Welp, the seventh edition of AEW Double or Nothing turned out to be the best one to date. Six years exactly from the company's first-ever show, they knocked another one out of the park. Also after three years the streak of AEW Revolution being the best show of the year has come to an end. This show was fucking fantastic, albeit long.
Double or Nothing has set the stage for AEW's biggest-ever show on US soil, All In 2025, with two epic Owen Cup finals, the best Anarchy in the Arena match to date, and a slew of good-to-excellent undercard matches. But the biggest story of the night was Hangman Adam Page finally getting himself on the path to redemption after three years of frustrating losses and soul-destroying evil deeds.
Page and Will Ospreay had an absolute epic of a main event, a 37-minute war of attrition boasting insane false finishes, both men kicking out of each other's finishes, and a really dangerous Styles Clash spot off the ring apron (plus a prematurely broken announce table spot a la Triple H-Kurt Angle in 2000). Thankfully both guys are okay after that one. Ospreay got cocky at one point as each man stood on opposite sides of the ring, Will inside with his Hidden Blade arm exposed, Page on the apron ready to deliver a Buckshot Lariat. Will thought he could beat Page to the punch but came up short and Page leveled him for a nearfall. Ospreay countered another Buckshot attempt with the Hidden Blade and hit a Stormbreaker for another nearfall. Then each man went for former rivals' finishers - Ospreay tried a One-Winged Angel but Page escaped and hit Swerve's Big Pressure driver for a nearfall. After evading another Stormbreaker, Page hit a lariat and a final Buckshot to win. What a goddamn match. I said going into this I was fine with either result, and I was, but Page winning felt like THE right choice; his journey back to the title is the more compelling story of these two men. Ospreay will live to fight another day and we'll definitely be seeing this matchup again, likely for the championship. One of the best PPV main events in AEW history. *****
Circling back to the other Owen Cup final, Mercedes Moné and Jamie Hayter opened the show with a pretty excellent 21-minute match, full of gritty action underscored by dueling crowd chants. Hayter seemed like a slight favorite but when it was over the crowd also seemed to begrudgingly give Mercedes due respect. The match built to some great nearfalls and the crowd bought into them. Mercedes has mastered the Kurt Angle late 2.5 kickout and used it a few times here. After dodging a Hayter-ade, Mercedes snared a brutal-looking cradle (Hayter seemed to get spiked on her head but was apparently fine) for the flash pin. So Mercedes Moné will challenge for the Women's World Title at All In. Really good match. ****
Next up was another fine bout that perhaps went a bit too long. FTR vs. Nigel McGuinness and Daniel Garcia probably didn't need 22 minutes, but it was a very fine contest nonetheless. FTR played asshole heel characters to the hilt, while Nigel was the wizened veteran gunslinger back for one more fight. The match played into the FTR-Tony Schiavone story when Nigel was beating up Cash Wheeler on the outside and dragged him over to the announce table, forcing him to apologize to Tony. But once FTR got the advantage again, Cash went back over and told Tony it was a fake apology and that he had his fingers crossed, which made me laugh. Late in the match FTR hit Shatter Machine on Nigel outside the ring, which incapacitated him the rest of the match. From there they double-teamed Garcia and wore him down. Garcia kicked out after a piledriver and got his foot on the ropes after a spike piledriver, but eventually succumbed to a sharpshooter, passing out. Could've been five minutes shorter but a damn good tag bout. ****
The Stretcher/Ambulance match was next as Mark Briscoe and Ricochet battled all over the arena and ended up having the bloodier of the two hardcore-style matches. At one point Briscoe brought some cleaning spray bottles into the ring and shined up Ricochet's bald head. Ricochet pulled the padding off one of the stretchers and rammed Briscoe's head into the metal frame, opening a gash on Mark's head. Ric stuffed Briscoe into the ambulance but Mark blocked the door with a crutch to keep the match going. Ricochet brought out a pair of scissors which got taken away, but he found another pair in the ambulance and stabbed at Mark's head before hitting the Spirit Gun and wheeling him into the ambulance for the win. Really fun brawl. ****1/4
The weakest match of the night, though it was still quite enjoyable, was the Hurt Syndicate-Sons of Texas match for the Tag Titles. MJF accompanied Lashley and Benjamin at ringside and got involved a few times. Initially Bobby and Shelton didn't appreciate his help, but by the end Lashley smiled and hugged him. Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara worked hard and were given a good amount of offense, much more than most Hurt Syndicate opponents, but no one bought them as potential winners. MJF tried to use the diamond ring on Dustin but Lashley stopped him and instead speared Dustin through the barricade (Still a dumb spot but at least AEW uses it sparingly). Sammy went for a dive to the outside but Shelton cut him off and finished him with a superkick. Okay match. **3/4
Things picked up big with the next bout, Kazuchika Okada vs. Speedball Mike Bailey for the Continental Championship. I loved these two together. Okada worked harder than usual and got adequate time to have his type of match, while Bailey as expected bounced around for him like crazy. That's not to say Bailey didn't come off as a legit challenger, quite the contrary. Okada made Bailey look like he fully belonged, and Bailey made the most of the opportunity. Speedball is turning out to be a great pickup for AEW. They had a ton of nearfalls with Bailey hitting sick-looking thrust kicks and almost getting the three, but Okada would kick out at the last second. The best spot of the match involved Bailey going for his Ultimate Weapon, a shooting star knee drop, and Okada countering it midair with a dropkick, before finishing him with the Rainmaker. Great, great match and I need to see these to fight again. ****1/2
Toni Storm vs. Mina Shirakawa was next and these two got more time than last year and thus had a better match. Storm sold her knee following Mina's corner figure four from last week, and it was a target throughout. There was a fun spot outside the ring where Mina hit a tornillo off Luther's back onto Toni. Toni at one point went for the hip attack but her knee gave out and hit her with a dropkick to the leg. After numerous attempts Mina finally locked in the Figure Four but Toni made the ropes. They exchanged small packages for nearfalls until Toni hit a headbutt and a lightning-fast Storm Zero to retain. Post-match Toni and Mina literally kissed and made up. Another really good title defense for my favorite character in the business right now. The stage is set for the biggest women's match in AEW history at All In, Toni Storm vs. Mercedes Moné. ****
It was now time for Anarchy in the Arena, and man did this deliver. The babyfaces all came out except Samoa Joe, and as the Death Riders made their way to the ring followed by a very long-winded introduction for the Young Bucks, who as AEW's "founding fathers" came to the ring dressed in colonial garb (which they hilariously kept on the whole match). Suddenly Joe came out of one of the audience entrances and attacked Claudio, and the match was underway with action all over the place. The Bucks' 18th century music continued until Kenny Omega grabbed a mic and told the audio team to change it. That prompted The Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited" until Kenny said it didn't fit the vibe and had it changed again to Drowning Pool's "Bodies," which played over the action five or six times until Claudio got a giant swing on Swerve and flung him into the speaker to end the music. That of course makes no sense given that the music was playing through the overhead speakers, but it was a really funny spot. There were wild spots all over the place, including Kenny hitting a five from the balcony onto a pile of dudes, Marina Shafir and Willow Nightingale fighting out to the parking lot and hitting each other with bottles, Marina chaining Willow to the bottom rope by putting a padlock through her ear piercing (yeesh), Swerve hitting both Bucks with a Swerve Stomp off a forklift, stereo 450 splashes from Matt Jackson and Swerve onto their respective opponents to break up choke holds, and then a barrage of staple gun spots. Matt stapled Powerhouse Hobbs' back, and Hobbs no-sold, and then Swerve got another stapler and went wild on everyone. Marina then stapled Swerve's tongue (yeesh again). Willow was unlocked from the rope and she and Swerve hit a TK Driver on Matt. Hook ran down briefly to assist Joe but refused to get further involved. Gabe Kidd ran down with Moxley's briefcase. Mox tried to choke out Joe and the heels dragged him to the ambulance but Mark Briscoe appeared out of nowhere, diving off the stage onto the heels. The babyfaces stuffed the Death Riders and Kidd into the ambulance and locked them in, leaving just the Bucks in the ring against Swerve and Kenny. Omega hit Matt with a One-Winged Angel off the stage through an explosive table, while Swerve hit the stomp on Nick while wearing thumbtack-covered sneakers for the win. Swerve then stuck out his tongue to show the staple from earlier. Sweet Jesus. This match ruled, best match of its type since the original Stadium Stampede, and arguably even better. *****
In the unfortunate death spot was the Paragon-Don Callis Family trios match, which was never going to follow AITA, but all six guys worked very hard and got the crowd somewhat into them. This was pretty much nonstop action where everyone got time to shine. It built to a peak with everyone hitting moves on each other until Takeshita stopped Kyle O'Reilly in his tracks with a right hand and Kyle Fletcher hit him with a brainbuster for the win. I assume this sets up Adam Cole vs. Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Title? The heels beat down the babyfaces post-match until Brody King, Tomohiro Ishii and finally Hiroshi Tanahashi ran down for the save. I guess we'll get those three vs. the DC Family at some point? Good match with very fun action, just put in a very unfortunate slot. ***3/4
So yeah, this show was insanely good. Two fivers, a slew of ****+, and it set up two of the top matches for All In while furthering the best current story in the company, the long road to redemption for one Hangman Page. Could they have trimmed 15-20 minutes off the show? Sure. But it doesn't matter, this was one of the best PPVs AEW has ever done and we have a new yardstick for 2025.
Best Match: Take your pick between Anarchy and the main event. I tend to lean toward classic wrestling matches so I'll go with Ospreay vs. Page just by a hair.
Worst Match: Hurt Syndicate vs. Sons of Texas, but it was still fine.
What I'd Change: Like I said, trim 5-7 minutes out of the FTR match and maybe bump the trios match to the pre-show just for time's sake, but those are nitpicks, there literally wasn't a bad match in sight.
Most Disappointing Match: Nada.
Most Pleasant Surpise: I was pretty sure Ospreay was winning at the end, but I'm glad they went with Page. He needs it more.
Overall Rating: Second 10/10 PPV of the year for AEW.
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