AEW Double or Nothing 2024 Event Review: Strickland Retains, Anarchy in the Arena Delivers Chaos

At times, it was closer to “nothing” than it was “double” but AEW Double or Nothing 2024 finished with a string of quality matches.

Swerve Strickland remains your AEW World Champion in an excellent match with Christian Cage. What’s next is a bit murky, however: With high-stakes players all involved in the Elite vs. AEW feud, there may be another microwave storyline next up for Strickland.

Speaking of the Elite, their Anarchy in the Arena showdown with Team AEW delivered on all of the chaos it promised. The question now is: What’s next? The Elite have cemented their status as the most hated faction on the program and now took out several of their bitter rivals in one fell swoop. Well, maybe if a flamethrower couldn’t get the job done, a couple of Machine Guns could?

In all, Double or Nothing was one of AEW’s more enigmatic shows in recent memory. There were more downs than ups on the card, but as is the case with some PPVs for the company, the last hour of the show had enough juice to drown out the bad stuff on the card.

Anarchy in the Arena matches have had a tendency of living up to their namesake, and the latest installment was no different. Jack Perry was literally set on fire. That should tell you everything you need to know about how insane this entire match was, start to finish. From “The Final Countdown” to Darby Allin suspended above the ring, it delivered anarchy.

Outside of Will Ospreay, there probably haven’t been two better signings in AEW than Christian Cage and Swerve Strickland. Strickland was cast aside in WWE despite boasting massive, main event potential while in NXT. His ability to connect with crowds and put on quality matches have come through during his meteoric rise in AEW, leading to his blossoming run with the AEW World Championship.

Christian Cage is putting together some of the best work of his career as a heel at the top of the Patriarchy, and that’s no surprise to anyone who’s watched weekly AEW shows for a while now. While Cage’s sleazy persona is still on the level of shock jock, it works, and it’s a staple of any of their programming now.

The long-awaited in-ring debut for Moné was well worth it. The two women’s stars have excellent chemistry with one another and Moné looks as though she hasn’t missed a step.

It may be hard to live up to the words “barbed wire steel cage” but Copeland and Black did their best to make sure that happened. In a grueling, gruesome and bloody matchup, Copeland outlasted Black despite interference from the House of Black.

At this point, the crowd was pretty out of the show for one reason or another: the Triple Threat match following Orange Cassidy and Trent didn’t do any favors for Mox vs. Takeshita. On top of that, Mox was working an injury angle heading into this match, so Takeshita spent a good bit of the match working

Chris Jericho’s ability to reinvent himself is a hallmark of his career. His “Learning Tree” gimmick has worked, and the numbers bear that out.

The match started with a welcome surprise, as Orange Cassidy came out to “Where Is My Mind” instead of “Jane,” which has always worked better for his character (even if “Jane” has deeper connection to it). Trent has consistently been one of AEW’s better midcard workers, and to this day, it’s a bit sad to know Best Friends never got the tag title run they deserved.

The best thing that has happened to Toni Storm while using the “Timeless” gimmick is to stop using the gimmick as a crutch in her matches and just go back to wrestling as Toni Storm. That held true on Sunday, when her and Deeb had one of the best AEW women’s matches of the year.

Now here was a fun party match. Lots of ado has been made of Jay White seemingly floating in the ether alongside the Gunns as part of the Bang Bang Gang (formerly? Bullet Club Club). That was until the reuniting of Death Triangle, and it feels like a truly worthwhile feud for both sides.

It’s been almost five months since we last saw MJF, and he came back in a very familiar way. And in more ways than one.

To say Will Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world would be both accurate and something of an understatement.

The former Embassy/Mogul Embassy and now Cage of Agony, Brian Cage, Bishop Kaun and Toa Liona, might have something as three big, jacked dudes who beat people up and make babyfaces look super strong.

The Owen Hart Foundation Cup Tournament is back once again, and this year, the winner of both the men’s and women’s brackets will get world title opportunities.