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Last year’s All Elite Wrestling (AEW) event at Wembley Stadium set a record for tickets sold at 72,265. It was a huge win for the now 5 year old wrestling promotion.
During the 2023 show, it was announced that they were going to run it back at Wembley the next year.
Since that event, much has changed with the company. There have been noted roster subtractions and additions.
In the end, Tony Khan and company have put together a great card for this year’s festivities. There’s also some great storylines that laid a solid foundation for their fanbase to enjoy.
How did this year’s return to England go over you ask? That’s what we’re here to do and give a recap of what went down on August 25th, 2024. It’s time to talk AEW All In London and see how “the best wrestlers wrestled”
AEW ALL IN LONDON ZERO HOUR PRE-SHOW:
Kyle Fletcher, Rocky Romero, Kip Sabian, “Dynamite Kid” Tom Billington”, Top Flight, Action Andretti & Lio Rush defeats Private Party, John Silver, Alex Reynolds, Satnam Singh, Anthony Ogogo and Ariya Daivari
Thoughts: As expected, a very busy match with a lot of aerial action considering the teams involved. Great crowd reaction for Kip Sabian. Excellent sequence of moves with the Dark order and Kyle Fletcher. Solid way to get more wrestlers on the show. The match had something for everyone
Willow Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishii defeat Stokely Hathaway & Kris Statlander
Thoughts: Quiet storyline build for this match. Hathaway coming out as “Remember The Time” Michael Jackson was a fun move. Kudos for Stokely taking that powerbomb. Once Statlander was hit with the Pounce, the match went as expected with Ishii easily handling Hathaway. Willow now gets to call the stipulation for “All Out”
Dustin Rhodes, Sammy Guevara, The Von Erichs, and Katsuyori Shibata defeat Gates of Agony, Brian Cage, Mike Bennett and Matt Taven
Thoughts: Why do Guevara and Cage have the same wrestling gear on? If Rhodes is rocking the Deadpool gear, Cage can’t for this match. If you’re watching this version of Ring of Honor, you are up to speed on the story build. If not, it’s another solid match. Bad miss with GoA missing the Shibata toss. Post match ending was just to get Kevin Von Erich some screen time but weird moment with the heel team just staring at KVE putting the Iron Claw on Taven.
Saraya comes out with Harley Cameron and the entire Knight family for a promo. They are interrupted by the returning Jamie Hayter! Hayter cleans house and the crowd is amped to see her back!
Thoughts: Honestly, very good promo from Saraya to have the crowd turn on her. Great to see Hayter back. Odd to have it on the pre-show though. It would have been a better move to add her return into the Baker/Mone match.
Now to the main show….. (c) = Champion at the start of the match
AEW WORLD SIX MAN TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP LONDON LADDER MATCH:
PAC, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta WIN the AEW titles from House of Black (Brody King, Buddy Matthews and Malakai Black) vs. The Bang Bang Gang (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn and Juice Robinson) vs. The Patriarchy (c) (Killswitch, Nick Wayne and Christian Cage)
Thoughts: AND NEW! Standard ladder match with lots of table spots. Christian Cage played up to being the ultimate heel many times into the match. Lots of outside shenanigans from Mama Wayne. Good storytelling with Killswitch and Cage. Not really sure where we go from here with Pac and the BCC (is it even still a thing?). Good match overall but very steady in spots in action.
AEW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
“The Glamour” Mariah May defeats “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) become the NEW Champion!
Thoughts: AND NEW! Very surprised to see this be the 2nd match of the night considering the great storyline building. Storm embraced the spotlight in front of the stadium crowd and ran with it. Not sure why adding in May’s mother in the equation but it was a thing. Very good storytelling with the finish. Storm struggling to take the end shot allowing May to steal the advantage was a good spot.
FTW Championship
HOOK finally defeats Chris Jericho (c) to win back the FTW championship
Thoughts: AND NEW! Fozzy played Jericho to the ring. Crowd seemed very out of this match (as the current storyline isn’t winning anyone over). The only pop was for TAZ to finally get involved and help his son out. Great moment between the two in post.
AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. The Young Bucks (Nicholas and Matthew Jackson) (c) vs. The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens)
Thoughts: AND STILL! Great back and forth action with plenty of near falls. Bucks retaining isn’t a real shock as their “Elite” factor is holding onto a lot of gold. Seeing the Grizzled Young Vets appear was a very unexpected surprise. I think it caught the crowd off guard with a delayed reaction. Seeing them face off with the Bucks then jump FTR helps make a statement and they can only help that tag division.
CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH
Orange Cassidy vs. OKADA vs. NIGEL MCGUINNESS (?!?!?!?!) vs. Kyle O’Reilly vs ZACH SABRE JR. vs. Roderick Strong vs. Marc Briscoe vs. Hangman Adam Page vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. RICOCHET vs Christian Cage vs. Killswitch
Thoughts: Best match of the night at this point but a bad ending. NIGEL F’N MCGUINNESS?!?! No One saw that coming for this match. Crowd lost their minds seeing him and woke up. ZSJ and Ricochet also had the audience screaming. That said, seeing Killswitch run in (with the Luchasaurus intro) only to help Cage win was a wasted moment. If McGuinness had won (which there was a moment with a delayed ref count), that would have been the storybook ending fitting for a show of this prestige.
AEW AMERICAN/INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Will Ospreay VS. MJF (c)
Thoughts: AND NEW! Fantastic match. Knowing how these two built up the storyline, expectations were high. They hit their marks. Wild spot with the Hidden Blade clipping a cameraman. Fair share of false finishes. The Daniel Garcia run-in played off well. Great set up for the Tiger Driver for the finish! Ospreay gets a new International Title with a hell of a pyro display to end festivities. Honestly, it should have been the main event IMO
AEW TBS CHAMPIONSHIP
Britt Baker VS. Mercedes Moné (c)
Thoughts: The match had many flaws to it (note: not an unwatchable match by any means). There were numerous timing issues that it became very sloppy in-ring work at bad times. Crowd was spent after MJF/Ospreay so they had nothing to boost this one up. The homages to Eddie Guerrero were good but not enough to salvage this one. Hopefully if/when they run this back, it gets cleaner in a lot of areas.
AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP – COFFIN MATCH
Darby Allin vs “Scapegoat” Jack Perry (c)
Thoughts: Pillar vs. Pillar. They wanted to push things to the limit and they clearly did. However, there was one major poor choice that can’t be ignored. Knowing the events of last year’s event with Perry and another wrestler (now in WWE), bringing more attention to that incident worked to only remind fans of that moment. Once past that, the match amped up the wild spots and brutality with Perry ultimately winning. STING running in for the save capped off a great moment for the fans!
AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Bryan Danielson vs Swerve Strickland (c)
Thoughts: AND NEW! The pre-match intros carried the “big fight feel” needed for this spot. Crowd was buzzing throughout the match. Danielson treated this like his last match with some crazy spots. Why they tried an unorthodox suplex from the top rope is beyond me. Albeit it, going for a vertebreaker right after was a ballsy call too. There was no shortage of theatrics during this match. Danielson’s late power surge was very impressive and felt vintage American Dragon. It might have been overbooked a bit but it was well worth it for the crowd reaction post match.
Overall: B-. AEW All In started off a bit sluggish but once the Gauntlet match began, the crowd woke up. Everything prior didn’t leave a lasting “wow” factor. Speaking of the gauntlet, it stole the show with the surprise appearances (just ignore the ending). Ospreay and MJF gave a strong case for being the main event but ultimately, Tony and co. made the right call. The main event lived up to its’ billing and capped off a steady night of action and wrestling that only AEW can provide.
Hit me up on the social media accounts for the ODPH podcast and let me know your thoughts on AEW All In London 2024. For more wrestling content on Nerd Initiative, join in the conversation every Thursday night for WRESTLING NIGHT LIVE! Thanks for reading!
