This year's AEW All Out proved to be a controversial event due to several violent spots during matches. Meanwhile, wrestling veteran Bill Apter has revealed the spot that made the show "disgusting" for him.
AEW All Out 2024 was headlined by an unsanctioned Lights Out Steel Cage Match between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Adam Page. The match was filled with brutality, as there were needles, stapleguns, cinderblocks, and hard-hitting chair shots involved. Hangman Page came out on top after he put a needle in Swerve's mouth and knocked the former AEW World Champion out with a chair shot to the head.
In the recent edition of Sportskeeda's Exclusive, The Wrestling Time Machine podcast with Mac Davis, Senior Editor Bill Apter stated that the brutal unsanctioned Steel Cage Match was the moment that ended the Tony Khan-led company's PPV for him, as the 78-year-old called the spot "disgusting!"
The veteran noted how he had seen the needle spot in the independent circuit, asserting that it shouldn't have been done on a pay-per-view event.
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"The cage match, number one, Swerve Strickland took a photo of himself and his family to remind Hangman Page how much they mean to him, and he took a staple gun and stapled the picture onto Adam Page's cheek. They had a cinder block in the middle of the ring, where they power bombed each other, and it looked like Hangman Page's back was cut with a knife," he said.
Apter added:
"And then, what did it for me? I've seen this in the Indies, and I didn't like it, but for a pay-per-view that anybody could watch, to have the hypodermic needle in Swerve Strickland's mouth ended it for me; [it] ruined the whole pay-per-view. Disgusting!" [5:53-6:51]
Bill Apter enjoyed the rest of AEW All Out 2024 PPV
Despite the backlash surrounding the plastic bag spot by Jon Moxley on Bryan Danielson following the latter's match against Jack Perry and the brutal unsanctioned Lights Out Steel Cage Match between Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland, the Tony Khan-led company delivered several great matches at AEW All Out 2024.
MJF and Daniel Garcia went to war in the opening match of the event, and it was followed by several thrilling bouts involving stars like Will Ospreay, Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, Willow Nightingale, and Mercedes Mone, among others.
In the same video, Mac Davis asked Bill Apter if wrestling was presented at the All Out 2024 PPV. The veteran responded that apart from the two ''disgusting'' matches, the rest of the event featured good wrestling matches.
"It was, but not those two matches, definitely not. MJF had a good match, Willow Nightingale had a good match, and Mercedes Mone had an okay match. But one word to describe the other two matches is, 'Disgusting!''' [4:58-5:20]
It will be interesting to see if Tony Khan responds to the criticism in the coming days.
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