AEW All Out 2023 Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating’s Revealed

AEW All Out 2023 was broadcast on Sunday, 3rd September 2023 from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

All Out came just one week after All In, AEW’s biggest ever show. It took place in front of 80,000 fans in Wembley Stadium, massive in comparison to the United Center’s 23,500 capacity.

It was the fifth annual All Out event, with the first taking place in 2019. Last year’s event was famous for CM Punk’s match with Jon Moxley, which led to the infamous press conference and fight after the fact.

2022’s All Out show saw CM Punk beat Jon Moxley to win the AEW Championship, but vacated the belt just three days later.

This page will detail Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings for AEW All Out 2023, looking at every match on the card. We will also detail the Cagematch rating for the event.

Cagematch is a website which aggregates fans opinions on wrestling match. Fans can log on and rank the matches on a scale of zero to ten, which then calculates an average score for the matches.

Great matches can expect a 9+ rating while the worst matches may not even be worth giving a rating to at all.

Only matches over 5 minutes may be rated on the website. This means fantastic, yet shorter matches like KENTA vs Ricky Marvin will not be given a rating but that does not mean they are bad bouts.

The highest rated match on the site is the Kazuchika Okada vs Kitsuyori Shibata match was NJPW Sakura Genesis 2017.

AEW All Out 2023 Match Card

The full card for AEW All Out 2023 is as follows:

  • (Zero Hour) Over Budget Battle Royal
  • (Zero Hour) Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale & Skye Blue vs Athena, Diamante & Mercedes Martinez
  • (Zero Hour) AEW Trios Championship: The Acclaimed (with Dennis Rodman) vs Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett & Satnam Singh
  • ROH Tag Team Championships: Better Than You Baybay vs The Dark Order
  • TNT Championship: Luchasaurus (c) vs Darby Allin
  • TBS Championship: Kris Statlander (c) vs Ruby Soho
  • ROH TV Championship: Samoa Joe vs Shane Taylor
  • Powerhouse Hobbs vs Miro
  • Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshita
  • Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks – Strap Match
  • AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs Jon Moxley

AEW All Out 2023 Star Ratings

Here are the star ratings for every match at AEW All Out 2023. These will be taken from Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer, the users at Cagematch.net and our own rating at Atletifo.

If you disagree with any of the star ratings on this page, let us know in the comments what match rating you would give to the matches.

Zero Hour – Over Budget Battle Royal

Twenty stars from AEW and ROH, including the Best Friends and “Hangman” Adam Page, battled in an over-the-top-rope battle royal in order to win $50,000 for charity.

Tony Nese opened the match with some comedy, but was instantly thrown out of the match by a number of men.

Trent Beretta was one of the stars of the match, lasting until the final four after forming a team with Adam Page late in the match.

However, it was Hangman who walked away with his second Battle Royal victory, eliminated Brian Cage with a Deadeye to walk away with the victory to open the show.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 2.5 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 5.39
  • Atletifo Rating – 2 Stars

Zero Hour – Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale & Skye Blue vs Athena, Diamante & Mercedes Martinez

In a busy, if overly busy, match, Chicago’s own Skye Blue picked up the win for her team with the incredible Code Blue finisher and pinfall on

This was a typical six-woman tag team match, with all manner of action going on that was sometimes hard to follow.

It was an okay match, but definitely not one you’d go back and watch any time soon.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 2 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 5.68
  • Atletifo Rating – 1.5 Stars

Zero Hour – AEW Trios Championship: The Acclaimed (with Dennis Rodman) vs Jay Lethal, Jeff Jarrett & Satnam Singh

With former Chicago Bulls’ basketball player, Dennis Rodman, at ringside (for some strange reason), The Acclaimed retained their AEW Trios Championships in the last match of the pre-show against Jeff Jarrett and his cronies.

It was a fairly paint-by-numbers Acclaimed matches, hitting all their “scissor” spots before the heels got the one-up over them via cheating.

As anybody would have guessed, Dennis Rodman hit Satnam Singh with a guitar, before The Acclaimed hit their finishing sequence to win the match and retain their belts.

It was a completely standard match, although the inclusion of “Rodzilla” made this a must-see for the live crowd and fans of the Chicago Bulls.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 2 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 4.50
  • Atletifo Rating – 1 Star

ROH World Tag Team Championships: Better Than You Baybaby vs The Dark Order

Following their win in a battle royal on Rampage, John Silver and Alex Reynolds set up a match against the ROH World Tag Team Champions at All Out 2023.

MJF vs Adam Cole closed All In London at Wembley Stadium, but opened the main show at All Out in a match against two of the Dark Order’s finest wrestlers.

Only one word can describe this match – FUN! MJF evoked the showmanship of peak Hulk Hogan, milking every single move and keeping the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Despite injuring his neck early on in the match, MJF returned at the end of the bout to get the hot tag from Cole, hitting his Kangaroo Kick before the loudest “DOUBLE CLOTHESLINE” you’ve ever heard, as Cole pinned Alex Reynolds to win the match and keep their tag team titles.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 3.25 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 6.37
  • Atletifo Rating – 3 Stars

ROH TV Championship: Samoa Joe vs Shane Taylor

Samoa Joe lost to CM Punk at All In, so the natural progression would be to defend his ROH television championship against somebody with only a handful of appearances on AEW Dark.

Shane Taylor won an eliminator tournament on ROH TV to earn a shot at Samoa Joe’s title. While it seems obvious this match should have taken place in ROH, it was shockingly added to one of AEW’s biggest pay per views of the year.

Samoa Joe brawled with MJF before the match, looking to set up an AEW Championship match some place down the line.

Despite that, he forced Shane Taylor to tap out in a decent match, locking in the Coquina Clutch to continue his dominance in AEW.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 3.75 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 5.87
  • Atletifo Rating – 2 Stars

TNT Championship: Luchasaurus (c) vs Darby Allin

Despite Christian Cage being the real people’s world champion, Luchasaurus was the man to defend the TNT Championship belt against Darby Allin at All Out 2023.

Luchasaurus looked like a complete monster, dinosaur-handling Darby Allin and forcing him to bleed early on by swinging him face-first into the steel steps.

This match was uncomfortable. Luchasaurus hit Allin with some huge hits, looking like he killed the young star on multiple occasions. This was a testament to the great selling by Darby Allin, and Luchasaurus’ work as a giant heel.

Darby Allin (sans Sting) had the crowd on it’s feet with some incredible death-defying comebacks, and almost won the match with a disgusting top-rope Code Red onto his 6 foot 7 opponent.

Luchasaurus won the match with a pair of Tombstone Pildrivers, followed by a clubbing clothesline to the back of the head. This was by far Luchasaurus’s best singles match, making him look like a true top heel in AEW.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 3.75 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 7.39
  • Atletifo Rating – 4 Stars

Miro vs Powerhouse Hobbs

“Big meaty men slapping meat” – Big E.

What were you expecting?

The crowd certainly did, as they chanted “MEAT!” with every hit, kick, punch and general interaction between the two powerhouses of the AEW men’s division.

While this was a fairly standard “Hoss Match”, the crowd made it a can’t-miss bout. Both men hit the other’s finishers on each other, before Miro “broke his back and made him humble” with a Game Over (Camel Clutch) on Powerhouse Hobbs.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 4.25 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 7.69
  • Atletifo Rating – 3 Stars

TBS Championship: Kris Statlander vs Ruby Soho

The Outcasts broke apart in a very good TBS Championship match at All Out 2023.

Despite a slow start and a match fraught with interference from Saraya, Kris Statlander and Ruby Soho wrestled a very good match with an exciting ending that had the amazing crowd on their feet.

Toni Storm came from beneath the ring to steal Soho’s spray paint, distracting her before Statlander hit the Sunday Night Fever to retain her TBS Championship.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 2.5 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 6.60
  • Atletifo Rating – 2.5 Stars

Bryan Danielson vs Ricky Starks (Strap Match)

Recovering astonishingly quickly after a broken arm against Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door, Bryan Danielson made a shock return to face Ricky Starks at All Out.

Wrestling in a strap match (which Danielson did in honor of the late Bray Wyatt), the pair gave it their all in a match that wowed the fans in Chicago.

“The last time I was in a strap match, it was with someone I love, and we beat the sh*t out of each other! I don’t love you.. I don’t even like you!” Danielson said.

Bryan Danielson references Bray Wyatt before All Out 2023.

Entering to the iconic “Final Countdown” by Europe, Danielson was serenaded by the crowd as he stepped into the ring for the first time in months.

Building on this, Danielson and Starks had one of the hardest-hitting matches in AEW history. Kicks, forearms and simply whipping each other with the strap, nothing was off limits for these two.

Ricky Steamboat even got involved, hitting punches and chips onto Big Bill after he tried to get involved in the finish of the match.

At the end of a bloody war, Bryan Danielson made Ricky Starks pass out by choking him with the strap in the LaBelle lock, marking an incredible return to the ring after injury.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 5 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 9.39
  • Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars

Eddie Kingston & Katsuyori Shibata vs Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta

At All Out 2023, Kingston teamed with ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata to take on the Blackpool Combat Club (Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta).

However, Castagnoli ended up pinning Kingston with a Very-European Uppercut, hopefully setting up a singles match with Eddie Kingston down the line.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – 4.25 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 7.25
  • Atletifo Rating – 2.5 Stars

Kenny Omega vs Konosuke Takeshite

5 stars. Anything less would be an insult to the classic match that Konosuke Takeshita and Kenny Omega put on together at All Out 2023.

Nobody in wrestling hits harder than Takeshita. Whether it he his firearms, his running clotheslines or his incredibly dangerous running knee strikers, every hit looked like death for Kenny Omega.

Omega seemed to kick out of everything, taking everything and giving back just as good as he got. However, Don Callis’ cheating and the incredible talent of Takeshita proved too much for him in the best match of the night.

This match earned the five-star rating, making it one of the best matches in AEW in 2023.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 5 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 9.24
  • Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars

Bullet Club Gold (Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, Jay White, and Juice Robinson) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)

This match had all the elements of a fantastic match, but it just…wasn’t.

There was fun action, innovative moves and tag teams swapping finishers, much to the delight of the crowd.

Sadly, something was off. It felt just like a typical TV 8-man tag team match, not exploring the dissension between the Young Bucks and FTR.

It also suffered from too many near falls, with The Gunns breaking up with what felt like about 15 pinfalls that should have ended the match.

Bullet Club Gold won the match when Colten Gunn pinned Cash Wheeler. This came after a Blade Runner to Cash by Jay White.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 4.5 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 8.02
  • Atletifo Rating – 2 Stars

AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy vs Jon Moxley

Main eventing his first pay per view ever, Orange Cassidy faced his biggest test yet in a bout against Jon Moxley.

The AEW International Champion defended his title against the Blackpool Combat Club member, in a match that replaced the original main event of CM Punk vs Ricky Starks.

In his 31st title defense of the AEW International Championship, Orange Cassidy finally lost. However, he put on the best match of his reign, and one of the best matches of his entire career.

He left in a bloody mess, having taken a beating like no other from Moxley in front of a crowd that cheered his every move.

Cassidy lost the match, which we rate as a full five stars, but leaves Chicago as the AEW International title’s best ever champion, and one of the greatest wrestlers on earth todsay.

  • Dave Meltzer’s Star Ratings – 4.25 Stars
  • Cagematch Rating – 9.38
  • Atletifo Rating – 5 Stars

What did you think about the AEW All Out 2023 star ratings? Tell us your thoughts about the match ratings in the comments section below.

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