The debate over AEW All Out and WWE’s Worlds Collide isn’t ending anytime soon. Will Ospreay already had some scathing words about WWE running against All Out, Tony Khan defended his company during the post-show media scrum; and now Jonathan Coachman has weighed in with his own verdict.
Coachman doesn’t think it’s much of a debate, either. After looking at everything that happened between All Out and Worlds Collide, he came away believing AEW had the better day—and he explained exactly why. Coachman took to Twitter and started with WWE’s decision not to air Worlds Collide live, pointing out that fans still have to wait until September 30 to actually watch the show on YouTube.
“Here’s the question—who won, who lost Saturday in Chicago? Well, here’s the deal. The whole thing about WWE even doing the show in person, not broadcasting it live anywhere—not Netflix or Peacock—it’s gonna be on YouTube on September 30th, in a couple of days. That’s number one.”
From there, he turned his attention to Tony Khan and AEW, saying All Out gave Khan every reason to celebrate. Coachman praised the company for selling out the NOW Arena, delivering another strong pay-per-view and doing it without one of its biggest stars.
“Number two, Tony Khan finally gets to slam dunk on WWE in a Tony Khan way—and he did. He’s right. They sold out. They had a great pay-per-view. This is what they do best—without MJF, I might add.”
That doesn’t mean Coachman ignored what WWE brought to the table. He acknowledged Worlds Collide featured names like Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio, Oba Femi and hometown favorite CM Punk, and understood exactly why WWE loaded up the card. Even so, he kept coming back to one thing.
“And number three, this is where the sickos are really gonna get after it. You bring in Rey, Dirty Dom, Oba Femi, and the hometown star. Remember the last couple of times when he was first in AEW, then he came back to WWE, then with AJ Lee—all of those things were in Chicago to capitalize. I get it. I understand it. But they did not sell out on Saturday night.”
For Coachman, that was the deciding factor. He said he grew up in a wrestling business where selling out a building was one of the biggest signs of success, so once he looked at the attendance, he felt the conversation was pretty much over.
“The business I was brought up in, that I was taught in—’sold out’ are two of the most important words you have in wrestling. So the fact that WWE didn’t do that, with all the efforts—my winner on Saturday is AEW. No doubt about it.”
Coachman’s opinion probably won’t end the debate, but it’s another notable voice siding with AEW after a weekend that’s already generated plenty of discussion. Between Ospreay’s comments, Tony Khan defending the company at the media scrum and now Coachman weighing in, Chicago is still giving wrestling fans plenty to argue about less than a day later.
Do you agree with Coachman, or do you think WWE got what it wanted out of Worlds Collide? Let us know in the comments below.
This transcript was produced exclusively for Ringside News from the original recording. Republishing the transcription in full is prohibited. When using excerpts, provide prominent credit and a link to this article.
