Double or Nothing has come and gone and AEW put on a a spectacle of an event for a good four hours or so of pro wrestling action. In what definitely felt like a star making show Double or Nothing featured five title matches, and tons of great wrestling. Though it did suffer from some small duds the show overall was an incredible presentation. 

AEW Double or Nothing is a 2021 pro wrestling event, it is produced by All Elite Wrestling and aired on May 30, 2021. It is available on demand as a replay on Fite.TV and other services.

Editor’s Note: Medium to complete spoilers for AEW Double or Nothing 2021 may be present within this review.

Following it’s debut on Friday nights AEW once again returned with a packed house. This time for it’s annual Double or Nothing event. The show was nearly a complete sell out with The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reporting that only 352 tickets were left available for purchase just hours before the show began. The show opened with AEW’s free portion known as the buy-in which featured NWA Women’s Champion Serena Deeb defending against former AEW Women’s World Champion Riho. While I’m in agreement with those that this should have been on the main card, I think this was the perfect way to wake up the live crowd and get the energy flowing from the jump. Deeb has been killing it with strong performances since debuting in NWA & AEW and this one was no different. Riho is another well-received worker so this match was expected to deliver and it did. The finish saw Deeb who was working Riho’s leg all match slam her knee down on the mat several times following with a Serenity Lock for the win.

Winner: Serena Deeb retains **** stars

Next it’s the main show and Taz is out on commentary to rep his (soon to be former?) man Brian Cage as he takes on former Number 1 Contender Adam Page in a rematch from Dynamite a few weeks back. Cage promised Page a man to man contest after screwing him out of title contention much to Taz’s chagrin. The match was very good but Cage was doing a lot of really odd moves for the sake of it and it looked hilarious in motion. The finish saw Ricky Starks coming in with the FTW Championship calling for Cage to use it. Cage refuses keeping his word to Page only for Page to turn the tables with the distraction and hitting the Buckshot Lariat for the win. This would be lame otherwise, but the storyline made up for it. Cage is also clearly turning babyface very soon.

Winner: Adam Page **** stars

The second title match of the night is up as those dastardly heels The Young Bucks take on Jon Moxley and long-time companion Eddie Kingston for the AEW World Tag Team Championship. The feud all began because Kingston got involved with Kenny Omega and Moxley’s beef during the finish of Revolution leading to the Bucks joining Omega & The Good Bros. and reforming The Elite as a heel group. Since then, Moxley and Kingston have reformed their friendship entering the tag division. I really like Kingston & Moxley together, but as a wrestling duo they don’t always click for me. Their match with the Bucks however, is probably the best match we’ll see the two together in during their tag team run (prove me wrong AEW). The match opened with a trademark AEW brawl before the match began. There was a hilarious bit where Moxley shoved the streamers from the Buck’s entrance into Matt’s (God I hope I got the right Buck) mouth. There were tons of Superkicks and even an even an Indie Taker on the ramp. At one point Moxley got color on his face and looked like a badass throughout the rest of the match. After a couple of Paradigm Shifts and some very realistic near falls the finish saw the Bucks hitting the BTE Trigger for the win.

Winner: The Young Bucks retain ***** stars

The next bout is the annual Casino Battle Royal featuring 21 men vying for a future AEW World Championship title match. This match also featured two of my favorite moments of the show which I’ll get to in a bit. So for a battle royal there isn’t much to go about talking on the wrestling of the match. However, I will say that when Max Caster made his entrance he continued with his no fucks given epic rap entrances. He even had no issue giving Christian an Edge dig. The Acclaimed was one of my favorite teams on Dark just based on their ring work alone, but since being featured on TV more that fandom has only grew. Speaking of Caster, there was a nasty spot during his elimination where it looked like he injured his leg hopefully he’s ok. This was an extremely fast paced match and the eliminations came quick. Following Double or Nothing doesn’t look like the Rhodes Family is done with The Factory just yet as they teased Dustin feuding with Nick Comoroto moving forward. Now on to favorite moment number one, Lio Rush made his debut. Yes that Lio Rush and I have no idea what it means for AEW as a business moving forward. And what I mean by that is, is this the beginning of a talent program with Major League Wrestling? If so awesome, last I checked Rush was still signed to MLW and he’s been working NJPW’s US-based show Strong. So is Rush gone from MLW or is this the start of a partnership? So many question unanswered with this one. The second favorite moment was of course the winner of the match. Everyone and their ancient ancestor expected Christian Cage to win. However, AEW went for the swerve and gave the win to a fresh face in Jungle Boy. And yes I’m aware he’s been on AEW TV for well over two years now but he’s really come into his own as someone they see a future in the last year. There was a moment post-match where it looked like Christian was dangerously close to turning heel with the story being he’s pissed he lost. However, Christian continued the moment by pumping up Jungle Boy and telling him to win the gold which was a neat moment.

Winner: Jungle Boy ** 2/4 stars

Quick Update: Turns out Lio Rush is signed to NJPW who allows him to freelance elsewhere and they have a deal with AEW so this all lines up.

Reaching the middle point of the show it’s time for The “American Dream” (yes that’s the name he used for this match) Cody Rhodes to face off against The Guv’nor Anthony Ogogo. So this match should have been way better than it was given the hype. However the point was to show off Anthony Ogogo’s wrestling training from the last two years. Which I think they ultimately succeeded in doing. After a gut punch Ogogo opened the match with an Olympic Slam and showed off some really strong wrestling talent. I’m glad they didn’t go too far with Ogogo’s “former boxer” gimmick (yes I know Ogogo is a shoot boxer). They definitely teased it in the beginning of Ogogo’s run, which I was always worried about, but I’m glad I was wrong and the wrestling came above all else. Cody picked up the win with the Cross Rhodes.

Winner: Cody Rhodes ** 2/4 stars

It was time for the big HOSS fight in TNT Champion Miro defending against “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer. This was a really short but sweet match between two very solid big man workers. Strong showcase of power style wrestling from both men. At one point Archer slammed Miro through a table. Jake “the Snake” Roberts brought out the snake (in bag), but Miro attacked him and tossed the snake for huge heat. Finish saw Miro taking advantage of Archer being distracted from another Roberts attack with Archer being choked out with the guillotine hold.

Winner: Miro retains *** stars

Our next match was the second Women’s Championship with Britt Baker facing off against AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida whose held the belt for over a year. So this one kind of hurts as I’m a bit of a Britt fan and I was looking forward to seeing her win the belt with a great match. Unfortunately this match seemed to suffer from going on a tad too long. And it especially sucks because it was just last year that Shida and Britt had a fantastic match in which Britt had to deal with a broken, bloody nose afterwards. Here the chemistry just felt off again I don’t know if there was too much time given or what. But something just wasn’t clicking here. There was a ton of near falls, Rebel (Reba?) interferred but was caught. Shida hit the Tamashii, but Britt kicked out and caught her in the Lockjaw for the win. I really wanted Britt and Shida to have another great match to start Britt’s run and cap off her & Shida’s feud. Hopefully things only improve from this point.

Winner and NEW AEW Women’s World Champion DMD Britt Baker ** 3/4 stars

Sting’s first in-ring match since 2015 is here as he teams with young Darby Allin against the newly formed team of Scorpio Sky and Allin’s old rival Ethan Page. This match likely surprised many who watched as Sting, especially for his age of 62 went above and beyond in his performance. It starts with Sting & Darby attacking Page & Sky and he does a crossbody dive off the ramp. We even get to see Sting wrestle without a shirt on for God knows how long. Commentary even made what looked like a jab at the shirt wearing Sting joke by immediately pointing out that the “old Sting is back” after he ripped it off. Sky hit Sting with a suplex on the ramp, which I’m sure made people watching shit bricks with worry. However, Sting almost instantly got back up and no sold it which was cool. There was also a fun spot where had Page in the Scorpion Deathlock and Sky had Allin in a hold of his own. The two were face to face and began beating the hell out of each other while in their respective holds. Finish saw Sky going for what looked like a cutter only for Sting to reverse it into the Scorpion Death Drop for the win. Really fun match that saw Sting being in much better shape than initially thought.

Winners: Sting & Darby Allin *** 1/2 stars

The penultimate match arrives as the AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega defends against “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy & “The Bastard” Pac. Don Callis is out on commentary and I love his character. He has the obnoxious, talentless heel using the talent of others to boost himself gimmick down to a T. Wrestling wise this was probably the strongest match on the card, but the tag title match had a lot going on that give it a bit of an edge in overall quality. A lot of focus on Pac and Kenny going at it basically ignoring Orange in the process. When Orange got some work in it was great. Some fun near falls. There was a spot where Kenny & Orange were trading pins and Pac broke it up with the Black Arrow onto both men. Don got involved with a very convincing Orange fall. The finish had Orange giving Omega an Orange Punch with an extremely close fall only for Omega to reverse the pin into a crucifix pin for the victory. Really supreme back and forth wrestling from all three workers in this match. They had a perfect opportunity to have Cassidy regain the moment he lost with the pandemic effecting attendance and took full advantage of it establishing him as an upper midcarder & potential main eventer.

Winner: Kenny Omega retains ****

The main event arrives as The Inner Circle take on the Pinnacle in a Stadium Stampede match where if the Inner Circle loses then they must disband. The Inner Circle made a neat entrance by coming in on hanging wire from the big tron. Fun fact the John Wick stunt coordinator apparently helped AEW pull this off among a number of other sequences in this match. It starts off on the football field with most of Inner Circle & Pinnacle battling it out. MJF who had began taunting them earlier alone hid jn a limo thinking he one upped the group only to be outsmarted by Chris Jericho who was waiting for him. The two battle across the arena and there’s a bit with a staple which MJF was a champ for being on the receiving end of. There was also a funny moment with a cardboard cutout of Tony Khan’s dad Shahid being used as a weapon and Jericho “protecting” it afterward. We got a couple of NFL cameos one of which being Urban Meyer who responded to Jericho & MJF busting into his room with a “holy shit”. We see Wardlow and Jake Hager beating the hell out of each other before it becomes completely one sided on Wardlow’s end. Wardlow beats Hager with water jugs and eventually spears him through a wall. A very surprising lack of Santana and Ortiz in this we get a couple of moments of them facing FTR but nothing too special. However, there was a scene in a bar with a Konnan appearance that was awesome. Jericho & MJF eventually spill into the live arena and beat each other between the crowd. Sammy & Spears appear next in what I can only describe as a “chair war” they toss and beat the hell out of each other with chairs before heading to the ring. The crowd was in absolute love with Sammy. The finish saw a call back to the Pinnacle’s debut where Sammy got his face mashed in by a chair in the corner. He did the same spot to Spears before ending it with a 450 Splash for the win. There was so much going on in this match. Sammy winning was the right move he’s gonna be a huge star for AEW when he has his solo babyface run. I thought this match was a bit weaker compared to the first that had stronger wrestling, but this year the match was way more about the story and it told an excellent one.

 

Winner: The Inner Circle *** 1/2 stars

 OVERALL THOUGHTS: AEW’s second PPV for 2021 was one of it’s strongest shows in quite sometime. Most of the matches were good, but there were some duds of which were disappointing to be unimpressive matches. This was a show meant to invest in the promotion’s future and I think they succeeded for the most part. Otaku Dome gives Double or Nothing 2021 an 88 out of 100.