The 2020 All Out was the second annual All Out professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It was broadcast during Labor Day weekend on September 5, 2020. While the majority of the event aired live from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, the Tooth and Nail match between Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. and Big Swole was pre-taped prior to the event at Baker's real-life dental clinic in Winter Park, Florida. The event aired through traditional PPV outlets, as well as on B/R Live in North America and FITE TV internationally.
The event was originally slated to take place at the Sears Centre Arena in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Illinois, where the previous edition of All Out was held. Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation, the state's equivalent to a state of emergency, since March 9, which banned large public gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic that affected the state. As a result, the event was moved to Daily's Place, where all of AEW's events had been held since March. This was the first AEW PPV to have ticketed fans since Revolution in February, although the capacity of the venue was reduced due to the pandemic. Also due to the pandemic, this was the only All Out event to not take place in the Chicago metropolitan area, until All Out 2025, which occurred in Toronto, Canada.
Eleven matches were contested at the event, including two on The Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated MJF to retain the AEW World Championship. In the penultimate match, Orange Cassidy defeated Chris Jericho in a Mimosa Mayhem match. In other prominent matches, FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) defeated Kenny Omega and Adam Page to win the AEW World Tag Team Championship, Hikaru Shida retained the AEW Women's World Championship in an interpromotional match against Thunder Rosa of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and Matt Hardy defeated Sammy Guevara in a Broken Rules match.
The event was met with mixed to negative reviews, in contrast to the praise that AEW's previous PPV events had received. Criticism was mainly focused on an accident that occurred in the match between Hardy and Guevara in which Guevara speared Hardy from a scissor lift through a table, accidentally causing Hardy to legitimately hit his head on the concrete floor underneath the table; he appeared to be knocked out and the match was paused, but Hardy was then allowed to continue the match. The accident notably led to AEW adding new protocols in case a similar incident happens, with referees gaining the ability to use two-way communication to call medical staff and stop matches when necessary. Criticism was also directed towards much of the undercard, but the three championship matches on the show were generally well received.
Production
Background On August 31, 2019, the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held a pay-per-view (PPV) event titled All Out during Labor Day weekend. The event was a spiritual sequel to the September 2018 independently produced All In show, an event that led to the foundation of AEW in January 2019. While AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan had stated that there would be a second All Out event, it was not officially announced until the 2020 Double or Nothing PPV in May when a second All Out show was announced as occurring during that year's Labor Day weekend on Saturday, September 5, 2020, thus establishing All Out as an annual Labor Day weekend event for AEW. Khan later stated that All Out was considered as one of AEW's "Big Four" PPVs, which includes Double or Nothing, Full Gear, and Revolution, their four biggest domestic shows produced quarterly. On September 5, AEW aired an All Out Red Carpet Special and The Buy-In Pre-show on their YouTube channel. Also on September 5, TNT aired a one-hour television special called Countdown to All Out which averaged 357,000 viewers.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic All Out was originally scheduled to take place at the Sears Centre Arena (renamed to Now Arena on September 1) in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Illinois on September 5, 2020, the same venue as the original show and All In before that. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of Illinois banned gatherings up to 50 people on March 17, amidst a March 9 declaration of a state of emergency. A report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker announced that larger events and conventions would not be allowed until there was a COVID-19 vaccine. Due to the circumstances, AEW presented most of its programming and pay-per-view broadcasts at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida with no fans in attendance since the March 18 episode of Dynamite; AEW instead used non-competing wrestlers and other employees to serve as the live audience. On August 21, AEW began selling a limited number of tickets for events (10–15% capacity of the venue), allowing spectators to again attend shows, though with groups separated into their own pods in the upper balcony and face coverings required. On August 29, AEW announced that tickets for All Out would be available, thus marking All Out as AEW's first PPV to have live ticketed fans, though only at 15% of the venue's capacity.
Storylines All Out featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Storylines were produced on AEW's weekly television program, Dynamite, the supplementary online streaming show, Dark, and The Young Bucks' YouTube series Being The Elite.
On the July 29 episode of Dynamite, #1 ranked MJF, who had never been pinned or submitted in singles competition, began a presidential election-style campaign to become the next AEW World Champion and held a "State of the Industry" address. He said that it was now time for a new guard and that the old guard, referring to champion Jon Moxley, was failing as a leader to lead by example, and that he would be the one to lead AEW for the next 25 years. MJF finished the speech by challenging Moxley, who also had never been pinned or submitted in singles competition, for the AEW World Championship at All Out. A few days later, it was announced that MJF would face the winner of a title match between Moxley and #5 ranked, Darby Allin, for the title at All Out. On the August 5 episode of Dynamite, despite MJF attacking him with the championship belt during the match, Moxley defeated Allin to retain the championship, keeping Moxley as the defending champion against MJF at All Out. On the August 27 episode, a contract signing for the match occurred and a stipulation was added in which Moxley could not use the Paradigm Shift. Another clause was also added into the contract in which MJF's lawyer, Mark Sterling, had to face Moxley in a match the following week or else MJF would not receive his title match at All Out. The following week, although unsuccessful against Moxley, Sterling faced Moxley in order for MJF to have his title match.
On night 2 of Fyter Fest on July 8, Chris Jericho defeated Orange Cassidy. Cassidy then wanted a rematch with Jericho, who eventually accepted after repeated attacks from Cassidy, including staining his white jacket with orange juice. Following a debate between the two that was hosted by Eric Bischoff, the two had their rematch on the August 12 episode of Dynamite that Cassidy won. The following week, Jericho said that since they were tied, they needed to have one more match and he challenged Cassidy to a Mimosa Mayhem match at All Out, which could be won by pinfall, submission, or by throwing the opponent into a vat of mimosa. After Cassidy accepted the challenge, he was attacked by Jericho and The Inner Circle.
On the August 22 episode of Dynamite, NWA World Women's Champion Thunder Rosa appeared for the first time in AEW and challenged Hikaru Shida to a match for the AEW Women's World Championship at All Out, saying that she wanted to bring the AEW women's division some respect. It was then confirmed on the August 27 episode that Shida would defend the title against Rosa at All Out.
On the August 22 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that four teams would take part in a Tag Team Gauntlet Match on the following show to determine who would challenge the AEW World Tag Team Champions, "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega, to a title match at All Out. On the August 27 episode, #1 ranked FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) won the Gauntlet match by last eliminating #2 ranked Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) to earn the title match at All Out. #4 ranked The Natural Nightmares (Dustin Rhodes and Q. T. Marshall) and #3 ranked The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) also took part in the Gauntlet match. During the match, Adam Page betrayed The Young Bucks by stopping Nick Jackson from breaking a pin on Matt Jackson. The Young Bucks, in turn, removed him from The Elite, of which Page's tag partner, Kenny Omega, is still a member.
On the August 27 episode of Dynamite, the Casino Battle Royale was announced to be occurring at All Out, with the winner receiving a future title match for the AEW World Championship. During the same episode, Darby Allin, Lance Archer, Brian Cage, Ricky Starks, Penta El Zero M, Ray Fénix, The Butcher and The Blade, and Eddie Kingston were announced as the first nine participants. On the September 2 episode of Dynamite, Austin Gunn, Billy, Jake Hager, Ortiz, Shawn Spears, and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent) were also announced for the battle royal. The remaining four participants were revealed at the event.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRoleNameCommentatorsJim Ross Excalibur Tony Schiavone Taz Spanish-language commentatorsAlex AbrahantesDasha GonzalezWillie UrbinaGerman-language commentatorsGünter ZapfMike RitterFrench-language commentatorsAlain MistrangéloNorbert FeuillanRing announcerJustin RobertsRefereesAubrey EdwardsBryce RemsburgMike PoseyPaul TurnerRick KnoxInterviewerAlex Marvez
The Buy In Before the event officially started, two matches were contested on the Buy In pre-show. In the first of these matches, Joey Janela (accompanied by Sonny Kiss) faced Serpentico (accompanied by Luther). Janela won after performing a "Top Rope Elbow Drop" on Serpentico.
The second and final match on the pre-show saw Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) face The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) (accompanied by 5 and 10). Private Party won the match after Kassidy pinned Silver.
Preliminary matches The pay-per-view opened with Britt Baker (accompanied by Rebel) facing Big Swole in a Tooth and Nail match. The pre-taped match, conducted as a cinematic match, took place at Baker's real-life dental clinic in Winter Park, Florida. Swole won the match after placing a laughing gas mask on Baker, causing her to pass out and allowing Swole to be declared the victor.
After that, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) took on Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy, accompanied by Marko Stunt). In the end, The Young Bucks performed the BTE Trigger on Jungle Boy to win the match.
The next match was the 21-man Casino Battle Royale to determine the next challenger for the AEW World Championship. Matt Sydal was the "joker" entrant, but botched his shooting star press move and landed on the back of his head. Brian Cage retrieved a body bag filled with thumbtacks and placed Darby Allin in it before powerbombing him out of the ring to eliminate Allin. The final two were Eddie Kingston and Lance Archer. The Butcher and The Blade interfered, but Jake Roberts appeared with a bag containing a snake. This allowed Archer to eliminate Kingston to win the match.