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AEW

AEW ‘Double or Nothing’ 2023: MJF Retains, Takeshita Turns Heel, Kris Statlander and Toni Storm New Title Holders

Courtesy/AEW

Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing live on pay-per-view emanating, once again, from Las Vegas, had a stacked double main event, which saved the show after a lackluster beginning.

There were some title changes, major spots, a heel turn, blood and guts and tables, that kept it entertaining for AEW wrestling fans.

Let’s break down some of the key matches:

MJF vs. Darby Allin vs Jack Perry vs, Sammy Guevera – The Four Pillars four-way for the AEW Championship

Photo: AEW

AEW has developed these four wrestlers and more into stars in their own right. When the bell rang, all four delivered high-flying maneuvers with clever storytelling along the way. Selling their in-ring personas, mixed with real-life emotion.

Guevera is still, to us, the one with the most exciting moves, while MJF stands as the complete package, getting the fans riled up, while showing his in-ring prowess. Allin is one of the hardest working wrestlers out there and ‘Jungle Boy’ Jack Perry has come so far.

In a key moment in the bout, when Perry had the championship belt in hand and could have ‘legally’ used it on Allin to secure the victory, in a moment of conflicted emotion, tossed it out of the ring.

That allowed MJF to eventually plant the world championship belt on Perry’s chest while Allin went for his signature ‘coffin drop’ off the top rope ring corner. However, Allin landed on the belt in pain. That opened the door for MJF to seize the opportunity to secure the win with a head-lock takeover to retain the title.

Tay Conti and Sammy Guevera Expecting a Baby

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Before the match, Tay Conti and Guevera emerged on the entrance ramp.  Sammy brought along his old gimmick of poster boards with messages on them.  The surprise message was for all of AEW and the fans in attendance.  Conti and Guevera, who are married in real life, revealed that Conti is pregnant with their fist child!

The Blackpool Combat Club vs. The Elite – Anarchy in the Arena

Photo: AEW

Imagine a wrestling match all over the T-Mobile Arena going down while a band plays The Troggs, “Wild Thing” the entire time! That’s what happened during the capper to Double or Nothing.  AEW fans know that Jon Moxley’s entrance theme song is that track.  So, this year, why not play it live? The lead singer wore a disturbing black mask, where he eventually received a boot to the head from The Elite for his troubles of aligning himself with the BCC.

This match (if you can call it that) was literally all over the arena and in the parking lot.  Jon Moxley, Wheeler Yuta, Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kenny Omega, ‘Hangman’ Adam Page, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson brought out the barbed wire, forks, screwdrivers, tables, thumbtacks, and anything else you could find lying around the arena or under the ring, as weapons.

It finally came to a conclusion when Omega’s trader-of-a-former manager, Don Callis, distracted Kenny Omega and his new protégé Konosuke Takeshita emerged disguised as a camera man and kicked and attacked Omega.  Next, Yuta hit Omega with the actual screwdriver (the latest favorite weapon of the BCC) and pinned Kenny.

Now, questions remain. Are Callis and Takeshita aligned with the BCC? Why did Takeshita who was a fan favorite turn heel? With the Forbidden Door pay-per-view coming up shortly, it would seem this turn was to infuse a main event featuring Omega and a few of his friends! After the show went off the air Kenny previewed he may have one or two buddies on the way to help him out.

Jade Cargill vs. Taya Valkyrie – Jade Cargill vs. Kris Statlander

Photo: AEW

The best ring entrance of the night belonged to Cargill. The Women’s TBS Champion came down to the ring accompanied by a performance by Big Boss Vette of her track ‘Pretty Girls Walk’.  Along with her A.K.A. sorority sisters, Cargill also busted out some dance moves.

Putting her amazing 60-0 streak on the line, many thought Taya Valkyrie who has the size and the moves to give Cargill a run for her money, would win the title on her second attempt against Jade. That was not meant to be.  Cargill pinned Valkyrie. Then, getting too big for their britches, Jade’s manager, Mark Sterling took to the mic and offered up an open challenge.  Shocking everyone, Kris Statlander came out from the back and ran in the ring and quickly defeated Cargill to win the belt.  It should be noted, Statlander was out of commission from her ACL surgery, following a previous surgery on her other knee.  The crowd went nuts. Cargill was an outstanding champion though, by her own design.  What a great story to have Statlander comeback and win a title! She shared her emotions and emotional story during the AEW post show media scrum.

Toni Storm vs. Jamie Hayter

Photo: AEW

We kind of saw this one coming, did you? AEW Women’s champion, Jamie Hayter, was obviously hurt, so taking the belt off of her to heal up was the move … but, this also seem to be the move to have Hayter win back the belt in front of her hometown crowd in August when AEW has its first live show in London, England at Wembley Stadium.

In the storyline, Toni Storm, who previously held the belt as ‘interim champ” when she was a babyface, defeated Hayter. Her win comes with the help of her bff’s The Outcasts (Saraya and Ruby Soho).  During the post-show media scrum, Storm stayed in character, defiant, and related how this title reign will be much different than when she was more innocent and let people walk all over her.

Chris Jericho vs. Adam Cole

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The worst match of the night, unfortunately, belonged to Chris Jericho and Adam Cole in their unsanctioned duel. The crowd was dead during it, the action just felt forced, Sabu’s appearance was useless, and all of it led to a fireball in the face to some guy in the back post-match, setting up a mixed tag match for Jericho and Saraya vs. Cole and Britt Baker D.M.D, this week on Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite.

In Other Bouts … 

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Orange Cassidy finished off Swerve Stickland to retain his AEW International Championship in a 21-man battle royale,

FTR defeated Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal to retain the AEW Tag Team belts after special referee Mark Briscoe had enough of Double J’s antics.

The House of Black retained their Trios championship titles against the The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn.

Wardlow defeated Christian Cage to retain the TNT championship.

So, what did you think about the double main event at Double or Nothing 2023? What are your thoughts on who kept their titles and who was crowned new champs? What was the best and worst part of the PPV? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

AEW

AEW Dynasty: Swerve Strickland Becomes AEW World Heavyweight Champion, Jack Perry Returns, Will Ospreay Retires Move After Scary Finish

There is no doubt now, who’s house it is in AEW? It’s “Swerve’s House” after his strong showing on Sunday nights AEW Dynasty pay-per-view. In the main event, Swerve Strickland captured the AEW World Heavyweight Championship defeating Samoa Joe in a career-defining moment.

Strickland becomes the first ever Black AEW World Heavyweight Champion in the organizations history.  And it was not loss on Strickland, who spoke about it in the post-Dynasty media scrum, but also knew the moment was upon him from the moment he was going to make his ring entrance in front of a sold-out crowd in St. Louis and those watching around the world on cable outlets or via Bleacher Report.

Swerve Strickland ring entrance showed that he was dressed to impress, in a mask and black and gold spandex attire. As fans caught on , Swerve was paying tribute to the character of Kilmonger, the antagonist of 2018’s Black Panther film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But that was not all, Prince Nana, Strickland’s manager/sidekick covered Strickland with a robe that belonged to Jimmy Rave. Rave was part of Ring of Honor during the company’s early days and was part of Nana’s stable The Embassy. He has three shots at the ROH title but never won the big prize.

Photo: AEW

AEW Dynasty had three major matches back-to-back to conclude the three hours show.  Strickland in the main event defeating Samoa Joe, and before that The Young Bucks (Matthew and Nicholas Jackson) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a brutal ladder match.

Courtesy/AEW

In the deciding moment of the match after Harwood goes to climb up the ladder to reach  for the titles, a masked man runs in and knocks over the ladder. It’s revealed to be none other than the previously suspended, Jack Perry (son of the late 90210 star, Luke Perry). Perry throws up the Elite symbol as security escorts him away. Nicholas Jackson looks pleased by the interference and uses it to take advantage and climb the ladder to get control of the title belts and The Young Bucks become the new AEW tag champs, once again.

The most highly-anticipated match of the night was between two of the greatest wrestlers to ever do it – Bryan Danielson and Will Ospreay and after more than a half-hour of back and forth with high flying moves, technical precision and punches and kicks, Ospreay was able to get the pin, but unfortunately in the last few minutes of the match, Danielson went down after Ospreay delivered the Storm Driver ’91 move. Next, the referee called for medical to check out Danielson, while Will was unaware of that and continued to finish the match.

Photo: AEW

At the post-Dynasty media scrum, an upset Ospreay began by addressing reporters and sharing, “I’m super glad that everybody enjoyed the match. A little bit of a dampener on how it’s all kind of the dust has settled now. I’ve reviewed the footage myself. Seeing Bryan got hurt on the Storm Driver, and I didn’t see the referee call for the doctor and I didn’t see it. So I want to apologize on that.So even though like 90% of the time that moves been absolutely fine, seeing the damage that it’s kind of done, I’m going to retire using the Storm Driver ’91. I don’t think it’s right for me to continue using it after seeing what it did to Bryan, someone that I’ve got huge amounts of respect for, this was kind of my dream match. This is something I’ve wanted since I was a kid. Although I’m happy when everyone enjoyed the match, I’m kind of disappointed in myself. So once again, I apologize to Bryan probably apologize to AEW medics, I apologize to Tony (Khan, CEO/GM AEW).

In one of the best matches in the card, and in the opening bout, for the AEW Continental Championship Match, “Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada defeated “The Bastard” PAC to retain his title. Meanwhile, Willow Nightingale became the Women’s TBS Champion defeating Julia Hart, only to have Mercedes Mone come to the ring to challenge Willow at Double or Nothing in Vegas at the end of May.

So, what do you think of Swerve Strickland becoming AEW World Champ? Jack Perry’s return? Will Ospreay’s match-up with Bryan Danielson and its ending? Let us know in the comment section below.

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AEW

Mercedes Mone’, Formerly WWE’s Sasha Banks, Makes Her Highly-Anticipated AEW Debut

AEW Big Business in Boston, brought it with it the “CEO” on Wednesday night’s ‘AEW Dynamite’ on TBS.  Now, we are not talking about AEW chief, Tony Khan, we are talking about the WWE’s former Sasha Banks, and one of the top female wrestling star’s in the word, Mercedes Mone’.

Mone’, who in real-life is known as Mercedes Varnado, made he debut in front of her hometown crowd in Boston, and appeared at the opening of last night’s episode with new theme music to boot. While chants rang out for the “CEO”, Mercedes took it all in and was moved to tears.

Addressing the crowd and the TV cameras, she expressed, “Thanks for having my back these past two years.“ Mone’ then added, “You want to know why I’m here? Because I need to be here. I want to be here.”

Photo: deviantart.com/Youtube

Varnado has held gold  several times throughout her career including as: NXT Women’s Champion, WWE RAW Women’s Champion five times over, WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion on three different occasions. The biggest match in her career was when she and Bianca Belair headlined WrestleMania 37 and as the first two African-American women to do so.

As the story goes, back in May of 2022, then as Sasha Banks, Varnado walked out of the WWE during Monday Night Raw along with her tag team partner, Trinity Fatu (who goes by Naomi). At the time, the duo were the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions at the time, and then were suspended indefinitely.

Later, Mercedes under her new wrestling name Mone’, appeared in a January 2023 New Japan Pro-Wrestling pay per view, Wrestle Kingdom 17.  In May of last year, she sustained an ankle injury in a match with now AEW’s Willow Nightingale.

It had been speculated for well over a year that when Mercedes returned to wrestling, she would join AEW, while her former tag partner, Naomi has now returned to the WWE as of January of this year.

Watch Mercedes debut entrance from last night’s AEW Big Business below.

Now let us know, are you happy to see her back on U.S. TV and in the ring? How do you think her run will be in AEW? Will she eventually return back to the WWE?  She teased it during a recent interview with the Kicks Rocks Wrestling Podcast saying, “I know I’m going to be back there [in WWE] one day, okay? So it’s not over.”  However, in an updated version of the episode those remarked have been edited out.

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AEW

Sting Goes Out on Top in the Perfect Finale to His Legendary Career at ‘AEW Revolution’

They could not have done it any better. For weeks leading up to the Sunday’s AEW: Revolution pay-per-view, the questions remained, would AEW live up to the hype and deliver to “The Icon” Sting a befitting goodbye, when in his previous returns during his legendary career were less than stellar in TNA and WWE?

The answer was “Yes!” Every box was check-marked. It was revealed in the post-match media scrum and in subsequent articles and online, that Sting had a major hand in who he wanted to wrestle against in his final match, and how his sons would be involved in his last appearance in AEW and in a pro wrestling ring, and more.

When it came down to the main event at the historic Greensboro, North Carolina, home to the classic NWA 1988 match with Sting vs. Ric Flair, that set the tone for him becoming one of the greatest to ever do it. Now in 2024, Sting was about to enter the ring for the last time in emotional fashion with more than 16,000 in attendance and a worldwide audience watching at home.

Photo: AEW

First, a video package rolled where Sting is seated inside a movie theatre as he watches his life in wrestling up on the screen pass by. After it comes to its conclusion, he looks to camera ready for battle for the last time. Back to live action, two versions of Sting appear at the top of the entrance ramp. And, in another emotional moment, it is revealed that the two men in the iconic wrestling gear from two different eras of Sting’s career were his two sons; one dressed as “Surfer Sting” and one dressed as “Wolfpac Sting”. In fact, Sting’s sons, Garrett and Steve Jr. were a part of his final act, as they two were beaten down by the Young Bucks a few weeks back on AEW TV.

Next, Sting himself enters and the crowd erupts as the Texas Tornado match in which he is a part of takes off. In it, Sting and his partner Darby Allin are defending the AEW World Tag Team championships against the Young Bucks, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson. The match delivered death-defying moves including: Sting taking a suplex off the stage and through a table, and Darby Allin putting his body on the line crashing through a pane of glass after he dove off a ladder.

Several dear friends and wrestling luminaries were in attendance or involved in the match including Ric Flair who jumped into the ring to protect Sting at one point, and Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat who was the guest timekeeper. However, both were knocked out by superkicks by the Bucks for their trouble. Those in the audience were former pro wrestlers, Lex Luger, Magnum TA, Scotty Riggs, Nikita Koloff, and Diamond Dallas Page, plus others from Sting’s extended family.

Photo: AEW

In the end, Sting scored the win performing his signature move, the Scorpion Death Lock, on Matthew Jackson. Sting and Darby Allin retained the AEW World Tag Team Championship. Fans were relieved that Sting went out a winner and many cried tears of joy.

Next, Sting was next celebrated in the ring as confetti was shot out, and fans chanted “Thank you. Sting!” When, there were only five minutes left of air time on the pay-per-view, Sting began to thank Greensboro, the crowd, his family and AEW, when suddenly time ran out and unfortunately the show ended. However, after the match, his final words to the crowd and the company were posted on social media (you can watch it below). In the post-‘Revolution’ media scrum, Sting even called Sunday night, a “Top 3” match of his career.

Photo: AEW

Sting was key WCW’s success in the Monday Night Wars in the mid-to-late nineties against the WWE, when his version of “Crow” Sting coming down from the rafters to fight Hollywood Hulk Hogan and the NWO were epic. The story built for over a year with Sting barely uttering a word, but he ultimately became everybody’s hero in a story of good vs. evil. And that’s the case with Steve “Sting” Borden, too. He will be remembered as one of wrestling’s good guys, in front of the camera and to everyone that knew him behind the scenes.

So, what did you think of the way AEW honored the iconic Sting and his final match? Were you happy with all the special moments before/during and after the match? All we can say and to echo those sentiments from those in attendance and around the world, “Thank you, Sting!”

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