Superb main events carry AEW's Double or Nothing that may have ...

Double or Nothing, like it was a year ago, was a top-heavy show pulled up by its main events.   

MJF, Darby Allin, “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry and Sammy Guevara turned in arguably the best wrestling match of the weekend for the AEW world championship.

Anarchy in the Arena truly lived up to its name and may have paved the way for major names from Kenny Omega’s past to come to AEW.

Kris Statlander’s return from injury to end Jade Cargill’s 60-0 reign as TBS champion was the big surprise of the night.

The rest was a lot of hits and misses, not helped by an unusually tame-to-dead crowd at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday.

Here are five takeaways from AEW Double or Nothing 2023:

Four Stars

The build around the Four Pillars of AEW facing off in a four-way match for the world championship didn’t leave MJF’s three challengers looking like they were ready to be main-event stars. Then the bell rang. All four men really should take a bow for this one because it had all of the qualities fans love about AEW, a great pace, high-risk moves and storytelling around each man.

All four pulled out moves from their mentors and at one point locked in submissions on each other all at once. “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry refused to win the title the wrong way, tossing the championship belt aside instead of using it. MJF asked Sammy Guevara – who announced with his wife Tay Melo they are having a baby – to lay down for him and take the money he promised. Guevara refused, rolling him up instead to seal his babyface turn.

To win, MJF slid the world championship on the chest of Jungle Boy. Allin, who had tossed Guevara out of the ring, attempted a coffin drop and landed on the belt. It allowed MJF to beat him with a head-lock takeover for a second time to retain. If Allin is ever to beat MJF he should do it with a headlock takeover at this point to finish their story. MJF has started to complain about the lack of competition in AEW and isn’t a fan of New Japan. Who he gets at Forbidden Door next should be very interesting.

Anarchy Symphony

Anarchy in the Arena matches continues to deliver. This one was absolutely nuts and feels like AEW is working in reverse from what it did a year ago when the Blackpool Combat Club lost and got their revenge at Blood and Guts. This time it will likely be The Elite.

It ended when Don Callis distracted Kenny Omega from performing the One Winged Angel and new protégé Konosuke Takeshita (who he recruited for months) — disguised as a camera man — attacked Omega right after. It allowed Wheeler Yuta to strike Omega with the infamous screwdriver to get the win for the Blackpool Combat Club – a big deal for the rising star. Callis being on commentary pretty much telegraphed he’d somehow be involved.

Takeshita switching sides, means The Elite is going to need some reinforcement. Only two people make sense – Kota Ibushi or Kazuchika Okada – especially with Forbidden Door coming up next. Ibushi, who is a free agent, has a long history of friendship with Omega as The Golden Lovers. After the show, Omega teased having one or two friend who could even the odds.

This bloody match had some entertaining stuff, but “Wild Thing” being played through the first third of the match again needs to not comeback for a third time. The action was all over T-Mobile arena to start. We saw “Hangman” Adam Page remove his eye patch and rekindle some chemistry with Omega.

There was a bloody ref, a giant poker chip covered in barbwire, an exploding super kick and giant swing by Claudio Castagnoli in the concourse. Matt Jackson getting pile driven in the back of a pickup truck, having thumbtacks shoved in his mouth and his bare foot stomped on them. The violence and blood were toned down from what we saw last year and that made this much more palatable and enjoyable.

Women’s Division Shakeup

We have two new world champions. One we saw coming as Jamie Hayter’s injury had become a major part of the story and the Outcasts made it worse by beating the champion prior to the bell. It came into play when she delivered her Hayter-aide finisher with the arm but the pain kept her from quickly going for the cover. Storm ducked the second attempt and sent her into the exposed turnbuckle to setup winning the title for a second time. Maybe Hayter wins the belt back in front of her hometown fans at Wembley Stadium at All In.    

The other new women’s champion, no one saw coming. Jade Cargill beat Taya Valkyrie in the scheduled TBS championship match in her best in-ring performance to date. It included an incredible springboard and perfectly timed kick-out after Valkyrie hit her finisher that had been banded in their previous match. Cargill delivered her finisher for the win and then Mark Sterling cost her big time by saying she would defend the title anywhere and time.

That brought Kris Statlander, who suffered a second torn ACL in August 2022, out for a surprise return to eventually send Cargill’s record to 60-1. As much as I would have liked Cargill and Statlander to get a full story, this protected the former champ as she eventually moves on if they do a rematch, gave the show a surprise and finally moves the belt forward.

Premium Pair

Wardlow hadn’t felt like the beneficiary of AEW’s booking during his first TNT championship run, but some of the shine was put back on him and his pairing with Arn Anderson here. The big man looked incredible during his ladder match against Christian Cage. He delivered a Swanton Bomb outside the ring to Luchasaurus through two tables from a ladder as high as Jeff Hardy jumps off of. He gave Cage a helicopter press slam onto a ladder and caught Cage falling off a ladder after Andersen pushed it for his power bomb finish. Anderson even bit Luchasaurus’ thumb, drew blood (likely fake), and looked like a vampire at the match’s conclusion. The two feel like a formidable duo.

Cold Cuts

Outside of a super fun and dramatic finish between International champion Orange Cassidy and Swerve Strickland in the battle royale, the rest of the undercard felt like it lacked reasons to be emotionally invested. The House of Black competed in a cold Trios championship match with The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn. Mark Briscoe was never truly made to make a tough choice as the special guest referee in the tag team championship match, Jeff Jarret hit him with a guitar and then reprimanded and slapped him after he was slow to wake up and count. It made the choice to help FTR retain against Lethal and Jarrett an easy after weeks of fun build. (Ref Aubrey Edward did take a guitar shot from Karen Jarrett – who had little impact on the actual match.)

One of the matches that should have elicited higher emotions was Chris Jericho vs. Adam Cole in an unsanctioned match. This one got off to such a weird start with Sabu and Rodrick Strong having at the Jericho Appreciation Society members right away. Jericho and Sabu even had a chair shot-off and then the ECW legend leapt off the top rope through table on the outside. Then it all kind of ended and Cole and Jericho got to business.

This match felt hurt by the fact that Anarchy in the Arena was going to be bloody. So they couldn’t go that way and it kind of felt like this didn’t need to be an “Unsanctioned” match unless you count the stoppage finish to protect Jericho.

The two were chained together at one point. Cole hit his The Boom knee strike twice with the chain and then pummeled Jericho with his fists wrapped in it until the ref had to stop the bout. Britt Baker did get some kendo-stick revenge on both Jericho and Saraya and it ultimately set up a tag match between the four on Dynamite this week.  

Biggest Winner: Kris Statlander

Biggest loser: Jamie Hayter

Best match: MJF vs. Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara vs. “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry

Predictions: 6-3

Grade: B