Tag: Double or Nothing

AEW Double or Nothing 2021: Every Match Ranked

Another Pay-Per-View is behind us. Some got double, some got nothing (I don’t understand this metaphor), but generally, it was a pretty good night of wrestling. I don’t think it ranks among AEW’s best, but that’s a pretty high bar, and I still found the show entertaining. Let’s just talk about the matches.

10 – Cody Rhodes def. Antony Ogogo

As much as I had a strong disliking toward the story of this match, I thought the action itself could still be good. I was wrong.

It wasn’t necessarily bad; it just felt a bit heartless compared to everything else on the show. It only went 10 minutes, and nothing memorable happened during it. Ogogo came out of the gate with a bit of fire, Cody mounted a comeback, they traded momentum for a bit, and that was that. The commentators were desperately selling it as some huge moment and tough triumph for Cody, but it’s just not.

I’ve often defended Cody when people talk about him having too much of an ego, but with every pointless and heatless major win like this, I’m starting to come around to that way of thinking. What was the benefit of this? The crowd were noticeably quieter during this match than most of the show, save for some half-arsed USA chants. Cody didn’t beat a particularly strong opponent, and Ogogo looks pathetic in defeat. What was the point? Other than an ego wank from Cody with a chance to be America’s “hero”.

9 – Jungle Boy Wins The Casino Battle Royale
(Winner Receives A Future AEW World Championship Match)

I mentioned in my predictions that this battle royal format was a little awkward. Although I said that, I have by and large enjoyed all of them up until now. However, watching this one on Sunday, it made all of this format’s flaws really obvious.

Competitors entering five at a time just flat-out does not work. It’s awkwardly paced as each person has to get their own music, but it means that none of them get to have a chance to shine on their own as they come in the ring. People don’t get to come into the match full of steam and clean house to look good. They just immediately fade into the background. On top of that, so much time is spent on entrances that the pacing of the match feels disjointed. Eliminations get missed, spots get overlooked, and it can be hard to tell who’s even in the match sometimes.

When the match got good was towards the end. The Joker entrant, Lio Rush (who I’m pleased to see), got a great moment to shine in their entrance, and they got in the ring. Then, once the field had cleared, the story with Matt Hardy & Private Party got to take the forefront, and things were more compelling. The final sequence with Christian & Jungle Boy was great too, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the winner.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. You’re never going to beat the Royal Rumble, so stop trying to be the Royal Rumble because all it does is make me wish I was watching the Royal Rumble.

8 – Sting & Darby Allin def. Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page

I don’t have a great deal to say about this one. It was good, but nothing particularly special. It’s nice to see Sting wrestle again, and it’s clear he’s still got some left in the tank, which is always good.

I just want to see both him & Allin used differently now. I’d rather see Sting mentoring Allin in a singles capacity at this point rather than random tag matches that damage the credibility of mid-card heels.

7 – The Inner Circle def. The Pinnacle
(Stadium Stampede)

I promise this is the last match I’m going to moan about, but this match didn’t really click with me.

For context, I loved last year’s Stadium Stampede match. It had tonnes of memorable moments and gripped me for the entirety of its 30-minute runtime. This one was not even remotely like that, and it was a huge detriment to the match’s quality.

The intensity of this feud was through the roof, and they tried to play the Stadium Stampede match a lot more seriously because of it, and that is where this match fell short. The entire concept is inherently silly, so you’ve got to play up to that fact. Rather than a long string of memorable and entertaining spots, this match was just people wandering around, punching and occasionally hitting each other with things.

Just off the top of my head, I could give you a laundry list of memorable moments from last year’s Stadium Stampede. The charge at the start. The Northern Lights suplex across the field. One of the Young Bucks Moonsaulting off of the goal post. Page wandering around on a horse. The Omega & Page bar fight and several others that I’m leaving out, so this doesn’t go on too long.

Compare that to this year, what are people going to remember in a year’s time? The Inner Circle’s entrance, absolutely, that was brilliant, but in the actual match? Not a lot. The “disco” fight was pretty memorable, I guess, but I’d be hard-pressed to think of anything else. The motorbike/golf cart chasing Shaun Spears was good, but even that was just a callback to last year’s match.

At the end of the day, it was fine and still held my attention throughout. I just don’t think it justified the 30 minutes it had this time around.

6 – Miro(c) def. Lance Archer
(TNT Championship)

Yup, thumbs up for this one.

It was pretty short, clocking in at just under 10 minutes, but the intensity that both men brought to it felt like it justified the shorter runtime. Miro is finally unleashed in his full potential, and it’s as glorious as we all knew it would be. Naturally, Archer responded to his style of offence in kind, and the match held the feeling of two men really trying to crush each other.

It worked somewhat slowly throughout the middle, but the hard-hitting style both wrestlers brought made up for it, and the flurries of fast stuff mixed in there wrapped it all together nicely.

I’m not the biggest fan of Archer taking yet another major loss like this, but I can understand that it’s probably worth it for the sake of building Miro up as a monster. I’m excited to see where this title reign goes, Miro has shown throughout his career that he can work against both big & small guys, so there’s some interesting dynamics to play around with throughout his reign.

5 – Serena Deeb(c) def. Riho
(NWA World Women’s Championship)
(Buy-In)

A pretty simple but very engaging match. Maybe it’s because WWE has conditioned my expectation of pre-show matches to be so low, but I was surprised at how much these two were able to get in.

Serena was great at getting the crowd to turn on her from the get-go. I didn’t realise that she’d become a heel on NWA programming, but the in-ring storytelling quickly clued me in and adjusted my expectations accordingly. Riho responded to it in the right way too. Her general presentation presents her as quite the underdog, and she knows how to play up to it.

The champion retained, but it was still a fantastic feature for both women.

4 – Hangman Adam Page def. Brian Cage

Another simple but great singles match here. They played this one very balanced in terms of momentum, which kept it interesting throughout. 12 minutes was the perfect length of time for what this match was, and the pacing flowed perfectly from start to finish. Cage’s powerful offence gave him this force-of-nature aura, but Page handled it well and told the story of learning from their first encounter.

Team Taz getting involved at the end was an interesting wrinkle. I find it interesting that almost all of the attempts at match interference on this show went wrong in one way or another. Cage’s desire to do it alone added an extra layer to the story and justified what would’ve otherwise been fairly stupid decision-making on his part.

I’m interested to see where they take his character following this. While I think he could’ve gotten more out of his run with Team Taz, at this point, I think it might be best to let it go and change his status quo. You don’t even need to turn him face. Just breaking away from Team Taz would be enough of a change to let him start fresh. As for Hangman Page, him winning was the right decision, and I’m looking forward to seeing his rise continue.

3 – Britt Baker def. Hikaru Shida(c)
(AEW Women’s World Championship)

A worthy end to Shida’s title reign.

I didn’t realise they’d given her a new title belt, but I like it. The only real problem with the original belt was how pitifully tiny it was, and this fixed that. Now it looks like a throwback belt with a modern style, and I like it.

The match itself had a lot to love. Not as quickly paced as I would’ve liked, but most other aspects of the match made up for that shortcoming. The momentum shifted gradually between each woman, and that combined with the ramping up in intensity for a compelling contest. The styles between these two meshed in the way I had hoped, and it brought the shine out of both of them.

The story elements were great too. Despite the crowd largely being pro-Britt, she stayed true to her character and did everything in her power to turn them against her. Admittedly, it didn’t work, but I still enjoyed watching it. Rebel’s interference going wrong was a great dramatic moment, although I’m glad it was only a false finish. I’m sure something will come of that in the long term.

The finish made both women look pretty good too. Shida wasn’t soundly out-wrestled, but she made a mistake and got caught by a competitor on her level who knew how to make the most of it. With Britt at the top, I’m confident AEW’s women’s division will reach the status it deserves at last.

2 – The Young Bucks(c) def. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston
(AEW World Tag Team Championship)

This was definitely the most fun match of the evening.

The story between these two teams focusing on a pair of shoes was an odd choice. I know it was symbolistic of the wider conflict, but still, especially considering how little bearing they ended up having on the match. Also, before I get into the match properly, did The Young Bucks pay off that referee or something? Both Bucks were in the ring for almost the entire match, and the referee didn’t even try to count them out, but he still had a go at Kingston for even thinking about it.

The action was fantastic throughout this match. With how dominant of a champion he was, it’s easy to forget how great Moxley is at taking a beating. He got his clock cleaned by the Bucks at almost every opportunity but still came out of that gate swinging in the way only he can. Kingston got to be the controlling factor for his team, but the Bucks still found a weakness to exploit. That was a great device to turn momentum back the Bucks whenever it was needed.

Towards the end, when things got more chaotic was when things hit their peak. The kickout at one was nice, although I feel like that’s becoming a bit of an overused trope, especially considering we basically never saw it a couple of years ago. Things went off with a bang in the final sequence, with the exception of the actual finish, which felt like more of a whimper. However, it couldn’t take away from what was a fantastically entertaining bout.

1 – Kenny Omega(c) def. Orange Cassidy & Pac
(AEW World Championship)

Triple threat matches are just the most entertaining things.

The balance of power between all three guys was really interesting. I said in my predictions that Orange Cassidy would serve as more of an exclamation point on the match, and I think that was more or less the role he filled. While the crowd loved all three guys, it was clear they were fully behind Cassidy, and whenever he popped back in the ring for a few quick punches, it was a joyous occasion.

Pac & Omega trying to out-wrestle each other helped carry the bulk of the action and gave things the technical flavour we love to see. Both men are very familiar with each other by this point, and it shows, as the ebb and flow of the match never faltered. The tropes of triple threat matches are very well established by this point, but I feel like this match didn’t lean on them too heavily. While there was some amount of powdering out, I feel like all three men were a featured part of the action for more of the match than not.

Things got a bit convoluted towards the end but in the right kind of way. Kenny using all four of his belts to clobber Pac was a cool twist on an established spot, and the ridiculous amount of false finishes were a lot of fun. The final one was especially great and does everything it needed to for Orange Cassidy. He almost caught Omega on several occasions and only lost because of some quick thinking on Kenny’s part. Both Cassidy & Pac can be waiting in the wings now and can be pushed back into the title picture whenever they’re needed.

AEW Double or Nothing 2021: Predictions & Analysis

It’s been a rather eventful couple of months for AEW since their last Pay-Per-View. Their arrangements with Impact & NJPW have clearly boosted all companies involved. Impact especially feels like it’s hotter than ever right now, and you’ve got to give AEW some credit for that.

As much as it’s all been pretty cool, I haven’t been keeping up with Dynamite on a week-to-week basis as much as I would’ve liked recently. In fact, I’ve watched more episodes of NXT UK over the past month than Dynamite. That said, I’ve done my best to catch up with all the goings-on and make my predictions for Double or Nothing, which looks to be a brilliant show!

Serena Deeb(c) vs Riho
(NWA World Women’s Championship)
(Buy-In)

AEW’s women’s division is slowly improving. Not enough to get more than one match on a Pay-Per-View, but one step at a time, I guess.

I don’t think there’s a great deal to be said about this match. Both women are fantastic wrestlers who will no doubt be involved in the title scene sooner rather than later, but for now, they’ve just got to have matches to stick in our minds.

I’ll go with Serena Deeb to retain. As great as Riho is, the NWA Women’s title doesn’t seem like a good fit for her, and with NWA running their own shows again, I doubt they’d want the title to change hands on an AEW pre-show.

Hangman Adam Page vs Brian Cage

Page’s trajectory continues to be an interesting one. I still think he’s on track to eventually be the person to dethrone Omega as champion, but he’s definitely taking the long road to get there.

Cage is a great competitor, and I’m glad AEW are still finding good spots for him. He’s one of those people that I feel could fade from TV at any moment without anyone really noticing. That sounded like more of an insult than I meant it to be, but the point still stands. His win over Page was a surprising upset, as I did not expect Page to be taking any major losses this year, but it worked out well in terms of this story.

Page should hopefully come into this one with a lot of fire in this one, and the story can play with the mistakes he made in their first match together. I think Hangman Adam Page is going to get his win back here. As I’ve said, he needs to be on an upward trajectory now, and while another loss to Cage wouldn’t be the worst thing, a win seems like a better outcome.

Cody Rhodes vs Antony Ogogo

Sod this. Sod this so much.

I know the whole feud hasn’t been about the “yay America” thing, but its presence has really overwhelmed the feud. The whole schtick feels so outdated by this point, and I don’t see what this feud has to gain from it. Rhodes is an expert at creating emotional matches while facing down bigger opponents, playing on that would’ve been easy to create a compelling story.

I get it, the pro-USA stuff does good for the live crowds, but this is a company with an international audience. At best, people in non-USA countries have no reason to care, and at worst, they feel directly alienated because they’re being told that their country is the bad country. It doesn’t matter what country it is; I think the overall negative reception to Cody’s recent promos should be proof enough that it just doesn’t work anymore.

If this were WWE, I wouldn’t think twice about the pro-America person getting the win, but I’d like to think AEW would be more willing to take the risk of having Ogogo win. That said, now Cody’s using Dusty’s “American Dream” moniker, I don’t see him losing. Cody Rhodes winning will be a nice moment for the live crowd at the very least.

Sting & Darby Allin vs Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page

I can’t help but feel like this partnership with Sting is why Allin lost the TNT title. Not to say his run with Sting hasn’t been good, I just think he should’ve been given more of a chance to flourish on his own as a singles competitor with the title. He still defended it plenty, but it always felt secondary to whatever he was doing with Sting.

On top of that, is this really the best use of Sting? Sure, putting him in a singles match might be a terrible idea this late in his career, but what is anyone getting out of Sting feuding with Sky & Page, two (admittedly great) mid-card talents who have little to do with each other? It’s nice that the two of them are getting featured on Pay-Per-View, but losing to Sting & Allin can’t be a good look, right?

Or maybe they’ll win? It’d certainly be a nice surprise if they did. I’d originally considered picking Sky & Page for the reasons I said above. There’s nothing to gain from them losing, so surely they should win? Then I thought about it some more and realised Allin’s coming off a big loss to Miro, so he should probably get some heat back, and this is Sting’s first match in front of a full live crowd since his AEW debut, so it’ll probably be Sting & Darby Allin with the win.

Casino Battle Royale
(Winner Gets A Future AEW World Championship Match)

It’s battle royale time!

I’m not too convinced the Casino Battle Royale is that great of a format. It’s more interesting than a straight-up battle royal, I’ll admit. However, with the entrants coming in groups of five, it makes everyone feel less indistinguishable and like they all get less of a chance to shine, other than the Joker. All-in-all, it just feels like a kinda cheap Royal Rumble, which is such a top-tier piece of booking perfection, it’s better to not even try and replicate it.

Looking at the lineup we’ve got set out before us, I can’t see many viable contenders for the win. Matt Hardy is a possibility, that would make a nice dynamic with Omega. You should never count Penta out of the running. There’s a possibility Andrade shows up to put a spanner in things, but picking someone who’s not even in the match is generally a poor decision for predictions.

In the end, I’m going to go with who everyone else seems to be going with, and that’s Christian Cage. His story with Omega would likely be really good and would parallel Edge’s Wrestlemania story too (probably ending in the same crushing loss).

The Pinnacle vs The Inner Circle
(Stadium Stampede)
(If The Inner Circle Lose, They Must Disband)

What a crazy couple of month’s it’s been. At the start of the year, everyone was picking all kinds of crazy directions the Jericho/MJF story could go in. Would MJF depose Jericho as the group’s leader? Would the tension between Sammy & MJF tear the group apart? As always, MJF went with option C and tore the whole thing to shreds, starting a brand new faction that has been looking very strong ever since its formation.

I didn’t expect to see another Stadium Stampede match, but given the success of the first one, I don’t blame them for trying. It’ll be interesting to see how this will mesh with the live crowd. As entertaining as it is, I doubt they’ll have them staring at a screen for half an hour. Whatever happens, my expectations are high.

Picking a winner is a bit difficult. The Pinnacle got the win at Blood & Guts, so it wouldn’t hurt them to take a loss in this one. However, the stipulation of The Inner Circle breaking up if they lose has pushed me the other way. The Inner Circle has been around almost since the very beginning of AEW, we’ve seen all of those guys in the same formula for almost two years now. I think it’s probably time for everyone to move on. I know they have, for the most part, been great, but everyone involved is more than ready to break out on their own.

It’s a tough call because I could easily see this being a feel-good face victory, but I’m going with The Pinnacle.

Miro(c) vs Lance Archer
(TNT Championship)

Wow. I mean, we all had a feeling that his partnership with Kip Sabian was holding Miro back, but who knew he’d rise so quickly after ditching him?

Miro’s TNT title win was one of those decisions that seemed shocking and unusual in the moment but actually makes a lot of sense the more I thought about it. Allin was too busy dealing with Sting to bother with that title, so let’s get it away from him and do something more interesting with it, like a big ol’ hoss fight.

Lance Archer is an incredible talent. Whenever he’s on-screen, his whole performance sets the atmosphere on fire, and I love that. Jake Roberts is the ultimate mouthpiece for the guy, and amazingly, he works as both a heel and face. When it comes to the meshing of in-ring styles, I think Archer will have no trouble clicking with Miro for a heavy-hitting encounter.

I’m a little conflicted on the winner, though. Normal wrestling logic would dictate that Miro should retain since he’s only just won the title. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that Miro’s title win might just be to get the belt on Archer without having to do a face vs face fight. It would be a shame, but I’d also have no complaints as I love Archer right now. You could even create a scenario where the two trade the belt once or twice just so Miro isn’t left in the dust. It’s a risky pick, but I’m going with Lance Archer to get the title.

The Young Bucks(c) vs Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston
(AEW World Tag Team Championships)

The Young Bucks’ trajectory as of late has been interesting. All the weird non-drama of what may or may not be going on backstage aside, their heel turn has been weirdly understated. They aligned themselves with Omega, which isn’t even remotely a surprise, but given Omega was already doing really well with Gallows & Anderson, they felt a bit like secondary henchmen, which they never should.

Still, this feud with Moxley & Kingston has been pretty good on the whole. Moxley & Kingston have felt like kindred spirits ever since they first started feuding. Their chemistry and history was clear from the moment they appeared on screen together. Putting them in as a tag team is the perfect use of both men now Moxley is out of the title scene. It’s true that, if this were WWE, I’d criticise such a decision, but the difference is that I know AEW treats their tag division with some respect.

I could honestly see this one going either way. It may just be me, but it still feels like The Young Bucks have only just won the titles, even though they’ve held them for over 6 months, so I’m apprehensive to say they’ll lose. Then again, Moxley & Kingston are a really hot tag team at the moment, and a run with the titles would be a fantastic use of both men, so…flip a coin, I guess?

When in doubt, pick the champs to retain, so that’s what I’m doing. The Young Bucks win.

Hikaru Shida(c) vs Britt Baker
(AEW Women’s World Championship)

At last, we reach the point that the AEW Women’s Division feels like it’s been inexorably sliding towards since AEW’s announcement.

That makes it sound like I think it’s a bad decision, but in actuality, I think Britt Baker as women’s champion is the very best option for the company. She’s been far and away the best character in the division since its inception and is one hell of a wrestler with some brilliant matches under her belt. Her Lights Out match with Thunder Rosa shot her popularity into the stratosphere too.

Shida’s title reign has been a bumpy one. When given the chance to shine, it has been one of the best parts of AEW programming, as her matches with Nyla Rose will attest. The problem is those opportunities have come few and far between. Thankfully, the women’s division is getting more expansive and treated better in AEW. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s absolutely heading in the right direction, and Britt Baker as champion is what it needs to get to where we all want it to be.

In case I hadn’t already made it obvious, I’m picking Britt Baker to win the title. It just has to happen.

Kenny Omega(c) vs Orange Cassidy vs Pac
(AEW World Championship)

AEW has this amazing talent for giving us unexpected but brilliant world title feuds.

I did not see Orange Cassidy getting anywhere near the world title scene for a while. As great as he is, I’m not sure if people would’ve bought him in a singles feud for the title just yet. However, they went about it perfectly and carefully crafted a feud that has got him over as a main eventer better than any singles match could’ve.

First of all, him & Pac put on a great number 1 contender’s match on Dynamite. Putting Pac in the feud two gives things a great dynamic, as it allows Cassidy to be more of an exclamation point on the match than anything else. Pac vs Cassidy last year was easily one of Cassidy’s best ever matches, so pulling in that opponent specifically was a great choice.

That said, Kenny Omega is not losing that title anytime soon. His run as the belt collector with the AAA & Impact titles has been one of the most exciting stories in wrestling of late, and there’s no way he’s losing the AEW title before he loses both of the other titles first. That said, this match will put Cassidy in the position of the credible main-eventer he should be, which is all I think anyone really wanted out of this feud. So good job.

AEW Double or Nothing 2020: Predictions & Analysis

That’s right! I’m finally covering one of these shows.

In truth, I’ve been trying to watch more of AEW ever since the start of the year, but going into Revolution in February, I didn’t feel like I knew enough about many of the characters and the storylines going in. So I decided not to make predictions as I’d lack anything worthwhile to say. However, since Wrestlemania season I’ve dived back in and have done my best to follow the goings-on with Dynamite every week. Today I’m going to see how much I’ve learnt as I predict the outcomes for every match on Double or Nothing.

Private Party vs Best Friends
(#1 Contender’s Match for the AEW Tag Team Championship)
(Buy-In)

After making waves in the early days of AEW, it feels like Private Party have cooled down a lot since then. They got their upset victory over the Young Bucks in the tag team title tournament (which was great), but since then I can’t quite pick out anything particularly special that they’ve done. Best Friends, on the other hand, have seen themselves treated to quite the prominent role on a week-to-week basis, mostly thanks to their affiliation with Orange Cassidy.

Naturally, this match is almost certainly going to rock. I’ve always loved tag team wrestling, and AEW has really made a point of letting their tag teams run absolutely free and do incredible things. Even though this is on the pre-show, I don’t think that will lessen its quality in the slightest. I’m expecting lots of fun, fast-paced action and one or two hundred over-the-top dives that make the whole thing an absolute blast to watch.

As for a winner, I’m kind of torn. On the one hand, Private Party has felt like they’re just one match away from breaking through as a permanent fixture of the AEW tag team division and a match against Omega & Page would absolutely be that match for them, win or lose. Then you look at Best Friends and realise that if they’re not going to be challenging for the titles, then what else is there for them to do? With the Dark Order out of action for the foreseeable future, there really isn’t anything else for them to be involved with other than being Orange Cassidy’s backup. It’s a tough call, but I’m going to go with Private Party as I think they have more to gain from a match against the champions.

Dustin Rhodes vs Shawn Spears

Spears is a slightly curious case in AEW, as I’m not entirely sure what his role his compared to all the other wrestlers in the company. He came in with a head of steam and had a tremendous high-profile feud with Cody which he, unfortunately, came out on the losing end of, but he’s not really done much of note in the 6-8 months since then. The thing with Tully Blanchard looking to bring someone else into their faction seemed to have promise, but the pandemic killed those plans dead, and Spears has just been largely forgotten about since then. Lance Archer coming in and taking his spot as a top monster heel didn’t help things either.

Then we have Dustin Rhodes, who is putting arguably the best pure-wrestling work of his career right now. He has a clearly defined role in the company and does it very well. He’s a wrestler with a decent amount of credibility thanks to his longevity and has been consistently using it to help make new stars. Do I think these two will be able to put on a good match? Probably yes, although I doubt it’s going to be a match that we’re all shouting about come Sunday morning.

The winner of this one is a pretty easy pick for me. I don’t see any reason Shawn Spears shouldn’t win. He’s just come off of yet another loss to Cody in the TNT Championship tournament, and it’s not like Dustin has anything to gain from a win here. I just hope AEW can find a proper place on the card for Spears soon. Otherwise, things are going to start to look very similar to his time in WWE.

Britt Baker vs Kris Statlander

I’ll be honest, I don’t quite ‘get’ Kris Statlander yet. The whole alien thing is going a bit over my head at the moment, I don’t really see much difference in her performance or behaviour than any other woman. It feels like it needs to be more noticeably ‘out there’ to actually work; something along the lines of what Velveteen Dream is doing. In addition, I’ve yet to see her put on a match that puts her in line with the rest of the AEW Women’s Division. So hopefully, this will be that match.

Britt Baker meanwhile, has absolutely hit her stride in recent months. In the build-up to AEW’s debut show, it seemed like Baker was going to be the woman they pushed to the top right out of the gate, but instead, they held back and found something interesting to do with her character first. The role model idea is a great one to run with and fist in perfectly with her existing elements as a dentist. I know people are drawing parallels in Bayley’s current character in WWE. However, I think Baker has taken it in a very different direction, focusing more on being a brutal heel, rather than a schoolyard bully, which is what Bayley is doing.

Thankfully, I think this is a much easier pick than the previous match as I have very little doubt that Brit Baker is walking away victorious on this one. Statlander already had her title shot at Revolution, and I don’t see her getting a rematch anytime soon. Regardless of that, AEW has clearly decided that now is the time to get behind Baker as a dominant force in the women’s division.

MJF vs Jungle Boy

MJF is just the best. He’s everything that WWE likes to think Baron Corbin is. He’s smarmy, he’s a jerk, he’s in your face and can draw genuine heel heat from just about any situation. His performance is incredible, and the way he’s grown that bravado since beating Cody is absolute perfection. Jungle Boy and the Jurassic Express are also some great characters. Admittedly, I haven’t been quite as behind them as everyone else seems to be, but I still enjoy any and all of their matches.

I’m going to cut right to the chase here, MJF is winning this thing, no question. Jungle Boy is great, and I’m sure there’s a future in AEW for him someday, but MJF is the hot property in the men’s division right now, and nothing is going to stop him. The match will probably be a good one, I can see Jungle Boy getting the advantage with some quick action early on, only for MJF to try and recalculate and slow things down. There will almost certainly be some form of collision between Luchasaurus and Wardlow, and I have no doubt MJF will do something underhanded to get the win.

I don’t know how far a match with the champion is in MJF’s future, but I can almost guarantee that it’s some point before the end of the year. So this is the perfect place to continue to build him up.

Darby Allin vs Colt Cabana vs Orange Cassidy vs Rey Fenix vs Scorpio Sky vs Kip Sabian vs Frankie Kazarian vs Luchasaurus vs ???
(Casino Ladder Match)
(Winner gets an AEW World Championship Match in the future)

I’m starting to feel like WWE have hoarded all of the worthwhile gimmick match ideas. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this will still be an entertaining match, mostly due to the people involved, but the format seems somewhat convoluted. It puts me in mind of when WCW would come up with over-complicated gimmick matches just for the sake of it.

This one’s sort of a Royal Rumble and Money in the Bank hybrid, where competitors have to climb a ladder to retrieve a casino chip which grants them a future opportunity at the AEW World title. The catch is that only two people start in the ring at once, with more competitors entering as the match goes on. Which means that it’s technically possible that one of the first two people could win the match before the other competitors even get a chance to enter…which seems dumb to me.

Still, it’s a multi-man gimmick match, so let’s run through each participant’s chances.

Colt Cabana – While I know that he’s a guy who’s been around forever in the indie scene, I don’t actually know all that much about Colt Cabana. I’m not as well versed on indie wrestling as I should be and Cabana is one of those names that I’ve heard all over the place, but never actually seen all that much of. Since coming to AEW, he’s not done all that much of note, he can undoubtedly wrestle in serious situations when needed, but he seems to be more of a comedy guy than anything else. It doesn’t seem like AEW have any interest in building him up to the main event, so I don’t think he’ll be winning this one.

Kip Sabian – Sabian is a guy will all the potential in the world right now, but I don’t think AEW are looking to capitalise on that potential just yet. The main event scene in AEW is one that’s very crowded with all the factions and top guys being signed from all over, and it doesn’t feel like Sabian has a place amongst them at this time. He’s not had enough high-profile wins over guys on his level yet to be considered for a title shot if you ask me, so I think he’ll come up short on Saturday.

Luchasaurus – As I mentioned earlier with Jungle Boy, I’m enjoying the gimmick of the Jurassic Express, even if they seem a bit too gimmicky for my liking. Luchasaurus is by far the standout of the group though, and I think he’s got all the makings of a mega-star given the right circumstances. Much the same as with Kip Sabian though, I don’t see him getting into the main event any time this year. It’s for the same reason too, it’s a really crowded scene, and I don’t see a place for some like Lucharsaurus until some more room has been made at the top.

Rey Fenix – Another competitor I sadly know very little about, unfortunately. I really enjoyed the lengthy feud that The Lucha Brothers had with The Young Bucks last year, but there was very little in there to do with character and almost entirely to do with how many flips they could do. As such, I’m unfamiliar with Fenix as a singles wrestler and don’t have much reason to expect him to win. The only justification I could think of for Fenix winning this is because of how The Lucha Brothers aren’t doing anything right now. I don’t know if that’s because Pentagon can’t travel thanks to the pandemic or just booking, but it’s still the fact of the matter.

Scorpio Sky & Frankie Kazarian – Lumping these two together because they’re a part of the same faction and this is the time that I have to confess…I don’t really care for SCU very much. Don’t get me wrong, as wrestlers they’re great, and Scorpio Sky has all the potential in the world to be AEW’s top guy in a couple of years. However, their gimmick goes right over my head. I watched their segments on Being The Elite, and while the joke was funny at first it got old really fast, and now it just seems like they’re holding onto it for no real reason other than it pops a crowd. I think it’s possible that Sky could win this, but I don’t think it’s likely.

Orange Cassidy – I know that saying this could get me in a lot of hot water with Jim Cornette and the fun police, but I really like Orange Cassidy. His style of comedy wrestling is something that I’ve never seen before, and it’s absolutely fantastic. Not only that, but he’s proven in matches like his Revolution bout with Pac that he can definitely make it work in a dramatic and ‘proper’ wrestling match. Do I think he’s got the AEW title in his future? I’d say the jury’s still out on that one, but I certainly think he’ll be getting a title shot at some point over the next few years. As for Saturday, I don’t see it happening. Cassidy getting a title shot would only work with a heel champion and (spoilers) I don’t think we’re going to have one of those for a while yet.

??? – AEW has decided to keep us in the dark as to who the final participant in the match could be, which means they have a pretty damn good chance of winning the thing. As for who it could be, I honestly have no idea. The 90-day no-compete on the recently release WWE wrestlers is still active, so it can’t be any of them. I’ve seen a few people throw around Sting as a potential candidate, which I guess is possible, but quite the stretch. I think MJF or even Wardlow is reasonably likely, especially if MJF vs Jungle Boy goes on earlier in the night, which it probably will. What I think is most likely though, is that it will be one of AEW’s younger stars that haven’t quite gotten the spotlight they should’ve yet…or Sammy Guevara, that’s a possibility too. I can’t really give you a reliable name as to who I think this will be, but I think their chances of walking away victorious are quite high.

Darby Allin – It’s gotta be Darby, right? Ever since he had his match against Cody at Fight for the Fallen last year, Darby Allin has been waiting to breakthrough as a main event star. I had him pegged as one of the top contenders for the TNT Championship, but this is a good substitute. He’s got everything AEW needs in a top guy. He’s young, he’s athletic, he’s got a definite character and the crowd love him. A match against Moxley would be a perfect way to raise his stock to that of a main-eventer in the company, even though I don’t think he has a chance in hell of winning the title during that match. Much like with Private Party, I think there’s the most to be gained from Allin winning this thing, so he’s my pick.

The Inner Circle vs Matt Hardy & The Elite
(Stadium Stampede)

Again, what’s a Stadium Stampede match? Who knows? Who cares? I’m sure it’ll be fun, though. Given that Matt Hardy’s involved, I imagine it’ll involve a lot of pre-taped and ‘cinematic’ stuff like that of what we’ve seen from WWE recently. Although I think they’re probably going to mix it in with standard wrestling stuff too, around the stadium and such like.

Speaking of Matt Hardy, I’ve loved his work since joining AEW. I know a lot of people wanted him to be The Exalted One, but I much prefer the way things have turned out. The star of this feud has undoubtedly been Jericho though. His promos that he’s cut against Hardy, The Elite and Vanguard One, in particular, have been amazing. They’ve been comedic in just the right way so that it doesn’t take away from the intensity of the match being promoted. Hardy’s gimmick is an inherently ridiculous one, so trying to play to it entirely straight would never have worked, and it’s clear Jericho understood that and helped to create an enjoyable and unique build.

I’m quite torn on a winner though. On the one hand, this is Matt Hardy’s PPV debut, and Omega & Page are the tag champs, so they probably shouldn’t be losing a big match like this. On the other hand, The Inner Circle have been loosing A LOT recently. Guevara has lost just about every high-profile match he’s been in since joining the faction, Hager is coming off of a loss against Moxley, as is Jericho. I’m going to go with The Inner Circle. I think a single match between Hardy and Jericho could easily be built from this match. Meanwhile, Omega & Page are going to be defending their tag titles in what will undoubtedly be a fantastic match, so I don’t think they have much to fear from taking a loss here.

Nyla Rose(c) vs Hikaru Shida
(AEW Women’s Championship)
(No Holds Barred)

If I had to level one major criticism against AEW in its debut year, it would be the handling of its women’s championship. While I love Riho as a wrestler, the fact that she was barely ever on TV while the champion was a catastrophic move that severely harmed my interest in the title. Even though the few title defences she had were generally great matches. Thankfully, since resting on Nyla Rose’s shoulders, the belt has seen a lot more prominence week-to-week, but not as much as it should have.

It’s evident here, as there’s minimal story behind this title match. Hikaru Shida got the title shot purely because she’s been winning a decent amount as of late and that’s really it. I know several of the men’s title feuds have started because of that, but with the men’s division, they make match early on in the build cycle and then form a story around it. Instead, this title match was only made official last week, and realistically, there’s only been one week of build between the two women. I have a vague idea of both of their characters – I know who I should cheer and who I should boo – but I don’t know why. I have no concept of any character motivations other than “X wants the championship”.

I’m also not entirely sure what the match is going to be like. I know that both Rose and Shida are good wrestlers, but I’ve yet to actually see a performance from either of them that makes me sit-up and put them on the level with the best women’s wrestlers in the world. Hopefully, this will be the match that convinces me, though.

I’m pretty confident in picking Nyla Rose to win this one. She’s been at the forefront of the women’s division even before she was champion and given how relatively short of a time she’s been champion so far, I don’t see AEW taking the title off of her just yet. In addition, I think the best way to build the women’s championship up as a title to one that people care about is to give Rose a long and prestigious reign, where she has a whole bunch of strong and entertaining title defences.

Cody vs Lance Archer
(TNT Championship)

Not counting the two men who have been AEW World Champion so far, I think Cody has easily been the best member of the AEW roster for this initial year. I know there’s some criticism to be had about him pushing himself so hard when he plays a large part in the booking of the shows, but I don’t mind at all because he absolutely justifies his high position on the card with every high-profile match he has. Cody’s stories are almost always the most well-written on any given show, and they always lead to some standout matches. I don’t think this match is an exception to that statement either.

The entire tournament for the brand new TNT Championship has been fantastic. Week after week there were great matches as the tournament progressed and it means that this new title already has a whole heap of prestige going into the match to crown the inaugural champion. It was also paced very well so that we knew finals a few weeks out from the show and there was time to build some story and tension between Cody and Archer too. Jake Robert’s initial promo to Cody where he claimed he was just coming for Cody’s slice of the pie was amazing, and the chemistry he’s had with Archer had been fantastic.

Roberts was always a great heel promo, but he’s proven over the past month that he hasn’t lost a step. He says horrible and uncomfortable things, and it works so perfectly to confer all of that heat onto Archer, who has been a total monster every time he’s stepped in the ring. This is one of the things AEW has been very good at because I had absolutely no idea who Lance Archer was before he signed with AEW, but in the space of a month and a half, I’m totally invested in him as a wrestler.

What I know for sure here is that Lance Archer needs to win this match and have a totally dominant reign with the TNT Championship. Not only will with make the title an extremely prestigious prize for whoever is challenging him, but it will cement Archer as an unstoppable force in the company. If this title reign goes well for Archer, I could absolutely see him claiming the world title for his own before 2021 is finished.

Jon Moxley(c) vs Brodie Lee
(AEW World Championship)

What a difference a year makes…

I don’t think many people would disagree with me when I said that, since leaving WWE, Moxley has been one of the hottest wrestlers on the planet. Going on a tear in New Japan Pro Wrestling and winning their US title was just the first step in Moxley reinventing himself to show everyone that what they saw of him in WWE was just a taster for the amazing stuff he can really do when he’s let loose. He came into AEW with a head of steam and put on a great match with Kenny Omega at Full Gear and has flourished creatively, showing every interesting facet of his character. I thought the match where he won the title from Jericho at Revolution was brilliant and has kicked off a title reign that has so far been really enjoyable.

Brodie Lee is a very similar story, although since he only left WWE very recently, we’re yet to see the full potential of what he can really do. His character work since revealing himself as The Dark Order’s Exalted One has been really enjoyable. The skits that were definitely not poking fun at Vince McMahon (wink, nudge) were fun and didn’t overstay their welcome either. Once it was time for Lee to get down to business and build a story with Moxley, he did a great job of it. It can be hard for heels to seem credible in the face of Moxley’s heated attitude, but Lee decided to formulate a character that is almost the perfect opposite of Moxley. He’s calm, collected and authoritarian, every word he says is dripping with this inherent heelish hypocrisy that just boils my blood and makes me want to see Moxley get his hands of him.

I really think this is going to be the match of the night and maybe even a match of the year contender for AEW. Moxley has already proven himself as a top-level wrestler, and we’ve seen enough glimpses of what Lee can really do during his WWE run that I have all the faith in the world that he’s going to put on a stellar performance here. While I think it’s possible they could hot-shot the belt over to Brodie Lee, I think keeping it on Jon Moxley is the right call for now. He’s only just won the title, and I don’t think it would be overly exciting TV if we went straight back to a heel faction on top of the company. Brodie Lee should look fantastic in defeat here, and he will absolutely come away from the match looking like a credible top heel for AEW, even if he loses.

So there you have it! Those are my predictions for AEW Double or Nothing. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this, please let me know what you think will happen, either in the comments below or on Twitter @10ryawoo. Finally, make sure you come back this time on Sunday, where I’ll be giving you my review of the show!