Double or Nothing Results 2020

AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Brodie Lee

The match was good but not much better than anything else on the card really, that not a knock on them, just that all of the matches were so long that none really stood out in a particular way with a couple of exceptions. Everything just felt so flat in the build that a lot of people had a tough time getting into it.

Winner: Jon Moxley

AEW TNT Championship: Cody vs. Lance Archer

Well… there will be memes. Mike Tyson was caught yawning but I give major props to the production team for cutting away from him as soon as possible. The other elephant in the room is the ugliest fucking belt ever. Ok it’s not the ugliest but it looks cheap and very disappointing. AEW had the nerve to tell Tony Schiavone to say that it wasn’t done, using COVID-19 as an excuse. Let me tell you something, $1000 and a quick look on Instagram would have gotten them any custom belt they wanted at a very high quality.

The match was good, typical stuff from Cody, not something to write home about. I think MJF and Jungle Boy had the Championship level match Cody and Archer wanted. Archer did have some great spots.

Winner: Cody (new and first TNT Champion)

AEW Women’s Championship: Nyla Rose (c) vs. Hikaru Shida (No DQ, no countout)

Absolutely worthy of the co-main event. This is the best match I’ve seen Nyla Rose in, it fit Rose very well to be in such a tough match. Shida took a lot of punishment but dished even more of it out.

Winner: Hikaru Shida (new Women’s Champion)

Matt Hardy & The Elite vs. The Inner Circle (Stadium Stampede)

Fun fun fun. I didn’t even know it was pretaped until certain spots. The intros were great, very unique to the match itself. There was a spot that has people thinking that AEW may not be very sensitive, it’s the Matt Hardy reincarnation spot. I think it was just oversight and a poor decision to not cut it out after what happened with Shad Gaspar. The match was already taped so I am far more willing to give benefit of the doubt in this instance versus the 10 lashings during black history month they did earlier this year.

Besides that issue, Sammy Guevara was great but the real MVP is Hangman Paige. Hangman and Jake Hager had the best spot in the match by far and that is saying quite a bit. The Elite won the match in dramatic fashion and closed the show, putting a cap on a tremendous effort from AEW.

Winner: The Elite

Casino Ladder Match (AEW world championship shot): Darby Allin vs. Colt Cabana vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Joey Janela vs. Scorpio Sky vs. Kip Sabian vs. Frankie Kazarian vs. Luchasaurus vs. mystery competitor

So let me get this straight, the booker says,”let’s have two guys from the same team enter the ladder match first”? I get honor and all of that junk but the match could have been over in seconds because the two teammates worked together to climb the ladder. All baby faces are morons and that is the laziest story told in all of wrestling.

Now that that out of the way, Orange Cassidy fucked around for a while before the mystery competitor revealed himself. Tazz had pressing business and that business was to bring Brian Cage to AEW. Cage takes out damn near everyone before everyone takes him out, literally burying him. Darby Allin had some great spots in the match as well. Brian Cage also took out Luchasaurus before grabbing the chip and a title opportunity. Tazz being the mouthpiece for Cage works well, it should translate into a successful career within the company, kinda like Lesnar and Heyman.

Winner: Cage

MJF vs. Jungle Boy

A strong candidate for match of the night. There was a good story there, would have been stronger with a real build to it, the same with their first match on Dynamite. MJF wins, of course. I wonder what’s next for him? Perhaps he’ll beat Cody for the ugliest title in the world.

Winner: MJF

Penelope Ford vs. Kris Statlander

Good news, this match was decent. Statlander needs better competition but AEW just doesn’t have it in that division. I understand that Britt Baker got hurt but Jamie Hayter and Bea Priestley are on the roster so maybe fly them out to Florida or something.

Winner: Statlander

Dustin Rhodes vs. Shawn Spears

Not a bad segment but not actually necessary for this show, I would have saved it for the next Dynamite. I thought Shawn Spears would have a more prominent role on the card but he’s pretty much a comedy act that no one is laughing at. It’s really all a shame, he could and should be so much more.

Winner: Dustin Rhodes

Private Party vs. Best Friends (The Buy-In pre-show)

Private Party went to the well one too many times and had some noticeable botches. Best Friends should have had more credible opponents on a PPV, there aren’t a ton of PPVs for AEW so this felt like a lost opportunity to elevate Best Friends just a little more.

Winner: Best Friends

Honorable mentions

1. A Britt Baker update.

Final take

The only problem I had with the show was the length of each match. Every single AEW match has to get every single spot in it no matter who the people are. I have minor criticisms but those didn’t take away from the actual show. The show was great overall. Yes, I am still grading on a curve because of COVID-19 but that’s fine, anything, any sport produced is getting high marks because they ARE needed. AEW did a great job at everything, I enjoyed the show and the effort put into the show. I thank all of those involved for entertaining us.

#JonMoxley #DoubleorNothing #HikaruShida #BrianCage #AEW