AEW has revealed all 21 participants who will be competing in the Blackjack Battle Royale at Double or Nothing this Sunday.
Orange Cassidy’s AEW International Championship will be on line in battle royal. The following challengers will be joining him in the match:
Jay White
Juice Robinson
Ricky Starks
Brian Cage
Swerve Strickland
Keith Lee
Dustin Rhodes
Penta El Zero Miedo
Rey Fenix
Kip Sabian
Trent Beretta
Chuck Taylor
Tony Nese
Ari Daivari
Big Bill
Lee Moriarty
Komander
Bandido
The Butcher
The Blade
Cassidy became AEW All-Atlantic Champion in October 2022. Earlier this year, the name of the title was changed to the International Championship. Cassidy has made 22 successful title defenses in total.
Double or Nothing takes place from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas this Sunday. The updated card for the pay-per-view is listed below:
Four-way match: AEW World Champion MJF defends against Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara, and Jungle Boy” Jack Perry
AEW Women’s World Champion Jamie Hayter defends against Toni Storm
21-man Blackjack Battle Royale for the AEW International Championship
Ladder match: TNT Champion Wardlow defends against Christian Cage
TBS Champion Jade Cargill defends against Taya Valkyrie
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler) defend against Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal (Mark Briscoe will be the special guest referee)
Unsanctioned match: Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho (Sabu will be the special enforcer)
Anarchy in the Arena match: Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) vs. The Elite (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks & Hangman Page)
Ethan Page, Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn vs. Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy & Isiah Kassidy (if the Hardys team wins, Matt Hardy will own the rights to Ethan Page’s contract)
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including an update on Santana, the situation with Kenny Omega and his rehab, Double or Nothing vs. Forbidden Door PPV buys, ratings, Mistico, UFC this coming weekend, full reviews of Dynamite and NXT 2.0, Rampage spoilers and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Santana injury update
1:23: Kenny Omega, social media, and pro wrestling
17:19: Dave’s poll on Double or Nothing & Forbidden Door
24:31: Ratings
31:36: Notes on Natsupoi vs. Tam Nakano, Mistico, UFC 276
It’s a huge edition of the Bryan & Vinny & Craig & Granny Show! We’ve got a SONG CONTEST, Granny’s WEEKLY WRESTLING REPORT, her LANNY POFFO BOOK READING, and then the boys recap Las Vegas! TALES FROM THE ROAD, always a favorite, and then a full recap of, in all caps, DOUBLE OR NOTHING! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Figure Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Lance Storm is back with tons to talk about including Lance’s take on the MJF situation, a review of Ed in San Antonio’s PODER QUATRO where Bryan got killed by Debbie Malenko, some thoughts on Impact and Double or Nothing and more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including the latest on MJF and AEW, tons of thoughts on Double or Nothing and the whole weekend, the latest news and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
AEW president Tony Khan says that Double or Nothing 2022 was the most commercially successful edition of the show to date, and that the show’s length helped with that.
Speaking at a post-show media scrum, Khan balked at the idea that the show, which ended after 12:30 a.m. Eastern time was too long, stating that he added more matches than he had originally planned to counter-program the NBA playoffs game going head-to-head.
“It was a little bit different. I ended up adding a little bit to the length of the show to help the show commercially and help the show make money,” Khan said. “I think it made, if not a seven-figure difference, at least a six-figure difference.”
Khan said that without the Celtics vs. Heat Eastern Conference Finals Game 7, “I probably would have ended the show the same time they always end. We’ve done a lot of the best pay-per-views anyone’s ever done, they’ve all ended between 11:40 and 11:55-ish, 11:56, 11:57 on the east coast.”
Khan said that he will listen to fans who thought that the show was too long, though.
“I will listen to the feedback of the fans. Revolution had pretty good response and commercially the show was really successful, and had similar length bell to bell… But like I said, I’ll listen to the feedback. This was a unique circumstance,” said Khan.
Khan’s full comments can be seen in the scrum below.
AAA star and former ROH World Champion Rush made his AEW debut in a taped segment at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view on Sunday night.
Rush was introduced as Andrade El Idolo’s new business partner in a promo video shot in a conference room. Andrade said that he was tired of losing in AEW, tired of the Andrade Family Office, and he wanted a new ally. Jose the Assistant then produced a contract and Rush walked into the room, then did the Los Ingobernables pose with Andrade, a callback to their time together in the Los Ingobernables faction in CMLL.
Rush wrestled for CMLL from 2009 to 2019. He appeared in the United States for MLW in 2018 and 2019, and in ROH from 2018 to 2021, capturing that promotion’s World title twice. Rush joined AAA in 2019 at Triplemania Regia.
Andrade joined AEW in 2021 following a six year run in NXT and WWE. He and WWE wrestler Charlotte Flair were married on Friday in a ceremony in Mexico.
Ruby Soho is headed to the finals of the women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.
Soho booked her spot in the finals by defeating Kris Statlander on tonight’s episode of Rampage. The winner of the tournament will be determined when Soho faces Britt Baker at Double or Nothing this Sunday.
Baker made her way out to the stage after Soho’s win. Soho said Baker has had a receipt coming since their match at Arthur Ashe Stadium last year — and Soho is cashing in that receipt on Sunday.
Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole in the men’s Owen Hart Foundation tournament finals is also set for Double or Nothing. Dr. Martha Hart, the widow of Owen Hart, will present the Owen Hart Cup to both tournament winners.
The updated card for Double or Nothing is listed below:
AEW World Champion Hangman Page defends against CM Punk
AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa defends against Serena Deeb
Men’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament finals: Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole
Women’s Owen Hart Foundation Tournament finals: Britt Baker vs. Ruby Soho
MJF vs. Wardlow
Anarchy in the Arena match: Jericho Appreciation Society (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard & Angelo Parker) vs. Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, Jon Moxley & Bryan Danielson
AEW Tag Team Champions Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus defend against Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs and Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland in a triple threat match
The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys
Darby Allin vs. Kyle O’Reilly
Mixed tag match: Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page & Paige VanZant vs. Sammy Guevara, Frankie Kazarian & Tay Conti
The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews) vs. Death Triangle (PAC, Penta Oscuro & Rey Fenix)
TBS Champion Jade Cargill defends against Anna Jay
Pre-show: Hook & Danhausen vs. Tony Nese & “Smart” Mark Sterling
On this edition of Wrestling Weekly, we look at the card and make our predictions for Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view. We also discuss a couple of WWE topics, including Randy Orton and Money in the Bank.
Andrew Zarian is joined by Garrett Gonzales of Wrestling Observer Radio and Fight Game Media on today’s Wrestling Observer Live to discuss this week’s biggest stories.
Sasha Banks and Naomi were publicly suspended on SmackDown this week after walking out during Monday Night Raw. The two speculate what the outcome might be for both going forward.
Stephanie McMahon is taking a leave of absence, what does that mean for her and WWE?
Double or Nothing is this coming weekend. Andrew and Garrett go into the entire week’s festivities and take a look at the Double or Nothing card, including what matches are the most intriguing.
SmackDown this week had the main roster debut of Max Dupri, formerly LA Knight, and a fantastic main event that saw the Usos defeat RK-Bro to unify the Tag Team Championship belts.
All this and more on this ad-free edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
Wrestling Observer Live Saturday with Jim Valley talks about the new Undisputed Raw and Smackdown Tag Team Champions as The Usos beat RKBro on Smackdown.
Plus, Sasha and Naomi are officially suspended and stripped of their titles. With all of these happenings, it’s a good time to talk about winning and losing and the things that are real in wrestling. Jim Valley says there’s no need to be upset with any of the happenings this week, they’ll all work out.
Jim also talks about Max Dupri, AEW Rampage, Double or Nothing, Super Juniors and more. Check it out.
AEW has achieved a new milestone, crossing $1 million in ticket sales for a single show for the first time.
In a tweet on Friday, Tony Khan announced that this year’s Double or Nothing pay-per-view is the company’s first million-dollar gate. A ticket pre-sale for Double or Nothing began yesterday, with tickets officially going on sale to the general public today.
“It’s Friday, you know what that means: #AEWRampage Live TONIGHT on @TNTdrama on the Road to Revolution this Sunday, and tonight we’re celebrating a milestone because today #DoubleOrNothing 1st day sales just gave us our 1st EVER $1 Million gate! Let’s celebrate tonight @ Rampage!,” Khan tweeted.
Double or Nothing is being held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, May 29. The company previously used the MGM Grand Garden Arena when it ran Las Vegas.
The pre-Double or Nothing episodes of Dynamite and Rampage are set for Las Vegas’ Michelob Ultra Arena.
“AEW just hit the $1 million mark in ticket sales for Double or Nothing on day one,” Dave Meltzer tweeted. “WWE has done this before many times. Aside from WWE, no wrestling company did this as quickly and only NJPW/ROH ever hit the number in the U.S. aside from WWE.”
Dave Meltzer and I are back with Wrestling Observer Radio. We review AEW’s Friday Night Dynamite at the end of the show.
Before that, we tackle a bunch of different topics, including Andrade El Idolo showing up on Dynamite, the new date for Kenny Omega vs Jungleboy, Double or Nothing business numbers, Jamie Horowitz, WWE/NJPW, Floyd Mayweather vs Logan Paul, and the two most recent pro wrestling documentaries on Grizzly Smith and Mick Foley.
We also mention a new Facebook Group for those of you interested in attending any F4W meetups, including the 2022 F4W Convention.
Dave Meltzer reports on WWE returning to live crowds, the proposed WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, Nick Khan has been in talks with New Japan Pro Wrestling about WWE becoming NJPW’s exclusive American partner.
Also in this issue:
Updating WWE going on tour and what early ticket sales show
Double or Nothing preview and ticket sales for all upcoming AEW events and what it says about the brand right now
Full UFC coverage from last week
A look at both Warrior documentaries and separating fact from fiction
Collision in Korea and going through fact vs. fiction as well
Most detailed look at television viewership over the past week
Amazing training notes about an 80s star about to return to the ring
AEW TV schedule notes for June
And much more.
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MONDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking Raw and the rest of the current news with Wrestling Observer Radio as well as taking mailbag questions that can be sent to [email protected].
The AEW PPV show did 50,000 searches yesterday for the No 13 spot. That’s well below the 200,000 for Revolution or WWE shows. PPV indications are very good thus far. We also have a poll for the next two days on Double or Nothing so you can vote thumbs up, down or middle with a best and worst match to [email protected]. If you are someone who usually doesn’t buy AEW PPV shows and bought this one, we are looking for the reason you purchased the show at the same email address.
WWE Smackdown averaged 1,755,000 viewers and 0.4 in 18-49 in the overnight ratings, which is the lowest overnight number since going to FOX. AEW was expected to do its lowest number as well, but that won’t be out until tomorrow.
Raw will be going against two NBA playoff games tonight, the game four of the Philadelphia 76ers vs. Washington Wizards which has already started at the late game at 9:30 p.m. with the Memphis Grizzlies vs. Utah Jazz. Every show has been doing very low numbers against the playoffs as Raw last week did its second lowest in history in 18-49. Announced for Raw tonight is Miz TV with Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley, A.J. Styles & Omos vs. Elias & Jaxson Ryker for the Raw tag titles, Randy Orton vs. Xavier Woods, Shayna Baszler vs. Reginald and Kofi Kingston vs. Drew McIntyre to determine who gets a title shot at Bobby Lashley at Hell in a Cell.
As expected, the U.S. team dominated the Pan American games wrestling competition. The U.S. won ten gold medals with Kyle Snyder winning his sixth Pan Am games gold medal and David Taylor winning his fourth. The rest of the team won their first. The winners were Vito Arujau at 125, Shelton Mack at 134, Joey McKenna at 143, Alec Pantaleo at 154, Kyle Dake at 162, Tommy Gant at 174, David Taylor at 189, Nate Jackson at 202, Kyle Snyder at 213 and Gable Steveson at 275. Taylor won his gold medal match in 24 seconds. Steveson won five matches in just 4:21 total. On the women’s side, the US had five champions in six divisions with Sarah Hildebrant at 110, Ronna Heaton at 117, Kayle Miracle at 136, Tamyra Mensah-Stock at 150 and Adeline Gray at 167.
There was an angle at the Robles Promotions show in McAllen, TX last night. After a rare appearance by El Hijo del Santo in a tag match, a tall masked man came out, and cut a promo about how as a kid he watched Santo at El Toreo de Cuatro Caminos (the big arena for wrestling in the 70s and 80s in Naucalpan that drew 1 million fans in its best years) and then unmasked as Alberto El Patron. The reaction was mixed between some cheers and some boos but it was mostly flat and awkward. Alberto and Santo talked about how much they respected each other and Alberto pushed he would be wrestling Andrade, who he also called La Sombra, on 7/31 at the Payne Arena in a co-promotion between himself and Robles promotions and Mario Davila and invited Santo to appear on the show and Santo agreed (thanks to Eduardo Martinez)
UFC
Dustin Jacoby vs. Askar Mozharov has been added to an 8/28 show
AEW
Dark Elevation tonight which was taped before a hot crowd on Friday:
Thunder Rosa vs. Reka Tehaka
The Acclaimed vs. The Tate Twins (The Boys from ROH)
Leyla Hirsch vs. Robyn Renegade
Brian Pillman Jr. & Griff Garrison vs. Luther & Serptentico
Nyla Rose & The Bunny vs. Red Velvet & Big Swole
Penta vs. Jack Evans
Tay Conti vs. Ashley D’Amboise
Jungle Boy vs. JD Drake
For Dark on Tuesday
Billy & Colten Gunn vs. Cezar Bononi & Ryan Nemeth
Kris Statlander vs; Robyn Renegade
Alex Reynolds & Stu Grayson & 5 vs. Angelico & Jack Eavns & Serpentico
Red Velvet vs. Diamante
Jungle Boy vs. Bear Bronson
OTHER NOTES
Forbes has a story on Booker T and Sharmell Huffman’s wrestling school and local promotion.
WrestleMax St. Louis from last night: Mike Outlaw b Frodo the Ghost, Camaro Jackson b Everett Connors, Blair Onyx b Olivia Rochelle, Calvin Tankman wno a three-way over Levi Everett and Edvin Kudic, JDX DDQ Rohit Raju, Kevin Lee Davidson b Xavier Walker in a no holds barred match, Jake Something b Beef the Freak, Brooke Valentine b Laynie Luck, Davey Vega & Mat Fitchett b Chris Hendrix & ATM (thanks to Patrick Brandmeyer)
KSW returns with fans on 6/5 in Gdansk, Poland at the ERgo ARena with Mariusz Pudzianowksi (14-7) vs. Lukasz Jurkowski (17-11) and Salahdine Parnasse (14-1-1) vs. F9lip Pejic (15-4-2).
AXS will be airing Slammiversary from 2016 on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. with Bobby Lashley vs. Alberto El Patron and Sonjay Dutt vs. Low Ki 2/3 falls.
Josh Alexander vs. TJP X Division 60 minute marathon match will air starting at 7 p.m. Thursday night on AXS.
