I attended the 2024 edition of AEW Double or Nothing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV. This report is a combination of my in-person perspective and the smooth and rough landings.
In-Person Perspective & Noteworthy Items
It was the second straight year I attended the event, with the event taking place at the T-Mobile Arena last year. This year the event moved to the venue at which the first edition of this PPV was held five years ago. I was glad to have attended the show and was mostly interested in the energy from the crowd. It was high overall throughout the show apart from a few matches, but even when the energy was low it was never dead.
As far as “in-person” details there were some notable items. First, the arena is about a five to ten minute walk from the main entrance. I passed a good part of the casino, several restaurants with various cuisines and shops. As most things do in Las Vegas you’re sure tempted to dig into your wallet and spend money. Finally, I got to the arena entrance and access was easy. They scanned a QR code on the AXS app on my phone. I bought the ticket through StubHub. Anyway, in the main lobby they had a fan experience where you scanned a code and it looked like you could create a picture or maybe even an actual figure of yourself at Double or Nothing. They had a large cardboard stand with the AEW logo and the Double or Nothing logo. I scanned the QR code and it took me to an app to download, but I didn’t investigate it further.
As I approached the main concourse, I saw a long line and I was worried it was a line to get in, but it turned out to be for merchandise. There was only one “two-part” stand would be the way to put it. I saw only shirts with the Double or Nothing logo at one table and the other had the AEW World Championship, the International Championship, and an unimpressive assortment of other items. This is not the first time AEW has lacked in merchandise. I experienced this at Grand Slam 2021, Double or Nothing 2023, and World’s End. I got shirts at the latter two events (don’t get me started on Grand Slam 2021) but only because I wanted to come away with something. I didn’t bother this time, more so because of the line in conjunction with the lack of product.
The food and drink accommodations were not terrible. They offered various stands with chicken items, pizza, hot dogs, bratwurst (that was me), and other assorted hot items. There were other various stands with nuts, ice cream, pretzels, and other standard “stadium” snack items. Beer selections were limited, but I think I have a high bar set with the UBS Arena which offers a large assortment. They did have top shelf liquor and wine, so overall I give it a thumbs up.
I sat in section 10 in the lower bowl, hard cam side, I’d say about 15-20 rows up. I had an excellent view, almost dead center. The hard cam was legit right to my left. I got my ticket off StubHub, and I didn’t pay a lot. My ticket strategy was to wait until I got to Las Vegas, which was around 1:00 local time. I’d imagine if I bought my ticket further in advance I’d have paid a lot more money. Anyway, I got there before the opening match on the Buy-In. Part of the entrance to my section was closed off as I assume they were filming a Buy-In panel preview.
On the night the three most over babyfaces were MJF for his return, Will Ospreay, and Swerve Strickland. Billy Gunn, crazy enough was an honorable mention as well as Jon Moxley. I would say the cheers were the loudest for MJF followed by Ospreay. They obviously loved the Gangrel return. Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada were the heels that got a positive reaction. The biggest heat was for Mercedes Mone, Trent Beretta, and The Young Bucks. Don Callis got a lot of heat as well. Do we call Toni Storm a heel? I don’t know anymore, but she was cheered.
There wasn’t much off TV that was noteworthy. I understand there was a video with Will Ospreay holding the International Championship following the win. We didn’t see that. The audio was not very good which has been a complaint of mine since I started attending AEW shows. I couldn’t make out what Tony Khan or Martha Hart were saying. I couldn’t make out Max Caster’s rap (which may have been a good thing). There were other interviews I couldn’t quite make out but don’t remember. There wasn’t much time in between matches which is good to keep the show rolling, but that leaves you no time to use the facilities or get food and/or beverages. We didn’t hear Trent Beretta tell Renee he was done.
After the show went off the air, Bryan Danielson was in the ring with FTR. They started playing The Final Countdown. Dax Harwood grabbed a sign from a fan and brought it into the ring. It said, “We Love (heart) Wrestling, Wrestling is Cool” and he held it up. He held it up and then laid it in front of Danielson, who was recovering on the mat. Danielson got up and took his AEW shirt and raised it to the crowd. He did so on the side railing and other spots around the ring. They all then held their arms up together and left the ring.
Smooth Landings
Deonna Purrazzo defeats Thunder Rosa (Buy-In). There’s not much to say other than it was a decent crowd pleaser, and they were into the match. Rosa was over and Deonna got some heat. I hope AEW doesn’t forget about her nor Rosa for that matter.
The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn defeat the Cage of Agony (Buy-In). This was another crowd pleaser with not much to say. It’s crazy that Billy Gunn is so over in 2024 but, here we are.
Will Ospreay defeats Roderick Strong to win the International Championship. I didn’t like the Undisputed Kingdom getting involved but at least they were eventually thrown out by the referee. Ospreay being conflicted about putting Strong away was dumb and Callis still being involved with him is annoying. Hopefully that gets ironed out soon. The match was still good overall between two excellent workers. The crowd loved Ospreay winning the title.
The Bang Bang Gang defeats Death Triangle to retain the Unified Trios Championship. I would have given this a rough landing because of the interference, but in this case, I’ll forgive it because Juice Robinson returning to help the Bang Bang Gang retain makes sense. Heels cheat to win a lot historically. There was a lot of interference and shenanigans on the show, but that’s a different conversation. There was heat for Juice’s return in the building.
Toni Storm defeated Serena Deeb to retain the AEW Women’s Championship. I still don’t understand if Toni Storm is a heel or a babyface, but during this show she was the face. Luther was ever the enthusiastic cheerleader at ringside all night. Serena wasn’t getting heat, but she wasn’t getting cheered either. It felt like the crowd didn’t know how to feel about her. With that said, both women worked well together, and the match was enjoyable.
Orange Cassidy defeats Trent Beretta. I’m glad they went back to Where’s My Mind as Orange’s entrance music although I enjoyed Jane. With that said, the match was enjoyable. It probably went a little long and could have been on TV.
Jon Moxley defeats Konosuke Takeshita in an IWGP Championship Eliminator Match. This was my favorite match on the card. The crowd was into the entrance and the exit for Moxley as they always are. They were into Takeshita though for sure. This was one of those situations where the crowd had its cake and ate it too. While they were into Takeshita, they were happy Moxley won. I wish the chair didn’t get involved, but I won’t call it a rough landing just for that. Also, I feel bad Takeshita keeps losing, especially to a “one-armed” Moxley. The same thing happened to Jay White who went 30 minutes with a one-legged MJF back at Full Gear.
Mercedes Mone defeats Willow Nightengale to win the TBS. Mone got booed during her introduction, but not during her entrance which was strange. The crowd liked Willow, but they weren’t nuts for her. The match was quite enjoyable. Now here’s my issue. With all the interference on the show, this was a match to do it. I didn’t need the swerve after the match where they made us think Willow and Kris Statlander wanted nothing to do with Stokely Hathaway followed by Stat attacking Willow. Why not have Stat cost Willow the match? We’ll have to wait for the explanation.
Adam Copeland defeats Malakai Black in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match to retain the TNT Championship. Fatigue set in for sure. If this were a straightforward match, the crowd would have been dead as a doornail. They did like the table spot with Malakai and the elbow drop off the top of the cage by Copeland, which looked like it did no favors to his knees. Copeland going through the cage and to the outside was dumb, but I understand they had to set up another dumb spot where Brody King and Buddy Matthews came out to swerve everyone and make them think they were with Copeland. The Gangrel spot was great, although there was some delay and it looked like they were stalling for time. Gangrel is great to see for us old Attitude Era folk, and it felt like most people in the building knew him. I debated calling this a rough landing because of the nonsensical swerve and Copeland getting thrown out of the cage, but I liked more than I disliked about this match.
Rough Landings
Chris Jericho defeats Hook and Katsuyori Shibata to retain the FTW Championship. A lot of people got up during this match including me. To be honest, I didn’t even want to give it a chance. Jericho needs to go away, and I don’t like Shibata involved with stuff like this. I got back in time for the table spot with Big Bill, which was fine, but then we get a surprise of Bryan Keith. The reaction was flat as a pancake. They didn’t need this match to involve weapons when they had two planned for later in the evening.
Swerve Strickland defeats Christian Cage to retain the AEW World Championship. I feel bad giving this a rough landing because once all the nonsense got taken care of, it was a decent match. It was too long though and there was too much chicanery for my taste in a PPV world championship. I feel bad for Swerve because the crowd was down for this match. Things picked up when Prince Nana got thrown out, which riled up the crowd. Then they loved the Patriarchy getting the heave-ho. It felt like what happened in the Ospreay vs. Strong match, which isn’t good. We all knew in the building Christian wasn’t winning, which also affected the crowd reaction. Fatigue was there especially after watching the Copeland vs. Malakai match. Nick Wayne got heat for attacking Swerve after he got thrown out and the crowd popped for Prince Nana chasing Nick with the pipe. I hate that I enjoyed that, because it’s frustrating when managers/entourages get thrown out and can just come back. That’s a problem with AEW. I debated calling this a smooth landing, but the good didn’t outweigh the bad. Again, I feel bad for Swerve because I don’t think the company is making him their focus. That’s your world champion.
The Elite defeats Team AEW in an Anarchy in the Arena match. I’ll get heat for calling this a rough landing. In the building it was crazy. I felt like I was at a rock concert when they played The Final Countdown. 13-year-old me that was excited to get that Europe cassette when it came out was loving singing along with the crowd. I love the Final Countdown. I was shocked when Darby Allin lit Jack Perry on fire. Holy crap. After Jack Perry seemingly ran over Darby with the bus, a guy next to me joked “he did it for the Rock,” referring to Rikishi running over Steve Austin in 1999. I laughed hysterically. I popped for Kazuchika Okada using a thumbtack filled armband to do the Rainmaker. That’s all well and good. Here’s the problem. I’m at a wrestling show. I’m not at the Ringling Brothers circus. I’m not at a rock concert. I’m not watching a movie. I’m not at a comedy show. There was too much spectacle and not enough story I cared about to get emotionally invested in the match. I didn’t care who won. I don’t care about the Elite trying to take over AEW. Is that even what they’re doing? I don’t know. It was dumb when Perry found and kidnapped Tony Khan. Is he going to get fired for that? Did Tony fear for his life. On a night they announced the Owen Hart cup tournament, why is Darby Allin getting tied up and hung over the ring? Why would AEW production agree to hang him over the ring? Why would nobody help him? This match while fun in person just asked too much of me as a fan and was ridiculously long on a PPV that was needlessly long.
Closing Thoughts
If you’re going to do a long PPV, have some quality control. Don’t have interference in six matches. Don’t have similar interference like they had with Ospreay vs. Strong and Swerve vs. Christian. Don’t have multiple “swerves” like they had when MJF seemed to reunite with Adam Cole, House of Black being with Adam Copeland, and Statlander and Willow on the same page with Stokely. Don’t have weapon spots in three matches (FTW Championship, TNT Championship, and the Anarchy in the Arena).
You had seven championship matches. What title means what?
You had multiple matches that could have been on TV. Why not run Collision as a “Double or Nothing” edition of the show to get people to watch? Orange Cassidy vs. Trent Beretta, the FTW Championship match, and the Trios Championship match would have done perfectly fine on that show.
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse because these are the same issues constantly discussed with AEW, but they never get resolved. Tony Khan must be reading and hearing the noise, no? Anyway, despite my issues it was still an enjoyable show to watch in person and I don’t regret going. I’m likely going to Forbidden Door since it’s at the UBS Arena, so if nothing changes on that front look for a report on that event. In addition, look for my Smooth and Rough Landings for WWE Clash at the Castle.
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