Very few things in pro wrestling ever go completely according to long term plans. Even the best ideas on paper can be disrupted at any time by injuries and other unforeseen happenings, and the bigger the show, the more things can be disrupted. Evidently, that holds true for AEW All In as well — which is shaping up to be one of the biggest events in pro wrestling history.
During his pre-All In conference call on Tuesday, AEW CEO, GM and head of creative Tony Khan mentioned how grateful he was that the company’s injury luck had been better this summer than in previous years. While he noted Bryan Danielson, Jamie Hayter and Pac would all be missed, he was pleased that nothing had happened to derail other big matches, including the main event pairing of Adam Cole and MJF.
That doesn’t mean that the card is set, however. Khan alluded to both additions and changes that he believed would still take place during the run-up to All In due to unexpected circumstances beyond his control.
“Now I’m going to be honest with you about more stuff,” Khan said. “I expect more changes. They were not changes I wanted to make or planned to make … There will probably be some other changes to the card necessitated by things happening in the real world. In some cases, stuff that’s nobody’s fault, but stuff that is not related to the world of professional wrestling.
“I am going to try to work through this week to make it as strong as possible, actually making the card hopefully better than it has been. But yeah, there will be changes to the card. I plan to add something, and I might have to make some changes in the body of the card as it stands right now.”
Khan said that whether it’s at the post-show press conference or some other time, he would be able to explain why he made any alterations to the All In card.
One obvious candidate for a potential change would be the AEW World Tag Team Championship match between FTR and the Young Bucks, given the news that broke earlier this week about FTR’s Cash Wheeler getting arrested on an assault charge in Orlando. However, Khan specifically singled that match out as one where he did not expect a “status change,” noting that while he is taking the allegations against Wheeler seriously, he didn’t feel that all of the information was available yet to determine what, if any, action AEW might take.
With one episode each of Dynamite, Rampage and Collision still to come before All In, there’s certainly still time to set things up that could affect the composition of Sunday’s show. Fans will undoubtedly be watching even closer this week to see how many and how widespread any changes might be.