With All Out just around the corner, it’s time to take a look back at some of the best matches in the show’s history. All Out has been an AEW PPV/PLE staple since AEW’s first year and has produced some of AEW’s best moments, including a stellar 2021 show with Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole making their AEW debuts. Without further ado, let’s take a look back at the top 5 matches in All Out history.
5 Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland (c) v The Acclaimed (AEW World Tag Team Championships, 2022)
The crowd was super hot for this one, and mainly because of The Acclaimed. Max Caster and Anthony Bowens were doing some of the best stuff in their AEW career at this point, with their unique charisma and lovability being a huge hit with the fans, which in turn, made them the super crowd favourites during this match, despite the fact Swerve in our Glory were also babyfaces. Keith and Swerve worked smartly here, working as the heels which made The Acclaimed even more over. It was also the match, bell to bell, that let the fans see just how good The Acclaimed were in the ring, to go with their unrivalled charisma. The match itself was excellent, both teams showing why they were at the top of the tag division at this point. Acclaimed hit a huge double Suplex on Lee and then Strickland hit his big stomp for a close near fall to a huge pop which was one of the highlights. The near falls kept coming for The Acclaimed which got the fans even more invested, but in the end, Swerve hit a big stomp, Lee a Powerbomb and the champs retained their titles. It was The Acclaimed who were the real winners as the crowd basically demanded them to win the belts after this.
4 Pac v Kenny Omega (2019)
A match taking place in the early days of AEW, Pac and Omega had an excellent series of matches during the promotion’s first year, including an epic Iron Man Match on Dynamite. This was their first encounter though and it certainly set the tone for their feud to come. The match itself was worked very stiffly, with strong strikes being at the forefront of the match. Plenty of kicks, forearms and elbows from both competitors, including a series of V- Triggers from Omega, really got the crowd invested at some of the action they were seeing, popping big for the connections the two were making. Several excellent near falls towards the end, had fans legitimately guessing as to who would win, because despite Omega’s status at the time, he was heavily involved with Jon Moxley which the announcers played up to very well, suggesting that Omega may have been distracted. This was the case as in the end Omega went for the One Winged Angel and Pac locked in The Butaliser whilst on top of Kenny, and The Best Bout Machine passed out to score a very surprising victory for the Englishman.
3 Kenny Omega & Adam Page (c) v FTR (AEW World Tag Team Championships, 2020)
This was a big match for AEW at the time as Page & Omega had been Tag Champs for a while and were undefeated in 2020 and FTR had not long been in the company and had their obvious reputation for being one of the best in the ring, so expectations were high and the two teams didn’t disappoint. The match itself was what you’d expect from four elite workers, no pun intended, as they never really missed a beat. A great story throughout the match was if Omega and Page had lost a step as a team and if miscommunication would cost them. The fast pace, great action and big moves which led to false finishes would’ve been even better in front of a full crowd, but nonetheless it was still excellent action. The one drawback was it perhaps went a little too long, close to the 30 minute mark, where 20/25 minutes probably would’ve enhanced the match. With all that said, the story of Omega and Page’s miscommunication cost them in the end as Omega nailed Page with a V-Trigger by mistake which led to new Tag Team Champions being crowned in what was the right result all things considered.
2 Miro (c) v Eddie Kingston (TNT Championship, 2021)
This was the opener to the 2021 edition of the show, and it was definitely a good way to kick off a show. The feud wasn’t built for that long, Kingston mainly pointed out Miro’s neck and Miro being a monster, would be strong enough even with a weak neck. Eddie made for a credible challenger as he was very over with the fans at this point, and Miro was in the midst of a strong title run. The two bulls hit hard in this match, very hard. The match was physical from the get go and some of the welts that appeared on Miro’s chest were grimacing. The story in the match with the neck is a simple one too, the smaller man targeting the monster’s weak spot, the monster just being a monster and hitting back as hard as he can. Simple, but very effective. The two beat the hell out of each other and in the end Miro used the distraction of the turnbuckle pad being accidentally removed, to hit a low blow, a Roundhouse Kick and a patented Machka Kick for the win. Eddie remained over in the loss and although it wasn’t capitalised on in the subsequent years, he was a very sympathetic loser.
1 The Young Bucks v Lucha Brothers (Steel Cage Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championships, 2021)
This match was carnage. The build going in was The Bucks needing help retaining their Tag Titles, from members of The Elite and the steel cage was the perfect setting to make sure that didn’t happen. The Bucks and Lucha Bros just have this unique chemistry and they always delivered classics, their ladder match from All Out 2019 was unlucky not to make this list too. The Lucha Bros won a tag tournament and the Cage Match was set. The match had all sorts of spots and craziness. From dives, super kicks, cage bumps, lots of blood and others, the two teams threw absolutely everything at each other. The match went up a notch when Matt Jackson got a boot with thumbtacks stuck to the bottom of it and looked to hit Fenix until Penta made the valiant save for his brother and got his head kicked in for it. There was also a crazy Canadian Destroyer from the top rope which got audible gasps, and then the finish in which Fenix jumped off the top of the cage with a Cross Body and nailed both The Bucks which led to a Tiger Driver for the victory and new AEW Tag Team Champions. An absolutely crazy match where both sides put their bodies on the line, bled buckets and pulled out all the stops to deliver arguably one of the best cage matches of all time.
Author: Author: Alex Bakothanasis