10 Worst Matches In AEW Double Or Nothing History, Ranked
Double or Nothing is one of AEW’s marquee PPVs, and it just so happened to be the first in AEW’s history too, back in 2019. Since then, there have been four Double or Nothing events, all of which have mostly been a success.
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Now and again though, not all of the cards are absolutely perfect, and there have been some underwhelming matches. When looking at the worst ten matches of all time for this PPV, this doesn’t necessarily mean that these are all “bad” matches, but instead just the “least good” since the standard has been so high for the most part.
10 Adam Cole Vs. Samoa Joe - Double Or Nothing 2022
This was not a bad match by any means, but in comparison to most of the matches that have been seen on Double or Nothing cards, this was a step down and it was ultimately underwhelming.
The lack of crowd investment did hurt this, in addition to the predictable winner in Adam Cole. Joe still looked to be shedding some ring rust from a hugely reduced schedule over the last couple years too.
9 Wardlow Vs. MJF - Double Or Nothing 2022
Unfortunately for Wardlow, a night in which he was supposed to turn into a star ended up being dominated by headlines involving MJF’s alleged walkout and turbulent AEW status.
The heat of the match and the impact of Wardlow’s extended squash of MJF just didn’t have the desired effect due to the talk being all about whether MJF would even show up. From bell-to-bell, it wasn’t bad at all, but the outside factors made this worse than it should have been.
8 Casino Ladder Match - Double Or Nothing 2020
There were some eye-catching spots and fun moments here, but overall it was far too crowded and messy. 9 participants (in addition to managers and allies ringside too) made for an overly chaotic match that had very little structure.
Brian Cage’s debut and victory was nice but it was predictable due to pre-existing rumors. It didn’t help that this was way too long too - stretching to nearly half an hour in length!
7 Miro Vs. Lance Archer - Double Or Nothing 2021
On what was a very hot night as AEW returned to a full crowd following the pandemic, this was a low point on the show. Miro and Lance Archer’s slower big-man pace wasn’t too effective.
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Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ involvement was unnecessary here and it took away from the match rather than added to it. On paper, this should have been a hard-hitting TNT Championship match between two huge monsters, but it ended up being slow and predictable.
6 Britt Baker Vs. Awesome Kong Vs. Kyle Rae Vs. Nyla Rose - Double Or Nothing 2019
This was the first women’s match in AEW history, but it peaked upon Awesome Kong’s surprise debut and involvement in the match. From there, it was just a basic but slightly sloppy match which never hit a high level.
The final few minutes certainly heated things up, but it came after a match that seemed more focused on getting to the next spot rather than having a fluid match with good psychology. It wasn’t terrible but it was the worst match on the card in 2019.
5 Cody Rhodes Vs. Anthony Ogogo - Double Or Nothing 2021
From an in-ring perspective, there wasn’t too much wrong with this match. Everything was done well, and Ogogo looked good in his first extended bout in AEW. However, the booking of this match is where it was really let down.
The build up of Ogogo’s dangerous punches were nullified by Rhodes overcoming them without too much issue, and the babyface victory hurt the heel beyond repair, with him not finding his way back to AEW television ever since. As an overall package, this ended up being a negatively received match.
4 Men Of The Year & Paige VanZant Vs. Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti, & Frankie Kazarian - Double Or Nothing 2022
The weird babyface/heel dynamic here with both teams having good and bad guys made this a very strange and awkward match in which the crowd didn’t know who to cheer for at times.
Paige VanZant’s in-ring debut was highly anticipated, but it resulted in an underwhelming introduction as she was clearly far from ready to compete on a PPV event. This feud between Sky and Guevara was among the very worst AEW have ever done, and this match didn’t do it any favors.
3 Kris Statlander Vs. Penelope Ford - Double Or Nothing 2020
The injury of Britt Baker led to Penelope Ford stepping into the ring for this match, and the complete lack of a storyline and build really hurt the energy behind this one.
It was a very basic match which saw the heel dominate for much of the contest before Statlander began a babyface comeback and stood tall. It wasn’t the worst match in the world, but it had a lot going against it, making it one of the weakest on the show.
2 Jade Cargill Vs. Anna Jay - Double or Nothing 2022
For whatever reason, Jade Cargill and Anna Jay had an off night here. They just didn’t gel well in a clunky match that was arguably the worst of the whole night.
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What made this worse was the fact that the pair had perhaps their respective best matches in AEW against one another a few months previously on Rampage, so there was a high expectation for this one, though it simply did not deliver.
1 Dustin Rhodes Vs. Shawn Spears - Double Or Nothing 2020
In what essentially just a comedy match, Dustin Rhodes spent four minutes humiliating Spears. He would even expose his underwear, which had the face of Tully Blanchard on it.
In many ways, this screamed of some of the old matches involving “Goldust” in WWE, in which stripping clothes off was a theme. Thankfully, it wasn’t as obscene as that, but it was still unnecessary. The idea was to perhaps provide some variety to the show, but instead it came off as cheap and childish, and a big misuse of both individuals.
