Predictions: ALL IN

We are 24 hours away from ALL IN and so the boys are back with their series of Pay-Per-View predictions. For past predictions click here. Without further adieu, the Talent Alone All In Predictions!

“Oi! Bruv! PPV on the Telly this weekend in’it? Wanna go to the pub, have a few pints, and get absolutely knackered?” 

Okay, I apologize. That intro seems insensitive in hindsight. I had to do it though, because this Sunday live on PPV will be AEW’s biggest PPV of their 4-and-a-half-year existence. Over 80,000 people will fill the stands of Wembley Stadium in London to see, to quote Triple H, this little “piss ant company”. This is huge for AEW, not just from a business standpoint but from a presentation standpoint. This show will have, dare I say, a Wrestlemania look to it with a crowd of that size. With such a big stage, it’s important for AEW to put on one of their best shows ever, but even more important is that Adam and I crush our predictions for this show. 

We both picked up four points in our SummerSlam predictions, meaning I still have a two-point lead with a total score of 27 to 25. We’re halfway to Wrestlemania 40, which is where our year-long competition will end. Can Adam gain some ground on me with these All In Predictions, or am I going to go 13 colonies on his red coat ass? Let’s find out. 

AEW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:

MJF(c) vs Adam Cole 

(Including predictions of pre-pre-show ROH tag title match against Aussie Open. Total of 2 available points.)

MIKE: When MJF and Cole started their program together I expected to get a title match on a special themed episode of Dynamite sometime this summer and that would be the end of it. I don’t think anyone could’ve guessed it would end up here in this spot, but god damn is it the right choice to main event this monumental PPV. On top of that, I’m not necessarily 100% certain that MJF retains. Don’t get me wrong I’m still 90% certain, but kudos to all involved for creating the 10% of doubt.

I originally thought MJF would finally turn on Cole during the pre-show title match with Aussie Open. Thus giving the crowd a clear face/heel dynamic for the main event and giving Cole some protection for losing a match he would be going into beat up, but they changed my mind to something totally different. I say they win the ROH belts and go on to have a banger in the main event where MJF retains not only the belt but his friendship with Adam Cole.

The main event of All Out HAS to be MJF vs CM Punk, and that is where a turn happens. Cole turns on MJF to cost him his world title. In one night MJF loses his belt and the first person he ever let in to be his friend. Plus, CM Punk takes total advantage of Cole’s actions to defeat MJF and turns heel in the process. He then ends the night cutting a scorched earth promo on AEW and the crowd. He is showered with boos in his hometown as the show goes off-air! ….. Sorry, what am I doing? I blacked out while fantasy booking. 

Preshow: Better than you Bay Bay  Maine Event: MJF

ADAM: You mention CM Punk so much I’m starting to worry. You do know he’s not real right? He’s like Jack Bauer or the Grinch. It’s all just TV and he can’t hurt you in real life…. Unless you’re Adam Page’s self-esteem.

Onto the match. This is the best storyline going in AEW and it’s not even close. I’m really not sure what the outcome will be. Will MJF turn during the tag match? Will Adam Cole turn during the tag match? Will Better Than You Bay Bay go over in the tag match only to crumble in the main event? Will Roddy Strong ever not wear a neck brace again? Is Matt Tavin somehow almost 40? All of these questions and more will be answered at All-In. Oh yeah and Aussie Open sans the guy you care about will be there.

The actual matches themself. I have no fucking clue. The first match is there to set up the second match but there are so many possibilities that I would have just as much luck if I threw a dart.

 PRESHOW: BETTER THAN YOU BAY BAY MAIN EVENT: ADAM COLE??

AEW WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS:

FTR(c) vs The Young Bucks

ADAM: To be honest with you, I’m the wrong person to ask about this match. I care about the Young Bucks so little that I struggle to remember which one of them looks like a serial killer. They can take their milk-drinking, god-worshiping asses all the way back to being everyone’s favorite tag team that draws a .00000001 rating on ROH for all I care. On the other end TOP GUY

FTR

MIKE: For the hundredth time Adam, it’s Nick. Nick looks like a serial killer! Anyway, I’m sure everyone thinks because of the Cash legal issues that FTR is going to drop the belts. Don’t tell those people about the events that have preceded some of the Usos title matches. This is why I’m expecting a swerve bro and the TOP GUYS go over.

FTR

ADAM: I’m pretty sure some kind of swerve is what led to Cash flashing the piece.

“REAL WORLDS” CHAMPIONSHIP:

CM Punk(c) vs Samoa Joe

MIKE: You can just reference my MJF vs Adam Cole prediction to know who I think wins here. The outcome seems certain in this match anyway. I’m more intrigued to see how the London crowd feels about Punk and if this match can live up to the legend of the rivalry’s original trilogy.

CM Punk

ADAM: I’m starting to get concerned that AEW doesn’t have enough belts. Should we get Joe a belt too? *Off-Screen Chatter* I’m just being told by my producer that he has one. Maybe we can give every match its own belt too and we can have whole divisions of fake vs real belts. Maybe we should start a feud over a belt that isn’t recognized but really matters. OH WAIT WE ALREADY DID IT’S THE FTW BELT.

Right, predictions. This match will probably be a banger and a shot-for-shot remake of They Live somehow but fuck it I’m down for that. Punk only puts on bad matches in the sweet spot right after he’s injured and right before he starts housing muffins and punching Christians so as long as none of that happens I think this match has show-stealing potential.

CM PUNK

FOUR-WAY AEW WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP:

Hikaru Shida(c) vs Saraya vs Toni Storm vs Britt Baker

ADAM: AEW is really putting its best foot forward with the Women’s match here. It doesn’t have its best workers (Hayter and Statlander) but it does have their biggest names (sans Jade) and I think they booked it… well pretty poorly. I’m split between hoping that Shida retains and we get the do-over on her COVID run and hoping that something wild happens like Damian Preist cashes in and wins the AEW Women’s World Championship. There’s a small voice in the back of my head and that voice is saying that Tony Kahn pushed the hell out of the Outcasts for some reason.

SARAYA

MIKE: There are two British people in this match, meaning they cancel each other out and neither hometown wrestler will win. It’s basic math people. That leaves Shida and Britt Baker. Bad time for Baker to step back from dentistry, she would have made a killing while over in London. Boom roasted. I’m going with Shida. She can keep the belt warm until Jade Cargill comes back.

SHIDA

The Golden Elite (Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Hangman Page) vs Konosuke Takeshita & Bullet Club Gold (Jay White and Juice Robinson)

MIKE: Not sure in what order the Don Callis-related matches will take place, but either way I’m expecting a rough night for Callis. All Out is a week after All In and that adds quite the twist to predicting many of the matches happening in Wembley. That being said, what I expect to happen at All Out plays into this match. It’s time to wrap up this Omega vs Callis/Takeshita feud. I like the idea of Omega vs Takeshita at All Out where Takeshita sneaks out with the win giving him a massive boost to end this feud. Part of that scenario includes the Babyface trio getting their win here. This would add to the surprise factor of Konsuke beating Kenny the following week. 

The Golden Elite

ADAM: Oh contrare my co-writer. When has AEW or Kenny or Don Callis ever let a feud end when it should? I think we’re setting up an angle here and not a blowoff. I think we see a few iterations of this feud eventually leading to the Kenny Win over Don in some kind of loser leaves-town match. I think the Bullet Club You to Death (editor note: change that name when uploading) takes this one due to Don Callis blinding Kenny with his bald ass head.

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & BULLET CLUB GOLD

STADIUM STAMPEDE:

Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy, The Best Friends, & Penta El Zero Miedo vs The Black Pool Combat Club (Moxley, Castagnoli, and Yuta) & Santana and Ortiz 

ADAM: The gimmick that keeps on giving, Stadium Stampede. Every year when they talk about this match I roll my eyes so hard it feels like my skull might split and then every year when I watch it, it’s a complete blast. I don’t even know what the fuck is happening with this feud anymore but I still love it. The clash of styles in this fight should make for an excellent show with a lot of weird and wild spots and, for bonus points, I’m predicting it ends with the surprising return of Trent’s mom who hits Mox with a Spanish fly and a 450 to set up Mox vs Sue in an Explosive Barbed Wire Death Match

EDDIE KINGSTON, ORANGE CASSIDY, THE BEST FRIENDS & PENTA EL ZERO MIEDO

MIKE: My first thought when it comes to this match is, WOOOO LAX IS BACK BABY! I’m a big fan of a lot of the people involved, but not exactly that interested in this story. Also, as awesome as Eddie Kingston is, can we all agree the man is too angry? He’s always angry, and not just at normal levels of angry. An 11 on a scale of 1 to 10 kind of angry. I hope this match ends with Moxley telling Kingston it’s not his fault over and over until Eddie breaks into tears and hugs Mox. Then Mox hits him with a Death Rider and pins him. The BLACKPOOL combat club can’t lose in London. 

BCC AND LAX

ADAM: Eddie Kingston Too Angry, Nikki Cross Too Crazy. Is this anything? Can it at least sell T-Shirts?

Will Ospreay vs Chris Jericho

MIKE: Jericho is once again a babyface unless AEW does some unnecessary swerve where Callis screws Ospreay because he and Jericho have been in cahoots all along. That would be terrible, so I really hope I didn’t just speak it into existence.

While Will Ospreay has been booked like a heel on the TV build-up to this match, the massive crowd in his hometown will be electric for the Aerial Assassin. This is why I expect at some point, whether during or after the match, Ospreay will give the middle finger to Callis and tell him to hit the bricks. Osprey is one of the top wrestlers in the world and has become one of the biggest stars in the biz not signed to WWE or AEW. There is no logical reason for the man who’s beaten the likes of Kenny Omega and Kazuchik Okada recently to do the job to the 52-year-old Chris Jericho. As a side note it was announced Jericho will be doing a live performance of Judas on the show because of course he is. If Jericho wins on top of that, I’ll be groaning so loud it will be heard all the way in London.

Will Ospreay 

ADAM: I don’t get this match at all. Like it takes so many leaps to get there. Okay, so Callis wanted Jericho to be his buddy but then got Osprey to be his buddy because they both hate Kenny? Sure, but then Callis was going to attack Jericho because…. he thought Jericho wasn’t going to sign on to his little team? So now Jericho is telling Osprey that he deserves the credit for Osprey’s career and somehow Jericho is the face? Jericho maybe likes the smell of his own farts a little too much.

WILL OSPREAY

TAG TEAM COFFIN MATCH:

Sting & Darby Allin vs Swerve Strickland & Christian Cage 

ADAM: Oh boy don’t fuck with Christian if you have a dead family member. I really think it would be funny if they made this match for the TNT belt despite:

1. It is a tag match and,
2. Christian Cage not being the TNT champion

I have to admit this is a match where I’m rooting for the heels with two barrels. I love me some Swerve Strickland and I think he should be walking around with some gold around his waist. Christian Cage has been fantastic and something AEW needed from the moment he turned heel. He’s in a category with only MJF as dudes who can get the crowd to boo him despite being awesome. I know that annoyingly AR Fox is going to decide this match in favor of team No Dad but I’m following my heart, not my brain. Side note: Are they gonna have to put one guy in one coffin, two guys in one coffin, or two guys in two coffins to win?

SWERVE STRICKLAND & CHRISTIAN CAGE

MIKE: You could name the tag team of Swerve and Cage “The two best heels in the company not named MJF” or “TTBHITCNNMJF”. Doesn’t really roll off the tongue but it’s accurate. People can say it was wrong of Christian to call Nick Wayne’s dead dad a hack, but I just wanna point out that he lost a match to Bryan Alvarez. TK has to keep to plan of not giving Swerve the recognition he deserves so I imagine we get a Nick Wayne run-in to pop the crowd leading to Sting and his kid going over.

STING & DARBY ALLIN

AEW TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIPS:

House of Black(c) vs The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn 

MIKE: One of Tony Khan’s most consistent booking strategies is acting like the House of Black is going to get a strong push and move up the card, and then crush my hopes by having them fade into the background. How many times will I keep falling for it? That’s something no one can truly predict. I expect TK to stick to his cruel formula here when The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass win the six-man Trios Titles. Random question, what’s the record for most people scissoring at once?

The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass

ADAM: We’ll as head editor for TalentAlone.com I feel compelled to research scissoring.

*25 minutes later*

As far as I can tell 2.

The fake Alister/Malakai Black push is an ancient art form dating all the way back to his debut on the main roster. It’s easy to perfect but hard to balance. TK has done a great job of it so far and I think we see that success continue as they put the Trios Belts on The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn so that they can come to the ring and talk and rap and wrestle more 8-minute matches until the heat death of the universe. Fuck man, the Acclaimed were so fucking over when they won the Tag Belts

THE ACCLAIMED AND BILLY GUNN

FTW CHAMPIONSHIP: Jack Perry(c) vs Hook 

ADAM: Jack Perry has quietly come into his own a bit. He’s still in a distant 2nd to MJF in terms of the Pillar race but I look forward to seeing him more than Sammy or Darby right now. At least Perry is trying out different stuff to see what works. Hook is starting to feel like the Kelvin Benjamin of AEW where every year I think “This is it. Kelvin Benjamin is going to put up 1000 yards and 15 TDs” and then I look up and he hasn’t played a snap since 2018 and was at some point on the Cheifs? During the Mahomes era? 4-Star recruit and a fucking giant 6-foot-5 245 pounds. 13 Reps on the bench. But he ran a 4.61 40 and a 7.33 3-Cone that’s some pedestrian number. Like are you not a D1 Athlete? *Gazes out to sea for hours* Hm? What were we talking about?

JACK PERRY

MIKE: You mean former Buffalo Bill Kelvin Benjamin who caught 39 passes for 571 YDs and 2TDs? Kinda surprised this match is on this card, to be honest. Don’t need Perry taking clean L’s quite yet. He cheats, he wins, Taz charges to the ring and puts him in the Tazmission while Hook T poses. Everyone leaves happy.

JACK PERRY MASON