The SmarK Rant for AEW All Out Toronto 2025 – 09.20.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW All Out 2025 – 09.20.25

Live from Toronto, ON, with lots of varied and easy to understand options to order the show.

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Bryan Danielson

COPE & Christian v. FTR

But first! C&C wander the halls of the arena and run into Saskatoon legend Wendel Clark, hockey player and current purveyor of delicious burger restaurants, and general Canadian legend Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys, who debuts the GREEN BASTARD on AEW PPV. That’s a very specifically Canadian joke by the way. Dax takes Cage down and walks on his back, but Christian fires up and runs him into the turnbuckles to work on the broken nose before catapulting him for two. Cash comes in and grabs a headlock on Cope, but he comes back with a Thesz Press and C&C hit him with a double-team neckbreaker for two. Dax slugs away on Christian to take over as I could really do without the stupid Twitter feed on the screen. Cash with a chinlock and Dax switches in for his own while the crowd reminds Stokely that he gets no hoes. I think there would be tariffs on them anyway in Toronto. FTR cuts off the ring and prevents a tag, and the Demolition elbow on Cage gets two as a result. Cash goes up and lands on Cage’s boot, and it’s hot tag Adam. Edge O Matic gets two on Dax. A cheekly Cope hits Cash with an Invisible Fistdrop and Behavior Modifier, and that gets two. I guess he was playing peacemaker with that one. Everyone collides for a double down. FTR up first, but C&C counters the Hart Attack with stereo sharpshooters, and FTR slap each other around to get to the ropes in a nice touch. Brawl on the floor, but FTR tosses Cage and hits Cope with the PowerPlex for two. Stokely takes the ref to be an ass, draws the wrath of Beth Phoenix, who debuts in AEW and spears Stoke while C&C hit Dax with a Shatter Machine for two. Well that wasn’t the Ho that Stoke wanted. But then Dax gets the ringbell while Cash powerbombs Christian on the Spanish table, and the spike piledriver on Cope gets two. Shatter Machine is escaped by Cope, who hits DDTs on both guys, but he tries a spear and walks into the Shatter Machine for two. A second one knocks Cope loopy, but he manages to hit one last spear on Cash for the pin at 17:47. This was a little disappointing and the C&C side were moving a lot slower that FTR usually does. But it was pretty fun. ***1/4. Afterwards, Kip Sabian and Nick Wayne hit the ring and handcuff Cope to the ropes, making him watch FTR give her a spike piledriver for the heavy heat.

Eddie Kingston v. Big Bill

Eddie still hating on Claudio and he throws chops on Bill right away. Bill puts him down with a big boot and chokes him out on the ropes. Bill leads an “Eddie” chant and then punches him in the face a few times, prompting Eddie to quip FUCK YOU BILL and fights back with chops. That wacky Eddie. Bryan: “To be fair, I called him the king of the bums, ha ha!” Bill puts him down with a lariat for two. Eddie comes back with the chops in the corner and hits him with an exploder, but Bill gets a pair of Black Hole Slams for two. But then Eddie comes back and “hits” (LOL) a backfist for the pin at 7:20. Well that was a match that happened. Crowd didn’t really seem to care. **. Afterwards, Bill and Keith tease a beatdown, but Hook quickly makes the save with his awful new music and chokes out Bryan. Well they’re both from New York, I hear.

Tables & Thumbtacks match: MJF v. Mark Briscoe

Mark immediately dumps the tacks all over the ring as promised, and then puts Max on a table outside and can’t quite pull off the elbow. Back in the ring, they slug it out on the tacks while MJF teases taking a bump and then they battle over who can shove the other into them. So Max hides behind the ref and then pokes Mark in the eyes and slams him in the tacks to break the seal, before rubbing his face in the tacks. That’s how I felt watching the Blue Jays lose to the Royals 20-1 last night. So MJF puts the tables away for mega heat, and then gives him an Alabama Slam on the tacks for two. And Mark takes a mouthful of tacks as he’s busted open, and Max backdrops him on the tacks. Bryan’s discussion of Max and his white collar snobbery makes me think that they should redo the David Von Erich-Jimmy Garvin feud and have Max lose a match where he has to be a ranch hand on the Briscoe farm for a week. The comedy with MJF meeting Papa Briscoe would be amazing. Finally Mark manages to slam Max on the tacks, as MJF has an unfortunately positioned bloodstain on his crotch, and Mark slams him on the tacks for two. Hey MJF is going out there and taking it like a man. Briscoe to the top for the froggy bow, but MJF wisely runs away to the floor, so Briscoe hits him with the cannonball and restores the tables. Mark with a Sabu dive that sort of puts Max through the table, although Mark got the worst of that one. Mark finally gets his Cactus elbow through another table, but Max tosses tacks in his face and a blinded Briscoe manages to powerbomb him on the tacks anyway. Mark finds a thumbtack chair under the ring, but MJF goes low and Mark takes the chairshot, setting up a tombstone on the tacks that gets two. So then MJF sets up a table in the ring and dumps tacks all over that, as you cannot say they aren’t living up to the stipulations. They fight to the top and MJF teases a tombstone off the top, but Briscoe escapes that and they takes turns biting each other before Mark comes down with a froggy bow through the table. And he goes back up with another froggy bow onto the tacks, hits the Jay Driller on the tacks, and that finishes at 19:15 as he FINALLY gets his revenge. ***1/2.

Meanwhile, Jerry Lynn makes like John Cena and tries to play Peacemaker for the Acclaimed. That’s what the show is about, right, a guy brokering peace deals between enemies?

Ricochet & The GOA v. The Hurt Syndicate

MVP trades takedowns with Toa to start, but hits him with a jumping knee for two. Over to Bishop and Shelton, as they trade chops in the corner. Lashley hits Ricochet with a delayed suplex, so delayed they should call it the Blue Jays cliching the division, and MVP comes in with the Ballin’ Elbow for two. MVP with a mafia kick in the corner and exploder for two, but Kaun takes out the bad knee and goes to work on it. Ricochet goes after Shelton on the floor and prevents a tag, but Bobby gets a hot tag and throws the GOA guys all over the ring. Dominator on Ric gets two. Shelton comes in with an exploder on Ricochet and release german suplex, plus a double german suplex to lay them out. Bobby comes in and spears Toa and then Kaun for two, but Ricochet saves with a 450. They fight to the floor and Bobby charges at Toa, running into a chairshot as a result, before Ricochet dives onto everyone. Rico and Kaun send Toa flying into Shelton and Bobby to take them out, but MVP comes back on Ricochet in the ring by himself. Kaun breaks up the Playmaker and Ricochet hits the Spirit Gun to finish at 13:25. MVP and Ricochet basically carried the match by themselves, with MVP in particular being a surprise highlight at the advanced age of 51. Granted I’ve heard 51 is the new 30 and I’m sure he still connects with the youths. **1/2

TBS title: Mercedes Mone v. Riho

Ugh the sound mix on Prime is killing me today, with Mercedes’ music in particular sounding tinny and super-compressed. They trade dances and then takedowns for two, but Riho hits her with a 619 and Mercedes bails to the floor. So Riho gives her a double stomp off the apron and then again off the table. Back in the ring, Riho dropkicks her on the ropes and follows with a crucifix bomb for two. But then they head back to the floor and Mercedes gets a meteora off the table, and back in for two. Mercedes with a dropkick for two. Next up, she puts Riho in a pendulum hold and cradles for two. Riho comes back with her own leglock and then takes Mercedes down with a crossface and double stomp for a double down. Riho with a dragon suplex, but Mercedes hits her with rolling suplexes and then misses a frog splash. Riho stomps her in the corner for two and tries another submission hold, but Mercedes makes the ropes. Mone goes up and misses a kneedrop, and Riho suplexes her for two and goes up with a flying bodypress for two. Northern lights gets two. But then Mercedes distracts the ref and pokes the eyes, hitting the Money Maker to finish at 15:52. At least we’ve finally found someone small enough to take it. Match was technically good but had zero heat, like a lot of stuff tonight for whatever reason. ***. Riho’s best use is against monster heels and Mone isn’t that.

AEW Unified title: Kazuchika Okada v. Konosuke Takeshita v. Mascara Dorada

They try to throw Dorada out but he fights off both guys and bounces all over before sending Okada to the floor and cradling Takeshita for two. Takeshita runs him into the corner while Don Callis explains the young boy dynamic from Japan and why it means there’s nothing wrong between Takeshita and Okada. Dorada takes Takeshita to the top, but Okada dropkicks Takeshita to the floor. Dorada dives on them and continues fighting them both off by himself, but Takeshita hits him with a brainbuster on the ramp. That looked sick. Back in the ring, Takeshita works on the neck and knocks Okada off the apron with a big boot. But then Okada trips up Dorada to block a dive and gets big heat, working smarter and not harder. Certainly no one has accused Okada of working too hard in AEW. Back in the ring, Okada soaks up some chops and hits Dorada with a DDT for two, but Takeshita makes the save. Okada tosses him and goes back to work on Dorada again, but Takeshita returns and Okada leaves. So Dorada dives onto Okada and then gives one for Takeshita as well. Back in with an electric chair into a neckbreaker on Okada, and that gets two. Okada with his own neckbreaker and he drops the elbow, but Takeshita returns and slug it out with Okada. “He’s got a long middle finger” notes Bryan. Rainmaker is countered into the Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Dorada comes back in with a destroyer on Takeshita for two and he pops up with a 450 for two. They all fight to the top and Dorada manages to hit them both with a rana at the same time, and he gets two counts on both guys. In an incredible spot. Okada comes back with the dropkick on Takeshita and they trade tombstones after getting rid of Dorada, but Takeshita wins that one, so Okada fires up and hits his own tombstone for a double down. Dorada sneaks in and moonsaults both guys for two, but he goes up with a shooting star press and misses, allowing Takeshita to powerbomb the shit out of him and hit the knee strike. So then Takeshita hits Okada with the knee, but Okada catches it and gets another dropkick and now everyone is down. They all slug it out and we get a crazy triple german suplex, before Dorada hits Takeshita with a rana for two. Dorada with a DDT on Okada outside to get rid of him, and he goes after Takeshita in the ring but gets crotched in the corner. Takeshita with a superplex into the Raging Fire, but Dorada counters, and then Takeshita hits a second one for two. But Okada saves and dropkicks Takeshita out of the ring, and the Rainmaker finishes Dorada at 20:53 to the surprise of no one. Now THIS is more like it, waking up the crowd with the clear best match of the night so far. ****1/2. Dorada was hanging with two very high level people and held his own, kudos.

Coffin Match: Darby Allin v. Jon Moxley

They immediately brawl into the crowd and Darby dives off a balcony right away, and they fight up the stairs before Mox takes him down the floor and drops him crotch first onto a railing. They trade backrakes and Darby gets tossed to ringside, but bites Jon in the ear and then gets run into the stairs as a result. Mox decides to disrespect the coffin and pulls it apart, but Darby dives onto him. So they head to the other, Darby-themed coffin, where Moxley suplexes him onto that and the Death Riders join us. But Moxley has it under control and sends them all to the back before slamming the coffin lid on Darby’s fingers for fun. So Darby manages to find a fork goes all Weapons on Moxley. Thank you! I’ve been waiting for someone to do that spot ever since I saw that movie and I’ve been dying to make that reference for the youths reading. Bryan: “I’m trying to be objective but fuck that, go Darby!” Darby comes back with the coffin drop onto the coffin and he grabs a metal pipe of some kind, but Moxley steals the fork, so Darby blocks it and mutilates Moxley’s face some more. This is unlike any Undertaker casket match I’ve seen. Moxley has had enough of this shit and DDTs him on the coffin lid, breaking it in half, but can’t close the lid because Darby uses a pipe to block. Darby chokes him out and gets a brutal shot to the head on the floor, and Bryan Danielson sneaks a plastic bag to Darby, and Darby smothers Mox with that before hitting a Code Red and then KICKS HIS FUCKING HEAD IN. “This is murder!” notes the crowd. But then PAC makes his return with a sharp new haircut and lays out Darby before powerbombing him over the top and onto the Darby Coffin. I actually thought it was Wade Barrett for a minute. So Pac zips Darby into a body bag and closes the coffin at 18:50. This was absolutely insane although the finish was a letdown. ****. So much for Moxley putting him over after he literally climbed Mt Everest and all, though.

Meanwhile, Mark Briscoe challenges the Callis Family to a six-man tag, with a third partner who apparently answers with a “Whatever” to his call. Well there’s a hell of a hook for Dynamite.

AEW World Women’s title: Toni Storm v. Jamie Hayter v. Kris Statlander v. Thekla

Statlander and Hayter slug it out to start and Stat gets a powerslam for two. They all hit the floor for a moonsault from Statlander, but Thekla uses her belt to strap Toni in the ring until Jamie saves. They all pile up in the corner and Thekla gets the spider suplex on Toni as the crowd is very quiet, probably because the ladies can’t follow that coffin match. Thekla does her wacky spider walk and Toni boots her RIGHT IN THE LADY YAMBAGS, and everyone trades suplexes with Hayter winning that battle. They all trade shots again and Hayter gets a lariat on Statlander for a double down. Statlander fires up next and boots everyone down, but Thekla comes back with a double Tarantula on Storm and Hayter. Statlander saves and hits Hayter with a lariat, allowing Storm to get Storm Zero on Stat for two. Hayter saves and slugs it out with Storm, hitting the Hatebreaker and Haterade for two. Thekla saves and gets two on Storm as well. She rolls Storm into a choke, but Toni makes the ropes. Hayter and Thekla slug it out on the apron and land on the floor, and Statlander uses Yuta’s Seat Belt on Storm and…gets the pin?!? And the crowd is in complete shock as Statlander wins the title in one of the most shocking upsets I’ve ever seen AEW book. They never really got on the same page here but it was fine. ***

AEW World tag team title, ladder match: Bro-Dido v. The Young Bucks v. Jet Speed v. Hechicero & Josh Alexander

Bandido fights off the Callis Family alone, but Hechicero puts him down with a backbreaker. Jet Speed clears the ring and follows with stereo dives, but the Bucks double-team Bandido with their Bucks stuff. So this sets up the triple german suplex by Brody King and he smashes the Callis team outside with the ladder, but the Bucks dive onto him and everyone dives onto everyone else. Bandido ends up on a ladder and Speedball moonsaults him while Brody has to hold the ladder, and Bailey tries for the first climb and gets cut off by the Callis team. Brody backdrops Alexander onto the ladder, and then Bandido presses Hechicero on the ladder as Bandido is just crazy good. Bucks double-team Bailey and slam him on the ladder in various ways that suck for him, before making a truce with the Don Callis team. More heels lay out Bro-Dido on the floor and the tables get added, but Brody gets laid on a ladder and Matt dives onto him to take him out. Back in the ring, the truce between the heels is DONE as they fight over who gets to climb, and the Bucks superkick them out of the ring, but Jet Speed drops the ladder on the Bucks and Knight splashes them in a cool spot. They do the climb, but Brody breaks it up and then Bandido runs wild and hits them with cutters. Nick tries a climb and gets shoved off by Knight, and he makes sure to do a senton atomico on the way down. Back, in, we get a chicken fight with Jet Speed and the Bucks, but then Brody puts Bandido on his shoulders and nearly allows him to reach the belts that way. Bailey manages to do another climb, but Alexander stops him and sets up a ladder bridge, and then Hechicero does a bow and arrow hold on the ladder, only for Speedball to escape and do a terrifying moonsault kneedrop that kills both guys. He missed that one in the worst way. Then Bandido fights with Alexander on the top of the ladder, but Bandido chooses to powerbomb Josh onto the ladder bridge instead of grabbing the titles as directed by Bryan. That’s a great touch on commentary. Bucks fight back again and we get everyone suddenly murdering everyone else through tables and ladders outside. So Knight is left and he makes the climb, but various people switch places on the ladder and try for the belts. Josh takes Brody off the ladder with a rack bomb, but Knight climbs, and then everyone else lifts the ladder and carries it over to dump Knight onto the two tables left standing at ringside. Bucks with the BTE trigger on Josh and they climb the ladder, but Brody pushes them over and Bandido moonsautls another ladder onto the pile. Fuck me. Bandido climbs and claims the belts to retain at 24:30. Well this lived up to everything we expected. ****1/4. Afterwards, Jack Perry makes his return from exile and attacks the Bucks, but they quickly double-team him until the lights go out, at which point we learn that Perry was the mystery doctor who revived Luchasaurus. So that’s the return of the Jurassic Express, to go along with the impending return of the Acclaimed. Also the crowd goes NUTS for the return of “Tarzan Boy”.

Meanwhile, Jon Moxley figures that Darby Allin is finally dead, what with him being zipped in a body bag and locked in a coffin and all, but Darby’s condition is upgraded to “alive” and he attacks Mox again and SETS HIM ON FIRE. I guess you could say….

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…he got his heat back.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!

Meanwhile, this week on Dynamite, TONY KHAN HAS AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! WE ARE SO BACK!

AEW World Men’s title: Hangman Page v. Kyle Fletcher

Bryan talking about notable Toronto World title changes of course skips the most recent one, but then we don’t talk about that guy on this show. They trade shoulderblocks and Page puts him down with a big boot. So Fletcher wants a chop battle and Page indulges him until Kyle superkicks him to win that one. They trade shots on the apron and Kyle kicks him off to the floor and then tosses him into the front row. Kyle follows with a dive over the railing and hurts himself more in the process, and back in the ring for a backbreaker and lariat from Hangman that gets two. But they head back to the floor and Fletcher hits him with an apron bomb, THE HARDEST PART OF THE RING. Kyle sets up a table while Taz notes that he broke his neck “but no one gives a shit about that”, which Kyle pulls off Hangman’s K-Tape. They fight on the apron again and Kyle counters the buckshot lariat with a draping DDT for two. Kyle with a flying elbow for two and he goes to a Boston crab, but Page makes the ropes. Fletcher with corner kicks, but he walks into a lariat from Page. Page with a fallaway slam into the corner and he clotheslines Fletcher to the floor and follows with the dive and Orihara moonsault. Back in the ring, Page with a powerbomb, times two, and that gets two. Hangman moonsaults into a tombstone, but Fletcher reverses it and then counters another moonsault with a superkick and his own powerbomb for two. Back to the floor, where Page gets a tombstone on the floor and then teases tossing him back in before switching to a draping DDT on the floor instead. But then they fight to timekeeper and Fletcher puts him through the table with a brainbuster off the railing. Back in the ring, Fletcher hits him with a corner kick to the neck and follows with a brainbuster for two. The crowd notes that he’s not ready, so Fletcher takes him to the top and then they fight back down and trade kicks, with Fletcher laying him out with a running knee to send him to the apron. They fight out there with the table ominously there, and Hangman wins the battle with a Deadeye off the apron and through the table. Back in, Hangman tries the buckshot, but Fletcher collapses and the move misses. So Page goes nuclear with a V-Trigger and tries the One Winged Angel, but Kyle escapes that. Page with the Deadeye for two. Fletcher with a Hidden Blade for two, but Page escapes the Tiger Driver and hits a JML Driver for two! Buckshot is reversed into a small package for two, but Page rolls him up for two. Buckshot lariat is countered into another brainbuster, and that gets two. Bryan Danielson is just amazing on commentary here. Kyle toys with his food, hitting little kicks to mess with Hangman while Bryan warns him about it, but Hangman fights up and throws increasingly harder shots while Kyle laughs at him. Kyle just lays him out with a lariat and exposes a turnbuckle, and then puts Page’s face on it and hits a running kick. So it’s time for the brainbuster on the exposed steel, but Page fights back with headbutts and brings him down with a top rope Deadeye. Page rolls to the apron to sell the impact, and then comes in with the buckshot lariat to finish at 37:40. Holy shit what a match and coming out party for Kyle Fletcher as a main eventer. *****. Hangman pulling out all the tributes to his former friends and enemies to get the win was a great story. And yeah, Kyle Fletcher is DEFINITELY ready for another main event shot.

So yes, once again, it was too long, we have to acknowledge that. But man, after a shaky start, they threw everything at the viewer and produced a HELL of a show. With some huge returns, a shocking title World title change, and one of the best matches of the year as the main event, this was well worth your $60. Thumbs up!