AEW Double or Nothing Review - May 26, 2024

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Buy-In: Deonna Purrazzo def. Thunder Rosa

I assume they brought back the Buy-In branding for Double or Nothing only and the pre-show will remain the Zero Hour for every other event. At any other, this was the good match you'd expect from these two. They've had a pretty basic feud in the last two months with limited exposure on Dynamite, so the positioning on the pre-show wasn't surprising, but they maximized their minutes and Purrazzo stealing the win creates the need for a rubber matchup.

Buy-In: The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn def. Cage of Agony (Brian Cage and The Gates of Agony)

Mogul Embassy is officially no more and now Cage and Gates of Agony will be known as Cage of Agony going forward. The entire stable may as well have split up because I don't see them doing anything other than losing. It was a standard six-man tag team affair, but the Acclaimed's shtick is still over with the audience. I could have done without Gunn picking up the win for his team, though.

Will Ospreay def. Roderick Strong to Win the AEW International Championship

Aside from the excessive interference from The Undisputed Kingdom and Don Callis (why is Ospreay still aligned with him?!), this was a really enjoyable opener. Ospreay is probably the best in the world right now and Strong is spectacular in his own right. I also liked how Ospreay teased going for the Tiger Driver at the end (the move that "injured" Bryan Danielson at Dynasty) only to change his mind. Strong's reign was decent, but Ospreay needed to win here.

MJF Returned and Attacked Adam Cole

MJF has been absent since losing the AEW World Championship to Samoa Joe and being attacked by The Undisputed Kingdom at the end of December, so him being back is a big boost to AEW. He's been sorely missed. Cole mentioned in his promo before MJF came out that he isn't 100 percent yet, but he still took a brief beating from MJF. You'd think MJF would feud with Undisputed Kingdom now that he's returned and perhaps he still will, but MJF getting the better of Cole here felt like AEW's way of capping off their year-long story because Undisputed Kingdom has been ice cold for months and MJF would be better used in almost anything else. Either way, this was a hell of a promo from MJF.

Unified World Trios Champions Bang Bang Gang (Jay White and The Gunns) def. Death Triangle (Pac and The Lucha Brothers)

This was a fun match. They did their thing, received an ample amount of time (but not too much) and maintained a consistent pace throughout. Not much more you can ask for than that. Juice Robinson returning at the end to aid Bang Bang Gang to victory was a nice twist. He'd been sidelined with a back injury since November and I thought it'd be a lot longer before we saw him back on AEW TV.

AEW Women's World Champion "Timeless" Toni Storm def. Serena Deeb

Did anyone honestly view Deeb as a legitimate threat coming into this event? The feud's been straightforward, but AEW completely screwed the dynamic by having Storm endear herself to the audience quite a bit and by not doing more to ensure Deeb clicked as a babyface. I was worried the crowd would be quiet as a result of the confusing dynamic, but to the credit of the women, they kept their attention with the solid ring work.

Orange Cassidy def. Trent Beretta

I know both of these guys have been with AEW almost since Day 1, but this felt like a Dynamite match. In fact, we just saw it on Dynamite a few weeks ago, and to not give the rematch a stipulation of any kind was silly. It was a quality contest, but nothing stood out about it and nothing of note happened. Cassidy won clean, which was the wrong call, and then Beretta teased calling it quits. That was it. I thought Beretta might align with Callis, who sat in on commentary, but apparently not.

FTW Champion Chris Jericho def. Katsuyori Shibata and Hook in an FTW Rules Three-Way Match

I'm almost positive it's written into Jericho's AEW contract that he must be featured on every AEW pay-per-view in some form or fashion because this was an unnecessary addition to the card. It wasn't a bad match, but the hardcore plunder isn't my cup of tea personally and it was along the same lines as the FTW Rules match Jericho and Hook had at Dynasty. Jericho retaining by pinning Shibata simply means his feud with Hook isn't over yet. Ugh.

IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley def. Konosuke Takeshita in an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship Eliminator Match

You'd think they would have just put the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on the line if Moxley was going to win regardless, but I assume that's a case of companies playing politics because it's a New Japan Pro-Wrestling title and Takeshita is a DDT Pro talent. Why do the match at all in that case? It was well worked and all, but I was not a fan of Moxley taking so much punishment only to win in Superman-esque fashion. AEW continues to drop the ball with Takeshita.

AEW TNT Champion Adam Copeland def. Malakai Black in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match

I feel like it's been a bit since we last got an over-the-top stipulation like this in AEW, so I was fine with it, especially since it fit the feud with Copeland tapping into his darker side. They made the most of it, I'll say that much. Copeland diving off the top of the cage with an elbow to Black down below was insanely stupid, but hey, if he wants to take that risk at this stage of his career, more power to him. His reunion with Gangrel was a very cool moment.

Mercedes Mone def. Willow Nightingale to Win the AEW TBS Championship

For my money, these two stole the show. Mone's AEW run so far hasn't been all that stellar, so it was crucial she hit a home run here. Thankfully, she did just that. It wasn't entirely smooth and her finisher on Nightingale looked weak, but they had terrific chemistry otherwise and it was a strong match. Mone winning the title was never in doubt, but I'm glad Nightingale already has her next storyline set with Kris Statlander turning on her immediately afterward.

AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland def. Christian Cage

I had no issue with the AEW World Championship taking a backseat to Anarchy in the Arena because that was the bigger attraction. Christian was never going to win the title here (and he shouldn't have), but that didn't stop them from having a top-notch match. They both had strong showings and delivered some close nearfalls down the stretch. Christian played his role perfectly and Strickland beats a notable name to retain the title.

The Elite (Jack Perry, AEW Continental Champion Kazuchika Okada and AEW World Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks) def. Team AEW (Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin and FTR)

The first few minutes are always unwatchable with the constant camera cuts and basic brawling, but I thought "Final Countdown" playing while it was happening made it slightly more bearable. The rest of it was certainly a spectacle. It featured its fair share of dumb stuff, but these Anarchy in the Arena matches need that sort of thing for the stipulation to be worthwhile. Did Tony Khan really need to get involved?! At least the crowd was into it despite sitting there for almost six hours. Perry pinning Danielson was the right call if they really want to make him feel like a top star in this storyline.

Overall Show

I hate to sound like a broken record, but these AEW pay-per-view are way too damn long. The main event didn't get underway until after midnight on the east coast, which is egregious. They could have easily cut the three-way and Cassidy vs. Beretta from the card. On the whole, however, this was the usual entertaining event from AEW and it was definitely newsworthy. The issue is that AEW routinely fails to follow up on the momentum from these shows on Dynamite, so that should be their main priority starting Wednesday.

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