Highlights
- Despite injuries derailing marquee matches and last-minute changes, AEW's All In event at Wembley Stadium is expected to have great in-ring performances but lacks impact story-wise.
- Tony Khan's failure to properly build up All In has left fans guessing about major stars' opponents, with CM Punk, the company's biggest draw, still without an announced match.
- Backstage drama, including CM Punk's controversial promos and Cash Wheeler's assault arrest, has overshadowed the excitement for All In, along with issues in the women's division and title defenses. The event doesn't feel like the biggest in wrestling history.
When Tony Khan announced that AEW was venturing off to Wembley Stadium in London for All In back in April, wrestling fans were shocked, excited, and confused. Not many were confident that a company that's only been around for about four years was going to be able to fill Wembley. However, fast-forward to August, and they're about to break the record for the highest attended professional wrestling event. It's a huge achievement for a company that's still viewed as number two. Unfortunately, just because All In is AEW's biggest event, it doesn't mean it's immune to classic wrestling bad luck and bad decisions.
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Injuries Once Again Derail Marquee Matches For A Major AEW Pay-Per-View
It's a tale as old as time in wrestling. Matches planned in advance get screwed up because of a freak accident where one guy gets seriously injured. It's something that always has to be taken into account because in a sport that's so physical, it could happen so easily. It's happened over and over again in AEW, especially for first time events. The first Forbidden Door in 2022 was riddled with injuries before and during the event, and now All In is facing the same dilemma.
Bryan Danielson, Jamie Hayter, and PAC all had major plans in place for All In until an injury forced Tony Khan to change direction. Hayter would've defended the woman's title in her home country, PAC would've been involved in something major as he's also British, and Danielson was set to face Kenny Omega in a highly anticipated rematch. Unfortunately, with all these injuries and last minute changes, a flurry of random multi person matches have been booked which are almost guaranteed to be great in ring, but don't really have the same impact story wise.
Tony Khan Has Failed To Properly Build AEW's Biggest Event
The lack of a build toward All In is not so much the fault of a curse, but of Tony Khan's ineptitude at building to a pay-per-view, yit still fits to the overarching problem because it's a bit of an issue when the first mention of this event on TV is less than a month beforehand. Tickets sales kept going up and up, so it's not like a proper build was entirely necessary, but it would've certainly helped.
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Stories were also progressing, but not in a way that made fans excited about the event because they still had no idea who major stars were facing. CM Punk, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, and Jon Moxley, just to name a few, all had many options, but fans were still left guessing at whom these guys were going to face as the clock ticked closer and closer to August 27th. These are the matches that should be announced first, but the fact is, CM Punk, the proven biggest draw of the company, still does not have an announced match at the time of this writing.
Backstage And Real Life Drama Overshadowed AEW All In
When CM Punk's return was announced, wrestling fans were divided because it's not hard to see that Punk brings an aura of toxicity with him. It's not even his fault some of the times, but his name is seemingly always in the news. Case in point, when the August 12th Collision went off the air, Punk cut a scathing and random promo on Hangman Adam Page. The promo was a work, then wasn't a work, then was a work, then might've been a work, then might've not been, then somehow Ryan Nemeth of all people got involved, then Punk apologized, and it all just got so confusing. Whatever the case may have been, nobody was thinking about All In. Matches were getting announced, but at the same time, more reports were coming out about this whole debacle, and that's all people seemed to care about.
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Contrary to popular belief, it isn't just CM Punk that causes issues. Less than two weeks before All In, Cash Wheeler of FTR, who were booked to face The Young Bucks at Wembley in one of the top matches on the card, got arrested for assault. Now his status going into the show is unknown. There are reports that he will still be able to leave the country, but this is a situation is constantly changing and one that didn't really need to happen nine days before the AEW's biggest event.
For a show that will beat any WrestleMania in attendance, and has the tagline, "The Biggest Event In Wrestling History," the excitement just isn't there because of these various issues, and it's not even all of them. Along with the previously stated problems, the woman's division is in the pits, over half of the company's titles aren't scheduled to be defended yet, and the company is splitting their time building to another pay-per-view taking place a week later. Tony Khan took a risk, it worked out, and then he fumbled it. The only thing that seems to be going right is the Adam Cole and MJF storyline. Obviously, it won't be the worst wrestling show of all time. It won't even be a bad one. The matches will still be great, and the success is still something to proud of, but it certainly does not feel like the biggest event in wrestling history.
