Kenny Omega and Hangman Page lose the Tag
Team Championships!
Former WWE star Matt Sydal debuts… to immediately
botch his first move.
And, unfortunately, in a far scarier botch,
Matt Hardy is taken to hospital following
a table bump gone wrong, with AEW facing major
criticism for allowing him to finish his match.
I’m Oli Davis, the inaugural WrestleTalk
Jam That Jampion - can I get a ‘no thank
you’ for Luke Warm Luke Owen? - and this
is AEW All Out 2020 reviewed… in about 10
minutes.
Joey Janela beat Serpentico in a standard
match, and the Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds
and John Silver were absolutely fantastic
losing to Private Party on the pre-show.
If Reynolds and Silver continue this level
of work, AEW should start to push them beyond
Mr Brodie Lee’s comedy foils.
The main card opened with the Tooth and Nail
cinematic match of Big Swole vs Britt Baker.
This was originally scheduled for the pre-show,
but according to WrestleTalk.com’s own Louis
Dangoor exclusively reporting - because we
do exclusives now, don’t you know - it was
moved to the main card because of the Twitter
backlash, and also because management were
really happy with how the short film turned
out.
Comedy cinematic matches aren’t for everyone,
but I thought this captured the best of WWE’s
Money in the Bank zaniness - based around
demented dentist Baker beating Swole up round
her practice with standard dentistry tools
like handheld drills.
I already don’t like going to the dentist,
don’t give me any more phobia-OH GOD DAMMIT
THERE’S A NEEDLE.
Baker tried to inject Swole with anaesthetic
- but Swole reversed it right into Britt’s
leg, meaning her leg went numb Johnny English.
Swole won by gassing Britt out.
I guess we can say she won with the Go To
Sleep.
CM Punk to dentists confirmed.
The Young Bucks and Jurassic Express then
put on my third favourite match of the night
- with incredibly innovative spots, Matt and
Nick’s continued turn to the dark side,
and getting Jungle Boy over huge in defeat,
who kicked out of multiple superkick attacks
at the end.
The fun continued with AEW’s annual don’t
call it the Royal Rumble ‘Casino Battle
Royale’ match - with a much better structure
of everyone getting individual entrances.
As expected, the action was mostly based around
faction warfare through Team FTW, Eddie Kingston’s
Death Pentagon, and Lance Archer.
Because Lance Archer is his own faction.
We had big hoss battles, a great showing from
AEW’s very promising, developing big guy
Luke Hobbs, and even the debut of WWE’s
former Evan Bourne, Matt Sydal, master of
the shooting star press.
Who went to hit his most famous move as soon
as he entered, but slipped and crashed to
the mat shockmaster style.
It is both, in equal measures, sad and incredibly
funny.
Apparently the humidity in Daily’s Place
was a big problem throughout the show, making
the ropes all Titus Worldslide.
But as funny as it was, Sydal’s botch also
marks the point that the night started to
turn.
Ricky Starks and Brian Cage eliminated Darby
Allin by putting him in a bodybag full of
thumb tacks, and then dumped him over the
top rope.
The execution appeared reckless, with Darby
seemingly landing unprotected on his head,
and doctors attending to him for the rest
of the match.
Archer eventually threw Eddie off the apron
to get a future AEW title shot.
After these very exciting opening matches,
the crowd energy then began to wane.
Firstly because of the reported heat, and
then because of what happened in Matt Hardy
vs Sammy Guevarra.
In the second spot of the match, Guevarra
speared Hardy off the top of an elevated platform,
missing one of the two merch tables meant
to break their fall, causing the back of Matt’s
head to sickeningly thud against the concrete
from an 8 foot drop.
Immediately something felt wrong.
Matt wasn’t moving and referee Aubrey Edwards
threw up the X. Doctors rightfully decided
to call off the match to prioritise wrestler
safety.
Until they let it restart moments later.
Despite being unable to stand just several
minutes previously, AEW’s Dr Sampson cleared
Hardy to continue.
They rushed to the finish, letting Matt climb
up the stage structure - an incredibly irresponsible
spot considering the state he was in - so
Sammy could fall off and lose via the 10 count.
Bryan Alvarez revealed Hardy was sent to hospital
afterwards, criticising Dr Sampson for allowing
him to continue.
While Matt’s wife Reby Sky tweeted: ““Let
me be absolutely f****** clear.
There is NOTHING entertaining about a concussion.
Shame on everyone in that goddamn building.”
Tony Khan tried to explain on the post-show
media scrum that “Matt is okay and he's
going to be okay…
When the doctor checked him, he passed him
and cleared him on the concussion protocol…
that's why the doctor cleared him to continue.”
His trip to the hospital was apparently just
a “precaution”.
Ryan Satin is reporting the bump “was ran
through twice prior to tonight’s show, one
of which included an insured stunt person
supervising.”
Even if Matt had passed the concussion protocol,
continuing the match dampened an already fatigued
crowd, and the pay-per-view never fully recovered.
What do you think about the Matt Hardy injury?
Let me know in the comments, because I’ll
be replying to people from outta nowhere.
In a testament to Shida and Thunder Rosa,
though, some are calling their’s match of
the night despite lacking that crowd atmosphere.
Rosa took about 70% of the offence, coming
off supremely confident and threatening, even
kicking out of Shida’s Falcon Arrow at one.
Ultimately, Shida retained with a running
knee.
AEW need to do everything possible to make
Thunder Rosa a permanent part of their roster.
Following the release of their faction mate,
Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford got a soft reset,
announcing they’ll be having their wedding
on Dynamite soon.
I’m sure nothing will go wrong at a wrestling
show wedding.
Dustin Rhodes managed a sneak roll up on Colt
Cabana in the Dark Order vs Nightmare Family,
Matt Cardona and Scorpio Sky 8 man tag.
It was decent enough, and had some great character
work from Cabana, Mr Brodie Lee and Evil Uno
in the post-match, but this should’ve just
been on Dynamite to cut back on the show’s
four hour runtime.
And it also might’ve prevented JR momentarily
thinking it was 1999 again, saying: "Did Anna
Jay have a wardrobe malfunction, or is that
wishful thinking in my book?"
It’s ok though, he apologised on Twitter:
“Didn’t mean to offend anyone on the wardrobe
malfunction line.
Weak attempt at humor.
Sorry.
Now lighten up.
👅”
Ah yes, the tongue out smiling emoji.
The true mark of a repentant man.
Trying their best to make a wrestling show
about wrestling again, Kenny Omega, Hangman
Page and FTR reminded us that AEW has the
best storyline in all of wrestling going on
right now.
Kenny and Page would wrestle FTR singularly,
while FTR always functioned as a tag team
unit.
It meant Omega and Hangman were frequently
cut off from one another, letting Dax and
Cash grind them down - a great physical representation
of the age of question, what’s better: Two
singles guys, or a great tag team.
This match might not have had the near falls
of the Revolution match, but it almost rivalled
it for drama.
Kenny ducked an accidental lariat from Page,
but Hangman got hit by Omega.
That was the actual Last Call, as FTR’s
momentum reached a critical mass.
All Kenny and Page could do was reach out
for each other as Dax and Cash hit two piledrivers
to win.
FTR are your new AEW tag team champions.
And then the post-match was just as good.
Page went to embrace Kenny, but Omega just
let him collapse on the floor.
Kenny stormed out the heel entrance, screaming
at the Bucks that him and Hangman are done,
and he’s going to “go back to the way
things were” - teasing the long-awaited
heel Cleaner gimmick from New Japan.
You don’t need a big heel turn, you don’t
need a big reveal.
The Elite’s story has always been subtle,
understated, and character by driven rather
than by plot.
This was fantastic.
And in a complete change of pace, Chris Jericho
and Orange Cassidy tried to throw each other
into giant vats of mimosa next.
Starting off hot with Cassidy running straight
into a Codebreaker, the two might’ve had
the best of their trilogy so far, mainly built
around both men dangling or balancing near
the pool of orange liquid.
Cassidy rightfully won with two Superman Punches
sending Jericho back flopping into the vat,
for an incredibly satisfying payoff.
And the main event saw MJF vs Jon Moxley vs
this guy in the crowd who tried to give Mox
a high five.
And, fittingly for a main event title match,
both men brought it, told an excellent story,
and had my match of the night.
The dramatic conflict was perfectly already
established in the build.
Anything outside the ring gives Mox the advantage.
Anything inside plays to MJF’s wrestling
ability.
So the story was all about trying to lure
your opponent onto home turf.
Add onto that Moxley not being allowed to
hit his Paradigm Shift, and some excellent
selling of his arm, created multiple layers
of psychology.
Crucially, though, as well as being a fantastic
match, this accomplished something even more
important: elevating humorous chicken s-word
heel MJF to a credible main event threat.
The blood trickling down his face, and his
spit in Moxley’s eye, earned respect.
The final third was absolutely thrilling,
and the finish was one of the best I’ve
seen in months.
Wardlow distracted the referee and threw in
the Diamond Ring.
MJF was about to use it, but seeing he was
going to cheat, Mox decided to be the better
cheater - hitting the banned Paradigm Shift
to win.
So that was AEW All Out 2020 in about 10 minutes.
Let me know what you thought of the show in
the comments down below.
It’s weird to come out of a show I enjoyed
so much, with the fantastic finish of the
main event, Page and Omega’s heartbreaking
split, and general in-ring fun, yet it all
feels overshadowed by Hardy’s injury, the
lacklustre crowd, and the four hour show length
- five with the pre-show - which WWE have
finally learned is far too long.
And because of that, despite this pay-per-view
having some of my favourite moments of the
year, by AEW’s standards, it’s a 3 out
of 5.
But it all served a larger purpose here at
WrestleTalk.
I am your inaugural Jam that Jampion, and
Luke Warm Luke Owen is finally gone from this
channel!
I couldn’t have done it, of course, without
my new OliThority member Mr Chopper - realising
what you the fan wants, and giving me all
his prediction points to break the tie.
Chopper will explain all in tomorrow’s WrestleTalk
News, so support us and subscribe.
WWE stars are reportedly livid with Vince
McMahon backstage.
Find out why by clicking the video on the
right!
And Bayley has finally turned on Sasha Banks!
Click the video below that for our SmackDown
review podcast.
I’ve been Mr Davis, Jam that Jam.
