‘AEW: Double or Nothing 2022’ PPV Review
It’s one of AEW’s biggest pay per views of the year, it’s Double or Nothing 2022; which was broadcast live from Las Vegas and was not without controversy – with MJF reportedly no-showing a Fan Fest event AND booking a flight home that started rumours he would no-show this PPV as well! We open with a Buy-In show that sees Danhausen and Hook team up for the first, and hopefully NOT for the last, time!
The Buy-In
Match #1: Hookhausen (Hook & Danhausen) def. Tony Nese & “Smart” Mark Sterling
My Thoughts: The match EVERYONE was waiting for! It’s incredibly interesting that two, technically, meme wrestlers in Hook and Danhausen are two of the most compelling in AEW. Danhausen took most of the punishment in this match, keeping Hook looking strong. Danhausen can take a loss, and take the punishment but Hook’s mystique is the fact he’s an undefeated badass. Which was incredibly evident when Hook tagged back in a cleaned house! More of these two, please!
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Double or Nothing
Match #1: Wardlow def. MJF
My Thoughts: Well MJF showed up but didn’t wrestle much as the shenanigans started from the bell. Thankfully AEW found a way to get the Diamond ring out of the equation for this match and we got what everyone wanted… MJF was dominated by Wardlow, who delivered powerbomb after powerbomb after powerbomb (ten(!) to be precise). Absolutely LOVED the commentary team who relished in MJF’s destruction as much as the fans did.
My Score: 5 out of 5
Match #2: The Hardys def. Young Bucks
My Thoughts: A dream match for the ages. Literally. Two of the best tag teams of all time going at it on a PPV. What’s not to love? Well, this match for one, which felt like a greatest hits compilation rather than the instant classic everyone expected. The match got better the more it went on but the opening took the wind out of this match and everyone fought as hard as they could to get the momentum back. As usual Jeff Hardy put his body on the line with a swanton onto the steel steps at one point that felt painful through the TV!
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #3: TBS Women’s Championship Match – Jade Cargill def. Anna Jay
My Thoughts: Jade Cargill enters with Cody’s signature lift entrance! Ooooooh, salty! This one had some rough moves and there seemed to be some mistiming/miscommunication between Jay and Cargill at points. Great to see Anna Jay take out the baddies (Red Velvet and Kiera Hogan) on the outside stopping their interference, and then preventing Mark Sterling from helping Jade too… Definitely a decent bit of storytelling that made Anna Jay look miles better and much stronger in this match than her last against Cargill. It eventually took the intervention of Stokely Hathaway(!) to get Cargill the win.
My Score: 2 out of 5
Match #4: House of Black def. Death Triangle
My Thoughts: This was exactly what you expected from this match. Fast-paced, hard-hitting, and everything in between. Both teams were evenly matched from the opening, with Death Triangle’s speed combatting the strength of House of Black’s Buddy Matthews and Brodie King. This match was organised chaos at its best. The kind of crazy balls to the wall stuff we expect from Fenix and Penta but then you add PAC and Malakai Black into the mix and the high-flying action goes nuclear… And some of the stuff on display in this match looked nasty, like it hurt! And guess what? Julia Hart FINALLY turned, blinding PAC with more black mist and costing Death Triangle the win.
My Score: 4 out of 5
Match #5: Owen Hart Tournament Men’s Final – Samoa Joe def. Adam Cole
My Thoughts: Samoa Joe sold an arm injury that allowed him to not be the strong beast of a wrestler he normally is and give Adam Cole an in. This was counter after counter, with each man giving as much as he took, making this feel well-balanced. Joe had the upper hand more than Cole in the match but the arm AND the expected interference from the Undisputed Elite, in this case Bobby Fish, meant Cole won this one. Seems a bit of a shitty way to win the Owen Hart tournament though, by cheating.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #6: Owen Hart Tournament Men’s Final – Britt Baker D.M.D. def. Ruby Soho
My Thoughts: Ruby Soho gets actual Rancid(!) to play her theme song live… Which usually gives the game away who’s going to win the match. But at the same time, it would be apropos for AEW to put the belt on Britt Baker and have AEW’s “power couple” as the Owen champs. So the outcome of this one really felt in question, more so than any time leading up to the PPV. Soho looked a lot more vicious in this one but Baker matched her ferocity beat for beat. Baker tried for the lockjaw multiple times but Soho managed to counter, at one point putting Baker in a sharpshooter in a fantastic homage to the Hart family. Eventually, Baker reversed Soho’s victory roll and rolled up Soho for the win… Just before the match ran out of steam IMHO.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #7: Ethan Page, Scorpio Sky & Paige Van Zant def. Frankie Kazarian, Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti
My Thoughts: Tay Conti and Sammy Guevara embraced the fan hate for this match, coming out dressed as Maleficent and the Raven! Kaz and Sky opened the match, with former tag partners now divided but both quickly tagged in their respective partners as Ethan Page beat the crap out of Guevara – love to see Page actually getting some action! When Sky and Kaz did get to wrestle it was like watching a wrestling clinic. Sammy acted like a dick and was more interested in making out with Tay Conti rather than concentrating on the match, which cost his team the win in the end. Paige van Zant looked good in her very first wrestling match too.
My Score: 2.5 out of 5
Match #8: Kyle O’Reilly def. Darby Allin
My Thoughts: O’Reilly came out fighting in this one! A hard knee strike got him the early advantage and he took full advantage of that to punish Allin. Allin eventually fought back but what looked to be a diving botch silenced the audience and worried the commentary team! These two men put their bodies through way too much before this eventually turned into a fight, with both men slugging it out mid-ring. O’Reilly’s physicality eventually got the better of Darby and he got the pin after hitting multiple kicks and then a diving knee drop on Allin. Not the outcome I expected but that’s a good thing sometimes.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
Match #9: Thunder Rosa def. Serena Deeb
My Thoughts: This was the clinic we expected it to be from two of AEW’s best female wrestlers. Deeb and Rosa worked well together and were great foils for one another. As the match went on there seemed to be a few clumsy spots, as if both women were over-thinking the match and becoming exhausted – which was great storytelling within the match itself. Rosa spent a lot of this one selling a leg issue but that didn’t matter in the end as Rosa eventually hit a Fire Thunder Driver on Deeb to get the three-count.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #10: Anarchy in the Arena – Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker def. Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Santana, Ortiz & Eddie Kingston
My Thoughts: Goddamn if Justin Roberts’ intro to this match wasn’t one of the highlights of this PPV. Loved it! This match was very much a serious take on the Stadium Stampede match with all those involved beating the crap out of each other until pretty much everyone was either bleeding or covered in someone else’s blood! Moxley tore apart the ring at beat Jericho with it; Eddie Kingston and Daniel Garcia fought in the freight elevator; Santana and Ortiz demolished Menard and Parker with tables, barbed wire and a giant ladder; and Danielson and Hager just beat the crap out of each other… if AEW wanted anarchy they got it with this match! This was a LOT better than the Stadium Stampede, with a series of near falls that really ramped up the excitement, meaning this undoubtedly set the bar for these types of matches going forward for ALL wrestling promotions!
My Score: 4 out of 5
Match #11: AEW World Tag Team Championship – Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) def. Swerve in Our Glory (Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland) and Team Taz (Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks)
My Thoughts: This was the one match of the night whose outcome I couldn’t even guess at. This one felt like it was anyone’s to win. Everyone seemed to be pulling out all the stops and put on their best performance, as you should during a PPV. Everyone was at such a level that there wasn’t even a hint of who would win. Ricky Starks got a couple of near falls on Jungle Boy and it looked like Team Taz were on a roll; then Swerve stopped their momentum and took control; a “mistake” by Luchasaurus got Swerve in Our Glory got a near fall… Back and forth, back and forth this match went, forever balancing on the knife-edge of breaking down but staying just on the right side of chaos to keep things fast-paced and interesting. Jurassic Express showed their experience at the end of this one, stringing together moves like only a well-experienced tag team can to get the pin on Swerve Strickland.
My Score: 3 out of 5
Match #12: AEW Men’s World Championship – CM Punk def. “Hangman” Adam Page
My Thoughts: This match divided the audience 50/50 and it was not surprising. Everyone loves Punk but Hangman is AEW’s home-grown talent – which made it hard to root for one over the other TBH. Yet again we had a champ with an “injury,” this time Hangman tweaking his knee on a moonsault to the outside; which meant the Buckshot Lariat was put out of commission for the AEW champ. Punk hit two attempts at the Buckshot Lariat and botched it twice. Twice. Commentary sold it as the difficulty of the move but I’m not so sure. If Punk used the Lariat then Hangman was going to return the favour and try and hit the GTS on Punk. He did and almost, almost score the three count… The crowd swung back and forth as much as this match did. Punk would hit a move and get booed, then Page would return the offence and get booed, with each half of the audience drowning out the other! As an aside, WTF is it with refs getting hit in matches? Twice in a week? Crazy! Page ultimately tried going heel, with a crisis of conscience giving Punk the perfect opportunity to get the win. When you’ve got two babyfaces one of them has to make some sort of heel-ish turn don’t they? Never thought it would be Page if I’m honest.
My Score: 3.5 out of 5
News of the Night:
- Stokely Hathaway debuted during the TBS Women’s Championship match.
- Athena (fka Ember Moon) made her AEW debut post-TBS Women’s Championship match.
- RUSH was introduced as Andrade’s new business partner.
Final Verdict: 4/5
It’s the sign of a great pay per view when the time flies by and it certainly did here. The card for Double or Nothing was certainly more balanced than other PPVs we’ve had from AEW, with no real pee-break matches – the only real lull was the Owen Hart Tournament presentation, otherwise this was foot on the gas stuff that didn’t let up until the very closing moments of the show.
