All Out 2021

All Out 2021 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It took place on September 5, 2021 at the NOW Arena in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the third event in All Out chronology and was AEW's first pay-per-view held outside of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
Ten matches were contested at the event, including one on the Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Kenny Omega defeated Christian Cage to retain the AEW World Championship. In other prominent matches, CM Punk defeated Darby Allin (which was also Punk's AEW debut match and Punk's first professional wrestling match in seven years); Chris Jericho defeated MJF in a career threatening match; Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) in a steel cage match to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship; Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. defeated Kris Statlander to retain the AEW Women's World Championship; and Miro defeated Eddie Kingston to retain the AEW TNT Championship in the opening bout. The event also saw the AEW debuts of Minoru Suzuki, Adam Cole, Ruby Soho (who won the women's Casino Battle Royale), and Bryan Danielson (the latter two formerly known as Ruby Riott and Daniel Bryan, respectively, in WWE).
Tickets for All Out sold out within a day, and the event was attended by over 10,000 people. It also received over 200,000 pay-per-view buys, making it the most bought non-WWE professional wrestling PPV event since 1999. The event was met with critical acclaim, with many calling it one of the best wrestling shows of all time, and particular praise being focused on the Steel Cage match between Lucha Brothers and The Young Bucks.
==Production==
===Background===
All Out is a pay-per-view (PPV) held annually around Labor Day by All Elite Wrestling (AEW) since 2019. It is one of AEW's "Big Four" PPVs, which includes Double or Nothing, Full Gear, and Revolution, their four biggest shows produced quarterly. The 2021 event will be the third event in the All Out chronology and will be held on September 5 in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, returning the event to the NOW Arena (formerly Sears Centre Arena), which is where the inaugural All Out was held. It will be AEW's first pay-per-view held outside of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, following AEW's resumption of live touring in mid-July 2021.
Following the September 3 episode of Rampage, TNT aired a half-hour television special called Countdown to All Out.
===Storylines===
All Out featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Storylines are produced on AEW's weekly shows Dynamite, Rampage, Dark, Elevation, and The Young Bucks' YouTube series Being The Elite.
Kenny Omega has held the AEW World Championship since December 2, 2020, when he captured the title from Jon Moxley at Winter Is Coming. In March 2021, when Christian Cage was about to make his first Dynamite appearance, Omega and his manager Don Callis interrupted the segment, eventually leading to a confrontation between Omega and Christian. After Christian racked up eight wins, he was anointed in August 2021 as the number one contender for the AEW World Championship, The match was subsequently scheduled for All Out. Before the event, Christian defeated Omega to win the Impact World Championship on the debut episode of Rampage on August 13, which was Omega's first singles loss since the 2019 Full Gear event.
Beginning in July 2021, rumors began circulating that former WWE wrestler CM Punk, who had been retired from professional wrestling since 2014, had signed with AEW. At Fight for the Fallen on July 28, Darby Allin announced that he wanted to face the "best in the world", a nickname Punk had used during his time in WWE. At The First Dance on August 20, Punk made his highly anticipated debut for AEW and challenged Allin to a match at All Out. 
In September 2020, Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) started a storyline with Chris Jericho on whether MJF could join Jericho's faction, The Inner Circle. At the Full Gear event on November 7, 2020, MJF defeated Jericho, thus per the match stipulation, he joined Jericho's faction. On the March 10, 2021 Dynamite, as Jericho was about to eject MJF from the faction for plotting against him, MJF revealed that he had secretly built his own faction instead: The Pinnacle, which attacked and laid out The Inner Circle. At Blood and Guts on May 4, The Pinnacle defeated The Inner Circle in a Blood and Guts match when MJF threatened to throw Jericho off a steel cage, leading to The Inner Circle surrendering. Despite this, MJF threw Jericho off. When Jericho pursued a singles match against MJF, the latter in July set Jericho a challenge to whereby MJF would choose Jericho's match-types and opponents in a five-match series, but Jericho could not lose any match if he wanted to face MJF in the fifth match. In the "Labors of Jericho" storyline, Jericho beat Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera, and Wardlow, but lost the final match against MJF on the August 18 Dynamite, where everything "Judas" was banned, which included his signature move, the Judas Effect, which MJF used on Jericho. The following week, Jericho challenged MJF to another match at All Out, stipulating that if Jericho lost, he would never wrestle another match in AEW; MJF accepted.
At the inaugural All Out event in 2019, The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) in a ladder match. On November 7, 2020 at Full Gear, The Young Bucks captured the AEW World Tag Team Championship from FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler). After The Young Bucks conducted several successful title defenses due to illegal interference by their faction, The Elite, it was announced on the August 18, 2021 episode of Dynamite that The Young Bucks would defend the championship at All Out in a Steel Cage match to prevent any outside interference, and their challengers would be determined by an eliminator tournament consisting of four tag teams. The following week, The Lucha Brothers defeated the Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison) to advance to the tournament finals, which occurred on the August 27 episode of Rampage, where The Lucha Brothers defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) to qualify for the steel cage tag title match.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. has held the AEW Women's World Championship since May 30, 2021, when she captured the title from Hikaru Shida at Double or Nothing. Meanwhile, Kris Statlander returned to television in March 2021 after being out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury since June 2020. Statlander went on a winning streak and eventually became the number one ranked competitor in the women's division; due to this, AEW announced on August 25 that Statlander would challenge Baker for the title at All Out.
Miro has held the AEW TNT Championship since May 12, 2021, when he captured the title from Darby Allin on Dynamite. On the August 25 episode of Dynamite, Miro, as "The Redeemer", challenged Eddie Kingston for being a "sinner". On the August 27 episode of Rampage, after Miro attacked and unmasked Fuego Del Sol, Kingston attacked Miro. A TNT Championship match between the two was scheduled for All Out.
In February 2021, AEW was reported to have established a working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). On the August 25 episode of Dynamite, Jon Moxley said that he had sent out an open challenge to Japanese wrestlers, but only NJPW wrestler Satoshi Kojima had accepted, therefore he and Kojima would wrestle at All Out.
On the August 11 episode of Dynamite, when QT Marshall and his allies attacked the son of commentator Tony Schiavone, fellow commentator Paul Wight came to the aid of the Schiavones. The following week, Wight announced he would face Marshall at All Out, marking his first match in AEW after having signed with the company as a commentator in February.
On September 2, a 10-man tag team match pitting Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, and Wheeler Yuta) and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) against the Hardy Family Office (Matt Hardy, Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen), and The Hybrid 2 (Angélico and Jack Evans)) was announced for the Buy-In pre-show.
===Canceled match===
On the August 11 episode of Dynamite, a match between Andrade El Idolo and Pac was scheduled for All Out. On September 1, it was announced that the match would instead take place on a future episode of Rampage due to Pac having travel issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic in England.
==Event==
===Pre-show===
On the 'Buy-In' pre-show, Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy and Wheeler Yuta) and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) faced the Hardy Family Office (Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy, Marq Quen, Angélico and Jack Evans). Luchasaurus performed the Tail Whip on Angélico, after-which Jungle Boy locked Angélico in the Snare Trap hold for the submission victory at 9 minutes and 25 seconds. Post-match, The Butcher made his AEW return by attacking Cassidy. Jurassic Express, Varsity Blonds, Dante Martin, and some Dark Order members saved Cassidy from a haircut by The Hardy Family Office.
===Preliminary matches===
In the opening match of the actual pay-per-view, Miro defended the AEW TNT Championship against Eddie Kingston. Miro performed the "Machka Kick" on Kingston to win the match and retain the championship.
Next, Jon Moxley faced NJPW's Satoshi Kojima. Moxley won the match after performing the "Paradigm Shift". Following the match, Moxley was confronted and attacked by Minoru Suzuki, also from NJPW, making his AEW debut.
In the following match, Britt Baker (accompanied by Jamie Hayter and Rebel) defended the AEW Women's World Championship against Kris Statlander (accompanied by Orange Cassidy). Baker forced Statlander to submit to the "Lockjaw" to win and retain the championship.
Following this, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defended the AEW World Tag Team Championship against The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fénix) in a Steel Cage match. Penta and Fénix performed an "LB Driver" on Nick to win the match and become the new champions.
The next match was the 21-woman Casino Battle Royale to determine the next contender for the AEW Women's World Championship. Surprise 21st entrant Ruby Soho, formerly known as Ruby Riott in WWE, made her AEW debut, and won the match by last eliminating Thunder Rosa.
Afterwards, Chris Jericho faced MJF in a match where Jericho's career was on the line. After a false victory for MJF, in which referee Aubrey Edwards counted the pin for MJF but did not see Jericho's foot placed on the rope, the match was restarted and Jericho forced MJF to submit to the "Walls of Jericho" for the victory to continue his in-ring career. The Inner Circle (Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana and Ortiz) came out to celebrate with Jericho.
Next, CM Punk faced Darby Allin, in what was both Punk's AEW debut and first professional wrestling match since January 2014. Punk performed his signature finisher, the "Go to Sleep", to win. Following the match, Allin's ally Sting came to the ring and showed respect to Punk by shaking his hand, who also did the same for Allin.
In the penultimate match, Paul Wight faced QT Marshall (accompanied by Nick Comoroto and Aaron Solow), which was Wight's AEW debut match. Wight performed a "Chokeslam" from the top rope to win.
===Main event===
In the main event, Kenny Omega (accompanied by Don Callis) defended the AEW World Championship against Christian Cage. Omega performed a "One-Winged Angel" from the top rope to win and retain the championship. After the match, Omega celebrated his win with Callis and his allies The Elite (The Young Bucks and The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson)), who teamed up and attacked Christian. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy, Luchasaurus, and Marko Stunt) came to Christian's aid, but were outnumbered by The Elite. As Omega cut a promo that no one could defeat him, the lights went out and Adam Cole made his AEW debut, seemingly to confront The Elite but instead joined his old friends, a friendship that goes back to their Bullet Club days in NJPW. The Elite then continued their attack on Christian and Jurassic Express. As Omega cut another promo to end the show, they were interrupted by Bryan Danielson, formerly known as Daniel Bryan in WWE, who also made his highly anticipated AEW debut. Danielson came out and aided Christian and Jurassic Express to fend off The Elite. After the show went off the air, Danielson cut a promo on why he joined AEW, stating that he was a wrestler and wanted to challenge many of the other wrestlers in AEW.
==Reception==
All Out received widespread acclaim from fans and critics, with many calling it the best show of the year and some even referring it as one of the best PPVs of all time. Brent Brookhouse of CBSSports.com stated, "What already promised to be one of the biggest shows in AEW history delivered beyond any reasonable expectations" and felt that "some of the best matches in the promotion's history went down over the course of the night."
Writing for Pro Wrestling Torch, Wade Keller liked the show. CM Punk and Darby Allin was described as a "Good match. Not off-the-charts good or anything, but it worked for the moment and for this stage of Punk’s return." Similarly, he expressed positive, if tempered feelings for the main event, "A good but not great PPV main event level match", to which he awarded 3.75 stars.
Dave Meltzer speaking on the Wrestling Observer Radio called the show an "all time classic of a show", praising the steel cage tag team title match in particular, calling it "the best steel cage match I may have ever seen", giving the match a rating of 5.75 stars. He also lauded the rest of the show saying all the matches besides QT vs Paul Wight were all "at least really good".
AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan stated after the event that All Out was the most watched AEW PPV ever. Meltzer would later report that the event had recorded an estimated 205,000 to 220,000 pay-per-view buys, making it the most bought AEW event ever, and the largest grossing non-WWE pay-per-view since 1999.
==Results==
;
;
*The Buy In Pre Show: Chuck Taylor, Wheeler Yuta, Orange Cassidy & Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) defeated Matt Hardy, The Hybrid 2 (Jack Evans & Angélico) & Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) in a Ten Man Tag Team Match (9:26)
*Miro (c) defeated Eddie Kingston to retain the AEW TNT Championship (13:29)
*Jon Moxley defeated Satoshi Kojima (11:52)
*Dr. Britt Baker DMD (w/ Jamie Hayter & Rebel) (c) defeated Kris Statlander (w/ Orange Cassidy) to retain the AEW Women's World Championship (11:31)
*Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) (c) in a Steel Cage match to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship (21:56)
*Ruby Soho won the Casino Battle Royale for a future AEW Women's World Championship match (22:02)
*Chris Jericho defeated MJF (20:55)
:*If Jericho had lost, he would have never wrestled in AEW again
*CM Punk defeated Darby Allin (16:44)
*Paul Wight defeated QT Marshall (w/ Aaron Solo & Nick Comoroto) (3:02)
*Kenny Omega (w/ Don Callis) (c) defeated Christian Cage to retain the AEW World Championship (22:01)
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Jim Ross 
*Tony Schiavone 
*Excalibur 
*Don Callis 
*Alex Abrahantes 
*Dasha Gonzalez 
*Jon Cruz 
*Alain Mistrangélo 
*Norbert Feuillan 
*Günter Zapf 
*Mike Ritter 
;Interviewers
*Alex Marvez	
;Ring announcer
*Justin Roberts
;Referees
*Aubrey Edwards
*Bryce Remsburg
*Frank Gastineau
*Paul Turner
*Rick Knox
==External links==
* The Buy In Pre Show Results
* ALL OUT Results
Category:2021 events
Category:All Elite Wrestling events
Category:All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view events
Category:Events with Steel Cage matches
Category:Events with Battle Royal matches