Thinking about diving into All Elite Wrestling’s fourth show, the Aug. 31 pay-per-view (PPV) All Out, but haven’t been keeping up with the company many are hoping will prove to be real competition for WWE? Want to make sure you have some idea what’s going on before watching the last event before AEW’s Oct. 2 premiere on TNT, but don’t have a lot of time?
Like Big Poppa Pump, we’re your hook up.
How can I watch?
The two match, hour-long pre-show The Buy In will stream live and free starting at 7PM Eastern / 4PM Pacific on All Elite’s YouTube channel and B/R Live.
The eight match main card is available as a pay-per-view on B/R Live and via cable & satellite providers in the U.S. & Canada for $49.99, on ITV Box Office in the United Kingdom for £14.95/€17.95, and on Fite.tv everywhere else for $20 (US).
What’s on the card? What do I need to know?
Before we run down the line-up, AEW is saying wins and losses will matter in their storylines, so we’ve provided records (via Cagematch) for the competitors is each bout. If something other than that is at stake, we’ve specified after our brief synopsis.
Adam “Hangman” Page (3 - 0) vs. Chris Jericho (1 - 0)
The story: Page is the young gun trying to become a star in the biggest match of his career. Jericho is the aging legend trying to prove he’s not in the twilight of his career just yet.
Anything besides a win on the line: The AEW World title, and the right to call yourself the first man to ever hold it.
Cody Rhodes (1 - 1 - 1) vs. Shawn Spears (1 - 1)
The story: Spears (fka Tye Dillinger in WWE) took Rhodes under his wing in developmental, and was hurt when Cody described him as a “good hand” and a “player/coach”. So he wrapped a chair around his head. Spears hired Dusty Rhodes’ old nemesis Tully Blanchard as an adviser, and he’ll corner The Perfect Ten. Dusty’s son gets to bring a second, too, but we don’t know who that is yet.
Anything besides a win on the line: Not really, but this one’s personal.
Lucha Brothers (1 - 2) vs. The Young Bucks (3 - 0)
The story: Ever since Pentagon & Fenix got physical with Matt & Nick Jackson at the press conference announcing the creation of All Elite Wrestling back in January, the two sets of brothers have been feuding for the unofficial title of best tag team in the world.
Anything besides a win on the line: The AAA World Tag Team championship, currently held by Lucha Bros. They won them from The Bucks, who won them from Lucha Bros, who won them from Texano Jr. & Rey Escorpión (thought I was gonna say The Bucks, didn’t ya).
This will be their first ladder match against one another.
PAC (0 - 0) vs. Kenny Omega (2 - 1)
The story: Omega is still trying to redeem himself for losing to Jericho at Double Or Nothing. Jon Moxley attacked him after that match and the two have been chasing each other ever since, but Mox got a staph infection and had to pull out of the match AEW’s been building since May. PAC will deliver a great match, and can lose now that he’s not Dragon Gate champ any more (allegedly the reason he pulled out of a DON match with Page).
Anything besides a win on the line: Kenny’s arc, but that’s really just a wins and losses thing.
Best Friends (2 - 0) vs. The Dark Order (1 - 0)
The story: As their name indicates, Stu Grayson & Evil Uno have an evil cult thing going on, but other than chaos and tag team dominance, it’s not clear what their goal is. Guess that’s enough. They debuted by jumping Best Friends Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta and Angélico & Jack Evans after their match at DON.
Anything besides a win on the line: A first round bye in the AEW World Tag Team Championship tournament which will occur on TNT starting in October.
Darby Allin (0 - 1 - 1) vs. Joey Janela (0 - 3) vs. Jimmy Havoc (0 - 3)
The story: The trio was booked in a six-man tag at July’s Fight For The Fallen, and got into a fight backstage blaming each other for their loss.
Anything besides a win on the line: Not really, but this is the program which really demonstrates how wins and losses mattering will inform AEW’s booking.
Riho (2 - 1) vs. Hikaru Shida (1 - 0)
The story: Omega wants to bring joshi puroresu (Japanese women’s wrestling) to the world, and AEW’s fans have been receptive so far.
Anything besides a win on the line: Not officially, but reports indicate the winner will challenge the winner of the pre-show battle royal for the AEW Women’s World championship on the TNT premiere Oct. 2.
Luchasaurus (0 - 2), Jungle Boy (0 - 3) & Marko Stunt (0 - 1) vs Christopher Daniels (1 - 1), Frankie Kazarian (1 - 2), and Scorpio Sky (1 - 2)
The story: A comedy bit on The Bucks’ Being The Elite YouTube show set this up, so... fun. The story is fun.
Anything besides a win on the line: No.
21-Woman Casino Battle Royale
Announced: Allie (1 - 1), Awesome Kong (0 - 1), Big Swole (0 - 0), Brandi Rhodes (1 - 0), Britt Baker (1 - 1), Ivelisse (0 - 0), Jazz (0 - 0), Nyla Rose (0 - 2), Sadie Gibbs (0 - 0), Shazza McKenzie (0 - 0), Teal Piper (0 - 0), and Yuka Sakazaki (0 - 2)
The stories: Brandi has been very heel-ish toward Allie from AEW’s inception, including pulling out an underhanded win at FFTF. Rose & Kong could be on a collision course. Baker beat both of them at DON. Other than that, most of these wrestlers seem to be signed to fill out this match. And the big story is...
Anything besides a win on the line: The winner will definitely challenge for the AEW Women’s World championship on the TNT premiere Oct. 2 (probably against the Riho/Hikaru winner).
Private Party (0 - 2) vs. Angélico and Jack Evans (0 - 2)
The story: The pre-show needed a fast-paced match with lots of cool spots to get the home & live audiences warmed up.
Anything besides a win on the line: Nah, but to serve its purpose, there doesn’t need to be.
There you go. There’s more nuance to pretty much everything, but this is really all you need to be ready for All Out.
If you need more, The Countdown To All Out special which aired on TNT last night is embedded above, and we also have predictions from the entire staff here.
If this convinced you to watch the show, or even if it didn’t, join us in our live blog!