AEW All Out has always delivered. Saturday afternoon in Toronto was no exception.
Fans were packed outside Scotiabank Arena for hours, surrounding the venue. The lines wrapped around the building like a snake wrapped around its prey. For a solid six straight hours, Toronto wrestling fans ate quite the hearty meal. Just the right serving of graps, the optimal amount of violence, and the perfect garnish of super-kicks. Fans washed all of that down with the sweet nectar of seeing “Hangman” Adam Page retain his AEW Men’s World Championship.
The Tailgate Brawl showed a unique take on Zero Hour and fans were invested from the opening bell of The Opps vs. The WorkHorsemen. Daniel Garcia defeated Katsuyori Shibata in their rubber match. A late addition to the Tailgate Brawl was Delta, British Columbia’s own Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Hologram taking on the trio of Cole Karter, Griff Garrison, and Preston Vance from The Frat House.
Mina Shirakawa, Willow Nightingale, Queen Aminata, and Harley Cameron were victorious over Megan Bayne, Penelope Ford, Julia Hart, and Skye Blue. Missing from the four-on-four was Thekla, also from Triangle of Madness. She had her focus on the Four-Way with Kris Statlander, Jamie Hayter, and “Timeless” Toni Storm.
Perhaps nobody was as shocked as Storm herself when Kris Statlander defeated the three others to become the new AEW Women’s World Champion. This was Statlander’s first title shot in four (FOUR!) years and she impressed everyone, including her opponents.
The building’s roof might as well have popped off for the opening contest. To nobody’s surprise, Adam Copeland entered the ring first. Hearing thousands belt out “Metalingus” in Toronto is an experience unlike any other. Copeland was visibly moved by hearing the city that raised him (and Cage) sing from the heart.
Before the match began, though, Copeland and Cage were seen backstage and came across Canadian icons such as Wendel Clark, Bubbles, and – a wrestling legend in his own right – the Green Bastard.
From the moment the bell rang to kick off the first match of the day (The WorkHorsemen vs. The Opps), straight through to the moment “Hangman” Adam Page retained the AEW Men’s World Championship, the crowd was consistently invested, loud, energetic, and passionate. The only times it felt like the air was sucked out of the building were during the first match, when FTR teased winning the match, and of course when they hit a Shatter Machine on Beth Phoenix as she came out to neutralize Big Stoke after Copeland and Cage won the match.
FTR took on Toronto’s own Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. Having this open the show set the mood for the entire show. FTR almost sucked the air of the building with every massive hit to Cope and Cage and each near pin-fall. After failing to win the match, they let over 13,000 fans in attendance know how they felt. The Shatter Machine to Phoenix was on-brand for the dastardly heels.
A long-awaited return provided the next match, as “The Mad King” Eddie Kingston delivered on his promise and showed up. But he did more than just return to AEW competition for the first time in over a year; he defeated Big Bill in impressive fashion. It goes to show: if you call out the Mad King, you’d better be prepared for anything. The crowd was 100% behind Kingston and he rode that momentum from the raucous crowd to victory. He may be from New York, but the Toronto crowd accepted him as a King north of the border, too.
In a Tables ‘n Tacks Match, MJF finally got shut up by Mark Briscoe. The crowd roared with every successful hit onto MJF and jeered him whenever he got a shot in. Mark Briscoe showed why he’s a resilient and dangerous opponent. Credit to MJF, though, as the crowd was fully invested in his demise.
Ricochet and Gates of Agony, self-named The Demand, shocked many as they defeated The Hurt Syndicate in trios action. MVP was singled out by The Demand and they found a successful strategy.
Earlier in the week, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun spoke on showing up to get their respect. They proved to the Toronto crowd that they deserve every bit of it, and then some. Ricochet found exactly who he’d been looking for to aid him in getting revenge over the faction that embarrassed him earlier in his AEW tenure.
After she shocked Mercedes Mone a couple of weeks ago, Riho unsuccessfully challenged The CEO for the TBS Championship. The crowd was not thrilled with this outcome as Riho had their full support.
A healthy number of fans were shocked to see just how impressive Mascara Dorada was in the next match, standing up to Konosuke Takeshita and AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada. Despite feeling like his addition to the match was to protect the other two from a pin, fans were thrilled to see him show out and rooted for him to get the shock victory.
In the Coffin Match, Darby Allin again showed how relentless he can be and what lengths he’s willing to go to. Unfortunately for him, a returning PAC spoiled his victory plans, aiding Jon Moxley to defeat Allin. The crowd was split on this one as a lot were happy to see him back in an AEW ring but were hoping for a Moxley loss.
In perhaps the most impressive match, and the most unpredictable outcome on the card, Kris Statlander defeated Thekla, Jamie Hayter, and former Women’s World Champion “Timeless” Toni Storm to begin her first reign. The crowd couldn’t believe it but there wasn’t a fan in the building that wasn’t happy for Statlander.
In an unsurprisingly intense Four-Way Ladder Men’s Tag-Team Title Match, Brodido pulled out new tricks and shocked fans with how far they were willing to go to keep their newly-earned championships. There were a number of spots where fans winced and had to look away as the violence reached surprising levels.
The main event of the night brought the crowd to its feet and fans were again somewhat torn on whether they believed Kyle Fletcher was ready to carry the mantle of being AEW Men’s World Champion. “Hangman” Adam Page proved that his challenger was not ready just yet, despite having all the potential and tools needed.
From the opening bell to the moment Page had his hand raised after retaining the title, AEW All Out delivered a spectacular show and this showed itself with how fans stayed equally invested in every match on this loaded card.
Toronto went All Out.
