wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s AEW Double or Nothing 2022 Review
Image Credit: AEW
Loading...AEW Double or Nothing 2022
May 29th, 2022 | T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada
As is often the case with AEW PPVs, I watched this with my friend over so this won’t be heavy on detail and analysis. Consider it more of a report from someone who was having a good time while watching the show. It’ll also be shorter than a lot of my reviews.
Hookhausen vs. Mark Sterling and Tony Nese
One of the things I was most excited for on this show. I love Hook and Danhausen and this match was exactly what it needed to be. Tony Nese beat up Danhausen, Mark Sterling had some fun spots and goofy ring gear, and Hook was the dominant guy he has been for months. The finish was perfect as it saw Hook have Sterling beaten only for Danhausen to want the tag and just pin him with his foot on his chest in 5:22. Simple, fun, and to the point. [***]
MJF vs. Wardlow
The MJF drama from before the show put a dark cloud over this. He received “you sold out” chants and mocked the fans by doing airplane gestures. They dragged this one on for a bit too long and you really got the sense that MJF was beyond checked out. He did a lot of stalling and running around until finally getting in the ring. Wardlow eventually powerbombed him and kept doing it over and over until getting the three at the 7:25 mark. The idea was right but this went on for too long. That’ll be a recurring theme of the evening. [*½]
The Hardys vs. The Young Bucks
I thought their 2017 matches in ROH were fine but I never bought this as any kind of dream match. JR said they were the best teams of their generations but Edge & Christian and the Motor City Machine Guns were always way better to me. Anyway, I’ve heard people are high on this but I legitimately don’t get it. The Bucks were fine but the Hardys looked like they were in their 60s. They moved slowly and a lot of this just came off as sloppy to me. The idea of this going 19:16 was a huge mistake that only made things worse. I wasn’t interested coming in but I’ve felt that way about matches before only for them to shut me up and over deliver. The Hardys won when Nick took a sweet Twist of Fate bump and fell to the Swanton Bomb. This wasn’t the case here though I’m sure a lot of people in the comments will tell me I’m wrong. [*]
AEW TBS Championship: Jade Cargill [c] vs. Anna Jay
I thought their Rampage title match was quite good (***). My only issue here is that the build was lackluster. They just threw Jay in there at the last minute and if Jade is going to lose, it’ll be built up and mean a ton so it wouldn’t happen in a case like this. Anyway, they had a pretty solid match here. A few spots felt a bit off here but they mostly worked well together. Menacing Mike Sterling showed up to use the crutch as a weapon but it backfired and Anna did a Sandman style White Russian leg sweep with it for two. I liked when Jaded got countered into the sleeper. Stokely Hathaway made his debut by showing up and Jade turned things around to win in 7:23. [**¾]
I’m guessing Stoke is with the Baddies now, which I dig. Kris Statlander ran out to help Anna after the match, followed by the debut of Athena. It all felt rushed but I do like Athena being here. With proper build, she’s a good choice to be the one to beat Jade.
Death Triangle vs. The House of Black
Here we go. This is where the show picked up and felt like a true AEW PPV. Six guys who have been killing it for a while delivered in a fantastic match. If only they were booked like top guys. They just went all out for 15:19 and did some incredible things. There were wild spots, tons of action, and some ridiculous moments in the best possible way. I feel like people forget just how good the Lucha Brothers are sometimes. Murphy looks like an Adonis and wrestles like one of the best in the world. Malakai and PAC had some exchanges that left my jaw on the ground and Brody was the big brute he needs to be. The finish finally led to the culmination of the Julia Hart storyline as she showed up, spit mist in PAC’s eyes, and Black Mass ended him. Easily the MOTN to this point and something truly great. [****¼]
Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Finals: Adam Cole vs. Samoa Joe
Adam Cole was out in pink gear. Mike Chioda was brought in as the referee, which was a nice touch. The match itself was kind of just there though. I honestly just don’t remember all that much specifically from this because it was largely forgettable. Nothing about it stood out as bad at least. They had some solid back and forth with Cole having to overcome and struggle with Joe’s size. Bobby Fish got involved and was taken out before Cole hit the Boom to win in 13:15. The finish felt anti-climactic even for a match that wasn’t great. This felt like a house show main event or something like that rather than the end of a major tournament. [**½]
Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Finals: Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho
Take what I said about the last match and apply it here. The most memorable things were the entrances as Ruby Soho was played out by Rancid and Britt had a Fozzy guitarist doing stuff. Seriously, he wasn’t playing live so he looked like he the Rock n’ Rave Infection from TNA when they used to play Guitar Hero guitars. Also, Britt wore black and pink, making the outcome just as obvious as the last match. Again, they had some fine exchanges but nothing really clicked how it should. Britt has been extremely forgettable since dropping the title (and honestly a bit before that too as she has fallen hard since last year’s DON). They attempted to redo the Owen/Bret spot from WrestleMania X as the finish but it kind of got flubbed and the details are important if you’re going to do the Hart tribute gimmick. It went 14:53 and was again forgettable. [**½]
Martha Hart then gave an emotional speech and gave Cole and Britt their trophies. The whole segment had well-meaning but having heels win was odd. I know Owen was mostly a heel but this still just felt strange.
Frankie Kazarian, Sammy Guevara and Tay Conti vs. Men of the Year and Paige VanZant
AEW seems to not be willing to just make Sammy a full heel. He was a total jerk in this match but like, just go all the way officially. Anyway, the biggest problem with this match was the lack of Ethan Page. I think he’s great and he barely does anything in AEW. He doesn’t even get to talk as much as he should because Lambert is always doing it. Sky and Kazarian had their expected good chemistry, while Page did his thing, and Sammy flew around while being cocky. The real reason to watch this was PVZ. In her debut, she looked green but you got the sense that she could pick this up quickly. Some of her stuff looked good but she rushed through other things, which is understandable and expected. The faces argued, Sammy accidentally superkicked Tay, and Kazarian lost to a TKO in a messy 12:01. They should’ve made PVZ’s debut a bigger deal. [**]
Darby Allin vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Why is this on the PPV? Don’t get me wrong, it was a good match but it was totally tacked on to an already OVERSTUFFED event. This should’ve headlined a Dynamite or something. As noted, the match was strong and it was especially impressive given that Darby basically wrecked himself on a dive. It seemed like he was kind of out of it for most of the match and Kyle was really carrying this thing because of it. They managed to work in some quality exchanges and Kyle won with the diving knee to the back in 10:33. Good pro wrestling that didn’t belong on this show. [***¼]
AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa [c] vs. Serena Deeb
Hey, Thunder Rosa is the AEW Women’s Champion. I understand if you forgot since AEW has given her next to zero TV time since winning. Seriously, I have to hear Britt cut the same promos every week but I can’t get Thunder Rosa doing anything of note? Again, this is another match that followed trends on the show. It was quite good but went on for too long. I’m not saying 16:43 is too long for a women’s match because it certainly isn’t but this peaked a few minutes prior and should’ve wrapped there. I dug the mat work throughout as that helped it stand out from most of the rest of the card. It also played into Deeb being a specialist there and Rosa having to beat her at her own game. They fought to the top where Rosa hit a suplex and transitioned into the Fire Thunder Driver to take it home. Jim Ross has notably been dissing some wrestlers on this show and mentioned that this got sloppy late. Had this gone about 11-12, it would’ve been a lot better. Still good though. [***¼]
Anarchy in the Arena: Bryan Danielson, Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, Santana & Ortiz vs. The Jericho Appreciation Society
So, this started with a brawl in the crowd as “Wild Thing” played. I immediately got New Jack vibes and was looking for Sting to return and jump off of something. This was a FIVE STAR match while the music was playing (especially after it looped) so when Jericho cut it off, it lost some points from me. This match is not for everyone but I really enjoyed it. There were wild spots, brawling all over the place that was too hard to keep up with, and lots of blood was spilled. At times, I did feel like they were padding things out to go long enough for the Game 7 in the NBA Playoffs to finish. Jericho’s got 2007 Shawn Michaels hair going on by the way. Santana and Ortiz jumped off ladders and Moxley took a barbed wire bump. The faces had it won but a bloody Eddie Kingston tried to pour gasoline on Jericho while Bryan had him in in a submission. That led to Eddie and Bryan brawling and gave the heels the upper hand. They eventually made Danielson pass out while in the Walls (with one leg) and getting choked by Hager in 22:31. All that for Hager to choke out Danielson? For shame. [****]
AEW World Tag Team Championship: Jurassic Express [c] vs. Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs. Powerhouse Hobbs & Ricky Starks
Everyone came into this seemingly feeling that the only right booking call was Jurassic Express losing. So of course, JE retained. It was one of a handful of questionable booking calls on this show (previous match, Owen Cups). The match itself was as good as I expected given that it was six talented dudes. I loved the fact that we had three brutes partnered with three athletic guys, which made for good and interesting matchups when put together. Swerve and Lee already have a pretty easy chemistry, Hobbs and Starks are stars, and Jurassic Express remain a top-tier tag team. We got plenty of cool spots though the ending was a bit off as the JE finisher is so hard to perfectly hit. They pinned Swerve at the 17:18 mark. [***¾]
AEW World Championship: Hangman Page [c] vs. CM Punk
The crowd was split early but Punk went into heel mode and seemed to end up with most of the heat. Despite that, we still got some negative Hangman chants. Like a lot of Punk’s stuff so far, their exchanges were well done and you could see his fingerprints on the layout of the match, which is fine. Punk controlled the pace but Hangman could explode with big offense that would swing the momentum. Simple storytelling, yet really effective. It really picked up when they started going for finishers, including each guy trying the other man’s move. Hangman’s GTS was like, LIGHTYEARS better than what Punk typically does. It was KENTA level. Punk attempted two Buckshot Lariats and stumbled on both, making for a really odd moment. After a ref bump (did Gedo book this?), Page contemplated using the World Title as a weapon in a better nod to a Hart match than either of the Owen Cup Finals but decided against it. Punk hoisted him up and won with the GTS in 25:58. A great main event though I wish they had built up the Piper/Bret spot a bit better in the weeks coming in. I preferred it when Zayn/Neville did it in NXT in 2014. Still though, this ruled and I’m intrigued at what’s next for both men. [****]
