AEW Double or Nothing: Recap, takeaways, fallout and what’s next

The first show of All Elite Wrestling is in the books as Double or Nothing took place on Saturday night at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. How did AEW do in their first ever outing as a company? We break it all down here.

The world of professional wrestling changed on Saturday night when All Elite Wrestling put on their first show, Double or Nothing, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The upstart promotion came out swinging with a fantastic show from top to bottom that had something for every type of wrestling fan.

Here, we’ll recap the show here as it happened and give some thoughts and some insights on where we think things go from here. So, without further ado, let’s talk about Double or Nothing.

“Hangman” Adam Page wins the Casino Battle Royale

There were two matches on the Buy-In pre-show, and they opened with the most important one, the Casino Battle Royale. Its winner will eventually face the victor of the Kenny Omega-Chris Jericho main event bout for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship.

Let’s run down the order of entrants and how the finish came to be for this very entertaining battle royal. The match showcased a bunch of new talents that a lot of fans were probably seeing for the very first time, plus some well-known veterans from eras past.

The first group of five: Brandon Cutler, Sunny Daze, Michael Nakazawa, MJF and Dustin Thomas

The second group of five: Jimmy Havoc, Joey Janela, Shawn Spears, Brian Pillman Jr and Isiah Kassidy

The third group of five: Glacier, Ace Romero, Billy Gunn, Mark Quen and Jungle Boy

The fourth group of five: Tommy Dreamer, Sonny Kiss, Luchasaurus, Marko Stunt and Orange Cassidy

The Joker card went to “Hangman” Adam Page, who went on to win the Casino Battle Royale by eliminating MJF in the end to stake his claim at a chance to become the first AEW World Champion.

This was a very fun battle royal — if you didn’t see it you can find it on YouTube, and we highly recommend you go check it out. We aren’t 100 percent certain on how many competitors in this match are actually under an AEW contract, but if all of them are that’s quite an array of talent for the promotion to work with going forward.

Kip Sabian defeated Sammy Guevara

The other match on the Buy-In saw Kip Sabian go one-on-one with Sammy Guevara. This was a fun and entertaining match and was a solid showcase to show off both talents to a much larger audience for the first time.

The finish saw Sabian hit Guevara with the Deathly Hallows to emerge from the matchup victorious. The outcome of the match was kind of a surprise due to how much time Guevara has gotten on Being the Elite as of late, but some people speculated that due to AEW’s relationship with ITV that Sabian was the hand-picked guy to go over as he was originally announced to be competing in the Casino Battle Royale.

After the match, the main crew of Being the Elite, Cody, Omega, and Matt and Nick Jackson, did some silly skits backstage to get the show started on a funny note. This included Matt going face-to-face with Nakazawa. Unfortunately, he didn’t eat a superkick. Maybe next time?

SCU defeated The Strong Hearts (OWE)

AEW Double or Nothing opened up their main show with a very good six-man tag, as SoCal Uncensored (SCU) took on the Strong Hearts from Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE). While a majority of the audience has seen Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky at some point this might have been a lot of fans first time seeing CIMA, T-Hawk and El Lindaman, and we think they left a good impression.

If you look at OWE’s highlight packages, some fans might have been expecting more of that style of wrestling from the trio. Instead we were treated to a pretty standard but entertaining six-man tag. The crowd was hot throughout and seemed to love every minute of it.

The finish saw Daniels and Kazarian hit the Best Meltzer Ever to pick up the victory on El Lindaman. Some might have found the result surprising, but if the OWE talent is going to be used on a limited basis it was the right call for SCU to go over.

The tag team division in All Elite Wrestling is incredibly deep already and they’ve only had one show. One would expect SCU to be right at the top of the contender’s list for the AEW Tag Team titles when they are eventually introduced later on this year.

Britt Baker defeated Kylie Rae, Nyla Rose and Awesome Kong in a Fatal Four Way match

The women took center stage after the opener, and we were treated to the first surprise (of many) on the night. After the original three participants for the match were in the ring, Brandi Rhodes’ music hit and she emerged from the tunnel in her wrestling gear. Everyone assumed that she was about to insert herself into the match but AEW decided to go another way.

Brandi told the women that she knows the match is going to be great, but she doesn’t want a great match — she wants it to be awesome. With that, she introduced the fourth woman for the match, Awesome Kong. This was quite the surprise that no one saw coming and the crowd just ate it up. Meanwhile, Allie joined the commentator’s table for the match while these four women had a really good match. It was a great introduction to these four competitors for fans who were unfamiliar with their work.

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The finish of the match saw Rose spear Kong into the steel steps at ringside, essentially taking both of them out of the match. That led to Britt Baker hitting a superkick shoulder breaker combination on Kylie Rae to get the win.

While the women’s division in AEW isn’t as deep as its tag team division yet, it’s got a great foundation already and a solid group of women who will put their division on the map for years to come. Much like the tag team titles, we aren’t sure when the Women’s Championship will be introduced, but Baker should certainly be a top contender for the belt when the time comes.

The Best Friends defeated Angelico and Jack Evans

The Best Friends, Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor, were initially scheduled for the Casino Battle Royale a few weeks back but eventually were able to convince the Young Bucks to put them in tag team action on the main card of the show. And after the match they put on we are absolutely certain it was the right decision.

Beretta and Taylor faced off against the newly-signed Angelico and Jack Evans, another team that many fans might not have been familiar with but after this match we would be surprised if the fans didn’t fall in love with this incredibly talented team and are looking forward to what’s coming next for them in the weeks and months ahead.

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The finish saw Beretta hit Strong Zero on Evans to get the three count and pick up the victory. After the match, it was nice to see both teams show mutual respect for one another and hug it out but unfortunately for them, their feel-good moment was short lived as the lights went out.

When the lights came back on, the Super Smash Bros were in the ring. Unfortunately, this did not get the crowd reaction AEW was probably hoping for because a lot of people had no idea who they were. But they definitely got a good showcase for themselves. They had their masked minions take out the Best Friends as they took out Angelico and Evans themselves.

It would have helped if the commentators would have put over who the new team was but Jim Ross and Alex Marvez pretended like they didn’t know who they were and while Excalibur confirmed that he knew who they were they didn’t mention them by name either, which did the debuting team no favors. The fact that this very smart wrestling crowd chanted “Who are you?” at the Super Smash Bros immediately shows that their debut could’ve gone better.

Afterward, AEW aired a promo to announce their next big event, All Out, which will be returning to the scene of All In, the Sears Center in Chicago on August 31. Tickets go on sale in June, so if you’re looking to go make sure you get your tickets quickly because they won’t last long.

Hikaru Shida, Riho and Ryo Mizunami defeated Emi Sakura, Yuka Sakazaki and Aja Kong

There were, unfortunately, a lot of people questioning why this match was on the show for the last couple of weeks, but the critics were silenced by the time it came to an end. Timekeeper botch aside, everyone should be very well aware by now why this six-woman tag absolutely belonged on the show.

This was a fantastic showcase of Joshi tag team wrestling, which is something fans don’t see a lot of Stateside. Hopefully, AEW is going to change that going forward. We have to believe that since all six of these women were given a great match to showcase their talents. Perhaps will all be involved in the title picture when the AEW Women’s Championship is eventually introduced later on in the year.

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The ending of the match, as we mentioned earlier, was botched. The most surprising thing about that was it wasn’t on the wrestlers in the ring or the referee, but the timekeeper who rang the bell on a very close two-count. Shida kicked out in time and the referee made sure with her actions to tell the people watching at home and the live crowd that it was, in fact, two and the timekeeper got it wrong.

The finish came shortly thereafter, as Shida hit the flying knee on Sakura (her mentor) to get the pinfall win for her team. Shida was a highly-touted signing by AEW over the last several weeks so it was no surprise that she was the one to pick up the victory. We certainly are looking forward to what Shida and the rest of these women do for All Elite Wrestling throughout the rest of the calendar year.

“The American Nightmare” Cody defeated “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes

As amazing as this match was, we question what people will be talking about more going forward: the match itself or Cody’s receipt to Triple H during his entrance. For those who haven’t seen it yet, there was a throne placed on the stage very similar to the one we would see Triple H sitting in for one of his elaborate entrances. Cody and Brandi went to the ring and she pulled a sledgehammer out from under the ring and handed it to Cody, who proceeded to go back up the ramp and strike the throne, shattering it with some neat-looking smoke effects.

Clearly, Triple H’s pot shots at AEW during the WWE Hall of Fame earlier this year rubbed Cody the wrong way and he fired back at them tonight. Some people loved it, some people hated it, but at the end of the day, everyone is talking about it. And in the world of professional wrestling in 2019, that’s exactly what you want.

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The match itself was spectacular. Dustin had, without question, one of the best matches of his career. The sight of blood, and we mean a lot of blood, added to the story the brothers told as they tore each other apart in order to come out victorious.

Cody eventually was able to defeat his brother with CrossRhodes to pick up a hard-earned victory. It really was a great match and both brothers should be proud of what they accomplished in the ring Saturday night.

After the match, Cody got back into the ring and told Dustin that he wasn’t letting him retire tonight. He talked about how he is facing the Young Bucks at Fight for the Fallen. He says he doesn’t need a tag team partner, he needs his older brother. The two embraced, in an incredibly emotional moment. It was real, folks. We don’t think we can pay it a higher compliment than that. It was that good.

The reveal of the AEW World Heavyweight Championship

AEW made a very smart move after the emotional roller coaster that was Cody versus Dustin. Instead of putting a match immediately after it and setting it up to fail due to a poor crowd reaction, they sent out Jake Whitehall and WWE Hall of Famer Bret “The Hitman” Hart to officially reveal the AEW World Heavyweight Championship.

Fans all over the world were surprised to see Hart at the show and since he was just recently inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame for a second time, and we can imagine that company wasn’t overly thrilled about his appearance.

Hart asks “Hangman” Adam Page to come out, as he was the winner of the Casino Battle Royale and will be the facing the winner of Kenny Omega versus Chris Jericho later on in the night.

Before Page can say anything, he’s interrupted by MJF who runs down the crowd, Page, Hart and pretty much anyone else he could think of in his typical way. MJF demanded that Page hand over his shot at the title to him, which Page clearly wasn’t interested in doing.

Eventually, Jungle Boy and Jimmy Havoc came out and the three of them surrounded MJF and put a beat down on him while Hart held the championship high in the air for all the see. It’s a nice-looking, heavy and large championship and it’s clear that the company put some thought in the look of this belt. It also gives us faith that the other championships to be introduced later on down the line look just as good (cough, cough, WWE).

It’s being reported that Hart took an unfortunate fall off the entrance stage on his way back to the backstage area, but apparently he is doing fine after the slip.

The Young Bucks defeated the Lucha Bros to retain the AAA World Tag Team Championship

Let’s face it, going into this match we knew it would deliver, given what we know about both teams involved. But — holy cow — these four men put on a tag team clinic at the MGM Grand. There is no way anyone watching could have walked away from this match not being a bigger fan of these two teams and have abundant faith that tag team wrestling is, in fact, alive and well in 2019.

This match was fast out of the gate and it didn’t slow down at all throughout the duration of the  nearly 25-minute contest. Both teams put their bodies on the line and left everything in the ring for our entertainment, and it’s matches like that which make you proud to be a fan of professional wrestling.

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The finish came when the Young Bucks hit Fenix with the Meltzer Driver to pick up the victory and retain their titles. We don’t expect the Bucks to hold these titles for much longer as they have another scheduled rematch with the Lucha Bros in Mexico in just a few weeks’ time where they will most likely drop the titles back to them. But for this event, it made sense for them to get the win.

We at FanSided would like to propose a triple-threat tag team elimination match between the Young Bucks, SCU and the Best Friends to crown the first ever AEW World Tag Team Champions. Because at the end of the day, that’s what would be best for business.

Chris Jericho defeated Kenny Omega in the main event

In the main event of the evening, we had Chris Jericho versus Kenny Omega 2, featuring Jericho wrestling his first match in the United States not inside a WWE ring in almost 20 years. The two men went to war and put on a hell of a match, and to find out that Omega wrestled a majority of that match with a broken nose makes it all the more impressive.

One funny thing to note: at the beginning of the match they had the Cracker Barrel gimmick in the corner of the ring during the in-ring introductions. Clearly, it was marketing (Cracker Barrel is an AEW sponsor) but once the match was ready to begin the referees couldn’t get it out of the ring. Jericho, who was obviously very impatient, helped them force the barrel out between the middle ropes. It was pretty entertaining. We know it wasn’t supposed to happen, but it didn’t take anything away from the match and Cracker Barrel probably got more promotion in the process.

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The main event went almost 30 minutes, with the finish coming when Jericho hit Omega with his new finisher, the Judas Effect, which is essentially a spinning back elbow shot to the face a la John “Bones” Jones. With Omega’s broken nose, it probably wasn’t a pleasant finisher to take either, so props to Omega for going with it.

Jericho got on the microphone after the match and ran down the crowd, demanding his thank you from Omega and from AEW, but before he could Jon Moxley, the wrestler formally known as Dean Ambrose, came from the crowd. Moxley came into the ring and stared down Jericho while the audience went absolutely insane. He hit Jericho and the referee with Dirty Deeds and was going to hit Omega with it too, but Omega managed to counter it and the two tumbled outside of the ring.

The two brawled throughout the crowd and made it to the top of the ramp. The two battled on top of the Double or Nothing poker chips on the stage. Moxley finally hit Dirty Deeds on Omega and tossed him off the stage to end the show.

So we now know that it will be Page versus Jericho for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship at a date to be determined. If we had to guess, this match will likely take place at All Out in Chicago and if we were betting men, Page seems destined to be the first AEW World Champion.

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Certainly, Omega and Moxley will be feuding going forward. AEW confirmed after the show went off the air that he has signed a full-time, multi-year contract with the company.

As we look back on the show as a whole, it was a grand slam for All Elite Wrestling. From top to bottom, the show gave us a fantastic night of professional wrestling. As the company marches towards its live, primetime debut on TNT this fall it’s going to be fun to speculate where AEW goes next.

Make sure to stay tuned to FanSided for all things AEW going forward. Isn’t it nice to see competition in professional wrestling again? What did you think of Double or Nothing? What was your favorite match? Sound off in the comments section below!