Are you All In?
Chicago-area fans of indie wrestling were given a taste of the Sept. 1 mega show Sunday afternoon during a press conference that featured Bullet Club members Cody Rhodes, Matt and Nick Jackson, Marty Scurll and Hangman Page, along with Tessa Blanchard and NWA President and Chicago music legend Billy Corgan. Some 50 fans were in attendance, with another 70 who had to be turned away at the door, with the earliest-arriving fans having waited over 14 hours just to be there.
The presser covered a number of topics, from the conception of “All In” and the motivation behind it, as well as a few extra details which were shared live with the audience, including a match announcement and talent announcement. Corgan confirmed his participation and said there would be an NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship match, which Cody later stated he himself would be a part of. Whether he faces current champion Nick Aldis or another competitor is anybody’s guess as the show isn’t for another four months and Aldis has been facing stiff competition since claiming the title back in December of last year. Former WWE talent Rey Mysterio was announced as the latest wrestler who will be appearing at the event, most likely as a competitor.
Jenn Decker hosted the event, which ran about 30 minutes and featured the aforementioned names plus a surprise appearance from reporter “Phil Horton,” who turned out to be everybody’s favorite “All In” exile Flip Gordon in disguise. Gordon quickly dropped suspicious Scurll with a superkick before being slammed through a table from Page. As of this writing, Gordon is still not booked for the event, though he does have one last shot coming up on June 8 when he and a mystery partner challenge MJF and Madison Rayne for the WrestlePro promotion in New Jersey, with the winning team getting booked for September.
In all, the event was a pretty quick, cut-and-dry affair that played more like a promotional vehicle for the forthcoming supercard than an actual press junket, though numerous members of the wrestling media were present to ask questions once the actual conference portion had ended. It was there that the real juicy details were shared, as fans inquired about a number of topics, including but not limited to: the potential for more Funko Pops (the Bucks, Cody and Kenny Omega each sold 28,000 units the first day of presale availability), the size of Hangman Page’s “rope” (about the same as Batista), Daniel Bryan’s participation at “All In” (he was tabbed to appear), and whether CM Punk will be wrestling at the show or if he’ll exclusively be signing autographs for fans the day before (anything is possible, but Punk has other focuses right now, like a fight for UFC in three weeks, also in Chicago). The Q&A closed up with Marty’s latest rendition of “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys, which drew cheers and applause from the audience.
Tickets for “All In” went on sale following the press conference and sold out within the first hour in what is being called an unprecedented, landscape-changing event for the independents. After the press conference concluded, Pro Wrestling Ponderings was granted access to several “All In” participants, including Tessa Blanchard and Hangman Page, Marty Scurll, and Flip Gordon, each of whom spoke on the importance of the event and what it means to them. All four, minus Gordon, were appreciative of the opportunity presented to them and noted that the September showcase will be a career highlight for them, while Gordon affirmed that he wouldn’t squander his final chance to receive the booking of a lifetime.
Below are some transcribed quotations from the four:
FLIP GORDON:
On why he isn’t booked for “All In”: “Because Cody hates my guts. I don’t understand it. I’ve literally thought of anything and everything I can do to get booked, and I’m still not booked. … I’ve literally been wrestling some of the best wrestlers in the world, and I’ve been holding my own against those wrestlers. I don’t know what vendetta Cody has against me, but I’m going to figure it out, and I need to figure it out quick because this is the biggest show in professional wrestling history. Let’s be honest: I need to be booked for All In.”
On his final chance at being booked for “All In”: “I have one more opportunity, June 8th, WrestlePro. I have a mystery partner in a tag match, right? I’m going to face MJF and Madison Rayne. … I get to pick [my partner], and I have the perfect partner. … This is my last chance. This is my last opportunity to become All In.”
On what wrestling in Chicago means to him: “Chicago is one of my most favorite places to wrestle and I had that match like you said with Will Ospreay, probably the best match I have ever had, here in Chicago. I actually have a little story about Chicago. Chicago was one of the very few places I wanted to stop on my journey from Montana to Massachusetts when I wanted to become a professional wrestler. Chicago was one of those places I wanted to stop, it was on my list, and I stopped here. So it’s always been kind of like a little special place to me. Went to the zoo, loved it, so for All In to be here, in front of 10,000-plus fans, it would mean everything for me.”
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MARTY SCURLL:
On who he’d like to face at “All In”: “I’d always love to wrestle Rey Mysterio. I don’t really want to give an answer, because I don’t want to steer what match I might have in any direction or create a narrative that isn’t true. Quite frankly, I don’t know who I’m wrestling yet, like, people think I’m joking when I say that but the card hasn’t really been put together properly yet. Cody wanted to put the match card together eight months ago, so, dude, things are going to change between then and now, and of course they have. In terms of who I’d like to wrestle, all the talent that’s been announced so far has been great, but the only thing I would say is I’m exclusive to Ring of Honor in America, so there’s Ring of Honor guys on the show I can wrestle in Ring of Honor. So it would be a good opportunity to put me on against someone who’s not with Ring of Honor and maybe do something different, something that’s never been done before. That would be cool. If I could do a match that’s never been done before, in front of 10,000 people, that would be nice.”
On critics saying the show couldn’t succeed or draw 10,000 fans: “That’s always going to be the case, isn’t it? People want to be like, ‘You can’t do it,’ like, come on guys, relax, you know what I mean? I think it’s very achievable; we all believe we can truly do it, and I think there is a big demand for an alternative product out there. It’s funny because those same fans are like, ‘Those guys can’t do it,’ they’re probably the same fans that watch [WWE’s] Backlash and go, ‘That pay-per-view was terrible!’ It’s like, OK, we’re trying to do something different, maybe support us. The people that say that, as well, maybe aren’t the fans we are trying to attract because they’re probably not the fans that are going to buy a ticket and come and buy a Bullet Club shirt and enjoy themselves. They’re probably just the fans that are going to maybe download it illegally and slag it off. I wouldn’t say anything to them. … People don’t believe we can do it, that’s cool, but I believe we can, I hope that we can, and it’s hopefully going to go down as a big turning point in professional wrestling and it’s going to be an honor to be a part of it.”
On whether he’d like to wrestle for WWE in the future: “I’ll be honest with you, if you had asked me a while back, I would say no. I just heard that WWE is bringing out Hasbros [action figures] again, for the wrestlers, and I would love to get an F’n Hasbro. [laughs] I’ve had a few custom ones, but an official one would be nice. So if you asked me a while back, I would say no, but Hasbro, maybe there’s a chance. It’s a tricky question because I march to the beat of my own drum, I like what I do. But you don’t know, situations change. Right now, no, but in the future, I don’t know, situations change, so you can’t say. Like I said, at the moment, no, things are great, but in the future, who knows? As cliche as that is. But I would like a Hasbro. Hasbro, if you’re watching, get me a Hasbro figure, that’s what I want.”
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TESSA BLANCHARD:
On what being a part of “All In” means to her: “I think it’s also huge for women’s wrestling, because women the platform to show that the evolution of women’s wrestling is in good hands by booking some of the best women’s talent on the independent circuit, and it’s just a cool thing to be a part of.
On what wrestling in Chicago means to her: “Yeah, it’s really exciting. Chicago holds a special place in my heart, because I’ve worked SHIMMER here the past four years, now RISE, which is kind of cool, like, everything women’s wrestling happens in Chicago lately. With RISE, they help the next generation come up and I feel like that ties into All In because we’re kind of elevating the minds of the next generation by booking the talent that they have thus far, so it’s cool.”
On critics of “All In”: “I think it’s really easy for negative energy to be pushed toward people who are successful. And I think this event is going to be something that is very, very successful, and it’s being led by people who are successful. So, yeah, I think they should just sit back and watch.”
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HANGMAN PAGE:
On what being a part of “All In” means to him: “This is big. This is a lot. This is the biggest independent wrestling show in the history of wrestling, I guess, so this is huge. To be a part of it, a marquee part of it — we’re on the billboard, we’re on everything, you know — so to be part of it is huge for me.”
On what wrestling in Chicago means to him: “I’ve only done Ring of Honor stuff in Chicago but I’ve got some memories here. I think I wrestled Adam Pearce here for Ring of Honor for his last few appearances here, and it might have been his last Ring of Honor match. He smacked me in the ear and I was actually deaf in one ear for like, a month, it popped my ear drum. Yeah, that was in Chicago, I think. So yeah, I love Chicago, it’s a good place to be, and I think for this show, it’s the perfect place to be.”
On critics of “All In”: “Watch us. We’ll do it. I think we can do it. I think we will do it. Wrestling is hotter now than it’s been in a long time, especially independent wrestling, wrestling outside of the machine is hotter than it’s ever been and it’s more accessible than it’s ever been. So I think those people, you know, it’s fine, everyone has their opinion but we have our own and I think we know what we’re talking about.”