Tiffany’s AEW Take: Who Should the Champs Meet at Double or Nothing Part 1: The Contenders

Tiffany takes a look at the potential challengers for the AEW championships at Double Or Nothing!

So, it’s been made official that the Double or Nothing PPV WILL be happening on May 23, it just won’t be in Las Vegas, or possibly in front of a crowd. While that doesn’t seem very appealing, it does mean that starting with AEW’s first live show since March, we’ll be building to another AEW blockbuster. So,who should the AEW Champs (World, Women’s, Tag) face at Double or Nothing? Let’s take a look!

Men’s Division

Jon Moxley is the Champ, but he’s come under a lot of criticism as of late because he doesn’t seem to be drawing the audience. Never mind that ratings for everything are DOWN because people are too busy trying to educate their kids, work from home, and keep from going crazy while in quarantine, to worry about wrestling. Plus, AEW is working on a skeleton crew, with a lot of its top stars not there, ratings are going to suffer and in these conditions, there’s not a lot Moxley can do other than coming with a vaccine.

ANYWAY, the Champ is looking for challengers, so let’s take a look at the possible contenders. Going by AEW’s ranking system, our pool of candidates are:

1. Cody Rhodes
2. Kenny Omega
3. Darby Allin
4. Lance Archer
5. Jake Hager

Well, we can scratch Cody and Archer for now, they’ve both advanced to the TNT Championship Finals. Jake Hager is also out because he just lost to Mox a couple of weeks ago. Omega is a Tag Team Champion, so he’ll also be busy, which TECHNICALLY, leaves Darby Allin, but Allin lost to Cody Rhodes in a wild finish on Wednesday. HOWEVER, this system isn’t set in stone and there are other challengers that could be lurking. Mox has a match with Frankie Kazarian of SCU coming up, which could open the door to the other members of SCU to stick their noses in. Brodie Lee, whom Mox has had run ins with in WWE is lurking, as is Dustin Rhodes, who has to be smarting from his loss to Lance Archer. There’s also the conniving Shawn Spears, who has been on a bit of a roll lately, the…unbalanced Matt Hardy, and the stellar Sammy Guevara, not to mention former Champ, Chris Jericho.

Who AEW Will Go With: Honestly, I think they’ll go with Jericho. No, Jericho isn’t ranked, but he’s owed a rematch from Revolution, and he’ll be a safe choice.

Who I Would Like Them to Go With: I’d like for it to be either Darby Allin or Dustin Rhodes. Allin has been a break out star lately, even with the loss to Cody. Allin and Mox had a WONDERFUL match back in November, that I was privileged to see LIVE. However, I would also love for Dustin Rhodes to get to dance in the lights after the performance he put on against Lance Archer.

Women’s Division

One of the big stories coming out of the shut down is the lack of women’s matches on Dynamite and Dark. Typically, the only women who have been wrestling are Britt Baker, Penelope Ford, and Hikaru Shida. AEW’s critics, apparently forgetting that not everyone on the AEW Roster lives in Florida or Georgia, have decried the lack of women’s matches. Never mind that you can’t have a women’s match if the women are living in states that have stay at home orders, or live overseas, and can’t make it; not to mention there maybe women on the roster with young kids or health problems that leave them vulnerable.

According to the rankings, champ Nyla Rose’s pool of contenders are:

1. Hikaru Shida
2. Kris Statlander
3. Yuka Sakazaki
4. Britt Baker
5. Riho

Who They Will Probably Go With: It’s hard to say honestly. By rights, it should either go to Hikaru Shida, who has the best record, or Riho, as the former champ. However, Riho primarily lives in Japan, which I BELIEVE is on lockdown, meaning she may not be able to get back to the US by May 23rd. The same could happen to Shida, since she is also Japanese, but I don’t remember if she lives in the US full time now, or commutes back and forth.

Who I Would Like Them to Go With: I want it to be Britt Baker. As one of the few women who has been available to travel to Dynamite tapings, Baker has taken the opportunity to show her star power and RUN with it. From her BRUTAL match with Shida, to her ‘Role Model’ vignettes, Baker has emerged as the de facto face of the AEW Women’s Division. No, her record isn’t the best, but in these times, the record books don’t seem to matter as much.

Tag Team Division

Of all the divisions in AEW, the Tag Team Division has REALLY suffered during the quarantine and shutdown due to most of the talent not being able to get to the tapings. That has left Best Friends as basically the only tag team in the division and Kenny Omega without a partner, since Adam Page is presumably in quarantine in Virginia. However, going by the latest rankings, Omega and Page’s pool of contenders are:

1. Dark Order
2. Best Friends
3. Young Bucks
4. SCU
5. Lucha Brothers

As of the writing of this article, which is 3:39pm on Friday, May 1st, Dark Order hasn’t been seen since the beginning of the shutdown, Young Bucks and SCU are in California due to a state-wide lockdown, and due to Donald Trump’s closing of the US border with Mexico, the Lucha Brothers are still in Mexico. Pac, who had teamed up with Lucha Brothers, is presumably back in England. Santana and Ortiz are in New York, which is still on lockdown, and no one’s seen TH2 in months. This makes the prospects for the Tag Champs a little daunting, especially if Page can’t make it back in time.

Who They Will Probably Go With: This is TOUGH to call. By rights, it should be Dark Order, but there’s no telling where they. If we go by who is available as of NOW, it should be Best Friends, who have been on a roll.

Who I Think They Should Go With: I’m going with Best Friends. They’re another group that has seized the opportunity presented to them by the shutdown and run with it.

Of course, AEW could go in a completely random direction with all these, and I do expect them to pull together some shocking matches to bring the fans in, I think they’ll mostly play it safe. Only time will tell.