AEW All Out lineup is set
All Elite Wrestling returns to PPV Sunday night when it presents All Out.
The biggest match on the card features CM Punk returning to the ring for the first time in over seven-and-a-half years when he takes on Darby Allin. Sting will be in Allin鈥檚 corner.
Three title matches are scheduled as Kenny Omega defends the AEW championship against Christian Cage, Miro defends the TNT title against Eddie Kingston and The Young Bucks defend the AEW tag belts against The Lucha Brothers in a steel cage match.
Chris Jericho puts his career on the line against MLF, Jon Moxley faces Satoshi Kojima from New Japan Wrestling, Paul Wight (Big Show in WWE) faces QT Marshall, PAC faces Andrade and there will be a women鈥檚 Casino Battle Royal.
Bryan, Cole, Flair at All Out?
Don鈥檛 be surprised if Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan), Adam Cole, Ric Flair, or any combination of the three show up at All Out.
Flair has already announced he will be in town with Andrade.
Speculation was that Danielson would debut later this month at the AEW show at Arthur Ashe Stadium (U.S. Open tennis courts), and that may still be the case.
Khan鈥檚 WWE comments
Recently, WWE President Nick Khan, no relation to AEW owner Tony Khan, made some comments that initially made my head spin.
But after giving it more thought, maybe what he said is true.
In an interview with Ariel Helwani on BT Sport, Khan was asked if Raw being reduced to two hours would benefit the show.
鈥淔rom my point of view, Raw would benefit from being four hours, so we would get paid more money,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd Smackdown would (add up to be) eight (total) hours.
鈥淏ut I understand that our creative folks, as amazing as they are, there鈥檚 only so much great talent they can do on a weekly basis.鈥�
At first, Khan鈥檚 comments made my head spin as Raw has been so poorly booked for stretches on end since the show went to the three-hour format on July 23, 2012.
To think the company would have to fill an extra hour a week, I was dumbfounded.
But then I thought about it.
Khan is right that the fourth hour would mean more money for WWE.
So yes, he is right. But at the same time, regardless of how 鈥渁mazing鈥� (Khan鈥檚 words, not mine) WWE鈥檚 creative team is, final word still goes through Vince McMahon.
And as everyone with a logical and neutral view can see, as long as he pushes through with his 鈥渧ision,鈥� fans will continue to slowly tune out on Mondays.
Broken Skull with Cena, Rollins
WWE had announced that Steve Austin鈥檚 newest episode of Broken Skull Sessions, with John Cena, would debut on April 26.
However, it has been pulled and now a new episode with Seth Rollins will air instead.
WrestleMania two days?
Reports surfaced Thursday that WWE will indeed be two nights again this year.
Considering Mania will take place at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, WWE could potentially draw over 200,000 fans over the two-night event.
My initial thought is that for WWE to pull this off, it may already have The Rock scheduled for a match against Roman Reigns.
Considering how suspect WWE鈥檚 creative direction has been, it has to have something big planned to draw fans in.
Smackdown headed to FS1
Smackdown will be bumped from Fox to FS1 on Oct. 15 and 22 due to Major League Baseball playoff action.
It will return to Fox on Oct. 29.
WWE offering mental health counseling
Kudos to WWE for proactively offering its workers mental health counseling.
As someone who works as a school (guidance) counselor, I see firsthand how much talking to someone helps others, and with WWE back on the road with Covid still going on, I am sure some have anxiety.
Many people have mental health issues and could use assistance, and WWE employees are no different.
This Day in History
In 1990, NWA world champion Sting defeated The Black Scorpion at Clash of the Champions XII. After the match, another Scorpion came out on stage to set up a feud that would last until Starrcade that December when the Scorpion would be unmasked and revealed as Ric Flair.
In 1991 at Clash of the Champion XVI, Steve Austin retained the WCW TV title against Tom Zenk and the team of Arn Anderson and Larry Zbysko won the vacant tag titles.
This week鈥檚 question
Why didn鈥檛 AEW have CM Punk debut in Pittsburgh? Ryan from California.
Punk is from Chicago and it made perfect sense for him to return in front of his hometown crowd. Having him return anywhere else, including Pittsburgh, would have been a mistake.
Besides, Pittsburgh is not exactly known for having one of the better pro wrestling crowds, so I would not have considered it even if Punk was not from Chicago.
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