AEW All Out 2022: Results, MJF Return, Full Recap and Analysis

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After CM Punk defeated Jon Moxley, the lights went off and everything faded to black. We hear what's apparently a voice message left to an unknown recipient from AEW founder Tony Khan. In it, Khan says the recipient's absence is inexcusable, and that Khan is giving him one last chance to show up -- if he chooses to, he can be the Joker in the Casino Ladder Match.

Earlier in the night, a masked man won the Casino Ladder Match. That masked man, the recipient of the voice message, was MJF. 

MJF came out in front of the live crowd, now without his mask, and motioned a championship belt around his waist. He stared Punk down from the ramp to end the show. 

CM Punk won back the AEW Championship in the main event of All Out, becoming the second person to win the title for a second time. 

There were duelling chants for Punk and Moxley at the beginning, but once the match got going the crowd was 95% for Punk. They cheered when Punk got offense, and booed heavily when Moxley got control. Later on, towards the end of the bout, it was more of a 70/30 situation in Punk's favor. Amazing atmosphere. 

The opening sequence was a mirror of their Dynamite bout. Punk clocked Moxley with a high kick, just like their previous match. But instead of being incapacitated due to the foot injury, he landed a knee strike in the corner and then a Go To Sleep for a two count. 

Punk brawled with Moxley throughout the crowd and by ringside, but the tide turned against him when Moxley shoved him face-first into the turnbuckle. That bloodied Punk's head up. Moxley hopped outside and punched and elbowed the wound to open it up -- Punk bled profusely from this point on.

Pretty gnarly stuff ensued. Moxley worked over Punk with various submissions, mostly leg-based. There was a dramatic scene where Moxley got Punk in an STF, and the camera closed right up on his bloody face. Punk got out of it by trying to poke Moxley's eyes.

Moxley Dragonscrewed Punk's injured leg and put him in a Figure Four as the crowd showered boos on him. Punk gave him a defiant finger, so Moxley planted him with a Piledriver for a two count. Moxley attempted a second Piledriver, this time on the apron, but Punk fought out and got some offense in. He rammed Moxley into the turnbuckle and briefly locked him in the Anaconda Vice. 

Punk laid Moxley down with a kick then went for an Elbow Drop from the top rope. Moxley countered it, catching Punk with a Rear-Naked Choke. Some great submission wrestling here: Punk fought out into an Armbar, then Moxley got a Bulldog Choke. Punk tried to kick Moxley, but Moxley caught his foot and put on a Toe Hold.

Back on their feet, they exchanged punches before Punk attempted a GTS. Moxley caught Punk's foot, kicked it and landed a Deathrider DDT for a nearfall. Moxley then got the Bulldog Choke on, but Punk rolled out and hit a second GTS. 

A limp Moxley fell onto Punk's back. Punk lifted him up for a third GTS for the three count.

Rating: 4.5 stars.  The match was laid out so Punk could be the ultimate babyface fighting from underneath: He came in with an injury, and got bloodied up very early on. He was wearing white tights, I suspect for the sole purpose of making the blood stand out more. 

The crowd was mega into it -- though more people supported Moxley than I expected -- and these two told a clear, easy-to-understand story. Stellar main event.

There was dissent among the team of Sting, Darby Allin and Miro early on, as Miro started out and was reluctant to tag any of his partners in. When Miro was Irish Whipped into the ropes, Darby took advantage and slapped Miro on the back to tag himself in.

Allin ran wild for a bit, but was cut off when he attempted a Code Red on Buddy Matthews -- Malakai Black caught mid-move him with a very high kick. For what it's worth, Darby works great with Matthews. Matthews' offense is so explosive, and Darby is so good at whipping himself around to sell other people's moves; it's a perfect matchup.

Sting got a hot tag, leading to some Stinger Splashes on Matthews and Brody King. Sting chucked Matthews into House of Black's corner, daring Malakai Black to tag in. He did, and Sting quickly got the better of him, as Black ended up in a Scorpion Death Lock. 

House of Black broke it up, and Black put Sting in a leglock. As he did, Miro and Allin took out the other House of Black guys. Sting, out of the leglock, hit King with a Scorpion Death Drop followed by a Coffin Drop by Allin for a great two count, broken up only by Matthews. 

Miro ran wild on the outside, but Matthews hit him in the stomach with a bat while the ref couldn't see. Allin demolished Matthews with his awesome Suicide Dive, which left just Sting and Malakai Black in the ring. Black went for his Black Mass finishing kick, but Sting sprayed black mist in Black's face -- turnabout is fair play. Allin did his Last Supper pin on Black for the win.

Rating: 3 stars. A good match, especially considering its tough spot.

It was a headscratcher when Chris Jericho pinned Bryan Danielson in the Anarchy in the Arena match at DOuble or Nothing, and that's followed up with another headscratcher here: Jericho beat Danielson once again at All Out. 

Jericho came out in his Lionheart gear. There was a lot of mat wrestling to start out, as well as some stiff-sounding chops. It escalated when Danielson attempted a top-rope Hurricanrana and Jericho countered by catching him, jumping off the ropes and locking Danielson into the Walls of Jericho.

It was a great counter -- met by Danielson minutes later when he reversed an attempted Lionsault into a LaBell Lock. Jericho did manage to successfully land the Lionsault a moment later after a Tombstone -- it's weird to see two former WWE guys jockey over a Tombstone.

Jericho attempted a Judas Effect elbow, but Danielson cut it off with a hard kick to the back. Danielson then did his Yes Kicks, culminating with a shot to the head. Danielson stomped on Jericho's head and put him in the LaBell Lock again. Every time Jericho neared the ropes, Danielson would roll into the center of the ring. Eventually Jericho did fight out, then transitioned into a Walls of Jericho. Danielson kicked his way out, then yanked Jericho into a Triangle Choke. Jericho got to the ropes to break it up -- nice submission wrestling.

Danielson barraged Jericho with kicks and chops, then attempted a flying clothesline -- but Jericho caught him in midair with a Codebreaker for a two count. Jericho then cranked on a Liontamer -- a Walls of Jericho with one knee on Danielson's head -- but Danielson got to the ropes. 

Danielson got a nearfall next, ducking a clothesline and landing a Busaiku Knee for a two count. Danielson got Jericho in the Cattle Mutilation submission hold, then rocked him with elbow strikes and locked the hold in again. Gnarly stuff, but Jericho got to the ropes. 

Danielson kicked Jericho around the ring, and attempted another submission hold. Jericho ran Danielson into the turnbuckle where the ref was and, with the ref unable to see, hit a lowblow kick on Danielson. He followed it up with a Judas Effect for the win.

Rating: 4.25 stars. Having Jericho beat Danielson is some questionable creative, but the match itself was fabulous. On a show full of hectic athletics and chaotic spots, they were smart to build the bout around submission holds. It felt different, it stood out. 

This will hopefully lead to a bigger rematch that Danielson wins. 

The bout between Christian and Jungle Boy lasted about 15 seconds.

Luchasaurus turned against Jungle Boy before the match, attacking him on his way to the ring. Luchasaurus Chokeslamed Jungle Boy on grates by the entrance, then slammed him through a table at ringside. 

After Luchasaurus threw Jungle Boy into the ring, the ref for some reason allowed the match to begin. Christian cut Jungle Boy down with a Spear for a two count. Christian was upset that Jungle Boy kicked out, then planted him with a Killswitch for the win.

Before hitting the Killswitch, Christian blew a kiss to Jungle Boy's mother, who was at ringside. Not much of a match, but a good angle. 

Luchasaurus switching allegiance from Jungle Boy, Christian and then back to Jungle Boy in the lead up to this has been silly. This should cement Luchasaurus firmly as a monster heel, and hopefully doesn't end up being a swerve that sees Luchasaurus triple cross Christian according to some grand Jungle Boy plan.

The women of AEW were not helped at all by the match order of All Out. Just like Jade Cargill and Athena had to follow the heated Trios Championship bout, these four women had to follow the even better AEW Tag Team Championship match. 

There were some fun sequences early on, like a series of rollups exchanged between all four women and, later, a series of dives and dropkicks on the outside. 

Surprisingly, the biggest chants of the match were for Hayter and not Baker, the traditional crowd favorite of the women's division.

Baker and Hayter worked together to take Shida out of the match entirely. Hayter got Shida in a fireman's carry position and walked her up the ramp to the entranceway, where Baker planted her with a Curbstomp. The crowd booed as officials walked Shida out of the arena. 

Hayter and Baker turned their focus on Storm next. Again, the crowd chanted for Hayter, so the story doesn't really work in that the crowd is actively in favor of one of the baddies. There was, however, a chant for Shida when she ran back to he ring with Kendo sticks and nailed both Hayter and Baker with them.

With all four women now back in the ring, they exchanged big moves, including an attempted tandem pin from Baker and Hayter on Shida. There was a fantastic spot where Toni Storm German Suplexed Baker, but Hayter was able to snatch the Storm, who has bridging the Suplex into a pin, into a Tombstone. Baker got another Curbstomp on Shida for a two count.

Baker pulled her glove out to signal for the Lockjaw, but Storm chucked her out the ring. Hayter hit her finish on Storm, but Baker pulled the referee out of the ring to break up the pin. That caused an argument between the two, which allowed Storm to DDT both of them and pin Hayter.

Rating: 3.5 stars. 

The AEW Tag Team Championship match saw Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee retain their titles in arguably the best match of the night. The huge success that this match turned into is entirely due to the popularity The Acclaim have slowly built, as the crowd was absolutely dying to see them win the gold.

There are many matches in AEW that feature more remarkable spots. There are few that have the crowd as emotionally invested in the outcome as this one did. 

In the opening minutes of the match, when Caster was mat wrestling with Swerve Strickland, the crowd united in an "oh, scissor me daddy" chant. Lee began working like a heel minutes into the bout: After a second huge "scissor me daddy" chant, Lee extended his hand to Caster. When Caster went to shake it, Lee punched Caster in the face, earning a shower of boos -- and a "you can't scissor" chant.

That began a heat sequence where Swerve and Lee beat down on Caster. Eventually, Caster was able to get a top-rope stunner on Lee, which allowed him to tag in Bowens. Bowens was gaining momentum against Swerve when he attempted to jump off the second rope. Bowens' knee buckled, and he began selling his leg -- and doing a great job at it.

This began a great segment of the match where Swerve and later Lee worked over Bowens' knee. Swerve did a sweet baseball slide dropkick to Bowens on the outside, but instead of kicking Bowens' head he kicked his knee. Swerve in Our Glory did a tandem offense where they did a Backbreaker-type move, but on Bowens knee instead.

Bowens hulked up to Lee, fighting back and landing a Blockbuster Neckbreaker from the middle rope. He tagged in Caster, and the two managed to hit a massive Superplex on Keith Lee from the top rope. Before they did, though, Swerve tagged himself in. He hit a Swervestomp on Bowens for a nearfall -- the crowd lost its mind when Bowens kicked out. Swerve tried getting Bowens in a Half Crab submission, but Caster broke it up with a springboard Missile Dropkick -- again the crowd went wild.

Caster hit a Mic Drop elbow from the turnbuckle to Swerve on the outside. On the inside, Lee started striking Caster. Billy Gunn got on the apron to confront Lee, causing a distraction that allowed Caster to hoist Lee on his shoulders and hit a John Cena-style Attitude Adjustment. It was crazy.

Caster then landed another Mic Drop on Swerve in the middle of the ring for a 2.9 count that was broken up by Lee at the last millisecond. This was a fantastic false finish -- everyone thought The Acclaimed won, and the crowd chanted "bullshit" when they realized the match wasn't over.

The final minutes of the match were incredible. Swerve took Caster out for good by dropping him with a Burning Hammer slam on the apron. That left an injured Bowens alone in the ring with Lee and Swerve. There was a tremendous spot where Swerve went for a high kick, but Bowens dodged it thanks only to his knee giving out, leading to the kick hitting Lee. Bowens Superkicked Bowens and rolled up Lee for another nearfall, but Lee kicked out. 

Lee got Bowens on his shoulders in an Electric Chair position, and Swerve hit the Swervestomp on Bowens for the win. The crowd chanted "bullshit" again.

Rating: 4.75 stars. To me, this was the best match of the night.

The plucky Ricky Starks couldn't overcome the brute force of Powerhouse Hobbs. In this clash between former Team Taz guys, Hobbs defeated Ricky Starks with a Spinebuster. 

The crowd was into the feud, chanting for Starks every time he began to fought back from underneath. They both played their roles well, with Hobbs using his massive size advantage to keep Starks down, and Starks showing great tenacity as he attempted to mount offense. 

The match was a short one, ending after about 6 minutes with a Spinebuster that came abruptly out of nowhere.

Rating: 2.75 stars. 

FTR and Wardlow were victorious at All Out, defeating Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machine Guns after Wardlow hit five Powerbombs on Lethal. After the match, Satnam Singh teased confronting Wardlow but Samoa Joe returned to fend Singh off.

There's not much to say about the match. It was long and the action was good, but nothing noteworthy happened. Unusually for a FTR match, there wasn't much in the way of story. Wardlow didn't feel very special either: He did end up getting the win with the Powerbomb Symphony on Lethal, but he felt far more like a big midcard guy than he did an unstoppable monster. 

It's nice to see the veteran Motor City Machine Guns get an opportunity on a big stage, but the standout performer of the match was probably Jay Lethal -- though he ended up taking the pin. 

After the match, and after Samoa Joe's return, Dax Harwood's daughter Finley, who he spoke about in a promo weeks back, came down and knocked out Sonjay Dutt. The ref counted to 3 for a feel-good moment. 

Rating: 3 stars. It's unfortunate that this went on after the Trios Championship match. Both were 6-man tags with limited story and lots of action, but the Trios match had far more exciting spots and more believable nearfalls. This was good, but came off as being Just There. 

Jade Cargill and Athena were put in the unenviable position of having to follow the Trios Championship match. Cargill won after a quick bout with the Jaded. 

Athena started with a bang, barraging Cargill with high kicks. She then landed an O Face -- a top rope stunner-- on Cargill, but Kiera Hogan and Leila Grey pulled Athena out of the ring to break up the pin. The ref, seeing this blatant cheating, did absolutely nothing.

Athena destroyed Grey and Hogan on the outside before getting back on the ring to focus on Cargill. Though Cargill got in some big moves, including a nice spear, Athena consistently got the better of Cargill, landing a bunch of near falls. A distraction from Grey and Hogan, however, allowed Cargill to hit Athena with a pump kick and a Jaded for the win.

Rating: 2.5 stars. This was a great 4-minute match. These two worked together well, hopefully they can get a longer rematch on another show -- where they aren't following Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. 

Kenny Omega and Matt and Nick Jackson became the first AEW Trios Champions by defeating Adam Page, John Silver and Alex Reynolds. You can question whether or not adding these titles is smart or not -- it strikes me as very much not smart, considering the overabundance of championship titles on every show -- but this match was must-watch. 

The story of the bout at the beginning was that The Elite are Hangman Page's opponents tonight, but he doesn't hate them. He fist bumped Nick Jackson, and when the Dark Order guys were ruthlessly beating down on Matt Jackson's injured back he broke it up and told them to wrestle more professionally.

There was a huge pop when Kenny Omega got tagged in and confronted Hangman Page. There were dueling chants for Omega and "cowboy shit," but John Silver tagged himself in before they could get going. When Adam Page tagged himself back in minutes later, there was some consternation from Silver directed at Page. 

Page was building momentum against Omega, but was cut off with a sweet superkick from Nick Jackson when Hangman was in the middle of attempted springboard offense. That began extended heat on Page, though he eventually got a tag to Silver. From there is was all back and forth tandem offense with nearfall after nearfall -- what you'd expect from a pay-per-view Young Bucks match, basically. 

Highlights include a a Dragon Suplex-fest from Omega, a blitz of tandem offense from Silver and Alex Reynolds to Omega, and a Pendulum Bomb from the Dark Order on Matt Jackson, with the pin broken up by a Swanton Bomb from Nick Jackson.

There was a massive wipeout spot where the only men left standing where Omega and Page, but the referee kept them apart as neither were the legal men. To solve the problem, both them dragged a member of their own team to their corner, went to the respective aprons and tagged themseves in. 

The crowd got into Page and Omega's clash, with a giant "this is awesome!" chant. Hangman got a Buckshot Lariat, but didn't go for a pin and instead attempted a second one. It was interrupted by the Bucks, who took Page out with a BTE Trigger. They pinned Page, but Reynolds broke it up.

There was a fantastic sequence between Omega and Silver, where Omega set up various big moves but Silver countered into a rollup pin, including a sick counter to a One Winged Angel. The crowd bought each as a potential finish, and Omega made Silver look tremendous. 

Silver held Omega in a full-nelson. Hangman Page went for a Buckshot Lariat on Omega, but Omega ducked so the Lariat blitzed Silver instead. Omega pinned Silver for the win.

Rating: 4.5 stars. The Dark Order haven't been presented as top-tier talent to rival Omega and The Bucks. If you can forgive that, though, this was phenomenal. It was the classic pay-per-view Bucks match: No story, just lots of back-and-forth action. But none of it was preposterous, and all of it was exciting. The final minutes were particularly strong.

All Out's main show kicked off with the Casino Ladder match, an 8-man ladder match with a shot for the AEW Championship on the line. The Casino Ladder match featured Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, Penta, Rey Fenix, Rush, Andrade El Idolo, Dante Martin and an unannounced Joker. 

That unannounced Joker ended up winning the match -- we would later find out that it's MJF.

The Casino Ladder Match is kind of like a combination of a ladder match and a Royal Rumble. It starts with two people -- in this case Yuta and Fenix -- and a new person is added every 90 seconds.

The first person added was Rush. There was an awkward moment when Yuta began climbing the ladder as Rush was making his entrance. Rush, seeing Yuta climb the ladder, made no effort to come to the ring, and began taking off his lucha gear slowly as the announcers questioned why he wasn't trying to stop Yuta from winning the match. A moment where paegentry took impractical precedence over logic.

Andrade came in next, leading to the first insane spot of the match. Andrade and Yuta were fighting atop a ladder when Andrade hit Yuta with a Sunset Flip Powerbomb over the ladder onto another ladder. A wicked bump for Yuta to take -- but it doesn't mean much, because Claudio's music plays and the crowd starts chanting for the Ring of Honor Champion. 

Dante Martin is in next, followed by Penta. Penta hit a Canadian Destroyer on Dante Martin on the ramp on Penta's way to the ring -- what a flex. That was the beginning of a sick sequence where he hit a bunch of crazy offense on the participants, culminating with a Canadian Destroyer to Andrade on a ladder. As that happened, Penta landed a Frogsplash to Rush from the top rope through a table on the outside. 

After this though, a bunch of guys in black jeans and hoodies storm the ring and beat down everyone. One ascends the ladder and takes the casino chip. It turns out to be Stokely Hathaway and his faction of guys (Ethan Page, William Morrissey etc.). Taz explains that Hathaway isn't the Joker, but that whoever gets the chip off Hathaway wins.

Right then the Joker enters in a mask, with theme music no one's heard before. He grabs the chip off Hathaway and wins the match. The Joker teases taking his mask off to reveal who he is, but then shakes his head and wags his finger at the camera. 

OK.

Rating: 2 stars. The action was as crazy as you'd expect, but largely senseless. The ending was also senseless -- random guys storm the ring and take the chip, and anyone who gets it off them wins the match? Bleh. Stupid pro wrestling stuff. 

The match provided cool gifs to gawk at, but that's it. 

The Intercontinental Championship match at WWE's Clash at the Castle between Gunther and Sheamus recieved huge acclaim for how hard hitting it was. Eddie Kingston versus Tomohiro Ishii during All Out's preshow is AEW's answer to that. These two beat the hell out of each other.

Eddie Kingston, by far the most over person on the preshow, got the win over Ishii with two spinning backfists and a Northern Lights Suplex. Kingston came out to huge "Eddie!" chants, but the crowd had a lot of respect for Ishii too. It made for an ideal atmosphere as these two demolished each other.

The match began with Kingston and Ishii exchanging chops, one for one. They did it so hard for so long that they got a standing ovation from the Chicago crowd. It set the tone for 13 minutes to follow. They exchanged chops, kicks, suplexes -- it was gnarly. There was a botch about three quarters of the way through that stalled momentum a little, but other than that this match was fantastic. 

Rating: 4 stars. 

Pac retained the All-Atlantic Championship during All-Out's preshow, defeating Kip Sabian with a Black Arrow.

The action was good, but not particularly memorable after the many insane matches that followed. The crowd was moderately into Sabian -- at one point there were dueling "underrated" and "over it" chants -- but was mostly just cheering the moves and not the guys themselves.

To me, the big question is around the All-Atlantic Championship. It seemed a superfluous title upon its unveiling prior to Forbidden Door, and in the first pay-per-view since its inception the All-Atlantic Championship is being defended on the preshow. And remember, there are 11 matches on All Out's main show. Being on the preshow didn't do much for its questionable prestige.

Orange Cassidy came out to confront Pac after the match, but Pac yelled that Cassidy is a joke, not a wrestler, and that he needs to get at the back of the line.

Rating: 3 stars. 

Hook retained the FTW Championship in the second match of All Out's Zero Hour preshow. In the crowd during Hook's intro was Action Bronson, the rapper who made Hook's entrance music. 

Hook outwrestled Parker early, but was cut off by a cheapshot from Matt Menard on the outside. Parker beat Hook down some, talking trash about "exposing" Hook as the crowd chanted "Hook is gonna kill you," until Hook mounted a comeback. Menard tried to cut him off again, but Hook stomped on his hand.

Hook hit a bunch of Judo throws on Angelo, then a nice suplex. After a brief back-and-forth, including a wicked-looking boot to the face from Parker to Hook, Hook locked in the Redrum for the win.

After the match, Matt Menard ambushed Hook. Menard and Parker worked him over until Action Bronson came from the crowd into the ring to help Hook fight them off. 

Rating: 2.5 stars. Nice, basic match. Hook continues to develop -- he should be a huge star. 

All Out's Zero House preshow began with Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo doing an interview in the back, but being interrupted by Ortiz and Ruby Soho literally running them down with a golf cart. Soho and Ortiz were in their gear and adorned with warpaint, but Sammy and Tay didn't even get a chance to get their tights on.

That ended up not mattering though, as Sammy and Tay retained their AAA Mixed Tag Titles after Tay pinned Soho. Tay hit a Tay-KO, and Sammy held Ortiz so Ortiz couldn't interrupt the pin.

Lots of wild spots in this match. Tay Superplexed Soho to the outside onto Sammy and Ortiz at one point. Earlier, Sammy launched Tay in the air for a Canadian Destroyer on Ortiz, followed up by a Swanton Bomb by Sammy. Sammy got a little hardway blood, apparently from a shot from Ortiz.

Rating: 2 stars. Lots of action here, but it was a million miles a minute with no breathing room. A 15-minute match crammed into about 6 minutes.