AEW needs a reality check before Chicago

Labor Day weekend used to mean something definitive for All Elite Wrestling. All Out was the destination, the card where storylines peaked and blood feuds reached their logical, violent conclusions. Think back to CM Punk beating Jon Moxley in 2022, or the Young Bucks and Lucha Bros tearing the house down in 2021 inside a steel cage.

Those events felt massive. They felt necessary. You couldn't skip them without missing a major chapter in the company's history.

But heading into All Out 2026, the vibe is frustratingly scattered. Swerve Strickland has been a fighting champion, taking all comers on Dynamite and Collision. Yet his current program with Will Ospreay feels rushed. It feels slapped together just to put two five-star match machines in the same ring without a proper emotional hook.

The Ospreay Problem

Don't get me wrong. Will Ospreay is arguably the best bell-to-bell performer on the planet right now. His matches against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom and Forbidden Door proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

When Ospreay hits the Hidden Blade, it genuinely looks like he's trying to decapitate his opponent. His athleticism is absurd. But hot-shotting him into the main event against Swerve at the Now Arena ignores months of careful booking with Hangman Adam Page.

Page has been spiraling for months. He's drinking again, cutting those unhinged, sweat-drenched promos that made his original title chase so compelling. The man stapled his own chest in a deathmatch against Swerve.

Bypassing Hangman for Ospreay right now feels like Tony Khan playing fantasy booker rather than telling a coherent long-term story. You don't build a blood feud for two years just to pause it for an exhibition match. It cools off both Swerve and Hangman at the exact wrong time.

Numbers don't lie

The television ratings back this up entirely. Dynamite's viewership routinely dips below 750,000 when they pivot away from intense, personal angles into random dream matches.

Fans want a reason to care. We don't just want twenty minutes of flawless Canadian Destroyers and poison ranas. We want to see two guys who legitimately hate each other try to end careers.

Look at WWE right now. They are thriving off long-term, deeply personal storytelling with Cody Rhodes and the Bloodline. AEW used to be the alternative that offered smarter, more intricate narratives. Lately, they just offer better acrobatics.

Midcard chaos and missed opportunities

The undercard isn't doing the main event any favors either. The Continental Classic was a massive success last winter. It gave the midcard structure, points, and actual stakes.

Now? We've got Kazuchika Okada floating aimlessly in six-man tags. Okada is a generational talent, a guy who carried New Japan Pro-Wrestling on his back for a decade. He held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for 720 days in a single reign.

Having him eat pins from Orange Cassidy's friends on Collision is a booking crime. It devalues his aura. When Okada walks down the ramp, it should feel like the final boss just entered the arena. Instead, he feels like just another guy on a bloated roster.

If Tony Khan wants All Out to feel like a major deal, he needs to tighten the screws. Here is exactly what needs to happen to salvage the card:

  • Pull the trigger on the Hangman heel turn and inject him into the title picture immediately.
  • Give Okada a singles match against someone who can actually push him, like Claudio Castagnoli or Pac.
  • Stop relying on surprise debuts to pop a rating and focus on the roster you already have under contract.

The Tag Team Division is on life support

We also need to talk about the state of tag team wrestling. AEW built its entire foundation on having the best tag division in the world.

FTR, the Young Bucks, the Lucha Bros, and Santana and Ortiz used to put on clinics every Wednesday night. Fast forward to 2026, and the division is a ghost town. The current champions are barely defending the belts on television.

Instead of featured two-on-two matches, we get thrown-together trios matches that mean absolutely nothing. It's lazy booking. Tony Khan needs to remember what brought fans to the dance in the first place.

Putting the belts back on FTR at All Out would be a start. Let Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler go out there and wrestle a hard-hitting, twenty-minute classic against a team like The Acclaimed. Remind people why tag team wrestling matters.

Why Labor Day still matters

Despite all my complaining, I will be watching. You will be watching. Because when the lights go down in Chicago and the crowd starts chanting, AEW usually delivers in the ring.

Swerve and Ospreay are going to hit moves we haven't even seen invented yet. The sequencing will be flawless. It will probably get five stars from Dave Meltzer before the pay-per-view even goes off the air.

But if AEW wants to survive the next TV rights negotiation and actually grow their audience, they need to remember that great matches are forgotten without great stories.

All Out 2026 needs to be a turning point. It can't just be another exhibition of great wrestling moves. Let's hope someone in the back is actually paying attention.