MJF, Saraya, CM Punk and the Real Winners and Losers from AEW All In 2023 Match Card

MJF opened and closed the show in Wembley Stadium, telling a story over the night that will define his career.Credit: All Elite Wrestling.

All Elite Wrestling has made many big risks over the years, but the commitment to running in London, England in Wembley Stadium may be the absolute biggest.

The company was rewarded with a record-setting audience in attendance, well over 80,000 fans in attendance. This made All In 2023 the biggest night in the history of the company. Everyone wanted to capitalize on this atmosphere.

It was a big night for the likes of FTR, CM Punk, Konosuke Takeshita, Saraya and Will Ospreay, who picked up defining wins in their careers.

Meanwhile, former champions like Aussie Open, House of Black and Hikaru Shida felt victory slip through their fingers, leaving worse off than they were coming in.

Of course, no two men were more important to these show than MJF and Adam Cole. They opened the show winning ROH Tag Team Championships, but only one could emerge as AEW world champion. That man was The Salt of the Earth.

The following are the biggest winners and losers from an electric AEW pay-per-view.

Aussie Open got a statement victory at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2023, winning the ROH Tag Team Championships just after Mark Davis had returned from injury.

Many expected them to run with the tag titles for a while, but they ran into a buzz saw in the form of MJF and Adam Cole. The best story in AEW did not need tag team gold, but it does add even more excitement to the angle.

While Kyle Fletcher and Davis will be fine long term, AEW did have them lose to a makeshift team of main event stars, putting a story above the credibility of one of AEW's best duos.

For now, Aussie Open is left in the background in a company that has professed to respecting tag team wrestling but shown similar tendencies to WWE with recent tag team booking.

When Hook first debuted in AEW, he was a revelation, moving fast and landing impactful shots in limited action. However, it is only now that Taz's son has truly shown he can be the complete package.

After failing in the most competitive match of his career against Jack Perry and losing the FTW Championship, he needed to respond. He did that in Wembley Stadium.

Not only did Hook win, he put on the best match of his career to date. He looked like far more than just a bit performer. This should lead to longer matches against higher profile opponents in the future.

The stage is bright for both of these men. Perry may have lost, but he was the leader in this match throughout. He will very quickly pivot to another big feud, possibly going after the TNT Championship soon.

CM Punk is not the wrestler he once was, approaching 45 years of age. However, he continues to evolve his style to his own physical limitations.

He and Samoa Joe had a fun match where The Best in the World was far outmatched but enjoyed every second of the energy in Wembley.

While he was bloody and beaten down, Punk emerged with a victory, still holding the "Real World Championship". This keeps him as the top man on AEW Collision.

The feud of Punk vs. Joe was good for both men, playing on their history while keeping them in the spotlight. In the end though, The Best in the World emerged victorious against a man he could never beat before.

AEW found gold when signing Konosuke Takeshita. It took some time for him to get his push, but he just pinned Kenny Omega in front 80,000+ people.

His heel run has serious heat, particularly because of Don Callis in his corner, but Takeshita needed a spot like this.

This will almost certainly lead to Omega vs. Takeshita at All Out. If he can win that over The Cleaner, it would be career-defining, but the best part of this moment is that he does not need it either.

Winning on this stage shows that AEW has big plans for the Japanese star. AEW can no longer afford to go slow with him.

It looked inevitable that FTR would lose the AEW Tag Team Championships in Wembley Stadium. Matt and Nick Jackson recently signed the highest guaranteed deals for a tag team ever according to Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter,

Cash Wheeler's recent arrest reported by PWInsider left even more doubts about the future of FTR. However, he was able to travel and ultimately won the big one with Dax Harwood.

It seems like AEW is still fully and completely committed to FTR. In a match that was meant to crown the absolute best tag team in the world, Harwood and Wheeler won clean.

We may eventually get another rematch between these teams, but for now, one team clears stands tall in the rivalry. Clearly, the future of tag team wrestling remains in the hands of FTR.

In 2005 at the age of 13, Saraya made her in-ring debut. In 2018, Saraya retired from professional wrestling at the age of 25 due to a serious neck injury.

Her whole family had defined their lives through professional wrestling. However, due to the threat of permanent paralysis, she was reluctantly forced to give up on a sport that had been her entire life.

Luckily, her dream was not quite gone yet. Over the next four years, her body healed, and she made a shocking debut at Grand Slam 2022 for AEW. She then made her official in-ring return at Full Gear in November.

While she cannot compete at the same level as the top women in the business, Saraya has worked hard to do the most with what she has. She won the big one in Wembley Stadium in front of her family, showing she is truly back.

Is she fully ready to be the top woman in AEW? Probably not. This may not be a long title run. However, it was an important moment for her, an exclamation mark on her return to in-ring action.

While Saraya's moment was the ultimate fairy tale ending to her return to professional wrestling, All In 2023 was a nightmare for Hikaru Shida, who only just won her second Women's World Championship at the beginning of August.

She deserved a longer reign. She has long earned a better spotlight. However, her moment was left as a fleeting piece of the story of The Outcasts.

This does not need to be the end. Shida is still one of the best women's wrestlers in AEW. She did not take the pinfall in this match. She should have a rematch clause to invoke soon.

Saraya may not be physically able to work the grueling schedule of a top champion while the former champion has proved it time and again. Most would not complain about Shida becoming a three-time champion.

The future is still bright for Shida, but she has certainly hit a speed bump in her career.

Will Ospreay may be the best wrestler in the world. Others can make strong arguments to the same, but no one has been on quite the run of The Assassin lately.

After a serious match of the year contender with Kenny Omega at Forbidden Door, he stole the show throughout the G1 Climax, including defeating Kazuchika Okada clean.

Finally, he gave Chris Jericho his best match in recent memory, stealing the show from a packed card. It was another star-making performance that may be the most important given the audience watching him.

The future is bright for Ospreay, and AEW clearly will continue to present him as a top star as long as he appears for the promotion.

House of Black helped define the AEW World Trios Championships over their 160+ day reign. It was by far the best run with the gold to date.

It did not feel like the story was over yet. House of Black still had plenty of rivals left to fight. However, the story of Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed was more important than the continused rise of Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews and Brody King.

It is not the end of the world. The group can reconvene and continue to terrorize AEW together and in singles action.

House of Black though has been through some bad booking over the years until 2023. There is always the worry that the dominance of the crew will suffer without gold.

The Acclaimed and Gunn are as popular as ever, but it is unlikely that this is a long-term group, especially as Daddy Ass contemplates retirement.

MJF and Adam Cole were both winners coming into the night. They were the story of the summer for AEW and the angle that would define All In 2023.

However, while both opened the show with a victory, taking the ROH Tag Team Championships off Aussie Open, it was MJF who emerged still the AEW world champion.

Cole almost showed his true colors, ready to take shortcuts more than the champion, but he could not finish the job. MJF caught him at his weakest to take the win. Afterward, they managed to hug it out.

This match showed what makes The Salt of the Earth the biggest star in AEW while also highlighting the absolute best of Cole. The Boom had the best match of his career.

The drama of this match played on everything that brought these two men to the dance. They did not need the biggest moves or the most near-falls. They just needed to sell the moment. It was wild, hilarious, passionate and all-around perfect for this atmosphere.

It was a true lasting victory for MJF, who has been solidified as a megastar in the business. Cole though did his part and is clearly positioned as a top guy as well long term.

AEW has broken the single event record for paid attendance, officially reporting 81,035 paid audience members in attendance. That is a monumental achievement.

On top of it all, AEW is taking another big swing, returning to London, England in one year's time for All In 2024. That is a risky move, but given how many were willing to show up for the first outing, it is not inconceivable that AEW will fill the stadium again in 2024.

To make this show special, AEW did not need dramatic surprises or shocking moments. It was a night of pure professional wrestling, and it may have been the best bell-to-bell event in the company's history.

WWE will certainly have a response. Competition in professional wrestling is heating up. However, AEW has clearly established that this company can make a lasting impact on the business.