AEW All Out/WWE Wrestlepalooza Recap and Ratings

Hello there! After taking a bit of a break from wrestling so I could watch my University of Colorado Buffaloes football team go back to being bad, we are back for an old fashioned double shot of rasslin. A Wrestlestravaganza if you will. For the first time ever, AEW and WWE are going almost head to head and both cards are looking real jacked baby. Below, I will be recapping and reviewing every match from both shows and giving you my thoughts on who won the first battle of the Saturday Night War. And maybe we’ll find out the full extent of this website's character limit. Obviously in the US, the recent situation with Jimmy Kimmel might play a part in whether you even want to financially support one of these companies, but if you still want to watchwrestling, there are plenty of ways to watchwrestling. On with the shows!

Given just how good wrestling has been this year, I’m going to start getting much stricter with my ratings. If you see anything above 7, it means you need to drop everything and watch those matches.

AEW All Out Saturday Tailgate BRAWL pre-show:

Samoa Joe and Powerhouse Hobbs def. The Workhorsemen: The Workhorseman are already in the ring when the show goes live. Hobbs is out first then Joe, the latter being super over as expected. Hobbs and Henry start and Hobbs proceeds to body slam him about a million times in a row before JD tags in and eats another body slam. The crowd is hot already and this show looks like it’s going to be a good one. Overall, this was a glorified squash match. It is what it is. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Daniel Garcia def. Katsuyori Shibata: As Hobbs and Joe exit from the last match, Shibata-San is wasting no time as he comes out, fist bumps his teammates on his way to the ring. Daniel Garcia has fully assimilated into the Death Riders as he makes his way into the arena from some random ass, red hallway. Daddy Magic on commentary is very unhappy with Danny’s recent actions. Shibata starts by whoopin that ass all around the ring side area. There is some good back and forth here. Shibata eventually hits a Death Valley driver on the apron. Danny is able to get in before the 10 count. Then the two exchange holds during a commercial break. In their defense, it was my go to move in that situation as well. Danny hits Shibata with a pile driver for a two count, hits him with another for the one count. Shibata then comes back and locks in the sleeper. Marina is on the apron to distract the ref. After some shenanigans in the ring, Garcia hits a Gotch style pile driver followed by a surfboard hold/curbstomp for the win. Decent back and forth match with added Death Riders heel shenanigans. Every time I see Shibata wrestle I still can’t believe that I trained with him as many times as I did. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆.

Hologram/Paragon def. The Frat House: The Frat house jump the makeshift trio while they’re posing to start the match. A short time later, there is a big breakdown and Hologram hits a big double foot stomp off the top for the win. If the opening was a glorified squash match, this one wasn’t even glorified. I’ve never been a fan of squash matches, but there was also nothing wrong with this one. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Willow Nightingale/Mina Shirakawa/Harley Cameron/Queen Aminata def. Megan Bayne/Penelope Ford/Julia Hart/Skye Blue: If you’re hearing sirens, it's because there’s a tornado tag coming through. Skye is out with both Julia and a staple gun. Megan and Penelope are out next. Mina is out for the baby faces followed by Queen Aminata. Harley is out followed by Willow. All four have matching AEW cutoff shirts. This entire division is absolutely stacked. Eventually the heels get up and the faces roll out. Megan picks up Penelope and tosses her out of the ring onto Aminata, Harley, and Mina. We get a big old 8 woman suplex spot soon after everyone is back in the ring. The heels roll out and start using all sorts of tailgating accessories to fight back. Somebody allowed Harley to get the staple gun and she uses it on Skye a few times. Always remember that it’s not a real tailgate until someone busts out the staple gun. Back from commercial, Willow is about to hit a big superplex, but Skye gets her with the staple gun followed by a power bomb onto a hard, plastic cooler. Ouch… Willow eventually hits Penelope with a gut wrench sit out powerbomb for the win. There was a lot going on in this match, but it was quite a bit of fun. A good way to end the pre-show. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆. After the match the faces dance to Willow’s music with Mina using a cooler like a boombox. How can you not love Mina Shirakawa? Or really any of these four ladies.

AEW All Out 2025 Main Show:

Adam Copeland & Christian Cage def. FTR: We start off hot with the hometown boys, Cope and Cage. There is a backstage segment with them going through a hallway with pictures of great Toronto Maple Leaf players. Then they meet Wendell Clark, who tells them to go for the throat out there. They also meet Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys who gets into it with Christian Cage. Then The Green Bastard shows up next. I don’t know who this is. He gives C&C some advice including, “Just start fuckin hammering people, no mercy” which is not the worst advice in the world. Christian also gives him some grief further elevating the fantastic dynamic between C&C. This segment is far too Canadian for my American brain to handle. Metalingus hits and Cope is out first to a huge reaction. Christian Cage is out next to an equally big reaction. A big “He’s our asshole” chant breaks out, but it is interrupted by FTR. A “No hoes” chant directed at Big Stoke breaks out just before the bell rings. Very good psychology throughout this match. At some point Cope hits a fucking five knuckle shuffle and an Attitude Adjustment for a near fall. If that had been the finish, this would get all 10 stars. Shortly after, C&C lock in dual sharpshooters on FTR. After C&C hit each other’s finishers on FTR, that no hoes having son of bitch Stokely pulls the ref out. Music starts playing in the arena and everyone is anticipating who is coming out. BETH FUCKING COPELAND (FKA Beth Phoenix) comes out and spears Stokely. C&C hit a 3D on Dax for a very close near fall. Beth carries Stoke to the back and we have an even match. After some more really good stuff, Cope is able to hit a spear on Cash while Christian holds Dax’s feet. C&C get the win in their home town. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. Very good match to start the show and the addition of Beth opens up some fun possibilities in the future. After the match, Beth comes down to celebrate, but are interrupted by Nick Wayne’s music. Mama Wayne wheels Nick onto the stage. FTR along with Kip Sabian blindside Cope, Christian, and Beth. Cope gets handcuffed to the ropes, FTR hits a spike pile driver on Christian. Beth starts swinging on FTR, but gets a spike pile driver for her troubles. Someone uncuffs Cope and he checks on Beth before we go to the next segment.

Eddie Kingston def Big Bill: Big Bill is out first with Bryan Keith, who was a super chill dude in the only interaction I had with him. Eddie is out next to a huge ovation. Both these guys are ready to fight right away. More a fight than a wrestling match, they go back and forth for a while. Bill goes for a splash in the corner, Eddie rolls him up, Bill kicks out, Eddie goes for his spinning back fist finish, doesn’t get all of it, Tony Schiavone straight up says “that missed”, but Kingston gets the 3 anyway. Really good match up until the finish, but man that finish was not great. And it was made worse by the reaction from Tony and Excalibur on commentary. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆. After the bell, Bryan Keith jumps Kingston, which wasn’t very chill of him to be honest. The lights go out, and Hook comes out to minimal reaction. Hook and Eddie embrace and pose for the crowd. Overall it was a pretty good segment that was dragged down by some ROUGH moments.

Tables N' Tacks Match: Mark Briscoe def MJF: MJF is such a great heel and Mark Briscoe is maybe the best baby face in the business not named Hangman Adam Page. I could watch these two do this forever. Both guys are wearing white, so there will be a ton of blood in this one. MJF rolls out of the ring and Mark pours 3 full buckets of thumbtacks in the ring, which is now more thumbtack than canvas. I mean there are a lot of fucking thumbtacks in the ring. After trying to slam each other, MJF thumbs Briscoe in the eye and slams him on the tacks. He then grinds Mark’s forehead in the tacks. If you’re squeamish, don’t watch this one. MJF slams Mark onto the tacks many times, but Mark keeps getting up. It’s starting to feel like they’re doing the Sandman/Tommy Dreamer Singapore Cane spot, just with thumbtacks instead. Mark is able to back body drop MJF onto the tacks and slams him onto them some more. Mark somehow ends up with thumbtacks stuck in the back of his head which is a fucking brutal visual. I stopped describing the action due to the nature of this match being, y'know, a tacks and tables match. Mark hits two froggy bows, one through a table covered in thumbtacks, followed by a Jay Driller onto the tacks for the win. I don’t know how to classify this one to the average wrestling fan, but to me this match was great. ★★★★★★★★☆☆. Best of luck to the ring crew that has to try to find and clean up all of those thumbtacks.

We get a backstage segment with Jerry Lynn trying to get Anthony Bowens and Max Caster to reunite. They have a tag match later this week. We also get Taz on commentary to relieve Tony Schiavone.

Ricochet & Gates Of Agony def. The Hurt Syndicate: Rico-GOA come out. I guess their team name is “The Demand”. So there’s that. Anyway, it’s time to hurt people. The Hurt Syndicate comes to the ring. I legitimately don’t think I’ve seen MVP wrestle since that one off appearance in the Royal Rumble however many years ago that was. Shelton and Bishop Khan have a fun sequence where they try to clothesline each other. Ricochet, hilariously, tries to have a pose off with Lashley. After a pretty solid back and forth match, Ricochet hits the spirit gun on MVP for the win. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆. On a show that has this many matches, I don’t really know if this match needed to be on the card. It was solid, but not much more than that.

TBS Championship: Mercedes Moné def Riho: Riho is out first with a very lavish robe. I’m not too familiar with Riho, but the crowd likes her and that’s all I need to know. The CEO is out next and is flanked by a bunch of ripped dudes, each wearing one of her many championships. I said it last time, but I’ll say it again. I want Mercedes to win a bunch more titles just to see how ridiculous the entrances get. After a pretty good back and forth match, Mercedes grabs the ref’s pants and as he rips away, she pokes Riho in the eyes and hits her finish for the win. As I said, it was a good match that with another 5 minutes or so, could have been even better. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

AEW United Championship: Kazuchika Okada def. Konosuke Takeshita and Máscara Dorada: After thinking about it, I finally realized why I’ve been disappointed with Okada’s matches recently. Once they feel like they're about to hit that 6th gear, they end. His match with Speedball at Double or Nothing was amazing, but if you added 5-10 minutes to his match with Omega and added 10 minutes to his match with Swerve, they would have been equally amazing. Here’s hoping this match can get those extra minutes to allow Okada to reach those highs from his legendary NJPW run. Máscara Dorada is out first. I get the feeling he’s going to be the designated pin eater in this one. Either that or he’s winning after Okada and Takeshita finally let their tensions explode. No in between. After Takeshita and Okada come out, the bell rings, the two Nihonjin toss Máscara out, but he keeps coming back to do awesome shit. Until he takes a brain buster on the ramp. That’ll put an end to just about anything. There is some great action throughout this match. Takeshita hits Okada with the most goddamned gorgeous Blue Thunder bomb I’ve ever seen for a near fall. After some more time, Okada and Takeshita end up on the top rope. Dorada hits a massive frankensteiner on both of them and the crowd came out of their seats for it. I did too. After a triple down, a fight forever chant breaks out and I couldn’t agree more. This is a certified banger. After hitting Dorada with a Raging Fire, Takeshita is picked up by Okada, there is a sequence between those two before Okada hits Takeshita with a drop kick, then Dorada with the Rainmaker for the win. Unfuckingbelievable match. Máscara Dorada was the MVP of this match, but the other two held their own as well. I don’t want to speak too soon because I still have 10,000 more hours of wrestling today, but if you pick one match from either show to watch, go with this one. ★★★★★★★★★☆. There is a post match stare down between Okada and Takeshita before everyone leaves. I can’t wait for their inevitable match.

Jon Moxley def. Darby Allin in a Coffin Match: Remember at the last PPV when I was worried what these two would do and we ended up seeing Mox take a fork to a hole in Darby’s earlobe? I’m legitimately worried about what these two might end up doing to each other and themselves. Things start hot as Darby attacks Mox while he is walking through the crowd. Not 2 minutes in and Darby coffin drops off the small corner entrance way where Mox came from. They fight up the stairs, then Darby dropkicks Mox down them, bumping on the stairs while doing so. After some more fighting in the crowd, they enter the ringside area. We have blood already as Darby was biting Mox’s ear for a long while. Claudio, Daniel Garcia, and Yuta hop the barricade and just kind of meander around. Moxley sends them to the back, surely not to be seen again 10 minutes from now. After toying with Darby for a bit, Mox pushes him into the corner where Darby grabs a fork, takes it to Mox’s ear, then stabs him in the forehead more times than I care to count. Darby slams Mox’s fingers in the lid as revenge from Mox doing it to him a few minutes ago. Much like the tacks match from earlier I’m going to keep the details light on this one. After promising not to get involved, Bryan Danielson hands Darby a bag. Inside that bag is a plastic bag, which Darby uses on Mox. A “this is murder” chant breaks out. An unknown guy slides in the ring. PAC IS BAC and he gives Darby a Razors Edge from the inside of the ring onto the 2nd coffin on the outside. Fuck that bump. PAC puts Darby in a body bag, puts him in the coffin, and closes it as best he can. Mox wins a very bloody, but not as bloody as expected, match. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆. After the match, the rest of the Death Riders carry the coffin out of the arena.

AEW Women's World Championship: Kris Statlander def. Timeless Toni Storm, Thekla, and Jamie Hayter: Toni Storm introduces the match in a way only she can. Thekla is out first, then Kris, then Jaime, then the greatest performer in the history of performing… Timeless Toni Storm. Wheeler Yuta is out to give Stat a pep talk. This follows the usual formula for multi person matches where everyone gets their moments to shine, then they hop in and out as needed. Thekla hits everyone with spider suplexes off the top, then climbs down and does her spider walk. As she does, Toni comes in and says she hates spiders before hitting a big low blow on Thekla. Much later on, Thekla spears Jaime off the apron which looked brutal. Back in the ring, Stat rolls Toni up with the seatbelt pin and would you believe it, GETS THE PIN!!! Kris Statlander is your new AEW Women’s World Champion! ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. Very good match, even more so with the surprise winner. Even more so with that winner being one of my favorites!

AEW World Tag Team Championship Ladder match: Brodido def. Young Bucks, JetSpeed, and Hechicero/Josh Alexander: This should be pure insanity. The Bucks are out first and are very much enjoying the fruits of the $500k they won a few weeks ago. Another hometown guy, Josh Alexander is out with Don Callis who once again announces, “¡YO SOY HECHICERO!”. Don Callis speaking Spanish will never not be hilarious. Jetspeed next, then Brodido. The amount of talent in this match is off the charts. As with all of these types of matches, the recaps will be limited because of how many people are involved here. Throughout the match there is some cooperation between the Callis Family and the Young Bucks. Soon after, that cooperation ends as the Bucks try to go for the belts. After a chaotic, but very good ladder match, Brodido retain the tag titles. It’s hard to have a bad ladder match and this one was no exception. If you like car crash wrestling, this was that. Somebody check on Hechicero, por favor. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆.

After the match, Jack Perry shows up and starts fighting the Bucks, before Rocky Romero slows him down allowing the Bucks to hit some super kicks. As they’re setting up for a BTE trigger, Jack looks up and smiles at them. The lights go out and video plays. It’s a video of a casket getting pulled out of a grave and Jack reviving Killswitch. Lights come back on and Killswitch takes out the bucks. He then pulls off his Killswitch weight belt and tosses it into the crowd. LUCHASAURUS IS BACK BABY! The two hug and their original music plays as the crowd waves their arms and sings along.

In the back, the Death Riders are surrounding the coffin the Darby was in. The rest of the DR leave Mox behind. He goes to open the coffin, but Darby pops out with a pipe. He beats Mox down and puts him in the body bag before FUCKING LIGHTING IT ON FIRE. Some backstage guys come to put out the fire with extinguishers while others drag Darby away. Out of sick curiosity, I want to see what these two do to each other that they haven't already done.

It might be the last match for this show, but my wrestling night is far from over. It’s main event time and I am amped for this one.

AEW Men's World Championship Hangman Adam Page def. Kyle Fletcher: Kyle Fletcher is going to be a star and Hangman is already there. This has potential to be the match of the night, if not more. The Protostar is out first with Don Callis at his side. Hangman is out next. For those of you who are new to my ratings, any Hangman Page match starts at 8 stars and can only go up from there. Them’s the rules. I would say I don’t make the rules, but I actually do. Justin Roberts handles the Championship introductions for this one. Big fight feel as they say. For some reason the lighting is different and everything looks like Fallout 3, but blue. During a chop battle, the lights go back to normal. Kyle sends Hangman over the barricade and hits a big diving head scissors over the barricade. As they’re starting to get up, Hangman checks on the fan his legs hit while taking the move. THAT’S MY COWBOY! He gets Kyle back in the ring and the action continues. Hangman sends Kyle out of the ring to the floor and goes up top. Kyle is able to send him flying off the rope to the floor, before hitting a powerbomb on the apron. A few minutes later, Kyle gets a table set up for another brain buster off the apron. Hangman avoids it but gets cut off going for the Buckshot lariat. Over the course of the match, Kyle works Hangman’s neck/shoulder area with some slams and a lion tamer. Kyle hits a few of his running kicks in the corner before Hangman nearly takes his head off with a lariat. A while later, they end up on the outside, where Kyle hits Hangman with a brain buster off a barricade through the time keeper’s table. Kyle rolls Hangman back in the ring for some more offense before hitting a brain buster for a near fall. They go back and forth before Kyle hits a wicked running knee to send Hangman to the apron. They try to get each other up for a bit before Hangman gains the advantage and hits a dead eye from the apron through the table set up earlier. Hangman rolls Kyle in the ring and goes for the Buckshot. Unfortunately for him, Kyle collapses to avoid the lariat. They’re both able to beat the 10 count, but Hangman stands tall, hits a V-trigger, then goes for a One Winged Angel. Kyle slips out and they go back and forth before Hangman hits another dead eye for a close near fall. Justin Roberts announces that 30 minutes have gone by. Kyle is able to get up and hit a hidden blade and goes for a storm breaker. Hangman gets out and hits Swerve Strickland’s finish because tonight is steal everyone else’s shit night (a trend that will not exclusive to AEW on this night). The two go back and forth in an incredible sequence before Kyle hits a brain buster for a 2.9 count. Kyle is getting frustrated and removes a turnbuckle pad. He puts Hangman face first in the exposed turnbuckle and hits a running kick. He gets Hangman up top to go for a brain buster on the turnbuckle. Hangman fights out and sends Kyle’s face into the buckle. Hangman then hits the scariest looking dead eye I’ve ever seen off the second rope. Hangman hits the buckshot for the win. What a match! ★★★★★★★★★☆. I will reiterate, Kyle Fletcher will be a star in the very near future. If he can walk after this match.

I may not be as enthralled with the weekly shows as much as I was a few months ago but AEW PPVs do not miss. This show had an 8 star match and TWO 9 star matches. And every other match ranged from solid to very good. I’m not sure if any PPV will match Double or Nothing, but this came damn close. Now on to the counter-programming.

WWE Wrestlepalooza

Our second big show of the night begins by reminding me what Danny Dimes did to my Broncos last week, so thanks for that Michael Cole. We get a vignette about ESPN and WWE’s past partnerships, set to Renegade by Styx, which is such a great song. After blowing the GDP of a small country on pyro, we cut to HHH in the ring, covered in ads. I get it’s a business, but holy fuck. I have a similar feeling comparing this to AEW as I did comparing the US to Japan when I got back from my trip. I already want to go back to the AEW show. HHH welcomes everyone to Wrestlepalooza. Pat McAfee arrives and will be on commentary for the night. We are 15 minutes in and we haven’t so much as rung a bell yet. I want to go back…

Brock Lesnar def John Cena: Bork is out first and Michael Cole is terrified of him. Loud chants for Cena echo throughout the arena. Big match John is out next. With a ton of kids, all dressed in neon yellow. It’s truly starting to set in that Cena’s only going to do this a couple more times. Before introductions we get a loud “Let’s go Cena, Cena sucks” chant. Alicia Taylor introduces Cena, but gets cut off by Paul Heyman before she can introduce Brock. He runs through his whole schtick. We start hot as both guys charge each other and Brock gets the upper hand immediately. Brock repeatedly sends Cena into the corners before giving him a big running power slam. It’s time to return to Suplex City bitch. Brock hits a big German suplex before grabbing Cena in a bear hug. Cena powers out and gets Brock up for the AA before Brock destroys him with a lariat. Brock then hits a second German. This is starting to look like their match at Summerslam 2014. John starts hitting his comeback and gets Brock down after several shoulder tackles. He hits 3 AAs in a row for a near fall. He goes for a 5 knuckle shuffle, but Brock pops up and hits 3 F5s, but doesn’t go for the pin. After a bit, Brock hits a 4th F5, then a 5th. We're officially in F5 city bitch. He hits a 6th then pins Cena for the win. It wasn’t exactly the most exciting match ever, and not everyone will like it, but it did what it was trying to do. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆. Brock gets back in the ring and F5s the ref then Cena one more time. The camera cuts to a crying child and I can’t stop giggling about it. I know I’m a terrible person. Cena gets a standing ovation and Thank you, Cena chants on his way out.

WWE is celebrating Hulk Hogan all night with Real American beer. Like… I get it… but also fuck Hulk Hogan and Terry Bollea.

The Usos vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed (LA Knight as special referee): LA Knight is out with his banger entrance music. The Usos are out next. Jimmy gets a mic and gets the crowd to get their phone flashlights out to show ESPN how WWE gets down. The whole crowd yeets and the visual is cool as hell. The Usos yeet their way to the ring. I just got a notification that my Colorado Buffaloes scored. Unfortunately it took until the second quarter to score against Wyoming. No disrespect to Wyoming, but that’s not a good sign… Back to rasslin. The Vision comes out to dead silence which is also not a good sign. Especially because Bron Breakker should be in the same position as Kyle Fletcher is over in AEW. Breakker is going to be a star. The bell rings and I’m sitting here not totally booking a real Forbidden Door event where we get an Usos vs Young Bucks match. In this actual match, the heels are up early and are putting the heat on Jimmy Uso. He gets sent to the outside and Reed tags in. Reed grabs a chair and LA Knight sees it. Jimmy then gets the chair away and is about to hit Reed. He looks at LA Knight, who shrugs and walks away while Jimmy hits Reed with the chair. LA Knight did say he was going to play it fast and loose with the rules. Shortly after though, Jimmy is back to taking the heat. Honestly I’m way too tired to recap all of these matches, so I’m just going to give my thoughts on them and that’s about it. At some point Jey Uso got busted open pretty bad (it looks like when he hit Bron in the back with a chair it came back up and caught him in the forehead somehow). Bron speared both Usos through the Slim Jim table (I hate how this is still a thing), before tagging Reed in for a big splash from the top. Overall a fun match. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆.

Women's World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer def IYO SKY: This is the match I was most looking forward to when I saw the card. I was about to go to bed, but this match should be worth staying up for. La Primera is out first. IYO is out next. Both ladies got pretty great reactions. Championship introductions and big fight feel for this one. We get a handshake as the bell rings and we are off.

Yeah, I’m going to need more women's matches like this please. From both companies. This match just plain ruled. After a fantastic back and forth match Stephanie Vaquer hits a corkscrew moonsault from the top for the win. Fantastic match, but it’s wild to think that it might be Iyo Sky’s third best match of the year. ★★★★★★★★☆☆. After the match, Iyo and Stephanie show respect to one another, then Stephanie celebrates with her dad in the crowd. Feel good moments all around.

I do want to see the last two matches, just not bad enough to stay up for my 11th consecutive hour of wrestling for the day. I’m going to bed and will watch the last two matches whenever I decide to get out of bed.

At 5:30 am on a Sunday, I got out of bed to watch wrestling. What am I doing with my life?

CM Punk & AJ Lee def Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch: This motherfucking company got me to sit through an entire episode of Smackdown that was 70% commercials just to see AJ Lee return. It was a great moment and AJ deserves every bit of recognition she has been getting recently. There arguably never would have been the women’s revolution in WWE without her and the black and gold NXT ladies, Becky Lynch being one of them. Throw in the guys and this should be a very good match. Seth and Becky are out first, coming down from a platform that was elevated high above the ground. I’m digging the purple look from both of them. The banger of all bangers that is Cult of Personality hits. I will never not turn that song to 11 any time it comes up on my playlist. Punk comes out wearing an “AJ’s husband” jacket, yells “It’s clobberin time”, then AJ’s music hits. I know that many people, including this website’s own Dan Ryckert, have said that Phil Brooks is a total dickbag of a person, but it would take a lot for me to hate CM Punk. After everyone is in the ring, Seth and Becky tag themselves in a few times. The crowd is hot for this one. Most of the match is Punk taking heat from Seth in the ring and Becky on the apron whenever the ref’s back is turned. Very good heel work from Seth and Becky. After Seth and Punk go through an announce table, AJ Lee reverses a Manhandle slam into a black widow and gets Becky to tap. ★★★★★★★★☆☆. Yeah, this match was great. The heel work from Seth and Becky was phenomenal, and once things got going, they got going. I really hope AJ sticks around, because she can do some great work with the current roster of women.

We cut back to the arena. The gong hits followed by American Badass which I just now realized is literally just Kid Rock rapping over Metallica’s Sad But True. Worth noting, I once challenged Kid Rock to a match and he is still ducking me to this day. Fuck Kid Rock. Taker rides his motorbikle down to the ring and takes a seat next to Stephanie McMahon and talks with her while on a microphone. He announces that he will induct Stephanie into the WWE Hall of Fame.

On to the main event.

WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes def Drew McIntyre: When you really think about it, Cody has one of the wildest career arcs in the history of Pro Wrestling. If you ever want to see a textbook example of the phrase “betting on yourself” paying off, let me talk to you about Cody Rhodes. Big Drew is out first, followed by Cody shortly after. Early on there is something off with Cody due to a head injury from the most recent Smackdown. I’m sure that will come into play more as this match goes on. The match was a good back and forth with some good selling from both guys throughout. Cody hits a Crossrhodes after Drew couldn’t hit a claymore due to a leg injury sustained earlier in the match. Good storytelling, good match. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆.

Overall, Wrestlepalooza was a pretty good show, with the Women's match and the mixed tag being the standouts. The opener might be divisive, but it fit the story they were trying to tell. Now on to the important part. Which show was better?

All Out and it wasn't even close. Both shows were very good, but AEW's PPV offerings have been on another level this whole year. That being said, there were matches from both shows that are very much worth checking out.

Best Matches from the night:

Tables N Tacks if that's your thing

Okada/Takeshita/Dorada

Hangman/Kyle Fletcher

Stephanie/Iyo

Punk/AJ vs Seth/Becky

If you managed to make it all the way through this, I hope you enjoyed. I will see you next time for WWE Crown Jewel. Thanks for reading, and always remember, Don't let the bastards grind you down.