NWK reviews AEW All Out

[NWK2000]

August 31, 2019 Chicago IL

intro

Through shit weather , my friend and I attended All Out. We knew if would be gold but it defied all expectations
The crowd was 99 percent full , the only empty rows would have obstructed a lighting rig. The crowd was jovial all night . They were happy to cheer the faces and boo the heels , except for Jericho but that came from a place of warmth, largely inspired by his promo

Casino Battle Royale

This was hard to follow because no name keys. Jazz looked like a post apocalyptic warrior , Leva caused my friend to scream "BOOKS ARE FOR LEARNING" during her Kofi spot. Mercedes Martinez is a fucking coup in this war, and Nyla looked like a superstar, which was one of my few complaints for DoN

5.5/10

Private Party vs Angélico and Jack Evans

Fucking crazy Lucha match . Private Party really shined. That catch cutter finish at the end was fucking nutty

8/10

So Cal Uncensored vs Jurassic Express

SCU got to do fun Michinoku Pro stuff on the smaller lads and Luchasaurus got to look like a unstoppable monster . Make this man champion soon Only issue was JE could've used the win more than SCU

7/10

PAC vs Kenny Omega

Lots of stiff strikes , lots of big moves . This would've been a main event on any other card. Unfortunately the finish wasn't Hell of a win for PAC though . The match was so good it immediately put PAC in the upper echilon

8/10

Jimmy Havoc vs Darby Allin vs Joey Janella

You would think the sponsored match of the night wouldn't be the death match. Everyone looked good and got to do some nutty shit (the barrel exploding Coffin Drop was one of the most impactful visual all night ) but it slowed at times .

6.5/10

Dark Order vs Best Friends

This was probably the best paced match all night . However because it was more deliberate it definitely brought the crowd down even though people were into some spots . The crowd didn't seem to know who anyone was The post match gave me a new appreciation for Orange Cassidy . Dude is so effortlessly fluid in everything he does
5/10

Riho vs Hikaru Shida

I can't wait until they start cross pollinating the Joshi and the other girls because trotting out two random Joshi= dead crowd. Riho got people back into it when they did their best stuff. This got me hype for Riho vs Nyla which is a good sign

6/10

Cody vs Shaun Spears

Pharaoh is the best boy. This match had intense heat going for it which defied my expectations. Cody might have the best crowd working fundamentals going on . Shaun and Tully had an unexpected chemistry . Tully put way morr into being a heel.manager mythan I expected. MJF was an ineffective but well.meaning corner man was great. And holy shit that Arn run in! MJF's post match body language was one of the best things about the show
9.5/10

Lucha Bros vs Young Bucks

Fucking holy shit . Match of the night . These four defied what human beings could do. We were convinced that both Young Bucks were dead at one point . It's a miracle Nick wasn't paralyzed. Best of the night and possibly best ladder match ever

10/10

Chris Jericho vs Adam Page

Unfortunately these guys had to follow the ladder match . Fortunately the finish was such that they will have ammo for rematches and they'll have much better matches in the future . By this point I think the booze was settling in and the crowd's adrenaline was down . People ate up the Jericho win.

7/10

Conclusion

Best show I've seen live ever. I'd like to point out that I enjoy the booking structure AEW has of starting out high with a little bit of a valley before picking up again. You feel less guilty for your mind wandering. I can't wait to see this crew cross pollinate and get promo time on TNT

[Big Red Machine]

Cody might have the best crowd working fundamentals going on . Shaun and Tully had an unexpected chemistry . Tully put way morr into being a heel.manager mythan I expected. MJF was an ineffective but well.meaning corner man was great. And holy shit that Arn run in! MJF's post match body language was one of the best things about the show

Dude... see past the bullsh*t. Cody's matches DON'T MAKE SENSE. He's a lazy sh*t who is hoping you'll be too distracted going "OH BOY! IT'S ARN ANDERSON! AND HE DID A SPINEBUSTER!" to ask why Tilly randomly left ringside, or how the hell Hebner didn't see Arn giving Spears a spinebuster when there was no reason for his attention to be anywhere else because both wrestlers were in the ring.

[Bob-O]

Cody might have the best crowd working fundamentals going on . Shaun and Tully had an unexpected chemistry . Tully put way morr into being a heel.manager mythan I expected. MJF was an ineffective but well.meaning corner man was great. And holy shit that Arn run in! MJF's post match body language was one of the best things about the show

Dude... see past the bullsh*t. Cody's matches DON'T MAKE SENSE. He's a lazy sh*t who is hoping you'll be too distracted going "OH BOY! IT'S ARN ANDERSON! AND HE DID A SPINEBUSTER!" to ask why Tilly randomly left ringside, or how the hell Hebner didn't see Arn giving Spears a spinebuster when there was no reason for his attention to be anywhere else because both wrestlers were in the ring.

Tully left ringside to address Arn... I thought that was pretty obvious...

Hebner didn't see the spinebuster because he's a pro wrestling referee.

Dude...
This wasn't supposed to be Gotch vs Hackenshmidt... it was a fun match that served it's purpose and moved a story. Nobody is expecting 5 stars out of Cody anymore, but I think he's found his role and fits it nicely.

PAC vs Kenny Omega


Lots of stiff strikes , lots of big moves . This would've been a main event on any other card. Unfortunately the finish wasn't Hell of a win for PAC though . The match was so good it immediately put PAC in the upper echilon

8/10

Not going to argue ratings as you were there and I was at home. This match has gotten some crap, but was by and far my favorite of the show from my desk. Had me on the edge of my chair and my jaw on the floor several times. I'm surprised you rated it lower than Cody/Spears... not surprised about it being lower than Bucks/Lucha Bros, as it probably was surreal live, but man... at home it was a miss for me. I didn't feel like the titles were important, I didn't even feel like the rivalry was important... and the Bucks look out of shape which is inexcusable for their AEW Poster Child position and amount of time they've been off.

I'm happy you had a good time! Did you get any pics? I'd love to see them!

[XIV]

We watched very different shows if you thought Lucha vs Bucks was the greatest ladder match ever.

You've got the "live" effect, which basically means everything is so much better because you were there. I think you need to watch it back on screen and some points will go missing from some of these matches.

And I echo BRM's sentiments on Cody Rhodes. His WWE theme "It's only smoke and mirrors" was clearly written about Cody's matches. Because he attempts to baffle with bullshit but the fundamentals are missing.

Jericho vs Hangman gets Match of the Night for me. It's great to see a "major" promotion allowing blood for World Title matches. It just makes the whole thing feel more prestigious.

[NWK2000]

Not going to argue ratings as you were there and I was at home. This match has gotten some crap, but was by and far my favorite of the show from my desk. Had me on the edge of my chair and my jaw on the floor several times. I'm surprised you rated it lower than Cody/Spears... not surprised about it being lower than Bucks/Lucha Bros, as it probably was surreal live, but man... at home it was a miss for me. I didn't feel like the titles were important, I didn't even feel like the rivalry was important... and the Bucks look out of shape which is inexcusable for their AEW Poster Child position and amount of time they've been off.

I'm happy you had a good time! Did you get any pics? I'd love to see them!

PAC/Omega was a great match, but what knocked it lower was the finish. If I'm in my seat going "Wait, what happened?" when the bell rings, that's a bad sign.

[Big Red Machine]

Cody might have the best crowd working fundamentals going on . Shaun and Tully had an unexpected chemistry . Tully put way morr into being a heel.manager mythan I expected. MJF was an ineffective but well.meaning corner man was great. And holy shit that Arn run in! MJF's post match body language was one of the best things about the show

Dude... see past the bullsh*t. Cody's matches DON'T MAKE SENSE. He's a lazy sh*t who is hoping you'll be too distracted going "OH BOY! IT'S ARN ANDERSON! AND HE DID A SPINEBUSTER!" to ask why Tilly randomly left ringside, or how the hell Hebner didn't see Arn giving Spears a spinebuster when there was no reason for his attention to be anywhere else because both wrestlers were in the ring.

Tully left ringside to address Arn... I thought that was pretty obvious...

Hebner didn't see the spinebuster because he's a pro wrestling referee.

Dude...
This wasn't supposed to be Gotch vs Hackenshmidt... it was a fun match that served it's purpose and moved a story. Nobody is expecting 5 stars out of Cody anymore, but I think he's found his role and fits it nicely.

What was there for Tully to address? Does he care about Arn more than about making sure his buddy wins the match over on of those hated Rhodeses?
Hebnber missing it "because he's a pro wrestling referee" is not a legitimate excuse. They need to show me who or what he was distracted by. In this case both of the wrestlers were in the ring, and Tully nd MJF were on the outside, dealing with each other. There is no excuse for him not seeing this.

I wasn't expecting Gotch vs. Hackenschmidt. But I was expecting someone to have enough sense to realize that if Hebner makes a big deal out of taking Cody's belt away from Spears because it's illegal to hit someone with it, you can't have Spears hit Cody with a belt right in front of Hebner thirty seconds later and it not be a DQ. Maybe I'm just more scarred than you from years of watching Cody in ROH and New Japan stall his ass off and put on other bad, boring matches like this, but I'm telling you that this is what Cody does. He passes off shallow lazy crap as being deep and meaningful and dramatic.

[Big Red Machine]

You've got the "live" effect, which basically means everything is so much better because you were there. I think you need to watch it back on screen and some points will go missing from some of these matches.

This right here. This is a real thing that every reviewer should be careful of, especially in gaga matches.

[Thelone]

The Cody match was the most obvious smoke and mirrors match in quite a while. To this day, I still remember this Roode vs. Dillinger match from whatever Takeover a few years ago where the crowd was crazy hot at the beginning because it was Glorious vs. Ten... and then they had to wrestle and the crowd died. What I'm saying it that I fully expected a regular match between Cody and the same Spears to die instantly because they don't even have quirky bullshit to keep the crowd busy for a few moments.

This match, as ridiculous as it might sound, reminded me of the last leg of the never-ending Corino/Whitmer storyline in ROH when it became some random thing about Kevin Sullivan being an ass to Dusty in Florida thirty years ago, which had NOTHING to do with the actual storyline. This match was the same : it was about Spears feeling disrespected by his old buddy who called him a glorified jobber and wanting to prove a point, then Tully came back from nowhere because screwing the Rhodes family is a second nature I suppose, then the match was more about Cody "fighting" Tully because Dusty and the Horsemen from thirty years ago, Arn "betraying" Tully because of reasons that will never be explained (but dat pop you know), oh and Spears was also there, being a non-entity as usual because he truly is a glorified jobber.

Basically, the more I'll think about this match, the more I'll hate it, which already happened with the Allin match from Fyter Fest.

[Big Red Machine]

This match, as ridiculous as it might sound, reminded me of the last leg of the never-ending Corino/Whitmer storyline in ROH when it became some random thing about Kevin Sullivan being an ass to Dusty in Florida thirty years ago, which had NOTHING to do with the actual storyline. This match was the same : it was about Spears feeling disrespected by his old buddy who called him a glorified jobber and wanting to prove a point, then Tully came back from nowhere because screwing the Rhodes family is a second nature I suppose, then the match was more about Cody "fighting" Tully because Dusty and the Horsemen from thirty years ago, Arn "betraying" Tully because of reasons that will never be explained (but dat pop you know), oh and Spears was also there, being a non-entity as usual because he truly is a glorified jobber.

This is a wonderful comparison. It's a feud that's trying to mix an old-school southern personal feel with this 1998-2003 "insider storylines" obsession where they assume that things will feel more real if you suddenly include shoot relationships. The problem is that they bank so much on hoping that the general idea of the feud will have emotional resonance that they don't put any effort into constructing a real story.
It's no different than WWE's announcing, where they just expect you to believe them when Michael Cole tells you that this match is very important and this title is very prestigious even though the evidence points in the opposite direction. They just expect you to buy in because they say so, when what they should be doing is putting in the work to craft a story that those of us who aren't going to pop simply because you tell me that these guys used to be best friends and also Rhodes vs. Blanchard are able to buy into as well. The only difference between them and WWE is that people are willing to buy into them because they're not WWE.

[NWK2000]

You've got the "live" effect, which basically means everything is so much better because you were there. I think you need to watch it back on screen and some points will go missing from some of these matches.

This right here. This is a real thing that every reviewer should be careful of, especially in gaga matches.

Forgive me for getting wrapped up in the fantasy while going to a live show. God forbid I feed off positive or negative energy around me. You're right, I should be cold, emotionless, and exclusively analytical like you jabronis.

[Big Red Machine]

You've got the "live" effect, which basically means everything is so much better because you were there. I think you need to watch it back on screen and some points will go missing from some of these matches.

This right here. This is a real thing that every reviewer should be careful of, especially in gaga matches.

Forgive me for getting wrapped up in the fantasy while going to a live show. God forbid I feed off positive or negative energy around me. You're right, I should be cold, emotionless, and exclusively analytical like you jabronis.

It's not about a lack of emotion. It's about there being things you don't see that the cameras do. These aren't house shows. They are productions designed for TV/PPV/streaming services. You're not getting the full picture if you can't see everything well. That's a big part of why we get so annoyed when the production misses a shot they should have gotten.

And if you are trying to have your reviews be the apples to apples comparisons that each person's reviews theoretically are, then you really should watch it back on tape because the emotions you feed off of from others aren't present when you review other shows.

[XIV]

You've got the "live" effect, which basically means everything is so much better because you were there. I think you need to watch it back on screen and some points will go missing from some of these matches.

This right here. This is a real thing that every reviewer should be careful of, especially in gaga matches.

Forgive me for getting wrapped up in the fantasy while going to a live show. God forbid I feed off positive or negative energy around me. You're right, I should be cold, emotionless, and exclusively analytical like you jabronis.

No one is saying you’ve got to me emotionless, but when doing choosing to do a review, you are choosing to be critical based on your knowledge and experiences of wrestling.

Your review for All Out will be done from a different place because of the pump, that is all. We’re only saying that seeing things live probably gave some matches some extra points.

I’ve seen Bullet for my Valentine recently. I’ve seen them twice. I’ll tell people that the most recent time they were so much better than the first time and the best I’ve ever heard them sound live. But if I had the opportunity to listen to it back a couple of months on, I might be a little more able to be outside of environment and take each song for its actual value, rather than its live and in the moment value.

[Bob-O]

What was there for Tully to address? Does he care about Arn more than about making sure his buddy wins the match over on of those hated Rhodeses?

Former Stablemates and a decorated tag team that (kayfabe) haven't seen one another in 20 or 30 years. It makes sense to me that Tully would switch his focus to his own personal problems than the kids fighting.

Hebnber missing it "because he's a pro wrestling referee" is not a legitimate excuse. They need to show me who or what he was distracted by. In this case both of the wrestlers were in the ring, and Tully nd MJF were on the outside, dealing with each other. There is no excuse for him not seeing this.

I don't remember seeing Hebner AT ALL during this exchange, but it didn't seem weird to me that he didn't see it. Whether he had his back turned or whatever. I just chalk it up to that campy "C'MON REF! TURNAROUND!!!" 80's stuff that I grew up on.

Forgive me for getting wrapped up in the fantasy while going to a live show. God forbid I feed off positive or negative energy around me. You're right, I should be cold, emotionless, and exclusively analytical like you jabronis.

It was obviously an Experience Review and not meant to be an Analytical one. You picked up on WAY more than I would have from the seats, which is where I think the confusion comes in. I really appreciate the take on the show without you having seen the televised production, so much so I'm trying to get tickets to the Pittsburgh taping. Gonna try and relive some ECW Glory Days (being a part of those crazy passionate crowds was more fun than the show!) Stay positive my brother!

[NWK2000]

So, someone somewhere down the line, might've been Lane, said I needed to rethink my Ladder match review, and I did rewatch it, and I actually mistook what I saw during a critical spot. When Fenix blindly pushed Nick off the ladder, because of how my row was angled, we all somehow thought he'd landed on the turnbuckle ass first. Still a brutal bump, just not what we thought. I'd be willing to back off 10/10, but I would put it at a 9.5, It seems like the natural evolution the E&C/Dudleyz/Hardyz TLC matches, and I'm sure watching that live was just as inspiring. Gonna do the same for Jericho vs Adam Page and Cody vs Spears later on.

[Big Red Machine]

What was there for Tully to address? Does he care about Arn more than about making sure his buddy wins the match over on of those hated Rhodeses?

Former Stablemates and a decorated tag team that (kayfabe) haven't seen one another in 20 or 30 years. It makes sense to me that Tully would switch his focus to his own personal problems than the kids fighting.

But they have seen each other. Remember all of those WWE reunions and Hall of Fame ceremonies and other stuff.

Hebnber missing it "because he's a pro wrestling referee" is not a legitimate excuse. They need to show me who or what he was distracted by. In this case both of the wrestlers were in the ring, and Tully nd MJF were on the outside, dealing with each other. There is no excuse for him not seeing this.

I don't remember seeing Hebner AT ALL during this exchange, but it didn't seem weird to me that he didn't see it. Whether he had his back turned or whatever. I just chalk it up to that campy "C'MON REF! TURNAROUND!!!" 80's stuff that I grew up on.

There is a big difference between "C'MON REF! TURN AROUND!" when the referee is being distracted by something and when he is just off not seeing something because the spot requires him to not be looking at it.

[cero2k]

hmmm. guys.

Smokes and mirrors is what wrestling is all about.

y'all know it's fake right?

and reviews are opinions and thus subjective.

[Big Red Machine]

hmmm. guys.

Smokes and mirrors is what wrestling is all about.

y'all know it's fake right?

and reviews are opinions and thus subjective.

Being fake does not excuse being a poor version of the product.
"Smoke and mirrors" is exactly what WWE does that everyone hates so much.

[cero2k]

Being fake does not excuse being a poor version of the product.
"Smoke and mirrors" is exactly what WWE does that everyone hates so much.

They told a good story and if it was to hide the lack of workrate, then that's just the smart thing to do.

[Big Red Machine]

Being fake does not excuse being a poor version of the product.
"Smoke and mirrors" is exactly what WWE does that everyone hates so much.

They told a good story and if it was to hide the lack of workrate, then that's just the smart thing to do.

I don't think they told that good of a story because it had glaring plot holes. The stuff with Tully and MJF was all very good and Cody and Spears had good intensity, but that doesn't excuse the dumb sh*t. When your smoke and mirrors makes the match dumber, it's not good, and it shouldn't get a pass just because it's smoke and mirrors.

[cero2k]

I don't think they told that good of a story because it had glaring plot holes. The stuff with Tully and MJF was all very good and Cody and Spears had good intensity, but that doesn't excuse the dumb sh*t. When your smoke and mirrors makes the match dumber, it's not good, and it shouldn't get a pass just because it's smoke and mirrors.

the only hole was Earl seeing Tully's belt shots because Hebner is senile and turned around, that was an error, not a plot hole, but that was it. Everything else that you pointed out in your review and here made total sense to me.

VanDaminator style moves when the opponent is holding the chair have never been DQs. it's not direct action using a weapon, it's like tossing someone into a table.

Arn came out because he got tired of the bullshit his former tag partner was pulling. Like Bob-O said, Tully left after Arn, bewildered, his face said it all, he was like 'wtf arn! why you do that!?'

Why didn't Hebner see Arn? because he was busy with fighting outside the ring, and no, they don't need to show you that, we're watching the wrestlers, not keeping tabs that the referees are doing their jobs. if the refs are not even in the ring, we shouldn't have to be wondering if their backs were turned or not. Leave that for NWK who was live and could had seen that. You mentioned somewhere else that this is a product designed for a screen, then our focus is on what's on screen.