AEW All In 2024: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc's annual review of AEW All In, the show so nice they ran Wembley twice! No matter how you feel about AEW, it was an objectively incredible event, from the 12-man ladder match to the 12-man Casino Gauntlet match to Bryan Danielson making his hometown 12s proud by winning the AEW World Championship. Obviously we have feelings about that particular victory — Sunday's match was created in a laboratory in to make wrestling fans have feelings about that particular victory — but there's so much we don't have the time or the space to talk about. Chris Jericho vs HOOK, Will Ospreay vs. MJF, Mercedes Mone vs. Britt Baker — none of these boiled the blood or gladdened the hearts of the WINC staff enough to make them write about it here. If you want to read about them, you can always check out our All In results page, especially if you didn't actually watch the show and what to know all the things that happened.

Here, we devote our time and our space to the things that provoked an extreme positive or negative reaction from us. Like Mariah May beating Toni Storm, or Jack Perry beating Darby Allin, or the American F***ing Dragon winning the world championship via the power of his love for his family. In other words, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about AEW All In 2024!

Last year, FTR and The Young Bucks put on one hell of a spectacle in Wembley Stadium but at this year's show, the difference couldn't have been more stark. Neither The Bucks nor FTR moved like teams that wanted to even be there, lethargically dragging The Acclaimed along in a sluggish tag team match which never seemed to get out of first gear.

It didn't feel like a callback to FTR and The Bucks' match last year. It didn't do much to elevate The Acclaimed. It felt like the triple threat tag match did little to help anyone at all, with even the surprise appearance from the Grizzled Young Vets being met with near-apathy from the crowd. The tag title scene is in dire straits since The Bucks won them in a ladder match earlier this year, and it has left the already woeful division in rough shape. Just the second defense of the titles, what started as a character quirk has spiraled into an albatross around the entire division, as the seemingly disinterested Young Bucks weigh everything around them down with their lazy heel schtick.

The Acclaimed, already an almost-was in my eyes, were done no favors by the match. Caster's wannabe-Bart Simpson gimmick is old, Bowens still doesn't have a personality, Billy Gunn is 60 f***ing-years old, there is nothing left to squeeze out of the dry rag that is "Scissor me, Daddy Ass" and I hope the entire team is put out of their proverbial misery.

Written by Ross Berman

Over the last year, audiences have been witness to the steady and deliberate development of "Timeless" Toni Storm and her onscreen relationship with Mariah May. All of that storytelling built up to their match at today's pay-per-view and the pair knocked it out of the park. The fight was melodramatic, drawing on the story's "Old Hollywood" influences while also getting appropriately violent for the level of hatred between these two wrestlers. That intensity could be felt while watching the match, all building up to the moment when Storm was unable to bring herself to brutalize May with a stiletto heel, giving May the opportunity she needed to win.

While I'd have liked to see May and Storm higher up on the card, especially considering how much emphasis the feud has received this year, that doesn't take away from the fact that they executed everything just about perfectly. We got pay-off for various elements of their feud, from Luther's involvement to the use of the shoe that has been referenced so often. On top of that, the match was smooth and had strong pacing, leading to the big crescendo.

Today's bout between Storm and May settled things for now while also leaving a door open for future storytelling. Storm could disappear for a while, but it's unlikely she'll forget what May took from her. However, the real interest lies in who Storm returns as. Will she retain her "Timeless" character, or will the former champion decide she can no longer live in the past? While it feels like a chapter has closed on the Storm-May saga, it feels like there's plenty more gas in the tank, especially if Storm works her way back into the title picture under a new persona.

Written by Nick Miller

The Casino Gauntlet match was great. It's a great concept in general, and this was definitely going to be the best one. Until the finish.

So in the opening match, The Patriarchy lost the trios titles, though at one point they clearly could have retained if Christian Cage hadn't stopped Killswitch from pulling down the belts because Christian wanted to pull them down instead. Christian later limped into the Casino Gauntlet and was eventually joined by Killswitch, who the ring announcer either accidentally or teasingly introduced under his old name, Luchasaurus. The commentary team went hard on the idea that he had finally had enough of Christian after the trios title match and was coming to take the Gauntlet for himself.

Anyway then instead of chokeslamming Christian he chokeslammed Kyle O'Reilly and threw Christian on top of him. Christian won.

I really want to emphasize how cool this match was and how many cool things happened in it. Nigel McGuinness came out retirement and did chain wrestling with Zack Sabre Jr. Ricochet debuted and looked faster than he'd ever looked on a show called "Speed." Jeff Jarrett hit people with guitars. Mark Briscoe did Mark Briscoe things. It was awesome, and it ended with yet another "Killswitch turns on Christian" tease, which has been going on for literally a year now and will either never pay off or pay off long after everyone has stopped caring. Hooray?

Admittedly, I am one of the few who finds Christian's current gimmick more annoying than captivating, but even those who love what he's doing would surely have to admit that there were better choices than this. "Hangman" Adam Page was the consensus favorite to win due to his issues with both Swerve Strickland and Bryan Danielson, or just to appease the Hangman fans who thought he should have gotten the Wembley main event (by which I mean me; to appease me, personally). If it couldn't be Page though, there were ten million better options. Give it Okada to elevate him out of the midcard and give him one more match with Danielson. Give to Ricochet because hey, Ricochet debuted; making him look like a big deal isn't the worst idea in the world. My god, McGuinness can apparently wrestle again, and if McGuinness can wrestle again we'd damn well better be getting McGuinness vs. Danielson again, and if we're getting McGuinness vs. Danielson again, maybe have McGuinness win the Gauntlet in his hometown? Is this hard? Am I taking crazy pills?

But no, sorry, Christian had to win, because Danielson's dad is dead and there's nothing more important than popping Twitter. What a rancid, uninspired ending to what should have been (and almost was) a great wrestling match.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

Vince McMahon is allegedly a terrible person by all accounts, but he was right about one thing: Wrestlers make movies. I don't think it needs to be taken to the extent that McMahon often took it, but professional wrestling is first and foremost a visual medium. The stories it tells are often told in images, whether it's a smaller man bodyslamming a much larger man or a grown adult crying as he clutches a world title belt. No matter what soundbite goes over those memorable moments, the images themselves are the driving force.

Darby Allin and Jack Perry are two young wrestlers who understand this better than most of the AEW roster. Sunday's coffin match had little by way of dialogue or plot. The community theater that has infected much of wrestling was nowhere to be found. The story was simple, two men trying to kill the other, and the images were unforgettable. Jack Perry didn't need to say "Cry me a river" or anything else when he dumped a bag of broken glass in the ring. The crowd understood the moment. Allin didn't need a quippy one-liner when he stuck his bloodied face through the bodybag and sat upright, defiant against the beating Jack Perry was delivering to him.

To show and not tell is a time-tested rule of storytelling, and while I don't think it is a hard and fast rule, it can be very refreshing in this modern era to see a match that refuses to over-explain itself. Darby and Jack aren't the best talkers, but they sure know how to tell a story in images.

Written by Ross Berman

Darby Allin matches aren't my cup of tea and Jack Perry has always annoyed me, especially in the year since the CM Punk incident. But I have to give it to both Allin and Perry — their work in the Coffin Match at All In was over and above. A little wild and dangerous for my liking, but the effort was solid and the match itself was entertaining. And then they went and ruined everything.

By "they," I'm guessing Tony Khan and The Young Bucks, primarily, because this company just can't leave well enough alone. That was a beautifully violent affair in which the right combatant won, but they just have to take things to the next level. In this case, again, for starters, that was trying to LIGHT A HUMAN BEING ON FIRE ... AGAIN! And we're not just talking a silly, stunt-y, flamethrower-to-the-shoes bit this time. Or the, "Oh, hey, remember me and this blowtorch?" deal from Blood and Guts either. This time, we got a dude in a bodybag inside a coffin and we're literally dousing him with "gasoline," and teasing lighting it up with a Bic lighter before ... well, I'll get to that.

There's an old adage in wrestling that says you don't tease anything you can't pay off. AND YOU CAN'T PAY OFF BURNING SOMEONE TO DEATH. If you light the guy in the bag (in the coffin) with the gasoline all over him, HE DIES. We're not killing anyone here. This is not rocket science, damn it. And therefore, it's insulting to the intelligence and it undoes all the good done by a match that was just that: Good. Stop with the fire stuff. Just stop. It's stupid.

And as an aside, what was the point of the forever-long goodbye tour for Sting, his last match in Greensboro, the kids dressing up like their dad at different stages of his career and all of that hullabaloo, if he's only going to come back five months later? I know he didn't wrestle, I get it. But at some point, either stop with the "last whatever ever" stuff, or have the people who say they're done actually be done. Once again, I'm not an idiot. Most of the people who watch your stuff (probably) aren't either. Stop treating them as though they are.

Written by Jon Jordan

For many, including myself, Bryan Danielson is amongst the very best professional wrestlers of all-time. For decades now, whether it be WWE, ROH, or AEW, the "American Dragon" has been the gold standard of the sports-entertainment hybrid in each of its facets: in the ring, on the mic, or most importantly, in organic connectivity with his audience. Which I should know, because I was in the building when he finally won the AEW world title.

There was a palpable sense of uncertainty walking into Wembley Stadium on Sunday night. The AEW World Championship had eluded Danielson on four separate occasions before All In, so it was far from a foregone conclusion that he would make the fifth time the charm when he wagered his career against the reign of Swerve Strickland. There had been a long night of wrestling before the main event, including Coffin and Ladder matches, and the crowd had admittedly quieted following the clash between Will Ospreay and MJF. But sure enough, almost as soon as "The Final Countdown" started playing, the stadium was filled with dueling chants for champion and challenger. A raucous crowd looking to witness history, one way or another.

The match itself was exactly what you would have come to expect from either wrestler in the ring. They told an excellent story of Danielson — kept together with kinesiology tape and raw spite — fighting an equally spiteful opponent who all but promised to leave him broken in the ring. Strickland worked the consummate heel role, jeering towards Danielson's wife, Brie, and their daughter, Birdie, as they watched on from ringside, as well as doubling down on some of his more malicious offense. That compounded the dread that Danielson was actually going out on his back, but also strengthened the resolve of 50,000 strong to roar each and every time he somehow survived.

Danielson winning the AEW World Championship was a moment — one that maybe should have come sooner — that deserved the main event billing at the promotion's largest event of the year.

Written by Max Everett