TJRWrestling AEW All In London 2024 Preview
It’s AEW All In London with Swerve Strickland facing Bryan Danielson, MJF against Will Ospreay, Toni Storm battling Mariah May, and plenty more!
The biggest AEW show of the year is back again from Wembley Stadium in London, England. It’s expected that there will be a crowd of over 50,000 fans in attendance, which is by far the biggest AEW crowd of the year. It’s not going to be near the 80,000+ fans that were there last year, but it’s still an impressive number. I think AEW should be proud of it and so should their fans. That won’t stop the crazy fans on social media who overreact to this stuff just because they might be loyal to one company or the other. Support all pro wrestling and the wrestlers who put their bodies on the line to entertain us. That’s how I always look at it.
Anyway, it’s a good card with a lot of matches and several titles on the line. For me, it’s a 1 p.m. ET start time on Sunday afternoon, so I don’t mind that at all. I’m looking forward to the show.
Check out AEW’s website for information on how to order the show. I’ll probably use Triller/Fite TV for it. Let’s get to it.
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Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway (ZERO HOUR PRE-SHOW)
There will probably be some comedy spots in this match since Ishii is known for being a tough guy wrestler while Hathaway is a manager. Hathaway does have wrestling experience, so I’m sure he’ll bump around fine. I think Willow and Kris will probably brawl outside the ring, which leaves Ishii alone with Hathaway and Ishii should get the win for his team.
Winners: Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii
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Casino Gauntlet Match
(The winner receives AEW World Title match)
It’s a match where AEW will throw in a random number of people into one match at different intervals and whoever gets the win will earn an AEW World Title match. We don’t know how many people will be in the match or who will be in the match. I do like the unpredictability of it because it’s more creative than doing a battle royal with 20 guys standing in a ring to start the match. In theory, the match could end with just two guys in there, but it’s not going to happen that way.
This is probably where Ricochet will make his AEW debut. Would they put him over in a match like this in his debut with the company? I think it’s certainly possible. I think “Hangman” Adam Page will be a popular pick to be in this match too. He might be the winner since he’s pushed at a decent level although it’s not like it’s a consistent push for him. Jeff Jarrett will probably be in the match since he’s had issues with Page, so they might as well continue that story.
We haven’t seen Jon Moxley in a while either, so this could be where he comes back and I think if he’s in the match then he certainly could be the winner. It’s also known that Orange Cassidy is in the match, which makes him a threat to win since he is one of Tony Khan’s favorites in AEW and he is usually booked well in matches like this. I could keep running down names, but it’s really just a guessing game by picking people who aren’t in any other matches.
I’m going to go with “Hangman” Adam Page getting the win, but I think Ricochet winning would be a fine choice too.
Winner: “Hangman” Adam Page
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London Ladder Match for the AEW World Trios Tag Team Championships: The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne) (c) (with Mother Wayne) vs. Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) vs. House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) vs. Blackpool Combat Club’s Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta and Pac
The final team listed – Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta & Pac – won a match that was taped for Collision and is airing on Saturday night. I’ll be honest with you when I say I really don’t pay attention to these AEW Trios Tag Team Titles. I really only watch Dynamite and these titles are rarely featured on that show. They can barely book a deep tag team division in AEW, so I’m supposed to care about these titles too? They just seem so unnecessary to me.
I think Malakai Black is one of the most poorly booked wrestlers in all of AEW and has been since the day he walked in the door. That’s a guy who should be competing in one of the major singles title matches (like he did against Adam Copeland for the TNT Title – he should have won that match) and instead he’s still in a trios tag team match. Brody King could certainly be doing more too.
It’s a ladder match with 12 guys involved so there will obviously be some crazy spots. Since it’s AEW, some guys will even try some unsafe things just to get a reaction. I enjoy my fellow Canadian Christian Cage’s schtick and I like when he’s being a jerk to his “family” while holding titles, so I hope they find a way to retain. Maybe it will be something where Killswitch gets the win and then Christian doesn’t credit him at all for it while handing the title to Mother Wayne again. That’s funny.
Winners: The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne)
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FTW Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Hook
This is the fifth men’s singles title in AEW. It’s like watching sports and two mediocre teams are playing. Somebody has to win, but should I really care that much about it? No. I know the FTW Title isn’t an “official” title in AEW, yet Jericho is on television every week pushing his “Learning Tree” gimmick that is really not succeeding that well. I get the point of the feud since Jericho is about 30 years older than Hook and he’s going to put over the younger guy.
I think the story here should be about Jericho getting help from Big Bill and Bryan Keith, but then we see Katsuyori Shibata and Samoa Joe show up to make the save for Hook. I know Joe has been out for a while due to an injury angle. However, this is the right spot to bring him back and help Hook get the win. I think Hook should win.
Winner AND NEW FTW Champion: Hook
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TBS Championship: Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Britt Baker
I think this feud has been okay although the other women’s title match is much better in terms of story and build, so that has overshadowed this one. Mone does the same promo every time talking about how great she is while bragging about being rich. She needs to learn to have more depth as a character. Baker is fine as a babyface who has been in AEW since day one, so the fans will get behind her. They should get plenty of time and have a good match.
This would be the perfect spot to bring back Jamie Hayter, who is from England and has been out for a long time. Hayter is Baker’s former ally. I don’t know if Hayter is cleared, but if she is, then they really should utilize her to stop Kamille from interfering and that could lead to Baker getting the win. I think even Hayter shows up, Mone may keep the title because there doesn’t need to be a title change. They could build it up even more. I’ll go with Hayter showing up to fight with Kamille, but Mone finds a way to retain in a cheap manner.
Winner: Mercedes Mone
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TNT Championship Coffin Match: Jack Perry (c) vs. Darby Allin
The idea of all The Elite guys holding titles was fine in theory, but the group hasn’t been working together that much in recent weeks. A Coffin Match will give crazy Allin permission to do wild stunts and take some crazy bumps off high objects. There will probably be glass breaking, thumbtacks, tables and so on. Perry is okay as a heel and the beard helps him look like more of an adult instead of his beard-less look that makes him look like he’s 15 years old. I guess what I’m saying is it makes Perry look tougher, but I don’t think his wrestling style makes him look tough at all.
I saw a report about how AEW might want to put the AEW World Title on Darby Allin, who gets a World Title shot at the upcoming Dynamite Grand Slam show. I think that certainly could happen, so should they put the TNT Title on Allin as well? It could happen. The only thing is that Perry hasn’t had the title for that long, so I wonder if they would have him lose it. I’ll go with Allin retaining likely because he get some help from somebody because I doubt Allin is going to lose clean.
Winner: Jack Perry
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AEW World Tag Team Championships: The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson) (c) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster)
It’s another multi-team tag team match. The Young Bucks have only defended the coveted AEW Tag Team Titles once since they won them in April. That match was against The Acclaimed and it was going along fine until FTR ruined the match. That led to FTR and The Acclaimed having a match with no winner, so both teams get a title shot. It’s classic pro wrestling booking to set up a triple threat match. I can’t say I love it, but I’m not surprised they are going with a triple threat in this case.
When The Acclaimed won the AEW Tag Team Titles in September 2022 they were definitely the hottest tag team act in the company. Can we say that about them now? I don’t know. I wouldn’t say FTR is that hot as a babyface team either. While I would like to see The Acclaimed get the win, I’m leaning more toward The Young Bucks keeping the titles because I think all of The Elite will remain champions coming out of this show. This should be an awesome match that is also chaotic because of who is involved in it.
Winners: The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson)
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AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Mariah May
This match has had one of the best stories in AEW this year. They have been building it since May started in AEW late last year. When May won the Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Cup tournament earlier this summer, I didn’t expect her to immediately turn heel on Storm, but after it happened, I loved it. Great move. They were obviously going to build to May against Storm at All In since May winning the title in her home country of England makes a lot of sense.
There haven’t been that many AEW women’s matches that have been bloody, but I think this one will have some blood. We saw that when May initially attacked Storm too, so I think they will have a bloody match here.
I’m going with May getting the win to end Storm’s 270+ day reign as champion. I have criticized AEW’s booking of the women’s division for many years, but not in this case. This has been built up well and I’m looking forward to the match.
Winner AND NEW AEW Women’s World Champion: Mariah May
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AEW American Championship: Maxwell Jacob Friedman (c) vs. Will Ospreay
I think this match might be the best match on the card in terms of match quality and you could argue that it has been built up the best as well. There are some people who might argue against that since we already saw them wrestle for one hour on Dynamite when MJF won the International Title from Ospreay thanks to the dreaded Dynamite Diamond Ring punch. Since then, MJF has renamed it the “AEW American Championship” and we have to assume that if Ospreay wins the title back then it will probably be called the AEW International Championship again.
I’m a big fan of MJF and Ospreay as performers. MJF is in his late 20s, yet he’s already one of the best all-around performers in AEW. When it comes to promos, MJF is probably my favorite in the company while the match quality for MJF has improved a lot in the last couple of years. I think Max is one of the best in the ring too. Ospreay is also an elite in-ring performer who gets praised by a lot of people for arguably being the best in the world when it comes to his matches.
When it comes to picking a winner, I’m going with Ospreay to regain the title and become the AEW International Champion again. There is a part of me that thinks that Daniel Garcia will show up, tease going after MJF (due to MJF “injuring” Garcia a few months ago), and then help MJF win just as a swerve. However, I think it makes more sense to give these guys 25-30 minutes, let them do their thing, and have Ospreay get the win.
My last point about this match is about the Tiger Driver 91 move that Ospreay has refused to do again since doing it to Bryan Danielson at Dynasty back in April. They have done an excellent job of making the Tiger Driver 91 seem like the most devastating move in wrestling. When it hits, I think Ospreay should win the match with it. The story has been that MJF has made the feud personal, so Ospreay should absolutely use the Tiger Driver 91 to get the win and the title. It shouldn’t be the Hidden Blade or Stormbreaker that wins it for Ospreay. It should absolutely be the Tiger Driver 91 move that leads to Ospreay getting the win. I’m excited to see this match. It should be amazing.
Winner AND NEW AEW International/American Champion: Will Ospreay
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AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Bryan Danielson
(If Danielson loses then he will retire.)
It’s title vs. career after Danielson won the Men’s Owen Hart Foundation to earn an AEW World Title match. Since Bryan has been talking about retirement for months, they turned this into Title vs. Career even though we have heard Bryan say on many occasions that he’s never going to really retire and will keep wrestling part time. What Bryan is doing is going to retire as a full-time wrestler soon, but I don’t see him retiring for good any time soon.
I think they have done an excellent job of building this match. Swerve has been acting heelish for several weeks now, but it wasn’t a heel turn. I think AEW knows that Bryan will be cheered heavily at All In, so they want to get heat on Swerve and it has worked. Since Swerve still has the “Swerve’s House” thing, he’s going to remain a babyface. I just think it’s been smart to have Swerve come across as a jerk in the build to this match while Bryan is such an easy guy to root for.
My prediction for this match is that if it was just a regular title match then I might have picked Swerve to get the win, but once they made this Title vs. Career then I leaned toward going with Bryan winning his first title in AEW – the AEW World Title. I don’t think Bryan is going to have a long title reign. He might lose it to Darby Allin at AEW Grand Slam next month or maybe to “Hangman” Adam Page or somebody else. I believe Bryan when he said he’s going to have neck surgery before year’s end, so I don’t expect a long title reign for Bryan. Even if it is a short title reign for Bryan, that’s fine because I think this will be an amazing moment to see him winning the AEW World Title for the first time.
This should be an absolutely outstanding match like many matches these two guys have had this year. It has the potential to be a match of the year contender while also likely being a bloody battle too. I’m going with Danielson getting the win after 35-40 minutes.
Winner AND NEW AEW World Champion: Bryan Danielson
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BONUS TOPICS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
It’s Swerve Strickland-Bryan Danielson just ahead of the Will Ospreay-MJF match. I love both of them.
The Match I Care About The Least
I’ll go with Willow Nightingale & Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kris Statlander & Stokely Hathaway easily. On the main show, I’d go with Chris Jericho vs. Hook.
Longest Match
I think it’s a tossup between Swerve-Bryan and Will-MJF. I’ll go with Swerve/Bryan around 35 minutes.
Shortest Match
Jack Perry vs. Hook. AEW doesn’t book shorter matches, but this one might be around the 12-minute range.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
It’s about 8.5 out of 10 for me. I really like the card and I think we’ll be talking about a few match of the year contenders on the show. It should be a hot crowd in Wembley and I’m looking forward to a lot of the big matches with Swerve/Bryan and MJF/Ospreay as the matches that I’m most excited about.
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In Closing
I’ll be back with a review of AEW All In on TJRWrestling.net on Sunday.
You can also tweet me @johnreport. If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com as well. Thanks for reading.