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AEW ALL Out Recap
34 Plays6 years ago
Better late than never!!! Phil and Sheena are joined by Mike Lanham to recap last month's AEW ALL Out. Mike was in attendance at the event and tells us who got the biggest pop, what the match of the night was, if all the AEW fans smelled bad, and much more!
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Transcript
Introduction and Event Attendance
00:00:16
Speaker
all right better late than never welcome patreon and non patreon subscribers to the chick foley show this is our aew all out recap
00:00:28
Speaker
Yeah, I know the show was a couple weeks ago. Get off our back. Okay. You know what? No, seriously, we apologize. I've had vacation. She has had some things going on, but we wanted to jump on here and talk to the masses about this show because one of our own friend of the podcast, Michael and I was at the show. He was in Chicago that weekend. So I have Sheena on the line and Michael and I will. How's it going? You two can't complain, man.
00:00:54
Speaker
Nah, can't complain. Wouldn't do us any good if we did anyways. That's right. The only place that does you any good to complain is Twitter. There you go. That is true.
00:01:03
Speaker
Phil, do you know anything about that? No, man, no. You guys can follow Mike on Twitter. You definitely should. It's pretty simple. It's just at Mike Lanham. Somehow he didn't add any numbers or underscores, so he gets some points in my book for that. More importantly, Mike, you were at All Out. You were at Starcast. Did you get tickets in advance? Tell everybody about that process, how you ended up going to the show.
00:01:28
Speaker
Yeah. Um, I went with a couple of friends that, uh, I met a few years ago, uh, funny enough through a, through another podcast. Um, just to have made friends with a couple of guys, uh, in a kind of in a retro video game group. Uh, and it's, and it's really branched out. A lot of us, uh, meet up every year here in Kentucky for a, uh, like a pinball, uh, arcade expo. Some of these guys live clear across the country, Arizona, Oregon. Some guys are from.
00:01:58
Speaker
uh, closer to home. Some of them are from like the Nashville, uh, in the like Indianapolis area. So, uh, yeah, a couple of guys reached out and they were like, Hey, uh, what are you doing? Labor day weekend. And outside of maybe a cookout or, or work, I was like, man, I've got, I've got nothing going on. I've got some vacation days to burn. And they're like, man, nobody went to, to all in. Do you want to go to all out? So I was like, yeah, let me, let me know, uh, pricing and hotels and all that. And.
00:02:26
Speaker
shouldn't really be a big deal. And then I realized it actually butted up right against a work conference I had that started a couple of days before, happened to end right before all out weekend. And I was scheduled off, so didn't have to go back to work.
Comparing AEW and WWE Experiences
00:02:44
Speaker
So yeah, I agreed to go. Nice. The wrestling God shining down on you. That's cool. Yeah, just something different.
00:02:53
Speaker
Yeah, a non-WW event, haven't done one of those in quite a long time. So it was something to, I guess, check off the bucket list.
00:03:02
Speaker
And that's so cool when you go with a bunch of nerds like yourself, you know what I mean? When you go with somebody who's not into that kind of stuff, it kind of ruins the moment for you. But if you can all just nerd out together and you're all friends and stuff, that makes for the best wrestling weekends or football weekends or whatever event you go to when you go with your homies and your buddies. So I'm excited to hear how everything went down and hear about star cast and how it compared. Have you ever been to a WrestleCon or an Access for WWE?
00:03:31
Speaker
I've never been to WrestleCon. Yeah, I mean, as many WrestleMania as I've been to with some friends, access has been hit or miss. Sometimes we go if there's time or if we're there early enough. And then there's been other years where we've shown up literally for like Mania and then go to the event, basically fly home the next day. I've never been one that's gotten to do like the whole weekend.
00:04:00
Speaker
NXT when we were in San Jose for that mania. But other than that, never done an NXT, never done a Raw the night after. That's something hopefully maybe with Tampa coming this year, if things work out and we all decide to go, maybe that'll happen too.
00:04:19
Speaker
So you can say we've been to an NXT together. I was at that NXT in San Jose too. So we can, we can say that we went to NXT together. That was, that was one of the best non televised NXT shows like ever. I don't know. I don't know how they just did it. Like it's like, it's like the show that never was, but it was like so great. Yeah, it's like, yeah. I think one match is on like a, like a unaired NXT DVD or something, but how they, with all the people that were on that card,
00:04:48
Speaker
it was incredible yeah that there's not like footage somewhere that they just haven't released yeah for for sure for sure so how would you say that star cast kind of measured up i mean obviously access is like a huge deal i mean they go all out they bring in all the memorabilia i mean i don't i don't expect star cast to have that level of like you know magnitude just simply because they don't have the the long-standing history they don't have all of the
00:05:11
Speaker
memorabilia, the props, the lights. I mean,
Event Production and Branding
00:05:15
Speaker
when you go to Access, it's like a spectacular event. But how would you say it compared to like a WWE event of that caliber? Yeah, for people who have never been to an Access, it's usually in a really big venue, like a ballroom or sometimes in an arena and stuff. And it's like an open floor and everything's just kind of broken up where Starcast was in a hotel.
00:05:40
Speaker
Uh, and stuff was just kind of spread out throughout the hotel. They had different rooms that had, uh, merchandise for sale. They had, uh, rooms for like Q and A's and, and just interviews with different wrestlers and, and people who had been part of the wrestling business. And then they had some different meet and greets that I guess you, you would buy tickets separately for. Um, and it seemed like, as far as I could tell.
00:06:03
Speaker
like we didn't do any of the meet and greets or anything like that. Seems like all that was individual tickets, which is different than access. A lot of times access, you buy a ticket to get in and then outside of maybe like a VIP with like a major star, like a Seth Rollins or Becky Lynch. Most everything access is just you stand in line and you can meet whoever and take pictures where it seemed like with Starcast, everybody was basically an individual contract because
00:06:33
Speaker
It's not technically I guess an AEW event. This is I guess Conrad putting on an event with a lot of the AEW people and sponsoring it, but a lot of it was just
00:06:45
Speaker
people you would see it like a wrestle con, a lot of retired wrestlers or just people who fly into to get that paycheck. Yeah. That's what I was going to say to me when you're describing it, it sounds a lot like a wrestle con, like, you know, wrestle con being in like a hotel, you got, you have to pay each individual superstar or wrestler, whatever talent legend, um, per their rate to get like an autograph or a photo or whatever. So, um, you said you didn't do any meet and greet. Did you go to any of the Q and a sessions?
00:07:11
Speaker
Uh, we went to almost almost all of them. Uh, we flew in on, on Thursday. Uh, so right there's, yeah, Thursday. So Thursday night was, was basically the, the opening press conference and, uh, the way in, I guess is what they called it, which, which was terribly done. I don't know if you, if you, if you've watched our caster, anybody spent the money. I haven't seen a lot yet. I haven't seen a lot of the footage. Right. So yeah, I mean, they tried to, yeah, they tried to make it like, uh, almost like a boxing promotion.
00:07:39
Speaker
but they only had like one or two weigh ins. They only had maybe like eight out of the, let's just say 40 people who may have been on the card. It was just, it was weirdly done. I guess it was just kind of a way to, to break the ice, get people in. Um, but yeah, they had, um,
Match Formats and Critiques
00:07:54
Speaker
I guess like a bracelet system, uh, for star cast. So you had like a platinum bracelet that pretty much got you in the first so many rows of all these Q and A's. And then they had a gold bracelet. You were in the middle.
00:08:06
Speaker
Uh, and it basically guaranteed you a spot into everything they did. Um, and then like I said, the meet and greets were, were separate. So yeah, it was basically just a big ballroom, just kind of set up a stage. Uh, and they filmed pretty much everything, put everything on, on fight TV. Uh, and it was all kind of included in that package. So, uh, first night I think was, was Cody Rhodes with Tony Shavani. And it was just kind of. They'll just kind of letting you know, some backstory and stuff. It wasn't so much focused on.
00:08:33
Speaker
what was going to happen at the pay-per-view, it was just more about their life and how they got into the wrestling business. So yeah, we hit up most of the shows. I mean, there was a Dean Malenko one on Friday morning, which anybody else would have probably expected Dean Malenko to kind of be like the guy that doesn't talk or is real quiet, his persona that always came off on TV. Probably the most talkative person there, probably the funniest person there.
00:09:02
Speaker
Kind of yeah, it blew my mind. He kind of made jokes about everything. Kind of had like one line zingers for everything. I was thoroughly impressed with his storytelling and then just the humor and stuff because you kind of expect that Iceman persona where it's just like two word answers and and him and Shivani went back and forth. It was it was actually really entertaining. So yeah, we went to probably
00:09:27
Speaker
60% of them. There was a couple we missed out on. There was other things going on or, or we went to get, get food and sustenance and things like that. Yeah. Cause we, we didn't stay at the same hotel that the, uh, the event was going on. We were about 10 minutes down the road. So we just kind of Ubered back and forth.
00:09:44
Speaker
Nice. So, um, as far as the event and stuff, um, going like actually to, to all out, what would you say like, you know, you've been to tons and tons of WWE events and things like that. What would you say like the crowd? How did it compare? Was everybody just like hype on fire? Was it just pretty like standard, standard protocol? Everybody just kind of file it in for a wrestling show. Um, what was it like? Yeah. Um, I mean, going into the show, just the way the crowd was outside the building that they used and stuff. Um, to me, it kind of felt like a, uh,
00:10:15
Speaker
like a WCW, maybe even like a TNA show. Yeah. You've got that. You've got that crowd. That's a, I don't want to say anti WWE, but like, yeah. Oh yeah. You definitely have those.
Wrestling Styles and Character Analysis
00:10:28
Speaker
Yeah. We're AWR or our shit don't stink type thing. It's, it's yeah. They're just, they're the India elitists. Right. Exactly. So you get those guys that are, that are really knowledgeable and stuff like that. And then you just get the people who are,
00:10:40
Speaker
against everything WWE does, so regardless of what the show was or wasn't, they were going to tell you it was the greatest night of their life. And even the way it came off, I haven't had a chance to go back and watch the whole show yet because it was quite a long show.
00:11:00
Speaker
Yeah, just just kind of the stuff I've seen online like them showing people standing outside and they're like, look the size of this crowd. Well, the big thing was there was only one entrance into the building. So when everyone's visual filing in that visual comes off like there's this many people and it was I think they said somewhere around like eleven twelve thousand people and the building was full. I mean, the crowd was was definitely going for for most of the show. So no hate on that. It just
00:11:29
Speaker
Sometimes that stuff just comes off in the way that the stage was set up and the way it looked like it was filmed. They definitely don't have that production value that the WWE has, but they're trying. You throw in the pyro and stuff.
00:11:43
Speaker
You try to throw in some surprises. Or Pharaoh. What I will say is watching them only on TV. I've watched every show that AEW has put out. Getting called a WWE shill all the time.
00:11:59
Speaker
Watched every every AEW event and pay-per-view that they've put out so far and you know The crazy thing is is to me. I mean, maybe I'm just not as highly trained You know as some of these in these marks But they all the shows look the same like visually, you know what I mean? like I guess I'm so used to WWE is having kind of a unique look for each event and things like that that um that
00:12:26
Speaker
I feel like all the AEW events kind of just run together just because they all look the same. And for the most part, let's be real, they've had the same roster perform at each event, right? So interchangeably, when we look back on these events, probably in a year or two years, we're going to be like, well, is that at all out or all in?
00:12:45
Speaker
like fighter fish, you know what I mean? Like all the events kind of just like run together and there's been some really great matches and some really good stuff. Like I'm not a person, like I don't hate on AEW. I'm the first person to say like, if I like something, if I don't like something, but you know, it does kind of feel like they're just using the same mold over and over again. And I don't know if that's going to change as they grow and you know, they get TV and more storylines and stuff like that. Or if they're just going to keep this kind of like, you know, monotone production.
00:13:13
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I definitely like the, uh, that, that it was match after match there. You don't have that, that storytelling, but as, as TV happens, maybe that, that grows a little bit more, but yeah, it kind of helped to move to the four hours or, or plus that the show was and help move it along because as soon as the match was over, another match started, there wasn't that five or 10 minutes in between. There wasn't a lot of like backstage stuff or interviews in the ring.
00:13:40
Speaker
So it definitely made the show work that way in their favor.
00:13:44
Speaker
Mike, you probably didn't see it since you were there. But they started showing. They did this for mostly everybody during the entrances for people. They posted their win-loss records, which I think is a cool twist on wrestling. Yeah. I think it's a difference maker. And I think they can use that to their benefit. But they didn't really give us any kind of idea of what these rankings mean. They're not posted anywhere. They're on their website. I would like it to be kind of like a
00:14:13
Speaker
like a football or baseball where you can look, you know, look on the newspaper, look on their website and see, OK, well, the Ravens are in first place or nine and seven. OK, Kenny Omega is like one, two and one or whatever. So I think they have a good thing going there. And I think it makes it, you know, I don't know if it makes it more legitimate, but it's just a different take on professional wrestling that we haven't seen before. So that that kind of excited me when I saw that. Yeah, they didn't show it like it wasn't on any other TVs or screens in the arena. So it's definitely a
00:14:43
Speaker
a nice touch. I know, uh, old, like nineties WCW used to do that. Like weekly, they would be like, here's your top 10 ranked tag teams. Here's your top 10 ranked, uh, singles competitors. So it would be cool to see that, uh, if they hold that true of who gets title shots or who's in the main event picture, uh, based off your, your win-loss record or, or maybe if there's like a power ranking, if you beat a 10 beats a two or something and it moves them up, it could definitely be interesting.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think all that's coming. I can see that like being something that happens in the near future. I mean, they still haven't even consolidated all of their social media platforms. I mean, you know, you still have being the elite on YouTube. You still have all these different avenues and channels where it's not just one consolidated place where you can go get your AEW content. You know what I mean? So I feel like they're still kind of like piecing everything together and kind of like figuring out like
00:15:35
Speaker
You know how they're how they're gonna present everything because I love all the stuff they do like behind the scenes You know, even the being the elite it's kind of you know, it's a little bit cheesy sometimes But I mean that's part of that's part of wrestling, you know what I mean? So, um, uh, let's let's jump into the show a little bit We won't talk about all the matches because there was some there was some state on here for me the the 21 or however many women battle royale like that just did not do it for me I hate that format
00:15:59
Speaker
everything about like the way that they did that was terrible. I don't know how the crowd and like that was their reactive but like bringing five people in at a time like that that whole like gimmick like just do like a royal rumble style you know what I mean like have less women I guess and like do it more royal rumble style I don't know but that that was that was a stinker for me. Yeah yeah definitely doesn't make a lot of sense because you're not explaining
00:16:23
Speaker
I guess how you draw that number, how you get picked, I guess. Yeah, yeah, like how do you get to come in with this batch of women versus like, you know, the first batch of women. Yeah, I feel like the biggest problem with that battle royal was the biggest pops of the night were women who don't work for AEW.
00:16:39
Speaker
Yeah.
Young Talent and Originality Debate
00:16:41
Speaker
Yeah. You know, I, well, what was crazy is, well, the thing is, is you don't even get the full pop because you have people like, I mean, we saw Emma come out, you know, uh, top, what's her name? Dasha. Okay. I was like, what the hell is her real name?
00:16:56
Speaker
Um, so we saw her come out, which is a big freaking deal. Like, you know, we, we loved Emma and WWE. Um, I feel like she just never really, she just never really had her moment. Like, I feel like, you know, they tried to reinvent her and that all that whole thing kind of just, you know, was a wet fart. Um, and then she just kind of disappeared. Um, but we saw her, but she came out with a group of other chicks that were just like, Oh, okay. Well there's, there's Emma amongst all those.
00:17:20
Speaker
you know, other, other chicks. So she doesn't even, she didn't even get to have her like cool moment, um, which I thought was kind of a, kind of a waste, you know? So, um, there was that the private party, um, and Jack Evans and Angelico, that was, that was cool. I thought that was, that was a really good match to like do in the buy-in. I thought, you know, they're, they're high flying. Um, you know, I feel like it's a great way to get the crowd pumped up. I'm glad they did that one after the battle Royal. I think that came second, right?
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So they did that one after the battle royal to bring everybody back up like, you know, sorry, we're going to put you to sleep and then we're going to bring you back up. Yeah, this was Mike. Those two matches get the crowd hyped on. I feel like they really I mean, the private party match was great. I mean, they needed that. But well, it was kind of odd that we didn't see MJF on this card is in the ring. We saw him a little bit later on where people kind of clamoring for him.
00:18:15
Speaker
Uh, I mean, he definitely seems to be their, their star in the making. Uh, he's definitely got the personality for it. Uh, we'll, we'll see how his entering work continues, but yeah, I mean, the crowd is, is all for MJF. Uh, even though it kinda as big of a hill as he is, of course, all this Cody build and him not wrestling, he kind of builds himself as the face and cheering on the crowd and all that kind of stuff. So it's kind of a weird back and forth with him.
00:18:44
Speaker
but but I mean I would assume he set up for a hill turn at some point that's it's gonna be what carries carries him into the limelight there so I got an important question is the dark order is shitty in person just say yes I don't I don't understand how that team like is that a throwaway why are they your number one tag team or contenders but
00:19:13
Speaker
I don't know. I just can't. Oh my gosh. Like there's nothing about the dark order that does anything for me. And I feel like they're trying to make it happen and it's just not happening. You know, right? Like I get the best friends thing. I get a street profit light or part of party, whatever they're called. Yeah. Yeah. Street profit light. Yeah. Um, I mean they have so many, they, that is probably,
00:19:39
Speaker
kind of what SmackDown had there for a while. They have so many tag teams. If they do this tournament right, they have
00:19:47
Speaker
plenty of people that can make it interesting. But pushing the dark order, I'm not sold on it. So I don't get what that's all about. I rarely just shit on things, and I'm shitting on the dark order, dude. I have not for like, usually I'm trying to be a little bit optimistic. Like, well, maybe if they book it this way, no. Get rid of it, change it. Especially when you see how well the fiend is over, and how cool it is, and they're probably
00:20:15
Speaker
fuck this sucks. You know, like they have to know it sucks, right? And there, I mean, there, there could be a way to salvage it. I mean, it could be cool, but it's not. Here's the thing. So you got somebody, you got somebody like, um, you know, the dark order that you're just like, this is like, this is like the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. And then you got Luchasaurus who's like the most over guy in AEW at the moment. I mean, I love Luchasaurus and jungle boy, like the jungle express or whatever the hell they're calling him a boy and his dinosaur.
00:20:44
Speaker
I love I love it so much and I mean he got they got such a pop like I feel like they just electrified the crowd when they came out. Yeah, his uh his hot tag in that match. Yeah, he did. He did a standing back flip. That's it. That's a big guy to do some of those uh those moves. So uh as over as he is and and then they took the loss in that match to you. Yeah. SCU so I don't I'm not sure where they're
00:21:13
Speaker
kill tag teams in that show, going back to like the dark order, like you have them win and then you bring out Orange Cassidy, which was also probably the biggest pop of the night. I was going to say Orange Cassidy definitely got the biggest, the biggest pop of the night, which is so crazy. I don't know. I mean, I love Orange Cassidy, but it just kills me. You know, like everything about him, I just find him hilarious.
00:21:35
Speaker
But how would it make you feel if you were like Kenny Omega or like freaking Chris Jericho and then out comes Orange Cassidy and the roof just blows off the place. So I just think about some of those guys. But how was the crowd for Pac and Kenny Omega? This match, it didn't get a lot of build. It was just kind of a last minute thing because Dean Ambrose was out with
00:22:01
Speaker
Staff infection, I mean, oops, sorry, John, oops, I broke, I broke K-fame. No, John Moxley was, I was out with a staff infection. So do
Main Event Review and Championship Impact
00:22:13
Speaker
you feel like the crowd was as into this as they would have been with it being Moxley or do you feel like it kind of killed it, killed it a little bit? I mean, it didn't do it any favors. The crowd was still definitely into it.
00:22:26
Speaker
Kenny Omega could probably fight a broomstick and that AW crowd is going to be wild for it. His Japan stuff is just, with that crowd, I think it just works. I think the Moxley thing would have been a better build and probably a better crowd reaction, but then the actual match, probably better with Pac. I'm not a huge Pac fan. There was definitely some misses and stuff in that match,
00:22:55
Speaker
Overall it's still probably one of the best matches on the card.
00:22:59
Speaker
Yeah, I thought it was really, really good. You know, it was kind of in the beginning, a slow moving match, but I felt like it picked up a lot. And I just, like you said, I felt like technically it was a really good match. And I don't feel like technically it would have been as good with Moxley, even though it would have been a better payoff because we've been, you know, this, this feud has been building over a series of months and whatnot. But I was curious to see like how you thought, cause I mean, obviously us at home,
00:23:26
Speaker
We're just watching it to enjoy it. But I was wondering how the crowd reacted, you know, as far as Kenny Omega. But yeah, you make a lot of sense when you're like, yeah, that crowd would pop for Kenny Omega if he fought a broomstick. So yeah, but then it kind of goes back to the the win-loss record. Like, I don't know as Omega one. How do you ever plan on this guy winning possibly the title? I mean, it's great to put guys over and maybe eventually you're building some kind of story to where he's going to go on this.
00:23:56
Speaker
winning streak or something like that, but for him to take a couple of losses
AEW's Industry Position and Growth Potential
00:24:00
Speaker
early on, it just kind of looks bad for his character. Yeah, especially, you know, taking that loss, like with the drunken stumbling elbow from Chris Jericho, you know, I was just like, wait a minute, what? Like this is, this is the Kenny Omega that, you know, like everybody's clamoring for. And he just got like, he got bumped into with an elbow and like that, that's all she wrote. But one of my, okay, this was one of my like,
00:24:24
Speaker
favorite and like I think it was probably one of the most controversial matches of the night and even though I had like no real stakes or anything but Jimmy Havoc Joey Janela and Darby Allen I mean you knew when these guys came out they were just gonna like like
00:24:39
Speaker
Cause havoc, no pun intended. I mean, it was just going to be like mayhem the entire time. Um, and we knew, we knew Darby Allen was probably going to do that horrible coffin drop. I mean, it's not horrible. It actually looks pretty devastating, but it only looks devastating to Darby. You know, like it doesn't hit that move ever. I don't know, man. I.
00:25:00
Speaker
I feel like he should just stop doing it. I really, I really pissed some people off on Instagram by, um, by, you know, making jokes about Darby Allen, you know, um, doing that move. But I mean, in all reality, I just don't feel like, I mean, yeah, how old is he like 20 years old? I mean, he's like so young, right? Like that's also the same at 30. Yeah. He's also very short. Uh, he walked past me at star cast. I know I'm like six one. He can't be mid fives.
00:25:30
Speaker
I didn't realize it was even him until moments later when somebody said it because he is not a big guy. So maybe that's part of it. He has to do something like that to impress you because of the size of him. I don't know. I feel like for me, like his character impresses me. I'm like, I'm very intrigued by him. Like when he comes out to the ring, like I'm watching, I'm paying attention. Like his, his whole
00:25:52
Speaker
gimmick I'm into I like the story behind it I like everything I don't feel like he needs to do like I'm all for him being a high flyer and you know doing some some high-risk moves and it being a little more extreme right like I know not every style of wrestling is gonna appeal to every wrestling fan but I just feel like I at 20 years old like I don't feel like he understands the the repercussions for like what he's doing to himself right now you know what I mean like the longevity to his career his health and
00:26:22
Speaker
all those things and so when I say stuff like that like you know yeah I'm half joking and honestly like what he does to his body has absolutely no bearing on me or my health or anything that has to do with me um but I just I don't feel like in today's wrestling that you have to do that to impress people or to get to get over you know what I mean like there's a lot of other ways to be extreme and to do stuff without like putting your life on the line you know
00:26:49
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say he's definitely rubs like some people the right way with AEW because I felt like it's star cast every time someone asked about who they saw as like the future of that company behind probably Kenny Omega. I feel like Darby Allen got mentioned by pretty much everyone. Oh, interesting. There's some people that really believe he's going to be something there. So I was impressed with the match he had with Cody shows back.
00:27:18
Speaker
Uh, I like the ending of that. He didn't have to, to just job out to a guy that kind of controls the company. So it looks good on his end. Uh, I don't, I don't need the hardcore thing every time he's in a match. I get it for the characters of him and Havoc and Janela, but don't do this every show. Uh, one for your, for your, for your body to, you got to mix it up if you want to keep the crowd interested. Otherwise you're, you're kind of pandering to the wrong, the wrong kind of crowd.
00:27:45
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. Um, that move where, uh, Darby had the skateboard with all the tax in the back and the bottom of it and hit, I think it was an idiot. Janella on the back and like, Oh my God, like he, all those tax like stuck in his back. I was just like, holy freaking shit. I I've been watching wrestling a long time and I've never, I'd never seen that before. So that was, that was new to me. Um, and I just feel like the whole crowd was just like, holy shit.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, I'm hoping Darby Allen has health insurance. I know that was one of the perks of signing. That dude is, I mean, we could say the same about freaking Mick Foley. I mean, how many sick bumps has he taken? And he's looking better than half the dudes that were wrestling when he was around.
00:28:29
Speaker
you know it's not impossible but I'm with Mike I think we've seen Darby Allen in some of these other matches like the one with Cody and he can go in the ring and he has a good look as a good gimmick I don't think you know bring that bring that hardcore stuff out once a you know once in a blue moon because the more and more you do that shit it just becomes who you are and then you know it's like
00:28:49
Speaker
The crowd gets desensitized to it, too. Then you have to do more and more and more to impress them, right? Like, at what point are you gonna, like, you know, what more can he do than, like, jump off the top rope off of the freaking, you know, ring post on his back? Like, what else can he do to, like, impress the crowd? If he does that every week, like, it's gonna get old and stale, and people are just gonna, you know, expect it, right? So, like, I feel like, like you said, it has to be a novelty that he brings out, like, every once in a while.
00:29:16
Speaker
We got four more matches to get to here before we get out of here. I want to spend a lot of time on this on this Reho versus Haruki Shido match. That's one of the best feuds in professional wrestling right now. That's where everybody took a piss, I'm sure, Mike. A lot of people filed out and it probably was the best wrestling match of the night.
00:29:40
Speaker
Wow. Okay. So what I will say, okay, listen, so I didn't pay close attention to that match just because like the show was long. I was getting like restless. Like I'm freaking I'm like, I'm a mom. I'm doing this thing by myself right now. I'm freaking tired. You know what I mean? Like I'm just like, holy shit. Like I can only keep my attention so long. Um, I do feel like that this last half of the card really suffered
00:30:02
Speaker
from match placement i feel like the the top of the card was kind of like you know whatever like you know luchasaurus you had you know scu and all these people
00:30:11
Speaker
Like, and then they stacked at the end of the card so heavy that by the time it got to Jericho and Hangman, the crowd was dead. You know what I mean? So I feel like they could have moved that Rio match like to, like instead of putting the bucks, which was like an incredible match, like, you know, unbelievable, right before Hangman, like they could have put that before it had like a buffer match. You know what I mean? So I do feel like there was a place for that, that match on the card, but it shouldn't have been like,
00:30:40
Speaker
five matches before the end. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, that's it's true. I mean, that's a testament to how much talent they have here at the end of the card. I do want to touch on the the entrance that Cody had that was the most cringe worthy thing I've seen in wrestling in a long fucking time. I'm sure they showed it on the TV.
00:31:01
Speaker
Is he trying to like go for the award of like most cringe-worthy entrances? Because he's definitely leading the pack. What the fuck was Diamond Dall's page doing there with no explanation? Is that a being elite thing? Are they friends? Yeah, they're like long-
00:31:17
Speaker
Dusty and DDP and everything like they're like, you know, road dogs like he's part of like the the roads clan. So, yeah, it made sense that DDP was there. It made sense, I guess, that MJF was there. I don't understand why he can't just come out by himself while he needs a posse and dog out of there, man. What the fuck are you doing with a dog around pyrotechnics, man? Well, I think that was a mistake from everything I heard. Cody was Cody was really pissed because he wasn't supposed to have pyro in his entrance and the pyro accidentally went off.
00:31:47
Speaker
And you know obviously Tony Khan like took it very seriously because you know it scared the dog right And they knew here in a few matches. We're about to have a horse Come out right so like we can't have this pyro like screwing up because if we scare a horse
00:32:04
Speaker
Like that's a huge liability for not only our talent, but our audience. Like, you know, if a horse goes like rogue in the crowd. Um, so I think it was all a mistake. I mean, there was a lot of people that took, I mean, you know, me, I'm as much of a dog lover as anybody, but it was embarrassing.
00:32:18
Speaker
You know what I mean? I was just like, oh my God, like that poor dog, like everybody was paying attention to that and not the, well, maybe that was a good thing because they weren't paying attention to those horrible Star Trek costumes that everybody was wearing. And you know me, I'm a nerd for cosplay. Like I love cosplay, all of the things, right? But I feel like there's a way to do it that's not that. And if you're trying to be like a badass and you're trying to like get yourself over, like don't wear Star Trek.
00:32:47
Speaker
like gear, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know what you what he could have worn, but I feel like that was just like a bad move. But the match was good. I thought the match overall was really good. And there was some really, really cool moments, you know, with Tully and Arne and all those things. So, yeah, I thought I thought overall it was it was a really, really good match.
00:33:07
Speaker
Yeah, I call bullshit on the fireworks thing. They can say that all they want. They said the same shit about the chair that cracked his head open. That was the wrong chair or a dummy chair or something. I think that's just how you cover your ass when you do something stupid. But I'm sure Cody's going to get pyro. He's the fucking owner of the company. Who else is going to get it?
00:33:26
Speaker
They were going to do it for the Jericho page match for that horse and they're not going to do it for a tag team match for the triple a tag team, whatever. So that's, that's just them covering their asses. Tully Blanchard looked at a place to me. He just looked like he, he had his back to the camera a bunch of times. He just didn't seem like it was cool for him to be down there, but it just wasn't, you know, it just, I don't, I don't know. He just seemed like he hadn't been around a ring for a long time. I love seeing Arne Anderson do the spine buster though. That was cool.
00:33:52
Speaker
It's a good spine buster. It was a good spine buster. I bet the crowd just went wild when that happened. The match itself was good. You take away, I guess, with Tully and Arn and MJF all interfering. It kind of weakens that you were building this grudge match storyline. So I don't know if you're
00:34:15
Speaker
planning to stretch this out to another match or two or why we took away of just this good one-on-one story you were kind of building over the last month or so. That or it really buries Sean Spears as being anything.
00:34:35
Speaker
yeah so i'm interested to see you know where this goes obviously cody picked up another win um you know so i don't know where this is like if that's the end of the you know shawn spears i haven't been keeping up with um you know all the everything that's gone on past that with our youtube and all that but um i don't know what shawn spears is doing next um but we got to get on to the lucha brothers
00:34:57
Speaker
Versus the young bucks. I thought this was like just an incredible match It's everything that you would expect from this match high-flying tons of innovation in the latter spots and table spots and all those things But like I said, I think it was just horrible match placement because it was a very high-flying exciting match and the crowd was like so so into it and so like I
00:35:18
Speaker
hype for it that, you know, it kind of killed the hype for the main event. But how do you feel like, you know, when you were there watching it in person, was it like as exciting watching it in person? Yeah, I mean, the crowd was was definitely over for it. I mean, obviously, a match like that with with those four guys is set up to be a spot fest. I don't like I said, I've got to go back, I guess, and watch it to see how camera placement stuff happened because
00:35:46
Speaker
in the crowd you could basically see everything come in from a mile away you knew well in advance this guy's fallen off this ladder or this guy's taken this dive or whatever so I'm not sure how they did with with cameras jumping back and forth so I'll definitely have to go back and watch it but
00:36:04
Speaker
Phil's favorite thing. Uh, these four guys don't sell a single move. I'm used to it now. I'm used to it. But yeah, that's, that's the first thing I noticed, uh, when they, when I first saw the young bucks wrestle, but I mean, I, this was a fun match. They can't, can't, you know, I don't know how they're going to, you know, going forward, be legitimate tag team and like, you know, in this tag team division, but they're, you know, they're fucking fun to watch. That's for sure.
00:36:27
Speaker
I feel like they have a lot more than meets the eye. I feel like, obviously, you put them up against someone like the Lucha Brothers, and you're going to get this type of match. But I feel like if you put them up against one of the other amazing tag teams in AEW, I think they have a lot more. There's a lot of layers in there. You know what I mean? These guys aren't rookies. I feel like they can do a lot of storytelling and a lot of, you know, they can sell when they need to. Yeah, I mean.
00:36:56
Speaker
You needed the gimmick match probably in there. I think it was kind of obvious that the Bucks probably weren't walking out with the AAA titles. If it was for the AEW Championship, maybe it goes the other way. And there were definitely some moments in that match where they legitimately could have gotten injured, guys missing spots, missing tables, falling off ladders. It's definitely a dangerous matchup. I don't know if it was posted
00:37:25
Speaker
Uh, on the Facebook page or where I saw it, but, uh, Melters review of this match. I don't know if either one of you saw it. Oh, so no, he, he said, um, it was the best ladder match of all time. I kidding. He came twice. He said, uh, it was in a graphics with, uh,
00:37:50
Speaker
Uh, Dudley's Hardee's edging Christian and said it was better than that match. Oh my God. The man, the man lost all credibility with me that he had left. Wow. I mean, you want to talk about bias. I mean, come on, you know, like, I mean, it's good. It is good, but
00:38:12
Speaker
No way. It's two different things. Yeah, that's like apples and oranges, dude. You cannot compare those two. No, no, no. Moving on to the main event. We had Chris Jericho and Adam Hangman Page. I thought overall this was a really good match.
00:38:30
Speaker
Um, there was lots of, you know, near falls, um, freaking hangman came out on a horse, which I was, I mean, I thought was awesome. Like, you know, I was there for that. Um, we saw Chris Jericho walk away as the inaugural AEW champion. Do you feel like that was like, you know, what everybody thought was going to happen? Or do you feel like it was kind of a, kind of a surprise? Cause for me, like I had no doubt that Jericho was winning that match. Yeah. I mean, it's, uh,
00:39:01
Speaker
who do you who do you choose to win that first match? Do you go with the guy that you're you're trying to build is maybe the future of your company? Or do you go with the name that if you say Chris Jericho is our world champion, maybe you get some some extra eyes when when they move to TNT. So it doesn't surprise me that Chris Jericho won. I kind of expected page because I was like, you can't give your first world title to
00:39:25
Speaker
a WCW WWE guy, but in the end, uh, it's probably the best for the business. Yeah, it's, it's all about, it's all about the draw. And you know, honestly, um, everything that transpired after a, like all out with the losing the title and then him cutting the, the, the amazing promos in the hot tub with, you know, a little bit of the bubbly, um, and all of those things, I feel like, like,
00:39:51
Speaker
I mean, you couldn't ask for better PR. You know what I mean? And if it had been anybody else besides Jericho, it would not have come off like that. Jericho is the only guy, I feel like, that could have just done what he did with that situation and that circumstance. And I think it elevated him to a different level. It elevated the AEW title. It made it interesting. And so I feel like losing the title is probably one of the best things
00:40:21
Speaker
because a blessing disguise for sure. And had that been hangman, it wouldn't have came off anywhere near that. So that would have been a complete polar opposite. Everybody would have been like, you know, like chasing hangman with their freaking pitchforks, you know, like, I can't believe you lost the title, you know, but Jericho did hit it head on and just nailed it. Yeah. Yeah. The personality, the right person to to put that title on and then to carry
00:40:50
Speaker
something as shocking, I guess, is losing the belt the night after you won it. Right, right. To something that has turned into every GIF or Twitter meme everywhere for those. It was the best press they probably could have asked for. Oh, 100%. Yeah. Especially when you... It was like mainstream press. Like, it wasn't just like a wrestling press. I mean, like, mainstream media picked this up and was like talking about the AEW title.
00:41:20
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you're getting talked about when you're 30 days or whatever between shows. Had they had a show the next night like what WWE would have the night after a pay-per-view?
00:41:31
Speaker
Maybe it's a different story. But they are very focused, I think, on their social media, carrying them week to week. And something like this just works. So I have a couple of things. I agree with giving Jericho the bell. I think you have to have a name that people know going into having a nationally televised show.
00:41:53
Speaker
And I'm just, you know, I've talked about it on the show before. I'm just, I don't see it in Adam Page. I might be wrong, but I've been watching wrestling for a long time. I just feel like he's a, he's just a guy to me, but you know, I'll be happy to be wrong if he ends up being something huge and he probably will be. But the fact that everyone who, you know, a majority of people that watch AEW are doing it because they're tired of WWE.
00:42:16
Speaker
And half the things they did on this car between some of the entrances and having all these former WCW people and the fake Royal Rumble and the fake, you know, just everything they did, it just screams like a knockoff. It doesn't scream anything like this. I'm with Sheena that I've watched every single AEW show so far, the televised ones.
00:42:39
Speaker
And I don't see how this is going to be. Oh, damn. This is like 180 degrees different than WWE in a good way. Baron Corbin hit on the head because he tweeted out or put on Instagram. He said, all these smarts have hated and complained about everything we do. Now they are forced to love everything these guys do, even when it's the exact same thing. It really shows how dumb they really are. And that hits it on the head because you got a 49-year-old champion.
00:43:08
Speaker
He's like, I think six years or seven years older than Brock Lesnar. And while I agree with him being the champion, it's the same fucking reason that Brock Lesnar was the champion, you know? So you can't shit on one thing and like the other, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
00:43:26
Speaker
It's just, you know, if you're gonna do something different, be different and you can shit on WWE all you want, but they're what work, you know, they're a billion dollar company and you're not. So of course you're gonna copy the things that they do, but you can't have it both ways. It's the frustrating thing about AEW. I don't really see them being, I mean, they have a couple young guys that we've talked about on the show that I think are gonna be really talented superstars, but I just don't see this being something that's gonna, you know,
00:43:53
Speaker
Do you think Triple H is scared of what he saw on this card? No. No. I mean, it's an alternative for people that, you know, I'm going to watch it. Everyone's going to watch this when it's on TV. They're going to get good ratings. They're selling out. How was the was the was the was the total arena sold out or was there any tarped off seats, Mike? I mean, outside, I think of basically camera where the camera was the hard cam.
00:44:16
Speaker
The place was pretty full. It was a sold out show. Yeah. I've worked for a couple arenas when I was younger in college. And you can call it a sellout, but you only sell whatever tickets. If it's a 30,000 seat arena and you sell 10,000 tickets and those 10,000 sell out, you can call it a sellout. But they've done a good job of this. I think this place holds like 10,000. So that's a great number right there. When they start going on the road here in some bigger arenas, we'll see what happens.
00:44:45
Speaker
You know, I'm all for AEW and being a competitor, but I don't think they're there yet. And they probably will get closer and closer. They just need, they, I think they need this TV show really to start building these storylines. I'm not going on YouTube and watching any of this cracker barrel shit. And I'm sure some people are, but, but that's not how you're going to build a billion dollar company. Yeah. I think during star cast.
00:45:13
Speaker
Foley and Punk both kind of put it perfectly. If you go back and watch those interviews with them, they basically said don't let these people brainwash you. You don't have to choose NXT, WWE, AEW. You can watch all of it. I know we have wrestling almost every day of the week now.
00:45:37
Speaker
But you can, you can make time to try to watch stuff as it happens or shortly after you don't have to pick one or the other. If you want to watch both, watch both. Um, and I thought for guys like that to be like non AW guys to kind of come out and say that and support both brands. I mean, uh, there's usually, I can't say there's anything wrong with, with more wrestling.
00:46:00
Speaker
It's it's hard to get around to all of it. I mean NXT and NXT UK all the all the stuff Yeah, what's happening that same day is all out with the NXT UK show and the new Japan show and all that But yeah, I mean more more more is better
00:46:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's just all about perception. I mean, it's the perception with those types of fans who are one way. And I'm not just talking about just AEWs, I'm talking about people that are hardcore WWE only and try to crap on anything that's not WWE. I feel like it's just their perception of what's cool and
00:46:37
Speaker
I feel like that's just a wrong attitude to have, but I'm not going to complain about more wrestling. I'm not going to get to watch it all. Probably freaking not. It's a lot to take in. There's so much content out there right now, but that's not a bad thing.
00:46:52
Speaker
We've been wanting this for a long time. You know what I mean? And now that it's here, we're all like, holy shit, what are we going to do? And so, I mean, I think we just need to, you know, it's like one of those things, be careful what you ask for, because now we have it and it's like, you know, why are you still complaining? Yeah. If it raises the bar for each company and makes the product better.
00:47:13
Speaker
yes and my thing is we win so let's talk about let's talk about real real people i know we're running along here and we're about to we're about to like cut this thing off but also think about like this is giving a lot of people exposure on both sides right like you know wwe is probably doing its best to like soak up all the talent for their for their nxt and nxt uk and you know all all those shows and bring people to raw and smackdown
00:47:38
Speaker
And AEW is doing the same thing. They're scouring all these different markets to try to find the best talent because we do have so much more exposure now that these people who wouldn't have otherwise gotten a chance if there was only Raw and SmackDown and WWE pay-per-views to watch, they wouldn't have gotten a chance to be exposed and to get out there and to make more money and do the things like make their dreams come true. And so I feel like
00:48:05
Speaker
If we think about the wrestlers and the talent out there, like this is only a good thing for them, you know? Yeah, for the longest time we had one company where, you know, imagine having like, you know, five football teams in the NFL and where's everyone else going to play. So yeah, this is, I mean, I'm all for, I've already bought tickets to the full gear pay-per-view in November here in Baltimore. So I'm not, you know, if you listen to our show, I criticize WWE as much as I criticize AEW.
00:48:32
Speaker
I'm supporting this AEW thing, and I'm excited about it. But they're in the infancy stages right now, but you can't get a pass when you're shitting on the competition as much as you are. I don't know. Some of the stuff that they do I'm not a huge fan of, maybe because I've just supported WWE for my entire life. So I take the shit personally, because I've been a fan of it since I was seven or eight years old.
00:48:56
Speaker
I want to see them do well. I'm not trying to see them close down because like you said Yeah, it's just it's just better for wrestling fans and just gonna put a better product on both shows So how would you rate this show being in attendance one out of ten Mike ten being the best? Overall it's it's like a seven. I mean it's a good show. Is it a memorable show? I
00:49:19
Speaker
No, I mean, after it was over, I can go back and tell you kind of what happened and stuff. Is it something I'm going to like, would I pull up if it was on the network and rewatch it? No. I mean, maybe there's, there's a match or a moment or spot like in the, in the ladder match you point out, uh, or in the hardcore match, but yeah, I mean, it was a good show and it gets them to their next show.
00:49:40
Speaker
Um, but it's not anything groundbreaking. Like you said, it's, it's a lot of what we're already used to. Um, which is probably why no one complained about Jericho winning the belt. You can't say you're all about AW and against WWE and then complain who wins your belt because you have to defend them. So, uh, yeah, it was a good show. There, there was hit or miss moments. Uh,
00:50:03
Speaker
I don't know if it happened on TV or anything. I know in the past they've kind of had some post-show WWE bashing in some of their interviews, but I didn't see anything on this show. They didn't blow up a throne or anything like that on this one. So maybe they've decided, they don't, maybe they've decided they don't need to be, they've grown out of it. Yeah. Like grow up, put on a good product, entertain the fans. That's what you're there for. Uh, and hopefully Phil will, will fill us in when he goes to the show.
00:50:33
Speaker
and maybe they'll put on a good pay-per-view there. They'll be on TV by then weekly. Maybe we'll see a step up in product. They announced a Nashville show, which is pretty close to me. Oh, awesome. I will probably go to that. It's close enough. I don't have to go out of my way. This was just something different. Some friends were going. They invited me. If it hadn't have been for that, would have booked a plane and flown all the way to Chicago? No.
00:51:01
Speaker
So I enjoyed the whole weekend, the whole buildup of it with Starcast and stuff. It can get pricey if you jump into all that stuff, too. But it was something different. It's a one-off, and I can say, hey, I went to it, and I'm satisfied and don't have to worry about it again. Mike, the most important question is, did you have any pizza in Chicago? We did. Oh, not? Please say it was a Cheerdana. Was it Sabaros? No.
00:51:29
Speaker
It wasn't Giordano's, which I've had in the past. It's the other big one that's up there. And I want to say it starts with an M, and I can't think of the name right now. It's very similar. Deep dish pizza. But yeah, I mean, you can't go up there and order Domino's or Papa John's. You get stabbed for that, I think.
00:51:52
Speaker
Well, Mike, thank you for coming on, dude. We appreciate the insight. I always enjoy talking to you. And we will, I'm sure, chat pretty soon, man. Thanks for coming on. Oh, any time, guys. I appreciate it. No problem. Thank you guys for listening. And I hope you enjoy our AEW All Out recap. We let it marinate for two weeks just to soak everything up. But we will talk to you soon. Stay classy, Smarts. He eats the Smart Sweets, the skinny sweets, or whatever they're called.