As previously reported, the 70-year-old Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat was set to face Ricky Starks in a match at All Out 2023. However, it was revealed during this week’s Collision that it will be The American Dragon who will face Starks at the PPV.
As seen on Collision, Starks called out Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and challenged him to a strap match at the All Out 2023 pay-per-view set for tomorrow night. Steamboat appeared to agree to the match and he produced a contract to make the match official between Starks and “The Dragon.”
Starks signed the contract after which Steamboat revealed he wasn’t the “Dragon” noted in the contract. Instead, Starks’ opponent at All Out 2023 was revealed to be “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. Soon after the announcement, Bryan returned to AEW programming after suffering an injury in his main event match with Kazuchika Okada at Forbidden Door in June.
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Previous reports have also noted that originally Starks was set to face CM Punk at All Out 2023. But just before AEW Collision, he was fired and that was confirmed by AEW President Tony Khan. Punk had been suspended following a backstage incident with Jack Perry at All In at Wembley Stadium in London. AEW CEO addressed the firing situation in the opening segment of Collision, saying Punk endangered the safety of himself and others backstage during the fight at All In.
This eventually paved the way for Danielson to come into the equation for AEW’s annual All Out 2023 event. As noted above, Bryan was last seen at Forbidden Door where he forced NJPW star Kazuchika Okada to tap out and win the main event. In a post-match media scrum, he revealed suffering a fractured forearm in about ten minutes left in the match. Danielson reportedly was already dealing with an injury heading into the June PPV.
AEW All Out 2023 PPV Match Card
AEW All Out 2023 pay-per-view takes place at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, tonight. The full match card of the show is given below:
– AEW International Championship: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley
– ROH World Tag Team Championship Match: Better Than You Bay Bay (AEW World Champion MJF & Adam Cole) (c) vs. Winners of Rampage Battle Royal
– TNT Championship Match: Luchasaurus (c) vs. Darby Allin
– Kenny Omega vs. Konosuke Takeshita
– Miro vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
– ROH TV Championship Match: Samoa Joe (c) vs. Shane Taylor
– TBS Women’s Championship Match: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Ruby Soho
– AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR & Young Bucks vs. Bullet Club Gold
– Blackpool Combat Club (ROH World Champion Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) vs. NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Eddie Kingston & ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata
– Bryan Danielson vs. Ricky Starks