ROH champions are invading AEW ALL OUT 2023

The go-home episode of ROH didn’t add much to storylines. The Outrunners lost to Serpentico and Angelico. The former will compete in the Tag Team Battle Royale on Rampage. 

Aussie Open defended their World Tag Team Championships on the pre-show for AEW’s biggest show ever, ALL IN. They faced “The Brochachos” Adam Cole and MJF. The besties are an unstoppable force, though, and became the new champions before closing the show for the AEW World Championship.

Just eight days after ALL IN, AEW is having its annual ALL OUT pay-per-view. The winners of the aforementioned Battle Royale will face “The Brochachos” on this week’s pay-per-view.

ALL OUT will also feature at least two more ROH matches. On this week’s Dynamite, NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion, Eddie Kingston defeated Wheeler Yuta. Following the match, Kingston tried talking to ROH World Champion, Claudio Castagnoli. He ignored his nemesis. Castagnoli and Yuta will face off against “The Mad King” and ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata.

The dream match that ROH fans have been waiting for is finally taking place this Sunday. After winning a tournament to name the number one contender, Shane Taylor will face off in a mean-man match against Samoa Joe. The World Television Championship will be on the line.

Taylor is a former TV champion and is looking to regain the gold. A few weeks ago, Joe became the second-longest reigning TV champ in ROH history. He is looking forward to smashing the record currently held by his former protégé, Jay Lethal.

With every ROH men’s champion slated to wrestle at ALL OUT, you’re probably wondering if Women’s Champion, ATHENA, is defending her title. As of Thursday, the answer is no. (*heavy eye-roll followed by a deep sigh*)

On Thursday’s media call, Tony Khan said that he’s waiting to find out when ATHENA’s minion, Billie Starkz, will be cleared. He mentioned that they were planned for Zero Hour. He did say that even if Starkz isn’t cleared, we could still see ATHENA, although he didn’t clarify if it would be on the pre-show or main card.

It will be a shame if ATHENA isn’t featured on Sunday. The other champions frequently wrestle on AEW programming. Not the women’s champion, though. Sure, she competed against Willow Nightingale in the Owen Hart Cup Tournament, but that wasn’t even an ROH-sanctioned match.

ATHENA is the star of ROH and, by far, its best champion. She’s earned the right to be on AEW programming just like the men. It’s yet another way the women in both companies lack equity with their male counterparts.

ALL OUT is on Sunday, September 3 at 8 PM ET. Zero Hour will begin at 7 PM ET.