Retro 3 Things We Hated And three Things We Loved

Welcome to a different edition of Wrestling Inc.’s retro reviews, where we take notable wrestling shows from the past and apply our universally celebrated loved/hated format! We have now AEW WrestleDream coming up this weekend, which is a difficult one to select a retro review for — mostly because we were already doing regular loved/hated reviews by the point of the inaugural show in 2023. That said, we hadn’t been doing them very long at the moment, which suggests there are earlier 2023 shows which have not yet gotten the loved/hated treatment, but which did feed into WrestleDream 2023. It is the last of those, Double or Nothing 2023, that’s the main focus of our loves and hates today!

This could be barely unfair of us — last time we did an AEW retro review, it was for All Out 2020, which is a contender for the worst AEW PPV of all time. Double or Nothing 2023, because it seems, is one other, so we promise next time we’ll do an excellent one! Still, there was plenty for us to get nostalgic for on this show, including a surprise Kris Statlander title win (no, not that one, the opposite one) and an anarchic essential event within the proverbial arena. We also got to look back on Chris Jericho’s feud with Adam Cole, the top of Jamie Hayter’s women’s world title reign, and The Acclaimed being essentially the most over act in the corporate; 2023 was a visit, dude. Not featured: the so-called “4 Pillars world title match,” which no person on the WINC staff had any interest in revisiting.

Join us as we turn back to a clock to an age before Toni Storm was Timeless! Listed here are three things we hated and three things we loved about AEW Double or Nothing 2023!

I’ll start this off by saying the last little bit of the 21-Man Casino Battle Royal opener to Double or Nothing was really, really good and there have been plenty of brilliant spots throughout the match, but on a show that was also overall pretty darn good, this match concept stuck out to me as strange. I wasn’t a fan of it overall, and I used to be also surprised that Dave Meltzer gave such a WCW-coded concept an over four-star rating. The match was also for Orange Cassidy’s International Championship, which just made all of it a bit of an excessive amount of.

I say that because for this battle royal, all competitors needed to first battle IN to the ring for the chance to compete and throw others excessive rope, a la the “reverse battle royal” days of WCW talent fighting to be the primary few men to get contained in the ring. While I’m well aware that the over-the-top-rope concept is not owned by WWE or anything, and there are battle royals in probably each independent promotion there may be on Earth, the last portion of the match did feel a bit of like AEW’s version of the Royal Rumble. While I really like the Rumble, I might much reasonably watch a special concept in AEW, which is probably going why I really like Anarchy within the Arena matches a lot.

I also wasn’t an enormous fan of commentary on this one. While I really like “Good Ol’ JR” Jim Ross, his work in AEW hasn’t been the most effective, in my humble opinion, especially when AEW pulls out unique match types like this one. Before the match even begins, he noted how he wasn’t a fan of the concept, and he also had a wierd line about Brian Cage, who absolutely killed it within the match. He said something about no person having the ability to follow Cage closely enough or something, which I believed was a bit strange, but that could possibly be just the actual fact we’re now up to now in the longer term.

This match was high-quality when everyone who needed to be within the ring was there and no person was left hanging on the surface. The match was around 22 minutes, and it picked up for me within the last quarter, possibly the last half, I’d say. I believed the Lucha Brothers and Komander were highlights here, along with Cage, in addition to Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland facing off as two of the last competitors within the match, especially with their history. Cassidy and Strickland because the last two duking it out were also great. Nonetheless, in a show without much to hate, your complete concept of the 21-Man Battle Royal was a bit too goofy for me.

Written by Daisy Ruth

AEW Double or Nothing 2023 is routinely within the conversation (alongside All Out 2020 and Worlds End 2023) for AEW’s worst PPV. While there are some brilliant spots on this show, it has plenty of faults, and Chris Jericho and Adam Cole’s unsanctioned match is the largest one among all.

At this time limit, Cole was fresh off a nine month lay off attributable to concussion related issues that will ultimately never truly leave him and force him to step away form wrestling in 2025. Fans desired to see Cole back within the essential event scene, especially after his road to recovery was documented on the “AEW All Access” show, but his return went hand-in-hand with the start of what fans have come to know as “The Jericho Vortex.” Jericho’s run as “The Ocho” ended at the top of 2022, and after a mixed feud with Ricky Starks firstly of the 12 months, people saw Jericho latch on to Cole’s momentum and thought “oh no, this is not going to be good.”

This complete match is a sloppy mess from start to complete. Why Sabu got involved I won’t ever know. “But Sam, Jericho was in ECW concurrently Sabu they usually wrestled one another one time at an event in 1996!” That does not warrant Sabu being involved as a special enforcer as one among Jericho’s best rivals now does it? Plus, the splash that Sabu does perform on this match is hilariously bad as he just falls off the turnbuckles through Matt Menard and Angelo Parker. 

Once the Jericho Appreciation Society get taken out of the match, Jericho and Cole have one of the vital uninspired matches in AEW history. Given the unsanctioned matches that we’ve got seen before and since this match, it is admittedly bad, however it was given this stipulation since the JAS attacked Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D. within the construct up, meaning that there needed to be some form of stipulation. The booking cornered this match right into a position where it had no probability to succeed, especially when you’ve got a ladder match, a no disqualification 4 way, and ANARCHY IN THE ARENA AS THE MAIN EVENT I MEAN COME ON!

I even have never been a fan of unsanctioned matches ending with a referee stoppage, but I’m so glad that Aubrey Edwards decided to finish this when she did. Is it the worst match of all time? No, but is it a moment in AEW history where Jericho’s good will died on the spot and Adam Cole’s status as a legitimate essential event star was questioned? Absolutely.

Written by Sam Palmer

While the top of 2022 was a turbulent time for All Elite Wrestling, one among the spots that shined brightest was Jamie Hayter because the AEW Women’s World Champion. She dethroned Toni Storm for the Interim AEW Women’s World Championship at Full Gear, which was then modified to the official title attributable to Thunder Rosa being unable to return attributable to injury, meaning that the eventual rematch between Storm and Hayter would have been a money match that might have sat amongst the most effective women’s matches in AEW history.

This is just not that match.

To place it simply, this match shouldn’t have happened, and the indisputable fact that they even gave Hayter three minutes is questionable to say the least. Hayter was coping with a nasty shoulder injury that was evident from the quantity of athletic tape on her right shoulder, but that wasn’t even the injury that was the issue. Hayter would reveal in 2024 that she had two herniated discs in her back that were so painful that she not only missed 15 months of motion, but she almost retired from wrestling completely. Wheeling her out on what is actually the anniversary show for AEW just gave the look of a very silly move.

The Outcasts throw Hayter out on to the ramp while her music is playing, allowing Storm, Saraya, and Ruby Soho to get their licks in on the wounded champion. Hayter does attempt to mount a comeback before the bell officially rings, but once all the pieces is under way, Storm is relentless in her attack of the champion, and it never really goes anywhere for the immediate future. Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D and Hikaru Shida do attempt to help out as they were the “AEW Originals” fighting against The Outcasts on the time, however it was no use, and Storm hit the Storm Zero to grow to be the first-ever two-time AEW Women’s World Champion.

It is simple to see why wrestlers put their bodies on the road even when they are not imagined to. The roar of the group, doing business the correct way, ensuring that their opponent goes over strong in order that they’ll have an extended run on top before coming back and having a rematch with all of the anticipation on the planet. That said, we live in an age where we would reasonably have our favourite wrestlers be protected and healthy and capable of work one other match reasonably than doing what they think is “the correct thing.” AEW must have considered one other technique to get the title off of Jamie Hayter because what they did here wasn’t it.

Written by Sam Palmer

As has already been mentioned, Double or Nothing 2023 is not a terrific show, a part of the explanation being that it doesn’t have a terrific crowd. The primary a part of that equation makes it difficult to seek out something to like; nevertheless, the second part is remarkable considering the best way Las Vegas absolutely exploded when The Acclaimed got here out.

The trios title match with House of Black was high-quality, but man. MAN. Remember how stupidly over Max Caster and Anthony Bowens were in 2023? It truthfully just form of warmed my heart to see it again and remember, because things have gone … downhill, one might say. The story of The Acclaimed is largely written entirely in vibes. It was vibes that took them from being tag team jobbers to the most popular team in AEW after their match at All Out 2022, and tag team champions a couple of weeks later at “Grand Slam.” AEW ultimately couldn’t sustain those vibes, but they were capable of inject a fresh dose by making Caster and Bowens trios champs alongside Billy Gunn in 2023. By the top of 2024, nevertheless, the vibes were mostly gone, they usually broke up this past January. Bowens was clearly imagined to be the breakout singles star, but AEW couldn’t sustain that either; it turned out that while Bowens had sided with Gunn within the break-up, the remaining vibes had sided with Caster, who was getting way larger reactions together with his delusional heel “open challenge” routine. Now it’s October and Tony Khan’s best idea has been to attempt to put them back together — a tacit acknowledgement that he knew neither easy methods to push Bowens nor what to do with Caster’s heat.

On the surface, it looks as if a really “three steps backward” idea … but take heed to that rattling Vegas crowd, man. Those people didn’t care about anything on this PPV, however the minute that music hit and Caster began rapping (one among his higher efforts, particularly when he by chance predicts the blackface controversy within the essential event before dropping the road about Buddy Matthews “getting cucked by a child named Dominik”) they went absolutely insane. For those of us whose AEW fandom peaked in 2023 (yes, we exist) it made my heart comfortable to listen to that response and take heed to Bowens say “Scissor me, Daddy Ass” back once they were still printing that catchphrase on t-shirts — but beyond that, it made me think that perhaps putting Caster and Bowens back together really is the most effective idea. The vibes have not all the time been there, but once they are, they’re immaculate. Perhaps the reformed Acclaimed can capture them again.

Written by Miles Schneiderman

At this current stage in time, Kris Statlander is preparing to defend her AEW Women’s World Championship against “Timeless” Toni Storm at WrestleDream. It sure took some time for her to get the title, dethroning Storm in a four-way at All Out in Toronto and ending an almost six-year hunt. To not say she went title-less during that period, as during this very event she emerged to defeat Jade Cargill in what would grow to be her penultimate match with the corporate for the TBS Championship. 

At the moment, Cargill had literally just beaten Taya Valkyrie of their billed title match on the show, extending her undefeated record to 60-0 and her reign to 508 days, though obviously that will be where the great times got here to an end. Cargill celebrated with the one “Baddie” she had left in her stable, Leila Grey, and her lawyer-meets-manager Mark Sterling; Sterling, being the mouth that wrote checks he didn’t need to attempt to money, proceed to call out any of the roster for a title match at any given time, which might have been a precarious proposition to start with, had he not added the jinx of, “But there isn’t any one left.” 

Because lo and behold, yes there was. And thus, Statlander made her entrance and got their impromptu title match underway, ending things inside a minute and cementing herself after what had been a bit of little bit of a “Gold-Watch” period for one among AEW’s original women’s stars. Looking back, Cargill may need been on her way out of the corporate in any case, so it made sense for the title change to return at some stage, for Statlander to be the one to take the title, and achieve this in an unannounced surprise for those watching.

Written by Max Everett

If there’s one thing I really like, it is a hardcore stipulation match (not a crazy one, just like the opening match here, nevertheless), and AEW’s Anarchy within the Arena matches are a few of my favorites in recent memory. I really like the chaos around the sector, a rather more contained chaos than say, a Stadium Stampede match, and AEW is often pretty good at following the motion with various cameras. If a spot is missed, they replay it picture-in-picture. I’m not all the time the largest fan of AEW production, but they typically make up for his or her blunders of the 12 months within the AITA match, for me, not less than.

The Blackpool Combat Club and The Elite were the proper teams to pit against one another on this match type. I’ll admit, Double or Nothing 2023 was barely before I began to essentially get in to AEW, so I wasn’t entirely sure who was meant to be the heel team here after watching a lot recent AEW. The gang response when each teams entered the sector helped me none, so did need to look it up, and was surprised that a BCC with Bryan Danielson on the team were the bad guys. The Elite met the BCC on the steps in the group to kick off the match and we were off to the races.

While this match felt just barely too long at 27 minutes and fell off much more barely at the top, there have been loads of notable big spots throughout that were plenty of fun. The match was so hard hitting to begin out immediately, the referee was one among the primary people bleeding. There was an interesting barbed wire poker chip set piece spot where Kenny Omega went back-first onto the wire with a suplex by Jon Moxley. Claudio Castagnoli and Matt Jackson began fighting within the concession area of the sector, then got to the back of a pickup truck outside. Omega began wielding a trash can lid like Captain America’s shield, and who could ever forget the exploding superkick from one among the Young Bucks to Moxley.

The finish was a giant moment that I do not think many saw coming with Konosuke Takeshita turning heel and aligning himself with Don Callis, something I assume we’re all so used to lately. It was Wheeler Yuta to get the pin on Omega, which was pretty big deal and funky for him. This AITA was an excellent mix of in-ring motion, with crazy spots, in fact, but additionally full of plenty of actual wrestling and lots of storytelling. It was a superb match to conclude the PPV and personally, I believe it has plenty of rewatch value.

Written by Daisy Ruth