AEW Double or Nothing 2022

[The Thread Killer]

I remember when Ad Free Shows first started, Conrad hosting a special podcast called "When Tony Met Eric." It was basically just a recorded conversation between Tony Khan and Eric Bischoff, which turned into a Mutual Admiration Society meeting. They spent so much time complimenting each other, I ended up turning it off...it was kind of nauseating.  That led to Bischoff making a couple of appearances on Dynamite.  The love remained strong.  Until TK said something negative in an interview about how Bisch ran WCW, and the shots started to fly back and forth.  Punk ended up getting roped into it. Now, we're at the point where TK is basically slamming his fist on the table and shouting "FUCK THAT GUY!" at the Double of Nothing Post Game Press Conference.

Times have changed.

I find it a little odd that he refuses to answer any questions about MJF and wants to rant about Bischoff, because...really? Who cares about Easy E at this point?

[The Thread Killer]

11 hours ago, funkdoc said:

They have to be building to FTR getting the belts, that's the only thing that makes sense at this point

That makes sense, but if last night's show proves anything...what makes sense isn't always what you're going to get with AEW.  Hell, not having your most popular team on a 4 hour PPV, and reducing them to a curtain call after the cameras are off...now that makes no sense.

[Dale Wolfe]

Well, i read this thread to see if i should watch the show & really surprised at how poor it sounds 

I've been sour on the TV for a couple of months but assumed the ppv would come through; surprised. 

I will watch the main event though i guess, do enjoy moaning old man punk 

[KawadaSmile]

Gotta make time for Darby vs KOR tho.

 

Also, I hate how Page's reign was on par with Big E's. Yeah dude is the champ and the in-ring output is great but while E wasn't protected at all, Page got nothing going for him in terms of booking. Dude got Daniel Bryan as his first program and it was all downhill from there. 

[NintendoLogic]

I checked out the main event, which is the only match I had any real interest in going into the PPV. I thought it was a good match that approached greatness at several points but never quite got there. Hangman really needs to retire the deadeye, though. I understand wanting to protect your opponent, but leaving as much daylight as he does exposes the business.

[Dale Wolfe]

27 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Gotta make time for Darby vs KOR tho.

I'm an idiot but im reluctant to watch Darby lose again. He's one of the few i actively root for here & he should be going over Kyle at this point 

Oh well 

I'll probably end up watching it all anyway 

[MoS]

Work took over - I do watch this shit from 4:30 AM onwards - and I say this not to be difficult or petulant, but this is the first AEW PPV I have come across where so many booking decisions disappointed me. Punk getting the world title is one thing, but Cole won the Owen Hart tournament, Britt won the women's one even though she absolutely does not need it - and really, this should have been Kris Statlander's moment , and I say this as the local Britt defender on the board; somehow the Bucks are putting over the Hardys; Darby Allin, a legit homemade star, draw and merchandise mover, is putting over that pasty-white ugly jabroni KOR; Jericho Appreciation Society has now won every match they have had, making all of those spectacular Kingston promos look kind of foolish and dumb, cuz he keeps threatening violence and always ends up losing; and JB & Luchasaurus retain over two teams more over than they are. It feels like a weird mixture of NXT-and-friends-lite and Tony giving into some clever convincing by some veterans. None of the other young stars looked good, except HOOK during the Buy-In. The Owen women's tournament should really have been Kris Statlander's moment, Darby deserved a major PPV singles win, really, I feel like I should have switched the PPV off after the pitch perfect Wardlow-MJF squash. That was genuinely great. But otherwise, this is the first AEW PPV which has made me come out feeling disappointed that I was excited about it. Nothing to do with Punk winning, just the general trend of booking. Like, sorry, but there is a reason the NXT with the Undisputed on top got massacred in the wrestling war. They're just not interesting after a point in time. Use them to make sure your young stars get reps, yes, but don't actually put them over the young stars imo. I know it sounds bitter, but I am really not. Just honestly laying my feelings for why I think I will step away from AEW a bit for the moment. 

Not trying to have a public tantrum here, but given my work hours, I can't follow full-time a wrestling promotion that seems to mostly cater against what I want in terms of whom they perceive as the big stars. I say this only cuz I was the one starting most AEW threads on this forum, so you all, please feel free to dismiss my ranting as sour grapes and please start the new AEW weekly threads and PPV threads whenever you can! I will still cherry-pick and watch things I like, of course; AEW at its absolute worst is better than the best 2022 WWE has to offer. 

 

Congrats to everyone who enjoyed it, genuinely and unironically. Hope you keep having fun, ultimately that's why we all watch this silly shit. 

[MoS]

1 hour ago, The Thread Killer said:

 

I find it a little odd that he refuses to answer any questions about MJF and wants to rant about Bischoff, because...really? Who cares about Easy E at this point?

Answering the former would require difficult choices in maintaining professionalism, giving his side of the story but not disrespecting the talent. Shitting on the latter is easy work, and no one is really going to disagree. Bischoff is well familiar with this; he used to do the exact same during his promoter days. 

[Stiva]

Typing stray thoughts as I go. I’ve managed to avoid all fallout and spoilers so let’s go.

If that’s MJF leaving the territory, then that’s about as perfect a way to go. Even without knowing about him managing to make himself toxic, that was the biggest prick in the company getting his come-uppance and making someone on the way out. Great stuff. Wardlow is the man.  You look out into the crowd and everyone is into him, the men were in his hand and you even heard the women too. Give him the strap.

At this stage in the game, The Hardys are far more suited to be working Butcher and the Blade than they are the Bucks. I can understand why they did the match though and I’m assuming we’re getting a big Hardys title challenge as a Dynamite main event. The Bucks will stay over even if they drop the fall here.

Ass Boys and The Acclaimed is great midcard shit. Billy Gunn as the disapproving dad is a great use of him.

Cargill/Anna Jay was a little sloppy but Cargill is improving all the time and she feels like she’s about 6 months away from becoming the star of the promotion. Just radiates pure star power and giving her Stokley and the Cody lift will only improve matters. Going to Statlander as her next challenger seems like another situation where neither should lose but between her and Athena, at least she has some credible challengers lined up. 
 

Hey, we finally get the Julia Hart turn. I think I need another watch of that to process just about everything that went down but I’m glad that thread has finally been tied up and she looks 100x better in this getup than the cheerleading gear.

Adam Cole is looking more and more like 2008 Shawn Michaels every week. He just needs to start throwing weak chops and sell his back 5 minutes into every match and he’s completed the look. He took that clothesline like a champ, I’ll give him that. And the match itself was really great, I’d say. Joe has found an extra yard and if you could get yourself into the mindset of Cole actually being able to hurt Joe, it was really well put together. Cole is in danger of getting overexposed on Dynamite every week but he’s a star to the AEW audience so I don’t hate him winning. I somehow haven’t put together that Baker and Cole will win the Owen belts and have them together on TV…

Of course Jericho’s guitarist looks like that. Getting Rancid to play Soho out was choice though I do wonder how many people realise her theme is actually by a real band and not just an AEW creation. The match was what it was; Baker feels stale and Ruby is underwhelming with terrible over-acting. No complaints about the post-match though. Fantastic stuff and the one thing I do love about Cole is how consistent he is with being untrusting of Tony. A little touch that helps everything feel more alive. 
 

I feel that every time Tony Khan sees someone complain about this nonsense with Sky, Sammy and co, he adds another week on to the feud. Talk about wasting Van Zant’s first match.

My man Darby still getting the superstar pops and he will make O’Reilly look fantastic. O’Reilly is definitely a man who recorded videos of himself playing with nunchucks as a teenager. But fuck did Darby ever eat shit on that dive, Christ. That was frightening. I have to say, for a match that was thrown on the card, both men worked as hard as they could to make it feel like a big fight. Good stuff but that’s Darby losing to Jeff Hardy and O’Reilly pretty quickly off the belt. I hope he’s as bulletproof as Khan seems to think.

Thunder Rosa’s attire was something else. Respectfully, of course. Thought the whole match was really strong. Deeb’s baseline is basically “very good” and Rosa came ready to work. Rosa just slapping Deeb in the neck to try and break up the figure four was nasty. I wouldn’t be against them running that back as a Rampage main event while they build up another challenger.

The JAS ring gear is OUTSTANDING. And then you have the other 5 looking like the coolest fuckers ever, especially with Wild Thing playing as the brawling was going. Fucking AWESOME. This was exactly what this show needed and I cracked up at Bryan just punching Ange in the face for about 5 straight minutes as madness went on below. That was about as close as we’ll get to one of those wild JAPW brawls on a major stage, fucking outstanding. Kingston walking to the ring, covered in blood holding a can of petrol is one of the greatest pro wrestling images I’ve ever seen and we’re going to get heel Danielson vs face Kingston and fuck yeah to that. 
 

Andrade and Rush is some real fucking business. What a world. Scorpio/Dante will low-key be great too.

Three way tag matches are rarely any good but the tag title match was about as fun as you’d expect with the guys in there. Jungle Boy, Hobbs, Stark and Swerve felt like future main eventers in this. All 4 are dripping with charisma and then you have Luchasaurus whiffing by about 6 inches on strikes. I’d have said the time was right for new champs but maybe they want to do Jurassic Express against the Hardys? 
 

The main felt like a huge deal in a way that the title matches haven’t for a while. A lot of that maybe had a lot to do with the outcome being genuinely up in the air which is something AEW haven’t had a lot of in their big title matches. I dug pretty much all of Hangman’s control segment and Punk definitely got him to slow down as they went with the crowd. Punk trying the buckshot after so long into the match when he isn’t the most athletic to begin with is asking for trouble, especially trying it again. Though I bet Punk wishes everyone could take the GTS as well as he can. Could have done without the conflicted acting over the belt shot but I guess it’s leading to more drunken Hangman battling with his demons. I’m glad we’ve got the belt on Punk though. Let’s get heel champ Punk going.

A real weird show in the sense that it started great, really lulled in the middle but they managed to get it back at the end. Some strange booking decisions too but some unpredictability isn’t a bad thing if it’s leading somewhere that will make sense down the line. Now to catch up on the news 

[El-P]

Apparently people here did not like the show very much. PWO be like, I guess.  (disclaimer : I did not read the entire thread, ok ?!)

To me the one thing that struck me is that one big upside to have that many talent, is by the end of the night, even if MJF had never showed up, no one would have cared. That crowd was hot as shit until the end once they picked it up at the end of Rosa vs Deeb. The key is having people over up and down the card, and exciting matches up and down the card. Of course, this is irrelevant because MJF ended up getting his ass-whipping anyway, but still. That show had so much great stuff anyway to make up for it, capped off by Punk winning the title. And of course, that damn brawl...

The Bucks worked their magic with a carry job from hell with what's left of the Hardies.

Anna Jay, I dunno what happened with her, but she looked hurt. Match wasn't much, but the 1-2 punch of Hataway & Athena more than made up for it. Great signees.

House of Black vs Death Triangle was AWESOME. Period. These six guys rule. The finish I saw miles ahead, but having PAC use a low-blow just before was quite brillant in term of making sure Julia Hart would get cheered, because although HoB are cool heels, making sure PAC would do something nasty before he got fucked was a nice attention to detail.

Joe vs Cole was really good. Once he won, it was obvious Britt was winning too. Ruby peaked with the Rancid intro. Good match though, with the Mania X finish, that was nice. Martha Hart was awesome. Cole did not even bother keeping his "character" face, he just looked like the nicest, happiest, most wholesome guy out there.

The Mixed tag was quite fun and really they ended up getting the crowd back despite no heat whatsoever at first, apart from Tay & Sammy getting hated. PVZ is *not ready at all* to be showcased. Not her fault whatsoever, but having so much green women featured doesn't make the division shine. 

KOR beating the fuck out of people will never get old with me. Darby doing the job was unexpected, so that's quite intriguing in term of booking. KOR just signed a 5 years deal, he's not *not gonna be pushed*, especially with how good he is. I'm guessing we're gonna have a Darby & Sting vs reDragons big match in the future. This did not need to be on the PPV, but I'm not complaining. I spent 18 euros (yeah Fite and all) and I gladly watched that match.

Rosa vs Deeb was excellent. Best AEW woman match probably. Just terrific. Rosa's outfit was wonderful too, have to say.

The Arena Anarchy brawl was AWESOME. The FUCKING GANGTAS GIMMICK !!!! And this is leading toward Danielson vs Kingston (who looked straight out of a horror movie at the end when he showed up with the gasoline).

3 way managed to follow the brawl, which in itself speaks volume of both these 6 guys and how over the product was to this audience. Very surprised they did not pass the title, but I'm guessing having them lose in a regular match will mean more. So much great stuff in this one. All guys shined, really.

CM Punk vs Hangman Page was excellent. Truly excellent. Of course, a Bret Hart finish, because why not. Enjoyed the hell out of it. The idea that Page gained nothing from his reign is *ridiculous*. Yeah, he only beat Omega and Danielson, and Adam Cole twice. Punk winning will now open some new perspective for the top of the card. Apparently he made fun of his own botches during the post-match promo (with FTR). Awesome moment. I have no idea how anyone could be tedious about this one. Obviously CM Punk had to win the title soon.

Some interesting (some would say puzzling, but I would not) booking decisions that I did not see coming. Three legit excellent/great matches, nothing bad in term of matches really apart from Jade vs Jay which was saved by the post match and debuts (oh, I forgot Rush, which is... interesting. No idea if he'll get over though, he was the king rudo of Arena Mexico, but he's not a great worker per say, no idea how it will translate. I expected Bandido, but oh well). 

Had a blast. Despite the somewhat unfocused week-to-week booking, PPV delivers in spades, as usual.

[RingoPlaysDrums]

Bloated show and some of the matches should definitely have taken place on TV. A number of real highs though. I absolutely loved Anarchy in the Arena which was fucking wild. Big fan of the HoB/Death Triangle trios match and I think that was in part because all six of them just looked the business. I want to watch the tag & world title matches again because I was exhausted by the time they came on and Punk's win didn't feel quite as big a deal as I was expecting. Both Owen tournaments have felt really off for me since the start but the Martha speech & presentation was a nice moment.

Some good PPV entrances and debuts too. Athena should be a good in-ring addition to the roster but I think she needs to do more outside of it. Hathaway is a great get and upgrade for Cargill. Rush reuniting with old pal Andrade is very cool. Hopefully Andrade will start getting rid of some of the fodder in his stable now. 

Seen some people call this the worst PPV AEW have done and others call it one of the best. It's currently rated third from bottom on cagematch if you ignore Fyter Fest and Fight for the Fallen. That sounds about right based on what I can recall.

 

[sek69]

It seems like Andrade dissolved the AFO and is basically starting an AEW chapter of Los Ingobernales, which I'm entirely here for (since they did the pose at the end). Rush usually brings his family with him whenever he goes so having Bestia del Ring around will be a small price to pay if we get Dragon Lee too.

 

Also that press conference was embarrassing for the media folks there. Between nerding out and Adderall we know Tony's gonna Tony, but everyone just let him ramble on about old WCW shows like he was shooting the shit with the DVDVR crew at a Denny's at 2 am.

[sek69]

Also I don't know how anyone can say a show where Bryan Danielson had to prevent Eddie Kingston from committing murder was a bad show just because, what, Britt won the Owen? Yeah I'm not saying it was the greatest of all time but there were way more hits than misses here.

Also Dax just posted a pic of the AEW tag titles on Twitter so they definitely seem to be doing that next.

[El-P]

Baker & Cole with Martha Hart was cute as hell. It made for a cool moment to have the couple alongside Martha.

Cole is 32, he's super over. He's got a rep as a great worker. He ain't going anywhere down the card. Britt is still the biggest superstar of the woman division, she's good, she's over, she's not moving down the card either. There are people more suited to get younger people over, these two aren't. They are the present.

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Also Dax just posted a pic of the AEW tag titles on Twitter so they definitely seem to be doing that next.

Would make sense.

Honestly, both Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland are guys that are as much suited for single's runs. I could see Lee challenging for the world title before the end of the year. Strickland is more TNT level/grudge feud (he'll never do a match like he did in LU, and with good reasons, but he's at his best when he's pushed to the next level working with some emotion involved, like against Sami Callihan in MLW).

[C.S.]

9 hours ago, KawadaSmile said:

Gotta make time for Darby vs KOR tho.

A match with no story, no build, reason to exist is something I'll never make time for.

Good wrestling is a vacuum is completely meaningless to me.

Plus, you know, fucking Kyle O'Reilly won. 

[The Nicks]

The Anarchy in the Arena  and Rosa vs Serena  were the highlights of the nights to me.

Punk is my wrestling childhood idol i've been having a blast with his current run while Hangman was one of my favorites of the AEW originals but for some reason the match left me cold.

Darby/ Kyle and Joe/Cole were very good but i was puzzled by the booking decisions. Maybe as weeks pass i'll be able to apreciate them completly.

Totally hope FTR are going for those titles and looking forward to Eddie/Dragon and Julia Hart beating the Blondes with a chair.

 

 

 

[PeteF3]

4 hours ago, C.S. said:

A match with no story, no build, reason to exist is something I'll never make time for.

Good wrestling is a vacuum is completely meaningless to me.

Plus, you know, fucking Kyle O'Reilly won. 

While I agree that that match could have fit in fine on the Buy-In, Kyle had injured Sting on Dynamite a few weeks ago, so it wasn't exactly lacking build or a story.

[cheapshot]

I enjoyed the show overall. I'd have made a few different booking decisions and spread out debuts on the PPV and TV this week so to make then more impactful. The Anarchy in the Arena was an absolute blast, the highlight of a thumbs up show from me. 

[Loss]

Anarchy in the Arena is the damndest match I've seen in years and one of the best brawls of all time. I've watched it three times now.

[cheapshot]

2 hours ago, Loss said:

Anarchy in the Arena is the damndest match I've seen in years and one of the best brawls of all time. I've watched it three times now.

I definitely went the full ***** on it, even Jack Swagger Jake Hager couldn't drag it down! 

[The Thread Killer]

2 hours ago, Loss said:

Anarchy in the Arena is the damndest match I've seen in years and one of the best brawls of all time. I've watched it three times now.

I don't understand.  The world doesn't make sense to me anymore.  I watched that match. I thought it was okay. At first I appreciated the fact that they seemed to be going more Tupelo Concession Stand Brawl and less ECW arena brawl, so I was enjoying it to a degree.  But then they pulled out the ladders, and the tables, and the barbed wire, and I became disenchanted. And then Jake Hager was involved in choking out Bryan Danielson, and I became upset. Bryan Danielson should be wrestling technical classics in the Main Event of PPV's, and Jake Hager should be appearing at the auto show and charging $5 for his autograph, and then getting depressed when nobody wants an autograph and more people line up to see Virgil than him.

But then everybody started praising this match, and I became confused.  Why do so many people whose opinions I usually respect love this match, when I don't? When I was a younger man, I used to go to ECW shows all the time, and I loved a good crowd brawl. Am I becoming the PWO version of Jim Cornette?

Maybe I need to go back and watch this thing again.

[southofheavy]

Or you could just not like it while other people do. It's okay! :p

Bryan Danielson has done plenty of technical main events. He said he wants to bleed and be in a stable. He probably also wants to be in a War Games. 

So do I.

[Loss]

I don't think it's optimal use of Bryan Danielson either, to be clear. My ideal would be the period from September-December 2021 on an infinite loop until he retires. But I can separate that from my thoughts on the match itself. I didn't care for ladder/table/barbed wire stuff either and don't think the match needed it, but I also don't think it negatively impacted the match at all. 

[El-P]

There's also what Danielson himself wants. He went to AEW basically to be creatively free, and that includes be able to do the G1 (fingers crossed) and bleed.

[KawadaSmile]

Danielson basically did a Memphis-lite feud and match when he was in a super micromanaged environment such as WWE. Now that he's in AEW I expect him to just go full FMW or RINGS. Maybe both at the same time.