Cody Rhodes wins the NWA title!
Chris Jericho makes a shock appearance!
And dick druids.
Dick druids are now a thing.
I’m Oli Davis, press the thumbs up and vote in the poll above my head to give your thoughts
on the show, where you can choose from: SEVEN STARS!, Being The Elite, Sports Entertained,
Really Big Bingo Hall or Just A Bunch Of Dick Druids.
While I review All In… in about 4 minutes.
SoCal Uncensored beat The Briscoes - 3.5* The pre-show featured a really fun match of
SoCal Uncensored going over The Briscoes Over Budget Battle Royal - 3.5*
And fun spot after fun spot in the Over Budget Battle Royal - with Billy Gunn and Tommy Dreamer
not doing dives, Jordynne Grace hitting a Wassup on Bully Ray and the Hurricane running
wild - which had a great finish where Bully thought he’d won, but a generic luchador
threw him over the top rope and revealed itself as Flip Gordon.
But the real star of the show was the incredible WWE-levels of production.
The stage, the camera work, the TitanTron.
And the huge former WWE star: Pyro.
Matt Cross beat MJF - 3.25* Matt Cross beat MJF with a Shooting Star in
the main card’s decent opener.
Christopher Daniels beat Stephen Amell - 3.5* Christopher Daniels, Stephen Amell and special
guest referee Jerry Lynn worked a really smart match, not just hiding Amell’s inexperience
in the ring - but also emphasising his daredevil strengths, hitting a Van Terminator across
the ring, and crashing through a table on the outside.
So he was Shane McMahon.
Tessa Blanchard beat Chelsea Green, Madison Rayne & Dr Britt Baker - 3.25*
Tessa Blanchard winning the women’s four way next happened rather suddenly.
A decent match, but I could’ve done without the compulsory ‘We’re all women, so we
must hug afterwards’ spot.
Cody Rhodes beat Nick Aldis 4.25* Cody Rhodes vs Nick Aldis was a masterpiece
in presentation, having more in common with a big time boxing match than professional
wrestling.
The crowd was heavily invested in Cody winning the NWA title, not just because of his father’s
history with the belt, but because arguably this was the night’s only match with real
stakes.
Cody proved to be his father’s son with a brutal looking blade job, but a weird spot
where his wife Brandi accidentally got hit by a Aldis flying elbow felt surplus - as
it never really played into anything, and she was totally fine a few minutes after.
The presentation, larger story and big time feel more than made up for it, though.
Hangman Page beat Joey Janela - 4.25* Switching the tone completely, Hangman Page
beat Joey Janela in a Chicago Street Fight next.
Drivers through ladders, powerbombs off stages, violence against women - this was an insane
match that had it all, Dick Druids included, where Joey Ryan returned from the dead in
the post-match angle.
Sometimes I find myself embarrassed when a friend or family member walks in on me watching
wrestling - like Big Cass beating up a little person, or Halloween themed comedy matches
on Raw.
Not this time.
The Dick Druids work even better out of context.
Jay Lethal beat Flip Gordon - 3.75* Jay Lethal beating Flip Gordon while playing
his Randy Savage tribute character Black Machismo wasn’t what I expected for this match.
I thought it would be a plucky underdog proving ground for Gordon, but it was only ever really
treated as comedy.
Which kind of summarises All In as a whole - a camp celebration of wrestling fandom instead
of everyone trying to win Match of the Year.
Kenny Omega beat Pentagon Jr. - 4.5* Kenny Omega beating Pentagon Jr was most definitely
the match of this night though.
They have incredible chemistry together, and the last few minutes were the best on the
show for me.
But one blackout spot later, and Pentagon is replaced by an amazing shock appearance
from Chris Jericho, who attacked Omega and promoted his cruise.
Kazuchika Okada beat Marty Scurll - 4* The story of Marty Scurll vs Kazuchika Okada
was The Villain trying to prove himself as a serious wrestler on Okada’s level, and
then using an All In-branded umbrella anyway.
The last few minutes were great, as it always is in Okada matches.
The Young Bucks & Kota Ibushi beat Rey Mysterio, Renix & Bandido - 4*
Sadly, the show had gone too long - I wouldn’t cut a thing - and the 6-man tag main event
didn’t get the time it deserved.
Not that they cut any of the spots, though.
They just did all 133 big moves in half the time.
It was just one long hot tag, with every guy looking amazing - particularly Rey Mysterio
in his Wolverine outfit and Bandido doing anything.
The Young Bucks picked up the win with the Meltzer Driver - fitting, considering it was
Big Dave’s tweet that sparked this whole event - with just 3 seconds before the PPV
feed was cut off.
There was no Neville, there was no CM Punk - and you know what, All In didn’t need
them.
We got Cody winning the title, a celebrity throwing themselves through a table, hardcore
spots, a Chris Jericho cameo, Omega vs Pentagon - sure, it wasn’t the great in-ring wrestling
show that many, myself included, expected, with a classic match like all this year’s
NXT TakeOvers, but it was tremendously fun.
And hopefully it’s the start of something bigger.
All In was Being The Elite.
What next for Kevin Owens after he quit WWE RAW?
Click the video onscreen now to find out.
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I’ve been Oli Davis, and that was wrestling.