AEW All Out 2025 is in the books and as expected it was a helluva show, with a slew of good-to-great matches, a ton of variety, some surprise returns, and an epic main event that cemented its challenger as a new top star.
Despite WWE's best efforts to cockblock AEW again, All Out was a creative and commercial success, pulling in around 13,000 live fans for a $1 million-plus gate, and apparently drawing a strong PPV buyrate (exact numbers aren't in yet but at the post-show media scrum Tony Khan made it clear he was happy with the early metrics). Last year's 105k is the number to beat, as it would mark the first time since 2021 that three consecutive AEW PPVs outdrew their counterparts from the previous year.
The show opened with the much-hyped Adam Copeland-Christian Cage homecoming, as the two longtime friends teamed up to face FTR. The match was a good solid tag bout with a lot of false finishes, wherein Cope paid tribute to John Cena with a Five Knuckle Shuffle/AA combination. Late in the match Cope hit a Killswitch on one FTR member while Cage hit a spear on the other. Stokely Hathaway pulled the referee out of the ring, which prompted the surprise involvement of Beth Phoenix Copeland. Beth speared Hathaway and carried him to the back. Cope kicked out of a spike piledriver and Shatter Machine before hitting a very sudden spear (too sudden I thought) to win the match. Beth came back down to celebrate but Nick Wayne and Kip Sabian ran down and laid out Cage before handcuffing Cope to the ropes. Beth, knowing she was outnumbered, kissed Cope before attacking FTR, but they got her up for a spike piledriver and ran away. Very good match, excellent angle afterward. This feud is clearly not over. ***3/4
The one misstep of the night was next as Eddie Kingston returned after a 16-month layoff to face Big Bill. This match was inoffensive but also not very memorable, too short, and had a few sloppy moments. Bill got Eddie up for two Bossman slams but in both cases he didn't have a good grip, and the finish saw Eddie barely hit a backfist that Tony Schiavone called as a miss, but it won him the match anyway. I'd have saved this for Dynamite to make Eddie's return stand out more. *3/4
Back on track for match number three though, as MJF and Mark Briscoe had a Tables n' Tacks match. At the opening bell there were four buckets of thumbtacks in the ring and tables surrounding it. Mark dumped all the tacks onto the mat, and these two had to fight and take bumps all over them. This was a bloodbath as expected and Briscoe fought most of it with numerous tacks sticking out of the back of his head. Yeesh. Lots of great, sick-looking spots on the tacks, a tack-covered chair, and some crazy table bumps here. Briscoe won with a Froggy Bow/Jay Driller combination, giving him a much-needed PPV victory. I was glad to be wrong in my prediction. ****1/4
The unexpected hit of the night was The Hurt Syndicate vs. Ricochet and Gates of Agony, now known as The Demand (not crazy about that name). The monster babyfaces ran wild for a while but MVP was clearly the weak link, which played into the finish. The six of them brawled around ringside and Toa Leona was made to look like a world-beater when he took out both Lashley and Benjamin with a running dive over the railing onto the timekeeper's table. That allowed Ricochet and Bishop Kaun to isolate MVP and hit the Spirit Gun for the win. Another match I was glad to have predicted incorrectly. ***1/2
The TBS Championship was next, and Mercedes Mone and Riho had what was a very good in-ring showing that was unfortunately hurt by a rather dead crowd. Riho seems to have shaken off her ring rust as she looked quite good here. But I don't think anyone bought the idea that she might beat Mercedes. Riho got a lot of offense here but Mercedes blocked a Crucifix Bomb by grabbing the referee, raked the eyes, and hit a Lungblower and Mone Maker for the win. Had the crowd been hot for this it'd be an easy four stars but on balance I'll go ***3/4.
The fifth match blew the roof off the dump, as Kazuchika Okada defended his Unified Title against Konosuke Takeshita and Mascara Dorada. Man did these three gel great together. This match furthered the increasing rift between stablemates Okada and Takeshita while giving Dorada a ton of offense to showcase his abilities. The young Lucha frustrated his two much larger opponents often, they'd take him out of the match for a while and attack each other, but Dorada kept getting back up. Okada was more motivated here than he has been in a while, proving he can still deliver huge when it counts. Takeshita looked to have the match won with a Raging Fire on Dorada, but Okada slid in, knocked Takeshita out of the ring with a dropkick, and hit the Rainmaker on Dorada to retain. This was excellent and I can't wait to see the inevitable Okada-Takeshita clash later this year. But don't sleep on Dorada, that kid's fantastic. ****3/4
The Jon Moxley-Darby Allin Coffin Match followed, surprisingly, and this was another violent fight. Darby attacked Mox during his entrance and they brawled through the crowd, culminating in Darby hitting a Coffin Drop off the loge entrance. Darby dragged him to the ring while biting his ear, cutting Mox open. Mox propped up the coffin on the outside but Darby hit a dive through the ropes which sent both of them inside it, tipping it over. The Death Riders showed up and slid a second coffin into the ring, and Mox shut it on Darby's hand. Darby produced a fork that had been hidden in a turnbuckle pad and stabbed Mox's forehead with it, busting him open. Bryan Danielson on commentary said "I promised to be impartial, but fuck that, let's go Darby!" Amazing. Danielson gave Darby a duffel bag that had a plastic bag in it. Darby put the bag over Mox's head and hit Danielson stomps, garnering a "This is murder" chant from the crowd. Darby put Mox in the coffin but a returning Pac ran in and powerbombed Darby from the ring onto the floor coffin, put him in a bodybag, and shoved him into the other coffin for Mox to close the lid. The Death Riders now have a full complement of five, and it feels like a good time for Darby to round up four friends for a Blood & Guts match. This was awesome. ****3/4
The Women's World Title match had the unenviable task of following, but Toni Storm, Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander and Thekla were up to the task, putting together a 12-minute sprint of nonstop action. Tons of finishers and nearfalls in this one, like Statlander hitting Thekla with Saturday Night Fever on the floor, Toni hitting Storm Zero on Stat for a close two-count, Hayter hitting Hayter-ade on Toni, and Thekla spearing Hayter from the apron to the floor. But it was Kris Statlander wrapping Toni up with Wheeler Yuta's Seatbelt pin that got the job done, a quick and sudden end to Toni Storm's legendary title reign. The crowd erupted in shock as Statlander became the first woman in AEW history to have won both women's championships. Toni reacted with a mix of stunned disbelief and an odd smile. I'd have liked for this to go longer but it was really good for the twelve minutes it got. ****
The 4-way Ladder Match for the Tag Titles was second-to-last, as Brodido, The Young Bucks, JetSpeed and Josh Alexander/Hechicero swung for the fences. Too much crazy action to recap here but this was joyful carnage as promised. Only complaint is that there was a spot midway through where Bandido climbed one of the ladders and easily could've grabbed the belts but instead did a sunset flip bomb on Josh Alexander. They should've set that spot up off to the side so the titles weren't in reach. There was a crazy spot where Brody King hit his Rikishi Driver on Mike Bailey through a ladder bridge and the ladder actually bent but bounced right back into position. Finally Brody stopped Matt and Nick from retrieving the belts and Bandido did a moonsault off the top while holding a ladder, onto Alexander and Hechicero, before climbing and pulling down the straps to retain. Post-match who should appear but Jack Perry, attacking the Bucks and Rocky Romero, before Matt and Nick hit him with a double superkick and set him up for the BTE Trigger. But Jack just smiled at them and the lights went out. On the 'tron showed a video of Jack unearthing a coffin and a figure in a hospital bed. The figure sat up and it was Luchasaurus! The lights came back on and Luchasaurus himself clotheslined the Bucks out of the ring, took off his Killswitch weight belt and tossed it into the crowd. "Tarzan Boy" blared over the PA to signal the reunion of Jurassic Express. Great match, great angle. ****1/2
The main event was of course the AEW Men's World Championship as Hangman Page faced Kyle Fletcher. This was an epic match worthy of a NJPW supercard. The pace started off methodically but quickly built to a much more intense cadence. The action spilled to the outside and we got draping DDTs on the floor, a top rope moonsault, and a brainbuster through the timekeeper's table. Later Kyle tried to hit a brainbuster off the apron but Page countered into a Dead Eye through another table which exploded it. Page and Fletcher each lifted moves from their archrivals - Kyle hit a Hidden Blade and went for a Stormbreaker and Page used Swerve's Big Pressure driver. Fletcher removed a turnbuckle pad and tried to hit a brainbuster on it, but Page rammed him into it, hit a Dead Eye off the second rope, and finished Kyle with a Buckshot Lariat. A fantastic 38-minute war that both cemented Page as AEW's Ace, and heralded Fletcher as an inevitable future champion. *****
Hard to beat a PPV with a fiver, two near-fivers and a handful of fours. The main show ran five hours but didn't feel anywhere near that long; AEW has gotten really good at putting the matches in the right order so the show flies by. Yet another excellent PPV in a string of them.
Best Match: Hangman vs. Fletcher
Worst Match: Eddie vs. Bill
What I'd Change: Cut the Eddie-Bill match and put it on Dynamite, and give the women's 4-way a good five minutes more.
Most Disappointing Match: Eddie vs. Bill
Most Pleasant Surprise: That we're in for a Young Bucks-Jurassic Express feud
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
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