AEW All Out Match Stopped After Steven Borden Injury Scare

A match at AEW’s All Out pay-per-view in Chicago was cut short on Sunday night after a scary spot led referees to wave things off early.

Steven Borden was making his AEW pay-per-view debut, teaming with Darby Allin against Kyle Fletcher and Kevin Knight in a number one contender’s match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. The bout went second on the card, and it never reached a finish.

The trouble came when both Borden and Knight leapt from the top rope at the same time, colliding with each other in mid-air before crashing hard to the mat. Referees rushed in to check on Borden and ultimately ruled him unable to continue, bringing the match to an end via referee stoppage. Knight and Fletcher were awarded the win and, presumably, the tag title opportunity that came with it — though the circumstances leave that outcome feeling more like a formality than a statement.

There’s no word yet on the extent of Borden’s injury, and AEW has not issued any official update on his condition. Moments like this are always uncomfortable for a crowd to sit through, and referee stoppages of this kind are typically a sign that officials and agents at ringside are erring heavily on the side of caution rather than risking further damage for the sake of finishing a match as planned.

For Borden, the timing stings. A pay-per-view debut is meant to be a showcase, and instead the night ends with questions about his health rather than a performance to build on. For Allin, it also disrupts whatever momentum the team had been building toward a tag title shot, since the number one contender’s match not reaching its intended conclusion muddies where that program goes from here. AEW will need to address both the storyline fallout — does Knight and Fletcher’s win stand as a clean path to a title match, or does the finish get revisited — and, more importantly, Borden’s actual medical status in the coming days.

Working two competitors leaping simultaneously from the top rope is inherently risky, and collisions like this are one of the more unpredictable ways an injury can occur in a match that otherwise looked to be going smoothly. Fans and colleagues alike will be watching closely for any word from Borden or AEW in the days ahead. PW Exclusive will continue to follow this story as more information becomes available.