Four Burning Questions: AEW Double or Nothing

AEW held its annual Double or Nothing pay-per-view event this past Sunday from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The early reactions to the show were mixed as some called the flow of the event from starting off fantastic, to some matches that could have been saved for Dynamite to ending the event with their double Main Event, which delivered and pushed one of the best storylines in wrestling forward.

Double Or Nothing Results

Here’s a rundown of the results from this year’s Double Or Nothing:

The Hardys (Jeff and Matt Hardy) and Hook defeated Ethan Page and The Gunns (Austin and Colten Gunn) Trios match

Orange Cassidy (c) last eliminated Swerve Strickland to win the 21-man Blackjack Battle Royale for the AEW International Championship

Adam Cole (with Roderick Strong) defeated Chris Jericho (with the Jericho Appreciation Society) Unsanctioned match

FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) (c) defeated Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal (with Karen Jarrett, Sonjay Dutt & Satnam Singh) tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship

Wardlow (c) defeated Christian Cage Ladder match for the AEW TNT Championship

Toni Storm (with Saraya and Ruby Soho) defeated Jamie Hayter (c) singles match for the AEW Women’s Championship

The House of Black (Malaki Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews) (c) defeated The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) and Billy Gunn Open House Rules Trios match for the AEW World Trios Championship

Jade Cargill (c) (with “Smart” Mark Sterling & Leila Grey) defeated Taya Valkyrie singles match for the AEW TBS Championship

Kris Statlander defeated Jade Cargill (c) (with “Smart” Mark Sterling & Leila Grey) singles match for the AEW TBS Championship

MJF (c) defeated Sammy Guerava, Darby Allin & “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry AEW Pillars 4 Way match for the AEW World Championship

Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) defeated The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson & “Hangman” Adam Page Anarchy In The Arena match

Who will be the one to dethrone Orange Cassidy for the championship?

Going into this Battle Royale, many thought this is where Orange Cassidy reign would have ended. With facing off against 21 other men, some of whom are top stars in their own right, like Ricky Starks, Jay White, Swerve Strickland, and Keith Lee. It also featured possibly four of the best luchadors in the world Bandido, Kommander, and the current ROH World Tag Team champions The Lucha Bros (Penta & Rey Fenix).

Anyone of these men could have won and been a great successor to follow OC’s reign. As in my preview article, most of these competitors are already in feuds and did not need/require the championship to push their feuds forward. The match itself was the best possible opener the event could have. One of the many things AEW exceeds at is these multi-person matches. The pacing, the eliminations, the hints at current feuds within the match.

With OC retaining, and the next big event being Forbidden Door 2 and after last year’s event, which saw him going against Will Ospreay in what many thought to be one of the best matches of the event. This year, I hope to see OC compete with someone from New Japan Pro Wrestling again, and the fact that in the media scrum, OC mentioned Zack Sabre Jr as a possible opponent, I cannot see anyone else better suited to face off against OC.

We will be getting the best in-ring technician in ZSJ versus OC in what could possibly be another match of the night. If American audiences find ZSJ wrestling boring/not interesting, who better to match him up with than OC, who will always make any match he is in entertaining?

What is next for Jade Cargill? How will she fit into the Women’s World championship picture?

Jade Cargill went into Double or Nothing looking to claim and improve her record to a remarkable 60-0. She did just that by defeating Taya Valkyrie in what I believe was the toughest match in her reign. What Jade has done for the TBS championship is an accomplishment in itself. She became synonymous with the championship and reached a point where she was bigger than the championship. I mentioned in my preview article that I did not see a scenario where she loses the championship in singles competition, as her carrying her streak into the Women’s World championship picture would be a great way of incorporating her.

What I did not see was having a returning Kris Statlander confront and challenge Jade for the championship right after her match after “Smart” Mark Sterling issued an open challenge. This was a great way to get the championship off of Jade, as it does keep her looking strong even though suffering her first loss in a singles competition in her AEW career.

Now the question is, how does Jade fit into the Women’s World Championship? Does she get shot into the picture right away? How many losses can she have before she loses that aura of dominance she held while being the TBS champion? With the ongoing feud between Toni Storm, the now current and 2x Women’s World Champion, and former champion Jamie Hayter which will run through the summer,

I think you must have Jade slowly climb into the picture, as many assume Hayter’s rematch will take place at All In London. which will leave Jade with no championship opportunity until after the summer. Once that rematch takes place, you can insert Jade into the championship as she has been kept away from the other top women stars in the company. Have her face off against the likes of Thunder Rosa, Britt Baker, Saraya, and eventually the champion, whether it’s Jamie or Toni. Jade has proven over this reign she is ready to take on these women and show why now is the perfect time to wrestle the top women performers in the company.

MJF is on another level, who gets the next shot after he masterclass against the other AEW Pillars?

MJF is by far the best professional wrestler at the moment. It is hard to say anyone has the total package like himself. He has the looks and the mic skills, and after his last two PPV matches, it is hard to argue he does not possess the in-ring skills. Many assumed he would not be dropping the championship in this AEW Pillars Four Way, we all knew each competitor would do their best to steal the show, which they did as the match layout was done beautifully, with callbacks to feuds each have had with one another to the homage each did to their respective mentors.

Now, with his championship reign still intact, the question of “who the next victim to this reign of terror MJF will be” is currently on. After the event on Sunday, a lot of the usual names are currently occupied with storylines. Adam Cole still has unfinished business with Chris Jericho, so both are out. The Elite/BCC feud has the 3 of the last 4 world champions occupied. He just beat the other 3 pillars at once. MJF also stated he doesn’t have to wrestle at Forbidden Door 2.

This leaves him without a dance partner until all or most of these feuds wrap up. Now, can he just stay on the sidelines until a worthy opponent presents itself? Sure, but I think with the other top contenders busy, that we have not seen the last of the 4 Pillars feuding, we can go the route of MJF/Darby Allin as Darby was the one to eat the pin by a headlock takedown harkening back to their feud.

Sammy Guerava could be next before he becomes preoccupied with being a father after the announcement that he and his wife Tay Conti are expecting now. The lost piece of this feud will be Jungle Boy Jack Perry, as I do believe he is the most to learn from this feud which will only help him down the road, so it will be a while before he gets a singles match with him for the championship.

The biggest question I have for this championship reign is who MJF will face off against at the next two big events: Forbidden Door 2 and All in London. Could we see him wrestle any of the New Japan Pro Wrestling talents? Naito? Current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Sanada? Possibly Okada if he is not inserted into The Elite/BCC feud? Or could we finally get the payoff that many had just months ago of MJF beating a returning CM Punk to fully cement his championship reign, only time will tell.

The BCC and The Elite are heading to Blood and Guts, but who are the mysterious partner/partners for The Elite to even the odds and how does it affect the current trajectory of events?

The main event of this year’s Double or Nothing event was the Anarchy in the Arena match between The Elite and the Blackpool Combat Club. Where the match lacked violence and intensity, it did make up for it with the storytelling. This is the best storyline AEW has done. All the layers upon layers of story this feud has cultivated dating back to the breakup of The Elite. To the journey, Hangman Adam Page had to the AEW World Championship held by Kenny Omega at the time. To Hangman’s two matches against Bryan Danielson and the reach Texas Deathmatch against Jon Moxley at Revolution.

All men involved have pushed themselves and the feud to a fever pitch. Many did not see this feud ending with this match as it still has more story to tell, like the involvement of Don Callis and now his newest recruit, Konosuke Takeshita, who ultimately cost The Elite the match when he hit Kenny with a jumping knee strike. After the event went off the air, Kenny grabbed a microphone and did mention having one, if not two, non-AEW friends he could bring to even the odds.

This led to many speculating that a debuting Kota Ibushi side with his former Golden Lovers tag partner. Could we see the reunion of the Golden Elite taking on the BCC? Or was he referring to long-time New Japan Pro Wrestling rival Okada? Who will be facing two members of the BCC, Claudio Castagnoli and Jon Moxley. How soon can we expect this feud to wrap up? If remembered correctly, Kenny Omega does have an IWGP United States championship match already planned for Forbidden Door 2, does that match get pushed back even further?

This feud will likely be settled in the Blood and Guts match, but when will this match take place? With the next two big events being the yearly AEW x NJPW show and their debut show in London, one has to wonder where the match can take place. This feud is bigger than both events as you have probably the top faces and heels of the company in the feud however, with that being said and the trajectory they are currently on, one will think that these men will continue to feud past both events as this story still has many layers to it as after Sunday’s event many will want to see a combination of Omega vs Takeshita, Ibushi vs Takeshita, Omega vs Yuta, among many others.

Here’s to AEW knowing how they will plan out the rest of the summer with this feud as they have endless possibilities but with little time as they have pitched themselves into a corner with the next shows being Forbidden Door 2 and All In London.

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