You’ll have to forgive me for the late review. I had been occupied over the weekend, but I had heard some pretty great things about this show. Let’s see if it lived up to the hype.
Matt Cross def. MJF
This was completely fine as an opener and accomplished its goal in getting the crowd warmed up for the rest of the night. It wasn’t anything over the top, but it was some good old-fashioned competent wrestling. I did enjoy MJF’s heel work throughout the match, though I think he kind of overdid it on the crowd interactions just for the sake of getting a reaction. Matt Cross’ athleticism after all of these years is to be desired. There was some basic psychology in the shoulder being worked over, and there were some solid sequences, especially with Cross’ high-flying maneuvers carrying things along. I suppose you could call this the equivalent of what a RAW main event would look like without all of the piledrivers and what-not. Again, nothing that blew me away, but a completely fine wrestled match to start the evening. **1/2
Christopher Daniels def. Stephen Amell
For a guy that had only two official wrestling matches under his belt before this match, Amell impressed me a great deal, especially with the chances he took with the coast to coast and dive into the table outside. Once again, the match was far from anything special, but it was a good watch on first viewing. I also liked the consistency they showed in the match with Christopher Daniels’ moonsault. Earlier in the match, Daniels went for a moonsault, but he didn’t get all of it because the coast-to-coast had made him woozy. After recovering throughout the match, he got all of the moonsault and that finished the match. The actual in-ring work was average at best, which is to be expected from a 48-year-old and an inexperienced wrestler/actor. All being said, this match more or less met my expectations and I thought it was another solid showing. I’ve always applauded Amell’s effort despite not being fully polished, and I do commend him greatly for that. But again, I wasn’t like, out of my seat or anything. ***
Tessa Blanchard def. Madison Rayne, Chelsea Green and Britt Baker
I could have done without the “THIS IS AWESOME” chants. While the ending sequence was definitely energetic, I thought the match was, once again like all of the other matches on the card so far, average at best. I don’t think there was one that really stood out, but so much as it was each woman brought something to the match. Rayne was flying everywhere, Green brought an infectious energy, Baker shined in the ending sequence and Blanchard came off looking like the star here. I did think the match was headed into the next tier of greatness, but I think the finish was too abrupt and awkward for my taste. Just when the crowd was really getting into it and giving them a standing ovation for what was about a **3/4 match at best to that point, they ended it, which was sad. All four women did bust their ass and we got some great stuff going on, but once again, nothing awesome or spectacular here. Best match of the night so far, though. ***1/4
Cody Rhodes def. Nick Aldis (C) – NWA Heavyweight Championship
Well, you won’t see more awesome visuals in the wrestling world than Cody Rhodes’ bloody face holding the NWA Championship that his father once held. The pop he got was great, and it was truly a memorable moment. That being said, I’ll be honest with you. I fell asleep at about the halfway point upon first viewing. This match was far too long to get to the point if you ask me. The story was apparently centered around Rhodes’ lower back which prevented him from doing his normal set of moves. But I think the transitions were too long and ruined the flow of the match. I get what they were going for with the flying forearm which busted Cody open, but I think there was a better way to do it. I guess you could say this was the equivalent of AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania. The match wasn’t bad by any stretch. But it’s like you were expecting this legendary moment and when it’s over, you’re left with, “Well, yeah that happened.” There’s no doubt that Cody’s win was a cool moment, but I didn’t think we needed over 20 minutes to get there.
This match also did a poor job of showcasing Cody’s skills. This was more dull for the most part than inspired, but both men did try, and I did like the touch of including Brandi towards the end, but even that, I think, was a bit much for what they were going for. Maybe if it was a street fight or something. Congrats to Cody on a great moment, but the match left a lot to be desired for me. If this was something you liked, I’m happy. But this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. ***
Adam Page def. Joey Janela – Chicago Street Fight
This is the first match of the night that I believed to be of superior quality. It’s kind of hard to mess up a street fight, but I thought that this was a great back and forth affair. What I appreciated about this match was the extra dynamics thrown into this match, primarily that of Penelope Ford. The angles set up on Being The Elite were also well done as well. I figured that this would be one of the best matches of the card, and it delievered. Only thing is I hope that Joey’s wrestling career isn’t cut short with some of these bumps that he’s taken. I get that big spots are memorable, and they aren’t confined to the rules of a WWE match. But a piledriver through a table from damn near the top of the ladder? That may be a bit overdoing it.
Anyway, the match was perfectly laid out, both men were able to lay out the pacing extremely well, Adam showed off his high-flying prowess and Joey showed that he’s a tough SOB with some of the damage that he took in this match. I was afraid the show was going to continue on a cold streak, but I think that we got something pretty damn good here. Bravo to both men. But now I’m going to have nightmares about inflatable dicks, so I guess it wasn’t all that great. ***3/4
Jay Lethal (C) def. Flip Gordon – ROH World Championship
I’m sure no one seriously expected Jay to win here, and Flip was sort of just happy to get the chance to compete at this PPV. Overall, what we got was a fun little match that obviously played off of stars of the 80s in Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. I especially liked all of the moves Gordon hit towards the end of the match that sort of changed the pacing of the match after Jay was more grounding and pounding him. Maybe I’m being a bit picky, but am I wrong for still wanting the Macho Man’s elbow to be protected? I’m not sure I’m a fan of kicking out of 3 of them (even though I’m aware Ultimate Warrior kicked out of, like, 5 of them).
Overall, what we got from this match was a little fun, inoffensive action. I thought the pacing reverted back to the first three matches, where it was more methodical, and it was fine here. This wasn’t supposed to be some sort of classic. The right person won, and the match was fine, giving the crowd everything that they wanted out of this. So I can’t complain. ***1/4
Kenny Omega def. Pentagon
Well, there was a reason why this was a match that people were already hot for before the bell even rung. It’s no secret that Kenny Omega is in a class of his own in wrestling, but Pentagon has had himself quite the 2018 campaign. Putting him in the ring with one of IWGP’s finest just goes to show the diversity of talents he is capable of working with. Overall, this match was superb and quite clearly the best thing on the show so far by a country mile. I particularly liked how the two continued to keep the pace going. An underrated part of the match I enjoyed was the commentary pointing out the folly in Pentagon’s pin attempts. Sometimes, he didn’t make a pin quick enough, and other times, he didn’t cover Omega’s legs. That gave Omega time to recover from every one of Pentagon’s assaults. Some of those reversals were just gnarly as hell as well.
They especially had me when Pentagon broke Omega’s arm and hit a piledriver in succession. I could have sworn that was it right there, but one of Omega’s many talents is kicking out when you’re sure he can’t take any more damage. Both men had great chemistry with each other, the match just flowed seamlessly, and I enjoyed every bit of it. Awesome work. ****1/4
Kazuchika Okada def. Marty Scrull
If I can be honest with you guys, I was quickly starting to sour on this match early on, because I thought they were working far too slow a pace for what they were going for. Okada’s technical prowess and Marty’s heel tendencies are a great dynamic to work with, but I didn’t really think they were hitting the mark. The crowd was largely apathetic early on, and I felt like a huge opportunity was being missed between The Villian and Okada. That being said, they shut me up towards the ending sequence, and I was unbelievably impressed with how Scrull’s work was able to carry things along. I liked him giving Okada his own finisher, the amount of reversals into submissions that he had, and his willingness to find a way to keep the match going, whether it be through ref bumps or his sheer will alone.
Okada did his part as well, and I thought that his work was able to make Marty’s work look like top-level stuff. This also had a Strong Style main event type of feel and I especially enjoyed the finishing sequence. I just wish we didn’t need over 20 minutes just to get there. I actually think this was a situation where the match might have been better if the trimmed some of the fat and stalling early on. But once it got good, it got GOOD. ***3/4
The Young Bucks and Kota Ibushi def. Rey Mysterio, Bandido and Fenix
I’m almost fairly certain that they were working with a time restriction here, because this tag team match was balls to the wall from the start, and all six men didn’t let up for a moment. I actually think this is the equivalent of what AJ Styles and John Cena’s match at Summerslam was. There really wasn’t much of a story or much of a context to the match. All this was, was six men going out there, busting their ass, hitting a series of aerial assaults and entertaining the crowd from start to finish. The last thing this match needed was to be a methodical, traditional match that saved all of the big moves for last. Instead, they started from the beginning and continued that pace from the beginning to the end. It’s a shame that this match didn’t get more time because had they continued that pace of action for another 5-6 minutes, the crowd would have become unglued.
Okada and The Villian got over 25 minutes to work, and this match was about half the time when it should have been a bit evener. It’s sad that this didn’t get more time because I think it deserved it. I was still satisfied with what I got, though. It was an entertaining bout, they never relented and they occupied their time to the fullest extent. A fun ending to the night that deserved a bit more. ***3/4
Conclusion:
There seems to be two different mindsets in regards to how to interpret All In. You either thought it was one of the greatest professional shows ever because of what it symbolized or you either thought it was a good show, but not great. Here is my take on it. If you came into this show expecting a blow away performance from an in-ring standpoint, then you may have been disappointed. But you have to understand that this show wasn’t meant to compete with WWE in a big way. This show was about Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks betting on themselves to show fans that with enough care and time to plan, they can get fans to come out and enjoy a wrestling show, and with that it was a roaring success. And it’s not like the show was devoid of bad matches. The street fight was awesome, Omega/Pentagon was magic and the ending tag team match was a lot of fun.
If you are talking about the overall in-ring quality, I’d say that most of the Takeovers by NXT has this show beat. But was it worth watching upon its first viewing? Absa-frigging loutely. Combining quality matches with an iconic moment of Cody holding the NWA Title high and proud, this show accomplished its purpose and did it well. I’m probably not going to be talking about this show five years from now, and in all candor, I probably wouldn’t watch the entire show from start to finish again simply because I thought there was a lot of fluff, but wrestling fans came out and supported an effort, and it brought more people to understand that you can love any form of wrestling. Cody has much to be proud of. Thumbs up for All In.
