We all get invested in different forms of media. I love music, movies, books, and television, but when it's done right none of those compare to professional wrestling. The most intensely I've felt that was after AEW's All Out. Except for the Paul Wight vs. QT Marshall every match on the show could have been a main event to a PPV. Every one of their shows has gotten me excited to post and tweet about the show, but this one made me bummed out that I didn't have somebody to talk to in person about it. It was the kind of show where after watching if for four hours I almost started it back up and wanted to talk to anybody about it for just as long as it aired. I haven't felt that way about wrestling in a long time and it rules.
The last time I really felt this way was near the start of Ring of Honor and when I found out about the company as a whole and the idea that there was independent wrestling that wasn't on television following the demise of ECW and WCW. There are always moments that get you hyped up in wrestling, but they don't always last like this one has. Especially since I was a WWE fan for a while. Everytime they did something great like when Nakamura and Asuka won the Royal Rumble in 2018 and then neither really mattered at their Mania matches and both lost, you kind of get trained to accept disappointment after something cool happens in WWE.
And to be honest that is probably the best thing about AEW. The booking rewards you for being a fan. You can get invested in the faces quest for the gold because he's going to win the belt. Hangman is away for Paternity leave and when he comes back the crowd is going to go apeshit and he is going to fight for the world title and be the one to defeat Kenny Omega because that's been the story since they were the tag team champions. Hangman leaving actually works well with all the big names coming in, plus when Bryan Danielson fails to dethrone Omega it will be even better when Hangman does it.
AEW has had plenty of shows filled with great matches so the difference this time is everybody who showed up. Starting with CM Punk who we knew was wrestling on the show, but getting to see him return to the ring after seven years was a treat and he did a great job. Then we get the surprise debuts of Minoro Suzuki, Ruby Soho, Adam Cole, and Bryan Danielson and it just changes everything.
To me Ruby's debut is the most definitive statement of why AEW is so much fun to watch. The other three are big deals in their promotions, but Ruby was never given anything to really do in WWE despite the crowd clamoring for it. She was maybe a midcard talent when WWE released her, but she came to AEW and the crowd popped because she proved how good she was before she was in WWE and they were ready to see her be the athlete she is without any handcuffs on her. That debut pop was just as good as the others and she never was treated with that kind of fanfare before going to AEW.
As much as my favorite tag team winning the tag belts in my current match of the year is a factor in how much I love this show, the undeniable biggest factor is Bryan Danielson being in a company that embraces the same idea of wrestling as him. The promo against Kenny gives me hope of him racking up wins against the indy guys on dark to build up his resume. Is that because I would love to see him wrestle Lee Moriarty, Daniel Garcia, and Wheeler Yuta. Yeah, of fucking course it is those guys all rule and I would love to see them work the American Dragon. And then obviously the matches against Kenny Omega and the other signed AEW talent, especially the match Punk said he wanted of teaming with Danielson against the Young Bucks.
But it isn't just the debuts and possibility of the future, the matches that happened on the show all mattered too. Kingston and Miro had a feud with like two weeks of build, but with a minute of promo time between them they made the match matter and then had a fucking banger of a match with both men throwing bombs and refusing to stay down. It's a match I knew Kingston could do, but didn't know Miro could and he backed up why he's treated the way he is in AEW. The star of the show for me is Young Bucks vs Lucha Brothers. I can't be objective about this match these are the two best tag teams in wrestling for the last two decades and they've always had great matches against each other and in the steel cage they upped the dramatics and violence and had an all time classic that is the match of the year and one of the best tag matches of all time.
What I find the best is that after this show I'm not just excited about AEW shows and the future I'm just excited about the idea of professional wrestling in general. I'm back to watching random matches on youtube, paying attention to live shows on IWTV and even watching NJPW shows again. I went and played around at the basketball court and spent time thinking about how I want to open up a wrestling themed bar. I haven't felt that way in a long time and its just so awesome that AEW has reopened that part of me. I never stopped liking wrestling, but as CM Punk tweeted years ago in WWE this poop isn't fun anymore and as he tweeted after All Out, This shit is fun again.
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