AEW Double or Nothing 2026 Discussion

[TheScarlettChad]

Mick being a creep and women, Why am I not shocked? Something about him just rubs me the wrong way. He goes on about Trump being the reason he left WWE. Yeah, that may be A reason, but its not THE reason. They probably didn't want to pay him what he thought he was worth.

[Supremo]

Maybe I’m a cynical prick and Mick is an earnest supporter of women’s wrestling, but the moment he mentioned scoping out the female talent during that opening promo I considered it a Freudian slip from a scruffy creep. I bet you were, Mick. Bet you couldn’t get enough of them. Probably figuring out who you can pitch to feud with Melina when you get her a contract.

Fair play though. That angle at the end of the Buy-In was electric, with Mick already delivering a better promo, giving the rub and proving his worth more in one night than he has in at least a decade whilst working with WWE.

It won’t be as good as Sting’s run since he likely can’t take bumps or have a match, but you can already feel a similar vibe, where Tony Khan has the respect and understanding of what he has more than WWE ever will. When he’s on form and not distracted by creeping on women or getting a free lunch, Mick’s the most underrated performer in the history of the business. Ridiculously creative, wildly talented, and insanely giving and willing to make new stars. Crazy to think WWE had him at their disposal for so long, him seemingly willing to do anything for them if it meant he could call him, “Vince,” again rather than, “Mr. McMahon,” and the best they could come up with was, “introduce the 24/7 Title, leave it in the ring and then run away.”

Bank Holiday responsibilities meant I had to pause the show after the first hour, but it’s probably one of the hottest, strongest first hours in pro-wrestling pay per view history.

Wild, fun opener, with Christian’s humour and charm perfectly diluting The Grit Couple’s cringy grittiness, and then Takeshita and Okada absolutely knocking it out of the park. I almost appreciate Okada phoning it in so often. It makes it even more special the three times a year when he turns it on and becomes the best wrestler in the world. Phenomenal match.

Looking forward to watching the rest later. Won’t be able to stay up too late though. I’m this old. I’ve posted on the UKFF for this long.

Edited May 25 by Supremo

[2Xtreme_lives]

I thoroughly enjoyed it, echo @SupremoMick going straight in with scoping the women. Will say as a first promo nerves aside he should be a great edition and hinting a promo work with Mox and Darby mate.

I haven't seen Mick live but hoping he is at Wembley. Speaking of wembley I now sold on going bought ticket today 

Rest of the card was excellent as always. I know stadium stampede gets a mixed bag but I always enjoy that daft violence but what made it is the Dark dream team on commentary pissing themselves and having a blast , made the Match for me 

On to forbidden door

Edited May 25 by 2Xtreme_lives

[Statto]

Repeating what others have said really but I genuinely LOL'd at Foley shoehorning "female wrestlers" into his introductory speech after maximum 20 seconds, then revealing the basis of his relationship with Tony Khan is, of course, that Tony had the honour of paying for Mick Foley's lunch. Play the hits, Mickster. 

Cracking show all round, and I managed it in a single sitting which says a lot. Could have something to do with the fact it's a hot as balls Bank Holiday Monday though. 

Takeshita vs Okada was MOTN, and that crowd were absolutely molten for the first hour of the main show.

Ospreay's training sessions with the Death Riders have led to him adding an absolutely deadly flying armbar to his arsenal (one that has a gimmick name nonetheless), but he only really used it once a couple of weeks ago and now just wins with the same moves he was winning with before. Got it. 

I'd have probably gone the whole hog and just had Darby collapse through exhaustion and MJF pin him, without the tombstone off the ropes. Would fit both characters perfectly.

[Snitsky's back acne]

13 minutes ago, Statto said:

 

I'd have probably gone the whole hog and just had Darby collapse through exhaustion and MJF pin him, without the tombstone off the ropes. 

Gotta stay strong, brother.

[NeverYield]

Blimey Darby very nearly done a number on himself this time the way his legs got caught on the ropes that landing could have been horrible.

Lucky he's a light fella and the momentum could keep him going, a bigger man catching a limb like that could be total panic stations. 

[The King Of Swing]

Really good show and I'm glad that MJF didn't resort to the usual diamond ring bollocks or anything. 

Excellent crowd 

Saw both the Fletcher and Knight swerves coming a mile away, but both were very well executed. 

Beating a dead horse but there really is no excuse for only two women's matches on a four hour PPV, in 2026.

Enjoyed Stadium Stampede once it got going but the attempted murder spot was ridiculous and not in a fun way. 

Big thumbs up for the Satnam and Leo, cameos. 

Could be proven wrong but I honestly don't think that Omega has much left in the tank.

[Supremo]

Pay per view of the year and one of AEW’s best shows ever. Tell Moxley to have a night off and that might have been one of the greatest shows of all time. All killer, no filler. Most perfect venue and crowd possible. All-timer show. Immaculate vibes.

Scattered thoughts beyond describing almost every match as, “fucking brilliant.”

Best night of Copeland’s career since his Royal Rumble return. Teaming him with Christian has completely fixed the act. Fantastic opener. Funny that New York are strict about certain things, but are completely fine with lads flying through fire. “No blading allowed, but use as much lighter fluid as required.”

I’m here all day long for Babyface Takeshita against Kyle Fletcher. Wonder if they’ll save that for Wembley?

Normally I’d have been a prick and made light of it, but Jim Ross’ commentary made me really sad. After the recent reports that he’s being monitored for Dementia and Alzheimer's, hearing him forget who Kyle was and then declare Moxley, “a new champ!” after he defended his belt, I think it’s time. Even only doing one match on a show, it still feels like a struggle.

Stadium Stampede was easily the weakest Stampede/Anarchy match they’ve ever done, but considering the restrictions New York placed on them in terms of banning blood and crowd brawling, what they did achieve has to be considered a minor miracle.

It does appear that they consider the Stampede and Anarchy matches as separate things, leaning more into the comedy and skits with Stampede, whereas Anarchy is more about the music, stunts and explosions. I definitely missed the music, although most of the comedy landed. I particularly laughed out loud at the most devastating Abdominal Stretch of all time, with all the heels chained together down the aisle, pulling. Sometimes, wrestling is at its best when it accepts how fucking stupid it is.

Nothing was as funny as this though. As a huge fan of the backstage bollocks of pro-wrestling, knowing the story about MVP knocking Jericho out on his own cruise, seeing them together and imaging them pretending to be best mates was hilarious.

“Bygones be bygones, yeah? Water under the bridge?”

“I’ll be the one sailing on that water, under that bridge. I’m the still the captain of your cruise. Think on before I knock your block off again.”

However, despite the Stampede mostly being played for laughs, trust Nick Jackson to do one of the wildest, most violent bumps in any of these matches. That bit where he was in the shopping trolley and then got smashed into the ring apron was horrific!

Fantastic Owen Hart openers with Ospreay/Joe and Swerve/Bandido. I’m assuming it’s Ospreay vs. Swerve in the finals. Should be brilliant.

Amazing main event. Credit to everyone involved that I wasn’t even particularly high on Darby as Champion, and then even when he won I was predicting/hoping for a speed-run reign, but after the last few weeks and given the momentum, I was really hoping he’d win here. Was truly gutted when Max won, but in that perfect heel way. Little prick even did it fair and square! Bastard! Always comes out on top. We need a hero. Come on, Will! It’s coming home!

Tremendous show overall. Exactly what they needed right now, especially considering what an advert-flooded dumpster fire WWE has become. Reading social media, it sounds like a lot of people watched AEW for the first time last night and were blown away. Momentum feels huge. Fingers crossed Tony doesn’t Tony it on Wednesday.

Edited May 25 by Supremo

[HarmonicGenerator]

12 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

EDIT: One major negative I forgot to mention - the stream on MyAEW was abysmal. It froze several times throughout the show, forcing me to exit the stream and go back into it for the show to restart. I wasn’t watching live, so that wasn’t the reason. Sort it out, TK.

I’ve had this problem with every show on MyAEW since I got it. I ended up using my phone data for some of this show, because I’ve found that when it freezes, you only have to refresh instead of refresh, turn the wifi off and on again, go back, click again then refresh, etc. This show actually did it a bit less than Dynamite has done, but it still happens a lot.

That aside, the show was excellent.

I skimmed the preshow, but saw the Foley bits, and enough of the matches to be sad that this was all they gave Eddie Kingston in New York.

Opener was great, the best match these two teams have had. Okada-Takeshita was fantastic, then we got a chance to calm down with the next couple of matches before Ospreay and Joe had a great one. Swerve was probably the most obvious win of the night but still good, Thekla looked great and I wonder if they’ll keep the title on her til Wembley. I thought Stadium Stampede was loads of fun apart from the bus murder. And the main event was a cracker. I’m sad that Darby lost the title and would have rather had him win, but it was probably for his own good based on some of the bumps he took in this match.

In short, everything on this show was good or better and it’s the first AEW PPV I’ve felt that about for a good while. Fantastic stuff. Nobody does it like AEW when everything clicks like this. Great show.

EDIT: Basically what Supremo said.

Edited May 25 by HarmonicGenerator

[DavidB6937]

Their PPVs are rarely a miss. Usually good to great. This one was up there with the best.

As a WWE fan, this is exactly what I want from the alternative. And they once again deserve some kind of momentum and growth off the back of it. It seems to be a struggle to get it but maybe this time they'll have hit the wave at the right time..

[The King Of Swing]

Some fans on reddit think that MJF's gear (particularly his entrance robe) might have actually been a tribute to Hana Kimura. 

If so that's pretty awesome.

[RedTwoster]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

Normally I’d have been a prick and made light of it, but Jim Ross’ commentary made me really sad. After the recent reports that he’s being monitored for Dementia and Alzheimer's, hearing him forget who Kyle was and then declare Moxley, “a new champ!” after he defended his belt, I think it’s time. Even only doing one match on a show, it still feels like a struggle.

You’re probably right, but on a purely human level I hope Tony Khan gives him something to do for as long as he’s able. Dementia is about as cruel an illness as there is. My gran and grandfather both had it - and in the case of the latter, he declined sharply during the pandemic, when his mind wasn’t being engaged in the way that it was through his various groups and clubs.

Obviously doing commentary is a bit different, but the thought of someone being told ‘that’s it, sorry’ in that situation is devastating. I genuinely hope they find a way to accommodate him in a limited setting, until it really is his time. It would be lovely to see him get the kind of send-off his career merits. 

 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Probably the best AEW POV ever I. Terms of booking and pacing. The 4 hours (10 minutes) flew by.

 

not to defend Foley but while I eye rolled at his comments, he specifically mentioned Gorilla and the first match following his promo were the women’s tag match. 

[LaGoosh]

Excellent show, one of their best all round events ever.

The venue was spectacular. A great building which made the show look so vibrant. Loved the entrance way and there were loads of cool shots all night. All the graphics like the subway name bits were really fun. Brilliant crowd too. They should come here every year.

Takeshita/Okada was MOTN. What made it wasn't just the insane spots and sequences but Okada's face for the final stretch. Once the tide had clearly turned in Takeshita's favour and he was unstoppable Okada had this simultaneous look of panic, anger and desperation on his face which really put it over - he's so good at that stuff. Like he genuinely couldn't believe what was happening. Top angle following the match - Takeshita (and Kyle Fletcher) feels like a made man now.

Ospreay/Joe was almost MOTN. I loved it. Ospreay doing all his great aggressive spots but Joe having all his veteran bag of tricks that would murder Ospreay at every opportunity. How lucky we are to have Samoa Joe, we really take him for granted.

Could have probably left Mox/KoR off the show but I enjoyed it anyway. I love this little side story that Mox is almost unstoppable but for some reason there's this one midcarder who seems to have his number. It's cool.

Swerve/Bandido was bananas! Several times I actually shouted out "what the fuck" watching them do stuff I had never seen before. These two are absolute demons. When's Bandido getting that big singles push? He deserves it.

Four ways are tough to do well but these girls just beat the fuck out of eachother and it worked pretty well. The womens division feels totally aimless at the moment though.

Stadium Stampede was a good laugh but the weakest big group gimmick match so far. Still worthwhile though. Plenty of fun in this. Toa Liona is a beast and fucking maniac! If I was booker I'd be tempted to book him straight to the moon as a singles act. The trolley spot was horrific! Some incredibly funny bits in this but also some silly old shite too. I don't like The Dogs but they're pretty decent hired goons who can take a beating. I'm guessing Omega is hurt because apart from a few spots at the beginning and the end he was mostly absent from the match, spending most of it on the outside standing around. Hopefully he gets better soon because the fans love him so much. Not sure why Jericho is getting so much spotlight in 2026 but here we are.

Main event was a dramatic and emotional spectacle. I was disappointed that Allin lost but in a "damn, this story worked on me" way rather than a smarky wanker moaning about the booking way. The Package Piledriver on the steps felt a bit too much though. Great work all round.

I think if this show was someone's first AEW show they'd be hooked afterwards. They were firing on all cylinders. Hope they follow up with a good Dynamite unlike every other fucking time they have a good PPV.

EDIT: look at this goddamn shot!

Edited May 26 by LaGoosh

[Supremo]

As the challenger brand, it’s really cool that the main event featured such young guys. MJF (30), Darby (33) and Kevin Knight (29) being the guys headlining a sold out stadium show gives similar vibes to WWF in the late nineties, when RAW was where all the young, fresh talent featured. All the fossils like Cody, Roman, Punk and Brock headlining Nitro on the other channel.

My only worry is that in turning heel Kevin Knight might stop doing the Van Terminator. Hopefully not. He does it better than anyone in the history of the business. Hits it with such ease that I’m hoping they put him in a match the next time they do Blood and Guts and have two rings. I reckon he could clear both.

Edited May 26 by Supremo