After a year away from Wembley Stadium, All Elite Wrestling was back in London for its theoretically biggest show of the year, with hometown grappler, Will Ospreay in the main event to challenge Kenny Omega for the world championship. As much as that story writes itself, the storyline to get there was more complicated than to had to be, prompting questions about if the build helped or hindered the selling point to the audience. A final attendance number will probably be officially reported within the next few days, but ahead of the opening bell, the 2026 edition of All In was on pace to be the lowest attendance in the history of the event. Granted, selling more than 40,000 ticket is an accomplishment, but that gets skewed when it amounts to just over half a house.
The line-up had five pre-show matches and eight bouts on the main card, which proves that Tony Khan seems to be set on running a marathon pay-per-view, even if London has a curfew for live events at the stadium. Thankfully, with the event in the UK, the show aired at 1 PM on the east coast, which might not be ideal, but it’s definitely a better option than dragging through a broadcast that doesn’t end until after 12:30 AM on a Sunday night.
All things considered, I’m not sure if this will be dubbed a milestone event for the promotion or not since much of the narrative will have to unfold going forward to reveal the overall effectiveness of the results. Watching it live, it certainly didn’t have that epic atmosphere to it for most of the show, which says more about the build up or lack thereof than the skills of the performers. However, it’s possible that the importance of the return to Wembley might be viewed as more impactful in retrospect if it marks a new chapter for the organization. And, the conclusion of that show, a segment that did have an epic environment, might be that moment.
The pre-show finished up with the trios gantlet, bleeding over onto the start of the main card with the debut of the former New Day, dubbed the New Level, of Austin Creed and Kofi. I understand why the broadcast would be kicked off with the New Day, even if it was expected, as it’s an easy way to hype the crowd. Creed and Kofi are solid assets to any organization, especially when it comes to social media and from a PR perspective. That being said, it’s clear that the package hasn’t been the same since Big E’s career was cur short a few years ago, and that’s why they spent the latter portion of their WWE tenure as background figures. As I said, the remaining duo are definitely worthwhile to add to the roster, but in the grand scheme of things, they aren’t going to truly move the needle by any significant metric at this point in their careers. I’m not sure putting the Trios titles on them and Swerve Strickland means anything in the big picture either.
The AEW Women’s Tag Team title match had a solid effort from both teams, but the presentation was rather disjointed and as a result there were a few flat points. The lack of a steady pace was based on the fact that tag rules were ignored so it was difficult for there to be peaks and valleys as the match progressed. Jamie Hayter took a nasty landing on her head from a clothesline into a suplex combination. When there was just a series of maneuvers for an extended period of time without a crescendo, it was difficult for the crowd to rally behind the fan favorites, especially since that would’ve been a given since it was their home turf. It made sense for the Brawling Birds to win the belts.
There are a few things to note ahead of the Continental Cup match, mostly how unnecessary another tournament was on the AEW calendar, but Tony Khan really likes tournaments so any criticism is probably moot since nothing is going to change anyway. In some ways, Tony booked this segment into a corner, as Nigel, a part-time wrestler at best, was the hometown favorite at Wembley so it would’ve been the wholesome moment for him to win a belt in front of that crowd, but McGuinness isn’t going back to full-time competition so it was somewhat of a letdown that he had to do the job in front of his hometown. Furthermore, this was somewhat of a less important version of the narrative used in the main event, which could dilute the overall effectiveness of that storyline. The action of the contest was fine, but they tried a little too hard to force the drama rather than allowing it to unfold organically, if that was possible under the circumstances. The segment went about twenty minutes and probably should’ve went half of that time, particularly because of how much of an extended show it was going to be already. There were a few slow points in this bout, which could’ve been remedied if a few minutes were trimmed off of it. Jon Moxley won the cup and retained the belt, rendering the entire tournament pointless.
The three-way bout for the International championship was a great representation of the All Elite brand. It was hard-hitting, fast-paced, and used the three-way stipulation as a part of the segment rather than something that they had to work around during the contest. As much as Konosuke Takeshita seems to be forgotten about within the landscape of the promotion, I’d still say that based on pure talent, he should have a bigger role in the big picture. The evolution of Kyle Fletcher is one of the consistent success stories within the often mixed bag of AEW programming. Fletcher consistently proves why he should also be lined up for a more important role down the road. Ironically, Kazuchika Okada has garnered a reputation for mailing it in during most of his tenure in the company, but this match was proof that he can get into second gear when he wants to. Okada winning the title plants the seeds for Fletcher to eventually break away from the Don Callis family so the segment also progressed the narrative.
There was too much going on in the gantlet to parse detail, but with Andrade’s victory to earn a title shot, it makes you wonder how far his current push it going to go? I can’t see him winning the AEW world title anytime soon, but given the company’s working agreement with CMLL, is it possible that there will be more of a Mexican influence on the product?
Adam Copeland and Christian beat The Young Bucks to retain the AEW tag belts, and truth be told, while this match was tailored to the veterans’ pace, it was one of the better Young Bucks’ matches in terms of how it built toward the finish. Too often in the modern era, endless high spots are used as a substitute for organic drama. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a place for the fireworks segment on the card, as there was on this pay-per-view, but when it’s done to a repetitive level, it loses its luster. There’s a reason that some Young Bucks matches are rather flat since it’s a paint-by-numbers approach with the same routine that the audience has seen before. This tag title match had more to it than that, and the quality reflected it. The finish with the wrench in the cast seemed a little odd since Copeland appeared unaware of it, but the Cope/Christian team were still cheered at the conclusion.
Darby Allin defeated Kevin Knight to win the TNT championship. This was the car crash segment of the night, which is fine since that’s what it was booked to be. The important point to be made was that the blood, the tables, and the gimmicks were saved for the second half of the show rather than a ridiculous amount of blood or table spots in the opening match that we’ve seen before on AEW PPVs. Darby did the memorable dive off of the set and then the ramp before he won the title, which is probably what this segment will be remembered for. The Sting cameo was fun, even if all the interference made the contest a little too cluttered. As much as the TNT title reign itself didn’t elevate Kevin Knight, he undoubtedly made himself a more well rounded performer throughout the heel turn.
I have to be honest, I had low expectations for the Willow Nightingale/Mercedes Mone match, mostly because Mone’s run in the company has been mostly hype with every little substance to justify it. There was a point, especially after her initial arrival, that her promos were cringe worthy and her matches were underwhelming. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case here, and the performances of the two athletes justified the co-main event spot of the stadium show. The back and fourth action created questions about who would get the victory as they traded the advantage, building drama toward the finish. The suplex to the floor from the apron was brutal. I didn’t see how it happened watching it live, but Mone looked like she suffered a broken nose, and the blood added a level of intensity to the contest. Mone got the win to capture the title, but more importantly, she needed a performance like this to maintain her status as a perceived star in the organization.
The main event had all the pryo and ballyhoo that you’d expect from it. This was where it paid off for the rest of the card not to have usual amount of overkill that is seen on AEW PPVs, because it allowed for maximum effectiveness when it was done in the biggest match on the card. I think there were a few times when the amount of no selling got silly, but overall, this was a tremendous match that puts Will Ospreay in the position to be the franchise guy for All Elite. The power bomb from the announce desk to the table that was set up looked nasty, as the table didn’t break and it looked like Ospreay had a rough landing on the floor. Some of Kenny Omega’s mannerisms are just too goofy to be taken seriously, but as far as the in-ring action, this was top notch stuff. Everything they did was crisp and smooth. The athleticism, even after almost four hours of wrestling, was very impressive. There will be some that will claim this is the greatest match of all time in the moment and throw 87 stars at it, which I think is completely misguided, but there’s no doubt that this was one of the best matches in AEW history. Ospreay’s win and the emotional post-match segment prove that the moves are secondary to the moment.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
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