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Some ongoing thoughts on AEW All In: London:
*The return of Jamie Hayter was a crowd pleasing moment that made the UK very happy. Hayter vs. Britt, Mone, Toni, Mariah, Kamille, etc. brings a lot of unique and fun potential matches. She's been out a long time but this was the right place to bring her back into the fold.
*The action in the 16 man tag was fine but this felt similar to the old Wrestlemania Battle Royals where they wanted to make sure everyone got in front of the big stadum crowd. I have no issue in making sure talents get some sort of reward for their part in what the company builds.
* I am glad there's no digital guard rails around ringside. I guess I'm showing my age but they can be distracting to me when watching.
*Willow Nightingale and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kris Statlander and Stokely Hathaway was really enjoyable. Hathaway is always pitch perfect in how he presents himself and Willow may be the most likable babyface in the entire company.
*Between AEW announcing Swerve Strickland's new deal, the Australia debut and the return to London, this felt like Christmas morning for an AEW fan. Once they get the TV deal announced (and there were rumblings backstage among some who believe it is done, but we can't confirm), that's a nice murderer's row of things for fans to look forward to.
*The chants and songs from the British fans bring a nice energy. You can see how invested they are.
*The Zero One panelists did a good job. Renee is perfect in the role and I'm always happy to see Jeff Jarrett pop up.
*Everyone worked super hard in the Ladder Match to open the show. It seemed like the belts were a little low. The makeshift team of Pac and Blackpool Combat Club going over was an interesting choice. I just spoke with Nick Wayne about his mom being involved so much on camera, something he never predicted would be a thing, so it was sort of funny to me to see how involved she was.
*Toni Storm vs. Mariah May was good. Have we ever seen a heel slap their own mother at ringside? Not even MJF has done that to his parents. I don't know that the blood added anything to the match but I liked the throwback to the bloody stiletto heel shoe as a weapon. They worked this like it was a main event bout with lots of near falls with the crowd there for them all the way. May winning was the right call for the story to continue in my view. There was good intensity for this one.
*Hook vs. Chris Jericho was designed to make Hook the big underdog with the three on one night under FTW Rules early on. I was happy to see Hook reveal he wasn't blind since I don't know if the audience believed his eye was damaged. I felt all along this should have been a quick win for Hook but the crowd enjoyed the hardcore elements especially the Cricket bat. Taz getting involved to choke out Bryan Keith as Hook choked out Jericho got a big pop live and as an old ECW guy, I liked it. Taz has obviously stayed away from getting involved so long that this meant something. The moment at the end was what will be remembered. 50,000 popping for the Tazmission and the Redrum in stereo is a nice "last" moment for Taz if that was the last moment.
*Jericho nailing Big Bill by accident HOPEFULLY means that's the next program as Bill is great and underutilized here. I think Jericho needs a breather from being so prominent on TV, but if he can help put over Bill, I can understand using him for that. Bill has come a LONG WAY from his issues years ago and after that reaction in Cardiff, AEW would be wise to invest in him and see where they can go. His TNA work was really inspired.
*All the wide shots of the stadium look great and this feels like a top notch show in that regard.
More thoughts on Page 2.
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