AEW Double or Nothing 2025 Discussion

[RedTwoster]

43 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

(and for the men’s match I had no idea who might win until the moment it actually ended - and now I wonder what they’re thinking for Ospreay in Texas).

Honestly, I was firmly in the camp of feeling like both Owen finals were predictable, but being completely OK with that. I’ve gone from feeling strongly that Hangman should end Moxley’s run, to thinking it probably should be Ospreay - and I was certain he would win. Jey Uso winning the Rumble probably shocked me more, but this was a real jaw-dropper for me and was one of my personal most surprising results in recent memory. 

43 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

You can’t have everything, I guess. But if I can have Main Event Willow Nightingale and Hangman Page back where he belongs then that’s okay.

I thought Willow beating Mone for the TBS title felt like the logical route, but I’d love to see Hayter defeat Mone to win that title at Forbidden Door. They had a tremendous match, although the same could be said for almost every Mercedes match since she joined AEW, outside of the one with Britt Baker. 

Edited May 26, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Kamran]

I thought that was pretty great! I watched the entire show and didn't skip anything.

Some random thoughts:

- Loved the stage, something a little different plus it made the event feel more important.

- Nice to see Harley/Anna and Megan/Penelope wearing matching gear, I can see the tag titles coming soon, maybe crowning them at All In?

- Could we be getting Samoa Joe vs Hook at All In?

- I enjoyed the Stretcher Match and was wondering how they were going to up the ante with Anarchy in the Arena, I absolutely loved that match, had so many good moments, everyone looked good.

- There were a few instances during the show where things didn't go quite right, e.g. the table break during Osprey/Hangman, I liked how they still replayed them with Escalibur adding insight to essentially cover for them.

- I thought the hype video for Osprey/Hangman was excellent, I was not expecting the special entrances but they just added to the hype.
 

[Doog]

It was a good show and I enjoyed it, but they really need to take a break between matches like.

If they're going to insist on 4 and a half hour PPVs, fine, but it can't just be 20 minute match, 60 seconds for a quick celebration and video package for next match then straight into it. It's exhausting  match after match with no let up.

Delighted Hangman won, hope he is the one to dethrone Mox, he has to be. Ospreay doesn't have to main event Forbidden Door or win a title, so I have faith theyll go with it.

All In shaping up to be really good, interesting to see where Ospreay goes from here, and also the main event. Rumours that it's Storm/Monė which is why WWE have put Evolution the night after. Would be happy with either but feel Hangman has to main if he's conquering Mox.

[The King Of Swing]

To my surprise, Bayne & Ford Vs. Cameron & Jay, was a surprisingly solid tag team match. Matching gear, for the win. 

Mone Vs. Hayter was really good, but I wasn't a fan of the finish. Especially Hayter mugging for the crowd/camera, which just screamed 'I'm gonna lose soon'. 

Immediately lost what little interest I had in Storm Vs. Mina. Good match but the result was set in stone and in the end I just hoped for something interesting to happen post match, but just got Storm and Mina kissing.

As good as AEW's women's division is, I'm just not interested in the title scene, at all.

FTR Vs. Nigel & Garcia, was decent. 

Stretcher match was better than I expected. Great fun. 

Okada/Speedball, Hurt Syndicate/Son's of Texas and Paragon/Callis Family, were definitely matches that happened. Spent most of that time browsing on my phone. 

Anarchy in The Arena was a good laugh and surprisingly not that bloody.

Cracking main event.

7/10. Had fun but probably won't watch again, other than maybe Anarchy in The Arena and the stretcher match. 

[organizedkaos]

1 hour ago, The King Of Swing said:

Mone Vs. Hayter was really good, but I wasn't a fan of the finish. Especially Hayter mugging for the crowd/camera, which just screamed 'I'm gonna lose soon'. 

Genuinely thoughts the finish might be a perfect botch (or, if it was planned quietly very creative). Mercedes accidentally spikes Hayter on the roll up and thus squeaks a win whilst the opponent is momentarily stunned. It's almost a fluke win (and just plays much better than the standard roll up equivalent)

[Supremo]

On 5/24/2025 at 11:54 AM, Supremo said:

Just fucking look at this beautiful, broken, lost man.

Just fucking look at this beautiful, healing, recovering man. We’re proud of you.

You’ll be shocked to hear I loved the finish to that main event. Pro-wrestling is my favourite medium and Hangman Adam Page is my favourite character ever in pro-wrestling. To say I punched the air would be an understatement. I gave the air a fucking Shoryuken!

Excellent show. The way momentum is building like a snowball rolling down a hill for this company is incredible. We’re watching in real time what can be achieved if you knuckle down, put the work in and ignore the endless bait from the competition. It’s no wonder WWE are counter-programming every pay per view possible. I’d be shitting myself too. The pendulum has swung to an almost unbelievable degree.

Fantastic opener between Hayter and Mercedes. First time since she returned last Summer where Jamie Hayter looked like that unstoppable force again. Brilliant finish. Mercedes should introduce that cradle-DDT-roll-up thing as her new finisher going forward. Never ever do the Mone Maker again.

Fun tag match with FTR, McGuinness and Garcia. FTR feel completely locked in and fully refreshed as heels. Pair of pricks. Cash made me laugh arguing he had his fingers crossed when McGuinness made him apologise to Schiavone. All In seems too soon to do the inevitable FTR vs. Christian and Copeland match, but All Out in September, in Toronto? Hell yes!

I know it’s hardly saying much, but Briscoe vs. Ricochet is probably the best Stretcher Match of all time. Ricochet continues to deliver. He’s the perfect heel in 2025. Horrible little incel. One minute you can laugh at him being bullied or running away from danger like a coward, and then the next he becomes the most disturbing, violent maniac. Him slamming Briscoe’s head into the stretcher until his face exploded was horrific. Great little match. Genuinely think Ricochet could headline a pay per view as a heel World Title contender before the year ends. I’ll never get over us living in the dimension where John Cena is a complete washout as a heel, whereas Ricochet is setting the world on fire.

Hurt Syndicate vs. Sons of Texas was probably the low point of the show, but still a completely acceptable match. Infinitely better than The Outrunners shitting the bed last month. However, whoever suggested Double J replacing Sammy Guevara in this team, I’ll never forgive you. It’s all I can think about now. The Last Outlaws would rule so much. Fun MJF bullshit. I’m hooked to see where this goes.

Okada vs. Speedball is probably Okada’s best match in AEW thus far. An absolute blast of a match, with an amazing finish. Speedball has been a tremendous signing for this company. This Okada fella is actually quite good when he tries as well, isn’t he? Worth every penny of that thirteen million contract he’s definitely on. Okada vs. Omega at All In might actually live up to expectations.

As an aside, I wonder if the big ,”AEW” logo on the ring canvas was a deliberate choice made to set them apart from WWE having a million adverts all over everything these days. It definitely encourages the comparison. A nice subtle way of setting you apart, when your competition is seemingly putting advertisers, executives and profit over the actual audience.

Anarchy in the Arena is the best gimmick match of the last decade. This was probably my least favourite Anarchy in the Arena yet and it was still five stars, a match of the year candidate, and probably the most I’ll smile watching any match all year. It’s the fucking best every single time. Distilled fun. Pure joy. A party you want to attend. Some of the highlights from what I can remember.

- Willow Nightingale proving why she was the most important re-signing in company history. In a company where almost everyone is phased out and enters the free market, I’m not at all surprised that they immediately offered Willow the world to stay. She’s the best. Such an amazing dichotomy seeing her come out in the heart-embroidered dungarees, to deliver such violence. Like a CZW Ms. Rachel. I am in love with this woman.

- Loved that they’ve moved on from using entrance music and it’s now just whatever music the talent can come up with, that Tony can licence. So amazing watching the crowd pop, bounce and dance to the music as all hell broke loose around them. Looked like so much fun. I’ve had, “Bodies,” by Drowning Pool repeating on Spotify all day. Long may it continue. Next year they should have an actual DJ on the stage, with wrestlers putting countless Millennial requests in, like it’s Fresher’s Week. I want the Young Bucks ordering them to play, “Mmmbop,” by Hanson, only for Kenny Omega to fly in with some V-Triggers, switching it to, “Last Resort,” by Papa Roach.  

- Swerve Strickland is the coolest man in the business. A man born for this match, he did not disappoint. Completely stole the show. Wildly creative nutcase. He had me laughing out loud hitting people in the dick with the Stapler Gun, like they were Marv in Home Alone 2.

- We didn’t get Eddie Kingston (and what does it say about the momentum of this company that they’re able to save that for a later date), but we did get Mark Briscoe possessed by the ghost of Eddie Kingston, which is the next best thing. Wouldn’t be against these great men eventually becoming a Tag Team.

- Really funny the way all the heels were thrown into the ambulance and unable to escape, as if it was the Phantom Zone. I wonder if they found Shaq in there.

That final shot of all the goodies celebrating on the ramp was something else. What a crop of genuine, earnest babyfaces this company has at their disposal right now. Hell yeah.

Incredible Wrestlemania-style entrances aside, the Main Event worried me for the first ten to fifteen minutes. It was all good stuff, but I just wasn’t feeling anything. I started getting Danielson vs. Okada vibes, where these two undeniable greats don’t have anywhere near the chemistry you’d expect. Whole thing turned around in the second half though, becoming a masterpiece. Ospreay coming in cocky, getting impatient and losing his tempter, whilst Hangman stayed focused, I could feel my blood fizzing at the realisation that he might win. By the final few nearfalls my head had completely fallen off and I was an absolute wreck. Then my boy fucking did it and I nearly woke the whole house. Yes! YES!

I’d love to know what’s happened. Have they pivoted after seeing how the crowd have reacted to Hangman? Or - similar to last year with Danielson - was this always the plan, but they wrong-footed us with red herrings on both a meta and kayfabe level, to increase suspense and make it more surprising? Either way, I’m super impressed and absolutely buzzing. I knew the Hangman Redemption Arc would hit like crack, but fucking hell. This is on a whole other level. I’m already going to say it and he hasn’t even won the belt yet. This is even better than the first time he won the belt in 2021. It’s got all these extra layers and rich history now. It’s like Cody finishing his story, but on steroids.

Let’s just hope All In is Hangman’s Wrestlemania 40, and not his Wrestlemania 39.

A special shout out to Will Ospreay. He’s the best wrestler in the world and arguably the best signing in company history. That he’s willing to constantly put other lads over for the good of the company is amazing. His day will come. Love him. Cannot wait for Ospreay, Omega and Swerve to help Hangman win the belt back. Imagine those four in cowboy hats at the end of the show, toasting beers.

But yeah. I’m fully locked in. Cannot wait to watch the upcoming TV. For the longest time, I didn’t want them to do the formulaic thing of Anarchy in the Arena, then Blood and Guys. It always feels so silly and contrived to do them both at the same time every year. Now though? When we have seven weeks for Hangman to truly heal himself and save the company? I need a Blood and Guts where Swerve’s team is down a member. He needs a helping hand. Something only a cowboy can provide. And that’s when the old music returns. The real Hangman is back. You’re fucked, Mox!

Anyone for an Exploding Barb Wire Texas Death Match?

Edited May 27, 2025 by Supremo

[MPDTT]

So I left Avondale this morning and drove back to Vegas and I fly home tomorrow. I'm still absolutely buzzing off last night's show. It's the 3rd DoN I've attended (2019 and 2024) and 7th AEW PPV overall. Aside from Double or Nothing 2019, that's the best one.

It also 'flew by' from a live attendee perspective. That said, I arrived just in time for the main show, so didn't see the buy in. 

Everyone stood for Anarchy in the Arena, from start to finish and everyone was singing along to Drowning Pool....it was bonkers.... speaking of Drowning Pool, I saw live the night before on Fremont Street for free, I feel like TK missed a trick there- they could have performed it live.

Then that main event...pro wrestling is just the best thing on the planet when you match up 2 of the very elite of performers, give them a terrific story and afford them near 40 mins to craft a match without constraint. Just wow. That's why I love AEW. Ahead of time, I thought Ospreay wins, but live and in the desert, the crowd were significantly more pro Hangman and by the end, I also believed. 

Can't wait for the second Hangman reign.....but gone is the anxious millennial cowboy suffering with imposter syndrome.....this Hangman is going to go on a tear! And I'd like a year long reign....So Ospreay wins it from him at All in 2026.

 

Edited May 27, 2025 by MPDTT

[Merzbow]

Felt like a very solid if completely unspectacular 7/10 PPV up until the Anarchy in The Arena match that finally kicked things in to top gear, I loved it and all of it's silliness somehow meshed perfectly with the violence for me, in the hands of lesser talent it would have been too much of a joke.

The main event though, yeah that might just be Hangers most perfect pure match to date, I was actually surprised to see him straight up bully Will for so much of it but it made sense and I'm interested in seeing how Will looks back on it and the mistakes he made. He has his own little redemption arc to come.

Fuck putting Takeshita and Fletcher in the piss break match tho..

[BomberPat]

Fantastic show. My only criticisms of it are that it felt a step backwards in terms of a lack of agenting, with a lot of repeated spots and moves - I think at least three matches had superplexes, and at least two had spots where someone hits a superplex and then immediately gets up to hit another move, and there were so many Sharpshooters - and that while it was clearly shuffling the decks ready for All In, there wasn't a more immediate "you have to tune in to Dynamite to see how this pans out" cliffhanger, but everything was so good that they barely register as criticisms.

Mercedes Mone vs Jamie Hayter was fantastic, and considering Jamie had been on the backburner for far too long after returning, it was refreshing to hear the crowd split pretty evenly, and for her to be booked as a star. There was enough intrigue around the fact that Jamie hasn't really interacted with Toni since returning to make you think they might not have had Mercedes win, even though it was the more obvious result, and I think they did a good job of making you think it could go either way. There was a point where Excalibur mentioned that they had been wrestling for 17 minutes, and it honestly surprised me, it had absolutely flown by. My worry is that having both women's belts in one match means there will only be one women's match on the card for All In, which also means other women not getting much TV time between now and then, but hopefully they build up a story or two for matches outside of the title picture too.

I really liked FTR vs Garcia & McGuinness; Nigel took a lot more of a beating than I expected, though another agenting criticism is that FTR managed to hit versions of his finish before he did, which feels like a weird choice. FTR are an absolute revelation, though, so much better now they're cast in a more appropriate role as mouthy heels, it's completely reinvigorated them. It's weird how much of Danny Garcia's AEW career has been spent torn between his two dads fighting over him, but this was a good version of that story. I was expecting more of a post-match; either Nigel taking the Spike Piledriver, or FTR threatening Tony Schiavone again and someone else stepping up to save him, maybe even Tony getting a shot in on Stokely - that FTR just walked out after winning came as a surprise.

Ricochet vs. Briscoe might be the best stretcher/ambulance match ever, because they mostly avoided the pitfalls of a match with no near falls and a silly win condition and just kept it interesting. Ricochet is on by far the best run of his life, possibly being the best WWE to AEW signing in terms of career reinvention, while Mark Briscoe is just a genius level wrestler - Sabu-esque in how he always feels just the right side of unhinged, and comes up with stuff nobody else would. That he's had the foresight to grow his hair out for the first time, because the guy he's wrestling gets heat for being bald, is phenomenal.

Tag Title match was probably the weakest on the card; nobody thought Sons Of Texas were winning, and they never even bothered making a point of how they could win the titles and take them into All In Texas to make it feel like they could. The Hurt Syndicate are better when just steamrolling people - the best parts of this match were Lashley lobbing Sammy about - and MJF was just a needless distraction throughout. I could have done without the WWE barricade spear spot, and I'm never a fan of having a load of shenanigans and outside stuff that don't lead into the finish at all. It kept looking like MJF might inadvertently cost them the match, but then he didn't, but nor did he help them win, so MJF is neither helping nor hindering the Hurt Syndicate, he's just there. Both gimmicks feel devalued by his presence.

Okada vs Speedball was everything I hoped it would be - Speedball hanging at the highest level, and Okada putting on the best match he's had in AEW since Danielson, if not better. Fantastic stuff. Loved Speedball's Balatro gear too, the big nerd.

Toni vs. Mina was good fun, loved all the stuff involving my boy Luther. Another match where the winner was never really in doubt, but it was worked well enough to make you feel it could be.

Anarchy In The Arena was complete chaos. I don't think it has the individual highlights of previous matches, but probably better as a whole. They didn't always manage to thread the needle between cute comedy spots and actual heat - you never really felt that Kenny Omega hated the Young Bucks as much as he should, for example - though they clearly worked hard to keep the Death Riders away from too much of the sillier stuff, to try and keep them feeling violent and dangerous. After months of them being the downer of every show they're on, them being part of big daft feel good matches is a welcome change of pace.

The Trios match would have stood out as a good match on any other show, but was forgettable here - though credit to the wrestlers involved that they managed to get the crowd into it by the end. I'm guessing it's leading to Kyle Fletcher vs. Adam Cole for the TNT Title at All In; I don't watch Collision, so haven't seen much of the Paragon in months, and I hope that it wouldn't mean Fletcher being relegated to Saturday nights if he wins it. It was a match that would have felt a lot better if the company did more with the Trios Titles, as it would have made things feel like they had more potential importance, whereas I couldn't have even told you that these two teams were feuding going into the match. The post-match was a reminder that Forbidden Door season means random NJPW guys are going to become mates with AEW guys for a few weeks; on one hand, Tanahashi potentially spending his last AEW match and probably his last UK match in a multi-man against the Don Callis family feels like a waste, but on the other hand, what else do you do with him now? He's a wreck, and I'm guessing they're saving him and Okada for his actual retirement.
 

The main event was superb. Veered close to cutesy melodrama at times, but mostly stayed on the right side of it. Just fantastic stuff from start to finish. I went in saying that my heart said Hangman but head said Ospreay; I thought their promos on Dynamite basically spelled out their future trajectory - Ospreay believes that by beating Hangman he would have learned how to beat a wrestler like Moxley, and that would set him up to win the belt at All In, while Hangman was still stuck on thinking that the right big win would fix his life, and I've always felt that Hangman's redemption should come from fighting for something bigger than himself. But the moment Hangman walked out in Hart family colours, it dawned on me that he really could be winning it. They kept me guessing right until the end. Probably the smartest bit of wrestling Ospreay has ever done was the section of this match where he snapped and got more aggressive, firing off a load of stiff strikes and then slamming Page's head repeatedly into the table - it wasn't quite working heel, but he was making himself the heel for the remainder this match, so that what started as a pretty evenly split crowd would all be on Hangman's side when he won. Brilliant stuff.

They made such a point of Ospreay saying that he would stand with Hangman and fight Moxley that it makes me wonder if we get a heel turn eventually; Ospreay has mentioned wanting to fight the Death Riders and defend AEW a few times over the months, but he's never actually done it. I can see a scenario where AEW babyfaces finally rally against the Death Riders and he rejects the call, or where he earns a title shot at Forbidden Door only to lose in London and that's enough to make him snap. On the other hand, everything seemed to be pointing towards Swerve & Hangman vs. The Young Bucks at All In, but that's not off the table, and I wonder if they pivot to Swerve & Ospreay vs. The Bucks; it doesn't have the history behind it, but could be pleasingly mental.

[HarmonicGenerator]

9 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

My worry is that having both women's belts in one match means there will only be one women's match on the card for All In, which also means other women not getting much TV time between now and then, but hopefully they build up a story or two for matches outside of the title picture too.

I'm wondering if / hoping for Willow to somehow get the better of Mercedes in the lead-up to All In and take the TBS title, so she can fight Statlander for it on the big show. They're slowly building up something with her and Stat on Collision at the moment, and while they don't need a title, it would add something to them fighting again (and give the show more chance of having multiple women's matches on it).

[Merzbow]

49 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

Willow to somehow get the better of Mercedes in the lead-up to All In and take the TBS title

I was thinking Mone might go on a streak of losing her titles, she's already one down. But then winning the big one from Toni.

Edited May 27, 2025 by Merzbow

[LaGoosh]

A pretty great show. But so long and action packed it made me want to not watch wrestling for a couple of weeks. Gave me my fill then way more.

- Mercedes/Hayter: took awhile to get going but when they started leathering eachother it got real good. Liked the finish a lot and Mone immediately pegging it out the ring at full speed.

-FTR/Garcia & McGuinness: really loved this. FTR are tremendous and Cash Wheeler is a fucking maniac. He may be my favourite wrestler at the moment. Entirely in the moment, goes reckless and hard on everything. They are on top form right now.

- Stretcher match: Match of the Night, for me without a doubt. Ricochet is the best heel in the game. He baits the fans hard but he also is very easily gotten to so the fans are always incredibly engaged in what he's doing. Putting the table back under the ring was absolutely inspired. Mark Briscoe is one of the best wrestlers in the world and maybe the best pure babyface too. He walks the tight rope of loveable fun and wild aggression perfectly. So many fun spots in this, then a brilliant done tonal shift from wackiness to violence and brutality. Mark Briscoe screaming his toothless grin while drenched in blood is motherfucking pro wrestling.

- Tag title match: it was ok. I hate Dustin's weird slap punches he does. It's purpose was to out over the Syndicate and sow future seeds for MJF and Bobby and it achieved those things just fine.

- Okada/Speedball: tremendous. They almost convinced me Speedball was going to win a few times. Okada does this great thing where you feel like he's so good he's half arsing things just because he can but then when he feels at genuine risk he steps it up a level and is a force to be reckoned with. Speedball is the perfect mid card babyface for this company. They'll get loads out of him over the next few years.

- Mina/Toni: crowd understandably struggled with this with such a clear winner and also being a bit knackered. The action was really good. Loved the ending. Toni Storm really deserves credit for how she has reclaimed women's sexuality in wrestling. She's turned what was in the past completely sordid, sexist and depressing into something positive, fun and shameless. Her and Mina's kiss felt a million miles away from the HLA type shit of past years.

- Anarchy in the Arena: a stupid, messy, overlong, convoluted, hilarious, ridiculous, exciting epic that put a huge grin on my face. AEW is the only promotion you would see something so creative, unique and happy as this. Absolutely mental spots in this and wackiness that had me laughing out loud. Hobbs, Swerve, Kenny and Willow came out looking like a million bucks. Willow's tshirt reveal almost made me jump out my chair - brilliant! I never want to hear Drowning Pool ever again though. All the best friends celebrating together - what a fucking incredible roster they have.

- Trios: didn't pay a huge amount of attention to this but I would be interested in a Takeshita or Fletcher singles match against Roderick Strong on a Collision most definitely. Post match stuff...look I've never watched New Japan so I'm always baffled by all these old men who can barely walk they keep sending over for big pops.

- Hangman/Ospreay: I liked this but I didn't love it. Ospreay is incredible at what he does but I don’t think I emotionally connect with what he does other than "holy shit". Hangman winning was a genuine shock and I couldn't believe happier. If he wins at All In I think that has more interesting potential stories than Ospreay winning does. A Hangman trying to be good defending the title against a hungry Swerve...I'm excited already. 

[The King Of Swing]

Watching Anarchy in The Arena, again. It really is the kind of match AEW absolutely excel at.

[Statto]

22 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

(and now I wonder what they’re thinking for Ospreay in Texas).

It's a bit Wrestlemania 41, but I wonder if they conflate the storied rivalries from NJPW and do Ospreay vs Omega vs Okada. It's a big "first time ever" (i think) match to put on the biggest show of the year, and it solves doing Kenny vs Okada without making it a unification match which then gets messy in a few months when the Continental Classic rolls around (taking the opportunity to state again that I'm firmly of the opinion that if it has to exist, the Continental Championship belt should only be a prize for the tournament winner to carry around for the year and shouldn't be a live defended championship)

Generally speaking, I loved the show. Watched it in a single sitting last night and the only times it really dragged was any time tagging in/out was involved - but that's mostly to blame on my feelings about Paragon, FTR & Sammy Guevara. Toni vs Mina was fine enough but the result was never in doubt - given the length of the show i wonder if you could have done without a Storm defence here and had her on commentary for the Owen final, but that would have left you with just the one women's match I guess.

Obviously loved the main event & can't wait for my boy Hanger to return to his throne. 

[Kamran]

16 hours ago, Supremo said:

As an aside, I wonder if the big ,”AEW” logo on the ring canvas was a deliberate choice made to set them apart from WWE having a million adverts all over everything these days. It definitely encourages the comparison. A nice subtle way of setting you apart, when your competition is seemingly putting advertisers, executives and profit over the actual audience.

I did think that too but I also think it does actually help with their branding too. They must have loads of clips/photos shared around social media, most non-wrestling fans probably just assume they come from WWE. Having AEW in massive letters on the canvas might actually get them to check out some more AEW.

Edited May 27, 2025 by Kamran