It’s Memorial Day weekend, you know what that means! AEW is presenting its annual Double or Nothing event. 13 matches for you good people! Most of them have odds via BetOnline. Let’s win you some money! For entertainment purposes, of course.

Buy-In Match
Hookhausen (-2000) vs. Tony Nese & “Smart” Mark Sterling (+700)

Hello @TheRock ~ Danhausen here again (fellow famous Hollywood celebrity)

~ how does Danhausen become as very muscled, very evil as you in less than a week for his ppv debuthausen? pic.twitter.com/WetgdXcDkt

— Danhausen (@DanhausenAD) May 24, 2022

Hook is the future of the wrestling business. Danhausen is a popular meme. Tony Nese is here because he impressed somebody. “Smart” Mark is here because he can properly annoy people. This is the right dark match for this type of show. Hook will kill somebody, the crowd will cheer. Hookhausen wins of course.

TBS Championship Match
Jade Cargill (-1800) vs. Anna Jay (+700)

Things are heating up! #TBS Champion @Jade_Cargill defends her Title for the 2nd time against @annajay___ at #AEWDoN (Double Or Nothing) LIVE on PPV from Las Vegas, NV on Sunday May 29!

Tune in NOW to #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS! pic.twitter.com/B2OQvixyuX

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 26, 2022

I’m a big Anna Jay fan. But I’m also an honest man, and there’s no reason for me to tell you to bet on Anna Jay in this match. If she actually wins they’ve lost the plot. Jade Cargill is a woman among girls and there’s no reason to have her lose anytime soon. So let’s move on.

Mixed Trios Match
Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page & Paige VanZant vs. Sammy Guevara, Frankie Kazarian & Tay Conti

#AEW EXCLUSIVE
TNT Champion @scorpiosky vows that for as long as he’s the champ, neither @sammyguevara or @FrankieKazarian will be able to challenge him for his title again, if & when he wins their Mixed Trios match THIS SUNDAY @ #AEWDoN LIVE at 8ET/5PT on all major PPV providers pic.twitter.com/NLUD5mA5eh

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 28, 2022

One of the things I liked about AEW when it started was their concept of booking matches a week in advance. It was nice to see them run the card down for next week’s Dynamite, you knew what to expect next week! Sometimes they’d even advertise stuff for two weeks later, which was downright mind-bending. Unfortunately, AEW’s been getting away from that in recent months. Now they tend to wait until Rampage before announcing anything for Dynamite, and announce matches the day of the show just like everybody else does. It’s a darn shame.

I’m pretty sure that back when AEW started, a match like this wouldn’t have randomly been announced two days before the PPV. Considering it’s PVZ’s very first wrestling match, and the stipulation is fairly important (Guevara & Kazarian can’t challenge for Sky’s TNT title if their team loses), this could have used more than two days of build.

I’ll be rooting for American Top Team here since I’d like the current TNT title feud to end. That’s not what I expect to happen, so roll with Sammy, Frankie & Tay.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Darby Allin

This ones for Sting. pic.twitter.com/n6LsoWGpYs

— DARBY ALLIN (@DarbyAllin) May 28, 2022

Speaking of somewhat random last minute matches. Kyle injured Sting during a beatdown at the end of Dynamite a couple of weeks ago, and Darby has taken exception. This should be a pretty fun match with two guys that’ll be looking to prove they should have been booked on this card earlier. Expect Darby to win here, as Kyle’s still working his way up in AEW.

Men’s Owen Hart Cup Final
Samoa Joe vs. Adam Cole

Tony Schiavone is spot-on. Adam Cole and Samoa Joe have never met. Not during Joe's brief return run to ROH in 2015, not in NXT, not anywhere. Gonna be good on Sunday. #AEWDynamite

— Kyle Sparks of Bodyslam.net (@kyleksparks) May 26, 2022

Women’s Owen Hart Cup Final
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. vs. Ruby Soho

Ruby Soho (@realrubysoho) reveals what @AEW boss @TonyKhan said that changed her life: "The most freeing thing that anyone has ever said… with that freedom and that paintbrush in my hand, I think it brought about a whole new level of confidence" #AEWDoN https://t.co/QgmavbmBhn

— Shakiel Mahjouri (@Shak_Fu) May 27, 2022

We’ll talk about these two together. Adam & Britt have been the popular choice in most circles since the brackets were announced. It’d be cute for them to win the Owen together, right? Joe’s a tough row to hoe, especially now that his rivals Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt and Santam Singh have been barred from ringside. Cole still has ten other people to interfere on his behalf, so I don’t think it’ll be a big deal.

Ruby could use a big win here, but it’s tough to bet against Britt. I won’t!

AEW Women’s World Championship Match
Thunder Rosa (-1500) vs. Serena Deeb (+600)

#AEW Women's World Champion @thunderrosa22 wants to teach challenger @serenadeeb a lesson in respect on Sunday LIVE on PPV at #AEWDoN! pic.twitter.com/dAHh4aqjAx

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 26, 2022

Get these two in the ring, and they’ll give you something you want to see. Thunder & Serena are two of the best female wrestlers in the business, and I’m pretty interested to see what they give us on this show. The only issue with this feud? Serena can’t cut a promo, and Thunder is only slightly better. Giving them microphone time is just asking for bad reviews from critics like me. I don’t like to point these things out, but when they stare me in the face I have to.

THEY CAN’T TALK

Fortunately, they won’t be talking much if at all at Double or Nothing. T’ll be in the ring where they excel. Potential show stealer here. I’m tempted to pick Serena, but the state of AEW’s women’s division tells me that Thunder Rosa should retain, largely because I figure the winner of the Owen Hart Cup gets the next shot at the title. That’ll probably be Britt Baker, and the Good Doctor deserves a re-match with her arch-nemesis. If I was betting on this, I might throw a couple of bucks Serena Deeb‘s way, on the off-chance they decide to turn Britt face since she’s the most over woman on the roster.

AEW World Tag Team Championship Match
Jurassic Express (-130) vs. Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs (+200) vs. Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland (+250)

pic.twitter.com/49QNQzOEQD

— Jungleboy (@boy_myth_legend) May 23, 2022

It’s probably not polite to mention this, but I will anyway. Jurassic Express is the least interesting team in this match. I know Jungle Boy is one of the vaunted Four Pillars and he’ll be a megastar one of these days, but nobody can tell me with a straight face that Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus are the best team in the business. They’ve teamed long enough to prove if they are or not, and they aren’t. Starks & Hobbs could have that potential. Keith & Swerve could have that potential. I can see either of those teams lighting the world on fire for the next year or so.

Jurassic Express will probably win since that’s how things go. You won’t make much money off of that though. If you’re looking to make money, I’d take a shot at Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland. You won’t find many people in the know that don’t think those two guys are awesome. They’ve proven to have pretty great chemistry. I’d put the belts on them and see where it goes. Perfect opportunity for a face to face switch too since it’s a triple threat with heels involved.

Anarchy in the Arena
Jericho Appreciation Society (+225) vs. Eddie Kingston, Santana, Ortiz, Bryan Danielson & Jon Moxley (-350)

DID YOU KNOW: The name “Anarchy in the Arena” is actually a reference to the Anarchy in the Asylum match that took place on the May 7, 2003 NWA-TNA weekly PPV. https://t.co/56ZG827R0d

— Garrett Kidney (@garrettkidney) May 20, 2022

Yep, this is going to be a complete clusterfuck. It’ll go forever, it’ll go all over the building and there will be crazy spots that these people probably shouldn’t be doing. It’ll probably be fun to watch! This is also one of the few matches where I think the underdogs have a pretty good chance of winning. The Jericho Appreciation Society is on the same page, it remains to be seen if their opposition is. Some type of miscommunication with the good guys makes sense to me.

House of Black (-200) vs. Death Triangle (+150)

Is it too late to turn the House of Black into a sit com with laugh tracks and wholesome messages?

Full House of Black

3 dads where every day is Halloween raising their daughters after their wives split.

"I'll pick you up from school, sweetie."
"No, dad. You're lame…" pic.twitter.com/kRS73G2Vic

— FRITZ VON ERICH (@AEW_Fritz) May 26, 2022

My most recent 411mania article was inspired by the House of Black, Death Triangle & other factions trying to be spooky these days. Let’s be honest, HOB hasn’t had a lot of success in wooing people to their side. Any spooky faction worth their weight would have already gotten a young, impressionable lass like Julia Hart by their side months ago. Whether she does her heel turn to join them at this point or not doesn’t really matter. The fact it took this long makes them look pretty darn ineffectual.

As for Death Triangle, it’s tough to get them all healthy and in AEW at the same time. Pac’s been gone a lot, Fenix has been injured a lot, and Penta does Penta things. When they are together, it’s pretty cool. I have no doubt this match will be really good, whether we’ll care more about the situation afterward remains to be seen.

I’d expect House of Black to win simply because they’ll definitely be around.

The Hardys (+200) vs. The Young Bucks (-300)

Here’s the thing. At one point, this was one of those vaunted dream matches. The Hardy Boyz in their prime were one of the most popular tag teams in the history of wrestling. Their prime was 20 years or so ago, but extended a bit because they were smart at working the gimmick. Here in 2022, their tank is on E. I’ll get yelled at for pointing that out, but anybody watching Jeff or Matt Hardy on AEW Dynamite in 2022 knows I’m right. Matt was exposed last year, Jeff’s been exposed in the last few weeks.

Oh, and this match already happened in ROH several years ago when people were more interested in it. I have no defense for this. I can only assume the Hardys will be putting the Young Bucks over again, since nobody has any interest in this feud going on longer than this show outside of the immediate families.

Also, after watching the BTE footage of this feud I care even less about it. I might be in the minority though, WWE has done good business off of senior tour feuds for years.

MJF (+400) vs. Wardlow (-700)

Put Wardlow over.

I could make a real interesting argument for having MJF win here, and having the War Dog eventually getting his AEW contract through other means, and maybe Vince Russo & other folks would say that would get Wardlow over even more than actually earning his contract by stomping the shit out of MJF. But that’s a little too cute & complicated when you’re trying to build somebody like Wardlow into the future of your company. Just let him beat the shit out of MJF.

No reason to worry about MJF, he’ll get his heat back the second he has a microphone. Things don’t always need to be complex. The best booking is often the simplest. Don’t overthink this thing.

Put Wardlow over.

AEW World Championship Match
“Hangman” Adam Page (+130) vs. CM Punk (-170)

CM Punk: *breathes*

Adam Page:#AEWDynamite pic.twitter.com/DwR92T7Fng

— Public Enemies Podcast (@TheEnemiesPE3) May 26, 2022

Adam Page would like us to know that CM Punk is not the good person he’s portrayed himself as since returning to pro wrestling last year. This flies in the face of how Punk has conducted himself on AEW television and various media appearances, but it’s not something that would come as a surprise to most wrestling fans. Throughout his career, Punk has gone through these phases where he acts like a nice guy & says & does the right things. Eventually, Punk reverts to his true nature. Has he reached that point again?

As for the Hangman, his title reign has produced some quality matches, but the story hasn’t been as compelling as one might have hoped. It’s tough to produce a compelling babyface champion. The last one longterm face champion of a mainstream promotion I can remember not getting blowback from the fans for not being interesting enough? Hulk Hogan from 1984-88. And I’m sure if there was an IWC back then somebody would have said that wasn’t interesting.

As much as AEW likes to avoid rematches, hopefully this will be just the beginning of a feud that will give folks the CM Punk we love to watch most and give the Hangman something compelling to do. I feel like CM Punk‘s the pick, but Page’s got a real shot at it and would be a better financial windfall.