All Elite Wrestling (AEW) returns to Las Vegas for the 2023 edition of Double or Nothing. In the main event, the fully reformed Elite — Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson, and Hangman Adam Page — will battle the entire Blackpool Combat Club — Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta — in an Anarchy in the Arena Match. MJF also defends his AEW World Championship in a match against the three other young stars who were there for AEW’s beginning, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara and “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry. The team of FTR will defend their AEW Tag Team Titles against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal, and The House of Black will hold an Open House Challenge for any trio to fight them for the AEW Trios Championships. Jamie Hayter will face old rival Toni Storm for the AEW Women’s Championship, and Jade Cargill will look for win number 60 when she faces Taya Valkyrie one more time for the TBS Championship. Also, Wardlow will defend his TNT Championship against Christian Cage in a Ladder match, a stipulation in which Cage is an all-time legend, and Adam Cole will battle Chris Jericho in an Unsanctioned Match. Finally, kicking off the show is a 21-man Blackjack Battle Royale for Orange Cassidy’s AEW International Championship.
+ MJF (c) vs Darby Allin vs Sammy Guevara vs “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry (AEW World Championship): this was absolutely the best match on the show, and it is a travesty that it didn’t go on last. Sammy Guevara has been on fire the last few weeks in particular, and a very special entrance for him is surely a sign that he’ll be a fan favourite soon enough. Jungle Boy has been on a rocky run to this stage, and Darby is interesting enough that he can slot in anywhere. I’ve never been too high on MJF, but it is the match like that where he can really be that slimeball jerk we know and love to hate. This was the match of the show, and in my mind this was the only main event
+ The House of Black defends the AEW Trios Championships in an Open House Match: following four real duds, this was a welcome break. The House of Black’s opponents may not have been a surprise, but they re-awakened the crowd and that made the match even better. I have always liked Black himself, and Matthews has been a fun addition, but I think they really have something special with Brody King and I am more interested in him on a big singles run than as part of this trio
+ Orange Cassidy defends the AEW International Championship in a Blackjack Battle Royal: as always, some of this was good and some of it was not good, but the stuff that was good was really good. Big Bill, Brian Cage and Keith Lee all looked great, as did the various luchadors (Fenix, Penta, Kommander and Bandido) as well as Swerve, Dustin and the Best Friends. When you read the list of competitors, it’s almost not a surprise that AEW battle royals are so much more fun than the average
– The Elite (Kenny Omega, “Hangman” Adam Page, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) (Anarchy In The Arena): this sucked, and I am not going to pretend it didn’t or entertain the idea that it was some big moment of long term storytelling. This was eight people playing around with too much blood while shitty music played for too long, leading to a crappy ending that either doesn’t make sense, or makes sense but you don’t want to see for non-story reasons. Miss me with this sort of match if it’s going on last on a PPV
– Jade Cargill (c) (w/ Smart Mark Sterling) vs Taya Valkyrie (TBS Championship): Jade Cargill’s title run has been simultaneously so impressive, and such garbage. This match itself probably fell closer to the ‘garbage’ end of that spectrum, and even with the story they were trying to tell I just never got into this. I’m confident though that coming out of this will be something more enjoyable for everyone involved
– Jamie Hayter (c) vs Toni Storm (AEW Women’s World Championship): even despite, or perhaps because of the story they were trying to tell, this was not good. It’s the kind of stuff that turned me off certain areas of New Japan, and the same kind of stuff that definitely turned me off WWE for such a long time
– Wardlow (c) vs Christian Cage (TNT Championship): I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this was incredibly dull. The most exciting thing in the whole match was a ladder breaking for real, not when it was planned, and the frustration that the guy trying to use it showed was more real than anything else in their entire fight. I winced every time Christian did something nuts, and I appreciate this as an attempt not to have Wardlow fall into the same traps he has in his past TNT reigns, but this was a swing and a miss
– FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) vs Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal (AEW World Tag Team Championships – Mark Briscoe is the special guest referee): I consider myself a fan of these teams and this feud in general terms, but this match did nothing for me at all. Jay Lethal and Cash Wheeler are both really good, and I appreciate Harwood and Jarrett for their roles in the teams, but never once did I feel anything around either team and their relationship with Mark Briscoe. This was a real disappointment
– Adam Cole vs Chris Jericho (Unsanctioned Match): I know I am probably in the minority, but I thought this was really boring. I never once felt like these two actually hated each other, and Sabu’s involvement was essentially a non-factor, which was really disappointing. Throw in a finish that I think fell really flat, and this was a real disappointment
> I don’t know what was wrong with the announce table, but all of the announcers throughout the show were seemingly legitimately annoyed about something
Should you watch this event: This was quite easily the worst show AEW has done. Even if that means there were a handful of good matches, it felt so dull and by the books it was hard to get invested in the majority of these matches.
MoshFish Reviews 