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One of the most important pro wrestling events in modern history took place on September 1, 2018, at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois as The Elite hosted the inaugural All In event. The event was the first non-WWE or WCW show in the United States that surpassed the 10,000 ticket mark, selling out the arena with over 11,000 fans in attendance, and one of the men who was a small part of the show was Jim Ross.
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The Hall of Famer opened up about what it was like being a part of the All In event on his "Grilling JR" podcast, claiming that everyone, including himself, was excited.
"I'm happy that they did well," Ross said. "It launched us, it gave us all some peace of mind that, 'Hey, look, I think we may be on to something because these 11,000 tickets sold.' It just gave everybody pause that, 'Hey, look, I think we can do this,' so I was excited to be there for that. It was fun, it's just fun to be in a full building, hear the crowd, the crowd chants, and that wonderful emotion, it was just great."
As Ross noted, the success of All In played a major part in the eventual launch of AEW the following year, with the company's first pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, named as a direct reference to the original All In event. AEW brought the All In branding back in 2023 when they hosted their first international event at Wembley Stadium in London, England, where the company sold over 81,000 tickets.
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Please credit "Grilling JR" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
