Wednesdaymania 12

You know, it's been so long since I talked about wrestling without first putting up a memorial or something on my blog that I actually don't know what to say. I could talk about the fact that All-In is coming up!

The story of All-In starts with a throwaway remark and some very good wrestlers. Remember how I told you guys about the Bullet Club last week? Specifically Cody and the Young Bucks? In May of 2017, there was some discussion on a wrestling podcast when Dave Meltzer, one of the most respected (and reviled, by some) answered a question that while they were incredibly popular and social media juggernauts, he didn't believe that an independent promotion like ROH could sell 10,000 tickets.

The Bucks & Cody decided to prove him wrong.

And boy did they.

Without even giving a hint as to what the card (the list of bouts) would be, the tickets for All-In sold out in minutes. This was back in May of this year. All we knew was that a lot of very good wrestlers from AAA in Mexico, ROH in the US and NJPW in Japan (all considered to be lesser promotions) were going to be there. Then they announced that the NWA champion would be having a match!

And now that the show is coming right up (September 1), we finally have the card!

• Nick Aldis, the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion (easily one of the most prestigious belts in wrestling history) will face Cody Rhodes. Originally the match was going to be for the ROH World Heavyweight title, but Cody lost the belt. Eventually, he was able to weigh the worth of his ROH Championship Ring against Aldis' NWA Championship, so the match will be very interesting!
• Kazuchika Okada (one of New Japan's biggest stars) will face The Villain Marty Scurll in a singles match. This will be Marty's first heavyweight singles match, since he's a Jr. Heavyweight (which has been a source of controversy on the Being the Elite channel on YouTube).
• Joey Janela is facing the much-plagued Hangman Adam Page in singles, which should be hilarious, since Janela is playing a scuzzy heel, whereas Page is a beset and overwhelmed face (sort of, I mean, he kinda murdered Joey Ryan on Being the Elite that one time...).
• Mexico has sent some of their best in the 6-man Tag Match: Bandido, Fénix, and Rey Mysterio (!) will face The Golden Elite (the Young Bucks with Kota Ibushi). Kota & Rey are pretty damn big gets for this Pay Per View, with Kota Ibushi being one of the best Japanese wrestlers on the planet (as well as being Kenny's Kayfabe "Golden Lover") and Rey being REY FREAKING MYSTERIO!
• Christopher Daniels vs Stephen Amell is going to be interesting. Amell, of course, is from the show Arrow on cable, but Daniels is a 25-year in-ring veteran who has wrestled all over the world. The work the two have been doing on Being the Elite lately has been top-notch!
• There will be a four-way women's match, which is only disappointing because any combination of the four women in two singles matches would be amazing. Madison Rayne, Britt Baker, Chelsea Green, and Tessa Blanchard will put on an incredible showing, I'm sure.
• In the pre-show (Zero Hour), there will be a match between the Briscoes (who I'm not overly fond of since they're uber-conservative hatemongers in real life) and the other two thirds of SoCal Uncensored (SCU! scu...) Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky. The match will be awesome as long as SCU wins, but I don't see the Briscoes being willing to job on this stage...
• Also on the pre-show is a 15-man battle royale called the "Over-Budget Battle Royale". The participants have not all been announced, but I'd be amazed if there weren't a few shockers. We only have 11 names as of today: Punishment Martinez, Brandon Cutler, Jordynne Grace, Brian Cage, Moose, Billy Gunn, Rocky Romero, Jimmy Jacobs, Marko Stunt, Colt Cabana, and Ethan Page. I hope Flip Gordon ends up in the Battle Royale, but the joke may be that he really isn't at All-In...
• The current ROH World Champion, Jay Lethal will face whoever wins that battle royale. If Flip is in it and wins it and then beats Jay, that would be amazing.
• Finally, the second Main Event (because why not have co-main-events on your first show?!) is Kenny Omega vs Pentagon aka Penta el Cero Miedo. This will be brutal. It will be terrifying. It will be AWESOME!

All of this will be happening at the (hopefully packed) Sears Centre in Chicago, Illinois. This could be, honestly, one of the best indie promotions ever.

I have to go, now, guys. Coffee waits!

Go Enjoy Something!

(On Fite Network, the ROH Honor Club streaming service, or [sounds like just Zero Hour] on WGN America starting at 6pm. The actual PPV begins at 7pm)

FC

EDIT: I'm not 100% sure, since I do not speak or read Japanese, but the auto-translate of a recent NJPW Facebook post seems to indicate that All-In will be available to watch on-demand on the NJPW Network? That would be awesome. And cheaper than joining a new service like Honor Club or Fite Network...