AEW Double or Nothing 2024 BreakDown

                                                    

AEW kicks off their 5th anniversary show on Sunday with a stacked match card with a ton of starpower. We had a show full of debuts, impactful surprise returns, a legendary appearance, and someone getting shot with a flamethrower, and much more. Let’s take a look and BreakDown each match from tonights show. 

Pre-Show - Singles Match: Deonna Purrazzo VS Thunder Rosa 

Result: Deonna Purrazzo wins by pin 

Was Thunder Rosa going for an Elvis wardrobe? She looked intoxicated while coming to the ring. This match had a couple missed spots, and slow and soft landings. It felt like they were working at 50%. Again, if you're going to build a personal match week after week, the pay per view match has to be equally as physical and personal. You can’t have two wrestlers close fist fighting and then work a technical match. It just feels scripted and fake. I know the fans know this is fake, but you're still telling a story. I’m not going to judge this match hard because it was on the Buy In, but these matches have to be choreographed and written a lot better. 

Pre-Show - Trios Match: The Acclaimed VS Cage of Agony (Brian Cage & Gates of Agony)

Result: The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass win by pin 

Here is my take on Max Caster. Saying something is outrageous and getting a pop is good and why the gimmick works. But getting overly real and personal with the opponents and burning them on a PPV sucks and it’s why nobody reacted to the intro. Keep it goofy, and don’t talk about how a guy like Brian Cage hasn’t accomplished anything in AEW. Because at this point it feels like The Acclaimed are hanging on by a thread. Also, the group that destroyed the world champion got pinned on the pre-show. The Acclaimed didn’t need to win here, and once again you bury a really scared trio to put over a 60 year old and 2 good balls. Since The Acclaimed VS Swerve in Our Glory in Chicago, has The Acclaimed had a match worthy of Max getting on a podcast and calling him and Bowens the best tag team in the world? The answer is no. Cage of Agony should have won this match, plus this match was a mess. 

AEW International Championship Match: © Roderick Strong VS Will Ospreay 

Result: Will Ospreay pins Roderick Strong to win the AEW International Title 

I think this was a perfect match to open the show. This was a fast paced match between two technical wizards. Roderick Strong is an excellent wrestler, and he;s s fit and versatile in the ring. Ospreay is explosive but sometimes that’s not a good thing. Him attempting to take the dominator on the outside of the ring and falling off the shoulders onto his head while Strong dived from the apron was a nasty spot and Will is lucky to not be hurt. You can tell from the voices of the announce teams there was some legitimate concern for Will. But he battled back, and the involvement of the Undisputed Kingdom did not stop him from getting the better of Strong. Will refused to use the Tiger Driver, and it almost cost him the match. With the “neck strong” bit Roderick Strong has done for the past year, AEW might have missed a good chance to take the storyline in full circle, and have Strong act hurt to fuck with Ospreay. This could have continued the story for these two athletes, especially after Strong busted Ospreay open earlier in the week. This was too much of a personal build for this to be a quick one match ending for the feud. 

MJF Returns! 

Immediately after the match, Adam Cole came out to berate the crowd with insults and act like a pest. Right before he can reference the devil mask he brought out with him, MJF would return with a sick video package of him putting on his old gear before the Adam Cole storyline. As he walked out, the first thing that came to my mind is this man is going to be one of the hottest baby faces in the industry. MJF cut an insane babyface promo. With quotes like “I don’t need a New Japan or a Vince McMahon to make MJF or “call me the wolf of wrestling because I’m not fucking leaving” MJF was absolute cooking. And he seems to have a new catch phrase he tattooed on his body, the phrase being “bet on yourself” AEW is a better company when he’s on weekly television, and he’s the one that should take on The Elite and the EVP’s and save AEW. With that being said, it’s incredible to have Max back, and this being just the 2nd segment on the card was crazy. The promo reminded me of Triple H back in 2002 when he came back from injury. Awesome stuff by AEW, they couldn’t have done this any better. I love not putting this on after the main event because Swerve deserves that spot and the attention for himself. 

Trios Match for Unified World Trios Titles: © Bang Bang Gang (Jay White & The Gunns) VS Death Triangle (Pac, Rey Fenix, and Penta El Zero Miedo) 

Result: Jay White pins Pac to win the match for the Bang Bang Gang 

Jay White put on a masterclass in this match. He had a slow cerebral pace throughout the match, and picked Pac apart. He proved why people call him the “Switchblade”. There was a spot in this match that I thought Pac was seriously hurt, and it’s when Jay White hit a DDT on Pac and he looked like was seizing. And then Jay White put his foot on the hurt neck of Pac. But Death Triangle battled themselves back into the match. To be honest, the Lucha Bros and The Gunns didn’t make much of an impact in this match. All the attention was on Pac and White, and nobody was complaining because they’re two of the best in the industry. The finish was excellent, as Death Triangle picked up the pace, Juice Robinson came out of nowhere to cost Pac the match and allow Jay White to get the pin. Robinson’s return got a massive pop from the crowd. The Bang Bang Gang won and retained the titles. This was a strong match and a good showing for both teams. 

 AEW Women’s World Title: © Toni Storm VS Serena Deeb

Result: Toni Storm wins by pin to retain the AEW Women’s World Title 

This might have been the match of the evening. Toni Storm and Serena Deeb beat the shit out of each other. It’s awesome how over Toni is with the fans. She’s easily doing the best work of her career. There might have been a sniff of dissension in the ranks as Mariah May was trying to throw the towel in. This would have lost the match for Storm who got to the ropes while being in a half crab. This might be something that AEW uses to pin Storm and May together for a pupil VS teacher feud. It’s been a while since we got one of those. It’s a shame that Deeb isn’t over enough to carry a title. Some of the moves she hit on Toni were devastating. The infused pedigree on the apron looked like it legitimately knocked the wind out of Toni Storm. Does anybody in the game do better headbuts than Toni? The crack of it sounds like you're getting cracked with a kendo stick. The match was excellent because you had no idea who was winning this match until the finish. Toni remains one of the hottest stars in pro wrestling. 

Orange Cassidy VS Trent Barretta 

Result: Orange Cassidy wins by pin 

It was a good night for Don Callis as we saw a lot of the wrestlers he was representing. First Will Ospreay won the International Title and now Orange Cassidy gets a revenge by beating Trent. This match was physical and felt personal. Orange Cassidy slammed Trent with a backdrop on the steel steps. It definitely felt like a more serious Cassidy, despite staying in character, he had more of a meanstreak with some very vicious moves added to his arsenal. After Orange Cassidy won, Trent looked devastated, and he told Renee that he was done as he walked into the crowd. I feel for Trent, as he seemed to finally be on the cusp of a singles push, just to get snubbed by Orange Cassidy. I felt like this would have been a really good chance to let Trent get the win and push him a little bit into prime-time singles competition. 

Three-Way FTW Championship Match: © Chris Jericho VS Hook VS Katsuyori Shibata 

Result: Chris Jericho pins Shibata to retain the FTW Championship 

I don’t want to be one of those people who criticize Jericho for still working. But this match was an absolute mess. Jericho took some spots on dice which couldn’t have felt good. Shibata missed a table on an AA and sent the weight of the table and Jericho onto the head and neck of Hook. Shibata looks great, but that ticking time bomb of an injury in his head is terrifying, especially when spots like Bryan Keith sending his entire weight on Shibata who’s lying in a garbage can. It looks like Bryan Keith is the new member of the learning tree, which I think is great that they’re putting young talent around Jeircho. The best spot of this match was Hook putting Big Bill through a table on the outside. It wasn’t a bad match, and it was still fun to watch, but the FTW rules element I felt screwed up the flow of what could have been a great match. 

IWGP World Heavyweight Title Eliminator Match: © Jon Moxley VS Konosuke Takeshita 

Result: Jon Moxley wins by pin 

I’m a little confused as to what the point and concept of the eliminator match is, especially when it comes to the pay per view. Why this wasn’t a sanctioned IWGP World Heavyweight Title is beyond me. This was a fine match, there isn’t much variety to a Jon Moxley match. It’s pretty much the same stuff you see, and that’s alright if you want consistency. Moxley is getting beat down by the heel Takeshita, just for him to find some sort of adrenaline rush and go ultra-violent and break his opponent down. It’s just lazy booking for a guy who beat Kenny Omega, the man whose reputation this company was built upon twice in 1-week. I wouldn’t be so critical of Moxley if we haven’t seen him come out and have great technical matches before. It’s clear he’s in charge of his creative, and there’s little to no range to his game right now. 

TNT Title Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match: © Adam Copeland VS Malakai Black 

Result: Adam Copeland wins by submission

Coming into this match, if Copeland was to lose he’d have to join The House of Black. When Black and Copeland looked at each other on the outside, and Matthews and King stood behind Copeland, I really did think they were turning on Black. But King hit Copeland with a wild clothesline that looked painful. I was also blown away that Copeland jumped off the top of the cage to hit an elbow drop. All looked lost until red lighting hit, and Gangrel came out from a hole in the ring. He spit blood in the eyes of Matthews and King, and evened the playing field for Copeland to lock a crossface and win the match. This match was insane. The barbed wire element made it brutal and hard to watch, but it was worked to perfection by two pros. This is one of the best cage matches that I’ve seen in a long time. 

AEW TBS Championship: © Willow Nightingale VS Mercedes Moné

Result: Mercedes Moné wins by pin to win the TBS Championship 

Mercedes didn’t disappoint on her return to the ring and her debut for AEW. The reignited feud between her and Willow has been hyped for weeks. Mercedes has struggled on some of her promos during the build up, but there were never problems when she’s in the ring working. Mercedes is really good at getting the most out of her opponent and elevating the competition. It sucks that Willow lost this match, but Willow has come out of this looking incredible. Her promos have been good, and she can clearly work a match in a big spot. The cross tackle is one of the most brutal moves performed by a female wrestler. It’s tough to label a best match of the night, but this certainly is up there in contention. She lost because Stokely interfered, and it turns out it was by design because Kris Statlander turned on Willow after the match. This should kick off a solid feud between the two former friends. I still feel like Toni Storm and Serena Deeb deserved to be in this spot. Toni and the AEW champion deserve to be the main female feature on the show, but Willow and Mercedes didn’t disappoint.  

AEW World Title Match: © Swerve Strickland VS Christian Cage

Result: Swerve Strickland wins by pin to retain his world title 

The match was clouded with interference and it took away from Swerve’s spotlight. It was bad enough that his match wasn’t the main event. It picked up as the match went along. I’m not sure if we needed him going head first into the steps diving out of the ring. A lot could have gone wrong there. The match was entertaining, and it did make Swerve look stronger that Christian needed his entire faction to keep pace with Swerve. This was a fine first feud for Swerve. It tied in his past with Nick Wayne. And Nick Wayne was featured really well in this match. He got some licks in on the champion. I think that Christian has run his course with Wayne and Killswitch. It’s time to move on from this faction, and reunite Christian with Adam Copeland. Wembley Stadium, Christian & Copeland VS The Young Bucks sounds like a dream match that has to happen. 

Anarchy in the Arena Match: The Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Jack Perry, The Young Bucks) VS Team AEW (Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin, and FTR) 

Result: Jack Perry pins Bryan Danielson for the win 

I will give them credit, I’ve never seen anything like this. I know Anarchy in the Arena is probably getting shit on as I write this by Jim Cornette and Eric Bischoff. But I laughed my ass off while watching this. It was a blast. With Danielson playing “The Final Countdown” as the match went along, and when the Chorus to the song hit, Darby hit a coffin drop off the concourse. Nick would tell the back to turn the song off because “it costs him $200,000 every time they play it. Jack Perry ran Darby over with a van, and if that wasn’t crazy enough, Darby shot Jack Perry with a flamethrower. That was an insane spot, and the crowd was genuinely blown away. Whatever smoke and mirror effects they had, it looked crazy. And just when you thought you saw everything, Dax Harwood took a spot with an exploding chair to the face, burning Nick Jackson in the process. The crowd chanted please drop Darby who was hanging over the ring for nearly 10 minutes. Jack Perry, who was lit on fire, would come in and hit a flying knee for the win. This was a great finish as this feud between the EVP’s and AEW will continue. The match was chaotic, and much better than past Anarchy in the Arena matches. And I will give them credit, I’ve never seen anything like this match in my life. 

The Final Word 

This was an incredible 5th year anniversary show for AEW. There is so much that we will be able to build on going forward. Tony Khan announced on the buy-in that the winners of the upcoming Owen Hart tournament will get title shots and All In at Wembley. The event is already only two months away. Swerve beat Christian Cage, and I’d assume that we’ll see him start a program with a NJPW wrestler to build for Forbidden Door. Swerve should be tied into the EVP takeover storyline as well. As we go into the summer, it will only make sense that Jack Perry targets Swerve and the championship. Swerve and Jack could put on crazy matches together. Jack Perry had an amazing performance in the Anarchy in the Arena match. Perry’s celebrity has only gone up from the CM Punk scuffle. And the Scapegoat gimmick is over right now. Below are some of my predictions for the All In Cards in August…

1. AEW Championship: © The Young Bucks VS Adam Copeland & Christian Cage 

2. AEW Title: © Swerve Strickland VS Jack Perry 

3. AEW Continental Championship: © Kazuchika Okada VS MJF 

4. AEW Women’s Championship: © Toni Storm VS Mariah May

AEW should be really happy with how the company was represented tonight. The roster looked deeper than ever tonight, and the stars came out and put on bangers. The company needed this to rejuvenate things a little bit as it felt a little sluggish on the weekly programing. If this show is a sign for things to come, the summer for AEW could be must watch television. Tanahashi was on the scrum with Tony Khan to promote Forbidden Door, and it seems like the two companies are more aligned in their partnership than ever.