All Elite Wrestling officially kicked off their promotion with a bang with their first event called “Double Or Nothing” last night and I have to tell you, I absolutely enjoyed watching the highlights and some of the matches at the event.As successful as it was last year, All In was the prelude to the birth of All Elite Wrestling and their first event called Double Or Nothing. The only two minor negatives of the event were the commentary aside from Jim Ross were OK & there were also some technical and production issues such as missing certain spots and having the wrong camera at times, but they will improve in those areas since they got a new production and technical team.
Double Or Nothing had been heavily hyped up by casual and longtime wrestling fans for 8 months and they damn sure delivered with such an amazing card feature matches that ranged from good to amazing.
Here are several things that I enjoyed about Double Or Nothing
Cody Fires Back At WWE - Prior to his match against his older brother Dustin, Cody got a sledgehammer and bashed the throne with it letting WWE know that “it’s on”. This was in direct response to Triple H’s “pissant” comment he made about AEW last month at The 2019 WWE Hall Of Fame Ceremony. The way Cody responded to those comments was absolutely a moment by destroying the throne with the sledgehammer will be talked about for years and years to come.
Cody vs Dustin Rhodes - This match was definitely my favorite match of the entire event because this match had so many good spots such as Cody doing The Curb Stomp which is Seth Rollins’s finishing move and Dustin Rhodes doing The Front Flip Piledriver aka Canadian Destroyer out of nowhere at 50 years old was phenomenal. This was a match that WWE said wasn’t a WrestleMania worthy match, but they both went out there and proved WWE wrong with their match last night. This match is easily one of the best wrestling matches of 2019 without question. The Cody/Dustin Rhodes match was a classic because the chemistry, psychology, and storytelling were the best that I’ve personally seen since Eddie/Rey back in the day when they were both on Smackdown.
The Crowd - One of the biggest things that I personally enjoyed about Double Or Nothing was the raucous intense crowd at The MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The crowd there was phenomenal and we’re into all the matches and even chanted “AEW” and “This Is Awesome” numerous times throughout the event. A good crowd will definitely make you as a viewer feel good about watching any wrestling event especially Double Or Nothing. The Double Or Nothing crowd is much better than the lackluster boring crowds often seen on the current WWE main shows.
The Young Bucks vs The Lucha Bros - This match between two of the best tag teams in wrestling today was definitely my second favorite match of the event because the crowd was definitely hot for this match as there were many good spots during the match like one of The Lucha Bros in Fenix bouncing off the rope and doing a front flip piledriver aka Canadian Destroyer on Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks and The Young Bucks showing their amazing tag team chemistry doing amazing team moves which showed why they’re clearly one of the absolute best tag teams in wrestling today. This match is also one of the best wrestling matches of 2019. The tag team division in AEW is definitely better than the stale awful tag team division on the current WWE main shows.
Better Use Of Nostalgia - Like last year’s “All In” event, Double Of Nothing Had Plenty Of Nostalgic Moments that I felt were personally used better in the form of ECW Legend Tommy Dreamer, ex-WCW wrestler Glacier, and ex-WWE star Billy Gunn helping and putting over the up and coming younger talent in The Casino Battle Royale which is something WWE is notoriously known for not doing well nowadays because the nostalgia factor that WWE heavily relies on nowadays have often come to the detriment of burying young full-time performers such as Brock Lesnar winning The 2019 Men’s Money In The Briefcase Ladder Match that buried young full-time performers such as Ali & Ricochet.
Honorable Mentions: There were several surprise appearances at Double Or Nothing from wrestling legend Bret Hart unveiling The New AEW World Title & I have to say that belt looks far better than all the atrocious looking WWE main roster titles including The 24/7 Title. Other than seeing Jon Moxley finally being himself without the creatively stifled and restricted PG garbage. My favorite surprise at the event was seeing Awesome Kong take part in the Fatal Four Way Women’s Match. I was definitely a huge fan of Awesome Kong when she dominated the women’s division during the glory days of The Old TNA, so it’s nice to see her again. And lastly, The Double Or Nothing stageway looked far better than the current stale and not-so-creative WWE main show stage ways.
The Conclusion - Double Or Nothing definitely blew All In out of the water because the event displayed all different styles of wrestling last night from the traditional technical to the popular “flippy style”. Even though the event’s not perfect, but it’s much better than anything seen on the current WWE main roster. The future for wrestling is bright again.
By Kwame Shakir
