Welcome to After 48 on GrapPro where we discuss an All Elite Wrestling pay per view two days after it aired. That way the hot takes cool down and we can think about it with a clear perspective. At least that’s the idea.
I attended All Elite Wrestling live at Scotiabank Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada for All Out 2025 on September 20th, 2025.
AEW changed the timeslot for the show from 8PM to 3PM only two weeks prior. In doing a five hour show (six if you count the pre-show with four matches) it’s a good thing the timeslot change was made to ensure we weren’t sitting there until 1AM. That said, it would have of course been better for the show to just be set for the afternoon from now on instead of moving it around and causing people to be unable to see the show.
I’m glad AEW is considering going to a permanent afternoon schedule and I hope they stick to it. It would be nice for them to announce the timeslot early for WrestleDream so nobody is in the dark.
It was a big pay per view for AEW, not just because it’s All Out, but because it was their first for HBO MAX where subscribers got a special price. According to AEW President Tony Khan it was a big success for the platform.
The only match I missed from the show was The Demand versus Hurt Syndicate as I was getting concessions at the time. I have yet to watch the pay per view broadcast of the show and am going by my live observations and feelings.
I’ve heard people say the crowd was quiet in Toronto. I can promise you they were not quiet in the arena. I don’t know why the broadcast wasn’t picking it up as I thought AEW figured out most of their miccing issues this year. Another mic problem was the ring. Even in the arena it wasn’t amplified at all. What the wrestlers did is what you heard.
I saw a tweet (can’t find it now) saying the crowd was silent for Mercedes Moné and Riho during their wrestling exchanges and in the arena I heard, “Ooooh” and “Awww” on every reversal. Not earth shattering like the Tarzan Boy theme but it wasn’t silent.
I am glad that AEW is finally breaking some of their “location traditions” like Chicago for All Out, Las Vegas for Double or Nothing, London for All In, and Pacific Northwest for WrestleDream. It is a bit strange they don’t seem to be running New York state at all in 2025. No New York for Grand Slam. No Buffalo. No Rochester. No Long Island. Closest they’ll get to New York is New Jersey at Full Gear. Strange.
I don’t know if AEW will be running Toronto for a pay per view in 2026, but Tony Khan guaranteed they will be returning to London, Ontario, Canada which I’ll take for Dynamite or Collision. I went to the 2024 taping, couldn’t make 2025, and will do my best to make 2026.
The merchandise choices were really good for “exclusive event merchandise” like the Hangman Adam Page shirt I got, the MJF Hoser shirt, and the AEW All Out hockey and baseball attire. I still think AEW needs to do a better job with merchandise selection. If you have to bring an entire truck full of shirts for every wrestler on the roster? You do it! You will sell them. Seeing at least three shirts for Cope and Christian but zero for Kris Statlander? Zero for Mark Briscoe? Zero for Brodido? Zero for Takeshita? Come on. Maybe they were at one specific merch booth but I went to three different booths and saw nothing for a lot of wrestlers. If AEW wants to keep leaving money on the table that’s on them but I’m going to bring it up every live show I go to. No excuse for “The T-Shirt Company” to not sell as many t-shirts as they can.
But what about the show? The show was fantastic. I loved most of the matches. I thought it had a great pace for a five-six hour show. Having three hardcore matches on the main show and all three feeling different and unique was a real accomplishment. The multi-wrestler matches did a good job showcasing everyone. The main event delivered. Nobody gives you your money’s worth like AEW. We paid $500 Canadian for four tickets in the 121 section (mid arena) and I loved it. Was it the best AEW pay per view I’ve been to? I’ve only been to two, and the first was Revolution 2020. Probably nothing will beat how I felt about the Bucks/Omega and Hangman tag team match, but I don’t expect anything to either. I got more great wrestling on this show, so arguably it was better, I just didn’t love it on the same level.
Safe to say that the good times are going to keep rolling for AEW.
Favourite Wrestling Match
AEW Unified Championship
Máscara Dorada versus Konosuke Takeshita versus Kazuchika Okada (c)
When I did my PPV Preview for this match I said it was going to be really great for Dorada to be in this match but my focus would be on how Okada and Takeshita would interact. And yes, I was focused on that in this match, but Máscara Dorada absolutely stole the show.
If there’s an award for wrestler of the night? Give it to Máscara Dorada.
Dorada was incredible. 23 years old and not only did he hold his own against two bigger opponents, it was two bigger opponents who mostly work Japanese style and don’t have considerable experience in lucha. And yet Takeshita and Okada worked as bases for Dorada and allowed him to shine.
What I thought was just going to be a pretty good match on the show ended up the one I reacted loudest to in the arena.
They told a great story between Takeshita and Okada always trying to one up each other and having scouted each other very well but not their third opponent. They were constantly caught obsessing too much with each other to catch what Dorada had planned.
It was a really well laid out three way match where I didn’t feel like it was two guys doing moves while one guy sits and waits for his time to enter. There was a flow and pace that made everything feel as natural as a great singles match.
My mind is still on Okada and Takeshita eventually going one on one for that Unified Championship (maybe for the Continental Classic?) but now I hope CMLL gives Máscara Dorada more opportunities in All Elite Wrestling and/or Ring of Honor. He’s such an incredible performer. Dorada might be everything I had once hoped for El Hijo del Vikingo.
Best Wrestling Match
AEW Men’s World Championship
Kyle Fletcher versus Hangman Adam Page (c)
There were rumours early in the day that the tag match between Christian Cage, Adam Copeland, and FTR would be main eventing. And then we heard it was opening. And then we heard it was main eventing again. And then it opened the show. That meant Kyle and Adam were going to main event.
This was important just because I spent so much talking about WWF Survivor Series 1992, where a tag team match main event changed and pushed up the Champion versus Champion match expected to be in the midcard into the main event. It ended up a young Shawn Michaels first pay per view main event, which he’d get again in 1995, before becoming a world champion in 1996. This would mirror that with the tag team match no longer being (as expected) an AEW World Tag Team Championship match, and that change allowed the TNT Champion facing the AEW Men’s World Champion take the main event spot.
Being at the end of a very long day on a very long show, you would think the energy would struggle for this. I had my worries as Kyle Fletcher came out. But when Hangman came out? The crowd exploded in support for the World Champion. Many in the crowd were wearing the All Out 2025 merchandise specifically for the show, which was a blue tie dye version of his Flowers is Plants shirt.
Page and Fletcher didn’t just surpass their first match against each other back in the 2025 Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament semi final, it raised the bar for one on one matches for the championship. It was a better defence than the MJF match, which I also liked very much, as it didn’t have to distract with the stipulation and was purely about the in-ring action. There was a stipulation that if anyone from Don Callis Family tried to interfere then Fletcher would lose the TNT Championship but it never came into play.
Page and Fletcher had a match that showed both men were capable of everything. They could move like the wing, hit like a tank, and withstand incredible punishment. Both men scouted each other well, and both men did everything they could to stop the other. It came down to Fletcher having that chance to put Page out and took too much time to finish him off, allowing Page to come back and win with a Buckshot Lariat.
AEW always seems to struggle making Page the main star, even when he’s holding the main title. September to Remember was the first time in his title reign I felt Page was the main star of the show. AEW President Tony Khan loves his variety show format of giving everyone their quarter and then they can go home. Page got three segments in the three hours, opening and closing the show for the first time since Chicago.
He was rumoured to be having two straight pay per views without being in the main event, and getting it here is a sigh of relief. Hopefully that continues into WrestleDream. The only way I’m okay with them not closing with the Men’s World Championship is if they closed with the Women’s World Championship.
As for Kyle Fletcher? He made it clear he’s a made man. It’s no longer about potential. AEW essentially hit on having a mid 20s phenom, first in MJF in 2019 and now Kyle Fletcher in 2023. New Japan Pro Wrestling kept holding off on signing Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher and AEW swooped in to pick up Aussie Open. I don’t think anyone suspected at the time Fletcher would become this singles star. I once said he’d be the Bret Hart of Aussie Open’s Hart Foundation, but as much as I was correct? I never thought it would be this soon.
I’ve heard a lot of people say they’d love to see Fletcher win the title then drop it to Will Ospreay or beat Will Ospreay for it, but I stress that even though those two have a classic rivalry in AEW now? There’s more to Kyle Fletcher than just Will Ospreay. It’s time for him to build programs with other top guys. AEW needs heels at the top, and Fletcher fills that in great along with Jon Moxley and MJF.
More Thoughts After 48
Jurassic Express: Way back on September 13, 2024, one year ago, I said I wanted to see Christian Cage and Adam Copeland versus Jurassic Express. I wanted the Jurassic Express reunion, but I also said it wasn’t imminent. Well, I caught that right. It was one year away.
The Young Bucks getting confronted by Jack Perry who attacked both of them only for the lights to go out before a BTE Trigger and out came Killshot? Where it was revealed Jack Perry brought him back to life? And Killshot shed the belt saying that name to become Luchasaurus again? It was incredible.
And then Tarzan Boy by Baltimora hit.
Toronto absolutely erupted. We were all so happy. It was the happiest moment on the show. Jurassic Express was BACK.
I’ve had my criticism of the tag team division when Hurt Syndicate had the titles, and now they don’t? The division is absolutely on fire. There’s so much depth now. FTR. C+C. Jurassic Express. Brodido. Don Callis Family. Death Riders. Workhorsemen. JetSpeed. Gates of Agony. The depth is just incredible. The tag team division has an opportunity to live to the potential we hoped for when AEW started in 2019 if they keep this up.
Welcome back Jungle Jack and Luchasaurus.
Brodido: It’s going to be hard at times for Brodido to stand out with so many established teams coming back together. Not just Jurassic Express but The Acclaimed are also looking to come back together. How does a new team like Brody and Bandido stand out? With matches like that. Bandido and Brody King were incredible in the tag team ladder match and made their statement on the tag team division. Two singles guys dropped together to beat established veteran teams? Makes sense when they are that great.
Kris Statlander: I predicted Kris to win the match and I’m happy I did. What’s really interesting is they didn’t do what I expected with a Death Rider turn, but did have Statlander win with the Seat Belt. I still think a Death Rider turn is possible, but I now am considering if there’s another way they go. Stat winning could be the return of the Best Friends. The next big reunion AEW could do. Orange Cassidy returns this Wednesday. Maybe with Daniel Garcia now in the Death Riders, Yuta isn’t needed? A babyface turn for Yuta leading to the big in-ring hug would be incredible.
Timeless Toni Storm: A lot of people asking what happens next with Toni now she’s no longer AEW Women’s World Champion. If it’s true that they are launching an AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship? You need a star in that division. Toni is that star. Have her make those titles important immediately.
Thekla: If Kris is staying babyface? Thekla needs to be her first one on one opponent. She had a great showing in her first pay per view title match.
Darby Allin: I should have stuck with my original pick of Darby losing here to set up the next match. Darby made the same crucial mistake so many babyfaces make against Death Riders in thinking they can do it alone. Hangman Adam Page’s win at All In Texas was proof you can’t do it alone. You need your friends. You need AEW to help you. Danielson helped him with a bag but he had no response to the return of PAC. But even with all hope lost? AEW knows it’s best to give people something to look forward to. Darby trying to set Moxley on fire tells you this isn’t over.
Jon Moxley: An incredible performance by an incredible wrestler. I was in awe of Moxley’s shape now. Nobody looks like him. He’s tall, muscular, but stringy. He doesn’t look like your average bodybuilder. He looks like a Dungeons and Dragons monster. Garcia has joined. PAC is back. What’s next for the Death Riders?
PAC: Short hair. Wearing clothes. I heard everything from him looking like the guy you don’t mess with in a hardcore pit to looking like a Russian MMA fighter. I agree with it all. Welcome back PAC.
Riho: Riho looked great against Mercedes. Would like to see her work the Women’s Tag Team division when it starts up. Would be neat to see Nyla Rose return to be her tag team partner.
Mercedes Moné: Who is next for Moné? Wouldn’t mind seeing Jamie Hayter getting another crack at her.
The Demand: I ended up missing the trios match due to going for a food and drink refill, but The Demand? That’s what we’re going with? Reminds me of Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian calling themselves The Addiction. That sounds like a 2000s indie band and not a formidable wrestling faction. Hey, maybe it’ll grow on me. If Kazuchika Okada’s theme song can? Anything can.
Mark Briscoe: Mark finally got the big win. Interesting to see what he does next. I wonder if Roddy never being happy in The Conglomeration leads to the two butting heads.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman: When I argued that MJF wouldn’t cash in the guaranteed title shot, I made the point that he had too much unfinished business. He had to still face Místico in Mexico and he still had to end his rivalry with Mark Briscoe. This past weekend? Maxwell did both. And he lost both.
I asked, “But what if MJF loses everything, from the Hurt Syndicate to the Casino Gauntlet shot, and has to find a way back up the mountain with nothing to lose? What does a desperate, angry, bitter, defeated MJF look like in the AEW Men’s singles division? What lengths would Maxwell Jacob Friedman go to get a title shot at say Full Gear against Hangman Adam Page?” and I can ask that question again, though he still has his shot he can’t just cash it and get a shot immediately.
It’s close enough. I’m very much looking forward to a depressed, angry, bitter, and defeated MJF and what he does to turn things around before launching his guaranteed shot with at least a week notice.
Eddie Kingston: I was so happy to see the return of Eddie, and for him to immediately start hating Claudio again with the CLAUDIO SUCKS EGGS shirt. I was surprised to log in this weekend and hear people were upset with the match, or at least unsatisfied by it. I remember us all enjoying the match with Big Bill. The only problem I had was really was the Back Fist finish. It looked sloppy. Oh well. Ring rust. Welcome back Eddie. The HOOK duo is interesting. Probably the best thing for the guy. Not sure if it’s the best thing for you but we’ll see.
Adam Copeland: Unlike most of my friends, and, well, most people in the arena? I was not happy with his performance in this match. Eating a bell shot and two Shatter Machine’s and getting right back up and hitting a spear to win? There’s no good reason for Adam Copeland to be that indestructible. Do you think Dax and Cash would have said yes to that finish if it was anyone else? Think they’d say yes to Brody King eating two shatter machines and a ring bell and just getting up? I doubt it.
I get why people liked the John Cena tribute (he paid tribute to Copeland in a match recently) but I really don’t care for that stuff. I didn’t like it when CM Punk did it against Samoa Joe at All In London 2023 and I don’t like it here. It’s okay for a comedy match but this is supposed to be an extremely personal rivalry where FTR almost ended Copeland’s career and then post match they piledrove his wife. But hey here’s some Cena spots for a cheap pop? Time and place folks. Time and place.
FTR: Two major losses for FTR and they will probably continue this feud with Cope and Christian, but after that? They need to be gunning for the tag titles. Say Full Gear?
Willow Nightingale: I saw a lot of people mad that Willow was working the pre-show instead of the main show. Well now her former best friend is the AEW Women’s World Champion. You just know those two are going to face each other for the title.
Daniel Garcia: I really, really liked his match with Katsuyori Shibata. I almost created a new category for After 48 just to highlight it. One of the best pre-show matches in AEW this year.
Road to WrestleDream 2025
Some interesting threads to pull going to WrestleDream.
Moxley and Darby are likely having a rematch of some kind.
Jurassic Express will definitely be facing the Young Bucks.
There’s a new AEW Women’s World Champion and she needs an opponent.
Kyle Fletcher will return to defending his TNT Champion while Don Callis has to deal with the only faction member to win their match was Kazuchika Okada.
Eddie Kingston’s “CLAUDIO SUCKS EGGS” shirt makes me wonder if we see him and HOOK against Claudio and a member of the Death Riders. PAC? Daniel Garcia?
Will The Demand be going after the Trios Championship or will Gates of Agony chase the AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championship? Going to have to say that if we get Women’s World Tag Team Championships.
How does MJF try to get back to his winning ways?
Adam Copeland and FTR will likely continue the feud. Will Beth make it a mixed trios match?
How does Mark Briscoe follow up his big win?
Will Bubbles showing up in AEW be followed up with the Letterkenny/Shoresy boys? Please?
Tony Khan talked about how they might go to permanent afternoon pay per views due to the success of the last two and now All Out Toronto. Great. Just set the date for WrestleDream and stick to it.
We got less than a month to go. There are no residencies in this pay per view cycle. There are three events that are themed: the 5th Anniversary Dynamite at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood, Florida and Dynamite/Collision Homecoming in Jacksonville, Florida. While it isn’t a residency, AEW will spend two weeks in Texas after WrestleDream: San Antonio, Edinburg, and two nights in Houston.
As we close out All Out 2025, just want to say despite the time change? It was a fantastic experience. Hopefully for all future AEW pay per views they set a time and stick to it regardless of competition.
Photo by me at All Out 2025
