Being the Elite recap for May 27, 2019: Backstage at Double or Nothing

A weekly recap of the hit YouTube series Being the Elite, featuring the stars of AEW including the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Cody and others.

Being the Elite opens up this week with Jon Moxley — the man formally known as Dean Ambrose — being walked through the venue hall by security and cameramen as Chris Jericho cuts his promo in the ring. This is very similar to what we saw with the WWE producing The Shield’s final entrance about a month ago, and to be frank we don’t think it was a coincidence.

After the 8-bit opening, we go to Matt Jackson and his wife driving into Vegas. He jokes about how he’s happy now that he works for a big company he doesn’t have to worry about packing up the car full of merch anymore, as he pans the camera to the back of the car and it’s absolutely loaded. His wife gives him a gleeful sorry. It was cute, and a reminder that even though AEW is a big company these people really haven’t changed what brought them to the dance to begin with.

They cut to Nick, who appears to be in an Uber, talking about how he’s heading to Starrcast for an autograph signing. It seems like Nick might have flown into Vegas while Matt and his wife drove in instead.

The show moves right to Nick and Brandon Cutler arriving at Starrcast II, and the first person Nick finds is his good buddy Masa from his time with New Japan. Masa has been featured on several episodes of Being the Elite during its run. He’s a good dude who clearly loves the members of The Elite. Nick greets Masa with a hug and they exchange pleasantries as Cody shows up and greets them all as well.

Later on in the evening, the Bucks and Cody are about to go out for their Starrcast event to talk about AEW and decide when their music hits they are going to send Masa out instead to troll everyone first. It was a fun moment and it was good to see everyone relaxing and having such a good time before what was arguably the biggest event of their lives.

Afterwards, we get a music montage of The Elite meeting a bunch of the fans at Starrcast II. The lines were absolutely insane and there is no doubt that this event was another huge success for Conrad Thompson and company. They end it with a spot of MJF getting thrown out of the event. It was very reminiscent to Bobby “The Brain” Heenan trying to sneak into the first Monday Night Raw.

For anyone who ever wanted a good look at how the construction in an arena begins to set up for a show, we get a quick time-elapsed video of the ring crew setting up the arena for Double or Nothing. It was a cool inside look at how hard all the people work for our entertainment, and one that we rarely get to see.

We then go to Matt arriving at the MGM Grand on Friday morning to check out the construction of the set and ring for the first time in-person. They cut to Nick greeting the head of the AEW ring crew, Shawn Carr, and giving him a big hug and thanking him for all his hard work. They comment on how great the ring looks and they were, in fact, correct. The AEW ring was a thing of beauty on Saturday night.

After a test shot of their pyro for the show, four members of The Elite sans Hangman Page walk down the aisle in the empty venue just taking the moment in — 24 hours later the world of professional wrestling was going to change forever. They showed Cody practicing his now quite infamous entrance of taking a sledgehammer to a throne that looked very similar to the ones Triple H frequently involves in his elaborate ring entrances for WWE. Shots were indeed fired in Las Vegas.

We then finally get an up-close look at the AEW World Championship. While opinions online have been decidedly mixed, we think it’s an absolutely beautiful belt and one that the first champion of the company can wear with pride going forward. But before that, Nick is walking around their hotel room wearing it and showing off.

After a bit of Elite Karaoke at Starrcast II, Matt brings his son into a wrestling ring for the first time and they play around a bit. Tt’s absolutely adorable and something that will definitely make you smile and warm your heart if you’re having a bad day and need a quick pick-me-up. This will take care of that.

We then get the same commercial for All Out that we got at Double or Nothing. For those who missed it, AEW will run in Chicago on August 31st at the Sears Center, which was the site of last year’s All In. Tickets go on sale June 14. If you want to be part of this historic event make sure you get your tickets early as it is likely to sell out quickly. We would imagine this show will be headlined with “Hangman” Adam Page going up against Chris Jericho for the AEW World Championship.

They take us to a small exchange between Masa and Mike Tyson, of all people. I guess the stars are out in Vegas for Double or Nothing. We then go to a masked man greeting both Cody and Page separately, and it turns out to be none other than Flip Gordon. They are all happy to see him and I’m sure they wish he could have been part of their event, but Gordon’s contract situation with Ring of Honor doesn’t currently allow for it. Maybe someday Gordon will be “All Elite.”

SCU does another hilarious Rocky movie spoof and we absolutely refuse to recap it because we won’t do it justice. This is something you just need to watch; it’s so good! If you don’t love Daniels, Sky and Kazarian I don’t know what to tell you. How can you not like some fun with your professional wrestling?

From here, Being the Elite is essentially a highlight package of the Double or Nothing event. By now you likely already know what happened, and if you don’t what are you waiting for? Go check it out as soon as humanly possible!

They end the show this week with Jon Moxley pacing back and forth in the locker room and coming face to face with “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela. He lights up a cigarette in Moxley’s face and starts to smoke it. Moxley takes it out of his mouth and smokes it himself before walking away leaving Janela dumbfounded. This is a dream match that hardcore wrestling fans have wanted to see for years. Now it’s more evident than ever that we will be seeing it sooner rather than later.

So that wraps up this week’s edition of Being the Elite. What did you think of The Elite’s behind-the-scenes look at Double or Nothing? What do you hope to see from them next? Sound off in the comments section below!