of the two, highlighting the depth of the undercard and midcard programs, as well as a number of wrestlers who should be moving upwards moving forward. There were debuts for both Alex Windsor (as a full time talent) and Stardom’s Syuri, who had a strong showing by mainly working with the likes of Windsor and Mina Shirakawa to ensure she was well looked after. Sadly, Syuri’s excursion from her home promotion looks to have ended here as she is set for elbow surgery this week.

The match was won by Athena, who came unexpectedly from the top with the O-Face onto Mina Shirakawa. It is a welcome move to see the popular Texan escape her Ring of Honor purgatory, and she was visibly emotional at the match’s conclusion.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

The pacing of the match and the story beats between the various wrestlers was much more effective than in the men’s gauntlet, with all the women aiming to win the match, compared to the men’s, which lacked urgency and saw multiple wrestlers just waiting and watching throughout in a match that was all about the first pinfall/submission. It also went far too long, especially with no real surprises outside of the return of Juice Robinson, or signature sequences. In the end, MJF delivered the most predictable outcome, stealing the win from Mark Briscoe on the back of a Jay Driller on Roderick Strong.

There was one moment that completely removed the air from the room early on in the show. A lot of the live crowd were completely unaware before the four way graphic flashed up that Adam Cole vs Kyle Fletcher was off the show. A number were still digesting that information when Cole walked out on the stage and down to the ring.

© AEW

Cole had suffered another concussion-related injury in a tag match on Thursday night’s episode of “Collision” after taking a lariat from Fletcher. He was OK on Friday but his condition worsened into Saturday, to the point it was very clear he was unable to compete, and reportedly had him immediately considering his overall future. Cole told the crowd:

The crowd were as moved by his words as they were the emotion in his voice, giving him a standing ovation and joining in on his chant. It moved many to see him so emotional and also to see one of the genuinely nicest guys in wrestling suffer another serious setback. We wish all the best to Adam Cole going forward.

The following four way for the now vacated TNT belt had absolutely no chance with the crowd after that, despite the best efforts of the wrestlers, with Garcia and Guevara hitting a Spanish fly to the outside, as well as multiple superplexes from the top in an attempt to get some energy from the crowd. Most of these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, but you have to applaud them for trying.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

AEW went for the feel-good moment at the end of this one, with Texan wrestler Dustin Rhodes winning his first championship in AEW after a roll up on Daniel Garcia. He was embraced by his sons and the Von Erichs, whilst being overcome with the emotions of the moment. Kyle Fletcher will pick up this title in the near future, but this was exactly the right call in these circumstances.

The low point of the show, from a constant perspective, was the Tag Title three way that indulged in a lot of bad habits that have (thankfully) been removed from the top of the card. The commentary was dire, with too many disinterested voices and there were as many people seconding as there were in the match. The action was also uninspiring, with the Hurt Syndicate showing no signs of the beating they suffered the Wednesday previous, and allowing the babyfaces very little. MJF worked as hard as you could ever believe to get the crowd involved, but the noise quickly dissipated on each occasion.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

In the end, the finish was as formulaic as you would expect, as a heated exchange between Bobby Lashley and FTR on the outside led to Cash and Dax climbing onto the apron. Christian, who was attempting an Unprettier on Lashley, was flung into them before turning around into the Lashley spear. Christian had ruined another plan for gold for the Patriarchy and that was seemingly enough for Nick Wayne to turn on his “father” figure.

Forego the logic of Wayne being the heel in this turn, because the turn itself was not the big moment here. Instead, it was a secondary venture in order to give Adam Copeland the big return pop on the big stage. It is perhaps ironic to have mentioned the same exact structure being used for the “World’s End 2024” main event earlier in this review, but it is indeed a Copeland staple that generates the big pop – but also devalues anything that comes before it, especially when everything has to wait for his full entrance to be completed. “Go…find yourself.” He told Christian Cage, after what I guess eventually amounted to a save.

© AEW / Scott Lesh

I guess if you were looking for the WWE mentality on this show, then you found it in this one, but what made “All In” so good overall was that it did have something to appeal to everyone and showcased the great mix of styles, characters and matches that occur in AEW.

It was also one of the most welcoming and community-like events that AEW have ever run, with the location and time of the show allowing for a tailgate and after show party to be run in the immediate vicinity of the venue, and the addition of Starrcast meant that the fans were able to access their favourite talent in a controlled setting, in a way which has been missing in AEW.

The overall feeling that I have coming away from AEW “All In: Texas” is that AEW is at its best when it is trying to be AEW, and on this show, there were plenty of examples of that.

Full Results

The Sons Of Texas (Dustin Rhodes, Marshall von Erich, Ross von Erich & Sammy Guevara) defeat Shane Taylor Promotions (Carlie Bravo, Lee Moriarty, Shane Taylor & Shawn Dean) (7:11)

Big Boom AJ & The Conglomeration (Hologram, Kyle O’Reilly & Tomohiro Ishii) defeat The Don Callis Family (Hechicero, Lance Archer, Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta) (12:52)

FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) defeat The Outrunners (Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd) (16:12)

AEW World Trios Titles:
The Opps (Katsuyori Shibata, Powerhouse Hobbs & Samoa Joe) (c) defeat Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) & Gabe Kidd (14:29)

Casino Gauntlet:
MJF defeats Anthony Bowens and Bandido and Brody King and Josh Alexander and Juice Robinson and Konosuke Takeshita and Kota Ibushi and Mark Briscoe and Max Caster and Mistico and Ricochet and Roderick Strong and The Beast Mortos (34:52)

AEW TNT Title:
Dustin Rhodes defeats Daniel Garcia and Kyle Fletcher and Sammy Guevara (14:23)

Swerve Strickland & Will Ospreay defeat The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson) (26:16)

Casino Gauntlet:
Athena defeats Alex Windsor and Julia Hart and Kris Statlander and Megan Bayne and Mina Shirakawa and Queen Aminata and Syuri and Tay Melo and Thekla and Thunder Rosa and Willow Nightingale (27:01)

AEW World Tag Team Titles:
The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) (c) defeat JetSpeed (Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey) and The Patriarchy (Christian Cage & Nick Wayne) (18:59)

AEW Women’s World Title:
Toni Storm (c) defeats Mercedes Mone (25:11)

AEW Unified Title / AEW Continental Title / AEW International Title Winner Takes All:
Kazuchika Okada (c) [Continental] defeats Kenny Omega (c) [International] (31:05)

AEW Men’s World Title Texas Death Match:
Adam Page defeats Jon Moxley (35:53)

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