All Elite Wrestling officially announced its existence on January 1st, 2019, and made its in-ring debut in May of the same year with the highly anticipated pay-per-view event Double or Nothing. Since then, AEW has committed to a quarterly schedule, running four PPVs a year -- though they did run one extra in 2019.
It is a great way to distinguish the promotion from WWE, which seems to test fans’ patience with how much required viewing they’re willing to commit to. So far, there have been eight total AEW pay-per-views, which is more than enough to rank them from least good to most good. So let’s do that!
8 All Out (2020)
All Elite Wrestling’s weakest effort so far, All Out had a lot to live up to after a string of great, memorable 2020 PPVs, not to mention the strength of the previous year’s All Out. Unfortunately, the event did not live up to expectations, as an unfortunate Matt Hardy injury and the controversial decision to continue the match ended up overshadowing the whole affair. Then there’s the cinematic silly “Tooth and Nail” bout that AEW bafflingly decided to run as the opening match, starting All Out on the wrong foot.
However, there was a lot of great stuff on this show, including one of the women’s divisions best matches to date as Women’s World Champ Hikaru Shida defended against NWA World Women’s Champion Thunder Rosa. Then there’s FTR capturing the tag titles from Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page in a near 30-minute epic and MJF proving that he’s a main eventer and not just a midcard heel.
7 Fight for the Fallen (2019)
Fight for the Fallen showed the promotion still working out the kinks with their third event. As a show that was streamed online for free, there was not much at stake here except for some tag teams competing for a bye in the upcoming title tournament. That said, there’s also an underrated dream match between Kenny Omega and Japanese legend CIMA, as well as an epic between The Young Bucks and Cody and Dustin Rhodes.
Speaking of “epic,” the biggest criticism fans made of the show was that many of the matches were way too long. It sounds like a strange complaint, but too many lengthy bouts actually fatigue a viewer by the time you get to a main event that blows past the 30-minute mark.
6 Fyter Fest (2019)
Fyter Fest was AEW’s second-ever event, with high expectations, but the event mostly delivered thanks to strong matches and a fun theme in the form of a Fyre Fest parody. There was, however, lots of fan outrage involving an unprotected chair shot Shawn Spears delivered to Cody, which went wrong and ended up cutting Cody’s head open.
More positively, there was a 20-minute time limit draw between Cody and Darby Allin, giving fans a strong look at the lesser-known Allin, much like many of Cody’s future TNT Title matches. There’s also a great match between The Elite and the Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid and an awesomely violent “Lights Out” match between Jon Moxley and Joey Janela.
5 Full Gear (2019)
AEW Dynamite had finally debuted at this point, so Full Gear had ongoing storylines and championships to fight for. The big moment in this event had not only Cody losing the right to ever challenge for the AEW World Championship, but also MJF’s betrayal in the post-match. But there are also fun tag matches, PAC taking on Hangman Page, and a “student versus teacher” AEW Women’s World Title match between Riho and Emi Sakura.
The night ended with the controversial “Lights Out” match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, a nearly 40-minute deathmatch style bout chock full of weapons -- including a bed made of barbed wire netting -- that disgusted a lot of fans used to the more sanitized version of “hardcore” that WWE has peddled. For the less squeamish, it’s a worthy match, however, full of great pro wrestling violence.
4 All Out (2019)
All Out was the last PPV before Dynamite began airing a month and some change later, so lots of pieces began falling into place here, like determining the AEW World Champion in a great contest between “Hangman” Adam Page and Chris Jericho. Then there’s the legendary, completely ridiculous three-way “Cracker Barrel Clash” between Jimmy Havoc, Joey Janela, and Darby Allin, which was an entertaining, goofy spotfest.
The best bout of the night, however, was the Ladder Match for the AAA World Tag Team Titles as the Lucha Brothers defended their belts against the Young Bucks. It’s one of the wildest matches in AEW history, an epic full of crazy spots between two of the most exciting tag teams in the world.
3 Double or Nothing (2020)
Double or Nothing was their first PPV during the COVID-19 pandemic when wrestling companies were struggling to figure out how to put on shows without crowds. Despite all that, Double or Nothing opened with a fun Casino Ladder match with debuting Brian Cage as well as a later bout between rising stars MJF and Jungle Boy. Then there are the title matches: Cody won the TNT Championship, Hikaru Shida captured the Women’s Title, and AEW World Champ Jon Moxley put Brodie Lee to sleep.
However, the highlight of the evening for many fans was the cinematic Stadium Stampede match where The Elite took on The Inner Circle in a massively entertaining brawl in a football stadium. There’s loads of silliness, crazy spots, and diversions in this pre-taped segment, ultimately putting many of WWE’s similar efforts to shame.
2 Revolution (2020)
The first PPV of 2020, Revolution, began with a disappointing match between Jake Hager and Dustin Rhodes, but quickly picked up and even delivered some bonafide classics. The highlight, of course, was the AEW World Tag Team Title match between Omega/Page and The Young Bucks, an effort that’s already being considered by many as one of the best tag team matches of all time, full of awesome action and strong storytelling.
But there were other great matches, too, including Jon Moxley making Chris Jericho’s Le Champion moniker obsolete, a grudge match between Cody and MJF following up on Full Gear, and many fans’ first looks at Orange Cassidy having a “serious” match.
1 Double or Nothing (2019)
Easily All Elite Wrestling’s most “important” pay-per-view event to date, 2019’s Double or Nothing was the official debut of the upstart promotion and thus had a lot riding on it. Would AEW’s coming out party introduce the world to a legitimate competitor to WWE, or was it going to fall short like so many promotions in the past?
Double or Nothing managed to live up to the hype thanks to a nice variety of matches, which showed the breadth of AEW’s styles and stars. There was a main event between stars Jericho and Omega, multiple tag team matches, and bouts to highlight AEW’s Joshi wrestlers as well as its domestic female talent. The standout, however, was a bloody, emotional Southern wrestling style classic between brothers Dustin Rhodes and Cody. On top of all that, Double or Nothing ended with the surprise debut of Jon Moxley. All of this bode well for All Elite Wrestling.