'All In: Texas' marked a true return to form for AEW. Screen grab: AEW
By Ben Axelrod on

As a diehard pro wrestling fan, my relationship with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has followed a familiar trajectory: initial optimism for the company’s launch in 2019, amplified excitement following CM Punk’s arrival, disappointment in the wake of Punk’s turbulent departure and dissatisfaction  — if not outright apathy — as it failed to regain its creative footing in the year that followed.

And although there were signs that the pro wrestling promotion was getting back on track in recent months, no one could know for sure until seeing how Saturday’s All In: Texas pay-per-view event played out.

Suffice it to say — and to paraphrase a past slogan from AEW owner and president Tony Khan — the feeling has officially been restored.

For the uninitiated, this marked the third AEW version of All In, with the 2023 and 2024 events taking place at London’s Wembley Stadium. But while the 2023 edition may have been the biggest show in the company’s history from both an attendance and buy rate standpoint, it’s hard to think of a more significant show in AEW history than the one that took place at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Saturday.

Especially when considering that the state of the company was such as recently as a year ago that some had wondered whether it would ultimately have to move the show from the baseball stadium to an arena. And yet, AEW was able to generate enough momentum that it packed an audience of “close to 30,000” fans into the home of the Texas Rangers, per Khan, for what ultimately marked the company’s most successful (and impressive-looking) show on U.S. soil.

We’ll find out in the days ahead how the show performed on pay-per-view, but from a critical standpoint, it’s hard to view it as anything but a massive success. A compilation of grades on Cagematch.net currently rates it at 9.10 (out of 10), an obviously impressive number that’s also par for the course with AEW’s stellar pay-per-view track record.

But while All Out: Texas might not even be the company’s highest graded pay-per-view of the year, it’s hard to think of an AEW show that felt bigger both in terms of its presentation and stakes. In many ways — and I mean this as a compliment — it felt very WrestleMania-like, with a variety of matches that both completed storylines and helped spin them forward.

There were celebrities (the Costco Guys), gimmick matches (men’s and women’s No. 1 contender Gauntlets), returns (Adam “Edge” Copeland), a heartwarming surprise (56-year-old Dustin Rhodes winning the TNT title), a match of the year contender (Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay vs. the Young Bucks) and the biggest women’s match in the company’s history (Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Moné). Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega may have been a letdown (especially compared to their past rivalry in New Japan Pro Wrestling), but it was still the type of match you save for such a card.

Yet despite its impressive variety and work rate, All In: Texas will undoubtedly be best remembered for its main event match between “Hangman” Adam Page and Jon Moxley. Page’s recapturing of the AEW World Championship came by way of a Texas Death Match, which married an indie-style hardcore match (multiple moves involving barbed wire, forks and a giant bed of nails) and WWE’s “Bloodline Rules” (lots of interference, multiple returns and storyline-altering angles).

It also marked the culmination of two years-long storylines for two of the company’s biggest stars. For Moxley, it was the end of his reign of terror as an AEW champion who was so despicable that he even deprived the promotion’s fans of seeing its biggest prize by carrying the championship around in a locked briefcase. For Hangman, it was the completion of a redemption arc that first began with his (real-life) role in CM Punk’s 2023 departure.

That AEW was able to pull off such a show — which I suspect performed well on pay-per-view — was all the more impressive considering that WWE flooded the market this weekend with three high profile shows of its own, two of which took place on Saturday. And yet, as AEW announcer Excalibur signed off from Arlington on Saturday night, it was hard to disagree with the statement he made.

“AEW: the home of professional wrestling,” the masked commentator said.

Make no mistake, WWE isn’t in danger of being replaced as the world’s No. 1 pro wrestling promotion anytime soon. But for fans looking for an alternative, AEW has once again reestablished itself as a perfectly viable option.

About Ben Axelrod

Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.

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