aew double or nothing 2026
i'll never forget getting to see aew's best ppv live. i still cannot believe it.
there are a few reasons it was aew's best ppv. first, the atmosphere was through the roof. the crowd was hot to red hot the entire night and the atmosphere in the place was electric. nyc's first ppv from the promotion, sold out, with a main event coursing with history, an excellent build, and high stakes.
darby spent the last month having a title reign that will go down in the books as an all-timer full-stop (my only quibble with this reign is preferring a different match order. wish knight was last and the bailey match was handled differently). it was a reign befitting who he is, the only reign he could ever have had, and one that felt like it came at a real cost. it is real for darby so it is real for me, and the wrestlers that stand tallest are the ones that make me forget that kayfabe is dead. darby has always been my favorite in-ring partner of mjf's. going in the match had big fight feel, and in the building, there were moments, across several matches, where the in-ring work felt real enough to lose yourself in, and for the audience to lose themselves in.
the venue was really special, and production used a lot of wide lenses really effectively, especially from those top rafters, so it looked like an even bigger deal onscreen. presentation all-around was so top-notch. a lot of little touches.
every match was good to outstanding. no duds on the card, and the match order was very smart to boot.
most of all, the thing that puts this ppv at the top is its pace, across matches and within them. aew ppvs are notoriously long, but there was no fatigue to speak of. 7 of the 9 matches were under 20 minutes. a thing of beauty. ospreay putting on a 14-minute match on a ppv? am i dreaming? thank you. thank you so much. the main event clocked in under 25 and even the stadium stampede made its mark in 30. this was a huge difference maker imo. aew ppvs can too often let its wrestlers cook up overlong matches that rarely justify their indulgence. here, many of the matches felt longer than they were (complimentary) because they were worked smartly and still told impressive in-ring stories without feeling rushed. by the time the main event came around, we were as hot as when the ppv started. no fatigue. everyone just completely high on anticipatory adrenaline. if i have one complaint on this front, i wish the women's 4-way had been given a few more minutes.
i quit match, ftr vs cage/cope: white hot crowd to start off, we gave these four guys everything we had for their first joint tag belts in over two decades. dug the creativity, having to do an i quit match in a state that doesn't allow blading or fighting in the crowd (hence stampede over anarchy). they leaned into comedy while maintaining enough brutality. the comedy also allowed cope and cage to leverage their age well. the winner was never in doubt, one of those times where that works really well. mic check-ins used to delightful effect as well. well-paced, they made sure all the set-up stretches were supported by other action. you could feel how much this night meant to the new tag champs. this and the stampede were pure crowdpleasers.
okada vs takeshita: one of the matches i lost myself in. met very high expectations. okada lives it out there, whether he shows up or not (he showed up sunday), and takeshita was living it too. they embody their dynamic so perfectly, their body language, timing, choices. from moment to moment, they are able to let themselves live through that dynamic, particularly between sequences. callis trying to protect his asset got so much heat for fucking with the match, a moment that played out only as long as it needed to. okada doing what he does best, slowing pace, waiting it out, choosing his moments. takeshita with so much to prove, way more than okada coming in, you could feel it. counter wrestling top notch. crowd through the roof for it. both living in such tunnel vision that they just power through taking the others moves when they get countered, in a very believable way. again, them fitting in an epic njpw style match into less than 20, just...thank you. kyle's return and turn handled pitch perfectly. they played me.
athena vs mina shirakawa: weakest match on the card but still quite good. have always felt athena is mina's best in-ring partner in aew. interesting booking here, athena felt like an underdog coming up from behind, v surprising. solid stuff tho. watching athena live always rocks.
mox vs kyle o'reilly: i love for this shit. live for it. so cerebral. technical submission wrestling. the striking. kyle's mma incorporation. what kyle is to mox. all of it. mox, forever my #1. nobody lives it more than him, pure animal, shark in the water. even more here, he's somehow moving even more than normal. needs to keep moving to keep from getting in his own head. needs to keep moving to capitalize on anything he can. so realistic and logical. mox has given kyle a special place in the oeuvre of his opponents. kyle taking the loss after this storyline does more for kyle than taking the win here. the right call, never in question. it was mox's to lose more than kyle's to win and that speaks volumes. love when wrestlers work a match that hinges on just one bump taken or one scouted move to fuck someone up the rest of the match, take out a body part. it is meant to happen often, but it can be hard to make that moment the believable gamechanger it needs to be. often you don't buy it. often it feels like it's happening because the match was planned that way. but here, they nailed it. kyle's kick to the ring post was brutal and the way he sold it, his foot giving out, trying to switch to using his knee, ahhhhhhhhh. really brilliant selling by kyle. mox not letting up, capitalizing in every way he could. just stunning mat work. the double ankle lock at the end, fuck off, so perfect.
ospreay vs samoa joe: GODDAMN. i had lower expectations going into this, but GODDAMN. joe's best match since all in/punk?!?!?!?!? ospreay killing it???? this was a FIGHT. have loved the mox tutelage story on paper, giving a wrestler's evolving move set an extra layer of canon is really cool. but will being the recipient of said tutelage is a hit-or-miss venture. but this absolutely rocked and really took me by surprise. will immediately going in for the cutter during joe's entrance, and joe then just checking him with his body, gave the match a bit of a different energy right off the bat. the match shook up the ospreay formula really well, and i felt like i saw different shades of both of them here. another match i got lost in. just really special stuff. really good intensity from will. really liked seeing the mox influence kick in here. with shibata it was more about the mat work and with joe it was more about showcasing a bit of heightened instinct and intensity. the styles clash here, fuck offfffffff, so gorgeous and meaningful given joe taking it. truly could not have loved this more, have i mentioned it was only 14 minutes. a thing of beauty.
swerve vs bandido: this chugs along until the two escalate everything with the craziest house call you'll ever see and from then on, they just don't stop. excellent stuff. bandido with the danielson neck selling, swerve reminding us that he's top roster talent. a match that, in the moment, is exhilarating, but slips from memory for me when compared to most of this card.
thekla v stat v hayter v shida: the most underrated match on the card imo. they had to follow swerve/bandido, went in with a terrible build, and saddled with a fatal 4-way format (not a fav). this was fantastic. this is the best jamie hayter has looked since coming back two years ago. the first time since she came back where i could see the 2022 performer again. stiff stuff, high impact, locked in. excellent timing from all four of them. loved the succession of rollups and the four of them center ring wailing on each other. stat/shida dissolution played well, shida had good heat using the kendo on stat. obsessed with thekla, unmatched aura, mox level aura. just a genuine freak, love to see it. she makes things feel on the edge of the rails. so glad she retained. keep this going. maybe actually give her a feud. let her face a former stardom opponent for forbidden door, please, for the love of god. thekla writhing with the belt after winning like she's in ecstasy, nobody doing it like her.
stadium stampede: i've seen the 2020 stadium stampede like a dozen times, so i was primed to love this. had such a great time with this, they tried a ton of shit, most of it worked, the timing and coordination here across the 14 men and the live production is really impressive. the intro videos set you up, this is a comedy match. laughed a ton. luchasaurus in the blonde wig had me crying. lashley and shelton were on fire here, was unsure how they'd fare in a match like this, but it was so cool to see how much fun they were having (lashley was just beaming ear to ear afterwards) and how much they stood out. a lot of creativity here and the best kind of stupidity. the shopping cart, the food fight, and then all the table spots at the end. commentary in a fit of giggles elevated it too. just adored this, a really fun time and a perfect palette cleanser for the main.
darby allin vs mjf: like....idek what to say. this was my match of the night. like i said, major big fight feel to this. the foley segment during zero hour tied everything together so well. (note to aew: do more of these during the zero hour and not your go home show!!) darby fuses life & the ring together in such a way that this match felt heartbreaking, inevitable, scary, and the kind of real you get in modern wrestling once in a blue moon. the tope right at the start was probably the scariest bump i've seen from darby because his feet grazing the rope gave him a landing that looked like it would have broken anyone else's neck. mjf exploits darby's recklessness beautifully. darby makes you feel it is life or death for him, it feels like it is, true wrestling spirit. they are capping off a rich history together and a historic title reign from darby. and they did enough of a job really teasing it could go either way here. i assumed mjf would win, but rush challenging darby, rumors of mjf filming a movie, a lot contributing to just enough uncertainty. and mjf...this was his best in-ring performance. he's had all the pieces from a very young age but can get in his own way. i've been frustrated with him as often as impressed. even in his best matches, it can feel like he is almost too aware of what he needs to be doing in each moment. and maybe i can be harsh on him because i can see he has it all. but here, the various aspects of wrestling were not compartmentalized. a completely holistic wrestling performance. lately he's been at the top of his game. the way he wore all of it, his disdain for darby and the crowd, the way losing his hair gave him the highest possible stakes for who he is. it all fused together. the two of them crawling to opposite sides and sitting there looking at each other. some of the best shit i've ever seen. all of his big moves to darby looked disgusting. the scaffolding coffin drop and the back of his head bleeding? this thing felt real, i got worked!!!! as a fan, i want to get worked! it did not feel like we were watching "performers" and the audience did not take it in as if they were watching performers (at least way less than typical now, if there were stupid this is awesome or fight forever chants, i blissfully missed them). a classic. and a good final angle. kevin knight has not been doing it for me as a character or presence. they gave him the mic too much too soon and he is awful on it (thus far). so i'm really glad he turned. at least it gives reason to the way he interacts with bailey. maybe he'll fare better in a heel role under (presumably) swerve to take notes from.
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