AEW All In Texas 2025: Cashing in the Chips
AEW All In Texas 2025: Cashing in the Chips
When the new upstart wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling was just starting to blossom, one motif their branding leaned on was the concept of casinos and betting; a taking of the risk that is almost as precarious as the pro wrestling sport itself. The first ever All In event was rooted in a bet that no promotion could sell out an arena of 10,000 people; years of AEW’s existence and two sold-out Wembley Stadium shows later, the company gathered an estimated 30,000 faithful fans at Global Life Field stadium in Texas. Needless to say, the bet paid off.
To capitalize all the ups and downs of the past six years, AEW delivered one of the promotion’s best (albeit overly long) shows in their ever-developing catalogue of excellent pro wrestling.
Match by match, here are my summarized thoughts of all the main card matches of AEW’s All In Texas:
Death Riders attacking Samoa Joe after their AEW World Trios Championship match | Still courtesy of Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News/TNS/All Elite Wrestling
World Trios Championship Bout - The Opps (c) vs Death Riders and Gabe Kidd
A solid, if slightly unspectacular trios title match, at TV-level action. The match may have a framework of the Death Riders as a threat throughout the show; it exposes the glaring irrelevance of the Trios division by having this be the Opps first title defense three months after winning it. Regardless, some solid action and stories were called back here to Gabe Kidd and Katsuyori Shibata’s established teacher-student dynamic, Claudio Castagnoli and Samoa Joe’s colorful past in Ring of Honor, and just the overall meatiness of every chop and elbow thrown. A special highlight of the match was Powerhouse Hobbs reversing a Doomsday device clothesline attempt into a spinning powerslam.
The match ended with Joe catching Yuta off an attempted assist splash to hit his Muscle Buster finisher for an easy win to the Opps. However, the Death Riders spitefully brawled back and eventually got Joe so badly hurt, he had to coincidentally start filming promotional materials for the second season of Twisted Metal. [★★★]
“The Beast” Mortos picking up Anthony Bowens during the Men’s Casino Gauntlet match | Still courtesy of Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News/TNS/All Elite Wrestling
Men's Casino Gauntlet Match for the Men's World Championship
Having the overarching story of the match be centered on Maxwell Jacob Friedman’s feud with Mark Briscoe helped give the otherwise fun Gauntlet match a heavier weight of significance. This match had a veritable mix of light lucha stuntwork, beefy feats of hoss work (Takeshita’s double German suplex or Brody King and Mortos demolishing everyone), and some hilarious spots (everyone demolishing Max Caster) and even a tantalizing return like Juice Robinson and the Gunns.
Ultimately, the match circled back to the initial MJF-Briscoe feud when Mark hit the Jay Driller piledriver, only for MJF to push him away and steal his pin. Via slimy classic heel shenanigans, MJF is now the No. 1 contender for the Men’s World Championship. Whoever he feuds with will almost assuredly be given a feud for the ages. [★★★★]
Kyle Fletcher kicking Dustin Rhodes during the TNT Championship 4-Way match | Still courtesy of Ricky Havlik/All Elite Wrestling
4-Way for the Vacant TNT Championship - Kyle Fletcher vs Daniel Garcia vs Dustin Rhodes vs Sammy Guevara
While it’s unfortunate that this 4-Way championship match was essentially booked at the last minute due to Cole’s live announcement of his health issues (later confirmed as a concussion), the match we did get was a more than worthy substitute. All four had immediate chemistry with each other as ring partners, which was apropos as Sammy and Dustin were ROH Tag Champions that gave a little hint of dissension slowly through the match.
The bout had a decent amount of entertaining sequences: a series of high-octane acrobatic spots like Rhodes hitting Kyle with a flipping piledriver and a brutal Cross Rhodes cutter; then some light fun spots where all three babyfaces kicked Kyle’s netherregions with a Shattered Dreams kick. However, where it ends up going leads to the most I’ve been surprised with AEW in a long while. Daniel Garcia smoothly transitions into a Red Death lock on Fletcher… for Dustin Rhodes to surprise Garcia with a rollup to become the new TNT Champion in his home state of Texas. [★★★★]
Swerve Strickland kneeling between Will Ospreay and the Young Bucks | Still courtesy of All Elite Wrestling
The Young Bucks vs Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland - EVP Titles vs Title Opportunities
In all honesty, this match was the starting point where I truly felt All In was firing on all cylinders in terms of both action and story. The Bucks having their EVP titles on the line against two of the company’s hottest babyfaces just lent itself to both weighty stakes and flippy, superhero-level fun. Entrance-wise, it was a mix of epic, poignant, and self-indulgently entertaining. Ospreay came out to another grand Assassins Creed-sponsored entrance, Swerve had a tearjerking tribute to Bray Wyatt by having his widow Jojo Offerman sing Strickland’s old indie theme Ain’t Nobody by Chaka Khan. Meanwhile, the Bucks rolled in Founding Fathers-inspired gear and boat and had Justin Roberts do a “Declaration of Indiependence” that read as amusing Young Bucks propaganda.
As for the match itself, it was the exact kind of PWG-colored acrobatic display that I take immense pleasure in while having a classic story of a Frankten-team trying to overcome the seasoned experience of an established tag team. It went from one insane reversal to another, leading to incredible tandem tag sequences from both teams. Admittedly, it’s still slightly ruined with the usual disregard for tag team rules a match refereed by Rick Knox usually entails (loud chants of “Ref You Suck” made my thoughts verbalized).
One beautiful moment was planted in the middle of this flippy spectacle: Ospreay accidentally hit Swerve with his Hidden Blade elbow finisher and was knocked out as the Bucks peppered Ospreay with finisher after finisher. The Young Bucks propped Will to the middle rope to superkick the lights out of Ospreay. But in a show of genuine nobility, Swerve got up and crawled to Ospreay’s side to also take in kicks. This was phenomenal storytelling from the two best faces of AEW. Eventually, Swerve and Ospreay climbed back to a strong enough comeback to hit their House Call kick and Hidden Blade elbow combo to dethrone the Young Bucks’ EVP power. [★★★★½]
Athena in mid-air attacking Mina Shirakawa during the Women’s Casino Gauntlet match | Still courtesy of Shafkat Anowar/The Dallas Morning News/TNS/All Elite Wrestling
Women's Casino Gauntlet for the AEW Women's World Championship
The better of the two Casino Gauntlet matches of the night. The amount of crossover stories (and outside managers) that this one match had reached Venn diagram levels of intersectional. Add to that insanity with some hard hitting action and this match had everything going for it from every performer: from Thekla and Julia Hart out-spooking each other, Kris Statlander and Megan Bayne going strength to strength, to a comedically on-point moment of Mira Shirakawa making non-participant Skye Blue tap out. That moment alone gave me the biggest chuckle of the whole event.
Top that with some incredible surprise debuts and that gave the match an unpredictable flavor. Among the comebacks of Harley Cameron (in nose-masked form) and ROH’s Forever Champion Athena sweeping over everyone, came in the debuts of Alex Windsor and the leader of the God’s Eye stable, STARDOM’s Syuri.
Inevitably though, the winner of the match would earn it in a shockingly smooth way. Shirakawa had her Figure-Four leglock finisher prepped up only for Athena to hit her flying O-Face stunner on Mina, mid-lock. Athena can potentially now be a double world champion after a gargantuan win in one of the best implementations of AEW’s unique Casino Gauntlet stipulation. [★★★★½]
The Hurt Syndicate celebrating defending their AEW World Tag Team Championship | Still courtesy of All Elite Wrestling
3-Way World Tag Team Championship bout - The Hurt Syndicate (c) vs JetSpeed vs The Patriarchy, with FTR on commentary
A relatively lighter match in the card with an incredibly packed finish. I appreciated Westside Gunn being the special entrance performer for the Hurt Syndicate. If I can be frank, regardless of promotion, I was never into a triple-threat tag-team match where the third party can just tag themselves in if someone stumbles to their corner. Regardless of my own grievances to the stipulation, the bout had more than enough consistent creativity in the moves to lend itself a PPV-worthy match. Examples include Shelton Benjamin German suplexing Speedball Mike Bailey and them landing on a pile of bodies; or Bailey setting up Nick Wayne in an electric chair on the ringside to then get dropkicked by Kevin Knight, who backflips Wayne onto Shelton. Even explaining how each move flowed seamlessly can’t be explained as well as it could be felt seeing it unfold.
The finish to the match was pretty good for continuing the varying tag team division stories in place, as Bobby Lashley pushed Christian onto FTR on the commentator’s desk, to then goad them into getting in the ring for Lashley to then push Cage onto FTR to get speared for another title defense in their belt.
Where the match will truly stand the test time is ultimately the post-match angle of Nick Wayne betraying his kayfabe father Christian Cage and hitting him with his own Killswitch facebuster… only for Adam Copeland to finally return to save his best friend while still doing his full entrance pyro. He just tells Cage to "go find yourself."
Pure wrestling. [★★★★]
Toni Storm pulling Mercedes Moné into the mat with a Storm Zero piledriver | Still courtesy of Ricky Havlik/All Elite Wrestling
Toni Storm (c) w/Luther vs Mercedes Moné - AEW Women's World Championship
Not only one of my matches of the night, but one of the best matches that the company has ever produced and booked, period. Having the dynamic of Moné as the globetrotting belt collector with a winning streak confronting the multi-time world champion face of the company was always gonna be intriguing. Having it play out in real time only just made it even sweeter.
Cheerleaders wearing the smorgasbord of Mercedes’ belts in her entrance with all the golden pyro flashing; for Toni’s entrance it was a black and white noir entrance (with the Schindler's List red filter) that just gave one spotlight to the only world championship that matters to her. These contrasts of Moné’s excess to Timeless Toni’s one-track mind focus to get in Mercedes’ is what helped define the character dynamics of this epic match. Storm was rolling in the ring to strike a pose, mocking Moné’s dance, sitting on Luther’s shoulders to push Mercedes off the ring; almost every move that Toni was pulling on Moné was meant to eventually find that one chink in the seemingly immovable armor of arrogance. But even with those mind games, Moné and Storm still exhibited a showcase of compelling chemistry with buttery smooth sequences and submission counters, punctured by some brutal moves. The biggest example off the top of my head was Toni throwing Mercedes to a back judo takedown to then transition to a brilliantly placed cutter.
How the match ended was simple but impactful. After Moné got her top rope move blocked, Storm kissed a prone Moné from the top rope before doing a blistering Storm Zero from the top rope. Timeless Toni Storm handed Mercedes Moné her first ever loss in AEW in a truly excellent bout. [★★★★★]
Kenny Omega pointing a taunt to a prone Kazuchika Okada | Still courtesy of Ricky Havlik/All Elite Wrestling
Kenny Omega (c) w/ Kota Ibushi vs Kazuchika Okada (c) w/ Don Callis - AEW Unified Championship, Winner Takes All Bout
The last match that these storied rivals had was one of my favorite matches of that year: NJPW’s Dominion 2018. It has been seven years since that fateful 90-minute barnburner that was meant to be the penultimate swansong of the Omega-Okada saga. But from changes in promotions to health issues and the very nature of aging, would there have been one more classic in the hands of these two? After 30 minutes of this high-stakes title unification match, I’d arguably say it was almost there. What helped define the best parts of this installment was utilizing the very real health issue of Kenny Omega’s recent diverticulitis bout to help sell a throughline of vulnerability that both humanized his moves and allowed the Okada to take heavy advantage of. And it truly showed in the entire duration: Omega was showing gut pain from doing his You Can’t Escape manoeuvre, Okada dropping Omega to his gut, and Kenny not being able to retain a bridge after an impressively executed Croyt’s Wrath German suplex.
But that act of selling this weakness didn't stop either wrestler from digging through the goldmine of their previous matches’ iconic sequences, from a machine gun’s worth of V-Triggers, Rainmakers, and dropkicks. One jaw-dropping moment was Omega pulling out the viciously head-breaking top rope dragon suplex on Okada; this time, he would toss the ever living hell out of him across the entire ring. Whenever these two get to their third gear, their in-ring chemistry is simply outerworldly. Every hit, counter, and near-fall felt like this ever-growing story of escalating and punctuating every reiteration of sequences. What ultimately grounded this installment was the mixed use of the Don Callis family to give Okada a somewhat dirty finish, as Don pulled the referee out of the ring to prevent an Omega win after a One-Winged Angel driver (a move that only his partner, Ibushi has kicked out of). But by the end, Okada reached in a spinning emerald flowsion slam and a final Rainmaker lariat to become the inaugural Unified Champion (which is still not an ideal name for that championship).
My personal thoughts on this Omega-Okada bout was, if given the same amount of time their first Wrestle Kingdom encounter had, it would’ve been able to reach that same height of deliberate pacing and blisteringly engaging action. But inarguably, this was the match with the most spectacle and coda to it. [★★★★½]
Hangman Adam Page standing over a bed of nail, holding the AEW Men’s World Championship | Still courtesy of Ricky Havlik/All Elite Wrestling
Jon Moxley (c) vs Hangman Adam Page - Texas Deathmatch - AEW Men's World Championship
This match. I wish I had the proper way to verbalize how much I loved everything this battle offered, even as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of deathmatches. I felt truly drawn into this absolutely savage match, made for sickos. Overly violent, overbooked, and over-the-top, this deathmatch is simultaneously the most and least AEW-coded match ever made.
In all honesty, just describing the bloodied moves and moments would do the layered storytelling a major injustice. Months and arguably years of storytelling, both in the successes and failures of Tony Khan’s vision of AEW, was all laid bare in this 30-minute opus. And it was all anchored on the shoulders of the Main Character of All Elite Wrestling, “Hangman” Adam Page.
Page lost his AEW Championship to the messy era of CM Punk’s AEW run; it led to the subsequent downward spiral in his character, punctuated by his now-eternalized rivalry with Swerve Strickland. He lost both the title and himself, how in the hell could he be redeemed after all becoming all the evils he swore to fight against? In this main event, in front of 30,000 strong, Page chose to give his entire body and blood to prove that he was AEW’s hero again. He chose to start forgiving Swerve; he decided that as bad as he was, he had a much more external evil to fight: Jon Moxley and the Death Riders. They put the biggest prize in the company in a briefcase, held not on someone's shoulders, but like a hostage. That World Championship of the company that Page promised to be the face of, and he was the last hope to save it. And he couldn’t be alone in overcoming that.
So after 30 minutes of non-stop gnarly hardcore madness, out came the biggest reinforcement of Swerve Strickland to save Hangman. His most bitter rival was now his most valued ally at that moment. All Swerve needed to really do was pass to Hangman a chain. This was the chain that Hangman first used to choke out Jon Moxley in their previous Texas Deathmatch bout two years ago; the very same chain that Swerve locked Hangman in to hand him his only loss in his specialized stipulation. That very chain was now the deus ex machina that would get Jon Moxley to get hung up and tap again.
After two years of the longest down period of this character’s life, Hangman Adam Page is now a two-time world champion. Only this time he didn’t just overcome his self-doubt; he conquered the evils that even the most good of men would never confront. He was now what he promised himself in 2019: the champion and face of All Elite Wrestling. A perfect ending to an incredible show and a definitive moment to one of AEW’s strongest years in a long time. I’m All In once again for AEW. [★★★★★]
AEW All In Texas 2025 is now available to view in the Philippines on PPV via TrillerTV.
