We bout the party! Hello everyone, it is AEW Unrestricted, the official podcast of all elite wrestling. I am Aubrey Edwards, he is well-Washington and we are here during all-out week. It feels like we just got back from London because we actually did. This is the first time that all-out is running from Hoffman Estates, not during Labor Day weekend. I am pretty excited about that. It is a little bit different, a little bit of tradition, but also a little bit different.
It is a little bit different in a lot of ways. I recognized that I have been to every all-out as a fan and as an AEW employee except for Jacksonville. But what is interesting is that I have always spent my Labor Day away from home because of that. My neighborhood does this block party every Labor Day. I have always missed it every year, but then this year I was still at collision, so I still had a reason to miss it. It wasn't for all-out this time.
It wasn't like I didn't get to do all the the Schaunberg and Hoffman Estates stuff that I typically get to do, but instead it is this weekend. I think looking at this card much like last year. All-in was one of those shows last year where it was like, man, how do we top this a week? And then we did. Oh my God. Genuinely, I think all-out last year was my favorite pay-per-view of the year. Oh, I agree. I agree. It was super. It was so great last year.
And this year I think we have the opportunity to do a lot of the same. This card, what's interesting is that every match here kind of has that same feel from last year where even with just two weeks between the two shows, there's so much buildup. And so we're all going to be able to build a new story that goes into everything here. And I'm just really excited about this card. I'm excited for what we've put together. I'm excited that everybody gets a chance to check this out.
You can check it out on pay-per-view. Traditional pay-per-viewer. You can stream it on Triller YouTube Bleacher Report. If you want to check this show out, it's this Saturday, September 7th live from now arena in Chicago. We're returning to where it all started. This is going to be a great time. I mean, the other benefit of having sort of that extra weekend between, as opposed to last year is we sort of get to see kind of the fallout of All-In, but also the buildup to All-Out.
Because I think All-In was such an emotional experience for all of us. And we'll talk about kind of some behind-the-scenes stories about that next week. But it was so emotional with the way that it ended with Brian Danielson becoming the AEW World Champion after putting his career on the line, potentially retiring after this match. And both men, both Swirv Strickland and Brian Danielson, just put on an absolutely wonderful match.
So getting to see Brian come out with the belt around his waist and talk about how he finally did it and then having Jack Perry come in and just completely. I'm excited about this because I feel like Brian is one of those guys where he's kind of on his way out, he's sort of helping leave the company in a better place than he got there. Like, he's doing the thing that a lot of veterans do where there's going to be that whole once he does finally finish.
But it's great because we're seeing all of these amazing matches with sort of the new round of people that are going to be the people we talk about, the way we talk about Brian in a number of years. Well, and you know, with this particular match, one of the cool things is that going into all in, we were all on edge about the fact that Brian Danielson's career was on the line. But one of the things he said was that it remains on the line when he loses the AEW World Championship.
That's it for his full time career. And so with this match, Brian Danielson versus Jack Perry for the AEW World Championship. Oh my God. It's the same stakes. It's Brian's title and career on the line here. Jack Perry has a chance to end Brian Danielson in the American Dragon as we know him. You know, Jack Perry has a lot of history with Chicago, of course, having just performed in Chicago for New Japan Pro Wrestling, getting the reaction of a lifetime.
And now here coming up against Brian Danielson, you know, he is the current been reigning defending TNT champion. He actually just beat one of the top contenders for the TNT championship at all in for the AEW championship at all in in a coffin match. And he pinned Brian Danielson in the anarchy in the arena match at double or nothing, just a few months ago. And so in Jack Perry's mind, this AEW championship is already won. But Brian Danielson just getting started.
He is not going to let this be a two week reign. He is not going to let this be the story ending to his AEW career to his career as a whole. And I think Brian Danielson is is ready to hold back the challenge of Jack Perry. I think he is and I'd forgotten the whole putting his career on the line basically for every match. So now great. I have to go through this emotional roller coaster again, potentially multiple times. It ends up winning.
But I mean, Jack Perry has this since he came back, he's just had this evilness surrounding him and he's not the same person he was. It feels different going into this match than we saw a swirve in Brian. I'm more worried than I was for Brian before. And I don't know if you feel the same, but it's going to be an emotional one. And I'm really excited to see this at all out at Hoffman's States at the now arena this weekend Saturday AEW Ticks.com. If you don't have your tickets yet, get it.
We always deliver on those paper views. It's going to be a fantastic show. Now there are so many matches on this card we need to talk about. One of the ones I want to talk about is Mercedes Monet versus Hikaru Shita for the TBS Championship, where as we just recently learned, Camille is now banned from ringside. So this is an extra little twist and we're revisiting what they had before. But now we don't have that X factor involved.
Well, yeah, Shita noted on Ram Page just a few weeks ago about how she was won Katana away from winning the TBS Championship. The last time these two competed and as she, I think referred to her as her watchdog, Camille got involved and ended up costing her the championship. So to have this opportunity at the TBS Championship, this time with no Camille involved, this time we get to see Mercedes Monet and Hikaru Shita go one on one without the outside interference, without the protection.
I think the last time that these two performed on Dynamite just a few weeks ago, I think we saw the makings of what was close to being a, what could have been a classic between these two and I feel like they got maybe three quarters of the way there and to have the opportunity on pay-per-view in front of this incredible Chicago crowd, they're going to deliver a classic here.
And I think for what we just saw from Shita on collision winning that four way over Queen Amanata, Thunder Rosa, and Serena Deeb, for what we've seen from Mercedes Monet and just recently defending the New Japan strong world championship at capital collision. I think they're both on a bit of a roll, but I think Shita has a bit of a chip on her shoulder and knowing that these two are going to get to do this in front of like I said, the Chicago fans that I think, do you remember two years ago?
It was Swervenar Glory versus the acclaimed. Oh my God. The crowd got behind the acclaimed in a way that like we knew the fans were going to get behind the acclaimed, but I don't think people expected that reaction. My gut tells me this is that match.
It feels like there's this, I don't want to say ground swelling because they've always kind of been behind Shita, but in a way where they want to see her at the top again, I think this is going to be that match, especially the way Mercedes tends to draw the eye or out of people. She enjoys that by the way, but nonetheless, the way she tends to draw that eye or from the people, to me, this is going to end up being a match that pulls the people in and in a way I don't think people are expecting.
I think this is Mercedes's toughest opponent yet because we have seen Shita since day one of AEW dominate. She is three time AEW women's champion, three time AEW women's world champion and the longest reigning AEW women's world champion. She's incredible. I feel like every time we see her face on a match graphic, TV, pay-per-view, whatever, it's just like, hell yeah, this is going to be a great match.
I love where this match is happening, kind of in the timeline of AEW because our women's division has been absolutely killing it. You mentioned the collision match they had with Serena Deeb, Queen Amanata, Thunder Rosa, like hell yeah, all of those women are absolute contenders that could take on Mercedes Monet, one of the greatest women's wrestlers in the history of wrestling.
But we have Shita, which I am so stoked for this match because of what Mercedes means wrestling, but because of what Shita means to AEW. And to see both of these two getting the ring in a pay-per-view setting in front of a Chicago crowd, I am absolutely stoked to see this. If I'm not mistaken, Shita has been on every all-out card.
Whoa. Yeah, she was on zero hour last year in the tag match where she tagged with Will Knight Gail and Sky Blue and somehow managed to make her way onto this one to take on the dominating reigning and defending Mercedes Monet. I think this is going to be a killer match and I think one that both of them need the win-in, but only one can walk out as the TBS champion.
Yep, we're going to remind you over and over again, but there's a reason we're reminding you because all out is just a phenomenal show. Here in Chicago, it's going to be this Saturday, now arena, Triller Bleach Report, pay-per-view.com, traditional pay-per-view, watch it wherever you can. If you're in Chicago, being in a crowd like Chicago in the audience is an unforgettable experience. You need to make your way out to this pay-per-view.
Before we go to break, I want to talk about one more match and I am so excited to see the International Championship, not the US Championship, the International Championship. The American Championship as Max was calling it. I don't really care because I hated it. We talked about it last time, but we'll osprey as the International Champion. It just feels good. It feels right at home, but also we have PAK, another guy who's been here since day one.
I was going to say you want to talk about things that feel right, the very first International Champion. Yes. Back when it was the All Atlantic Championship, PAK was the first to hold that belt. Like I said, you want to talk about things that feel right. Him having that championship is a thing that he and Orange Cassie are the two names I really, very much associate with that championship.
Then also we'll osprey has really been coming into his own with that title and he was really just getting started before Max cut it short. Now knowing that PAK has the opportunity again to reclaim that championship, make it his again because he was a dominant champion and he was a dominant champion all over the world. We saw PAK holding that championship, defending it outside of AEW, but we've also seen Will Osprey do the same. I think these are two names that have a lot to prove.
We've seen these two go one on one well before their time in AEW. Tony has talked about that match being one of the matches that really put Will Osprey on his must sign radar. So knowing that these two are going to get to do this again on one of the most central AEW stages in all out one of our most important stages. Again, a place where you know when you think about the original all in and a place where it all started, you know, PAK had his first AEW match and win in this very building.
Faced Kenny Omega. It was a match that I remember being in that audience and being stunned. Shocked. When he locked in that brutalizer and beat Kenny Omega at all out, I was I remember thinking like, what is this made? Like Kenny Omega is supposed to be like the guy around here and PAK beat him.
And now knowing that again, we're looking at a guy like Will Osprey, a guy who I think we can basically hitch our futures to as far as employees of this company are concerned, but PAK is no stranger to pulling off the victory in this very building and possibly walking out with the international championship. A new double champ because he also just won the Trio's championship in London at all in. So both these men are riding high.
And that's a thing that he wouldn't be a stranger to the last time he was a Trio's champion. He was also the international champion. And so again, it's it's one of those things that he can repeat history and PAK walking around with both belts is a site that would just look right. It would. I'm so excited. It's we've only talked about three matches on this card.
There's so much more to talk about all out coming back to Chicago this Saturday at the now arena, bleacher report, traditional pay-per-view, pay-per-view.com, thriller, watch it. You don't want to miss it. You got more coming up here on AEW Unrestricted, after the break. AEW Unrestricted, Will and Aubrey here talking about all out which is back this Saturday at the now arena in Chicago. We're so stoked excited about it. I know Will had mentioned a little bit in the first segment.
He's been to every all out that fans were able to attend. I have also been to every all out one more than you. In fact. Yeah, you got to ref the main event of the first all out. Yeah, which is wild. It's one of those things where every time you go back to a building that you've done something important at before, it kind of has that wave of nostalgia that just hits you.
Every time I go to the now arena, which back then was the Sears Center back when the original all in was there, back when the original all out was first there, it was the Sears Center. So in my heart, it's going to always be the Sears Center. But now at the now arena, every time I walk in that building, I think about this. This is the first time that we saw a championship match, the championship match between Chris Jericho and Hangman Adam Page, both men who have been AEW champion.
It was the first time I got to work with Dean Malinco. It was the first time I got to work in front of Chicago crowd, which is as we've said a couple times on this. And if I mean you're your wrestling fan, you've seen it even on TV like Chicago crowds are one of those crowds that people talk about. And all out, I think is such a special show to so many of us who have been there since day one. I'm particularly excited to like just walk into now arena and be it with that is nostalgia. I'm stoked.
You know, I think coming out of the pandemic, I was so just ready to watch wrestling as much as I could. And I was basically on flights everywhere. I remember going to the first dynamite in Miami. I was just kind of everywhere. But I remember my kids that Labor Day weekend were like, we were like, go with them. I was with you on one of those trips. And my wife was like, yeah, please take them. And so that was the first time I had gotten to take them.
That was the first pay-per-view they had ever attended. They had been to plenty of TV, but they had never seen a pay-per-view. And I took them to all out 2021. And for them to get to see the debut of Adam Cole, then five minutes later, the debut of Brian Danielson. And for all that to come full circle, you know, we talked about Brian Danielson versus Jack Perry earlier.
But one of the most significant parts of that story is the fact that we closed out all out 2021 with Brian Danielson standing tall alongside Jack Perry. And having taken out the elite and we've now come full circle with Jack Perry as now a member of the elite against Brian Danielson. With that being such a moment, like I remember just as the show was ending. I remember being all smiles just thinking about it.
If we literally just see Adam Cole join AEW and Brian Danielson do it five minutes later, how can this be? It's just one of the most amazing moments in just thinking about how all out this year has the potential to create those same types of memories. It's such a cool show with such great memories. It really is. It really is. And it's one of those, oh man, I'm just trying to remember like last year, Brian Danielson versus Ricky Stark's in the strap.
Yeah. It was great and it was so great and so just violent in a beautiful way that wrestling has the ability to do in those perfect moments. And I remember Brian telling his kids like, no, no, no, it's just ketchup. It's just ketchup. But I'm like, that was a lot of ketchup. Yeah, they absolutely killed it last year. But then Mox and Orange in the main event last year for the International Championship to be on the stage. It was on last year.
I thought that was, again, just a show that had a lot to prove because of the show it had just followed, but it did it in spades. And that's what makes me really excited for this show. And honestly, you know, thinking about matches that have to follow an incredible act. We talked about Swarth, Strickland, and Brian Danielson, Maine, Avending, all in. And if you watch that match, you might feel like Swerve might still be AEW World Champion.
If it wasn't for the interference by one man, Hangman Adam Page, a man who has been obsessed with Swarth Strickland since the moment he returned to AEW. And the most violent of ways, you know, he, he has talked about for the longest time that he was going to burn Swarth's world to the ground that he wanted to see. His hopes and dreams go up in flames. And boy is he making a case for that. This, of course, this match taking place inside a steel cage in the first ever lights out steel cage match.
We've seen these two get extremely violent with each other. We've seen Swarth Strickland and Hangman Adam Page famously have the Texas death match last year. There was a feeling that night as it was happening of how could they ever talk this? Right? The biggest change here is that the hatred between these two has increased tenfold. And to now see these two where they are today with Hangman Adam Page being far more deranged than he's ever been.
As the obsession of taking down Swarth Strickland has increased, he has become a far more sadistic version of himself.
But at the same time, you've got Swarth Strickland who I think has developed a confidence of being a top guy in AEW that when you look at the difference between when he approached Hangman on the microphone a year ago, right after all out to a week ago, that had himself so composed in a way where you would think he was going to rip this man's head off physically and instead he did it verbally. But at the same time, Hangman Adam Page went ten times too far this past Wednesday.
This rivalry has reached levels that I don't think any rivalry in AEW history has reached to block these two inside a cage with each other. I'm worried. Well, you think about why steel cages have been necessary in the history of professional wrestling and it's always been about keeping two men contained, keeping violence contained in one place. And when you think about a rivalry that absolutely needs to be contained, it's these two.
If for it to now be a lights out match, I don't even know what that means to a steel cage setting. But Swarth Strickland and Hangman Adam Page are about to show us what that's all about. I think it's very clear. As soon as you said it, it's meant to contain it because I think if these men were not contained, I think we'd all be even more worried about just the state of themselves, right? And how they're going to be when they come out of this match.
I feel like we saw both a shift in Hangman and Swarth coming out of their very bloody match. Uh, last year one guy is literally drinking another dude's blood. It was disgusting, but so absolutely memorable because how do two people innately hate each other this much? And we've seen the growth of of this rivalry over the course of months and months and months and Hangman was away.
And once he came back, I think, I think when you're away and you're thinking about something, it's all that consumes you. It's the only thing on your mind. So the only way to resolve anything that's stuck in there is to just address it. And there's there's almost no better way to address it than in a space where your problem literally cannot escape. Absolutely. I'm very worried about both men.
I think that Hangman in the way that Swarth unleashed a side of Hangman that I don't think we knew even existed. I think Hangman may have unleashed something in Swarth that he was already the most dangerous man in AEW, but to now know what's coming inside this steel cage match, this is going to be incredible.
We've talked about it so much, but this is a can't miss event Saturday, now arena, Chicago all out a pay-per-view that means so much to AEW that has so much history and so many great matches that we have still have many more to talk about. Bleacher Report, Triller, PVV.com, traditional pay-per-view, definitely tune in. This is a can't miss event. We've got so much more coming up here on AEW unrestricted. We've got just a couple more matches to talk about on this incredible card.
And we're going to be continuing that right here when AEW unrestricted continues. AEW unrestricted, we're talking about all out and that's this Saturday, September 7th. Now arena, get your tickets, AEW, T-I-X.com, or you can join us on pay-per-view, we've got traditional pay-per-view, we're on Triller, we're on YouTube, we're on Bleacher Report. You do not want to miss this show because if you end up missing it, you may end up missing. The Street Fight. It's going to end.
One of the longest running rivalries in AEW. Willow Nightingale going one-on-one with Chris Statland or Chicago Street Fight. Willow Nightingale and Tomahiro Ishii taking the victory at all in on the zero hour and getting to choose the stipulation. Of course, Willow Nightingale, the most experienced Street Fight competitor in AEW choosing a match type that favors her, you would think in most circumstances.
But of course, it's against the one and only Chris Statlander, a woman who pretty much since she turned her back on Willow Nightingale back at double or nothing has been fairly unstoppable. She has really only lost one match. Pretty much in the entire time that she and Stokely have been aligned as in this deadly combo, but that was to Willow Nightingale.
And so when you think about the former friendship between these two and how it's broken down into this hatred that has been fueled by Stokely Hathaway, you have to wonder who this favors. Does this favor the betrayed in Willow Nightingale who feels like her two former friends here, who she thought had her back and now are basically the thorn in her side who have not left her alone since she lost the TBS championship? I can't pick this one.
No, it's hard because both of these women are so fantastic and we've seen independent of everything going on, independent of the fact that Statlander is a completely different person. I feel like I don't even know her anymore. We've seen Willow grow and just the AEW audience fall in love with her. We've seen the AEW audience go through absolute heartbreak after we saw Chris Statlander turn on Willow Nightingale. There is so much emotion going into this match.
And we've talked about all these different kind of match formats that we see on paper view. But when we see two people who have had it out for each other, enter a setting where violence is involved. Here just unadultered violence. I'm so excited for what we're going to see. I think we're going to see something new come out of these competitors.
Even though we've seen them in a street fight before, I think we're going to just see this new level of both of these girls just elevate each other back when they were teaming together, but also when they've just been in the ring facing each other. I'm still heartbroken after seeing Statlander turn on Willow by the way. Like, every time I see that clip, what this bitch. I know. I guess they've been at this for so long.
Thinking about, again, we've talked about how these two have both been in street fights with each other. But it was as a team, right? They do know each other in this setting. I was thinking about the other street fight they had where the two of them faced Julia Hart and Sky Blue. Like I said, we've seen these two in this setting. We've seen the tax involved. We've seen Barb. Why are we seeing them do it all? To now know that they're going to be against each other in a Chicago street fight.
I think Chris Statlander and Sokli Hathaway have kind of been a thorn at everybody's side. So now knowing that there's a chance to finally see them get their come up in, I'm ready for it. I'm ready to see this all finally come to an end. I think no matter what Chicago is going to be in for a treat with these two. Speaking of a treat, I want to talk about Daniel Garcia and how excited I am that he is returned and that he got to return at all out in the capacity he did.
Seeing him there and seeing his face and seeing that pure hatred for MJF. After MJF had taken him out a number of weeks prior, we saw the return of Daniel Garcia. And now we get to see MJF and Daniel Garcia facing each other at all out. I think I have to tell you really quick how much of a quick behind the scene story that's probably better served for next week's show, but at the same time. Yeah, whatever. I have to tell it now. But you mentioned how good it was to see Daniel Garcia's face.
I kid you not when I say that that man was walking around all in with that mask on the entire time. Oh yeah. So the point of where I'm catching up with Jamie Hader and he runs up and gives us both the hug and it's like great to see you and runs off and we both go, who the hell was that? And because of course he's got his face wrap on. Yeah, he's supposed to be. Live in the game. And then when he pulled it off in the in the match, we're like, oh.
It was one of those settings where all in is such a crazy event where you have all these fans cheering and 50 plus thousand was an absolute like it was just everyone was compacted. There's something about a London audience, but all of these things are happening that are normally very distracting. And if you're a performer, you're kind of taking it all in and he did not. That was some one of the things that I absolutely loved about that is Jets. His eyes were targeted at MJF.
So knowing that Dane Garcia is going to come into Chicago with that directive as the thing at the forefront of his brain just defeating MJF in this match. Oh, the passion. I love professional wrestling. Yeah, I think Max being Max is. If there's one thing he's saying is Max being Max. And we all know what you're talking about. One of the things that Max is very well known for is burning his friendships to the ground.
But Max, you know, he, he of course befriend a Daniel Garcia in a way where we should have known. We should have known he's MJF. We should have known that, you know, he's only ever trusted. There's only one friendship that ever meant anything to Max and it turned its back on him. And so otherwise this man has stabbed so many people in the back that we should have known this was coming for Daniel Garcia.
But at the same time, when you are someone like Daniel Garcia who strives to be the best at his craft to now have the store in his side that has been MJF, somebody who put him on the shelf where, you know, all Daniel Garcia wanted to do was perform on a stage like all day and to challenge for the international champion to get to be in that setting with that belt. And for Max to take that away from him, it was so poetic for him to then take that away from Max.
And now for these two to go one on one in Chicago and settle the score, I think, you know, seeing Garcia as fired up as he is right now, I'm actually going with Garcia to win this. Personally, I want Garcia to win this because we know my thoughts on MJF. But I think independent of that looking at where this rivalry is, how do you not get behind Daniel Garcia?
Seeing how he has grown since, you know, he made his debut in the middle of the pandemic, doing a couple of AEW dark matches to see him join the Jericho Appreciation Society to see him just absolutely kill it in singles matches and tag matches in whatever format you throw Daniel Garcia. And he is one of those guys that I am so happy every time he gets in the ring. Because I'm like, we're just watching something special.
I don't think people realize how great Daniel Garcia is and just how much he means to sort of the future of AEW. He's just this phenomenal competitor and he's so great. And I'm happy he's back because I'm happy I get to watch this this weekend in Chicago at all out Saturday at the now arena paperview.com, bleacher report, thriller TV, traditional paperview. We've set it time and time again because we absolutely mean it. AEW paperviews are can't miss events and all out means so much to all of us.
And anytime you have a show where all of us are just so emotionally invested in both the history and the moment itself, I think the audience feels that. It's one of the things I love about professional wrestling is that it happens in the moment and that's the only moment it happens. You have to be feeling it as it happens. But when it's great, it's so great and it's so special. I can't wait to see everybody there.
I can't wait to again, if you're going to be in Chicago now arena, do not miss us, AEWTix.com. You want to see this show. But again, order it on any one of your platforms that we make it so widely available. You cannot miss AEW all out. We'll be there. And of course, next week we're going to be talking about our experiences here and our experiences in London, continue to check out AEW unrestricted on your favorite podcast platforms. It's available every Thursday.
You can also check out the video edition of the show and see our beautiful faces on our YouTube channel every Monday. AEW Dynamite airs every Wednesday on TBS, AEW rampage every Friday on TNT, AEW collision every Saturday on TNT. Except for this week because the whole day on Friday on TNT to accommodate this very show we're talking about all out on Saturday in Chicago. You can also check out Ring of Honor watch roh.com or in the Ring of Honor app. This has been AEW unrestricted.
I'm Will Washington. She's Aubrey Edwards. We'll see you next time and have a great day. Peace. Come on through your hands. I'll let me see you. Unrestricted. Got the house now. We go turn it up. Bring the house down. Got the big space. Pump it. Make them bounce. Come bounce now. Close it like they're bouncing in the brakes are coming out now. Unrestricted. Unrestricted. Come on through your hands. I'll let me see you.