AEW Double or Nothing preview: Casino Battle Royale

FanSided previews AEW’s pre-show Casino Battle Royale with a breakdown of the new rules and all the entrants we know so far.

The pre-show for All Elite Wrestling‘s first pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, thematically dubbed “Buy In” will feature two matches: Kip Sabian vs. Sammy Guevara and the Casino Battle Royale. The match was first announced as a direct sequel to All In’s Over the Budget Battle Royal but has since evolved into a new style of match with a prestigious prize on the line. Let’s break down how this match works and who’s in it.

What is the Casino Battle Royal and how does it work?

Referee Bryce Remsburg succinctly explained this match’s rules on the May 6 episode of Being The Elite. He laid out that it will include 21 competitors who can be eliminated from the match by exiting the ring over the top rope.

What sets this apart from other battles royal (described by Remsburg as giving “those antiquated battle royal rules a new, fresh coat of paint”) is that the match will start with five wrestlers in the ring. A new wave of five wrestlers will enter the ring every three minutes until 20 are in the game, then “lucky 21” will enter last.

A new promotion changing familiar battle royal rules is reminiscent of TNA, but these are way less confusing than the infamous Reverse Battle Royal. However, like the Fight for the Right tournament (and the Over the Budget Battle Royal), the Casino Battle Royale is for No. 1 contendership to a promotion’s top title — here, the AEW World Championship. We don’t know who the first AEW World Champion will be (or even if that’s exactly what their title will be called) but we know that wrestler will have to fight the winner of this match at some point!

Who is wrestling in the Casino Battle Royale?

Not every entrant in the Casino Battle Royale has been announced yet — there could end up being several surprise competitors, in classic battle royal fashion, plus the previously-announced Kip Sabian and the Best Friends ended up in other DoN matches. The wrestlers we know will be in the match are a strong variety of rookie and veteran talent, with many having made names for themselves on the independent scene. Let’s break down who all these men are!

Sonny Kiss was announced as a member of the AEW roster at the Double or Nothing ticket release party in February. He’s so far best known for playing XO Lishus on Lucha Underground, one of the highlights of the show’s fourth season. Kiss is talented, charismatic and one of a relatively small number of openly gay pro wrestlers.

Joey Janela is one of the biggest formerly independent names signed with AEW. Janela is known for his work in GCW, CZW and many other companies. He has built his reputation on his chaotic persona, willingness to do seemingly anything to his body and as the mastermind behind the Joey Janela’s Spring Break shows. Previously in the BTE universe, he performed at All In in a street fight with Adam Page, the one that infamously ended with penis druids.

Dustin Thomas stands out from most other wrestlers in an obvious way: he has no legs from the knees down. Thomas’s profile rose earlier this spring when he was a surprise opponent for Tony Deppen at Spring Break 3, where he was not introduced by name and received a supportive chant of “No legs!” Thomas’s 619 is better than most and overall he’s a welcome addition to any match.

Jungle Boy has blown up on the indie scene recently and was an early AEW signee. The son of the late actor Luke Perry, Jungle Boy works a lucha-influenced style and has been featured on GCW and Janela-produced shows, and he recently debuted for PWG.

Luchasaurus was the most recent addition to the Casino Battle Royale at the time this article was written. Formerly Judas Devlin of WWE developmental territory FCW (then NXT, when it became NXT) from 2012-2014, Luchasaurus has since become a crowd-pleasing indie staple as a human-dinosaur hybrid. He’s wrestled for ROH, House of Hardcore, Bar Wrestling and more under his current gimmick, and played Vibora, basically the same character, on Lucha Underground from 2016-2018.

Michael Nakazawa was a staple of Japanese independent promotion DDT, where he often worked with Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega about 10 years ago. Nakazawa and Ibushi, especially, had many memorable/insane moments together (several of which kick off the video above), often in unusual environments for wrestling and involving Nakazawa’s thong.

British goth wrestler Jimmy Havoc is best known for his time as one of the top figures in Progress and his penchant for deathmatches. If he doesn’t play a major role in this match, he’s sure to in AEW in the future.

Billy Gunn, who is signed to AEW as a backstage producer but not a wrestler, is one of the most widely known performers in this match. Gunn was an Attitude Era WWF favorite, a member of D-Generation X, an “Ass Man,” half of the New Age Outlaws and more. He’s unlikely to win, but sure to get a nostalgia pop at Double or Nothing.

Glacier is a veteran wrestler best known for his time on the opposite side of the Monday Night Wars from Gunn, in WCW. There, he was an ice-themed karate master with a memorable look and an infamously weird debut.

Tag team Private Party was announced for this match on the same graphic, but Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy almost definitely count as two separate entrants. They’re some of the lesser-known AEW signees, but have the personality and tag team skills to quickly become fan favorites

Brandon Cutler is a longtime friend of the Young Bucks who wrestled for California promotions including PWG and EWF from 2005-2011. He returned to wrestling last year and was emotionally announced as a full-time AEW employee, both a wrestler and producer, earlier this week.

MJF is a young wrestler on the rise. He has strong promo skills and a very defined character, an arrogant trust-fund kid, that he’s played across the indies and as the leader of heel faction The Dynasty in MLW. So far in the AEW universe, he lost to Matt Cross at All In and has been trying to become Cody‘s best friend on BTE.

Sunny Daze has wrestled on the independent scene, mostly in the South, for over a decade, and this will be the most-watched platform on which he’s ever performed.

Brian Pillman Jr. got eyes on him early in his career through his family name but has achieved popularity in his own right. He is a member of the current iteration of the Hart Foundation alongside Teddy Hart and Dave Boy Smith Jr. and works on the independent scene.

It doesn’t seem like a man Ace Romero‘s size should be able to do some of the things he does with his body but it’s very entertaining to watch him do them. Romero has been steadily becoming more well known over the past few years and Double or Nothing could include a breakout moment for him.

The most recently announced entrant in the Casino Battle Royale is Shawn Spears, the artist formerly known as Tye Dillinger in NXT and WWE. Spears has had two stints with WWE, the first from 2006-2009 and the second, from 2013 until February 2019, when he asked for and was granted his release from his contract. He’s also spent time in various independent promotions. He’ll be one of the better-known talents in the battle royal.

We don’t know everyone who will be in the Casino Battle Royale, but from who’s been announced so far, it’s safe to say it should be a good time. And it should be interesting to see AEW take a gamble (ooh, thematic) with a new version of a classic gimmick match.