All Elite Wrestling

Pops & Botches: AEW Double or Nothing 05.29.2022

 

IT’S SUNDAY NIGHT. YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

Heya folks! We finally fuckin’ made it! Double or Nothing! The biggest pay-per-view of the summer! And yes, I’m counting May 29th as summer. Don’t forget to read all the way to the end for a HUGE announcement! That being said, let us all rejoice as this is (better be!) the culmination of the way-too-long MJF vs Wardlow feud and yes, I fully expect Wardlow to absolutely beat MJF’s ass and his little punk, Shawn Spears too!

Speaking of punks, can the CM one win his first title in AEW? Or will Hangman hang on and roll into the second half of the year still holding the little gold belt?! That’s only two of the TWELVE matches that made the main card. I don’t know about you but I’m FUCKING pumped! Let’s go!!!!! Say…whatever happened to Man Mountain Rock?!?

POP: Well, Fuck All!

MJF vs. Wardlow officially set for AEW Double or Nothing - WON/F4W - WWE news, Pro Wrestling News, WWE Results, AEW News, AEW results

Oh man. We’re knocking this out right away for me. God does love me and God does love AEW. I’ve been waiting for this feud to end for ages. Most every segment for me has dragged on and been an absolute botch. Last week, and the week before, started to change my tune a little bit. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I still want it to be over; however, the segments were a little more entertaining and a whole lot easier to swallow than the shit we were getting prior to that. I didn’t think I could get more stoked than I already was but when MJF’s music hit to kick off Double or Nothing, my stoke level tripled in power.

This match took a little long to get going, which after it taking so long to culminate here, that’s no surprise. MJF is such a great heel. From his physical mannerisms to the small things he does, such as the looks on his face, the way he is SO smarmy, he’s just the best. It eventually catches up to him though, as he tries to slip on the Dynamite Diamond Ring, but the referee pulls it off.

He tries to call a truce with Wardlow but Wardy immediately puts him into a slow-burn (of course) powerbomb symphony. By the time he rips off his single straps and hits us with the pecks flex, he’s at nine. One more and that’s all she wrote for MJF, who is IMMEDIATELY carted off on a stretcher.  It’s finally over and the match went exactly as it should. MJF doesn’t lose anything by getting demolished and Wardlow is in turn to become a star.

POP: D-Elite-D

Young Bucks vs. Hardys Added To AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 | Fightful News

Oh boy. Dream match alert! I say this knowing full well these two teams have met twice in Ring of Honor. Luckily for us, they split that series, so this is technically a rubber dream match. I’ve had those before… ANYWAY, the Bucks hit the ring (with Brandon Cutler of course), looking like Brian Pillman cosplayers. Not ten seconds after I typed that, Excalibur referred to the Young Bucks as Hardy cosplayers (cozplayerz?) so I don’t know.

This match was full of one-upmanship and nostalgia, as most Hardy Boyz matches are. I am a fan of the Young Bucks having watched literally any Hardyz match in history and countering the Whisper in the Wind with a calculated kick to the face. This is why you should do your homework, children. Much like every Hardy match will have Whisper in the Wind, a Side Effect, a Twist of Fate, and a Swanton, every Young Bucks match will have a Superkick party. Unfortunately for Matt and Jeff, they did not do their homework and well…they ate the superkicks.

Remember earlier (like two sentences ago), I mentioned the Hardy Moves of Doom? Well, Matt (Hardy) hits Nick (Jackson) with the Side Effect then the Twist of Fate, which sets up, you guessed it, the Swanton from Jeff, to get the win. The Hardys win the overall series 2-1 and now the Bucks of Youth can go search for redemption elsewhere. Maybe they’ll pull a Cody and show up in WWE.

POP: Main Card Title Defense!

AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 - TBS Championship Jade Cargill vs. Anna Jay Result | Fightful News

In a match I thought was destined for the Buy-In before the show, ends up on the main card. The most beautifully, terrifying woman in the world, comes out with the watermelon bubble gum hair so needless to say, Anna is FUCKED. This match didn’t have a great build but anytime I can see Jade Cargill on my screen, I’m all in. No pun intended but now that it’s out there, we’ll say it’s fully intended. I’m not going to lie, I fully intended on seeing a Jade Cargill squash match but Anna Jay looked like a million bucks tonight!

First off, she was able to fend off The Baddies and then even had the Queenslayer locked in for a bit. However, when she had control of Anna on the top rope, Stokely Hathaway made his return and well, that’s all she needed to get distracted. One Avalanche Jaded later and Cargill retained her TBS Championship! But ladies and gentlemen, we’re not done yet. As Cargill and The Baddies line Anna up for a post-match beatdown, Kris Statlander shows up to help out. Not only that, new music and a new tron pops up for the Fallen Goddess! Athena may have fallen but I think we can all agree she has landed on her feet! She evens up the odds and Cargill and The Baddies retreat to the back!

POP: Black Death

House of Black v Death Triangle | AEW Double or Nothing, LIVE! Tonight on PPV - YouTube

Now here’s a match I was super hype for. The quality of all six combatants’ work might just be the most talent on any match tonight. House of Black enters with everyone in face paint so to counter that, Death Triangle all show up in masks. Beautiful nuance. I love it. This match immediately gets off to a hot start and nobody decided to take a break. Two minutes in and this is my type of match!

Both teams give it everything they had throughout this entire match. Holy shit. When Pac goes up top to finish off Aleister Black, the lights go out. When they come back on, Julia Hart is standing in front of him dressed (naturally) in all black and spits the mist into Pac’s eyes again! One quick Black Mass later and this one is over! Holy shit, Julia Hart has joined the House of Black! Does this mean that Pac is going to miss some more time again? Man, I hope not. Maybe female mist is less lethal than male mist? I don’t know how misting works.

POP: A Hart Worth Chasing After

Adam Cole Defeats Samoa Joe To Win Men's Owen Hart Tournament At Double Or Nothing - eWrestlingNews.com

Holy shit. Adam Cole comes out for the Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Memorial Tournament dressed in white and pink and it looks GREAT! I’m so excited for this match. This whole tournament has been fantastic from beginning to end and I expect nothing less for this match. What a way to honor the legacy and memory of Owen Hart than an absolute banger of a tournament. If you are interested in learning more about The Owen Hart Foundation, visit owenhartfoundation.org today. Another nice touch to this match is Mike Chioda coming out of retirement to officiate this match. Retirement seems to be serving him well.

According to the announce crew, this is the first time Cole and Joe have went one-on-one. What a treat for us. It’s such a great contrast in styles here in the finals of The Owen. You get the Huntington Beach Badass, (not to be confused with the Huntington Beach Bad Boy) who just wants to murder people to death, against the more technical, Adam Cole (baybay). But Cole may have been born at night, but he wasn’t born last night. He knows Joe’s shoulder is severely damaged so he targets it early and often.

We’ve all seen Samoa Joe. We know what he’s about. We know what he can do. And we all know what kind of pain he’ll push his body through to win. Bad shoulder? No problem. He’ll just elbow you in the face. Speaking of elbowing people in the face, Bobby Fish showed up and was immediately elbowed off the apron. This was enough of a distraction, however, to give the upperhand to Adam Cole and he hits the Boom Knee to the back of Samoa Joe’s head to win the inaugural Owen Hart Memorial Foundation Tournament! This was a really fun match. I don’t like that Cole needed Fish to win the tournament but I’m willing to overlook it since it was such a great match before that.

POP: Hart of a Champion

AEW Double or Nothing 2022 Britt Baker vs Ruby Soho | Inside Pulse

Oh shit. Britt Baker is in pink. I hope that isn’t foreshadowing like her boo’s match against Samoa Joe. Especially since Ruby comes out in yellow and black. In a fun little moment, Britt Baker is played to the ring by Rich Ward (solid name, heh) of Fozzy fame, but in the interest of fairness, Ruby gets the full Rancid treatment! I’m a big fan of heels weaseling out to the outside and faces not letting them catch their breath. This happened pretty early in the match as Britt tries to hide but Ruby doesn’t let her.

Ruby was on fire for the entire match. She damn near won the match with a brutal Senton from the top rope. Later, once that didn’t work, she locked in a half-assed Sharpshooter, which looked better when she pulled Baker to the middle but again, Baker was able to get to the rope and keep the match going. I wouldn’t have hated someone winning with the Sharpshooter.  That would’ve been poetic justice for Owen. The match ends with Britt countering a victory roll into a roll-up of her own and the matching pink couple are your Owen Hart Memorial Foundation Tournament Winners!  Dr. Martha Hart comes out to award the tournament belts to Britt and Adam while the crowd chants Owen’s name very loud and very proud.

I thought the Owen chant touched Martha but man, the “Thank You, Martha” chant really got  her. Total goosebumps moment. I can’t even imagine being there live. I’m not going to lie, this segment was awesome. Fucking beautiful. Owen Hart will never be forgotten and I’m so glad we were able to witness this tournament and what a great homage it was to Owen. Britt holding back tears during the entire thing was the icing on the cake. From one doctor to the other. Wow.

POP: Sammy Cool Down

Mixed Trios Match Made Official For AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 | Fightful News

I think it’s understood what this match is. It was definitely the cool down match after such an amazing segment with Dr. Martha Hart. With that in mind, I am able to enjoy this match much better. It’s always fun to see a mixed tag match but I don’t know the last time I saw a mixed trios match – if ever. It was made very clear that when men are in the ring, they must be wrestling men. I’ll let you figure out what happens when women are in the ring. This is also Paige VanZant’s AEW in-ring debut so it’s already awesome! Hey Siri, insert heart eyes emoji.

Even though it was a cool down match, these six did great! It was such a fun match to watch. Sammy Guevara and Frankie Kazarian got into a little bit of a tiff because he and Tay Conti were on the floor when he needed to tag out. This resulted in Tay and VanZant going after each other. For being her first match, Paige looked pretty good! She got Conti up for the TKO effortlessly. Would’ve been nice had Sammy not pulled Conti to safety. Animosity was the name of the game for Sammy, Tay, and Frankie as a slight miscommunication led to their downfall. Yes, I understand I used italics twice in this paragraph but they were both worth it. Plus, Paige VanZant is undefeated!

POP: Double Down or Nothing Down

AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 - Darby Allin vs. Kyle O'Reilly Result | Fightful News

With Sting being out, Darby Allin gets to go at it alone tonight. Now, I’m getting a Darby Allin match and it did not disappoint. Darby got busted open real quick at the beginning of the match. He shot in at the same time Kyle O’Reilly threw a knee and well, knee to the mouth doesn’t usually result in a promising result. At least not for Darby’s mouth. It seemed O’Reilly’s knee held up just fine. Darby had another interesting botch on an attempted bottom rope suicida which left him windmilling onto the ground on the outside but he avoided major injury again.

These two dudes are warriors, man. They both threw their bodies at one another, sometimes literally. You can’t win on the outside, though. Kyle O’Reilly knows this and finishes Darby with a vicious knee drop from the top rope when three penalty kicks didn’t work. What a match this was! Darby and Kyle were able to navigate Darby’s broken face and put on one hell of a match. If I handed out stars, this one would get some. That’s for sure. I expected the Undisputed Elite to get involved one way or another but they didn’t, and I’m a fan of that.

POP: Women’s Clinic

All Elite Wrestling on Twitter: "The #AEW Women's World Championship is officially on the line at #AEWDoN (Double or Nothing)! Champion @Thunderrosa22 faces no. 1 contender @SerenaDeeb LIVE from Vegas, NV on

Earlier, I mentioned the contrast in styles between Samoa Joe and Adam Cole. That was wrestling styles. In this match, we get two very different personality styles between Thunder Rosa and Serena Deeb. Serena comes out with zero pomp and even less circumstance while Thunder Rosa came out with full pomp and circumstance. Almost to a Macho Man level, it was so high. The buildup to this match has been angry, hateful, and full of vitriol between Serena and Rosa. This match lived up to the hate hype for sure.

Thunder even tried to use Serena’s technical prowess against her but I’ll be damned if Serena is going to give up while in a pendulum swing. She is the Professor after all. Serena was in control for much of this match, which, I’ve watched wrestling forever. That’s usually not a good sign (unless you’re Wardlow apparently). Serena was able to hit Detox but it wasn’t enough to put Rosa away. Unfortunately for Deeb, she was caught on the top rope and a superplex rolled into a Fire Thunder Driver and that’s all she wrote for Deeb! I really thought Deeb was going to get the nod here. I was wrong.

POP: ANARCHY!

anarchism | Definition, Varieties, History, & Artistic Expression | Britannica

Oops.  I mean……

All Elite Wrestling on Twitter: "Anarchy in the Arena | #AEWDoN Double or Nothing, LIVE! Tonight on PPV ▶️ https://t.co/pmxXd6gmZc https://t.co/HXermCnxpf" / Twitter

HERE. WE. GO. Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston on the same team again. Bubbling tension between Daniel Bryanson and Kingston. Pride and Powerful being full of power and pride. Oh, and there’s an entire team on the other side too. And boy, do they appreciate Chris Jericho. This one started before everyone could even get into the ring. I think everyone in that arena was able to have someone wrestle on their laps. Holy shit, they were everywhere.

For some reason, “Wild Thing” played throughout the entire match (well until Jericho put an end to it by smashing the soundboard). I don’t know if that was intentional but it lent a different ambiance to the fight. So much blood was shed in this match, mainly because Jon Moxley is a prison fighter and plays by prison rules. There was so much going on in this match that it was incredibly hard to keep up. It was a literal brawl the entire time.

They fought in the concession stand, they used a jib camera, a cooler of beer was thrown at Jericho’s face, and for you old school folks that like hardcore matches in the ring, they used tables just for good measure. This match was hectic all over. You can call it anarchy. You can call it chaos. Hell, you can call it whatever you want. It was FUCKING NUTS. By the time the former Ever Rise boys were laid out on tables, everyone was bloody or broken. Some of them were both. Hell, those tables 2point0 were laid up on even ended up broken.

At some point, Moxley pulled the top rope completely off the turnbuckle, which made for a very surreal scene when he and Danielson ended up throwing hands with Hager and Jericho in the middle of the ring. They lock in their respective submissions and Kingston stumbles to the ring with a can of gasoline. My god, he looks like a fucking zombie. He pours the gas on Jericho and Danielson, which Bryan was not a fan of. The aforementioned bubbling tensions boil over and they go after each other. I have no idea how Aubrey Edwards was able to keep up with this. I had multiple camera angles and couldn’t keep track of everything. Moxley somehow ended up in barbed wire. 2point0 died from that ladder spot with Pride & Powerful. And Bryan Danielson calmly said he was going to kick Jericho’s head in.

The match ended right after that with Jericho locking in the single leg crab and Hager using the ropes to pull his face back. Danielson passes out and somehow, the Jericho Appreciation Society stands tall at the end. Don’t get me wrong. It’s no surprise they won. I’m surprised they are literally standing in the middle of the ring. This match exhausted me and was such a shit show at the beginning but it perfectly set the stage for the rest of the fight. I don’t know how to explain this shit while giving it the proper justice. If you haven’t watched it and you get a chance, do it. Good luck following along. It’s harder to keep up with than the Kardashians.

POP: Triple-Mint Twins

AEW Double or Nothing Results (2022) Geeks + Gamers

This was honestly the match I was least looking forward to on tonight’s card. I just never got hooked into the story. However, once Keith Lee reminded us he’s Keith Lee, it was pretty easy to get immediately invested. And this was after he showed off his power by smashing Jungle Boy all over the damn place. The pace of this match was incredible and really a testament to how great all six of these talents are. Also, I think this was really the first time we got to see Swerve Strickland have a moment in the sun. Dude straight up showed he could go tonight.

Speaking of guys who had a moment in the sun, Ricky Starks found some pretty ladies in the front row. Unfortunately for Ricky, you can’t bat your eyes in the middle of the wrestling match. Otherwise, it ends with you getting crotched on the top rope. Life lessons learned tonight, kids. I think I’m most impressed by the big guys in this match. Obviously, a key to these matches is everyone getting the rub. Even Luchasaurus. The line of the night went to Taz after Luchasaurus was double-chokeslammed by Keith Lee and Powerhouse Hobbs when he hit us with the “rough landing for a 65-million-year old dinosaur.” Damn near killed me.

After one hell of a triple threat tag team match, Powerhouse Hobbs gives Team Taz the advantage but when Starks tries to cheat, Christian beats him to it….er, I mean prevents it from happening. The match ends when Jungle Boy flips over Luchasaurus off Swerve into the Thoracic Express and Jurassic Park retains the titles somehow! What a match!! That was absolutely insane and way better than I expected. My respects to all six men and please accept my mea culpa for not being excited about that match. My goodness, that was a hell of a performance by everyone involved.

POP: Championship Shit

AEW Double Or Nothing 2022 Results: 'Hangman' Adam Page Vs. CM Punk Full Match & Winner

These two hate each other, man. The intensity of that hatred has ramped up over the last month or so. They didn’t waste any time showing it either. After a raging stare down, they immediately start going ham on each other. Page pushes Punk to the corner and digs his forearm into Punk’s face. It’s going to be hard-hitting and dirty. Just how I like it!

Page seemed to get a little cocky throughout the match. He would take a lot of time pandering to the crowd, most notably after a spinning forearm to Punk’s face. Even when he had Punk ready for the Buckshot Lariat, he started running the apron and hyping the crowd. Needless to say, Punk knocked him to the outside. Page then went full Kevin Owens on Punk. Now, if Punk comes out dancing to ska music on Wednesday, we’ll know it had the proper effect!

This match went a little slower than I was expecting, especially when Hangman hit a moonsault from the top and seemingly tweaked his knee. Both combatants missed their (and each other’s) finishers as the action started to pick up. Page was able to hit Dead Eye but I don’t have to tell you that he didn’t get the three count nor retain the championship. Page has a chance to hit Punk with the belt while the referee is down but he knows he needs to do it the right way and goes for the Buckshot Lariat instead. Calamity ensues:

We call that a good old-fashioned backfire, y’all. Page absolutely should have smacked Punk in the face and put him down for good. Unfortunately, he was unable to kick out of that Go to Sleep and CM Punk is your new AEW World Heavyweight Champion!

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What a great pay-per-view! There was nothing I outright hated about this and anything I may have disliked was minimal dislike at best. I know I say it every PPV, but damn, this might just be the best one. AEW does a great job culminating their stories at their biggest shows. The only thing that probably could’ve made this better would have been a Max Caster rap. Ha! Just kidding!

POP: Future Endeavors

All, as you can probably tell from the header, tonight is my final article for Steel Ring Post (For now anyway. After all, it is professional wrestling!). It has been an absolute pleasure covering Dynamite over the last year and a half for you all. I absolutely LOVE professional wrestling and I hope you could sense my passion each time you read an article. Thank you for reading and interacting. You’ll still find me on Discord, Twitter, and Instagram (@robbywardshow on all three) so please feel free to keep in contact with me.

A special shout out and hat tip to El Scorcho for giving me a platform to write about something that I love so much. I just turned 40 on Wednesday and have been watching wrestling since I was probably three years old. I also owe a lot of thanks to Tara for giving up her AEW post right as I was trying to get started 🙂 because I don’t know that I could’ve handled Raw for this long haha. Another shot of thanks to Alison for helping me navigate the early days of my writing and correcting my shit inside WordPress when I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Special thanks also goes to Brute Farce for being my part-time editor without getting paid for it!

My final thanks goes to all of the readers on the interwebs. We can’t write without an audience and you guys allowed us to take up a sliver of your day, whether before you fall asleep at night, when you’re eating breakfast, or when you’re on the shitter. That’s right. I know how it’s done. So thank you all for supporting me on this project.

Please continue supporting this site. It can be something even more amazing than it is and support all the great writers that put out content. We wouldn’t do it if it weren’t for you all. Again, thank you for the chance to entertain you (hopefully) and write about this passion we all share. The best passions are the ones you can share with people you care about and even though I’ve not met a single one of you (except you, Mom!), I’m blessed to share it with you. Wrestling United!