Predictions: All Out

Just a single week after making history in front of over eighty thousand fans at Wembley Stadium AEW will be back on PPV for their annual All Out show. As is tradition for the event, it will emanate from Chicago, this year taking place in the United Center. There was a lot of speculation back when All In was announced to be only a week prior to All Out. How would Tony Khan juggle booking two big back-to-back pay-per-view events? To be fair, there are some things that probably affected what TK wanted to do. Bryan Danielson broke his arm at Forbidden Door, Better Than You Bay Bay became the hottest thing in the company, and lastly, the reported suspension of CM Punk. While I’m sure the in-ring work will deliver on Sunday and the rabid wrestling fans of Chicago will provide a good atmosphere, you can’t help but feel like the eight matches scheduled for the show will be looked at as one of the weaker PPV cards in AEW’s short history.

No matter how many matches, or how strong the card is, you can still always depend on Talent Alone to be here with predictions. As I’m sure our faithful readers know, this is our second prediction article this week as we were forced to pull double duty with All Out and WWE’s Payback both taking place this weekend. I previously mentioned in our Payback predictions it’s a tight competition with Adam and myself with the running tally sitting at  34-33 in my favor. 

AEW INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Orange Cassidy(c) vs Jon Moxley

MIKE: I honestly have no idea what the main event of this show will be. Considering the build for this match closed Wednesday’s Dynamite and was heavily talked about all show, I decided to list it first. It would make sense for this match to end up being the main event. Jon Moxley is AEW’s MVP and their go-to whenever their original plans go ass up. Can we give enough flowers to Orange Cassidy? He’s wrestled his ass off during this title run on a weekly basis, making himself and the title feel so much more important to the company. He even went out of his element and cut a good fiery go-home promo at the end of Dynamite. Similar to Moxley, he’s become one of the most reliable wrestlers for AEW. I originally thought Mox would be the one to finally beat Cassidy, but now I’m going the other way. Give OC the win. They’ve played up Cassidy’s record-setting number of title defenses and how beat up he is a lot this summer. It would be such a massive boost for him to beat one of AEW’s biggest and most established stars in this situation

ORANGE CASSIDY

ADAM: I can’t wait for Mox to close line Cassidy over the top rope and for Cassidy to sell a foot injury only to draw the ire of CM Punk who thinks they’re calling him out. Alright, I promise I’ll try not to make any more CM Punk references in this article *scrolls down to other matches on the card* Oh boy.

Cassidy has been the Steve Kerr of AEW. While Jordan (MJF) and Pippen (Kenny Omega) and hell even Dennis Rodmen (CM Punk) are out there getting all the press, he’s just sinking threes and counting his rings. Maybe it’s time to put the belt on Mox so everyone can say “Whoa now this is a big-time title, Mox is carrying it!” All of us real ringheads (editor note: please do not upload with that nickname it’s a work in progress) know that the belt is already legit. I’m definitely split on picking this match, but when AEW has bad press they call The Wolf to clean it up.

JON MOXLEY

Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshita (w/ Don Callis)

ADAM: I’m not quite in the victory lap phase of guessing this story will drag on for a minute, but I’m getting close to it. Getting a pin over Kenny is a big fucking deal in AEW even if it is a roll-up. Want to know what’s a bigger deal? Getting two in one week

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA

MIKE: We are on the same wavelength here. As I mentioned on this week’s TAPWP, I am buying more Takeshita stock than people on Wall Street Bets bought GameStop. Kenny is teflon in AEW. Single losses don’t really hurt him. You just don’t wanna do it so much that it starts to not give the other wrestler as much of a boost. In this scenario though, it’s totally a good time to have Kenny take the L to someone lower on the totem pole than him. Konosuke Takeshita has been a thorn in the side of Omega for months. He’s cost him matches and even rolled him up for the dub at Wembley. Conventional thinking would say this is where the baby face gets the win to cap off the story. However, this is where you need to zig when the world expects you to zag. Konosuke picks up the win, clean or not, and continues to move up the card as one of AEW’s brightest young stars. 

KONOSUKE TAKESHITA 

8-MAN TAG TEAM MATCH: 

FTR & The Young Bucks vs Bullet Club Gold

MIKE: Feels like they weren’t sure what to do with the Bucks and FTR for All Out, but wanted their star power on the card. Or needed it if we’re being honest. To be fair though, it’s not the worst idea. There’s the fun dynamic of FTR and The Young Bucks trying to coexist, and it should end up being a really chaotic match. I really hope Jim Ross will be calling this match so we can hear him get aggravated and ask who the legal man is. I honestly live for cranky JR comments. Bullet Club Gold has been running pretty hot lately and picking up wins, so there may be some intrigue to the outcome. I’m predicting the Babyface team could have some hiccups and miscues along the way but will eventually come out on top. Also, considering all the rumors and innuendo about the Bucks and FTR having backstage issues, I’m really glad they have found a way to put it aside and work together. Big props to them. 

FTR AND THE YOUNG BUCKS

ADAM: The only way for this to go is with FTR and the Bucks bungling a spot or two and oh no that leads to miscommunication and suddenly BOOM Ass Boys all up on ya. One Two Three and we’re out of there

BULLET CLUB GOLD

ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS: 

Better Than You Bay Bay(c) vs Alex Reynolds & John Silver

ADAM: *Giant Sigh* Okay Sure whatever. I’ve never been a big John Silver guy but I’ll power through here because I apparently woke up on the Smarky side of the bed today. Better Than You Bay Bay is hotter than hell right now and I can’t see a reason for them to drop the most important tag belts under the AEW umbrella.

Now let’s talk about the turn. Can we talk about the inevitable turn? It feels like watching a Spiderman movie before Spiderman gets bit by the spider. We know someone has to turn at some point right? Two career heels, defying the odds, staying partners WITH THE WORLD TITLE INVOLVED. But what if they never do? What if they become a career-long tag team and MJF never loses again and I’m finally happy?

BETTER THAN YOU BAY BAY

MIKE: My goal in doing these predictions was to keep my negative opinions somewhat at bay and not get too pessimistic. With this match, however, I just can’t. 

What a goddamn joke. Not only did Khan give his biggest star, MJF, the night off on Dynamite where Khan should’ve been doing everything he could to sell their second PPV in as many weeks, but they announce he and Cole will defend the ROH tag straps, at said PPV, against whatever team won the latest Jabroni Rampage battle Royal. Is he just punting on the All Out buy rate? Don’t worry if you bought tickets to All Out though, they also announced their 30th tournament in the 4-year existence of the company, where the winner gets to face MJF at Grand Slam. Oh, sorry if I misled those attending All Out. That tournament has nothing to do with what you’ll see. Those matches don’t start till next Wednesday. That’s smart, let’s make sure we do more to promote the free episode of Dynamite that’s happening in 3 weeks instead of the PPV that’s happening in 4 days. Doesn’t matter TK will still be adding another Wrestling Observer Newsletter Booker of The Year award to his trophy case. He can put it right next to the space reserved for the Super Bowl the Jaguars will never win. 

As for the outcome, I will roll my eyes into the back of my skull if The Dark Order goes over. I understand it’s just the ROH tag belts, which were only used to add a wrinkle to All In, so Better Than You Bay Bay could win a pair of tag belts. I also totally get that they could just be using this as a vehicle for someone to turn, or for some kind of miscommunication to cause MJF and Cole to lose while building tension towards an eventual split. It honestly doesn’t matter. They could go Looney Tunes style and have an anvil drop on the heads of MJF and Cole, and it would still be absolutely ridiculous for them to lay down to Silver and Reynolds. Sorry bout it. 

BETTER THAN YOU BAY BAY

AEW TNT CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Luchasaurus(c) (w/Christian Cage) vs Darby Allin

MIKE: This is not an easy one to call. Usually, when that happens I tend to side with what I think is best because I’m just so smart when it comes to this stuff. What’s best is for Luchasaurus to retain the title, and by proxy, for the real TNT Champion Christian Cage to keep his belt. Cage really should hop on the cameo and start offering to cut promos on people who have dead dads. Anybody who thinks people wouldn’t pay for that does not know anything about pro wrestling fans. We are an interesting breed of humans.

LUCHASAURUS

ADAM: A lot of people are saying that Darby is going over here. I get it Darby seems like the perfect TNT guy but that’s because you have no imagination. Christian Cage Luchasaurus has had the most interesting TNT run in a minute and I don’t know what putting the belt on Darby will add. I say just keep letting a random heel beat up Darby, then Sting comes out, Schiavone yells “It’s STING” and we all go home happy, especially Christian Cage.

LUCHASAURUS

AEW TBS CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Kris Statlander(c) vs Ruby Soho

ADAM: Is it illegal to put two Women’s matches on a card? They didn’t build for anything for this card but couldn’t find room for newly crowned champ Saraya to even squash someone?

Anyways let’s talk positives and not negatives. Positive: Every time Kris Statlander steps into a wrestling ring. I can see an argument for Ruby taking the belt and having a whole like Outcasts titles thing with maybe a sprinkle of Jade thrown into the mix, but I think Kris is hands down the best worker and a top 2 intimidating woman in AEW and that makes me want to see her get a real run. 

I’m a little worried about the TBS belt getting forgotten over and over and just having like 18-month runs every time they have a new champ but I think we see Statlander assert herself and start charging up the card a bit.

KRIS STATLANDER

MIKE: I’ll keep this one short and sweet. Kris Statlander retains, the outcasts continue to dismantle, and eventually, Statlander faces Saraya to unify these belts. Sorry, did I not put enough effort into predicting this match? Well, I put in about just as much effort as AEW does in booking the women’s division so I think it’s fair. 

KRIS STATLANDER

Miro vs Powerhouse Hobbs

MIKE: Sound the alarms people! We’ve got a hoss fight on our hands. I bet dollars to donuts either Taz, Schiavone, or Ross will refer to this match as a hoss fight at least once during the show. I like both of these guys and think they would both benefit from a win. Miro was heavily used in promotional materials for Collision prior to launch and has appeared weekly, either on screen or in the form of a pre-tape. Those factors are what tip the scales in Miro’s favor for me. When Collision launched it felt like they had plans for The Redeemer, let’s just hope that’s still the case.

MIRO

ADAM: I heard someone describe Hobb’s career as a “record that keeps skipping and playing the same track” and it’s really shattered my perception. I want a Hobbs push and Miro is juuuuust a bit out of his peak. I think we can start the Hobbs push if we believe hard enough.

PPPPPOWERHOUSE HOBBS

ROH TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP: 

Samoa Joe(c) vs Shane Taylor

ADAM: Old veteran Joe against young spry 37-year-old Shane Taylor. Seriously is Samoa Joe contractually obligated to only wrestle older dudes? I think there are only two ROH belts that matter and this is one of them, but only because of who holds it. The only argument I can make to take this belt off Joe is if you want to involve him in the Big Leagues instead of parking him on the show people don’t watch. 

SAMOA JOE

MIKE: Of all the matches on the card, this one feels the most like it was just thrown on because they needed to add more. The benefit for AEW with this match is no one knows if this match has a strong build behind it, because no one watches ROH. Damn, my whole trying to not be a pessimistic thing really went down the crapper.

 I love Samoa Joe, he’s one of the baddest dudes in this business, and I think people unfamiliar with Shane Taylor will be pleasantly surprised with what he can do. I have to be honest though. When this match was announced, I groaned and lamented, because I just didn’t care. I cannot lie to our faithful audience. Every time they decide to fill out a PPV or TV show with ROH matches I don’t care. For the most part, when ROH wrestlers appear on AEW TV, it’s because they’re in a story with an AEW wrestler. I’m sure these two men will put on a good match, and my negativity is in no way targeted at them. It’s the person who books both these brands and randomly shoves an ROH title match on cards and just thinks people will know what’s going on. It’s just one of those things that often happens on AEW shows that, while it may deliver in the ring, feels like it in no way has consequences for the show I’m tuning into. The best thing I can hope for is that Joe drops the belt and TK moves him full-time to Collision. Lord knows that between injuries and suspensions, the roster could use someone like him.

SHANE TAYLOR