Backstage Update On Christian Cage's Casino Gauntlet Win At AEW All In 2024

The Casino Gauntlet match at AEW All In on Sunday produced plenty of surprises, from G1 Climax winner Zack Sabre Jr. to Nigel McGuinness wrestling his first match in over a decade to the AEW debut of Ricochet. But perhaps the biggest shock was the winner, Christian Cage, who emerged victorious thanks to an assist from ally Killswitch, only an hour or so after the two had lost the AEW World Trios Championships in the London Ladders match.

As per usual, there was a method behind Christian picking up the big win. On Monday's "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer revealed that Christian had originally been penciled to win a past Casino Gauntlet match earlier in this year. When that didn't happen, Christian was instead earmarked to win this Casino Gauntlet, thus earning himself a future AEW World Championship shot at any time he chooses.

AEW had previously held a Casino Gauntlet match on two occasions, first at the end of April and another at the end of May; though it wasn't entirely confirmed which match Christian was supposed to win, Meltzer indicated it was the second. The previous Casino Gauntlets had been won by Will Ospreay; the first earned him an International Championship match against Roderick Strong at Double or Nothing, which Ospreay won, and the second earned him a World Title shot at Swerve Strickland at Forbidden Door, which he lost.

Christian has yet to reveal when he will be looking to cash in a shot for the AEW World Championship, a title he's been chasing since losing to Strickland at Double or Nothing. Whenever he decides, it will be likely he faces Bryan Danielson, who captured the title from Strickland hours after Christian's win in an emotional All In main event.