With “All In” being over with, PWP Nation’s John “JCD” Dimiceli gives his winners and losers from the event.
The smoke has cleared and ‘All In’ is in the books, and without a doubt, the event was a complete success.
Now, to be fair and transparent, yes, I was a guy who pegged them to do about 6,500-7,000 people and not event touch 10,000. The fact that there were only 63 tickets left on the secondary market just 30 minutes before the event started was just an amazing feat and I have to commend them for that.
It goes without saying this was a huge win in many ways for Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, however there are quite a few individuals who didn’t come out of the event as “winners.”
Here are my winners from All In:
Billy Corgan, Nick Aldis and the NWA
For 20 minutes on Saturday, the NWA title was the most important thing in the business. Now, with Cody as champion and flag-carrier for the brand, Corgan gets the name to carry his revamped NWA to national and world wide heights and notoriety. Aldis comes out of the match a bigger star than ever, justified in wanting a rematch due to the finish, and he’s no longer that gladiator guy from TNA.
Phil Brooks, the man
The former CM Punk was right there. He had the connections. One phone call and he could of cut the promo his fans have been waiting years for. But instead Brooks did his signing on Friday and stayed true to his word (for now) that he is done with wrestling for good. And to the public, may have put his WWE disdain to bed, once and for all, and is truly at peace with his decision.
Ring of Honor
Ring of Honor and most of its talent we’re positioned and booked very strongly on this show. Add in that they come out with a made World Title program of Jay Lethal and Bully Ray.
It’s safe to say ROH went “All In,” (we won’t discuss how much) and won.
Joey Janela & Penelope Ford
Janela is huge on the east coast. The MAN was such a STAR (I’ll see who gets it), but after this weekend, Janela is ready to explode on to a national stage. No disrespect to the other amazing women on this show, but Ford just like Janela is ready to burst onto a worldwide platform and shine.
I’d expect both of them to be huge independent stars heading into 2019 and beyond.
Here are my losers from All In:
Impact Wrestling
Other than Tessa Blanchard, Impact threw up a big old goose egg for the night and in the cases of Moose and Brian Cage were made to look less than impressive. I’m surprised Don Callis, who was at and on the show, allowed his talent to look so weak. Overall, a big missed opportunity here.
Neville
The former Neville had the perfect chance to reintroduce himself to the wrestling world, but for reasons yet unknown, did not.
Cody and The Bucks teased him on twitter, but as stated by myself on PWPNation’s Offended Podcast, it appeared Neville was the distraction to the surprise of Chris Jericho. The lack of an appearance could tie into rumors of him recently near the WWE medical testing center. I’ll change my stance on Neville if something happens, but if not this was a huge missed opportunity.
We’ll have to wait and see.
Adam Page
Page has been fantastic in his persona of murdering famous dick wrestlers. And it has shown he can delve deep into a character and hit it out of the park.
However, lost in all of that lately and on Saturday night is that Page is a really solid in-ring worker. Now that it would seem his angle with FDW Joey Ryan has reached its climax… (nothing?), maybe Page can show the world just how talented he is in the ring.
Flip Gordon & “Book Flip”
For all the hype on Being The Elite about Gordon and his numerous failed attempts to get on the show, I walked away from the Flip stuff saying, “Really? That’s it?”
The tag match in Jersey, the NWA title match versus Aldis where it appeared Flip earned Aldis’ and Cody’s respect, only to be handed a Cracker Barrel gift card seemed like it was setting the stage for Gordon to have a huge role on the show.
Yes, the battle royal win was a cool surprise and moment to get him on the show, but his regular TV style ROH Title match was underwhelming. Also, add in the fact that all it was all a back-drop to set up the Lethal-Ray feud and this takes a giant L in my book. And I’m not sure following this up on Being The Elite can save it.
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