Your AEW Double Or Nothing preview

Sam Fels: This won’t be the only match to land on the preshow, but it’s the only one listed so far officially. This is a showcase for Hook and Danhausen, and a chance to show that Danhausen is in fact a pretty good worker (I seen it!). Given the love for this team, it will probably go on right before the main show to have the crowd well oiled.

Eric Blum: This is a perfect preshow match. Danhausen and HOOK is a weird and wonderful combination of pro wrestling and should make both guys look good for what they individually do. I’d be shocked if this match doesn’t end with Redrum locked in by HOOK on Sterling for the easy submission victory. Hopefully, we get plenty of Danhausen shenanigans, mixed with him actually wrestling.

Fels: Wouldn’t be a shock if this ends up on the preshow, too, but either way this should be an absolute blinder. This feud has gotten stuck in neutral just a little too often thanks to various injuries, and both factions probably can move on to better things. This feels like where Julia Hart fully turns and joins the House somehow, and it’s beyond time for Malakai Black to get involved in one of the title pictures, as well as the Lucha Bros. back into the tag picture.

House of Black takes this, probably with various shenanigans, in 8-12 minutes of pure ridiculousness.

Blum: I have a feeling most are overlooking this match despite there being so much talent in it. Black, Penta, Fenix, PAC, Matthews, and King can all go and be tremendous singles wrestlers. In the format of a six-man tag, each could easily get their shit in and be done with it. As Sam mentioned, the possible reasoning for this match not having bigger hype is how the feud has been slowed due to injuries. Yet, having a big blowoff match to set one of the competitors up for something huge quickly makes sense. And I think Black is that man, and he pins Fenix for the win.

Fels: Now here’s a build. Feels like AEW has been plotting this since they first introduced Wardlow. But it’s far too simple to just have Wardlow run through MJF here, especially as MJF lost his last PPV match. There will be some catharsis of seeing Wardlow powerbomb Maxwell, but that won’t be the end. There’s been a theory floating around various corners of MJF devilishly coming out the winner here, and then Wardlow getting a ROH contract instead of an AEW one, and boy does that sound too plausible to ignore. After this there isn’t much left for MJF other than going after one of the singles titles, and it’s hard to see how he does that after a loss. But this is MJF, who can work miracles out of anything. The bigger pop will be MJF winning though, which should have the Vegas crowd frothing.

Blum: There is no way this match is the end of the feud. A slow burn with seeds back to 2019 AEW with MJF turning on Cody, matched with the 10 lashes and all the bells and whistles just for Wardlow to finally get his hands on MJF. It’s more a matter in my mind of how they continue this story. A win for MJF with shady tactics, as weird as it sounds, would come off bland despite being a move that would work. Wardlow winning clean gives no reason for a rematch. There’s also Shawn Spears looming in the background of this feud, similar to how Wardlow was involved with Cody/MJF. It might sound weird, but this is one of the rare circumstances where a non-finish might work. Possibly a Wardlow roll-up win, and then MJF and Spears beat the crap out of him and he comes back for even more revenge. No matter the end result, I love the direction of this story.

Fels: They haven’t really defined what exactly this will be, whether it will be live or something taped to mimic the Stadium Stampede matches of the past two years. Is it a five-on-five elimination? Straight tag? Tornado? All of them? Who the fuck knows.

It’s a pretty hilarious juxtaposition though, with Jericho’s cronies representing all that is silly and fun about the business and BCC with their extreme wrestling pathos on the other end, and that’s how this will play out, with BCC and their three friends making it clear how dumb JAS are while making it very entertaining with a wink. BCC takes it and starts Daniel Garcia down the path of deserting JAS for their clan.

Blum: This match to me is all about the non-household names keeping up with the headliners. Danielson, Jericho, Moxley, and Kingston to a certain extent don’t need the spotlight to start any major momentum in the company. The former 3.0 from CHIKARA and Daniel Garcia need that breakout moment. While Garcia is the PWG champion, he hasn’t had that signature AEW moment yet. It could be here, using BCC’s tactics to beat them at their own game. Can you imagine the reaction if he taps out Danielson? That’s the route I go so all 10 guys involved can come out of this clusterfuck stronger.

Fels: Now here is something that just feels thrown together. Obviously, it makes sense to put these two teams together, given one is the original and the other is the v2.0. And it won’t be bad in any way, even if both Matt and Jeff Hardy don’t exactly move well, or move at all, anymore. But there’s been very little build, other than it just makes sense to have them have a match. For some reason I keep feeling like there has to be a disastrous night for “Undisputed Elite” with everyone taking losses before Kenny Omega returns to sort some shit out. So why not stick with it? Tonight’s the night! Er, Sunday’s the night. The Hardyz win, cracks appear with the Bucks and Adam Cole, and at the end of the show the video screens show Kenny with his backpack crossing a Tokyo street.

Blum: It’s been five years since these teams last faced, tearing down the house at ROH Supercard of Honor in 2017, the night before Matt and Jeff returned to WWE at WrestleMania 33. Even if this match doesn’t have the substance of its predecessor, it’s going to be great. The Young Bucks can still work with anyone and their knowledge of the Hardyz’ tendencies might actually eclipse Matt and Jeff at times. Having the elder Hardyz play some of their greatest hits and setting up another match between the teams soon (I’m looking at AEW’s California debut for Rampage in a week) is ideal. The Bucks needing some underhanded tactics to win could be cool, and I see them winning, regardless of how.

Fels: Don’t know who Britt’s opponent will be at the time of writing yet, and it already was an odd call to have Britt in the final at all. Toni Storm has felt like a big deal since walking through the door and having her at least in the final would have cemented that, and certainly Britt’s gotten every benefit during her title run. But it could just be as simple as keeping a heel v. face dynamic in the final.

Gut says that Ruby beats Kris and then Britt, giving them a bigger history after Ruby’s failed run at Britt’s title to call upon for future feuds, a make-good on Ruby’s somewhat stuttered start to her AEW career, and perhaps position her as the first credible threat to Jade Cargill. Britt certainly doesn’t need this, and Ruby, or Kris, do. Kris would actually be the more credible threat to Cargill, but it doesn’t feel like they’re deep enough into her new character to give her the big stage again just yet.

Blum: I like the call of having Britt in the final. She’s the biggest star in the tournament and whoever she faces, Sunday will be better for it, even if these are two matches we’ve already seen. Soho needs something to give her levity in AEW again while Statlander has always been a wildcard in the women’s division. The question is when Statlander becomes a known commodity. Once AEW fully taps into her potential, she’ll be a champion. It’s just a matter of whether that’s now or later. I’ll go for the latter, which sets up a great matchup of Baker vs. Soho for Sunday. Soho going over and getting back into the championship picture is the ol’ easy and smart decision.

Fels: Again, I have to ride this train until it actually arrives at its destination. Cole just got out of a title feud, and giving him this win feels like too much spoon-feeding. Undisputed Elite can’t be doing well when Omega returns to basically split it, unless he’s going to take them all on by himself (or with Kota Ibushi, but let’s not overstimulate ourselves right now). A Joe win certainly props up the soon-to-be-on-its-own ROH brand, and maybe with Joe winning this is where they announce what and where ROH exactly will be. And Cole works better when losing all his big matches and letting his insecurity fester in all kinds of ways.

Blum: Within the addition of ROH to AEW’s enterprise, and the two most important wrestlers in ROH history already in prominent positions in the company, could this matchup be as simple as setting up the first one-on-one Samoa Joe vs. CM Punk matchup in nearly two decades? The long-term hardcore fans would spare no expense to see that match as the revival of one of the greatest trio of matches in wrestling history. With three months until AEW’s next PPV, being able to set up how Joe vs. Punk II essentially changed American professional wrestling forever as a build up to a main event in 2022 would be incredibly fulfilling. That all ignores Adam Cole being one of the most connected stars in the company and the looming return of a semi-relevant guy named Kenny Omega, which is unlikely to happen at DoN, but will loom over everything he does. I think Joe wins. You can’t have him lose quite yet. And Cole doesn’t exactly need this.

Fels: Maybe the most thrown together match on the card, as we didn’t even find out about it until this week. Jay has improved leaps and bounds in the ring since her debut, but she’s hardly ready to be taking a title of someone with the wattage of Cargill. And both are still green enough that there’s a fear of what they can pull off together, though their last match was pretty good. This feels like a Buy-in candidate, and while Jay will get in more than she did last time against Jade, and maybe even threaten a win, eventually she’ll get “Jaded” again. After this it’ll be time to give Cargill a real challenger and a 15-20 minute match.

Blum: Another AEW PPV, another Jade Cargill match that she’ll win. Keeping Cargill protected might be priority No. 1 for the entire women’s division, even over protecting Thunder Rosa. Jay giving a good showing here is important. But not at the expense of Cargill. AEW knows that. Both get their shit in and neither is affected much by the outcome. This may even be on the preshow. Not due to a lack of talent or legitimacy behind the title. It’s more so because of the predictable outcome.

Fels: Yet another match that just kind of feels like it was pulled out of a hat, but no one’s going to care after three minutes as this match is going to be bonkers. The singles triple threat that Jungle Boy, Strickland, and Starks had on Dynamite ths week was nails, and now we’re just going to add some serious BEEF to it with Lee, Hobbs, and Luchasaurus? Fuck and yes. There will be spots galore in this one, and Lee is probably going to throw Jungle Boy over the Luxor.

This leans toward Swerve and Lee taking it, as they’ve looked nothing short of galactic stars ever since they’ve shown up. Both should probably be in a singles titles picture, but there’s time enough for that, and the way Swerve actually pumps up Lee’s character is better prep for Lee’s eventual singles run. A couple months as tag champs ain’t gonna hurt nobody.

Blum: For a match that does lack a proper feud behind it, it’s strange yet satisfying how all three of these teams compare on paper. One half of each team is a smaller, borderline cruiserweight, who is incredibly gifted. Each of their partners weighs more than 270 pounds and are phenomenal athletes for their size. Lee and Strickland just make too much sense as a team. Who would look at those guys and think, “I have nothing for you?” Anyway, Jurassic Express as champions have done well, but is their reign getting a little tiresome? Lee and Strickland would be phenomenal choices to lead the division right now. I’ll pick that, but I could see any of the three teams winning.

Fels: Another light on build, but it was saved the past two weeks by killer promos from both Deeb and Rosa. This should be a technical dream, and somehow a coming out party for Deeb even though she’s been in the business longer than pretty much anyone else on the roster. She is a wizard in the ring and will do a better impression of a Bret Hart match than either CM Punk and FTR have managed, and both of theirs have been exquisite!

Still, they’re not taking the title off Rosa yet, but Deeb will make her look even better. It should position Rosa nicely for her defense at All Out against Sasha Banks! (If you will it, it is no dream, folks)

Blum: Let’s get one thing out there, Rosa hasn’t had a long enough reign with the belt. Let’s make another thing clear, I’d love to see Deeb as champion. A shock switcheroo would be welcomed here, but it won’t happen. This is the perfect high-profile first title defense for Rosa, who will gain so much legitimacy from beating Deeb. A lot of AEW’s audience doesn’t know how good Deeb really is. She’s unfortunately best known for her WWE exploits, which severely tapers how solid she is. Deeb beating the shit out of Rosa with pure wrestling and the comeback Rosa brings out will be magical I’m sure.

Fels: As much as I love both of these guys, I can’t say I’m feeling this one 100 percent. It seems to be a set-up to see who turns heel first, and Hangman’s promo was right around the edges making this work except he didn’t really crack into the middle of it. He only hinted at a story of Punk big timing everyone while claiming to be the everyman, but he never really said that. It was something of a version of this HHH promo back in the day, just not nearly as direct and clear.

Your opinion of who takes this depends on whether or not you think Omega is returning. That’s the way I lean, with Omega staring down Hangman after the latter’s win, probably with some heelish tactics. But you can also easily see Punk doing something underhanded to get back to the top of a company that he has always felt he should be stationed at but is always sure he’s been screwed out of. Which would be a great base for a heel run out of perceived slights and unseen forces keeping him down.

I can’t really call it, but lean ever so slightly toward Hangman here with a change in his character. Nothing would surprise me, though.

Blum: This might be the hardest AEW title match to call in the company’s history. And I mean that in the best way possible. It’s like the movie Memento. Punk should win, he’s the biggest star in the company and Hangman’s title reign feels complete. Having Punk as champion would create so many fresh matchups, even if he hasn’t been in the company for as long as many others. Punk might not be the most deserving in the company right now. That may all be hearsay to advance AEW with his first world title reign in more than nine years. I’m leaning toward a world title change to start the storyline to a match with Samoa Joe. Hangman holding on wouldn’t be bad either. I just have a tough time seeing another title change with as much potential as this one. The biggest question is: What happens to either guy after a loss? Punk goes to another mid-card feud? Does Hangman go back and help in the Undisputed Elite Bullet Club incursion? It’s all on the table here.