The inaugural event was held independently in September 2018 and inspired the creation of AEW a few months later in January 2019.

The inaugural 2018 event, held at the Sears Centre Arena (renamed Now Arena in 2020) in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, was notable for being the first non-WWE or World Championship Wrestling promoted professional wrestling event in the United States to sell 10,000 tickets since 1993.

[8] The event marked AEW's debut in the United Kingdom and was the promotion's first PPV to be held outside of North America.

After the main event, which saw MJF defend the AEW World Championship against Adam Cole, it was announced that All In would return to Wembley on August 25, 2024.

[13] AEW president Tony Khan has since referred to All In as the company's biggest show of the year, a position previously held by Double or Nothing.