AEW may have gone too far at violent All Out despite delivering Bryan Danielson swerve
The decision on how to end AEW All Out might be talked about for years.The show closed with a “lights out” steel cage match to end an excellent long-term feud that in theory would be hard to follow.But the clash in some ways went too far and in others didn’t go far enough.
That was done over one of the most meaningful swerve angles AEW has ever done and it would have been the perfect finish to drive the conversion to Dynamite on Wednesday.What we got from NOW Arena in Chicago on Saturday night was an imperfect show — maybe the most violent in company history — whose highs were just enough to overcome some of the questionable things we saw.Here are five takeaways from All OutBryan Danielson successfully defended his AEW World championship and then the fun began.After defeating Jack Perry, Danielson was attacked from behind by Killswitch, but Jon Moxley — followed by the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club and PAC cut off Christian Cage from cashing in his championship match contract.Warning: Graphic ViolenceMoxley hugged Danielson, but as they all celebrated Claudio Castagnoli hit the champ with a European Upper Cut.
Moxley — ala Terry Funk — put a plastic over a stunned Danielson’s head as an emotional Wheeler Yuta was held back by PAC.The fans chanted “This is murder!” as the plastic bag will rightfully be too much for some.Danielson finally fought free from the bag a little bit before AEW personnel made their way to the ring.Was this the beginning of Moxley’s prophecy of change coming to AEW and will he be the one to end Danielson’s full-time career? How does Cage fit in? The questions make it the perfect dramatic shift in Danielson’s career-closing story.In the match itself, Perry — who looked like a true future main evener — kept attacking Danielson’s injured neck and the champ wrestling played the pain well.
Later, referee Bryce Renberg was checking on Perry with Danielson in the opposite corner.The champ’s first running kn...