All Elite Wrestling All In: Texas (2025) Preview

Not many non-WrestleMania weekends can lay claim to being the biggest wrestling weekend of the year, but you could absolutely make the argument for the weekend of July 11-13: ROH Supercard of Honor, NXT's Great American Bash, a Saturday Night's Main Event headlined by Goldberg's final match, WWE Evolution, and most central to that; AEW All In: Texas. The flagship stadium event for the sixth year promotion, now away from London's Wembley Stadium for the first time, is slated for a nine-match card in 2025, with three main event caliber bouts: "Hangman" Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada Part 5, and "Timeless" Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Mone.

2025 has objectively been an overall great year for AEW by this point. While there's a chance for fan sentiment to swing dramatically on the outcome of Saturday's final match, on top of the fact that this show is following one of the promotion's best shows ever in this year's Double or Nothing, there's some fun stuff on this show. Let's get into what All In has to offer, some thoughts on these match buildups, and outright picks.

Mercedes Mone vs. "Timeless" Toni Storm [C] - AEW Women's World Championship Match

In no uncertain terms, this is the single biggest women's match AEW has ever run. Their 1A and 1B are at the peak of their powers in terms of character work and in-ring ability, respectively, at the same time, and yet another Toni Storm match that could easily Main Event a show, but most likely won't (understandable on this card, I will say). While the build to this super-match has been a bit underwhelming, with some weeks featuring Mercedes watching Storm wrestle ringside while eating steak without talking to commentary, both performers clearly hit the high notes they needed to in each of their key solo monologues, and then their opening and go-home promo segments. In the case of Mercedes, I wish we got this kind of promo out of her more often than the standard, "[your town inserted here], say hello to you're C-E-O" and "Mone. Changes. Everything." spiel. This specific promo was nothing short of fantastic.

AEW has objectively put itself in a great spot with Mone, with her sitting at 32-2 in singles matches in her post-WWE run (losses are to Willow Nightingale at a NJPW Strong show and Mayu Iwatani at Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom in 2023), and that first loss in an AEW setting will be a massive deal, as it should be. On the flipside, there's value in Mercedes becoming a double AEW Champion from the standpoint that she's not holding onto both belts forever, and this isn't a "That doesn't work for me brother -HH" situation, since Dave Meltzer of the Observer reported some time ago that she pitched to lose to Athena in the Owen Hart Tournament before the plans of this match were hammered in. Besides, I don't have an issue with Mone playing her cards wisely and seeing a bigger picture, especially if the in-ring work is going to be as good as it has been since last October.

So the question is this: Will this be the defining victory in the career of the Timeless one, potentially sending Mone into a spiral with her box of championship belts getting raided one by one? Or does the CEO's post-WWE odyssey culminate in her finally taking home definitive World Championship gold in what is slated to be her 10th stadium show? There's no bad direction or outcome here, but my gut says the year of the CEO rolls on. Any cameo appearance by Wendi Richter in the crowd or Storm's entrance would also be appreciated.

Winner: Mercedes Mone

Kyle Fletcher vs. Adam Cole [C] - TNT Championship Match

Not a ton of buzz coming into the match, which is a bummer given the talent involved, but injuries have sadly taken their toll on Adam Cole, who was one of the bigger free agent pickups AEW ever made when they got him in the summer of 2021. Likely in the final days of a mostly lame-duck TNT title run, this is the right time to give "The Protostar" Kyle Fletcher (WE will show him the proper respect by using his full name) the ball, being what will be AEW's No. 3 Championship, before he presumably takes the reins of the World Title sooner rather than later. For now, though, I think a somewhat lengthy run with the TNT strap could do some good and hopefully return it to the state it was in in 2021, when guys like Miro and Darby Allin had it and were able to put on great work consistently in one way or another.

I'd also hope most people can appricate just how good Fletcher already is at just 26 years old. Legitamately one of the best in-ring workers anywhere in the world and has taken to being a heel faction centerpeice as well as you could hope.

Winner: Kyle Fletcher

Men's Casino Gauntlet Match

Last year's Casino Gauntlet was an absolute hoot, with some face-paced spots and some big surprises like Nigel McGuinness (!!!!), the now once again IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre Jr., and a debuting Ricochet. Obviously, the Christian Cage win was ultimately wasted in a failed title pursuit months later, but the match concept has legs, despite the hit rate for "casino" match type winners capturing any title is abysmal; Going into this weekend, the ratio sits at 4-of-19 across the "Casino" gauntlet, battle royale, and ladder matches.

While I'd suspect this would make that number 4-for-20, I'm far from down on this match. The four confirmed members are opening participants MJF and Mark Briscoe, along with CMLL icon Mistico and the aforementioned Ricochet. Of course, there's no set number of participants, but AEW has some fun options to go with here. MJF feels like a logical and safe option for obvious reasons, but I wouldn't be surprised if his budding program with Mark Briscoe is what ultimately takes him out of the title picture for a bit longer.

Who else could make sense here? Jay White, who, spoiler, is my pick, coming back and resuming programs with either Main Event winner would make as much sense as an MJF win. Ricochet would be a solid pick in his own right, and more importantly, a steady and fresh opponent for Hanger. And for dark horse options, if AEW wants to use this match as a vehicle to facilitate a Forbidden Door Main Event in late August, I think the two best options they could go with would be current IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji or Bullet Club leader David Finlay, but I don't know if either would be available with the G1 just a week out (then again, Takeshita is working this week as well before flying over to join them).

Additionally, I will rate this match 6.5 stars with zero hesitation if they can get Monty Brown, who is in town for Starrcast, involved in any capacity, and seven if he pounces Max Caster over the top rope and through an annouce table. On the contrary, any member of House of Torture being involved, let alone winning this match, would put this in the negatives, and a minus five-star lock if it's EVIL, Sanada, or Chase Owens. I'm tough but fair.

Winner: Jay White

The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) [C] vs. The Patriarchy (Christian Cage and Nick Wayne) vs. JetSpeed ("Speedball" Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight) - Triple Threat Tag Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championships

As someone who thinks the Hurt Syndicate have been a great addition to AEW on the whole, I also think they got too far away from just having Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin having semi-regular, consistent tag matches, to get them out there and get the crowds active since they're super over. Since that pretty solid match with the Gates of Agony at Spring BreakThru (April 16th for reference), the Lashley-Benjamin unit has only worked two straight-up tag team matches: a > 5-minute squash of Top Flight, and then a solid enough tag vs. Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara at Double or Nothing.

For this All In match, I like the direction of "stacking the deck" against the champions with JetSpeed, who have been invaluable to the mid-card of AEW in 2025 both as singles and as a unit, and then the Cage&Wayne duo, and then having both become unintended allies on the go-home Dynamite by bludgoning Lashley and Benjamin. Much like the Rated-FTR trios match back at Dynasty, however, this is an undercard match that is building to an ending to kickstart at least one bigger angle. Speciffically, I'd expect this to either get right to, or slowly plant the seeds for an Edge & Christian reunion with FTR looming large in the background after Collision, while also keeping JetSpeed looking good coming out of this match for a potential straight-up tag match down the road. Either way, Hurt Syndicate are your winners.

Winner: The Hurt Syndicate

Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada - AEW "Unified" Championship Match

The four matches between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada, spanning 522 days from 2017 to 2018, caused a cultural shift in what constitutes a modern classic Pro Wrestling match. Their battles were to the 2010s as Kobashi and Misawa were to the 90s in All Japan, Flair and Steamboat throughout 1989 in Jim Crockett Promotions, and even Punk and Joe in ROH throughout 2004. Fittingly enough, it would be easy to draw some parallels between the fifth, and almost certainly final, Omega-Okada duel and the first Kobashi-Misawa NOAH battle in 2003: Both guys are not in their primes anymore, Omega especially with all of his health issues since 2021, but they can remind people who they are on any given night in the right setting. That has admittedly been an issue with Okada in AEW on occasion, but this match specifically is why he jumped from NJPW, and I think he understands the magnitude of this moment.

As for the lead-up in this one, I like the call to pair Okada with Omega's ex-mentor and the baldest man alive, Don Callis, for the time being, as that has allowed them to heat up the Rainmaker in a big way, jumping him some weeks ago in Portland. Additionally, his presence ensures he won't receive too much of a positive reception on the basis that he's Okada, which is a route I prefer here as opposed to some of the relatively recent babyface vs. babyface epics AEW has done. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the incredible video package they ran for this match on the go-home Dynamite, which you can see below, shot live from the Batcave from the Dark Knight.

The most important thing here is to remember that the all-time record coming into this match between Omega and Okada is 2-1-1 in favor of the Best Bout Machine. Just getting a sense of where things are probably going after this weekend, I fully expect Okada to even the score and become the first AEW "Unified" Champion. It'll be fascinating to see what these two all-timers can do to differentiate from their prior four matchups, but I have high hopes.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada

The Opps (Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata) [C] vs The Death Riders (Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Gabe Kidd) - AEW World Trios Championship Match

For those keeping track at home, this is the sixth total defense of the AEW trios belts in 2025, but just the first since Spring BreakThru in mid-April. Not exactly a high-stakes matchup by any means, but a notable enough rematch here between the Opps and still PAC-less Death Riders.

As for the inclusion of Kidd as the third for the latter, the kayfabe logic of him 1) being a Bullet Club guy, 2) repeatedly trashing AEW (while in character) while trying to be the rah-rah New Japan guy since last December, and then leaving Japan to be a hired gun for an AEW faction on several ocassions is insanity. I'd also bring up the fact that this is why I would've had the Death Riders probably pick up a few defectors, several months back, just so the "big bad" faction isn't just five people holding AEW, a roster of around 150 people, hostage, so you could've slotted in someone here instead of getting Kidd.

Either way, I'd like to see AEW make some inroads post-All In to building up a real Trios division, on top of the tag division. You need guys who are willing to play ball, but most of the promotions' best in-ring content this year on the weekly TV has been tag matches. Not that I'd have the Opps drop these belts anytime soon, but it'd be nice to see Joe, Hobbs, and Shibata do some more serious Trios matches.

Winner: The Opps

Women's Casino Gauntlet Match

After Wednesday, we know that we'll be kicking off this Women's Gauntlet with Kris Statlander and Connecticut's finest (by way of Thessaloniki), Megan Bayne, which, outside of Bayne and Willow Nightingale, was the best possible option. Stat being No. 3 and getting straight to the Great Big Hoss War of 2025 would be great, but I'm not holding my breath there in either direction. I'm also interested to see what AEW may have up their sleeves as it comes to surprise entrants in this match, beyond Athena, who will show up here guaranteed. Some "likely" names worth keeping in mind: Alex Windsor, Yuka Sakizaki, MDK gang's strongest soldier, Maki Itoh, and Miyu Yamashita. One less likely name would be ex-IWGP Women's Champion Syuri, who's on break from Stardom and is set to "train overseas" in the interim. That would be one hell of a get you could then conceivably have as a short-term ringer and into Forbidden Door. She's one of a select few wrestlers, period, who could lay claim to being the best legit striker in the business.

Circling back to the low hit rate of "Casino" match winners, it's worth mentioning that the last one was none other than Toni Storm back in January, and I do believe that of the two this weekend, this is the match that should jumpstart someone to a future World Championship run. Athena would be a very good choice if TK pulls a surprise and has Storm retain. However, since we have Mone winning, there's only one option here: Willow Nightingale. There's unfinished business with Mone in that a future match would cement a trilogy started back in the spring of 2023, and they did pay her a big contract extension earlier this year. I literally can't think of a better person for Mone to eventually do the honors for, Athena included.

Winner: Willow Nightingale

The Young Bucks vs. Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay

The Young Bucks, coming off of one of the worst stretches of their entire career from after Blood and Guts to their title drop to Private Party, are set to duel two of AEW's top three babyfaces in the form of Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay, in what'll be their second 2v2 tag outing in AEW since last October. The catch here is that this tag team bout is a wager match. Should the Bucks lose, they're no longer (in kayfabe) AEW executive vice presidents. However, should Strickland and Ospreay lose, neither can challenge for the World Title for exactly one year's time.

I don't mind the fact that they've added stakes to this non-title affair, and I'd personally think this would be a good time to end the "EVP" Bucks stuff, which has been an objective flop from right after the FTR Ladder match to present day. That said, I don't think they take the off-ramp, and they play a dangerous game taking two of their five best chess pieces off the board for the next 12 months, especially in the event you may need them on an emergency basis if someone notable gets hurt.

I also don't see where the Young Bucks go after winning this, given that the three top AEW tag teams are all heels, plus we just did a six-plus month title reign with them last year, and it was pretty bad. However, I believe a Bucks win is the direction Tony Khan will likely take. Good guys aren't winning every match here.

Winners: The Young Bucks

"Hangman" Adam Page vs. Jon Moxley [C] - Texas Death Match for the All Elite Wrestling World Championship

There's been "bigger" matches in AEW history than this, and by the time it's all over, there will be no shortage of better AEW matches than what this Main Event will end up being, but more riding on the outcome of this match than any other in the promotion's six-year history. For as objectively fantastic as the weekly TV has been on the whole, and even with things improving on the Mox front from mid-April onwards, the bad has heavily outweighed the good in this run, with the main stress point being match quality. Worlds End '24, Revolution '25, and Dynasty '25 is the single worst run of PPV main events in company history, and that largely rests on Mox's shoulders for completely changing up his in-ring style to become more of a mat-based grappler up until Dynasty (you will pay for this @JoshLBarnett).

It's no secret by now that the intended end goal of this Death Riders angle was to get the World Championship onto Darby Allin, who's been AWOL for the last seven months due to a quite literal climb of Mt. Everest, but from a creative standpoint, something definitely shifted after that wretched Dynasty ending. "Hangman" Adam Page had gotten to the point he was both going into and coming out of the pandemic in terms of peak fan investment, and he's putting in some of the best mic and in-ring work of his career in 2025, and if you weren't convinced of that before the build up to the Ospreay match, you're certainly there now going into this Texas Death Match.

We're talking about as interesting a character and character arc for a pro wrestler in years, who from the context of kayfabe, Page lost his world title, lost all of his friends, got his house broken into, saw AEW's viewing audince embrance the man who did it on his road to the title, and then let hate consume him, only realizing how far he'd gone astray after retiring his mentor Christopher Daniels, and months after commiting arson on live national television. Then even out of kayfabe, Page had to endure multiple public smear attemtps from CM Punk, deal with suffering a brutal concussion in late 2022 that had a match with Moxley, ironically enough, stopped early, and then having to refind his spark before ultimately doing so in the early stages of that Swerve feud in 2023. Simply put, both the man and persona of Adam Page are as fascinating a wrestler to watch go to work on a week-by-week basis and are deserving of this stadium main event spot.

I don't want to get too hyperbolic here and say that a Mox win would "kill" AEW, that's ridiculous, but I don't know how you could say that the Champion going over in insulting fashion for the third time in the last four PPV main events wouldn't tank fan morale, especially in a match of this magnitude with a beloved talent like Page. More importantly, you'd be playing a dangerous game with at least some fans turning on Allin as he'd be perceived as the handpicked guy as opposed to the crowd's pick.

At the end of the day, this was meant to be Allin's moment, and Jon Moxley's direct reference to "the mountain" motif at Dynamite 300 felt very intentional. However, "Plans change pal." It's probably going to be a WrestleMania 40 Main Event-style affair where Swerve Strickland is quite literally the deciding factor, but it has to be Hangman here; there's no way around it.

Winner: "Hangman" Adam Page

Main Image via AEW