In ordinary circumstances, this would’ve been a very solid post-PPV episode of AEW Dynamite, continuing story threads from All In in a digestible and sensible manner and having some good enough wrestling across the show with a terrific main event match. The issue then, unfortunately, is the presence of another huge AEW PPV this weekend which unfortunately feels like a huge obstacle in AEW’s path. With the exception of the Cassidy/Moxley match and other small increments of intrigue, the All Out build on this show was messy and downright poor, with matches being flung together in backstage segments and video packages with little reason to care. Tony Khan has publicly stated this show was heavily hampered by a number of issues causing a lot of changes to the card. Whilst I can sympathise with the difficulties, the double PPV schedule is an issue AEW created themselves and leaving most of your PPV build to the last minute means that if a week becomes hampered with issues of any kind you are scuppered. This made the show perhaps more frustrating than it ought to, a shame as there was good segments and things on this show, and would’ve felt less egregious if it wasn’t a go home show for a PPV that desperately needed help. This was also possibly the weakest Chicago crowd I’ve heard in a long while, as in a lot of segments, be it poor microphone placement or lack of investment, the audience sounded quite dead. A worrying show as pertains to All Out, but a decent follow up to All In with a brilliant main event match.
Following AEW’s biggest ever show, Tony Khan now has the unenviable job of building a second PPV in just one week. Tonight, on AEW Dynamite, Penta El Zero and Orange Cassidy battle for the International Championship with Jon Moxley awaiting the winner at All Out. Elsewhere on the card, we will hear from Adam Cole following his main event loss at All In, as we find out what’s next. Let’s get at it!
GREAT Jon Moxley vs Kommander
This was a very different type of Kommander here, and I really enjoyed the dynamic between him and Moxley. The match was a bit of a sprint but it worked really well for me and the wrestling was very clean whilst still maintaining a sense of Moxley brutality, with him winning in dominant fashion. Good momentum for Moxley heading into All Out
Result: Jon Moxley by Submission via Armbar
David Sheldon WR Star Rating – 3.5 Stars
Cassidy vows to keep going, and I think him and Moxley (if Cassidy gets there) will tear the house down.
FTR and Young Bucks will team to take on Bullet Club Gold at All Out. It feels scrambled together but in fairness the match does make sense to book in storyline continuity.
Toni Storm is very funny as usual. This week for some reason she reminded me of Lina Lamont from Singin’ In The Rain. Much the same with her though.
GREAT Jericho/Guevara Promo
This starts out slow but gets fairly interesting when Guevara and Jericho become extremely passive aggressive with each other. This story is good, but Guevara felt a little stilted in places and the wider Jericho face/heel dynamic is a bit bizarre. Still well delivered though and a very good promo, and sets up Jericho and Guevara going for the tag titles nicely.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
Moxley cuts a terrific backstage promo as expected. This main event is getting a lot of build tonight which is nice.
GOOD Eddie Kingston vs Wheeler Yuta
This was good but had potential to be better. It had a slow start and mostly involved Kingston playing the hits, not really giving it enough time to make it really sing. There were some very good sequences in the middle and I loved Yuta’s defiant final stand, but there was potential for better with this.
Result: Eddie Kingston by Pinfall via Backfist
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
MJF rattled off a bunch of info about future matches, as its revealed he has the week off this week. At this point it begins to really feel like All Out is a major distraction for AEW right now.
Callus tries to scout Guevara, but does not go very well.
GREAT Adam Cole/Kingdom Promo
Taven and Bennett were the standouts here, both terrific in taking Adam Cole down a peg. They’re so good that Adam Cole and Roderick Strong looks a bit lightweight in comparison, Strong in particular falling over his words a little bit. The content was very good, and Roderick in the tournament for Grand Slam is great, but I wanted more direction for The Kingdom here, as they weren’t announced for the ROH tag battle royale.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
GOOD Hikaru Shida, Britt Baker and Kris Statlander vs Emi Sakura, Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir
A match which is a major victim of its lack of a reason to care. All the heels in this match are a crew of good wrestlers populating Rampage screens against 3 of the biggest women in the company, seemingly just a match for the sake of a match. Doesn’t really make anyone stand out or shine differently, so it’s just some well executed wrestling moves for a while until it stops. Back to the top of the second hour for the women’s division it seems. The action was well delivered certainly and it was again a good enough match, but it just completely lacked interest for me.
Result: Kris Statlander by Pinfall
David Sheldon WR Match Rating- 3 Stars
Samoa Joe is facing Shane Taylor for the ROH TV Title at All Out. Why do AEW insist on giving away all their big ROH built matches on AEW programming. The mind boggles.
There’s a strategy session between Don Callis and Konosuke Takeshita, which can play nicely into their All Out match if they use the points brought up here and interweave them into the action. That will give the match just a little extra bite.
GOOD Acclaimed Ribbon Cutting Ceremony
So we have new trios titles. I like the scissor design and the gold centre plate. Less sold on the pink but they’ll fit The Acclaimed nicely. This was a nothing promo really. It was feel good and I had a smile on my face, but beyond showing off the new titles this accomplished not a lot. Would’ve worked much better if we didn’t have All Out glaring over this show like a hawk, a common problem across this show
David Sheldon WR Match Rating- 3 Stars
Collision looks like a fantastic little card. Consider me intrigued.
AMAZING Orange Cassidy vs Penta El Zero Miedo- AEW International Championship- Watch Match Here
An incredible match to main event the show. Well built through the night and boy it delivered. The two guys had great chemistry, it was flawlessly wrestled and brilliantly innovative, with a really smartly booked ending. The story is similar to other Cassidy matches we’ve seen but it always works really well. The crowd, who have not been great this show, had some down spots but came back massively by the end. The only major downside I have would be that although the psychology of the match was almost flawless, the Canadian destroyer spot did take me out of the match as for me it was no selling overkill, so I narrowly deduct marks in those 3 areas. Still though, it was a fantastic main event match and easily the best thing on this show.
Result: Orange Cassidy by Pinfall via Backslide
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.25 Stars
GREAT Orange Cassidy Promo
Short but sweet promo from a man we almost never hear from. A very well delivered speech making the title feel like something you’ll have to pry from his cold dead hands. Moxley coming out for a face off was also really nice. This feels like the only match on the All Out card I feel I have to go out of my way to pay to see, and that is testament both to the talents of both men and the booking of the match on this show.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Overall…
In ordinary circumstances, this would’ve been a very solid post-PPV episode of AEW Dynamite, continuing story threads from All In in a digestible and sensible manner and having some good enough wrestling across the show with a terrific main event match. The issue then, unfortunately, is the presence of another huge AEW PPV this weekend which unfortunately feels like a huge obstacle in AEW’s path. With the exception of the Cassidy/Moxley match and other small increments of intrigue, the All Out build on this show was messy and downright poor, with matches being flung together in backstage segments and video packages with little reason to care. Tony Khan has publicly stated this show was heavily hampered by a number of issues causing a lot of changes to the card. Whilst I can sympathise with the difficulties, the double PPV schedule is an issue AEW created themselves and leaving most of your PPV build to the last minute means that if a week becomes hampered with issues of any kind you are scuppered. This made the show perhaps more frustrating than it ought to, a shame as there was good segments and things on this show, and would’ve felt less egregious if it wasn’t a go home show for a PPV that desperately needed help. This was also possibly the weakest Chicago crowd I’ve heard in a long while, as in a lot of segments, be it poor microphone placement or lack of investment, the audience sounded quite dead. A worrying show as pertains to All Out, but a decent follow up to All In with a brilliant main event match.
Matches: 0.5/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.5/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.5/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3/5 Stars
Photo Credit: All Elite Wrestling – August 30th 2023
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article announcing the new system here:
