MJF Bets on Himself and High Takeaways From AEW Double or Nothing 2024 Outcomes

AEW kicked off yr 5 with an explosive Double or Nothing pay-per-view that noticed new champions topped, rivalries accomplished, and the return of one of the vital vital stars in firm historical past.

MJF surprised the wrestling world by returning, laying out Adam Cole, and revealing that he has re-signed with AEW.

Dive deeper into his return and relive different moments, stars, and reserving choices with this recap, instructed by the most important takeaways from the printed.

Double or Nothing kicked off with the AEW Worldwide Championship match and it grew to become clear instantly upon his arrival that Will Ospreay is probably the most electrifying star within the firm.

And it is not shut.

From his entrance amid It Lives, It Breathe’s “Elevated” to the aggression and depth that he approaches his in-ring work, Ospreay understands aura and makes use of it to boost each facet of his efficiency.

It was on full show Sunday evening as he battled Roderick Robust and even took time to wipe out The Undisputed Kingdom’s Matt Taven and Mike Bennett en path to successful his first title beneath the AEW banner.

The gang’s response to him additional enhances his total presentation, asserting to anybody tuning into the product casually or for the primary time that the “Billy Goat” is a reliable star.

The Purchase-In Present announcement that the winner of this yr’s Owen Hart Memorial Cup Event will obtain a world title shot at All In at Wembley Stadium places the highlight solely on The Aerial Murderer, who instantly turns into the favourite to win if he’s entered and problem for the highest prize within the firm in entrance of his hometown followers.

Ospreay arrived at a time when AEW desperately wanted him and so far, has been a red-hot addition to a product that has regularly felt as chilly as ever, making him extra precious and accentuating his simple electrical energy.

MJF returned to AEW Sunday evening, paying homage to Triple H with a jean and leather-based jacket combo straight out of 2002 that solely the King of Kings might love, interrupting a scathing Adam Cole promo and driving his former buddy to the mat with a brainbuster.

The Salt of the Earth minimize a promo that introduced his return to the corporate, revealed that he could be betting on himself, and denounced the concept we might see the fun-loving nonsense that outlined him on the finish of 2023.

As standard, he introduced the controversy, telling the locker room, “I do not want a New Japan or a Vince McMahon to make MJF as a result of MJF made MJF!”

It was a killer line delivered as solely one of the best mic man in AEW can exclaim it: loudly and with conviction.

The temper modified when the previous world champion stepped by the curtain and confronted Cole. All of the sudden, there was one other participating star followers might get behind; somebody they may get excited for and make investments themselves in.

At a time when the inventive is as underwhelming because it has been within the firm’s first 5 years, when Ospreay is carrying the hopes and goals of followers for a return to kind for AEW, The Satan has returned and with it, brings hope.

He guess on himself, pledging his allegiance to the corporate he has labored to determine himself in as certainly one of its faces, and as he goes, so will AEW.

He’s the face of the corporate, regardless of each try and hitch the wagon to stars created exterior of AEW, and if the promotion is to achieve the heights initially dreamed of by Tony Khan and the EVPs, he would be the man to steer it.

First issues first: “Timeless” Toni Storm and “The Professor” Serena Deeb had a powerful match for the AEW Ladies’s Championship. That shouldn’t be significantly shocking to anybody who has paid consideration to both girl’s profession, together with the present over-the-top nature of Storm’s on-screen persona.

Each are gifted in-ring opponents, one thing AEW has in abundance throughout its roster.

Sadly, when you’ve got that many good-to-great wrestlers on the roster, there must be extra to it than merely sending them to the squared circle to have match. Robust reserving and nice storylines set every act aside and proper now, that’s not one thing afforded to the ladies’s division.

Living proof, Storm and Deeb’s conflict.

The dearth of on-screen improvement of Deeb’s character harm her reference to followers whereas the presentation of Storm as a heel one week and a babyface the subsequent meant she by no means had the chance to determine herself in anyone position.

The result’s a match between two nice wrestlers with no discernable story and in consequence, no actual warmth to talk of.

Storm has been extraordinary since adopting the “Timeless” storyline however the reserving of her in an oftentimes undefined position, in opposition to under-developed opponents, has completed nobody any favors. That has in the end harm the general high quality of the division, regardless of a roster stuffed with high quality wrestlers and potential breakout stars.

Till that adjustments, it’s a sample that can proceed and hamper any want to develop and evolve the ladies’s division in AEW.

With a win Sunday evening in his IWGP World Championship Eliminator Match in opposition to Jon Moxley, Konosuke Takeshita would have ensured himself a shot on the most coveted prize in New Japan Professional-Wrestling.

Pushed by his want to show himself and win championship gold within the course of, he shined, due to in-ring dominance we had not seen from him in his pay-per-view appearances thus far. He ruthlessly attacked Moxley’s arm, the identical arm he broke 24 hours earlier than at Collision.

Takeshita absorbed the whole lot Moxley threw at him, answered, and almost put the IWGP champion away greater than as soon as. As an alternative, he launched a metal chair {that a} battered and crushed Moxley used in opposition to him and proceeded to lose following the Demise Rider.

Regardless of the loss, Takeshita took the subsequent step in his evolution, introducing depth and aggression beforehand missing from his efficiency, proving he might fight Moxley’s pitbull-like tenacity.

Although Takeshita nonetheless managed to shine, it doesn’t utterly excuse the defeat.

Who is aware of what the settlement between AEW and NJPW requires politically talking, but when there was ever a possibility for Takeshita to have a shot at Moxley’s title, the time to set that contest up was Sunday.

Takeshita spent the match selecting Moxley aside, focusing on his injured limb, and driving him to the brink of defeat.

The champion, doing his finest to copy the John Cena/Superman-esque reserving of the 2010s, overcame the percentages and put him away after a combo of strikes assisted by a conveniently positioned metal chair. Reserving that seemingly would have been met with heavy criticism in a distinct period.

The match was fairly good and showcased Takeshita, however would have meant significantly extra had he been in a position to safe the trademark victory that continues to elude the younger breakout star.

The very best-built storyline getting into Sunday’s present was that of Adam Copeland and The Home of Black.

Pushed to the depths of despair by the thoughts video games of Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews, The Rated R Celebrity vowed revenge and damnation for the heels and he subsequently delivered one after the other.

First, he brutalized Matthews. Then, he bloodied King. Sunday, he violently and vengefully battered Black inside a barbed wire metal cage. He absorbed a beating however put his personal physique on the road to punish his transgressor and did simply that, delivering an elbow drop from the highest of the cage that just about blew out his knees to drive Black by a desk.

The match had already exceeded expectations by that time nevertheless it was the late arrival of Murphy and King, a teased alliance with Copeland, and a betrayal that arrange a end that elevated it exponentially.

Dealing with a three-on-one assault, Copeland benefited from the arrival of former buddy and rival, Gangrel, who laid out two of the three heels, leaving the Corridor of Famer to dispatch of Black for the win.

In an organization that overtly throws round “wrestling,” this was extremely enjoyable sports activities leisure. From the story-driven in-ring motion to the teased flip and arrival of wrestling’s best vampire, this was pure sports activities leisure, executed by two males conversant in it courting again to their time in WWE.

On a card stuffed with matches seemingly compiled to enchantment to at least one portion of the fan base, this separated itself from the remainder of the lineup and succeeded in consequence.

Mercedes Moné defeated Willow Nightingale to win the TBS Championship in a implausible match Sunday evening that had beforehand been billed as one-third of a triple major occasion.

Of these three matches, it went on first, a call that understandably left some questioning the logic behind it given the warmth and backstory behind the competition.

From Moné’s monumental debut with the corporate, Nightingale’s emotional TBS title victory at AEW Dynasty, and the Robust Ladies’s Championship Match that noticed the latter defeat the hobbled CEO in New Japan Professional-Wrestling, there was a lot to tug from and the followers knew it.

They handled the match like the principle occasion and the combatants like two of the most important stars on the cardboard.

That the match lived as much as the hype, with every girl making an attempt to injure the opposite’s ankles, a throwback to the ankle damage suffered by Moné of their first encounter; an damage that value her the chance to make historical past as the primary Robust champion. In the end, Moné downed Nightingale and scored the clear win.

The chance existed to make historical past with the primary ladies’s pay-per-view major occasion in AEW historical past, to not point out the primary between two black ladies.

As an alternative, the corporate opted to take the most popular match on the cardboard and place it third from the highest in favor of a largely chilly AEW world title feud between Swerve Strickland (an issue in its personal proper) and the absurd Anarchy within the Enviornment between The Elite and Group AEW that simply might have existed actually wherever else on the cardboard and nonetheless left an influence.

It was a short-sighted reserving choice, the likes of which happen a little bit too regularly at instances, and a large missed alternative to announce to the world a brand new day in ladies’s wrestling in AEW.

As an alternative, match was had and Kris Statlander’s stunning betrayal of Nightingale after the match set them up for a doubtlessly high-profile feud.

Simply not in the principle occasion.

Not when there are better priorities, like gimmicky brawls the likes of which we’ve got seen numerous instances within the firm’s 5 years.

In the event you nonetheless dig The Younger Bucks prefer it’s 2018, and love wild and chaotic brawls that a little bit too contrived for many, you most likely liked the principle occasion of Sunday’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view.

The Elite’s Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, Jack Perry, and Kazuchika Okada defeated Group AEW’s Darby Allin, FTR, and Bryan Danielson in a match that featured vehicular assault, Allin engulfing Perry in hearth together with his trusty flamethrower, and an exploding metal chair.

All of that gave technique to Allin being hung from the rafters and Perry wiping out Danielson with a working knee to attain the win for the EVPs and their Elite besties.

The match was in all places, an enviornment brawl that may have been higher suited to the center of the cardboard. There was little completed by any of it, with the rivals largely punching and kicking their technique to arrange the subsequent spot.

The gang ate it up, and we did get an look from Europe’s “The Remaining Countdown,” however the match itself was one other instance of the rubbish brawls which have been overdone for too lengthy.

Whereas not related, this marked the third consecutive pay-per-view occasion wherein the Bucks appeared in a match with heavy gimmick stipulations. The primary was Sting’s retirement match at Revolution that descended right into a no disqualification bout. The second was final month’s Ladder Match for the AEW World Tag Group Championships. Sunday noticed No. 3 unfold earlier than the AEW followers.

With a pay-per-view that featured 12 matches together with the Purchase-In preshow, and a major occasion hitting the ring at midnight, Double or Nothing proved to be one other extreme present from an organization that has but to find the candy spot when it comes to the variety of matches to current on a PPV.

A major occasion that doubtlessly overwhelms the senses with its absurd quantity of brawling, weapon use, and chicanery doesn’t assist issues.

Trying ahead, The Elite has firmly established itself on the prime of the corporate as probably the most dominant faction in AEW. What occurs subsequent, who stands as much as fight them, and whether or not it’s Hangman Web page, stays to be seen.

What doesn’t is that the Younger Bucks, Perry, and Okada are the tops in AEW.