AEW Double or Nothing Review - May 25, 2025

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Buy In: Harley Cameron and Anna Jay def. Penelope Ford and Megan Bayne

This has been a fine feud that's played out in the undercard of women's division and it's effectively kept Bayne busy after unsuccessfully challenging Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship at Dynasty. This was a fairly basic bout, but the crowd was behind the babyfaces and was happy to see them win. Ford eating the loss was logical and we'll see if that leads to any dissension between her and Bayne.

The Buy In: ROH World Champion Bandido, AR Fox Los Titanes Del Aire def. CRU and Roppongi Vice

You know Tony Khan couldn't help himself when he saw that only one match was advertised for the Buy-In. This had its moments, but it felt like it solely existed to fill out the pre-show (which is needlessly 90 minutes long). It could've easily happened on any ordinary episode of Collision. There was nothing wrong with the wrestling, but I do question the point of it was when we see so many multi-man matches in AEW as it is.

AEW TBS Champion and RevPro Undisputed British Women's Champion Mercedes Mone def. Jamie Hayter in the Finals of the Women's Owen Hart Cup (Non-Title)

I liked how the Owen Hart Cup finals for the men and the women bookended this show. Mone's best tournament match was with Athena, but this was excellent in its own right. They clicked immediately as opponents and it could've gone either way. I held out hope for Hayter, but I assumed AEW would want to do champ vs. champ at All In with Mone and Storm. I get wanting to keep Mone undefeated, but I'm not high on her still holding the TBS title when that could be involved in something else instead.

FTR def. Daniel Garcia and Nigel McGuinness

I didn't mind the build to this bout, but it's primarily played out on Collision and thus I don't blame a majority of the viewers/crowd for not carrying. Additionally, did this really did over 20 minutes? There wasn't even anything at stake. It was well wrestled as you'd expect, but trimming off several minutes would've made it better. McGuinness being back in the ring was a treat, though.

Ricochet def. Mark Briscoe in a Stretcher Match

Was this technically an Ambulance match as well since you had to put your opponent on the stretcher in the ambulance and then shut the doors? I remember WWE's past Stretcher matches being a bit different, but it did make the stipulation more interesting. Although this feud hasn't been heated enough to justify it being a Stretcher match, I understand it was probably supposed to be a tribute to the late Sabu (who had a famous Stretcher match in ECW that Khan was in attendance for), not to mention they made the most of it in what was a bloody affair. Ricochet had yet to win on AEW pay-per-view, so this was a necessary victory for him.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin) def. ROH World Tag Team Champions The Sons of Texas (ROH World Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

MJF's Hurt Syndicate saga has been enjoyable, but I hate that it's left him off the cards for Dynasty and now Double or Nothing. Him getting involved at ringside wasn't enough. It also wasn't enough to justify this making the show. Sons of Texas work well together as a team, but they were no threat to Hurt Syndicate. This was solid, but the focus was on the Hurt Syndicate drama and not so much the action itself. This belonged on Dynamite to be honest.

AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada def. "Speedball" Mike Bailey

It's been obvious since Worlds End five months ago that Okada wasn't losing the AEW Continental Championship until at least All In when he presumably faces Kenny Omega, but I'm glad he's having some fun matches in the meantime with talent like Bailey. They made the most of their time and delivered a great match. I'm curious where Bailey goes from here now that he's failed in his pursuit of both the AEW Continental Championship and the AEW International Championship.

AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm def. Mina Shirakawa

I can't say I was as hyped for this match as others were, if only because we got it last year at Forbidden Door and there was no reason to believe Shirakawa was winning. Worse yet, he's officially under contract and was thrust into this opportunity extremely quickly, so there's no clear next step for her. Despite that, they had a very good match. Storm's streak of strong title defenses continues.

Swerve Strickland, AEW World Trios Champions The Opps (Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata and Powerhouse Hobbs), AEW Continental Champion Kenny Omega and Willow Nightingale def. The Young Bucks and The Death Riders (AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta) in Anarchy in the Arena

If you've seen Anarchy in the Arena once, you've seen them all. That's how I feel about it, personally. They're always complete chaos and I get that's the point, but in reality, it's just garbage wrestling. A vast majority of AEW's audience is into that sort of thing, so to them (and this crowd), this was probably a success. They did some insane stuff, but all of it blends together for me after a while, so I don't find it surreal or impressive. The babyfaces winning was my top takeaway, and "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" being the song they played over and over was cool. Eddie Kingston not returning as many expected was disappointing, but hopefully soon.

The Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher, Konosuke Takeshita and Josh Alexander) def. Paragon (Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong and AEW TNT Champion Adam Cole)

Obviously, this was designed to be a buffer match in between Anarchy in the Arena and the main event, but you'd think AEW would read the room and not have this match last as long as it did so late in the show. Apparently, it only went 12 or 13 minutes, but it felt a lot longer. They worked a quick pace, but this belonged on Dynamite or Collision. Fletcher picking up the win for his team gives me hope he's getting closer to contending for Cole's AEW TNT Championship. Tomohiro Ishii, Brody King and Hiroshi Tanahashi (who's more of an authority figure than a wrestler these days) was weird since Forbidden Door isn't until August.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Will Ospreay in the Finals of the Men's Owen Hart Cup

AEW absolutely made the right call by putting this on last (compared to the past two years where Anarchy in the Arena headlined). What an incredible match. I for sure thought Ospreay was winning (especially since it was already teamed that Page teaming up with Strickland against the Bucks was a legitimate possibility for All In), so Page winning instead was a genuine shocker. As awesome as it is that Page is getting the shot at All In (in Texas, no less), I'm even more worried than I was before that Moxley will retain on that show. Nevertheless, this was such a blast with outstanding action and every nearfall being suspenseful. You can add this to the list of AEW Match of the Year contenders.

Overall Show

Most of AEW's pay-per-views blend together for me at this point because the wrestling is always above-average, so it typically takes something special for the shows to stand out to me. That said, I wasn't fond of most of the booking at Dynasty and Revolution just had an awful ending, so Double or Nothing was automatically an improvement. It was another very entertaining event with my sole criticism being that it was too damn long. The main event took an already-quality pay-per-view to that next level.

SEE MORE: AEW PPV Reviews