AEW Double or Nothing: Jericho pins Omega, Jon Moxley debuts

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2019/05/25/aew-double-or-nothing-report-kenny-omega-vs-chris-jericho/

This is POST Wrestling’s coverage of All Elite Wrestling’s Double or Nothing card from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Late tonight, Wai Ting and I will have a Double or Nothing POST Show available LIVE for Double Double, Iced Capp & Espresso members of the POST Wrestling Café. Members listening live can also call in live to chat about the show with us.

Feedback can be posted in the comment section below on the POST Wrestling Forum.

The Buy-In pre-show began at 7 pm Eastern.

Orange Cassidy has been added to the Casino Battle Royale.

CASINO BATTLE ROYALE

Brandon Cutler, Sunny Daze, MJF, Dustin Thomas, and Michael Nakazawa started the match as “The Clubs”. There were lots of boos when MJF was introduced. Nakazawa poured baby oil onto himself and used the oil to slide out of a hold by Daze.

The next suit was “Diamonds”, but no one came out when the three-minute mark had been hit. Brian Pillman Jr. attacked Isiah Kassidy on the way to the ring. Jimmy Havoc and Joey Janela suplexed Pillman Jr. onto the ramp. Shawn Spears was also part of the group and had a big reception.

Pillman Jr. was visually closer to Ricky Morton Jr.

MJF gave the middle finger to the crowd and was poked in the eye by Spears. He hit the Tye Breaker, did the “ten” sign and gave MJF the middle finger as the audience chanted “ten”.

The next set had an actual countdown on the screen. The “Hearts” suit featured Billy Gunn, Glacier, Jungle Boy, Marq Queen, and Ace Romero.

Nakazawa was the first one eliminated. Janela lit a cigarette in the ring. Glacier hit Daze with the mist and sent him off the turnbuckle to the floor followed by MJF eliminating Glacier. Havoc put Janela’s cigarette out in his forehead.

The “Spades” group featured Marko Stunt, Luchasaurus, Sonny Kiss, and Tommy Dreamer.

Romero hit a tope suicida that nearly lived up to its name. Dreamer brought weapons into the ring that led to an “ECW” chant. Dreamer received a big reaction after using the weapons.

The “Joker” was Hangman Page as the final entrant.

Page has renamed the Rites of Passage to the Dead Eye and hit it onto Janela.

Stunt took the big pounce from Romero that sent him over the top and onto Private Party on the floor. Jungle Boy lifted Romero and tossed him over the top for the next elimination.

Dustin Thomas hit the 619 onto Janela, which the camera cut away from upon impact, and followed with a 450 splash. Spears went to help Thomas and he was eliminated after Thomas applied a guillotine and sent him to the floor. MJF knocked Thomas to the floor.

Cutler got his big spot by eliminating Gunn and was immediately sent over by MJF. Luchasaurus eliminated Janela with a chokeslam to the floor through a table.

Kiss had a head scissors applied to Dreamer with the ass in Dreamer’s face before being sent to the floor.

Orange Cassidy was the 22nd man. He was sent out quickly after confronting Dreamer, then Havoc eliminated Dreamer.

MJF sent Jungle Boy over the top, he held onto the top rope and Havoc bit his hand and he fell to the floor.

It’s down to Luchasaurus, Hangman Page, Jimmy Havoc, and MJF.

Luchasaurus eliminated Havoc with a running boot. Page sent Luchasaurus over with a low bridge and the bell rung but MJF ran from behind and tried to throw him over, Page hung on and hit the Buckshot Lariat and tossed MJF out.

WINNER: Hangman Page at 24:01

The concept wasn’t a big winner for me with the order of entrants that took away each person’s individual entrance and there was a screw-up with the second group entering. It turned into a good battle royal and the best choice for the winner in Page.

Alicia Atout was backstage and interviewed Kylie Rae. She explained how excited she was and were interrupted by Peter Avalon and Leva Bates telling them to be quiet and each proclaiming to be “the librarian”.

SAMMY GUEVARA VS KIP SABIAN

Sabian sent Guevara to the floor and sprung off the middle rope with a flip onto the floor. Guevara followed with a dive of his own that the camera missed.

Sabian applied the Cruciatus Clutch and Guevara got out of the hold. He hit a standing shooting star press onto Sabian for a two-count.

They set up for a vertical suplex, fell over the top to the floor and ended with Guevara hitting the vertical suplex on the floor. Sabian was draped on the barricade and Guevara landed a shooting star press off the apron.

Guevara went for the 630-splash, landed on Sabian’s knees, and he hit the Deathly Hallows and won the match.

WINNER: Kip Sabian at 9:41

They did backstage skits with all the Elite guys with Kenny Omega, Young Bucks, Cody, and Brandi coming out. They each took turns welcoming everyone to the show. They rounded the attendance up to state 20,000 were in the building. Cody was cut off during his speech as the pre-show ended.

CHRISTOPHER DANIELS, FRANKIE KAZARIAN & SCORPIO SKY VS CIMA, T-HAWK & LINDAMAN

SCU got a big reaction and cut a promo in the ring. Daniels sang and called themselves the “ambassadors of California love”.

SCU got the advantage of Lindaman. T-Hawk was in and worked on the neck of Daniels, he hit T-Hawk with an STO.

Kazarian hit a Northern Lights suplex and roll up on combination. Daniels entered and hit a suicide dive to the floor. Sky hit a flying cutter onto Lindaman.

Daniels hits Angel’s Wings onto T-Hawk and Lindaman broke it up. Kazarian hit a flying rana onto the floor.

It ended with the BME into a tombstone from Kazarian onto Lindaman for the win.

WINNER: SCU at 13:46

Solid opening match and everyone looked great.

Allie joined commentary for the next match.

NYLA ROSE VS DR. BRITT BAKER VS KYLIE RAE VS AWESOME KONG

Brandi Rhodes came out before the match, she said she meant it that any of the three could win but ran into a problem. She doesn’t want a great match but wants a match that is “awesome” and brings out Awesome Kong to join the match.

Kong and Rose had a face off and she sent Rose to the floor with a spinning back fist.

Rose caught Baker and hit a Samoan drop. Rae countered a powerbomb attempt into a sunset flip with Baker stopping the pin.

Rose was stopped on top by Rae and Baker, Kong returned and slammed all three off the turnbuckle. Kong took out Baker with as spinning back fist on the floor. Kong was superkicked by Baker and Rae off the apron and speared into the steps by Rose.

Rae went for an O’Connor roll onto Baker and rolled into a bridging German suplex. Baker responded with a superkick and the Ushigoroshi to pin Rae.

WINNER: Dr. Britt Baker at 11:07

I liked the match and they kept Rose and Kong out of the finish, which teases that they will continue that program. Baker looked very good in the match and everyone had their standout moment. Rose has a lot of presence and Kong enhanced that element with the two monsters squaring off.

BEST FRIENDS VS ANGELICO & JACK EVANS

Chuckie and Trent went to hug and were cut off with dropkicks from behind.

Chuckie hit the Falcon Arrow onto Evans and he kicked out, which Chuck yelled no one does. He hit Angelico with a shiranui onto the floor. He returned to the ring with a jumping foot stomp off the top onto Evans. Chuckie and Trent hugged with the big camera zoom out.

Angelico saved Evans from the Dude Buster and he hit a Code Red onto Trent. Angelico lifted Trent onto his shoulders, Evans leaped off Trent’s back and hit a moonsault to Chuckie on the floor. Angelico hit a crucifix bomb and Evans hit a 630-splash and Chuckie saved.

Best Friends hit the Doomsday knee from the top, Chuckie hit a tope con giro and won with the Super Dude Buster.

WINNERS: Best Friends at 12:42

After the match, the lights went out and the Super Smash Brothers appeared, but no one recognized them. Excalibur knew them but didn’t identify them right away. Then, the lights went out again and a bunch of masked minions attacked the other members from the match. This did not work.

They announced, “All Out” for Saturday, August 31st at the Sears Center in Chicago and tickets going on sale June 14th.

RIHO, HIKARU SHIDA & RYO MIZUNAMI VS AJA KONG, YUKA SAKAZAKI & EMI SAKURA

Sakazaki just had tons of personality and instantly connected with an unfamiliar audience.

They got the advantage on Riho with Kong attacking her with kicks and playing off the size discrepancy. Mizunami eventually received the tag from Riho, who sent Kong into Sakazaki and then lit her up with chops. Mizunami got the everyone chanting for her and built up to a huge clothesline onto Sakazaki in the corner.

Riho returned and hit Kong with the 619, who came back and killed Riho with a suplex. Kong missed the elbow off the middle turnbuckle. Shida tagged in and could not lift Kong. Kong grabbed a garbage can and Shida brought a kendo stick into the ring as Aubrey Edwards missed all of this.

Sakura got the crowd chanting “we will rock you”. Sakazaki hit a springboard crossbody onto the floor.

Sakura hit a moonsault off the top and Shida kicked out. The bell rang and threw the audience off, they continued.

Kong missed and hit Sakura with a spinning back fist and Shida pinned her.

WINNERS: Riho, Hikaru Shida & Ryo Mizunami at 13:00

It was a minor blip with the bell ringing, but I thought the match was solid and a great display of all six.

CODY VS DUSTIN

Cody came out and there was a throne on the stage, he took a sledgehammer and hit it so hard that smoke came out of the throne and Cody was christened “The Throne Breaker”.

The audience was red-hot as the match began. They went to the floor after a suicide dive from Cody and Dustin came back with a senton off the apron. Brandi threw water at Dustin and Cody took the advantage.

Dustin set up Cody in the corner, went for the kick and Cody removed the turnbuckle padding and Dustin was sent into the exposed buckle, which opened him up. On the floor, Brandi speared Dustin leading to Earl Hebner ejecting her. Diamond Dallas Page came out and removed Brandi.

Dustin was bleeding so badly, and it was leaking out of his head. It was all Cody until Dustin grabbed his weightlifting and whipped him on the bare ass.

Dustin hit a superplex and the Final Cut for a near fall. Cody kicked him low, Disaster Kick and the Cross Rhodes for a two-count.

Cody hit Din’s Fire (vertebreaker) and another Cross Rhodes for the win.

WINNER: Cody at 22:28

Phenomenal match and one of the bloodiest in a long time.

Cody returned to the ring, the audience chanted “thank you, Dustin” and Cody said you don’t get to retire here. He asked Dustin to team with him in July at Fight for the Fallen against The Young Bucks. Cody said he doesn’t need a partner, he doesn’t need a friend, he needs his older brother. They hugged and left together.

Bret Hart was introduced to unveil the AEW world championship. Hart brought out Hangman Page and said the world champion would be decided on a pay-per-view in a few months.

MJF interrupted, he said a horse cannot be the face of the company. He explained what happens to a horse when it has a bum leg and blowing its brains out. He said Page got a fluke victory and should relinquish his title shot. He said he would the best there is, was, and ever will be and then said the catchphrase sucks. He turned around and Jungle Boy had come out, he called Jungle Boy a “pre-pubescent teenager” and went to leave when Jimmy Havoc walked out. They attacked MJF and then Hart unveiled the championship.

THE YOUNG BUCKS VS PENTAGON JR. & REY FENIX FOR THE AAA TAG TITLES

Nick Jackson and Fenix had a phenomenal sequence on the floor with neither gaining the edge and returned to the ring.

Fenix used a Greco Roman knuckle lock on Matt, scaled to the top, kicked Nick on top and then hit a rana onto Nick that looked fantastic.

Pentagon attacked Matt with leg kicks. Matt hit a spinning stunner and then applied the sharpshooter onto Fenix, which Pentagon broke up.

The Bucks applied sharpshooters onto both, and they reached the rope. Fenix was draped on the middle rope as Nick Jackson hit a 450 splash off the top. Then, the Bucks hit a combination powerbomb and shiranui while Nick made the sign for the Motor City Machine Guns.

All four went down after a sequence of superkicks and a double clothesline.

Pentagon hit Matt with a Destroyer onto the edge of the apron, Fenix hit Nick with one in the ring for a near fall. Pentagon hit a Gori special and package piledriver to both simultaneously, Nick kicked out of a senton atomico from Fenix.

Matt hit a brainbuster to Fenix, then Pentagon kicked out from More Bang for Your Buck.

Pentagon snapped Matt’s arm and hit the Pentagon Driver for a huge near fall. Fenix attacked the injured arm, he caught Fenix and held him with one arm as Nick hit the Meltzer Driver and they won.

WINNERS: The Young Bucks at 24:56 to retain the AAA tag titles

Excalibur was outstanding calling all the major moves, the call backs to past rivals, and the match was excellent.

KENNY OMEGA VS CHRIS JERICHO

Jericho entered with actors standing in representing his past iterations as Lionheart, the List of Jericho, and one with the light up jacket. Omega came out to his new music.

They fought on the floor, Jericho rang the bell and puts his arms in the air. Jericho took a camera and Omega spit water at the lens.

Jericho stopped to give the middle finger to the audience and challenge someone to jump into the ring. Omega’s nose was busted open.

Jericho brought out a table and Omega dove with a tope con giro and appeared to smash Jericho’s arm with the table. Omega followed with a springboard double foot stomp onto the table. Back in the ring, Omega landed a V-Trigger to the back of the head in the corner.

Jericho attempted the lionsault and landed on Omega’s knees. Jericho dumped Omega and hit the lionsault onto Omega’s back with a bad landing then followed with a second one. Omega took a back body drop onto the table on the floor.

Omega stopped a superplex, dove off the top and into a codebreaker, which Omega kicked out from.

Jericho blocked the V-Trigger and applied the Walls of Jericho, Omega kicked his way out and hit a V-Trigger. Omega attempted the One-Winged Angel and it was stopped as Jericho went for a DDT but could not hit it properly. They went back, with Omega stopping a lionsault, it was turned into a DDT and Jericho hit the Judas Effect for the win.

WINNER: Chris Jericho at 26:35

After the match, he said it’s his time now and he is AEW. He said it isn’t a company for the fans but a company for him. He took credit for the television deal and selling out the arena. He demanded a “thank you”.

Jon Moxley came out from the crowd and hit Jericho and referee Paul Turner with Dirty Deeds. He lifted Kenny Omega and went to hit him but Omega fought back and they went into the crowd. They fought onto the stage and onto the stack of poker chops and hit the Dirty Deeds and then a Death Valley Driver off the stack of poker chips and onto the set.

1 Like

You forgot Best Friends vs. Jack Evans & Angelico.

1 Like

I didn’t watch the main card but based on the Casino Battle Royale AEW needs to convince me their intention is to present their product as a sport and not as daft comedy based on all the stupid performers and their “spots” like Michael Nakazawa and his baby oil, Dustin Thomas (as impressive as it is that he manages to do what he does), the disaster that is Jimmy Havoc and the downright insult to professional wrestling fans that is Orange Cassidy.

Everything picked up from the Battle Royale. But you do need a balance. Jimmy Havoc is class

Moving aside from the Casino Battle Royale (I like a lot of those guys, some of them are signed, some are not, but I would have opened with Sabian vs. Guevara instead), I thought the PPV was very good. I had issues with the direction (Keith Mitchell?), commentary (Alex Marvez), and some mid-match and post-match moments (what happened after the Best Friends match), but bell-to-bell I thought the show really delivered. I’m looking even more forward to the TNT show, but I will be selective towards PPVs; I never ordered every WWE PPV before the Network, and I can’t be spending $50 every month.

What was your issue with the angle after the Best Friends match? I had never seen the Super Smash Bros before and I instantly thought they looked awesome. I thought it was a great angle and that human throne was fucking amazing.

2 Likes

Not ideal when a crowd chants “who are you?”
I liked the angle but didn’t have a clue who it was and the commentator saying “I know who it is but I wont say - was a strange decision”

I thought nothing would top Spring Break Part 1 as my show of the year, but whoa boy this smashed it out of the park!

Despite some technical hiccups (the production crew missing some spots, replays cutting off, miscues on three counts, Alex Marvez), I enjoyed every single match on this card and there was so much variety that I never once felt overwhelmed or felt the need to look at my phone. incredible stuff.

I also really liked the finishes for the big singles matches on this show. They were clean and they were dominant. No constant reversals until someone hits a finisher out of nowhere, it was clear and concise.

If AEW manage to smooth out those issues with the production then they’ll be straight fire and the only obstacle in their path will be themselves.

The crowd were assholes in that segment. There was no need to chant that, when so many on the show were unknowns. Who the fuck are Nyla Rose, Kip Sabian, a bunch of guys in the battle royal, most of the Japanese girls?

They gave Super Smash Bros a big spot and they looked bad ass and are an instant threat. You can’t ask for anything more. The commentary was stupid though.

1 Like

I was just happy it wasnt Colin Cassidy

Hey fellow Postmarks, Jon & Wai

First time post-er, long time fan.

Just wanted to highlight one thing that wasn’t discussed on the POST show which stuck out to me about the Cody - Dustin match.

One of the key aspect of the match was Cody and Brandi playing the duplicitous, cheating heels. This (somewhat predictably) was completely disregarded only for Cody to turn babyface at the end of the match and tearfully ask his brother to be his partner in the next match. Just after Brandi was kicked out and Cosy wiped Dustin’s blood across his chest, I turned to my brother who I was watching with and bet him that at the end of the match they would hug, little did I know it would be laid on much thicker than that even… Was this not completely illogical? Was the cheating really necessary in this match? Was it just to facilitate the Hebner pop and DDP’s involvement? Thoughts from anyone else on this are welcome.

Maybe I’m just being a bit of a stickler, but it really took the shine off of an otherwise good match.

Overall I thought the show was reasonable for first show. A lot of the performers still feel like they need a lot of seasoning, there was some hokey house show wrestling mannerisms displayed by a few performers on the pre-show and some of the earlier matches on the show, but hopefully that will improve with time. Very interested to see what the storylines are like when the TV gets going. Still hopeful, but not fully sold… yet.

Scott, UK

1 Like

I bought it on the FITE app, first time using it. Wasn’t able to end up watching live but I hadn’t had anything spoiled because I didn’t go on any social media until after I had seen the thing all the people would be talking about. It was a really fun show, $50 well spent and I’d do that a few more times a year without hesitation. The Cody/Throne entrance was apropos to the parallels between Game of Thrones and pro wrestling in general when it comes to having a rabid, enthusiastic fan base lose their passion towards a product. I enjoyed the Cody/Dustin bloodbath. You really got to be careful and use that level of blood/blood in general sparingly, but I think it added a lot in this case.

Let’s face it, from what i’ve read about this show, it was a nice way to make a first impression. The only advice i hope guys like jericho and jim ross would give them is to stop taking jabs at wwe like they did last night. If you poke the bear too much, they will find a way to kill them before they ever got the chance to gain momentum.

We need something like AEW to be successful so that we get a true alternative for wrestling fans and for the wrestlers. So they need to focus more on growing their brand and their fanbase and less on trying to poke wwe

1 Like

I like the Smash Brothers and think they will add to a great tag team division here, but it seemed like most of the crowd didn’t recognize them, they weren’t identified, and to me they looked the most indy-riffic out of anyone on the main card. It would have gone over great in PWG, but they overestimated the reaction here.

A really great article concerning AEW and how it can successfully attract casual / non fans…

1 Like

“GLOW-up” already puts me off that article…

And is there a way someone can merge threads? It’s not a big issue but there’s like 6 threads on this show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DawtshRJGsc

I just listen to the latest jim cornette experience where he reviewed Double or nothing and while i don’t agree with everything he said i thought he brought a lot of great insight as to what it will take to bring the casual or forgotten fans back to wrestling and specifically to AEW

I really think people should be putting more value in the article I posted about non-fans getting into AEW, and how accessible the PPV came across.

Creating new fans > trying to pull in lost fans.

I’ve read his comments. He’s incredibly out of touch, and offers literally nothing to where professional wrestling should be headed.

1 Like

Go listen to the podcast instead of being so close minded because some people don’t think AEW is the be all and end all of Pro wrestling. They did a lot of stuff that would have been condemn by us if WWE was doing them on the main rosters.

I mention it on another post about how casual fans and those that drop off after the monday night wars ended don’t care about great workrate and surely don’t know who these new guys especially the big internet darling like Omega and The bucks.

The biggest take away i took from his review is how AEW wants to be a alternative to WWE yet they still book for the Hardcore wrestling fans.

If they wanted to be different then WWE why not bring back the 2 main announce team. Have J.R and Somebody else be the voice of the event instead of J.R. trying to get the other 2 back on track while he trying to do his job as well. Why do a dumb backstage segment at the beginning of the show that lead nowhere. Why have crappy indy wrestling comedy on the pre show that help turn anybody casual fans away from your product before it even aired. All theses small things need to be fix before they start airing on Network tv if they want succeed.

They have a great chance of being the next big thing in Wrestling if they take some of the mistakes they made seriously because they have everything going for them but if they stay with the mindset of just trying to please their hardcore fan base, they won’t be a major thing in five years and will be were every other wrestling fed are right now and that’s looking up at WWE while they continue to be a monopoly.

By the way, i just finish reading the article you posted, and a lot of the point that was made in the story/article where made by cornette in his podcast.

1 Like

While I have admired Jim Cornette for a long time, I was really disappointed in his comments regarding the pre-show battle royale and have to bring up homophobic garbage into it. That was just too much.

1 Like