It's finally here, the biggest AEW show of 2025, All In Texas!
At a time when AEW finally feels like it has real momentum and is becoming the hot wrestling promotion again (partly thanks to an incredibly dull, I mean more than usual, WWE product), what this company needs is another defining PPV event, like they had four years ago at All Out. And this All In lineup fits that bill nicely. The product has felt very focused in 2025 and the build for this show has been among the best for any PPV in company history. The 25,000 or so in attendance this Saturday will no doubt be a very enthusiastic mob, comprising AEW's biggest North American crowd to date. This is an historic show already, as the largest non-WWE wrestling gate ever on this continent. And if the results are booked as expected there will be plenty of history to go around.
Men's Casino Gauntlet
This show will have not one but two Casino Gauntlet matches, which I'm not crazy about, but both should be entertaining and they've done a good job of building stories to be contained within them, as opposed to just throwing a bunch of people in the ring. We know for sure Mark Briscoe and MJF will kick things off, and the build for just their exchanges has been pretty sharply drawn. Mistico will also appear as well as Ricochet, Bandido, and Brody King. Lotta good star power and athleticism already. I assume we'll see Takeshita, Samoa Joe, Claudio, Hobbs, Gabe Kidd and Wheeler as well (unless they add a Trios Title match to the card, which I wouldn't be sad about). Anyway the story seems to be building toward MJF getting another crack at the AEW Title at long last, so I'm picking him to win this.
Pick: MJF
Women's Casino Gauntlet
This match we know less about. Kris Statlander and Megan Bayne are the only two official participants, but I'm happy they'll be starting the match as they have fantastic chemistry together. I imagine Willow, Thekla, Penelope, Tay and Anna Jay will be in it too. Perhaps there will be a Britt Baker sighting or a free agent debut. Kris and Megan have to be the two favorites to win since the focus has mostly been on them. Stat's been getting unsolicited help from the Death Riders so it seems like another heel turn could be in the cards. But I guess I'll go with Megan to win?
Pick: Megan Bayne
AEW Tag Team Championship: The Hurt Syndicate vs. JetSpeed vs. Christian Cage & Nick Wayne
Well the build to this match was pretty dreadful up until this week since Lashley and Benjamin hadn't been selling either physically or promo-wise to make either of their challengers look credible. But finally on Dynamite Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight beat THS down with the stolen tag belts and Cage and Wayne took turns smashing Lashley's ankle with chairs. So now there's finally a threat in place. I still don't think the champs are losing though. Eventually they have to be turning THS babyface and feuding them with MJF and a partner, right?
Pick: Champs retain
TNT Championship: Adam Cole vs. Kyle Fletcher
These two had a very good match on Dynamite a few weeks ago where Kyle went for an apron powerbomb from too far away and damn near knocked Cole's head off with it. Let's hope there are no such mishaps here. This match should be quite good. Kyle needs gold.
Pick: Fletcher
Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay & Swerve Strickland
God damn this will be spectacular. Even on a show with Okada vs. Omega this could be the best match. Give this 25-30 minutes and watch it become the new Bucks vs. Kenny/Hangman. The stips here are that if the Bucks lose they are stripped of their EVP status, but if Ospreay and Swerve lose they can't challenge for the AEW Title for a year. As crazy as that stip seems, it would force them to keep both guys away from Hangman as title challengers and they'd have to get creative about elevating some heels. I think that's probably the direction they're leaning. I wonder if we'll see Jack Perry finally make a return to help.
Pick: Bucks
Unified Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega
While this new belt needs a better name I'm very glad they're unifying a couple of these championships, and the belt itself is lovely. I hope they aren't doing away with the Continental Classic, which has been great the last two years. This match is SEVEN years in the making and while neither of these two is quite at their 2017-18 best, the story here has been much more personal. AEW could've just made it about their NJPW history but instead gave this match emotional stakes with Okada's savage attack on Kenny's weakened abdomen. This might be the toughest match to predict since it's the crowning of a new inaugural champion. In their series thus far Kenny leads 2-1-1. Giving Okada the win would even things up, but then Kenny is obviously much more synonymous with AEW and its history.
Pick: I guess Kenny?
AEW Women's Championship: Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Moné
It's the biggest women's match in company history and they've done a great job of making it feel as such. It doesn't have the personal story of Toni vs. Mariah but both these women feel like huge stars and they'll work like crazy to make this one of the great women's wrestling matches. But Toni should to win this. She's the crossover star who remade herself in AEW from scratch, while Mercedes is the outsider. You could have Moné win and thus Toni could chase for a while and finally hand Mercedes her first AEW loss, that wouldn't be the end of the world, but I think Toni should fully cement herself as THE women's wrestling star by doing so on the biggest stage of the year. She's only been champion for four months this run, let her keep the title till the end of the year or so, and make a new star in beating her, whether it's Megan, Kris or Willow.
Pick: Toni retains
AEW Championship Texas Death Match: Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page
THIS ONE'S FOR ALL THE CHIPS!!! Fucking finally, after three years, AEW is going to right a wrong and pay off everyone's worn-down patience. Hangman Adam Page will finally regain the title he shouldn't have lost to that fragile manbaby Phil Brooks. Not only that, but the Death Riders' stranglehold on the briefcase-imprisoned title will finally come to an end. These two have had a Texas Death match before and it was a masterpiece, and I expect this to be an equal, albeit in a different way. This will have much greater emotional stakes and likely a ton of interference at the end, between the Death Riders, the Opps, the Bucks, Will Ospreay, maybe a returning Darby Allin, and most importantly Swerve Strickland will do his part to help Hangman get the win. Should be a lot of great moments in this one and in the end it will feel like the start of a new era, with the Hangman as the actual main character.
Pick: Hangman Page
I'm actually fine if this PPV is only the eight matches, since the four big ones all need to go long. The shortest Okada-Omega match thus far is 28 minutes, so this one has to go at least that long. The main will be upwards of 30, ditto the Bucks match, and Toni-Mercedes needs to be over 20. There are some big, important bouts that need time. This should be yet another excellent PPV offering from the company that rarely misses on PPV.
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