Double or Nothing Reax

Read on for my thoughts on last night's AEW PPV.
-- Buy-In:
- Casino Battle Royale:
-- First wave of entrants:
I expect this is just a way of getting a lot of people on the card before the surprise 21st entrant establishes credibility.

Yeah this is kind of silly so far.

-- Second wave of entrants:
A little surprised no one's been eliminated yet.

-- Third wave of entrants:
This is definitely a wild collection of wrestlers.

Kind of a mess trying to combine so many styles.

-- Fourth wave of entrants:
This is a pretty crazy combination.

Thankfully we'll see more of these names in "real" matches down the line. Right now it's a mess. It does feel different from a regular battle royal/Rumble match, though, with the no-DQ elements.

-- Wild Card entrant:
Oh wow. I'm not sure if this is an upgrade from a PAC match, but it can definitely put him right in an important role.

Page is impressive here.

I'm enjoying this more now.

This is heating up well.

Hahaha wow this is bizarre.

Yeah that was chaotic. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. They had a lot of people they wanted to spotlight and give spots to.

- Kylie/Avalon/Bates:
Wow this is terrible. The notion of the whole promotion being inside jokes and The Elite putting themselves and their friends over is alive so far.

- Sabian vs. Guevara:
Fun so far.

I'm impressed with the athleticism.

Fun for what it was.

- Elite backstage:
This is cringeworthy.

- Elite promo:
This is BAD. The constant winking at the "smart" audience is painful.

-- Double or Nothing:
- SCU promo:
Yeah this gimmick has gotten really stale, too.

- SCU vs. Strong Hearts:
Fine work early.

Good teamwork in this one.

Everyone's definitely going hard here.

It is nice to see some new faces and some I haven't seen in a few months. Everyone's motivated.

I'm impressed with all this this action.

That was pretty great.

- Brandi promo:
Oh great another way to put one of the EVPs in a segment.

WHOOOAAAAAAA I didn't know Kong was still wrestling!

- Britt vs. Nyla vs. Kylie vs. Kong:
I've missed Awesome Kong.

Kong adds a unique element to this. I like it.

Oh great a Tower of Doom spot.

Pretty good action.

- Friends vs. Angelico/Evans:
I'm impressed with the athleticism.

This is pretty insane.

Everyone's working like they have something to prove on this show. I like it, but it feels like nonstop spots.

Amazing athleticism and innovation, but it hardly fits the sports mentality they were going for since I can't take it seriously as a real match.

Another big crazy spotfest.

- Post-match:
This is definitely coming across as "get everyone on the first show," but I appreciate them setting up angles and such.

- All Out announced:
I was wondering if they'd be able to call it All In 2, since ROH owns the rights to the first show.

- Aja/Yuka/Emi vs. Hikaru/Riho/Ryo:
I do appreciate this having a different feel than the crazy high-flying they had with the last match.

I'm definitely impressed with these women, and there's another good contrast of styles here.

I like what I'm seeing here.

I guess this is no-DQ now.

I liked that!

- Cody entrance:
EMBARRASSING. The obsession with WWE is frankly pretty pathetic. We all know WWE exists and this isn't it. AEW doesn't have to beat us over the head with it.

- Cody vs. Dustin:
I get it now. Cody wants to be HHH with Brandi as his Stephanie.

Mostly good work. Basically a handicap match.

Oh hey another cameo of one of The Elite's friends.

It's like they simultaneously want to have a meaningful fight but also have Dustin show he can do flashy moves.

OK I did like that heel ending, although it sent a mixed message after the "look guys I hate HHH too" bullshit.

- Post-match:
HAHAAHAHA and now they're working together again. Christ this show is a mess.

- Bret/Page/MJF/J. Boy/Havoc:
Oh yeah having Bret on the show definitely wins more anti-WWE fan points.

Well they did a good job with the title.

They're really trying hard to cram everything and everyone they can into the spotlight.

MJF is the definitely trying WAY too hard to be a hated heel. This whole show feels like they're compensating for something.

Everything here's going 100 mph. I guess MJF is feuding with three people already??

- Bucks vs. Bros:
Aaaaaand it's another spotfest. Everyone on the show is working really hard and is very talented, but none of it has any room to breathe before it's onto the next spectacle.

This is a circus.

I can't take any of this seriously. It's just nonstop showing off cool moves.

I mean they keep topping themselves with cool moves, but it's basically a spectacle rather than a match.

Big move after big move.

Christ, finally over.

- Y2J vs. Omega:
Jericho tries too hard to be a heel and another Elite inside joke. I can't think of the last wrestling show that made me cringe this hard.

So this is the heel Chris Jericho everyone's saying is amazing?

It is good to see these two wrestle again.

They do work together pretty well.

Haha Jericho taking so much offense from a guy 13 years younger than he is.

WOW they're really presenting Jericho as an all-time great with all he's getting up from. More overcompensating, I guess.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Remember when Jericho said he could lose to anyone and it wouldn't matter because he could rebound?

- Post-match:
2019 is 1999 I guess.

Hahahaha oh great now Moxley's going to overshadow Page in the title picture, too.

Yeah Moxley is so edgy he beats up REFEREES AND BABYFACES. He's the next Stone Cold guys take that VINCE.

I would say I'm excited to see how he fares in AEW, but I have a feeling we're in for more shots at WWE and meaningless excess. The AEW audience will love that, though, and a few nameless detractors here and there aren't going to slow down the momentum they've got.

More wrestling coming up.