The biggest event yet for the buzzing AEW, All Out is fast approaching. A successor to the AEW blueprint show that was All In last year, AEW All Out heralds the Elite’s return to Chicago. And they aren’t coming alone, far from it! Fyter Fest and Fight For The Fallen were fun stepping stones but this is the real deal, their second foray onto Pay-Per-View after the shocking success of Double Or Nothing. It’s the night they crown their first-ever champion. And presumably, their last event before the promotion’s arrival on TNT in October.
The significance of this show cannot be understated, nor the importance of it’s success. They’ve already built up a ton of goodwill in a short span, but AEW cannot afford a disappointment here. Luckily, they have everything going for them thus far. I’ve even gone into the possibility of CM Punk making his return at this very event. I don’t personally think the odds are great, but it can’t be ruled out.
It’d be a staggering moment to be sure, another in the long line of gamechangers, but they don’t need him to make this a landmark event. We’ve got quite the card here, so let’s get into it…
Starting off, as always, we have the Buy In kickoff show. And just like Double Or Nothing, you’ll be missing something pretty important if you miss this…
Casino Royale – 21 Women, 1 Earns A Shot At The AEW Women’s World Championship
Might as well get the hardest one to call – on paper anyway – out of the way first. We have a multitude of women all vying for the same thing, a shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship. Hangman Page won the same kind of match at Double Or Nothing and may well walk out of this night as the companies’ first-ever men’s world champion. So the stakes are high.
Notably, as was discussed in the Road To All Out Episode 4, there aren’t 21 women actually signed to AEW. So there’s a lot of guest spots at play here. In fact, at the time of writing, there’s still 11 entrants yet to be confirmed!
So that makes things hard to predict… although, less so then you might think.
The key here is that we know that Britt Baker has made it into the casino royale.
And that wasn’t always a sure thing, she suffered a concussion back at Fight For The Fallen which left her status in doubt. But it’s been confirmed that she’s cleared and will be among the number. This is a big deal because they’ve always been behind Britt. She’s talented and an easy rep of the company and division. They’ve all but stated this outright, that they see her as one of those types that can be sent to talk shows and the like.
Whether she’s going to end up being their champion right off the bat, I can’t really say at this point in time. But it seems the least absurd assumption to say that she’ll make it to the deciding match. So I’m going with Britt Baker to win this thing.
As a bonus, I’m going to say that, by complete chance, Brandi Rhodes just so happens to draw the coveted joker card and get that 21 spot. Just seems like a plausible story to go with to me.
AEW All Out takes place on Saturday, August 31st. It hails from the Sears Centre Arena in Chicago, Illinois. It will be airing live on Pay-Per-View and streamed on Fite.tv and B/R Live.