Double or Nothing was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The event took place on May 23, 2020 in Jacksonville, Florida. While the majority of the event aired live from Daily's Place, the main event match was pre-recorded from May 22–23 at TIAA Bank Field. It was the second event in the Double or Nothing chronology and the first event to feature the AEW TNT Championship.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. The venue, however, canceled all events up through May 31 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AEW moved the event to the Jacksonville Jaguars complex in Jacksonville, Florida, with most matches taking place at Daily's Place—an amphitheater adjacent to TIAA Bank Field—while the main event match took place in the stadium itself, subsequently being the first AEW event to take place in a stadium.
Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on The Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Matt Hardy and The Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz) in a Stadium Stampede match. In other prominent matches, Jon Moxley defeated Mr. Brodie Lee to retain the AEW World Championship, Hikaru Shida defeated Nyla Rose to win the AEW Women's World Championship, Cody defeated Lance Archer to become the inaugural TNT Champion, and Brian Cage won the Casino Ladder Match in his AEW debut. Additionally, the event featured an appearance from International Boxing Hall of Famer Mike Tyson, who presented the TNT Championship to Cody.
Double or Nothing 2020
PPV Results:
Buy-In Preshow: Tag team match to determine the No. 1 contender for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent?) defeated Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen)
Weren't Best Friends already at the top of the rankings anyway? Besides, how in the hell did these two teams get a spot in this match when they were lower than the Dark Order, who were at the top of the rankings when the pandemic started? I get that Evil Uno and Stu Graysen haven't been able to make the TV tapings since the pandemic started, but shit, at least address that the Dark Order won't be able to properly defend their spots when Brodie Lee is sending out his jobber minions in the same goddamn faction to do his bidding. They could have done like Catrina did with Sinestro de la Muerte in Lucha Underground and have her minions lose their match and more importantly, the Trios Tag Titles at the time, and have the minions take the L in Uno and Graysen's absence.
It's a darn shame too as I like Private Party, but holy shit do these guys come off green on TV.
Casino Ladder Match for a future AEW World Championship Match
Brian Cage (with Taz) defeated Darby Allin, Colt Cabana, Orange Cassidy, Joey Janela, Scorpio Sky, Kip Sabian (with Jimmy Havoc and Penelope Ford), Frankie Kazarian, and Luchasaurus
A nothing match with a ton of nothing spots. Correction - a lot of STUPID spots. Darby Allin is lucky that he didn't shatter his ankle with that skateboard stunt through the ladder. Double goes for that toss by Cage (AKA Mr. "I Didn't Sign To AEW") into the ladders that he was riding on. I'm a little split on Cage's debut though. He should have went into that match and tore through everyone instead of one big spot and they buried him - literally for a few minutes to emerge out of the abyss like the Creature from the Black Lagoon and win the match. The right person won, but I can't write home about much else in this match.
I thought this was easily the best match on the entire show. MJF played the part of the perfect heel here, selling Jungle Boy's offense, but not letting him get too much before hitting the brakes and getting his own shit in to make it exciting. I wasn't sure who was going to win this, but I was glad MJF came out on top. Jungle Boy could have won this too and it wouldn't have harmed MJF as good heels always have a reason to fire back. In MJF's case though, I think he's being positioned to challenge for either Cody's TNT title or Moxley's World title sooner more than later, so it's better to keep piling up wins for him that regard.
Singles Match
MJF (with Wardlow) defeated Jungle Boy
I thought this was easily the best match on the entire show. MJF played the part of the perfect heel here, selling Jungle Boy's offense, but not letting him get too much before hitting the brakes and getting his own shit in to make it exciting. I wasn't sure who was going to win this, but I was glad MJF came out on top. Jungle Boy could have won this too and it wouldn't have harmed MJF as good heels always have a reason to fire back. In MJF's case though, I think he's being positioned to challenge for either Cody's TNT title or Moxley's World title sooner more than later, so it's better to keep piling up wins for him that regard.
Tournament final for the inaugural AEW TNT Championship
Cody (with Arn Anderson) defeated Lance Archer (with Jake Roberts)
That photo of Mike Tyson yawning sums up my thoughts on this match in a nutshell. Out of all of Cody's PPV performances in this company to date, I have to say that this was his weakest showing. Where was the fire from him after Jake Roberts pretty much dry humped his wife Brandi on live television a few weeks ago? We didn't get a Dusty-eseque fired up promo from him or anything going into this match and that was a major disservice to the work that both Jake and Archer have put into this feud over the last few weeks.
I don't necessarily agree with the decision to have Cody win the title first either. Speaking of which, goddamn that's an ugly ass title, but I'll give them a pass for the fact that commentary mentioned that it's incomplete at the moment. I get that some people feel that Cody had to win a title since he can't challenge for the AEW World Championship and that's the problem right there. He's a EVP of the damn company. He can give himself a title reign any time he goddamn pleases. It would have made much more sense to have Cody's anger get the better of him and cost him the victory over Archer, then CHASE for the title like a good babyface should instead of this odd tweener bullshit that he and Brandi have going on. Then Cody's reign could be ultimately ended by Darby Allin FINALLY getting his win over Cody since he still hasn't managed to climb that hurdle.
Singles Match
Kris Statlander defeated Penelope Ford (with Kip Sabian)
After the injury that sidelined Britt Baker, Penelope Ford was named as her in-ring replacement. Out of the trio that consists of her, Kip Sabian, and Jimmy Havoc, Ford's easily the most entertaining and talented out of that bunch. Sabian comes off as a cheap knock off of Sammy Guevara but without the charisma and void of any sort of personality. That being said, I did chuckle at him showing up to support her on crutches and covered in bandages.
Singles Match
Dustin Rhodes (with Brandi Rhodes) defeated Shawn Spears
Bathroom break. That's all what this was.
No Disqualification and No Countout match for the AEW Women's World Championship
Hikaru Shida defeated Nyla Rose (c)
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| Shida got a lot of mainstream attention for her Tifa (Final Fantasy VII Remake) inspired ring gear for this title match. Fans of hers will be quick to point out that she's been doing a lot of Tifa-related cosplays on her social media channels. More of those photos are up on reddit though if you're interested. |
I was REALLY surprised that AEW actually put the title on Shida here. It was the right decision too though. Shida is easily the best female worker they have on that entire AEW Women's Division and it would benefit the growth of that division in the long haul to build that division around her for a while. Having Nyla Rose not appear on television when this pandemic started hurt a lot of the momentum she gained after beating Riho for the title, but nothing came from it afterwards when they finally brought her back on Dynamite outside of one fired up promo from about two weeks prior to this match.
This match was just a clusterfuck of hardcore spots and near-falls littered throughout, but I did appreciate that it took a sizable effort from Shida to put Nyla down. If they want to revisit this match, Nyla can easily say that Shida only won because she hit her with everything except the kitchen sink to win the title. I don't see Nyla buried here as there's something to be salvaged. I saw some people calling this the beginning of AEW's equivalent of Awesome Kong and Gail Kim and could only laugh as this feud isn't even in the same galaxy as that epic clash of talents.
On a side note, I don't know whether it was AEW's decision or Shida's own, but she started a YouTube channel following her own geeky exploits in a similar manner as what WWE's Asuka does with KanaChanTV. I thought the videos she had up so far were in poor quality and just came off odd, especially when the channel has only been around for about two weeks. Despite the fact that Shida's English is surprisingly well (shocked the hell out of me when she spoke on Dynamite a few weeks ago...), I don't think she has to go the same route as Asuka to garner new fans. People already genuinely like her organically by watching the AEW product.
On a side note, I don't know whether it was AEW's decision or Shida's own, but she started a YouTube channel following her own geeky exploits in a similar manner as what WWE's Asuka does with KanaChanTV. I thought the videos she had up so far were in poor quality and just came off odd, especially when the channel has only been around for about two weeks. Despite the fact that Shida's English is surprisingly well (shocked the hell out of me when she spoke on Dynamite a few weeks ago...), I don't think she has to go the same route as Asuka to garner new fans. People already genuinely like her organically by watching the AEW product.
Singles Match for the AEW World Championship
Jon Moxley (c) defeated Mr. Brodie Lee by technical submission
After this match, I went to Twitter to see the reactions and instantly got confused seeing people say that this was the best match Mox and Lee had since their CZW days, when I was watching this and thinking that this was a copy and paste of a lot of their WWE encounters. It wasn't very good and it wasn't bad either. It was just okay in my eyes. They took me out of it after the the fact the spot through the ramp/walkway wasn't the finish though. That would have been perfect to end on without having to do nothing else to keep Brodie Lee looking strong. I didn't think Lee deserved to be in that spot to challenge for the belt next anyway, especially for his PPV debut in the company. It just felt wrong to begin with. Lee passing out in the hold works too, I guess, but I can't say that I was crazy about this match as a whole.
I'll be honest about this too. In WWE, I never saw what was the big deal about Moxley when he was Dean Ambrose and went he got "released from prison" and back on the indies, I thought I was finally was going to see what was the big deal, only to be disappointed with roughly every performance since then, outside of a few of his NJPW outings.
Stadium Stampede Match
Matt Hardy and The Elite (Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz)
I'm going to tackle this write-up similar to the one I did for WWE Money in the Bank 2020's main event. I honestly don't have much to say about this show up to this point other than it had a lot of ups and downs, but I was entertained for the most part, outside of some rather questionable decisions across the board on this show.
I do have a bit of a rant to make though in response to Jericho's response to criticisms to the main event.
"If you don't like this match, then you don't have a soul."— SiriusXM Busted Open (@BustedOpenRadio) May 28, 2020
Who is @IAmJericho referencing that didn't think highly of @AEWrestling Stadium Stampede Match?
He tells @davidlagreca1 & @bullyray5150 🔊 pic.twitter.com/v3JgGZ5Dn5
I have two words for Chris Jericho: FUCK YOU.
I get sick and tired of this mindset that it seems like anyone and everyone is grading AEW on a curve for two reasons: 1) They are the new hotness - i.e. current flavor of the month that hasn't turned away their hardcore fanbase (read: marks) for their product like IMPACT/TNA have done over the last decade and a half or more. 2) People are accepting ANYTHING that's not WWE and will make any and all excuses to support said product because it's not part of WWE's stranglehold over the wrestling industry.
It's increasingly and alarmingly apparent that the wrestling industry as a whole - not just AEW - can't handle the single shred of constructive criticism about their "art" that they call wrestling. I call bullshit for what I see it as and I'm not sugarcoating it for anyone, whether I love the talents involved or not.
There's a lot of stuff I like about AEW, but on the other hand, there's a lot of stuff they do I DON'T like. The thing that frustrates me that the same podcasters, YouTube wrestling personalities, wrestling journalists, and even people I know personally will shit all over IMPACT, MLW, Ring of Honor, Lucha Underground, or any other promotions that would do anything remotely like some of the stupidity I have seen presented on the AEW product as "professional wrestling". The main event was typical WWE-style comedy from start to finish. This wasn't the "sports-based presentation" that Tony Khan clearly lied to us about that was going into the sales pitch that was going into promoting this company. It's pretty much WWE Lite in a lot of aspects... while being IMPACT Lite in others.
You want proof? Go back to Slammiversary XV and watch Jeremy Borash and Chris Parks against Scott Steiner and Josh Matthews and you'll get an oddly familiar scene of Scott Steiner and Mathews chasing after Park and JB in a golf cart while Steiner shouted “Follow their fat asses!”
It's strangely similar to the meme worthy moments of Sammy Guevara being chased by Matt Hardy and Kenny Omega in a golf cart on the last few AEW broadcasts. To be fair though, JB and Hardy are friends and produced a ton of that Broken universe content when they were in IMPACT together, so that was probably a shoutout/tribute to Borash in that regard.
That being said, I actually enjoyed most of this spectacle that was the main event. Much like WWE's Money in the Bank main event, this wasn't a goddamn wrestling match. It's a cinematic spectacle with wrestling being a very minor component of it, much in the same vein of choreographed segments on Lucha Underground that a lot of people disliked at the time of that series' popularity, but raved about this match when it's essentially the same thing with lower production values.
Fucking double standards, I swear...
Chris Jericho is merely reacting like Edge following the critiques on his WrestleMania match with Randy Orton just because everyone isn't drinking all of the Kool-aid for everything and anything AEW spews out. There were parts of this match that I thought were genuinely entertaining, but there were other parts where I thought it was just bad WWE-esque comedy that merely got a pass because it's AEW. I'll gladly take that label of not having a soul if it means I can stand by my opinion that not everything this company puts out is peaches and rainbows like the hardcore fans of AEW act like each and every week.
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AEW Dynamite (May 27, 2020) |
1. The Young Bucks and Matt Hardy defeated Private Party and Joey Janela. Isiah Kassidy took a superkick and a More Bang For Your Buck and got pinned. After the match, Matt Hardy helped an injured Marq Quen to the back.
— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) May 28, 2020
— The Butcher and the Blade attacked the Young Bucks in the ring. Then FTR (the Top Guys formerly known as the Revival) drove an old-fashioned truck into the arena and ran to the ring. After a brief staredown with the bucks, they attacked the Butch and Blade.
AEW would be nuts to blow their loads on this highly anticipated feud and match between the Young Bucks and the former members of The Revival from WWE. I'm thinking that the Bucks win the tag titles from Hangman and Omega during their inevitable falling out down the line and THEN feud with FTR for the belts. By that point, FTR should have enough wins garnered underneath their belts to warrant a title opportunity, along with the fact that they should be making sure their ranking system means a damn. Other than that, I can't say that I was really impressed with FTR's debut here. It's hard to judge what impact this move made without a crowd, but with AEW the only other major work in town still in progress during this pandemic, FTR's options were pretty slim anyway. To be honest, I wouldn't have minded seeing them throw down with the guys in ROH and NWA's tag team divisions first before joining AEW, but that's just me being selfish. The Young Bucks vs. The Revival was a match that people have wanted for a very long time and they might as well give it to the people before fans stop caring about it.
2. Brian Cage (with Taz) defeated Lee Johnson. Cage threw Johnson all over the ring, then pinned him with the Drill Claw.
I don't know how to feel about Taz managing Brian Cage yet. I hope it doesn't end up like Jake Roberts with Lance Archer, where it feels like he's cutting promos for himself having a potential future match than getting Archer over. I do applaud AEW for not sleeping on the lost art of wrestling managers.
— Britt Baker, with the help of photos, a cork board, and red string, claimed that her injury wasn’t an accident but a conspiracy, which Kris Statlander, Hikaru Shida, and Nyla Rose are all conspirators, with Aubrey Edwards as the ringleader. Doctor Baker said she’ll be back for All Out.
Dr. @RealBrittBaker will return... until then, she'll be keeping a very, very close eye on all of you. #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/lsVBymvkbF— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) May 28, 2020
I can't wait for the week when Rebel finally snaps and slaps the shit out of Britt Baker. Unfortunately for Mrs. Adam Cole, she won't be returning to the ring until All Out in September. That has to suck for her royally since she was really coming into her own with this heel persona. As for this conspiracy theory with referee Aubrey Edwards, I think they need to drop this. I get that Aubrey Edwards is well liked in and out of the ring in AEW, but there's no reason to be drawing her into the women's division for a storyline. Let her just call the matches.
3. Hikaru Shida defeated Christi Jaynes. Shida hit the Falcon Arrow to pin Jaynes.
Apparently, Christi Jaynes is a regular from AEW Dark. She's not bad but was the perfect opponent to show what the new champion could do. Glad to see that Shida wore her Tifa-inspired ring gear to Dynamite for people who have not seen the PPV could see it here too.
4. Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) and Jimmy Havoc defeated SCU. Penelope Ford averted the SCU Later by grabbing Frankie Kazarian’s leg, and Jimmy Havoc pinned Scorpio Sky.
I just don't get where they are going with pushing this trio of Sabian, Havoc, and Ford. It's increasingly apparent that Havoc is rotten in matches that don't involve weapons in any capacity. SCU did their best to make this passable but it still dragged on a bit too long for my taste.
5. Jungle Boy won the Battle Royal, last eliiminating Orange Cassidy, and became the Number One Contender for the TNT Championship.
I thought they made the right choice with Jungle Boy going over in this match, especially after his performance at the PPV. He's able to instantly bounce back from the loss to MJF. If Jim Cornette was watching this, I'm sure he would have lost his mind when "My Lil' Dog Pockets" AKA Orange Cassidy was one of the final two competitors in the match. I don't like that they are teasing MJF and Warlow potentially falling out either. It's FAR too soon to be thinking about that, especially when they haven't even been together as an unit for that long.
— Vicki Guerrero and a bunch of cheerleaders introduced the Inner Circle for their pep rally. They’ weren’t in the best mood because they lost, but they gave each other presence to cheer themselves up, and Jake Hager read a creepy poem. Jericho said the gift he really wants is Mike Tyson’s head on a platter. Sammy Guevara revealed that the cheese platter and bubbly have already been consumed. Then Mike Tyson entered with his entourage. Jericho demanded an apology for being knocked out by Tyson years ago, and a brawl ensued. The locker room emptied out, and Jericho and Tyson were separated.
When Hager was reading that poem, I kid you not that I was having Heidenreich poem reading flashbacks from SmackDown!. That being said, I thought that segment was pretty corny for the most part, much like a lot of these Inner Circle segments as of late. They've been swinging a lot more misses than hits with these WWE-style comedy segments with Jericho's faction and this one definitely went down as a miss in my eyes. The callout to Mike Tyson seemed to be out of left field until Jericho's reference to their altercation in WWE, back when Tyson was one of those celebrity guest hosts to Monday Night RAW when that was a thing. Tyson was on Jericho's team against D-X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels during one of their MANY reunions over the years) and Tyson turned on Jericho to rejoin D-X. I heard that shit come out of Jericho's mouth and went, "REALLY?" only to see AEW do the poorest facsimile/recreation of the Mike Tyson/Stone Cold Steve Austin face-to-face during the height of the Monday Night Wars.
.@IAmJericho wanted @MikeTyson. He got him AND @vitorbelfort AND @HenryCejudo AND A WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE 😱 #AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/iqvEnqx9Nb— All Elite Wrestling on TNT (@AEWonTNT) May 28, 2020
This had me crying laughing - not just from Tyson struggling to rip his own T-shirt off - but from how comically bad this came across on live television. Tyson had his entourage with him, which included several MMA fighters, who the commentary team failed to identify as well. So is this going to be a filler feud for Fyter Fest (whenever that's going to be booked in this summer) to kill more time for the Blood & Guts Match between The Elite and Inner Circle? In either case, Chris Jericho can deny it all he wants on whatever podcast he goes on or dirt sheet report he blabs to, but AEW is merely rehashing an idea that got mainstream attention in the Attitude Era for AEW. You have to be the special kind of stupid not to see that's what this is. It's not a bad idea to get some mainstream attention on their company. They aren't even a blip on any casual fan's radar in terms of awareness in wrestling. When someone thinks wrestling, they think WWE. With Mike Tyson working a match or two with AEW, that would get some much needed mainstream and casual fans' attention onto their product. That's what AEW desperately needs too to grow (one of many things actually...). They can't be a hardcore niche product for their cult following of fans forever. That's what put ECW under and several promotions just like it over the years.
