Double Or Nothing: One Year Later

At a time when the professional wrestling landscape was a stagnant mess, a new company emerged looking to change the world and showcase an “Elite” group of individuals that believed in giving the fans what they want. Double Or Nothing 2019 was the launching point for All Elite Wrestling, spawning a live series on TNT that would dominate WWE’s NXT brand on a weekly basis. As we get ready for the completion of AEW’s first year and a second Double or Nothing, let’s see how far the company has come.

HANGMAN ADAM PAGE WINS THE CASINO BATTLE ROYAL

Adam Page was supposed to face PAC at Double Or Nothing, but PAC was unable to appear due to backstage politics. As a result, Page was added to the Casino Battle Royal, vying for a shot to become the inaugural AEW World Champion at AEW All Out. Receiving a solid ovation for his arrival, Page was one of the most over wrestlers on this show. Nobody could have predicted how popular he’d become. One year later, he is trying to find his way since the world title loss, which has sadly (yet hilariously) turned to alcohol. The paranoid drunk that we’ve come to love was conceived at this event. The only thing I don’t like is that he’s one half of the AEW Tag Team Champions instead of being in the world title picture, but I rest easy knowing that once his reign with Kenny Omega is over, he’s a shoe-in to take the company’s richest prize.

KIP SABIAN DEF. SAMMY GUEVARA

Thanks to Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara has evolved from directionless, panda lover to Spanish God. He’s also one of the best sellers in the company. It’ll be a couple more years before he chases the AEW World Title, but a run with the TNT Title could come sooner rather than later. I have a feeling in a couple more years Guevara will be in the World Title picture, but maybe a TNT Title run will come sooner than later. As for Sabian, very little has been done with him over the past year. However, he remains the envy of every man after getting engaged to Penelope Ford.

SCU DEF. STRONG HEARTS (CIMA, T-HAWK & EL LINDAMAN)

Six months after Double Or Nothing, Kazarian and Scorpio Sky would become the first AEW World Tag Team Champions. Their three-month run would end at the hands of Page and Omega on the Jericho Cruise, but SCU remains a popular group doing battle with The Dark Order. The Strong Hearts haven’t been as lucky. CIMA pops in every now and then, but the group has barely been featured in the crowded tag team division.

BRITT BAKER DEF. AWESOME KONG, NYLA ROSE & KYLIE RAE

This match was good, but I’m glad to see the women’s division come into its own over the last year. Britt Baker has become arguably the face of the division after a tremendous heel turn. Nyla Rose is the current AEW Women’s Champion and has been portrayed as a monster whose only issue was not being able to overcome Riho until early February. Awesome Kong, unfortunately, was part of the failed experiment “Nightmare Collective.” Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, Kong was out of AEW filming another season of GLOW for Netflix. I would still love to know what happened with Kylie Rae since she would be released a short while after this show. AEW’s loss has become Impact Wrestling’s gain.

BEST FRIENDS DEF. JACK EVANS & ANGELICO

I realized watching this just how much more Angelico and Evans need to be on Dynamite. The Best Friends have been a staple of Dynamite since the empty arena shows started. They are likely en route to a Tag Team Title run as they are one of the most over duos in the company, alongside the beloved Orange Cassidy.

HIKARU SHIDA, RIHO & RYO MIZUNAMI DEF. AJA KONG, EMI SAKURA & YUKA SAKAZAKI

When I watched this match live last year, I thought we would see more of these women. Mizunami and Kong have showed up for maybe one other event since Double Or Nothing. Sakura and Sakazaki have been on a little more often, but Sakura hasn’t really been seen since a losing effort for the Women’s Title at Full Gear. Sakazaki had her teeth knocked out recently in an angle with Baker. Riho became the inaugural Women’s Champion on the first episode of Dynamite in October. Her four-month reign was great, defeating all challengers until she met the unstoppable monster Nyla Rose. Shida is getting ready to challenge for that same title against The Native Beast at this year’s Double Or Nothing. She has been on AEW TV the most, maybe second to Baker, and has been putting on excellent matches every week.

CODY RHODES DEF. DUSTIN RHODES

The match that ranked third in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Year End Awards was easily No. 1 to me. I rewatched just a few hours before I typed this up and it was just as excellent. Dustin was a bloody mess that night, but it really added to the match. The Rhodes brothers reunited immediately after this war in a tear-filled embrace, and it’s been great to see their storylines intertwined. Dustin has made his “one last run” a memorable one while Cody still stands on top of the wrestling world as a real life success story. While he can’t wrestle for the AEW World Title, Cody has his sights set on becoming the first TNT Champion. I would love to see one last match between the brothers before Dustin hangs it up, but it’ll be hard to hold up to the standard set.

WORLD TITLE PRESENTATION WITH BRET HART, HANGMAN PAGE AND MJF

This segment was weird, but it was great seeing “The Hitman” in a new company. Hangman’s involvement is to set up the future title match and get him more over with the crowd even though it wasn’t needed. MJF came off amazing in this considering it’s the same character he is still playing now. I say he will be the one to dethrone Jon Moxley. If anything from this segment, we saw the debut of the best-looking world title today.

YOUNG BUCKS DEF. LUCHA BROS (PENTAGON & FENIX) TO RETAIN THE AAA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLES

My whole body hurt watching this match. They busted their butts to prove that tag team wrestling is still a thing in professional wrestling. When the Young Bucks held the initial press conference for AEW, they were determined to prove that tag team wrestling could main event a major show. Tag team wrestling has main evented many Dynamite shows since October, but hasn’t closed a pay-per-view yet.

CHRIS JERICHO DEF. KENNY OMEGA

This match ended the way it needed to considering the post-match angle. Their first battle at the Tokyo Dome was a better match than this, but this didn’t disappoint. For anyone who believes that Omega has lost a step since leaving Japan, watch this and some of his recent tag matches with Matt Hardy and Hangman Page. The only reason this one didn’t work as well compared to their 2018 Wrestle Kingdom match is because of the No DQ stipulation in their initial encounter.

JON MOXLEY DEBUTS

I’ve watched this moment on YouTube many times over the last year. It displayed the shift in power in North American wrestling promotions. Fresh off leaving WWE, the former Dean Ambrose showed up in Las Vegas to double arm DDT Jericho, the referee and then tried such on Omega until he was shoved to the floor. This angle set the direction of the company over the next year: Jericho winning the title in August, the much talked about Moxley and Omega Lights Out match in November and then the eventual showdown between Moxley and Jericho at AEW Revolution in February. Now Moxley is the “big dog,” Jericho is leader of the Inner Circle and Omega is one half of the Tag Team Champions. These three men embody what AEW represents: creativity, freedom and giving your all.