The crowd at Now Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois was up and down all night on Sun., Sept. 4 for All Out. But they were on for the main event, featuring Chicago’s own CM Punk trying to reclaim the AEW World title from Jon Moxley.
Mox made short work of Punk in a unification match on Dynamite a couple weeks back, and it looked like Punk might return the favor on PPV. After nailing the kick that crumpled hi min their previous encounter, he delivered a pair of high knees and a Go 2 Sleep in the early going. But Moxley kicked out.
A much more competitive match followed, and one that at time resembled a no disqualification affair. Mox & Punk brawled through the crowd, and the challenger getting busted open.
Mox went to work on Punk’s surgically repaired foot, but the hometown guy was as defiant as he was banged up.
The sellout crowd was divided as Punk mounted a comeback that led to an exchange of submissions, and when neither might secure a win that way, we got a striking exchange. Mox slipped out of another G2S to hit Death Rider, but Punk kicked out.
Both men looked spent, so much so that when Punk did connect with his finisher, Mox collapsed on his shoulders.
Another Go To Sleep ended it though, but the night wasn’t over…
The screen went black, and we heard a voicemail from Tony Khan. He gave the recipient of the message on last chance to return to the company, offering him a spot in the Ladder Match and a lump sum of money to return. He didn’t even make him sign an extension!
Yep, as most of the internet sussed out, the devil who won the ladder match was none other than Maxwell Jacob Friedman. He reminded us regarding the old ROH Punk promo he repurposed during his own feud with Punk… the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn’t exist.
MJF and AEW didn’t make us forget entirely, but they did make this staredown feel pretty special.
We’ll find out when Max gets his title shot soon enough.
Get complete All Out results and coverage of the entire show here.
