Prince’s The Day After: AEW Double or Nothing 2022

The ultimate rundown of AEW’s inceptive grand gala.

Good day to the readers! Prince Osborne here coming back to the blog with a new addition to my series “The Day After” where this entry coming from All Elite Wrestling’s fourth instalment of the sensational spectacle, Double or Nothing. My sincere apologies for the prolonged post due to my personal commitments leading to missing the shows live/ as per the concept (day after live show). Let’s cut to the chase!

Buy-In:

Tag Team Match: Hook & Danhausen vs. Tony Nese & Mark Sterling

Hook & Danhausen def. Tony Nese & Mark Sterling (Danhausen def. Mark Sterling by pinfall) at 5:25

A perfect comical relish done here. All men did their work right and the prime focus was on HookHausen and they utilised it very well. The crowd was extremely pleasing and this served as a nice amp-up for the main show.

Rating: 2.5/5

Main Show:

Singles Match: Wardlow vs. MJF

Wardlow def. MJF by pinfall at 7:35

Sincerely satisfied with this story-driven spectacle to open things up. MJF getting little to zero offense makes huge sense as per the story of David vs. Goliath. I’m extremely happy to see Wardlow get the huge spotlight and I dearly hope he thrives as a massive star in AEW.
Rating: 3/5

Tag Team Match: The Hardys (Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson)

The Hardys def. The Young Bucks (Jeff Hardy def. Nick Jackson by pinfall) at 19:13

This was a fun match at the end. Both teams started off in a different way than usual because of the dull visual from The Hardy Brothers. But, the match picked up in the second half with cool spots and great energy from fans. Hardy Brothers winning is a nice crowd pleaser even though I rooted for The Bucks.

Rating: 3.5/5

Singles Match – AEW TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (C) vs. Anna Jay

Jade Cargill def. Anna Jay by pinfall at 7:27

Almost surpassing their previous match, this one had Jade as the better athlete and I’m happy to see her improve. Jay stepped up and gave nice moments of stealing the match but her inactiveness in the prime scene was exposed in this match leading to some misfires from her side. The shenanigans were aptly used and the double debut (Stokely Hathaway & Athena Palmer) excites me as per the usual surprise debuts AEW pull off in big stages.

Rating: 3/5

Trios Match: Death Triangle (PAC, Penta Oscuro & Rey Fenix) w/Alex Abrahantes vs. House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews)

House of Black def. Death Triangle (Malakai Black def. PAC by pinfall) at 15:31

A tremendous sprinter between two of the menacing trio units AEW has built. The story was prolonged with intrigue & great previews of singles & tag action here and there. Ultimately, the payoff we had here was fantastic & worth the wait. It went just as expected even though there were some rough patches. The final twist was seen from a far mile but seeing it happen eventually was wild.

Rating: 4.25/5

Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals: Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole

Adam Cole def. Samoa Joe by pinfall at 13:15

A pretty good match for an almost memorable men’s side of the Owen Hart tourney. Both did a nice job inside the ring with their good chemistry but didn’t shift to high gears which billed this as good but not great. Cole is a fine choice of a winner as he needed a form of accomplishment in AEW.

Rating: 3.25/5

Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals: Ruby Soho vs. Dr. Britt Baker, DMD

Dr. Britt Baker def. Ruby Soho by pinfall at 14:52

It was almost as good as their Grand Slam match with a questionable winner. Both showed their best as expected and the crowd was really active taking both sides during the cool spots. Ruby deserved of winning this tourney more than Baker as the former hasn’t done anything noteworthy since her time here. The same can’t be said for Baker who’s been a high profile wrestler in the women’s division. Cole & Baker stealing the whole tourney as the “power couple” of AEW is a decent move to highlight them often.

Rating: 3/5

Mixed Trios Match: American Top Team (Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page & Paige VanZant) vs. Frankie Kazarian, Sammy Guevara & Tay Conti

American Top Team def. Team Kazarian (Scorpio Sky def. Frankie Kazarian by pinfall) at 12:03

A decent overbooked trios match where Scorpio, Frankie & Ethan carried the wrestling part in a pretty good way. PVZ had a very cool debut here showing a lot of potential in becoming AEW’s first MMA-convertible woman. Sammy & Tay were playing their roles well as annoying heels but the wrestling part didn’t get much focus as the storytelling part got. Even though it had a lot of time, the storytelling was decent at best.

Rating: 2.75/5

Singles Match: Darby Allin vs. Kyle O’Reilly

Kyle O’Reilly def. Darby Allin by pinfall at 10:34

This was a certified slugfest between two of the most dedicating wrestlers of the roster. KOR has been underutilized in overall but taking a deep look, he has stepped up and delivered excellent matches as a singles star and this one was no different. Darby bringing his usual self & wowing the fans meshed very well with Kyle’s technical mastery. Him winning could’ve easily ignited a potential singles run sooner.

Rating: 3.75/5

Singles Match – AEW Women’s World Championship: Thunder Rosa (C) vs. Serena Deeb

Thunder Rosa def. Serena Deeb by pinfall at 16:50

Such an intense fight between two of the best women on the league. Both had the utmost fire & desire to outsmart each other leading to bring the best they’ve got in order to rise to the top. Serena is a fantastic technical beast and she proved that she could thrive very well in the bigger stage and Rosa had the best title match so far since her win as well as previous pursues over the title.

Rating: 4.25/5

Anarchy In The Arena Match: Eddie Kingston, Blackpool Combat Club (Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley) & Proud n Powerful (Santana & Ortiz) vs. The Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Daniel Garcia, Jake Hager, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker)

The Jericho Appreciation Society def. Team Kingston (Chris Jericho def. Bryan Danielson by submission) at 22:40

This fight lived up to the name it has – anarchy at the absolute best! All ten men smacked each other in convincing hardcore style with stellar spots and astonishing brawl all over the arena. Moxley, Kingston, Bryan, Menard & Jericho became the MVPs of the fight with the final stretch from Eddie’s badass march with a gasoline can to the choke-out end by Jericho & Hager on Danielson was crazy. The hype for this match was so intriguing and the match itself delivered and went beyond from what we least expected. JAS is a unit that gave its doubts of relevancy but after this bout, they’re surely ready for the league.

Grade: A

Three Way Tag Team Match – AEW World Tag Team Championships: Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (C) w/Christian Cage vs. Team Taz (Ricky Starks & Will Hobbs) vs. Swerve In Our Glory (Shane Strickland & Keith Lee)

Jurassic Express def. Team Taz & Swerve In Our Glory (Jungle Boy def. Shane Strickland by pinfall) at 17:16

An exceptional hot-rod match as expected. These three teams are on a white hot streak as a defiant layer of tag team roster where the champions are so focused than before while the challengers are hungry and poised as potential dethroners. All six men had stellar synergy with sick moves and thrilling action. Jurassic Express was expected to be dethroned here so their victory was a surprise yet convincing for some fans of them.

Rating: 4/5

Singles Match – AEW World Championship: “Hangman” Adam Page (C) vs. CM Punk

CM Punk def. Adam Page by pinfall at 25:52

This was a befitting end to The Lovefest Return of CM Punk with a World Championship win in over seven years. He proved to this world of pro wrestling that he still has left some dose of drive to usher in the spotlight of stardom and here we are witnessing that proving mettle of the Second City Saint.

Hangman’s presentation as the World Champion might’ve not been the greatest but he elevated his stardom to superstardom with the title reign he had and this was nothing but a respectable cap-off to it.

The first misfire from Punk was accidental but the immediate one added legitimacy to the story of Punk trying his best to psychologically dominate but unable to do so. Hangman’s edge was a great move as he ripped off the beloved mask for once and showed his possible villainous side that made him look even powerful.

These two were exceptional wrestlers, did their best in-ring work and told a defining story of a veteran’s re-emergence to the mountain top. Now, seeing the current state of the champion and the division, I feel extremely bad for Punk but gives me more intrigue on the potential happenings for the interim status.

Rating: 4.25/5

Overall Match Rating: 3.5/5

Overall Show Rating: 8/10

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