The inaugural event was a spiritual successor to the September 2018 independently produced All In PPV, which served as a catalyst to the formation of AEW in January 2019.

On September 1, 2018, an independent wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event was held called All In, which took place in the Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, Illinois at the former Sears Centre Arena—renamed to Now Arena in 2020.

[1] The Elite became executive vice presidents of AEW, which scheduled a spiritual successor to All In called All Out, with the inaugural All Out PPV taking place on August 31, 2019, at the same venue as All In.

[11][12] However, on May 21, AEW announced that All Out would instead take place at the Now Arena a week later on Saturday, September 7, in turn marking the first All Out to not be held during Labor Day weekend.

[15] AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan later referred to All Out as being one of the promotion's "Big Four" PPVs, their four biggest domestic shows of the year produced quarterly, along with Double or Nothing, Full Gear, and Revolution.