AEW’s All Out (2022) was a mixed bag, with some great wrestling and some questionable booking.
As the other major league wrestling promotion in the US appears to be entering an exciting new era, AEW needs to be on top of its game. If not, then it risks fans looking for an alternative to the alternative.
All Out offered AEW a chance to focus on the wrestling, bring some of its biggest stars back into the fold, and move on from increasingly frequent reports of backstage tension.
So, with that in mind, did All Out (2022) deliver the goods? Here’s what went down and what we thought of each match.
CM Punk is back.
AAA World Mixed Tag Team Title Match: Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo (c) vs. Ortiz & Ruby Soho
The first pre-show match of the night for for the AAA mixed tag belts and was the rubber match for both teams. Like everyone else who watches AEW, we’re sick of Guevara and Melo, which means they’re doing an excellent job, so bravo.
While this was a fun opener and a nice showcase for each wrestler, the fact that we’ve seen this match twice already in what seems like a few days made it feel less special. There was also some obvious cooperation between the teams which sadly killed the illusion for us.
Winner: Sammy Guevara & Tay Melo
FTW Title Match: Hook (c) vs. Angelo Parker (with Matt Menard)
Parker has been calling out the Cold Hearted Handsome Devil on AEW programming for the past few weeks. This was Hook’s opportunity to silence his mouthy critic which he did swiftly and decisively, but without burying Parker.
Hook is a star in the making and we look forward to feud involving him with bigger steaks in the near future.
Winner: Hook
AEW All-Atlantic Title Match: PAC (c) vs. Kip Sabian
Kip finally got his opportunity to take the fight to PAC at All Out, after months of sitting in the crowd with a bag his head. He held his own for a while, through heelish chicanery, until he was eventually overwhelmed and defeated by The Bastard.
PAC was then confronted by Orange Cassidy at the top of the ramp, who he then ran down and called a joke, teasing a future match between them. Kip Sabian then had some kind of Tom Hanks in Castaway-inspired meltdown in the ring, shouting at his paper bag.
Winner: Pac
Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii
This match was nasty, short and brutish, but also great fun! Like the previous bouts between these two hard hitters, the match involved a lot of stiff chops and sore chests. The Mad King finally got a win over The Stone Pitt Bull – which is exactly what he needed following a difficult week.
Kingston is still one of AEW’s best prospects and is still beloved by the crowd. Here’s hoping big things are in his future. It was also nice to see a star from New Japan Pro Wrestling appear on the All Out card.
Winner: Eddie Kingston
Casino Ladder Match: Claudio Castagnoli vs. Andrade El Idolo vs. Rush (with Jose The Assistant) vs. Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Rey Fenix (with Alex Abrahantes) vs. MJF vs. Wheeler Yuta vs. Dante Martin
AEW ladder matches are always entertaining affairs but this one had some questionable booking and the match was shorter than we would have liked. Rush and Andrade worked together to take out their competition, but then weirdly, chose to not climb the ladder and win when they had the chance.
Instead, they left the ring and continued to beat up their already downed opponents. It was a bizarre moment and AEW should probably reflect on it to ensure such matches always make sense. Claudio also combined a few ladders at some point in a spot that took too long and didn’t have much in the way of pay-off.
What did have pay-off though was Stokely Hathaway’s recent recruitment drives, as each of the wrestlers he’s passed cards to ran out and attacked all competitors in the match, removing them all from the equation. Hathaway then did a Jame’s Elsworth and retrieved the prize before passing it to a mysterious masked man, who was then declared the winner of the match.
Of course, this diabolical plot was the work of a returning MJF – who will now be in the crosshairs of multiple faces and heels.
Winner: Masked Man (aka MJF)
AEW World Trios Title Tournament Final Match: The Elite (with Brandon Cutler & MT Nakazawa) vs. The Dark Order & Adam Page
Page came to the ring with John Silver and Alex Reynolds as Evil Uno and an injured Preston ‘Ten’ Vance cheered them on. Each man was wearing a combination of cowboy and Dark Order gear, creating a cool sense of camaraderie between the Hangman and his once evil besties.
The Young Bucks then made their entrance followed by an apparently fully healed Kenny Omega. There was tension between Hangman and Omega, but the Bucks displayed some sportsmanship towards their fellow former Bullet Club member.
Most of the spotlight was on the Elite and Hangman, but Johnny Hungy got a few moments to shine before the the Best Bout Machine and his fellow EVPs scored the pin.
Winner: The Elite
Kenny Omega returned from injury.
AEW TBS Title Match: Jade Cargill (with Kiera Hogan & Leila Grey) (c) vs. Athena
Cargill came to the ring in body paint inspired by Marvel’s She-Hulk, which was pretty cool but a tad off-putting at times. She was also flanked by The Baddies who interfered to make life difficult for Athena.
This meant that Cargill dominated most of the proceedings before pinning Athena in less than five minutes. It was a shame that the match didn’t go on longer, but we have a feeling this story is far from over.
Winner: Jade Cargill
Jay Lethal & The Motor City Machine Guns (with Satnam Singh & Sonjay Dutt) vs. FTR & Wardlow
While it’s nice to see AEW and Impact Wrestling working together again, it was weird to see such committed Impact babyfaces like the Motor City Machine Guns acting like heels on AEW. We also feel like this feud would have benefited from Wardlow vs. Lethal in a singles match, while the Guns fought FTR in a tag-team match. However, on a card that already has fifteen matches, this may not have been practical, also we’re into the idea of FTWar.
Wardlow scored the pin and celebrated with his multiple belt holding buddies until the heels decided to attack for revenge. This is when Samoa Joe’s music hit and the Submission Machine marched to the ring to support the babyfaces who then chased off the villains. Dax Harwood also got a measure of revenge on Sonjay Dutt, allowing his eight-year old daughter to pin him after taking him out with a savage lariat.
Satnam Singh is starting to feel like a very tall prop at this point, when is the giant going to get in the ring? Samoa Joe was busted open during their exchange though, with Taz exclaiming, “that’s just another day at the office for Joe.”
Winner: FTR & Wardlow
FTWar may be our new favourite faction in AEW.
Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks
Starks finally got his former friend (and muscle) alone in the ring, but sadly, the short match didn’t go the way the Absolute one hoped. While Starks further cemented his gutsy babyface status, it was Hobbs who went over, squashing his fellow ex Team Taz member in a matter of minutes.
Hobbs needs to win this feud to become one of AEW’s resident monsters, but Tony Khan shouldn’t over look the future mega-star that is Ricky Starks.
Winner: Powerhouse Hobbs
AEW World Tag Team Title Match: Swerve In Our Glory (c) vs. The Acclaimed (with Billy Gunn)
Since feuding with the Gunn Club, The Acclaimed may have become the second most over tag-team in AEW, second only to FTR. Max Caster and Anthony Bowens got a heroes welcome from the Chicago crowd and held their own against the champs until Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland wore them down for the pin.
It’s too early to coronate The Acclaimed as the champs, although their star is rising, and this helped elevate them further. This was evident when Keith Lee offered the scissor gesture to the Billy Gunn in a display of respect to The Acclaimed.
However, this appeared to annoy Lee’s tag-team partner, Swerve, who’s starting to act slightly more heelish than his fellow champ. Watch your back, Limitless one.
Winner: Swerve in Our Glory
AEW Interim World Women’s Title Four Way Match
Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD (with Rebel) vs. Jamie Hayter
After AEW Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa steps away from in-ring competition to rehab an injury, the promotion finds itself in need of another interim champion. Luckily, there was four incredibly talented women willing to step-up, and two of them have held the championship before.
Baker and Hayter worked together throughout the match until Baker ruined Hayter’s chances at winning, causing some friction between them. It will be fun to see where this goes on AEW Dynamite this week.
However, it was Toni Storm who scored the win and became interim champion – that is until Rosa returns and seeks to unify both belts.
Winner: Toni Storm
Christian Cage vs. Jungle Boy Jack Perry
This wasn’t really a match in all honesty. Instead it was a story segment that saw Luchasaurus re-turn heel and lay out Jungle Boy in front of his mother and sister so that Cage could score an easy win.
AEW has flip-flopped on the big dinosaur’s allegiances for several weeks now, so this was a surprising way to continue the story. It looks like the reckoning between Cage and Jungle Boy will need to wait until Full Gear in November.
Winner: Christian Cage
Bryan Danielson vs. Chris Jericho
The American Dragon and Le Champion met in the ring, apparently for custody of Daniel Garcia. While this wasn’t quite the Lionheart Jericho we were promised, the Demo-God looked more legitimately dominant than he has in a while.
Jericho won by cheating, but fought most of the match cleanly. This made his heelish victory feel strange, as the match had been competitive up to this point.
It’s obvious that the wrong man won, but it appears that the story is leading to Garcia realising that the Blackpool Combat Club is a much better fit for him than the sycophantic Jericho Appreciation Society.
Garcia will face Danielson’s BCC stablemate, Wheeler Yuta on Dynamite for the Ring of Honor Pure Championship, but he’ll do it without the support of the JAS.
Winner: Chris Jericho
Darby Allin, Miro & Sting vs. The House Of Black (with Julia Hart)
Miro fearlessly got in the faces of all three HoB members before the match began which was a nice touch. He then refused to tag in Darby and Sting, wanting to deal all the damage himself. Sting outsmarted Black by spewing mist in his face before Black could make his devastating spinning heel kick connect.
Darby and Miro continued to bicker throughout the match, but their team still scored the win. Malakai Black bowed to the crowd after the match, suggesting that rumours of him stepping away from AEW could be true.
Winner: Darby Allin, Miro and Sting
AEW World Title Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. CM Punk
After an embarrassing defeat on AEW Dynamite, former champion CM Punk got another opportunity to win his belt back from Jon Moxley at All In.
Of course, CM Punk was the hometown hero and it made sense for him to retrieve the belt, as his championship reign had barely got going before he needed to step away due to injury. Now Punk is back at the top of the card and normal service can resume.
The match was bloody and Punk nearly won at the start with a well-timed GTS until Mox kicked out before the referee could count three. While both men are huge stars in AEW, they don’t seem to have much chemistry in the ring together, possibly due to their styles just not gelling. Of course, this is just our view, and both men put on an excellent show.
After a hard fight, CM Punk redeemed himself and once again became AEW champion. Then the lights went out and MJF revealed himself to have been the masked man from the earlier ladder match. Due to the backstage issues surrounding MJF, the crowd were happy to see him and cheered him like a top babyface – even after he flipped them off.
It looks like two of AEW’s top stars are destined to clash once more at Full Gear, and even though Punk deserves a long title reign, it’s only a matter of time until Long Island’s favourite son claims the gold.
Winner: CM Punk
MJF returns to confront CM Punk
All Out (2022) was a long show, with fifteen different matches on one card. Still, each one delivered for the most part, if we can get past some questionable booking in a few of them.
The event was AEW’s opportunity to get back on track after a series of injuries and backstage dramas appeared to derail the promotion in recent months. While the PPV achieved this from an onscreen perspective, the controversial press conference afterwards and the reported fallout from this, suggests that there may still be troubled waters ahead for Tony Khan’s promotion.
While the company’s Connecticut based rival undergoes a period of healing and improvement, its frustrating to see AEW veer of-course as the worm turns. Here’s hoping they can regain their footing and that the drama can stay in the ring – and nowhere else.
