AEW All Out 2023 preview: CM Punk is gone, but AEW already found an upgrade

All Elite Wrestling returns to pay-per-view tonight (Sun., Sept. 3) at 8 pm ET with All Out. The show comes our way from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

A Zero Hour pre-show will stream live and free starting at 7 pm ET on All Elite’s YouTube channel, Bleacher Report, and right here at Cageside Seats.

In the U.S. & Canada, the main card can be purchased on Bleacher Report (and traditional PPV). Internationally, it’s available on Fite.

CM Punk is gone, but AEW already found an upgrade

CM Punk has been the face of AEW Collision ever since the show launched in June, and it looked like he was headed to a strap match against Ricky Starks at All Out for the “Real World Championship.” But Punk just can’t help himself and got into yet another backstage fight, so Tony Khan fired him as a result.

Khan needed to find a suitable replacement for Punk, and luckily for AEW, Bryan Danielson was able to return from a broken arm one month ahead of his rumored timeline. That means the part of CM Punk at All Out will now be played by Danielson. The American Dragon is such a respected figure in pro wrestling that even most of the angry Punk fans in Chicago seem to be cool with the idea. In fact, many fans would even argue that Bryan is an upgrade over CM. Whether that’s true or not, Ricky Starks is going to get his f****** head kicked in at the United Center.

The rest of the card

These twelve matches are also currently advertised for today at All Out:

Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW International Championship

Cassidy won this belt last October and has been a fighting champion, successfully defending it on more than 30 occasions. But he’s never faced anybody as dangerous as Jon Moxley. The wear and tear on Orange is evident with each new piece of tape on his body as his championship reign goes on, and his Orange Punch has been weakened as a result. Add it all up, and this could be the night his lengthy title reign finally comes to an end.

Luchasaurus (c) vs. Darby Allin for the TNT Championship

Darby once said that the TNT title is the most important belt to him in AEW, and now he has a chance to win it back tonight. However, Christian is currently obsessed with the damn thing, and even if Darby wins, it’s not clear how long it will take for him to pry it from Christian’s slimy hands. Oh, and Christian isn’t even the champ! For what it’s worth, Allin is walking into this match with a banged up lower spine following some brutal spots in a Coffin match at All In.

Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita is a Don Callis assassin who got one over on Kenny at All In during a trios match. A singles match is an entirely different beast, so we’ll have to see if Konosuke can prevent Kenny from nailing him with the One Winged Angel long enough for Callis to cheat and help him win.

FTR & Young Bucks vs. Bullet Club Gold

This is one of those ‘Can they co-exist?’ type of tag team matches. FTR and the Bucks are two of the greatest tag teams of all-time and should have no problem beating a four man team that includes Austin and Colten Gunn. The problem is that FTR and the Young Bucks don’t like each other, especially after CM Punk was fired FTR beat the Bucks at All In.

Kris Statlander (c) vs. Ruby Soho for the TBS Championship

Ruby Soho loves to gloat about the fact that Statlander can’t ever beat her, so there’s a good chance the champ will make her eat those words tonight.

Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs

Hobbs is looking for redemption after losing the TNT title, so he challenged The Redeemer to a fight. Meanwhile, the godless Miro has only wrestled three quick matches against low card fodder since he returned to AEW in June, so he might still have some ring rust to shake off.

MJF & Adam Cole (c) vs. Dark Order for the ROH World Tag Team Championship

Better Than You Bay Bay is perhaps the most popular act in AEW today. Dark Order won a Battle Royal to get here, but it will be a huge surprise if they bring home the gold.

Eddie Kingston & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta

Eddie has feuded with Claudio in ROH, and the same goes for Shibata and Yuta. Kingston couldn’t beat Claudio for the ROH world title, so maybe he’ll have better luck pinning Claudio’s shoulders to the mat when he teams up with The Wrestler.

Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shane Taylor for the ROH World TV Championship

Shane Taylor won a tournament on ROH programming to earn this title match. If you don’t watch ROH, well, this match probably means nothing to you.

The Acclaimed & Daddy Ass (w/Dennis Rodman) (c) vs. Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh for the AEW World Trios Championship (pre-show)

If you ever wanted to see Daddy Ass scissor with former NBA star Dennis Rodman, you might just get it for free on the All Out pre-show after The Acclaimed and Ass defeat Jarrett’s crew.

Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale & Skye Blue vs. Athena, Diamante & Mercedes Martinez (pre-show)

This match is here because it would be strange to book only one women’s match on a card with 13 matches. Tony Khan is probably patting himself on the back for finding room for a second women’s match at All Out.

Over-Budget Charity Battle Royal (pre-show)

As of this writing, zero participants have been announced for this match. The winner will pick a charity to receive $50,000.

Summary

All Out is happening just one week after All In, and it’s a tough sell to ask AEW fans to shell out another 50 bucks for what looks like a glorified ROH pay-per-view, especially without CM Punk on the card. The addition of Danielson obviously helps, and there could be some bangers here from the usual suspects like Omega, Cassidy, and the Bucks, but overall this event feels rushed and unnecessary, and is clearly AEW’s weakest PPV card of the year. Perhaps Tony Khan will revisit this plan of running PPV events one week apart if the buy rate for All Out tanks.

One of the more interesting things to keep an eye on during the show will be how the Chicago fans react given that their beloved Punk is fired. Aside from The Elite receiving far more boos than usual, will it even matter that much?

What will you be looking for at All Out?