TJRWrestling AEW Double or Nothing 2024 Preview
It’s AEW Double or Nothing featuring many title matches, plus a big Anarchy in the Arena tag team match between The Elite and Team AEW.
John: I like the card. I think it’s strong like the first two AEW PPVs this year and I think there will be multiple matches over four stars on this show. I think AEW’s TV shows are inconsistent at times and sometimes they bore me, but when it comes to PPVs, this company usually delivers because they do have a great talent roster.
Happy five-year anniversary to AEW. I’ve reviewed (and paid for) every PPV and nearly every episode of Dynamite, so I’m truly a day one fan. I wouldn’t say I’m a hardcore fan and I certainly have my issues that I mention often, but I am happy for AEW’s success. Most importantly, I’m glad that so many wrestlers can make a good living along with other people who work for this company.
I’m going to be brief with a lot of my thoughts because it’s a double PPV weekend for me since I had WWE King and Queen of the Ring on Saturday and now Double or Nothing is on Sunday. Between the two previews, reviews, and news writing shifts, I’m exhausted already. The good thing for you is I’m not here alone.
Joining me for the preview is our AEW Collision reviewer Gino Lewis. If you need info on how to order AEW Double or Nothing on PPV, check out AEW’s website for info on how to watch it in your country. There are different options depending on where you live. I usually use AEW’s Youtube channel. It works very well.
Gino: AEW’s initial Pay Per View was Double or Nothing back in 2019. All In has since become the company’s biggest show by a good margin. Double or Nothing can still be considered one of the flagships for the brand. I’ve enjoyed the buildup for the show quite a bit. Storylines in AEW have gotten progressively better in my opinion. The in-ring product hasn’t been what it once was recently. I don’t think AEW is in anywhere near as bad of shape as a lot of people make it out to be. That said a recent episode of Dynamite had a rating that was less than half of its debut on October 2nd, 2019. Attendance for their weekly television shows is about half of what it once was as well. There really isn’t a way to spin those as good things. Even for someone who bills themself as All Elite Gino.
While AEW may be slumping with their television shows, that isn’t the case for their pay per views. They always deliver. Sunday should be no different. The TV matches have become far too predictable but there are a few matches at Double or Nothing that could go either way. I wouldn’t be shocked if there are a couple surprise results as well. I enjoyed AEW’s first two PPV’s of 2024 tremendously. The top of the card for DON isn’t as stacked as Revolution or Dynasty but top to bottom it might be deeper. I’d say there are seven matches that should be near the four-star level or above. The matches I’m looking most forward to are Anarchy in the Arena, the Barbed Wire Steel Cage match and Mercedes Mone’s debut against Willow Nightingale.
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Unified AEW World Trios Tag Team Championships: Bang Bang Gang – Jay White, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn vs. Death Triangle – Pac, Rey Fenix & Penta El Zero Miedo
(This became AEW Trios Tag Team Title match because Death Triangle beat The Gunns on Collision.)
Gino: I would have preferred this be a singles match between Jay White and Pac. The storyline started a few weeks ago and could really heat up if given enough time. I thought Pac could face Jay one on one and have Lucha Bros return to help Pac get the win. That could set up a Trios Title match on Dynamite that would be as meaningful as any Trios match in quite a while. I’d like to see Death Triangle win. Jay White should be doing bigger and better things although he is making the best out of his spot in the company. I could see either team winning. I’ll go with Bullet Club Gold retaining.
Winners and still Unified Trios Champions: Bang Bang Gang – Jay White, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn
John: I really don’t have much interest in this. Jay White has fallen off big time in the last six months after being an AEW World Title contender and now he’s in a Trios Tag Team holding a bunch of titles that don’t seem like a big deal. I do like the Death Triangle guys a lot. Anyway, I don’t see this match as a big deal, nor do I care much about the result. I’ll go with the Bang Bang Gang (what a terrible name, by the way) with the win.
Winners: Bang Bang Gang – Jay White, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn
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FTW Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Hook vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Gino: I thought we had seen the end of Chris Jericho as someone I wanted to see week after week. He had become very stale but he has won me over again with his Learning Tree gimmick. Chris is truly an amazing performer who can recreate himself time and time again like no one else. The story between Hook and Shibata is fairly interesting. It seems Samoa Joe may get involved with them. It’s a shame Joe isn’t on the card. Perhaps he gets involved here. Either way, it seems likely Jericho is going to retain. I don’t know if it will happen at DON but I think Scorpio Sky is going to join The Learning Tree soon.
Winner and still For the World Champion: Chris Jericho
John: The company that has way too many people titles wants me to care about this meaningless title too? I don’t. Jericho is doing okay as the over the top motivator who is very sarcastic about everything he does, but I wouldn’t say it’s that interesting. I assume Shibata is there for Jericho to pin him and that Hook will continue to try to get his revenge against Jericho in the future. Big Bill will probably help Jericho win here.
Winner: Chris Jericho
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Trent Beretta vs. Orange Cassidy
Gino: This storyline had a lot of potential. It was hurt badly by the biggest spot in the feud which saw Orange Cassidy no sell a piledriver on the steel steps in true carny fashion. It was the type of spot that makes me embarrassed to be a wresting fan. Trent’s heel turn has been effective for him. He ended the career of his Best Friend and tag team partner Chuck Taylor. Don Callis is involved in this seemingly backing Cassidy. It doesn’t seem like that’s an alliance that will last. I thought this would have a stipulation. I can see why it doesn’t since there are already two huge gimmick matches on the card. It probably isn’t the end of the rivalry either. Trent winning and joining The Don Callis Family seems like the most likely result.
Winner: Trent Beretta
John: At least there is a long backstory here since they were allies for nearly five years before Trent got jealous of Orange’s success and turned on him. Trent has been in AEW forever and hasn’t won a title, so he should be angry. I think logically Trent should get the win here, but in AEW logic doesn’t apply and Tony just goes with his favorite wrestlers like Orange Cassidy. Sorry Trent.
Winner: Orange Cassidy
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AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) vs. Serena Deeb
Gino: The buildup for this was a bit wonky. Serena was positioned as the babyface. It wasn’t working at all. Toni Storm’s gimmick is so over the top and she plays it so well that the crowd really wants to cheer her. It seems AEW may have gotten it right on Dynamite that saw Deeb lay down a very heelish beatdown on Storm while the crowd booed her. I expect Toni to be cheered heavily and possibly continue as a face moving forward. A feud between Deonna Purrazzo and Toni would make a lot more sense now that Deonna is a heel. Mercedes Mone also seems to be in heel mode. Storm winning is one of the biggest locks on the show.
Winner and still AEW Women’s World Champion: “Timeless” Toni Storm
John: The story was all messed up here. Serena started out as the face, then she did this tearful promo about having a health issue and AEW fans didn’t give a shit about it, so now she’s the heel while Storm is a face. Storm should have been a face months ago because the fans cheer her since she’s one of the few characters in the company. Anyway, I think the person that takes the title from Storm will be her ally Mariah May, so I don’t see the title change coming yet.
Winner: Toni Storm
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AEW International Championship: Roderick Strong (c) vs. Will Ospreay
Gino: Speaking of locks. It seems that we’ll see Will Ospreay win his first Championship in AEW at Double or Nothing. I suppose there could be some shenanigans where Strong gets himself get DQ’d or something like that. Mostly due to Adam Cole’s injury the Undisputed Kingdom group just hasn’t worked out. It’s probably time to pull the plug until Cole is healthy. AEW should find something else to do with Wardlow as well. I can’t say I think this will be at the level of Will’s PPV matches against Takeshita and especially Bryan Danielson. I can say it should be incredible like every big Will Ospreay match has been and will be for a long time. In my mind, there is no doubt Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world. He’ll show that on Sunday.
Winner AND NEW AEW International Champion: Will Ospreay
John: Will Ospreay has yet to lose a singles match since signing with AEW full time and I don’t think Roderick Strong is going to be the guy to beat him. If it was me, I wouldn’t give Ospreay a shot at this title, which is the equivalent of about the fourth most important men’s title after the AEW World Title, TNT Title and I think the Continental Title is ahead of it too. Long term booking should be Ospreay going after the World Title at All In London in his home country. Instead, he’s going to win the fourth biggest male singles title? Why? I don’t get it. Strong is a good worker and Ospreay is amazing, so it should be a great match. No doubt about that.
Winner AND NEW AEW International Champion: Will Ospreay
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Jon Moxley vs. Konosuke Takeshita
(This is an IWGP World Heavyweight Title Eliminator Match meaning Takeshita has to win to get a title shot at Moxley or whoever the champion is.)
Gino: I really like that AEW made this an Eliminator Match instead of a Title Match. It adds a lot of intrigue because we all know Moxley isn’t going to lose the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship so quickly to someone who isn’t on the New Japan roster. It seems a lot of people are assuming Takeshita will win because of the stipulation. I’m not so sure. I hope he does get the win because he could really use it. Takeshita is so talented. I wouldn’t say he’s booked poorly in AEW. I wouldn’t say he’s booked well either and he should be. I’d be surprised if this isn’t a four-star level match and Moxley doesn’t bleed. He should bleed in a match of this caliber. It could go either way but I’m picking the ACE of AEW.
Winner: IWGP Heavyweight Champion – Jon Moxley
John: Jon Moxley rarely loses and I doubt NJPW wants to see him lose a non-title to a wrestler that isn’t affiliated with NJPW. As great as Takeshita is, if you’re NJPW and you have a say in this then you would never want a non-NJPW to beat your champion even if it is a match without a title. Takeshita will come close a bunch of times, but I don’t see him getting the win here. It should be one of the better matches on the show.
Winner: Jon Moxley
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TNT Championship Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match: Adam Copeland (c) vs. Malakai Black
Gino: I’ve enjoyed the story for this match the most of any on the card. Malakai has wanted to bring the dark side out of Cope. He finally did that on Dynamite where we saw a classic Brood style blood bath in the middle of the ring. I thought that spot was excellent. The rivalry is fitting of a first time ever in AEW Barded Wire Steel Cage Match. It should be nuts. And bloody. This is the match with the least predictable outcome for me. It would make sense for Cope to win and overcome the head games Black has been playing with him. It also makes sense for Malakai to win and finally get that big singles push so many have been clamoring for. That makes more sense to me. Copeland going into full crazy heel mode and joining House of Black could be excellent. It could be the storyline that brings he and Christian back together down the line. I’m very excited for this one!
Winner AND NEW TNT Champion: Malakai Black
John: This will be a bloody battle where the older guy puts over the younger guy. If that doesn’t happen I’ll be surprised. In many ways, Malakai Black is one of the worst booked wrestlers in the history of the company (a title now held by Ricky Starks and Wardlow) considering where he should be on the card and the fact that has done very little that’s interesting in the last three years. Trios tag team matches just don’t interest me that. Finally, they are pushing Black as a singles guy, which is what they should have been doing with him since day one. Copeland is genuinely having a lot of fun in AEW because he can probably pitch whatever he wants, the boss Tony Khan will be like “yes sir, I saw you wrestle 25 years ago, I love you, yadda yadda yadda” and off Copeland goes to put out awesome content at a consistent level. They’ll probably go 20+ minutes and it will be a bloody mess.
Winner AND NEW TNT Champion: Malakai Black
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TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale (c) vs. Mercedes Mone
Gino: I’m fired up for this one as well! I realize most wrestling fans aren’t as familiar with the backstory so I get it if people aren’t as excited. New Japan Pro Wrestling never had a Women’s division until 2022 when Kairi Sane became the inaugural IWGP Women’s Champion. She lost that title to Mercedes Mone a few months later. Mone didn’t hold the title long with the idea that New Japan would create a second Women’s Championship, The Strong Women’s Champion. Mercedes was meant to win that title and become the face of New Japan Pro Wrestling in America.
Resurgence is a big show New Japan puts on every year near where I live in Southern California. My wife Amber and I have attended it twice including this year a couple weeks ago. In 2023 Resurgence focused on Women’s wrestling. There was a tournament for The Strong Women’s Championship. The semi-final matches Mone vs Stephanie Vaquer and Willow against Momo Kohgo were awesome! It set up Mone against Willow in the first ever New Japan show to feature women in the main event. I can honestly say it was by far the best display of women’s wrestling I’ve ever seen. The table was set for Mone to win and become the biggest star outside of WWE or AEW man or women. Only it didn’t work out that way.
Mercedes fell from the top rope to the outside about 7-8 minutes into the match and shattered her ankle. She was able to finish the match but they had to end it early. It was on its way to being an absolute classic but obviously fell well short of that. It truly was one of the most tragic injuries in wrestling that I can remember. It scrapped plans in two major companies in addition to the obvious harm it did to Mone’s career. They have referenced that match in AEW but I think they could have made it a much bigger focus in the storyline. I don’t think Mercedes has been booked well by AEW. I would have had Mercedes face Willow on her first night in the company back at Big Business in Boston. If she wasn’t healthy enough to have a match back then, they should have waited to debut her until she was.
Waiting two months to have Mone wrestle quelled all that momentum she had. In a weird way that helps the quality of this match for me. I don’t think Mone would be hurt that badly by losing her first match. It would instantly make Willow the biggest star in the Women’s division along with Toni Storm. Mercedes could go full heel mode and chase Toni for the AEW Women’s World Championship which is probably how she should have been booked in the first place. I would be thrilled if Willow won. My wife Amber was a huge Sasha Banks fan and is still a big fan of Mone. Even she wants Willow to win. She is the type of performer fans actually root for. Am I willing to go out on a limb and pick the upset? No, but AEW has done a good job making me think it could happen.
Winner AND NEW AEW TBS Champion: Mercedes Mone
John: Remember when AEW used to push the ranking system as being important and how somebody had to earn a title shot because of the ranking system? It seems to have disappeared after making a brief comeback this year. I say that’s a good thing because pro wrestling is a scripted form of entertainment. You don’t need it. I am giving credit for AEW putting Mercedes Mone in a title match in her first match. The problem is she’s going after the secondary women’s title and not the Women’s World Title, which is the one she should be going for. If Mone is the “CEO” and is this big egomaniac, then why is she coming for the secondary women’s title? I get that Willow injured her (not really, it was a fluke thing) and Mone is going for revenge, but this hasn’t been booked like a revenge story. Willow is a face and Mone has come across as an egotistical person that thinks she’s better than everybody. This is one of my problems with AEW. These stories are right in front of them, they should be easy to tell and then they manage to confuse us.
Anyway, I don’t think AEW is going to pay Mercedes Mone a ridiculous amount of money to work for them just to have her lose in her first title match. Willow is very likable and a good wrestler who has improved a lot in the last few years, but I think AEW should absolutely put this title on Mone in this match.
Winner AND NEW TBS Champion: Mercedes Mone
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AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland (c) vs. Christian Cage
Gino: I’ve liked the storyline. It was the classic booking we see for a challenger like Christian who has no chance of winning. Cage got the better of Strickland week after week to make him look like a threat. Swerve didn’t look particularly strong during a lot of it and I know some people didn’t like that. I thought it was the right way to build up the match. It’s okay for a babyface champion to look vulnerable sometimes and it was necessary to make Christian feel viable. Booking compelling matchups early in a long title reign is challenging. Swerve should have a long run so Christian makes perfect sense as the first PPV challenger. He just came off a long title reign of his own as a very successful TNT Champion. That said, we’ll definitely see more intriguing PPV opponents down the line. Swerve winning is the biggest lock on the show.
Winner and still AEW World Champion: Swerve Strickland
John: I think there’s very little chance of Swerve Strickland losing here. Swerve just won the AEW World Title one month ago, then AEW brought back Christian Cage after taking months off and named him as the World Title challenger without winning a match to earn it. They did that because Cage is one of the best heels in the company who has done a terrific job of getting heat on himself while getting the fans to cheer for Swerve even more. This feud is just here to help Swerve gain more popularity as a babyface champion by beating a credible, talented, veteran heel. The match should be very entertaining and the champion will retain.
Winner: Swerve Strickland
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Anarchy In The Arena Match: The Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Jack Perry, Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson) vs. Team AEW (Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood)
Gino: I saw the original one of these in person. I wouldn’t call it my favorite match ever because it’s obviously not a match. It’s ANARCHY! It was as much fun as I’ve had for anything I’ve ever seen at a wrestling show. It’s like a rock concert meets a wrestling match. One thing I’d like to see is TK those deep pockets to buy rights to songs and play music the whole match. Bands like Nirvana, Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Motley Crue and Pearl Jam would be perfect. You could see it coming a few weeks ago because Anarchy has taken place at Double or Nothing the last two years. There was a lineup change with Darby Allin replacing Eddie Kingston who suffered a brutal leg injury at the New Japan Resurgence show I attended. It looked bad live and even worse on TV.
The storyline started in controversial fashion when the footage of CM Punk from All In was aired on Dynamite. That was followed up by Jack Perry returning and attacking Tony Khan leading to the Young Bucks hitting the Meltzer or TK Driver on TK. Tony was then shown on ESPN and NFL Network wearing a neck brace during the NFL draft. He managed to get AEW a ton of free publicity but then had to compare WWE to Harvey Weinstein. Most people who talk about wrestling thought all of it was terrible for AEW. The numbers suggest that is correct. Ratings are way down since all of this went down. What is frustrating to me as an AEW fan is that I think it’s been a brilliant storyline. The Young Bucks are doing an incredible job as annoying heel authority figures. I can understand the negativity surrounding it. A lot of it has been poorly executed and seemed more anti-WWE than pro-AEW. If the footage of CM Punk was only used as a way to bring back Perry it would have worked better. It was an effective way to bring Jack back.
Had they done a different move than the TK Driver that looked terrible like the way I used to Tombstone my younger brother it would have worked better. Had TK not mentioned Harvey Weinstein he could have left draft weekend with nothing but good vibes and everyone talking about AEW. The match itself will be a crazy brawl beyond what we normally see in wrestling. After Khan stopped being involved the story has made sense and developed well. The Elite taking out Omega was nicely done. Kenny using his EVP powers to counter the Elite and make the match was a perfect way to set it up. Darby Allin returning from being hit by a bus wielding a flame thrower like the madman he is was bad ass. Everyone looks strong entering the match. The Elite winning seems somewhat obvious but I don’t think it’s a complete lock. We could see some surprise returns or debuts. Motor City Machine Guns, Hangman Page maybe? Whether you call it a match or not this should be the best thing on the show.
Winners: The Elite (Kazuchika Okada, Jack Perry, Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson)
John: I think this is going to be the best match on the show. There are a lot of talented people in this match and the atmosphere should help a lot too. If it’s me, I’m putting this match on last and there’s no question about it. I like Team AEW a lot with FTR as the company’s best team, Allin is a beloved face and Danielson is so easy to like. The Elite guys are doing a tremendous job as heels. Better than I thought.
What I really like about this match is that unlike most AEW TV matches and a lot of their PPV matches, this match is tough to predict. I really could see the heels picking up the win to give them more momentum as this new edition of The Elite, but I also think Team AEW picking up big victory is an uplifting story too. Remember, we are supposed to be sad that The Elite beat up Tony Khan (please never take bumps again) so we are supposed to want the babyfaces to avenge the pain and suffering of the son of a billionaire who got his dad to buy him a wrestling company. The poor thing.
I feel like they are going to build to a Danielson-Okada rematch, so I’m going with Danielson getting the win for his team in what should be a bloody, chaotic fight all over the arena. I think Danielson will get the win over Jack Perry. If The Elite wins then it will be because they gain a new wrestler for their stable, but I like the group of just four people. That’s why I’m going with Team AEW to win. The babyfaces win here, then the heels do a vicious attack on Dynamite next week and then they set up the Blood & Guts match from there.
Winners: Team AEW – Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin, Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood
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BONUS TOPICS!
The Match I’m Looking Forward To The Most
Gino: Anarchy in the Arena.
John: Anarchy in the Arena.
The Match I Care About The Least
Gino: N/A, there isn’t a match I’m not looking forward to.
John: I’ll go with Toni Storm vs. Serena Deeb. The build has been okay, but not great. They should have a solid match.
Longest Match
Gino: Anarchy in the Arena at around 38 minutes.
John: Anarchy in the Arena going about 35 minutes.
Shortest Match
Gino: Toni Storm vs Serena Deeb at under 10 minutes.
John: Jericho vs. Hook vs. Shibata around 12 minutes.
Excitement Level on a Scale of 1-10 (1 being low, 10 being high)
Gino: It’s an 8.5/10 for me. It’s a stacked card like always for an AEW PPV. I’ve liked the build-up to it a lot. Every match has a storyline with most of them being pretty good. The in-ring action should be incredible all night. It may not have the marquee event like Sting’s last match at Revolution or Will Ospreay vs Bryan Danielson at Dynasty. Top to bottom it’s the strongest card for an AEW PPV this year.
John: I’ll go with a 7.5 out of 10. I certainly could end up rating the show higher than that if the big matches deliver. Some matches have good stories while others have certainly had a bizarre direction at times. The match quality will carry it as usual for AEW. I hope there are some surprises too.
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In Closing
I’ll be back with a review of AEW Double or Nothing on TJRWrestling.net on Sunday night.
You can also tweet me @johnreport. Gino is on Twitter/X @GeenoEvel86 as well. If you want to send an email, send it to me at mrjohncanton@gmail.com as well. Thanks for reading.