AEW Double or Nothing 2023 Results and Review

Alright, enough was enough, I saw he memes and saw hat so many people were posting that the arena wasn’t even full, so what? I went ahead into watching AEW with open eyes, and no judgments, because I love wrestling and just wanted to see what would happen overall. So here we go, my thoughts on AEW Double or Nothing 2023, from Las Vegas, Nevada. I was at the first AEW, by the way, and hat was a great time, so I was expecting big things.

Orange Cassidy wins a 21 Man Blackjack Battle Royal

A great overall opener, and the crowd was into it. I like a good Battle Royal and well, Orange Cassidy survived, more than got a lot of offense in this one. He outlasted a ton of wrestlers, some more famous than others. I don’t want to write out the list, so I won’t. But there was a great showing from all, including the luchadors, which were fun to watch. Big Bill was interesting, I thought he was going to win to be honest. Brian Cage, Dusting Rhodes, Swerve Strickland, and Penta El Zero Miedo was great to see in the end. Orange won, and wow, good overall fun match if you ask me, which you didn’t.

Adam Cole defeated Chris Jericho in an unsanctioned match w/ Sabu as enforcer

So this was your street fight, which wasn’t terrible, but the naming convention was a little weird. Jericho got the bricks beat off of him at one point by Dr. Baker, and Adam Cole got hit hard a few times too, this was back and forth, no one had an edge for too long, and there was a great deal of damage done, including a table at ringside that Cole fell through. The match had a lame ending with Adam Cole winning after hitting Jericho in the face with punches. He just hit him a bunch until the ref stopped it. Meh. I didn’t like that ending, and I thought they could’ve thought of something more creative to end the match.

FTR defeated Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett w/ special guest referee Mark Briscoe in the AEW Tag Team Title Match

Not exactly a classic, but definitely not a bad match either. I found this to be a good overall match with a lot of action. There was back and forth, and lots of brawling, with some moves from FTR being tandem. Lethal and Jarrett are a good team, and they work well together. At one point, however, Jarrett hit Briscoe with a guitar and knocked him out, making this very exciting. But then Karen Jarrett hit the second ref with a guitar! This was a fun match, and went nuts at one point. After Briscoe woke up, a bit of back and forth and a shatter machine to get the victory. This wasn’t too bad, it ended up being a fun match, and FTR wins again.

Wardlow defeated Christian in a ladder match for the TNT Championship

As far as ladder matches go, this was ok at best. I liked it, fair enough, with Christian taking some major hits. Wardlow is young, and the announce team mentioned that several times. I didn’t hate this, but it was at half speed sometimes. Wardlow is good, and he meshes well with Christian’s offense. Wardlow really showed off his strength, and threw Christian around a bit, which was interesting to see. The two didn’t immediately go for the ladders, mind you, they took a little time before introducing the ladder inside the right, although they did get a few throws outside. Some major moments occurred including one hell of a dive off the top of a ladder through a table, and just splat. Wardlow wins this one, but it wasn’t without some punishment, and even Arn Anderson showing up.

Toni Storm defeated Jamie Hayter for the AEW Women’s Championship

Jamie Hayter caught a beat down from Ruby Soho and Saraya before coming out, and got beat up on the way to the ring. Storm would try to focus on Hayter’s arm as a result, and was dominant initially. A short match, with Toni Storm getting the win, and that was that. She’s pretty cool, and she won the match, fun stuff. Hayter couldn’t compete with 3 on one, and her arm was just wrecked. Dang.

The House of Black defeated Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed in the AEW Trios Open House Match

Not a terrible match, with some great back and forth action in this one. I liked the way things moved through quickly, and notably with Gunn and the Acclaimed doing some great tandem things. House of Black is awesome, I liked how they work. In the end House of Black would get the win, and it was a fun match.

Jade Cargill defeated Taya Valkyrie in the TBS Championship match

This was a good overall women’s match, with lots of back and forth. I liked it a lot, with Jade getting a good deal of offense against Taya. Taya is impressive too, and I liked to see her wrestle. The two put on a good showcase, and it was only about 9 minutes, but still had some hard hits and reversals. Fun stuff here.

Kris Statlander defeated Jade Cargill for the TBS Championship

Well, this got the crowd going, it was a squash basically, with just 50 seconds of action. Statlander basically went in and conquered with a tombstone piledriver and wins the TBS title. Fun stuff here, bu not a whole lot of action to write about.

MJF defeated Darby Allin, Jack Perry, and Sammy Guevara in the AEW World Title Match

Alright, so 3 out of the 4 guys in this match were flying around the ring. I mean flying, with dives, frog splashes, and a lot more. It was intense, and just amazing to see. All participants got a bit of offense in, and MJF would get the win at the end. However, if there is a weak link it’s MJF in terms of extremes, not to say he isn’t a good wrestler, but the acrobatics of the other 3 really outshined traditional wrestling at times. I liked the flying a lot, although the lucha themed elements leave a little to be desired in terms of psychology. This was a lot of fun, and MJF survives an onslaught of offense from all corners. This was plain fun, and just about 30 minutes of pure offense, not a lot of rest holds, although there were some great submission moments.

Blackpool Combat Club defeated The Elite in an anarchy in the arena match

So this was a wreck of a match. It was a brawl across the arena, and a hardcore match from the 2000s. It’s an interesting concept, but the execution is a little weird. It had a lot of guys fighting in different areas, all of them just brawling. There wasn’t a lot of great moves here, just a lot of brawling, and what not. Well, at least for the first majority of the match, lots of back and forth around the arena. There is a lot to explore on this one, but the end came with an outsider coming in, and well this was just a fun match overall.

Overall Thoughts

There’s a lot of great wrestling going on with Double or Nothing. I found that each match had a little charm, and the whole ppv was good. Nearly 4 hours of action, so it was a lot, but it was fun. The main event delivered, but it was every match that added a little bit to the overall event. I liked it. I had fun, hope you did too, and I’m slowly caching up to all the wrestling possible.