Las Vegas, NV - May 2024
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the AEW World Champion was Swerve Strickland, the Young Bucks were the AEW Tag Team Champions, the Trios Champions were the Bang Bang Gang (Jay White and the Gunns), Toni Storm was the AEW Women's Champion, Adam Copeland was the TNT Champion, Willow Nightingale was the TBS Champion, the International Champion was Roderick Strong, the Continental Champion was Okada, and Chris Jericho held the FTW Championship (which he had re-christened as the "For The World" Championship).
Double Or Nothing 2024 - the 5th anniversary of AEW - kicked off with International Champion Roderick Strong defending his title against Will Ospreay. Loved the start of this match with Ospreay attempting to end things early with a running back elbow while Strong was posing and then taking out Bennett and Taven. The first crazy spot of the night happened moments later when Bennett and Taven attempted a Doomsday Device on the floor and nearly paralyzed Ospreay, who fell awkwardly on his neck. Wardlow came in, attempted to powerbomb Ospreay, but then got caught. Ospreay hit a wild twisting moonsault something-or-other on the whole Undisputed Kingdom to take them out. Ospreay's offense was incredible - a step-up enziguiri, a fisherman suplex - but Roderick Strong's heat segment was awesome too. I loved the sequence in which he tied Ospreay up in the ropes and proceeded to strike him from every angle and his fireman's carry-into-a-backbreaker. Plus, the superplex. The sequences in this match were crisp and flawless without feeling overly choreographed. Unfortunately, like so many of the other matches on this show, they inserted a needless "fighting spirit" strike exchange into it. I liked Don Callis trying to convince Ospreay to use the Tiger Driver to put down Strong and Ospreay feeling conflicted about it and then, because he didn't do it, nearly cost himself the match. The actual finish was great as Ospreay won with a brilliant back elbow (Hidden Blade) and then a Stormbreaker after flipping out of one of Strong's various backbreakers. People may not like it, but Ospreay is doing true "State of the Art" wrestling. It is not for everyone. It is intricate sequences, it is highly athletic maneuvers, it is incredible feats of agility and endurance, and it is nothing like the wrestling of the 80s or most of the 90s. But Ospreay is the vanguard, the guy pushing further than Kenny Omega or Ricochet or Seth Rollins and embodying "the future" more than anyone else in US wrestling. Strong was a great opponent for him here because he could keep up and hold his own, but Ospreay is in a world of his own right now. (4/5)
Adam Cole came out to a relative loud babyface pop - big enough to make me question why they turned him heel in the first place. The injury he suffered really ruined whatever storyline they had set for him and MJF. Anyway, he put down the crowd before MJF made his return to a massive ovation. Really good segment, though I didn't love MJF's line about not needing New Japan or Vince McMahon to get over. Name-checking Vince in 2024 feels like name-checking Jim Crockett in your shoot interview in 94'. The WWE has really gone out of its way to make it clear that there are new bosses in town so going after Vinnie Mac doesn't pack the same punch as it did even 2-3 years ago. The rest of MJF's promo was good, though, and I hope he sticks to his promise of cutting out all the "cheap pop" stuff and returning to his true scumbag persona.
The AEW Six-Man Championships were on the line next as Death Triangle (Rey Fenix, Pentagon Jr., and PAC) took on The Bang Bang Gang (Jay White and the Gunns). This match started out strong, but then seemed like it fell apart a bit when PAC sold a devastating DDT from Jay White like he was really injured. After the close call in the opening match, having PAC work that kind of "reality-bending" spot seemed to take the crowd out of the action and they never really recovered. The match picked up quite a bit for its finishing stretch but this wasn't as good as the six-mans the Death Triangle had against the Elite last year, which were all-out wars with lots and lots of crazy spots. Will Ospreay is always a tough act to follow, even with all the high-flying that the babyfaces are capable of. Not bad, just not all that special or different from what you may get on an episode of Dynamite. Juice Robinsons return was another nice surprise here. (2.5/5)
Toni Storm defended the AEW Women's Championship in the next contest against "The Professor" Serena Deeb. Deeb promised that this match would be the best women's championship match in AEW history, but this didn't click for me. Storm is very over with the crowd, but is a gimmicky performer. They tried to put on a very straight-forward, physical match with lots of action but also inserted some awkward "cutesy" spots that seemed out-of-place for the rest of how serious the match was. I liked the Mariah May/Luther interaction on the outside and thought the finish was tremendous and super-violent (Storm hitting a piledriver from the second rope). (2.5/5)
Orange Cassidy vs. Trent Beretta followed. This also felt a little lackluster to me. I'm not sure why they had a stipulation match on TV and then went with no stipulation here as this feud absolutely deserved to culminate in a big, wild, super-violent match. I'm also going to go on record and say that I like OC's Jefferson Starship entrance more than the Pixies one. Terrific spot where OC pulled Beretta's foot out from under him and he dropped back-first onto the steps. OC ended up winning with a straight-up wrestling pin, which, again, was not exactly the finish I expected for such a personal feud. After the match, Beretta bolted. This felt like a Dynamite match more than a PPV-worthy match. (2/5)
The WTF Championship was on the line next as "The Learning Tree" Chris Jericho defended against Shibata and HOOK. I was in the minority when I reviewed the Jericho/HOOK match from the last PPV and said it was pretty good. This was similar - the kind of match that the Jericho haters will undoubtedly rag on but that had enough goofy-but-hard-hitting hardcore action in it to make it work. Of course, if you're not into things like plastic dice being used as weapons in place of thumbtacks or table spots that are practically designed to fail, a match like this will not rate highly with you. If, on the other hand, you can enjoy the convoluted double-submission spots and the overbooking (this match featured not one, but two run-ins on behalf of Jericho), this will likely entertain you more often than not. Bryan Keith actually doing Bounty Hunter shit and coming in to help Jericho win because he was paid to do so - like a real bounty hunter would - made sense but wasn't exactly the most creative or interesting way to have Jericho retain. Speaking of run-ins, HOOK delivering a T-Bone Suplex onto Big Bill through a table on the floor was a bonkers spot that I can't believe Bill was willing to take. Shibata was the glue holding this match together because, of the three, he's the most technically gifted and the crowd, at one point, got behind him pretty clearly. HOOK seems like he's been exposed a bit and looked lost at one point. Jericho was fine, but I still think he needs to disappear sooner than later. Entertaining for what it was. (3/5)
Jon Moxley vs. Takeshita was next. Takeshita, despite coming out on the losing end of multiple big matches this year, has a great aura...too bad that TK seems dead-set on destroying it. This was an Eliminator Match for a shot at the IWGP Championship, which means that if Takeshita won, he would be able to challenge Mox for the title. Talk about a tremendous match that suffered because of inane booking and presentation issues. Someone needs to tell Takeshita that being the fifteenth guy in the company who comes out with a mask on his face is not going to establish him as a unique entity. Mox came in selling an injured arm as it was wrapped up in bandages. Takeshita went right after his arm from the very beginning and it was excellent - a hammerlock slam, an armbar-pulldown-thing-a-muhjig on the apron, a leaping "bulldog"-type move onto the mat that targeted the shoulder, an insane powerbomb into an armbar - it was all brutal-looking. Mox, to his credit, spent the majority of the match selling and doing a good job of it. All of Mox's offense seemed to come from counters, which made sense as Takeshita was in complete control for so much of the match. I didn't like the unnecessary and already-been-done-to-death strike exchange sequences, but I'll give credit to Takeshita for at least utilizing devastating forearms instead of sticking to more chest chops. Some good false finishes too with Takeshita hitting the Death Rider at one point. The finish came when Takeshita unwisely started tossing chairs into the ring only for the ref to get distracted trying to remove them and missing Mox deliver a Curb Stomp onto one and then his own Death Rider. I'm not sure why Takeshita didn't win here, but I try not to let win/loss decisions affect my rating of a match because the action here was tremendous and even Mox, who I sometimes actively dislike, was good here. A better finish, one in which the right guy won, would've probably had me scoring this higher because the finish just really took away from what was yet another should-be "star-making" performance. (3.5/5)
Adam Copeland vs. Malakai Black in a Barbwire Cage match for the TNT Championship followed. I'm not a massive Copeland fan, but give this guy the opportunity to use a bunch of weapons and do crazy spots and he usually lives up to it - and that's been true since his earliest WWE days. Copeland got his "South of Heaven" entrance, a nice little nod to the Hell in a Cell match he had with Finn Balor which was...different than this one. This was weapon-filled and ultra-violent from minute one. Black got color first as Copeland slammed him face-first into the wire. I liked the spot where Copeland put wire on the turnbuckle, avoided at first, but then ended up dropping face-first onto it when Black kicked his foot out from under him. The crowd was 50/50 at times in the early going, but seemed to have gotten behind Copeland by the end. Black brought in a barbwire bat and ground it against Cope's face but ended up eating a barbwire bat shot into his gut minutes later. Black hit a sunset flip powerbomb off the ropes that sent Copeland through a table in a wild spot. We got a piledriver out of Copeland to make it even more clear that this was not a match the WWE would ever put on. The craziest spot was when Copeland wrapped barbwire around Black's body on a table and then performed a very, very ugly elbow drop from the top of the cage, landing directly on his feet and potentially obliterating his ankles and causing tremendous damage to his knees. Just a horrendous spot. By this point, we'd also seen a bunch of spear and heel kick attempts by both guys. The climax of the match was when Black kicked Copeland through the cell door and we got the arrival of Buddy Murphy and Brody King. For a brief moment it looked like they might actually join Copeland, but they "double-turned" and beat him up instead. This led to Gangrel - yes, Gangrel! - emerging through the ring and taking out Murphy and King before getting dropped by a Malakai Black heel kick. Black ate a spear, though, and then got choked out with a barbwire-assisted STF that was shot so close up that you could see the wire wasn't really slicing into Black's face. This was bloody, violent, and everything that a barbwire cage match should be. (4/5)
Mercedes Mone challenged Willow Nightingale for the TBS Championship in the next match. Mone's pre-match video was incredible and 1000% a heel thing to do, but she continues to get babyface pops no matter how grating her personality is (on-screen, at least). Willow is much easier to love, but I liked how physical and aggressive she was as the champion here; this was not the silly, fun-loving Willow Nightingale and it is this version of her that I would love to see her tap into more. Lots of crazy bumps from Mone, which seemed like her way of saying that she had every intention to continue to work the sometimes-reckless/often-entertaining style that put her on the map so many years ago. It's cool to see her up against a "monster" that actually has the agility and strength to put on a great match-up (which is not something I think we ever saw in her NXT/WWE run). There were some awkward moments and a handful of telegraphed moves that took me out of it a little, but the crowd was hot for the majority of the match (though sometimes got quiet in anticipation for moves rather than really booing/cheering anyone), audibly split 50/50 at times. At one point, Banks was able to lift Nightingale up in a Razor's Edge-type position, which was a feat of strength I had no idea she was capable of. Very impressive. I loved the various Meteoras that she hit. Willow getting the visual pin was a neat touch that I wasn't expecting but gives Nightingale an "out" and a potential way to build her up as a future babyface challenger for Mone once Mercedes finally do goes "all the way" heel. Statlander and Stokely turning heel after the match was interesting, but it all really matters where the storyline goes. Stat is not great on the mic, but Hathaway is gold and I'm all about him toning down the comedy and sinking into a real feud. Willow won't need a mouthpiece as a babyface if she continues to give spirited promos from the heart. Anyway, this was a good match, borderline great, but maybe just a few awkward moments away from being must-see. (3.5/5)
The AEW World Champion, Swerve Strickland, defended his title against Christian in the next match. This was what it was. Nobody expected Christian to win this match and interference from his Family was all-but-guaranteed, so the real question was whether the content of the match would be good and interesting enough to carry 20-minutes. Unlike most of the other matches on the show, specifically the major singles titles matches, you also didn't have a wild stipulation (Copeland/Black) or featuring two of the most athletically-gifted and talents in the world right now (Ospreay/Strong) to rely on. Christian is one of my all-time favorites, but at his age, he's got to rely on a bag of tricks that has been condensed over time, plus Nick Wayne and Killswitch aren't exactly heat magnets the way, say, a Dom Mysterio. This match was carried by a handful of really good spots, mostly out of Strickland. I loved the stomp on the announce table and the spear-into-a-Blackout kick, though I was less into Christian having to position himself (and remain in that position) to take Swerve's final double stomp from the top. I've seen others compare this match to the Logan Paul/Cody Rhodes match from earlier in the weekend as the finish was never really in question and the match had to rely more the character work and the entertainment value they could pump into it. To me, they were equally successful in delivering a match worthy of being on a PPV but didn't necessarily surpass expectations. (3/5)
Main event time - Anarchy in the Arena: The Young Bucks, Okada, and "The Scapegoat" Jack Perry vs. Bryan Danielson, FTR, and Darby Allin. The term "madcap" comes to mind when describing this match. It was violent, but there were also comedic elements. There were stunts and weapons and set pieces. Darby Allin was the clear MVP and star of this match and, at this point, it might be argued he has become "Mr. AEW," the "Go-To" if not the GOAT of the company. Danielson and FTR were fine, but it was Allin - getting hit by a truck, delivering a Coffin Drop off a balcony, busting out a flamethrower, and ultimately getting suspended by his feet for minutes on end (causing the crowd to chant "Please Help Darby") - who captivated the audience. On the heel side of things, this was Young Bucks' party all the way. The Bucks' style is not for everyone and their taste level in wrestling has long been questionable. Is it too "wink wink"? Is it too over-the-top when they deliver dozens of superkicks in one match? When they eschew realism for the sake of entertainment and cheap laughs? I'm not a huge big Bucks fan, but this is the environment in which their act works best for me. Putting thumbtacks on their Reeboks before superkicking Darby, delivering the TK Driver on a stack of oversized poker chips, stealing FTR's finisher and then destroying Dax Hardwood with an exploding chair shot, all the theme music stuff in the first part of the match, it all got huge reactions and was executed perfectly. For an act known for their "cringe" elements, it was almost surprising how little "cringe" there was, even when the Jacksons were mugging for and speaking directly into the camera. This was a ton of a fun, but I wouldn't call it an all-time great match or essential viewing. (3.5/5)
With a Kwang Score of 3.15-out-of-5, AEW once again delivered an excellent PPV/PLE. While Dynasty in April featured a Match of the Year contender in Ospreay/Danielson, a better World Championship match, and an excellent Tag Team Titles contest, this show was a touch more consistent. Mone/Willow, Copeland/Black, Ospreay/Strong, and Anarchy in the Arena were all great matches and thoroughly entertaining. The World Championship was fine considering the outcome was never in question while Takeshita/Moxley was on the way to being one of the best matches of the year before it fell into a trap of needless strike exchanges and an unfortunate finish that negated Takeshita's incredible performance. This show could've used a bit of an editor, though, as the Six-Man, Women's Championship match, and Orange Cassidy/Trent Beretta matches all came off a bit like TV main events rather than PLE-worthy fights.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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