Matt and Nick Jackson bragged about spending thousands of dollars on their Nike clothes and shoes.
The Elite —
Trick Shots with Nick Jackson saw Nick hitting some trick shots.
Kenny Omega was shooting hoops backstage as Brandon Cutler filmed.
Cutler filmed footage of some of the exhibits at the Double or Nothing fan fest.
Footage from the Double or Nothing PPV was shown, including a behind the scenes look at Omega filming a backstage segment.
The Bucks were shown paying off referee Rick Knox in an airport, so a heel referee may be part of their act going forward.
BTE Championship —
Brandon Cutler defeated Ryan Nemeth in a desktop basketball game to retain the title.
Miscellaneous bits —
Matt Hardy and Private Party cut a promo on Christian Cage. Hardy said Cage has always been a piece of sh*t and if it wasn’t for Matt and his brother, Christian and his partner never would have gotten over. Hardy, Kassidy and Quen promised to get revenge on Cage.
AEW held a media scrum following the Double or Nothing PPV.
Tony Khan, Chris Jericho, Britt Baker and Jungle Boy spoke to reporters. Here are some notable items from the event.
Tony Khan —
Khan said that he has a handshake deal with Lio Rush, who debuted in the Casino Battle Royale. He said that he had looked to bring Rush in for an event in 2020, but Rush filming MTV’s The Challenge precluded that from happening. He said that Rush will continue to be available for NJPW events.
Regarding the promo that Khan cut on WWE’s Nick Khan and the report that WWE had negotiations with NJPW, Khan said that he asked NJPW if they thought he should cut the promo. He said that NJPW agreed and “they thought it was great.” Khan said that he expects to continue working with NJPW.
Khan discussed Mark Henry’s signing. He said that he and Henry are personal friends. He put over Henry’s mind for the wrestling business and thought he would be a good locker room presence.
Khan said that Mark Henry and another current AEW roster member will be commentators on Rampage when the show debuts in August. He said that Rampage will sometimes be taped in conjunction with Dark and Dark: Elevation, but that Rampage will also be live some weeks.
Khan said that he apologized to Hikaru Shida for the incident where commentator Willie Urbina mocked her accent and that it was important that he take action in dealing with the incident.
Khan said he expects that there will be another Stadium Stampede match in the future.
Chris Jericho —
Jericho said that portions of the Stadium Stampede match were filmed over a period of four days and that they were looking to make the match look more like an action movie.
To that end, Jericho said that they brought in a stunt coordinator who works on the Jon Wick action films to help film the “fight scenes.”
Britt Baker —
Baker put over the hard work of the entire women’s division and said that they collectively have improved with more television time.
Baker said that AEW currently doesn’t have any female coaches, but could see Serena Deeb in that role in the future.
Jungle Boy —
Jungle Boy gave credit to wrestling veteran talent like FTR and Chris Jericho for improving his in-ring work. He said that working on Dark and Dark: Elevation has helped him improve as well.
He described the anxiety that he deals with before his matches, but said that having his Tarzan Boy entrance music has helped ease that.
Henry, a WWE Hall of Famer, made his AEW debut at tonight’s Double or Nothing PPV.
Tony Schiavone introduced Henry as one of the commentators for the AEW Rampage show, debuting in August. Schiavone also said that Henry will serve as a coach for AEW talent.
Henry, 49, made his WWE debut in 1996. He would go on to win the company’s WWF European Championship, ECW Championship and World Heavyweight Championship. Henry was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2018.
Henry’s final in-ring appearance to date came at The Greatest Royal Rumble in April 2018, where he participated in the 50-man Royal Rumble match.
Henry’s final on-camera appearance in WWE came in January 2021 on a Legends Night edition of Raw. Henry was using a scooter backstage in the segment and was mocked for it by Randy Orton.
AEW gave no indication at Double or Nothing that it intends to use Henry in an in-ring capacity.
Rampage will air Fridays at 10 p.m. Eastern time on TNT, beginning on August 13.
Lio Rush was the surprise entrant in the Casino Battle Royale at tonight’s AEW Double or Nothing PPV.
After all four suits and the first 20 entrants had appeared in the Battle Royale, Rush entered as the Joker card in the match. Rush was only in briefly and quickly eliminated by Matt Hardy.
Hardy would go on to make the final three of the match, before being eliminated by Christian Cage. Jungle Boy ultimately won the bout to earn a future AEW World Championship match.
Despite being only 26 years old, Rush is a well-traveled veteran, having runs with WWE, MLW, NJPW of America and AAA. He is perhaps best known for his run on the main roster on WWE Raw, where he served as Bobby Lashley’s mouthpiece.
After his main roster WWE run ended, Rush went on to appear in WWE NXT. He would win the NXT Cruiserweight title in 2019. His WWE run ended in April 2020 when the company made significant talent cuts.
Of late, Rush has appeared most frequently for GCW and on NJPW Strong.
Jungle Boy won the Casino Battle Royale at tonight’s Double or Nothing PPV to earn a future AEW World title shot.
Jungle Boy last eliminated Christian Cage to win the match and the future title opportunity.
The story of the battle royale was Matt Hardy and Hardy Family Office members Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen of Private Party working together to clear the ring. The final five participants in the match were Jungle Boy, Christian, Hardy, Kassidy and Quen.
Christian and Jungle Boy teamed up to avoid a Silly String from Quen and Kassidy on the apron, eliminating Private Party in the process.
With Christian, Hardy and Jungle Boy the final three, Hardy implored Christian to work with him in eliminating Jungle Boy .Instead, Christian tossed Hardy.
After Jungle Boy eliminated Christian, Luchasaurus and Marko Stunt appeared to celebrate with Jungle Boy. Christian returned to the ring after his elimination to congratulate Jungle Boy.
No date has been set for Jungle Boy’s AEW World title challenge, but a match against the winner of tonight’s Kenny Omega vs. PAC vs. Orange Cassidy match on TV this summer appears likely.
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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FRIDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I will be back tonight talking about all the latest news and there is a lot of it, including Smackdown, AEW Dynamite, New Japan/WWE talks, SummerSlam and more. You can send questions for any of these subjects to [email protected]
Smackdown on FOX at 8 p.m. Eastern tonight
Rey & Dominik Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode for the tag titles
Jimmy & Jey Uso vs. Street Profits
AEW tonight at 10 p.m. Eastern on TNT has:
Jade Cargill open challenge
Darby Allin vs. Cezar Bononi
Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page vs. Stu Grayson & Evil Uno
Joey Janela vs. Adam Page
Miro vs. Dante Martin for TNT title
Hikaru Shida one year anniversary as champion celebration
Inner Circle feature with Eric Bischoff
New Japan Strong tonight at 10 pm. Eastern on New Japan World:
Clark Connors vs. AJZ
El Phantasmo vs. Wheeler Yuta
Tom Lawlor vs Chris Dickinson for Strong Openweight championship
CMLL has a PPV tonight on the Mexican Ticketmaster site featuring a one-night family tournament, the Copa Dinastia
Adam Cole talks about Pete Dunne on the Mark Andrews podcast. The full interviews with Cole and also Dunne are available to listen to now on latest episode of the Mark Andrews: My Love Letter to Wrestling podcast.
On Tuesday night’s Jeopardy show, the category was tournaments and the clue was “This organization’s first King of the Ring saw Don Muraco beat The Iron Sheik,” which of course meant “What is WWE.” (thanks to Ken Raftery)
UFC
Michel Pereira vs. Niko Price has been added to the 7/10 UFC show in Las Vegas.
Triller announced a concert with Hip Hop superstar Meek Mill, Latin star Myke Towers and Reggaeton star Lunay directly before its 6/19 boxing PPV show at 7:30 p.m. Eastern.
Innovate Wrestling on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Kingsport Civic Auditorium
IWF on 8/21 and 8/22 in Nutley, NJ at the Rec Center. Headlining is former ECW and WWE wrestler Nunzio.
The new Federacion promotion in Mexico announced Shane Taylor and Extreme Tiger for the 6/19 PPV show.
ROH Survival of the Fittest will debut next weekend on TV with Flamita vs. Rey Horus. Also set for TV is Josh Woods vs. Silas Young in a Pure rules match.
Two more matches have been added to AEW Double or Nothing.
Both matches were teased last week on Dynamite, and were confirmed on tonight’s show. Chris Jericho accepted The Pinnacle’s Stadium Stampede challenge on behalf of The Inner Circle, and Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley will challenge the Young Bucks. Double or Nothing is scheduled to take place on May 30.
The Pinnacle had issued the Stadium Stampede challenge on last week’s Dynamite after The Inner Circle sprayed The Pinnacle inside the ring with Chris Jericho’s champagne using a hose. MJF issued the challenge, with the caveat that if The Inner Circle loses, they would have to disband.
Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley laid out The Young Bucks after they successfully defended the AEW World Tag Team titles against The Varsity Blonds, putting them down with stereo sleeper holds. Kingston and Moxley then took off the Bucks’ Dior shoes and took them.
The full lineup for Double or Nothing includes:
Kenny Omega vs. Orange Cassidy vs. PAC for the AEW World title
Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker for the AEW World Women’s title
The Young Bucks vs. Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley for the AEW World Tag Team titles
Cody Rhodes vs. Anthony Ogogo
Sting and Darby Allin vs. Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page
The Pinnacle vs. The Inner Circle in a Stadium Stampede match
Miro vs. Lance Archer for the TNT title
Casino Battle Royal for a future AEW World Championship match
A new match for the TNT title has been added to the AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view event that will take place on May 30.
AEW’s social media announced this afternoon that Miro will defend the TNT title against Lance Archer. They showed a video of Archer saying he should be TNT Champion and his destiny will be fulfilled at Double or Nothing.
Miro won the TNT title last week in the main event of Dynamite, defeating Darby Allin who had held the title since winning it at Full Gear last November.
AEW is set to announce the full card for Double or Nothing on tonight’s episode of Dynamite. Matches announced so far include:
Kenny Omega vs. Orange Cassidy vs. PAC for the AEW World title
Hikaru Shida vs. Britt Baker for the AEW World Women’s title
Cody Rhodes vs. Anthony Ogogo
The Pinnacle vs. The Inner Circle in a Stadium Stampede match
Miro vs. Lance Archer for the TNT title
Casino Battle Royal for a future AEW World Championship match
The Young Bucks challenged Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley for Double or Nothing.
After the two successfully defended the AEW World Tag Team titles against Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels, footage from the back showed Moxley and Kingston trashing The Elite’s locker room. Once The Young Bucks returned to their locker room, Matt cut a promo issuing the challenge for Double or Nothing, which takes place on May 30.
Moxley and Kingston joined forces after Revolution and have feuded with the Elite since then, with the Bucks turning on Moxley in a match against The Good Brothers and Kenny Omega. Moxley and Kingston were also responsible for a recent angle where they drove a truck into the trailer of The Elite.
In their promo tonight, The Young Bucks said they would be defending the AEW World Tag Team titles on next week’s show, facing The Varsity Blonds (Brian Pillman Jr. and Griff Garrison), saying that they were fighting champions.
Hangman Page vs. Brian Cage has been added to the May 30 AEW PPV lineup.
The match announcement was made on tonight’s Dynamite.
Page and Cage last met on the April 28 edition of Dynamite, a match that Cage won. At the time, Page was the top-ranked singles competitor in AEW.
In the most recent rankings, which were revealed today, Cage was ranked fourth and Page came in fifth. Former AEW champ Jon Moxley holds the third spot. The top two contenders, PAC and Orange Cassidy, will face AEW World Champion Kenny Omega for the AEW World title at Double or Nothing.
Here is the full card announced so far for Double or Nothing:
AEW Double or Nothing, Sunday, May 30 —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Orange Cassidy vs. PAC
AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Britt Baker
A Casino Battle Royale for a future AEW title shot has been announced for the May 30 Double or Nothing PPV.
Christian Cage made the announcement on tonight’s AEW Dynamite.
AEW’s Dasha Gonzalez was conducting an interview with Cage backstage regarding his recent issued with Team Taz. Cage said that Tony Khan has given him an open contract for next week’s Dynamite and Cage challenged any member of Team Taz to face him.
Cage then announced the Casino Battle Royale for a future AEW title shot.
Matt Sydal then approached Cage and said that he would be the one accepting Cage’s open challenge for next week, not a member of Team Taz. Sydal then revealed that he and Cage are the first two participants announced for the Battle Royale.
The Casino Battle Royale has become a staple of AEW PPV events. The first was held at the first Double or Nothing in May 2019. Another was held for an AEW Women’s title shot at All Out in August 2019. Lance Archer won the third iteration of the match at All Out in September 2020, while Rey Fenix and PAC won the first tag team version of the match at Revolution in March 2021.
Here is the full card announced so far for Double or Nothing:
AEW Double or Nothing, Sunday, May 30 —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Orange Cassidy vs. PAC
AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Britt Baker
Cody Rhodes will face Anthony Ogogo at the AEW Double or Nothing PPV on Sunday, May 30.
Rhodes made the announcement in a promo on tonight’s Dynamite.
Rhodes and his Nightmare Family faction have been engaged in a storyline with QT Marshall’s The Factory stable, of which Ogogo is a member. Rhodes will have Arn Anderson in his corner on May 30, while Ogogo will be seconded by The Factory.
Rhodes defeated Marshall on last week’s Dynamite, but Ogogo hit Rhodes with a bolo punch after the match.
In announcing the match with Ogogo, Rhodes delivered a promo where he discussed the history of the United States.
He stated that despite it not being fashionable to be patriotic, he has always been proud to be an American. Rhodes said that Atlanta was segregated before 1961, but in 2021, his wife will give birth to a daughter with a multiracial background in the same city.
Rhodes invoked Bruno Sammartino and Shad Khan without mentioning either directly, citing them as examples of immigrants to the United States who made their mark on the country.
Rhodes then said that for one night only, at Double or Nothing, he will assume the mantle of “The American Dream,” the nickname of the legendary Dusty Rhodes, a name that he said only he and his brother Dustin have any right to claim.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that AEW Dynamite will experience some schedule changes due to the upcoming NBA playoffs on TNT.
The Wednesday, May 26th show will move to Friday, May 28th at 10 PM Eastern with a plan of filming two hours of Dark for the following week starting at 8 PM before going live. That week’s Dynamite will be the go-home show for Double or Nothing that Saturday.
A countdown show for Double or Nothing is set for that Saturday with the start time unknown due to the playoffs.
Meltzer said the changes mean UK viewers on ITV will be getting other programming instead due to the timing. The May 28th Dynamite will air there on May 31st after the pay-per-view has already happened.
The Wednesday, June 2nd Dynamite will either be moved to a live show on Friday, June 4th or Saturday, June 5th depending on the playoff game TNT gets that weekend. That uncertainty is the reason both Brian Cage and Brian Pillman Jr. had to pull out of the June 5th Warrior Wrestling event.
If June 4th ends up being the date, they will hold tapings on June 5th for the following week’s Dynamite and both Dark and Dark: Elevation for June 14th and 15th, respectively. If June 5th is the date, it’s unknown if they will then shift tapings to Sunday, June 6th.
AEW has confirmed when its next pay-per-view will be taking place.
During tonight’s Revolution PPV, it was announced that Double or Nothing 2021 will take place on Sunday, May 30. The show will be held at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida.
May 30 is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Ticket on-sale information for Double or Nothing 2021 has yet to be announced.
This will be the second straight AEW PPV to take place on a Sunday. This year’s Revolution was the first Sunday PPV in AEW history.
On the three-day holidays, I think it’s good. I actually would argue that for Double or Nothing or All Out, a large percentage of the country is going to have Monday off, and in England those are bank holidays so a large percentage of England, people aren’t really working very much. Most people have Labor Day and Memorial Day off here and abroad.
Double or Nothing, I am strongly considering going to Sunday. All Out I really think it would be really smart to do Sunday because then I don’t compete with College Football and the NFL won’t be going head-to-head. Full Gear I will keep on a Saturday. Revolution and Full Gear, whenever possible, I will do on a Saturday.
Double or Nothing 2019 took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and was the first show in AEW history. AEW was supposed to return to the MGM Grand Garden Arena for last year’s Double or Nothing, but the PPV was moved to Daily’s Place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When last year’s event was moved, it was originally stated that Double or Nothing 2021 would be held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
For those who had purchased tickets to Double or Nothing 2021 in Las Vegas, a refund will automatically be issued to their credit card within 30 business days if they bought tickets through AXS online or by phone. Refunds will otherwise be available at the original point of purchase.
In this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reported that AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view streaming buys for both B/R Live and FITE.TV were up more than 10% from February’s Revolution show and could end up being closer to 15% when all is accounted for.
At between 100,000-110,000 purchases, that number would be the second highest in company history to last year’s Double or Nothing show. B/R Live accounts for U.S. buys while FITE covers international buys.
Meltzer didn’t have any hard numbers on cable PPV buys, but speculated that if it followed the same trend, the show would fall in the 115,000-120,000 range which would then equal the 2019 DoN show or claim the spot as the most purchased PPV show in the company’s young history.
Non-streaming buys can take up to three months to finalize, meaning Revolution’s final numbers will be available in the next few weeks.
You can read more about the reasons behind the numbers and more about the show in this week’s newsletter.
