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MAIN EVENT TIME: COMPLETE AEW ALL IN: LONDON THOUGHTS

By Mike Johnson on 2023-08-27 13:10:00

Nigel McGuinness announced a worldwide pro wrestling attendance of 81,035 fans for All In: London.

Next up is The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn vs. House of Black.  HUGE reaction for Acclaimed.  HOB paid tribute to Bray Wyatt.  It's No Holds Barred.  MORE BRAWLING ALL OVER!  Julia Hart interfered.  She got legdropped off the top for her trouble.  HOB triple-teamed Bownens.  They showed closeups of Mercedes Mone watching.  If you don't think she's coming in, come on.  Lots of moves and tag team double and triple offene.  Everyone worked super hard here.  Accclaimed tried to finish Malakai but Brodie and Matthews attacked.  They beat Bowens hard in the corner.  Brodie was cut on side of his head.  Brodie accidentally nailed Malakai with a chain.    Acclaimed worked over Matthews.  Gunn nailed a Famouser for a two count when Hart interfered and pulled referee Aubrey Edwards out of the ring.     That set up Malakai nailing Gunn with The End kick but Billy kicked up at the last second.  The Acclaimed made the save and they nailed the Mic Drop on King, but he KICKED OUT AT ONE.    They attacked him again but he rose to his feet.  They nailed the Mic Drop again and scored the pin.  Acclaimed should be one of the headline acts of AEW in my mind and deserved the win.  Everyone fought hard.

After the match, House of Black grabbed the title belts before presenting them to The Acclaimed.   Bowens said they told Billy Gunn they would bring him to the top and some gold.

There was a cool shot with a sea of foam scissoring fingers that looked cool to see.  They did the "world's biggest scissor party" which was quite the sight to see.

I really think this was AEW's best show in a long time.  Production seemed to be on point.  The environment was fun.  The work was good up and down card.

Time for the main event.  MJF vs. Adam Cole.  Crazy to think where they each were five years ago and now they are in front of 81,000 for AEW.

Big MJF production for his entrance.

They each put on their team shirts to show respect for the other.  Crowd loved this.

They went back and forth feeling the other out.  Cole got the better of him early.  MJF called for sportsmanship and the crowd chanted it.  As the match went on, Cole was showing some heelish tendencies.  They did a test of strength and MJF kicked him but Cole grabbed the hair to slam him backwards.  MJF returned the favor.  Cole regained the control and tol MJF, "We may be friends, but I'm better than you."  That riled up MJF and the ffriends kept trying to out-heel each other.  MJF rained down with punches and bit Cole.

Cole went to the floor.  The crowd was loving chanting for everyone.  When they returned, they battled back and forth.  Cole nailed a Heatseeker piledriver for a two count but MJF got his foot on the ropes.  Cole nailed a brainbuster on the corner of the ring steps, and was out on the floor.  Cole played it up like he couldn't believe what he did to his friend.  MJF was almost counted out but made it back.  Cole teased the Panama Sunrise but MJF rolled out to the floor.  Lots of storytelling vs. maneuvers here.  

MJF caught him coming out and teased a tombstone on the table but couldn't bring himself to do it.  MJF showing empathy will be the death of him.  Cole attacked him and hit the tombstone.  MJF made a comeback and at this point, they started turning on the speed with lots of offensive back and forth.  They were out and pulled themselves up to continue the fight.   They clotheslined each other and were both pinned.  The referee called for a draw.  That is a BAD idea.

Cole called for five more minutes.  The idea is last time they had a draw, MJF said no.  He said no, five minutes isn't enough and declared they were going until they had a winner.  Crowd popped.  They battled back and forth.  Ref Bryce Remsberg was WIPED OUT.  Who's going to book travel home?  MJF grabbed a chair.  They each tried to do the Eddie Guerrero faked out spot but tossed it back and forth to each other.  Cole finally laid down.  MJF wrapped the chair around his own head and laid down.  The crowd chanted for Guerrero.

They began taking the fight to each other.  MJF nailed a Heatseeker.  Adam hit a straitjacket back suplex on the nailing the reapron.  They continued to battle.  Cole went for a Panama Sunrise but ended up nailing the ref.  MJF pulled out the diamond ring but took it off.  Roderick Strong hit the ring and lowblowed MJF.  Cole didn't see it.  Cole nailed the Panama Sunrise.  He nailed the shining wizard but there was no referee.  Bryce finally recovered and dramatically counted but MJF kicked out at the last possible second.  Strong tossed Cole the AEW title belt and implored him to use it, saying he was Cole's best friend.

Cole took his team shirt off and grabbed the belt before deciding not to use it.  Strong walked out, angry.  Cole told him to leave and turned into a small package, with MJF scoring the pin.

Good main event with characters and story leading the way.  Fans who want balls to the wall action may not have loved this as much but it was a different tone, style and presentation and from a STORY standpoint, was one of the best stories AEW has ever told.

After, MJF tried to console Cole and give him the ROH titles and tell him everyone still loves him and it could have been either of them.  Cole threw the belts away in anger.  MJF accused him of not ever being friends and threw the AEW title belt at him.  He turned his back to him and told Cole to just take him out and be done with it.  Strong returned to scream at Cole to do it, but instead Cole threw the title belt down and hugged MJF.

The Kingdom pulled back Strong.

Confetti and fireworks.

Overall, a fun, strong show. Production was really good. 

 

 


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