eight things i'd like to see at aew all in this weekend.

It’s almost here! Almost time for Hangman Adam Page to win the AEW Men’s World Championship again and finally fully exorcise the ghost of You-Know-Who from the promotion!!!

This weekend is the big one. It’s AEW’s biggest show of the year—not quite as big as past All Ins, where the company packed out Wembley Stadium, but filling up the Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, is still going to be one hell of a moment.

Almost every match on the card has big consequences. None more so than the men’s title, of course, but this is no Battle of the Belts situation. Things are going to change. Whatever happens on Saturday night is going to set the agenda for at least the next year of AEW.

I don’t know what Tony Khan has in store for us, but I’m sure it’ll be one hell of a ride.

Here’s what I’m hoping for:

Last time we got a women’s casino gauntlet, it was on Maximum Carnage back in January and it only ran for 13 minutes, with seven women involved. By contrast, the men’s casino gauntlet the week before had 11 men in it and ran for 26 minutes.

This time, I hope we get a better showing. It seems likely this match is where Alex Windsor will debut, and I’m hoping for some more surprises. The AEW women’s division is stacked, incredibly so when you take into account all the women who mostly appear over on Ring of Honor, and this would be a fantastic opportunity to let them show out.

I hope Athena wins.

Just because they always make sure a big deal about how beneficial it is to enter the gauntlet at number 1 or 2, it’d be fun to prove that and have an early entrant win. Everyone seems to be taking it for granted that MJF is gonna nab that future title shot, but I’d prefer someone else…

Because it’s a gauntlet there won’t be time for long entrances. But it’d be awesome to have a massive Me Muero singalong. QED, Místico should win.

So, it might be a little disappointing if the men’s casino gauntlet did end after only three or four entrants. But this is an opportunity to give us an incredible visual gag, with the camera backstage showing us an enormous holding pen of men, all clutching their casino numbers like raffle tickets, waiting for their time to come round.

C’mon. It’d be funny! You could put loads of guys in there!

We got a teaser on Ring of Honor a while back, but we’ve not had his grand re-emergence yet. Probably the time for that is on Supercard of Honor, rather than at All In, but we could definitely put him in the pen of men, holding ticket number 26 and trying to recruit all the other guys to be his new Boys.

Listen, I know he’s not recovered enough to come back yet, and I would never ever want to rush anyone back from injury. Tony Khan can afford to pay his guys enough money to sit home and heal up properly. But if we’re talking about truly fantasy booking, I’d just love to see my favourite guy. Maybe he could just be loitering backstage, and could stick his foot out to trip up a Death Rider on their way to the ring. Whatever.

The whole Death Riders story started when the Blackpool Combat Club turned on Bryan Danielson, and so it seems likely that they’ll want him back in the mix for it to come to an end. (More on that in a second.) Danielson has also been popping up at AEW events recently, including beating Max Caster in an open challenge after a recent Collision taping. So he’s going to be there, but in what capacity?

My pitch? As a ghost. Slap some special effects makeup on him, put a ripped plastic bag over his head, and have him stand motionless and silent in the crowd. Move him slowly towards the ring, where he might catch the eye of a Death Rider. But only a Death Rider. Everyone else should pretend they can’t see him.

Including commentary.

Imagine how much fun they could have with it! Yuta could catch sight of him, double-take, and get speared to the mat while he’s distracted. Then when he looks back? Nothing there. Brrrrr.

(I’ve heard Tony Khan doesn’t like spooky stuff, so I have little to no hope for this one. It’d be good though.)

I’m pretty sure this is going to happen. It makes sense. It’d be the greatest moment of triumph and vindication in the company’s history, the biggest pop of all time, the most satisfying feel-good ending ever.

It’s gotta happen. We’ve gotta end Moxley’s reign of terror. It’s time.

Hey! We made it to issue 2!

It’s gonna be a big weekend for wrestling, which is all super exciting. Follow me on Bluesky if you wanna chat about it? I’m @awfullywaffly.bsky.social.

Have a good one—and stay hydrated!!!!