0.NWA Women's Title: Serena Deeb(c) vs Riho ****
1.Adam Page vs Brian Cage ***3/4
2.AEW Tag Titles: Young Bucks(c) vs Wild Things ****
3.Casino Battle Royale ***
4.Anthony Ogogo vs Cody Rhodes *3/4
5.TNT Title: Miro(c) vs Lance Archer ***
6.AEW Women's Title: Hikaru Shida(c) vs Britt Baker ***1/4
7.Ethan Page, Scorpio Sky vs Sting, Darby Allin ***1/2
8.AEW World Title: Kenny Omega(c) vs PAC vs Orange Cassidy ****
9.Stadium Stampede: Inner Circle vs The Pinnacle ***3/4
Thoughts:
This one is sure to be polarizing.
Lets start with the preshow match. Note that I watched the full, main show but, from the Buy In, I just stuck to the NWA title defense and it was fucking great. Smart card positioning, too. Being a free, YouTube stream increases audience and they killed it so it should have, arguably, helped event buys. Add in the fact that the NWA has a major show coming up featuring Deeb, and the fact that this provided for a nice, last minute teaser and it's a no brainer. Deeb is a fucking star and no one can tell me otherwise.
The first match of the main card saw Page best Cage in a great one that surpassed expectations. Congrats to Hangman, by the way, on the baby news. I appreciated the layout and feel that the right man won.
The Tag Championship match was fantastic stuff. The intros alone started things hot and the intensity and pacing throughout kept it rolling nicely. Heel Bucks are so much fun and I appreciate the little things they did here throughout that added depth. The end stretch lost me a bit, though.
On to the Casino Battle Royale, and I'll give props to AEW for doing a decent job with a match gimmick that I tend to dislike. Sure, their take on it is a bit convoluted, but yeah the match was indeed enjoyable for what it was. Jungle winning felt right, Rush's debut was well done, and everyone largely came off looking decent. Fun yet flawed. Jungle vs Omega on the 26th should rock!
Ogogo versus Cody's build was pretty cringe. The match was pretty iffy, too. Ogogo is green but has some potential. Cody continues to give off HHH/JJ vibes and sincerely needs to have someone talk him down. Yeah, fuck this match.
Miro bested Archer in a good match to keep the TNT belt. Good with little sparks but not something I'd say you need to rush and see. What's next for Archer?
Next, Baker beat Shida is a fairly good match that felt a tad disjointed and never clicked fully. It underdelivered. They still worked hard and I give props there, and I am honestly eager to see BB's run with the belt.
The look-in at the world title match competitors was fun.
Sting and Darby's match against Ethan Page and Sky was far better than expected and a very good contest in general. I appreciated them having Mr. Ego try to kill Allin in a throwback kind of spot, Sting looked far better than he had any right to, and the entire thing was just pure entertainment. Thumbs up.
The World Championship match was well worth the time, and saw everyone look pretty dang good. The buzz that Orange got down the stretch was pretty magic. I'm not sure if AEW is willing to ever put this belt on him, but I bet they'll give him the TNT gold soon enough. Especially after this one. I will add that I am not huge on interference and this match, as well as basically the entire show, had those spots that dragged things down a tad for me. It's relatively minor, but an issue nonetheless. The finish here also felt a tad off. Either way, I had a good time far more than not.
Double or Nothing closed with the latest Stadium Stampede, which was great stuff overall. I expected over the top entertainment and got it. Sammy in particular came off looking like a fucking star which was great to see. I hope we soon get one of these during a Jags game. They can start it backstage right before half-time and then have it pour over onto the field during.
Double or Nothing was a very enjoyable event with loads of bright spots, quality action, and some nice building blocks for the future. It's hard to dislike the show and I really do recommend it, but I also cannot say it's without flaw. Still, I'm sure Attitude Era fans will eat it up even more than myself and I think fans should take time and make their own minds up here for sure.
Overall Rating: 80/100%
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