Patrons, let what did you think of Double or Nothing?
After the PPV, join me and John for our live POST Show at youtube.com/postwrestling
Double Double+ patrons have the ability to call-in with their thoughts. Get the call-in link at postwrestlingcafe.com
Great show, booking around the basketball game seemed like a hinderance. “Anarchy in the Arena” should have just been called “Arena Anarchy.” AND OMFG the JAS Backstreet Boys outfits, and the Kingston Danielson brawl after Zombie Mad King came to light Judas Jericho a blaze… WOW.
MJF vs. Wardlow seemed like it was booked to get it out of the way. Or maybe I am just reading into the internal tensions too much. At no point during the match did Wardlow seem like he was going to lose, and that took some of the wind out of the match a bit.
Thunder Rosa vs. Sereena Deep was amazing. I wish AEW would give more time to women to develop their stories, because Rosa’s go home promo was awesome. And Deeb’s sympathetic heel promo was also great. But the lack of TV time put them in the position of having to win the crowd over more, which they totally did.
Athena debuting is great, but is she, like any of the other women aside from Cargill and Baker, going to get any TV time to tell stories? The Cargill vs. Jay match was really rough. It’s an instance where rehearsals might pay off in AEW.
Tag title match should be a Tornado Tag match… Aren’t three way and four way matches by default no DQ?
I wish Punk wore the longbois to troll the Twitter bois. Jim Ross’s foreshadowing can be a bit much. He dropped a couple notes about Punk playing dirty a bit too early.
Also… JR’s lame product placement drop just after Punk’s “and new” announcement while there are tears in his eyes was completely out of place. “If you had Punk tonight in Draft Kings, congratulations.”
How about no.
I really like how Page’s focus on character always comes back to morality, and what is moral in competition. He’s a gift of a performer.
Overall, it’s been a great, overbooked, but great show.
It’s late, I’m tired.
Quick thoughts…
Tony legitimately seemed to book against the basketball game. The most exciting stuff was the opening half hour before the game (MJF / Wardlow), and the final hour after the game (Anarchy in the Arena, Three way tag, and Main Event).
House of Black vs. Death Triangle was phenomenal. Would love to see Black get a shot in the World Championship mix.
Darby vs KOR as a Dynamite opener, would have been a Match of the Year contender. Unfortunately, it was in no man’s land on this show.
This show felt very similar to some late 80’s WrestleMania shows. A card filled with matches upon matches, just to get everybody on the show. Some great matches, some good, some just filler.
Interested to see where Punk goes with the reign. Inevitably I feel he will turn heel and become what Kingston, MJF and Hangman all warned people about.
I miss Kenny Omega.
Fairus from Malaysia,
Double or Nothing was a show of two halves whereby the second half (Darby vs Kyle onward) was excellent. It did not feel that long of a show as I first feared. Anarchy in the Arena was a better match than Stadium Stampede on first viewing. 9 out of 10.
Brett in Medellin, Colombia
I never watch live, but with the country basically shut down for an election today I tuned in.
Was not disappointed at all. The show could’ve been a bit more streamlined, I’m not sure we needed the Darby match or the mixed trios on PPV but with only 4 PPVs a year i’m not gonna complain too much.
My biggest takeaway of the night is the faith I have in AEW booking. Adam Cole looked weird acting like a face next to Martha, especially after cheating to win. Britt won like a face. Seems a little off, but I have faith. Adam Page loses after a crisis of conscience, I’m not sure if this leads to him turning heel, but again, I have faith in the writing at AEW because to this point, they haven’t really let me down.
My one question for you guys would be, Team Taz takes another loss, at what point does the booking just make them lose all credibility, I really thought it was time for them to get a big win.
Great shows as always guys, keep up the good work.
Mixed bag of a show. Some good/great, some real filler with way too many matches. Main event was good, a little sloppy by Punk at times and not an epic. However Wardlow is a huge star coming out of this so that’s a huge plus.
Matt from Tennessee
Long show but considering they do 4 shows a year (excluding Forbidden Door) I’m fine with the length considering its a 50 dollar PPV. As far as the quality, not as good as the recent 3 PPVs but the result of the main event bumped it to a really good show overall. Only bad match was the TBS title match which was terrible, hopefully Statlander takes the title from Jade. Another thing I hope for is that Malakai and Pac have a singles match and thats the end of the House of Black/Death Triangle feud. One last thing that I hope for is that if Page and Punk have a rematch is that Punk doesn’t attempt the Buckshot Lariat anymore lol.
Question: How many of these wrestlers make it to Forbidden Door: Kenny Omega, Will Ospreay, Kenta, Okada, Zack Sabre Jr
Its 7:50 am where I’m at so I’ll try to keep it short unlike AEW
The show ran way too long and we had way too much matches which could have been much better served on dynamite or on rampage. If it was up to me I would cut 3way mixed tag, Darby vs Kyle and the TBS title match.
The first part of this show outside of the house of black vs pentagon Fenix and pac was kind of middling and not AEW PPV level you have come in I expect.
Second half starting from the anarchy brawl was incredible with banger of a match one after the other. I would loved the main and even wish it could have went longer. So happy punk won.
Score:
8.5
Drop the three meaningless matches and It could up to a 9:5.
Chuck from Melbourne
What a great show! I don’t normally catch shows live due to work, but decided to talk the day off and watch all 4 hours and 40 minutes and boy am I glad.
As it’s now nearly 3pm the length of the show was fine, but I could totally understanding not wanting the watch the show ending past midnight.
The 3 way tag match was a nice little show stealer, but as a massive punk fan I was so glad to catch his first title win live.
Anarchy in the arena hopefully has started a new trend of blasting music during the match, added a new element to watching the match.
10/10
Noah from Vaughan
Really enjoyed the show tonight, and aide from a couple matches in the middle of the show, I thought they had more hits than misses over the course of the entire show, capped off by three amazing matches in a row to end it. Id give it an 8/10 With Punk now champion, obviously All Out is quite a ways away but im curious who you guys would like to see face Punk for the title on that big show.
Brandon from Oshawa
It is so weird to me that people actually think that the MJF squash was because of the events of this weekend, when this has been telegraphed for weeks. Kudos to them for going through with that. We dont get a lot of squash finishes in big matches and it was exactly what it needed to be.
This felt like a turn around from the last few events where it was hot at the start. This show really picked up in the last 90 minutes or so and finished strong.
Eric from Cork, Ireland currently in Las Vegas
I’m not sure how it came across on tv but the anarchy in the arena match was the best thing I’ve seen live at a wrestling show. Easy 5 stars.
The main event was great and despite the lacklustre build felt like a main event in the building.
The women’s title match was great and the Wardlow match was pretty much exactly what it needed to be. The two Owen Hart tournament matches were pretty dull live. I really don’t rate Cole or Britt.
I’m at the airport now and Hangman is here walking around with a limp. Don’t know if he’s selling or not
Brian in New Jersey
I’ve been a big fan of AEW PPVs, and that remains the case this month. I thankfully had no issues with Bleacher Report, and my energy for it remained high throughout. I thought the TBS Title match was a dud, but everything else I thought was good to great, especially Anarchy in the Arena. Strong main event, though it didn’t top previous matches I’ve seen from Punk and Page separately. Wardlow is positioned to be a megastar. Wonderful to see Stokely Hathaway join the company.
I didn’t rule out either possible result of the main event, but seeing Punk as the World Champion is still surprising to me. How do you think this will affect the TV ratings?
Mannie from Pacoima
Excellent ppv!!! Hardys vs Bucks was great, i hope jeff is ok he seemed a bit off. H.o.B. vs death triangle was amazing, the triple threat tag was fantastic.Glad to see Rush and Andrade reuniting maybe naito joins thems at the forbidden door and we once again see los ingobernables! Cant wait for dynamite this Wednesday as i will be there live! And a huge congrats to Sergio Perez!
Andrew from Saint John
Great show with a high level of quality, even though there were some weird moments. Why do this redemption story for Ruby but then have her lose? Why hand two people who lost title matches this cycle the tournament wins? Alas. Length and counter programming the basketball game have been discussed, and I just think that you have to focus on what you can control, i.e. making a great PPV someone’s going to want to watch the replay of. They mostly did that tonight, although there were cuttable matches. Loved Stokely and Athena appearing, loved the main event. Sad for Hangman but it made me happy to see Punk with the belt and I think they told a good story with Page’s reign from start to end. 8/10