producedbykayfabe - Tumblr blog

[producedbykayfabe]

Event Review-ALL IN (9-1-2018)

Company: N/A (Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks in cooperation with Ring of Honor)

Overview: Despite how stacked & star-studded this card is, I was more excited to hear that this was even happening than for what I may see on the show. Cody Rhodes & The Young Bucks are not bookers, they are wrestlers. They are used to being the ones getting booked as opposed to creating the show from top to bottom. This is the first & last ALL IN show..promotions like WWE, NJPW, ROH, etc. have massive legacies behind them.  In execution this was a decent show. It had a very "sports entertainment" vibe without pointless "swerves" and attempts at humor that didn't work. The things that were supposed to get massive pops like the Resurrection of Joey Ryan, Ibushi facing off with Rey Mysterio, Jericho replacing Pentagon and attacking Kenny, Cody winning the NWA title etc. hit the mark as intended. The show had it's weak points BUT since we now know this collective took their talents to help build AEW, we know they went back to the drawing board and learned alot from this show.

Match Ratings:

Pre-Show Match-Opening Match-Tag Team Match-SOCAL UNCENSORED (KAZ & SCORPIO SKY) vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS (JAY & MARK)  (7.9/10)

Pre-Show Match-Battle Royal-Over the Budget Battle Royal (7.9/10)

Singles Match-MATT CROSS vs. MJF (7.7/10)

Exhibition Match-CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. STEPHEN AMELL (4.5/10)

Women's Match-Four Corner Survival Match-TESSA BLANCHARD vs. CHELSEA GREEN vs. BRITT BAKER vs. MADISON RAYNE (7.8/10)

Title Match-NWA World Heavyweight Championship Match-NICK ALDIS vs. CODY (8.0/10)

Singles Match-Chicago Street Fight-HANGMAN PAGE vs. JOEY JANELA (8.0/10)

Title Match-ROH World Heavyweight Championship Match-JAY LETHAL vs. FLIP GORDON (7.7/10)

Singles Match-KENNY OMEGA vs. PENTA EL ZERO (7.9/10)

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. MARTY SCRULL  (8.0/10)

Main Event-THE GOLDEN ELITE (THE YOUNG BUCKS & KOTA IBUSHI) vs. REY MYSTERIO, REY FENIX & BANDIDO (8.9/10)

POSITIVE NOTES ---------------------

The Pro Wrestling nostalgia was thick at this show with the appearance of Road Warrior Animal, Tommy Dreamer , Diamond Dallas Page, Tully Blanchard & Magnum T.A. and also with some of the spots in the matches..particularly the Jay Lethal/Flip Gordon match.

Jordynne Grace's spots with Brian Cage were great because they were believable unlike what we saw when Cage faced Tessa Blanchard in WrestleCircus. Jordynne is known for her strength and I was glad to see her in this competition because a win for her could have been huge. Imagine Jordynne Grace vs. Jay Lethal for the Ring of Honor Heavyweight Championship at the first ALL IN...would have been big for women's wrestling.

The reveal of Flip Gordon participating in the show and winning the Battle Royale was a necessary feel good moment for the show.

For a seemingly random singles match between two guys I don't really watch all that much...Cross vs. MJF was a good opener. It gave me high hopes for the rest of the show.

I've seen all the women in the Four Corner's match compete before and i'm usually unimpressed with their singles matches but together put up something that stood out as a highlight of the show and didn't disappoint.

Aldis vs. Cody had that big match feel. I wasn't thrilled with the finish, I would have liked for Cody to have won with the Cross Rhodes but it didn't hurt the match.

Aside from when Neville was champ in the WWE for the Cruiserweight Division, Pre-Show matches just aren't this good. The Opening Tag Match and the Over-the-Budget Battle Royal was exceptional for free content. That may have been the best Battle Royal I've seen since like the early or mid 2000's.

I'm not a fan of Joey Ryan's "dick wresting" gimmick, BUT they've been building the story between him and Page for months and the conclusion of that with Joey's resurrection and Penelope Ford revealing the boots and the guys in the "Dick Druid" costumes accompanying Joey to the ring...it all just worked.

I think it's understated how much Brandi Rhodes brings to the table especially in regards to Cody's matches.

Penta El Zero is quickly becoming one of my favorite wrestlers of this era. Not only is he just a good all-round wrestler but even without saying anything, you can tell he has a great handle on his character.  He has a very Minoru Suzuki aura of intimidation about him as well as a Hayabusa "masked wrestler with no regard for human safety" type of a feel too. There were parts of this match where I thought Kenny may be injured for real.

Jericho showing up in the Penta costume was unexpected.

NEUTRAL NOTES & INTERESTING DETAILS ---------------------------------------------------

The exchange between Tenille Dashwood (formerly known as Emma in the WWE) & Mandy Leon toward the end of the women's match was so awkward.

-The whole Macho Man vs. Hulk Hogan dynamic between Jay Lethal and Flip Gordon was a little much. It didn't completely ruin the match, it was fine, the crowd was really into it but Lethal is the champ now and I just want to see great defenses, especially when he's in the ring with a guy like Flip who is so gifted in the ring.

Marty & Okada had the typical Marty and Okada matches.  Everything was exactly as I expected to be, nothing special here, but props to The Villain for being able to hold his own with perhaps the greatest wrestler in the world.

The Tag Match being the last match didn't really make sense to me because there were no real stakes. It was a good match but it didn't really offer much to be excited about as far as the conclusion.

NEGATIVE NOTES -----------------------

As good as Christopher Daniels still is at this point in his career, he couldn't carry Stephen Amell to anything decent. There were some very Shane Mcmahon-esque spots in the match, almost seemingly ripped right of PPV battles we've seen from Shane, and I can't get excited by a guy who plays a superhero doing it when a 45 year old business man has already done these things and better.

Overall Rating= C+ GOOD FIRST ATTEMPT