Double or Nothing is a huge show. Literally, it’s got a giant card: 13 bouts in total, including the preshow tag match. In the main event of the show we’ll get what fans have clamored for since last September. CM Punk will challenge for the AEW Championship, currently held by “Hangman” Adam Page. Punk has essentially been the biggest star in the company since joining it last August, and at Double or Nothing he finally makes it to the world title picture.
If Punk’s chase for the title isn’t the hottest match on the card, that distinction goes to MJF versus Wardlow. Their story has been building up for years. Wardlow has been MJF’s mistreated heavy since 2019, but on Sunday he breaks free from those shackles and takes on the industry’s most hated heel.
AEW Double or Nothing has so much more going on, including a triple threat tag team championship match, Samoa Joe versus Adam Cole in the Owen Hart Cup finals, and a gigantic 10-man tag pitting the Jericho Appreciation Society against Eddie Kingston, Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Santana and Ortiz.
House of Black vs. Death Triangle
Malakai Black, Buddy Matthews and Brody King take on Pac, Penta Oscuro, and Rey Fenix next.
Jade Cargill retains TBS Championship
Jade Cargill is still TBS Champion after defeating Anna Jay in an OK match. After the bout, we got the AEW debut of Ember Moon — who now goes by Athena.
Some awkward action and a lot of smoke and mirrors here. Cargill started strong, subduing Jay like the dominant champion she is. Jay ended up getting in some offense, slowly fighting back from under until landing a (slightly botched) top-rope Blockbuster neckbreaker. She then tossed Cargill into the side steps — Cargill did a great job taking this, and making it look painful.
Then the intereference began. Kiera Hogan and Red Velvet tried to double team Jay outside, but Jay fought back. Then, when the women were in the ring, “Smart” Mark Sterling ran down and threw a pair of crutches in the ring. As he distracted the ref, Jay took the crutches off Cargill, their intended recipient, and hit her with it, then planted her with a Russian Leg Sweep for a two count.
Cargill attempted her Jaded finisher, but Jay countered with a rollup and locked in a rear-naked choke. Cargill fought out, and the two ended up in the corner on the top turnbuckle. Then Stokely Hathaway, formerely known as Malcolm Bivens in NXT, made his way to the ring, which distracted Jay. Cargill then planted Jay with a top-rope Jaded slam for the win.
After the match, Hogan, Velvet and Cargill started to beat down on Jay. Kris Statlander came to her rescue. Amid a staredown, Athena, formerly Ember Moon, made her AEW debut. Alongside Statlander and Jay to stardown Hogan, Velvet and Cargill.
Rating: 2 stars.
The Hardys defeat The Young Bucks
The Hardys and The Young Bucks wrestled twice in Ring of Honor, going 1 for 1. In this rubber match, The Hardys defeated The Young Bucks in a great tag team match after Jeff Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb on Nick Jackson. There was some over-the-top action that’s typical of Young Bucks PPV matches, action that makes it impossible to suspend your disbelief. But this was undeniably fun to watch.
The match was well paced, beginning with a flurry and slowing down when the Young Bucks took out Jeff Hardy. With Hardy laid out on the outside, The Bucks worked over Matt Hardy, who heroically resisted until Jeff was roused back to life.
As can be expected, there were some creative spots here. My favorite was when The Hardys attempted a Poetry in Motion, with Jeff launching off Matt’s back to splash Matt Jackson in the corner, but Nick Jackson interrupted with a sweet Enziguiri over the top rope.
The tide began to turn with a series of spots where Nick accidentally took out his own team. He tried a high-knee in the corner on Jeff, but Jeff dodged and Nick caught Matt instead. Nick then tried to do the “you’re dead!” Penalty Kick on Matt Hardy outside, but Matt ducked and Nick kicked Brandon Cutler instead. Side note: Cutler was mega popular among this crowd.
After some action outside the ring, there was a fantastic near fall where Jeff hit a jawbreaker to Nick on the top rope, then went for a Swanton Bomb. Nick rolled away, planted Jeff with a Twist of Fate and then Matt hit Jeff with a Swanton Bomb for a two count. The crowd chanted “This is awesome!”
Then, as often happens with Young Bucks matches, things got a bit silly.
The Bucks then began a Superkick Party, hitting double Superkicks on both Matt and Jeff. With Matt and Jeff on their knees, the Bucks blitzed them with four Superkicks each. The Hardys got to their knees again, and the Bucks hit both again with double Superkicks. Both Bucks pinned both Hardys, and both got two counts.
The Bucks then setup the ring steps on the outside, but the Hardys, after eating a barrage of Superkicks, instantly revived and fought back. Matt planted Matt Jackson across the ring steps, and Jeff Hardy hit a gnarly — gnarly — Swanton Bomb from the top rope on the steps.
In the ring, Matt Hardy hit NickJackson with a Twist of Fate for a two count. He attempted another Twist of Fate, but Nick countered into a rollup. Hardy kicked out, hit Nick with a Side Effect and another Twist of Fate, then Jeff Hardy landed a Swanton Bomb on Nick Jackson for the win.
Rating: 4 stars. I hated the Superkick Party. Spots that in real life would cause long-term brain damage but here don’t even keep someone down for three seconds are just too much for be to ignore. Also, Matt and Jeff worked hard, but both, particularly Jeff, certainly don’t move as well as they used to. Jeff looks pained a lot of the time, which sucks to see.
But with both of those criticisms noted, this was a great tag team match and a whole lot of fun.
Wardlow destroys MJF
Wardlow absolutely obliterated MJF in the opening match. MJF got in no offense, and Wardlow pinned MJF after 10 powerbombs. It was a squash match. I’m sure the plan was always for Wardlow to win, but the squash format may have been punishment for MJF’s real-life threat to no show Double or Nothing.
A testament to MJF: He had nuclear heat in this bout. Many of the fans in the arena knew that MJF played chicken with the company — he legitimately no-showed a meet and green on Saturday, a move which appears to be a real-life part of MJF’s contractual disputes with AEW — which led to a sarcastic “he showed up!” chant.
As the match began, the fans chanted “f*** you MJF”.
MJF began by jumping in and out of the ring to avoid Wardlow. Eventually Wardlow grabbed him from the outside and pulled him in. Wardlow tried a powerbomb, but MJF bit him on the head to break it up. He then poked Wardlow in the eyes. Amid a skirmish, MJF tried to fake a knee injury, and as the ref backed Wardlow off, MJF tried to grab his brass ring — but Wardlow attacked him before MJF could put it on.
From there the match was a series of powerbombs. He hit MJF with about 10 powerbombs, then pinned him. After the destruction, MJF got stretchered out as the crowd chanted “you deserve it!”
Up on the ramp, Tony Schiavone met Wardlow and announced that, per the stipulations of the bout, Wardlow is now officially an AEW wrestler and no longer bound to be MJF’s bodyguard.
Rating: No rating. It looks like this could have been MJF’s punishment for no showing Saturday’s meet-and-greet event and his implicit threat to no-show Double or Nothing. The crowd hated MJF, so loved this. But it wasn’t much of a match.
Hookhausen beats Tony Nese and “Smart” Mark Sterling
The strange bedfellows pairing of Hook and Danhousen made their debut in the AEW Double or Nothing preshow. It was a simple match, as you’d expect from a (exciting) novice and a comedy act. Danhausen pinned Mark Sterling after Hook gave Sterling a head-arm suplex.
The match had a basic template. Hook opened and took down Tony Nese with a double-leg. With Tony Nese backing away from Hook, Hook tagged in Danhausen. After a few spots, where Danhausen tried to curse Nese, Nese got the upper hand on Danhausen and both he and Sterling got a few minutes of heat. Danhausen eventually reversed a move from Nese into a Northern Lights Suplex, then tagged in Hook.
Hook obliterated Nese and with suplexes, then hit the head-arm suplex on Sterling. He then tagged in Danhausen, who put his foot on Nese’s chest for the pin.
Rating: 2 stars. A-to-B match, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Danhausen is too silly for me, but if you’re a fan of his you’d like this.
