And as for my Best of Wrestling in 2022 list.
Best Male Wrestler - Jon Moxley
Best Female Wrestler - Toni Storm
Best PPV of the Year - Full Gear
Worst PPV of the Year - Royal Rumble
Best Match of the Year - Anarchy in the Arena (All Out)
Worst Match of the Year - Women's MITB
Most Overused Wrestler - Sammy Guevara
Most Underused Wrestler - T-Bar/Dijak
Best Gimmick - The Acclaimed and Scissoring
Worst Gimmick - Joe Gacy and Schism.
Most Improved Wrestler - Big Bill/W.Morrisey
Rookie of the Year - Tiffany Stratton
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My Highlights from AEW Double or Nothing 2023
We did Night of Champions now it's AEW's turn to do the big PPV. While people will say it wasn't built well (something they said last year if I recall) there's a lot of potentially great wrestling matches on the card, so let's see how it went down on the night and list out the positives.
Note: because of growing disinterest and lack of time on my bank holiday I won't be doing NXT Battleground that aired at the same time, sorry about that
Spoilers for the PPV
Buy-In
Paul Wight looking to Stokely when Renee said the 'biggest big man', their rapport was great too we could put them as a commentary team...if we still had Dark/Elevation
RJ's interview with Arn was funny too
The Gunns didn't have the same music but I do like that they kept the spotlight entrance
Gonna sound weird, but it's good to see HOOK sell, of course doing several squashes can help you grow a reputation but if you can't sell you're only doing half the work
It's smart that the Owen is finishing in Calgary this year, I wonder who is in it though
Main Show
Kip going straight for OC is clever and fits continuity, also it was smart that Bandido made the save given his affiliation with Best Friends
Swerve waiting on the outside too is smart
Brian Cage's run against the Luchadors were fun, reminded me of his Lucha Underground days
Trent sacrificing himself for OC
I had Jay winning but Ricky eliminating Jay was well done
The final sequence of the battle royale was great, need a proper Swerve vs OC match, the final move is hilarious as well, perfectly on brand
And I'm not upset that OC retained, because as much as this would've protected OC, whoever takes it from his exhausted bruised flavedo deserves to do it 1 on 1
Sabu's role was mercifully brief, mainly designed to remove the JAS
Britt getting some revenge on Jericho and Saraya with the Kendo Shots
Clever of Jericho to shift into a choke with the chain when he missed the Judas Effect
Mark Briscoe's ref outfit
The pop for Sonjay getting ejected
Also the heat for Karen hitting Aubrey, you don't hit Aubrey!
It was good story payoff too that Jarrett snapping on Mark was his own downfall
Tease of Bullet Club vs FTR?
Saraya and Jericho actually gel really well
Christian back with his turtleneck, it always puts a smile on my face
The final third of the ladder match was well done, it was a good adlib from the broken ladder incident too
Dang Julia
The Dominik burn by the Acclaimed's rap
Jade's entrance was impressive too
I don't think it was a Sit-out Blue Thunder Bomb (looked almost like an Olympic Slam/Powerbomb to me) but whatever it was I thought it was cool
STATLANDER'S BACK!
STATLANDER BEAT JADE!
Congrats to Tay and Sammy as well, explains why we hadn't seen Tay in-ring either
Darby's video before his entrance was hilarious too
And that attire, half bones, half Elvis, perfection
The orchestral MJF entrance with the descending throne too was on brand extra from Max
MJF's dialogue before being hit is still humorous
And his pop-up Powerbomb/Backbreaker is still meaty as fuck
The mentor finisher reference too was a great spot
Also Sammy tricking Max by laying down, saw it coming but still a clever move
The pinning sequences spot too
A clever finish to a great match too, Darby thwarted by JB and then Max, JB thwarted by his own indecision, Sammy thwarted by Darby but Max once again seals it with a headlock takeover
If there was any doubt that the Four Pillars match wouldn't rock, that doubt is now silenced
SHIT'S ABOUT TO HIT THE FAN
Irony of Vegas singing Kansas too
It's not Anarchy in the Arena if the match starts while Wild Thing is still going
Danielson was slid down the stair railing
Rick Knox is even blading!
And the Bucks Superkick the singer XD
Mox going full CZW with the fork
Piledriver in the back of a car
Moxley and Yuta doing the same move that lost them the last Anarchy in the Arena was a clever move that went under the radar
EXPLODING SUPERKICK!?
Claudio doing the crab walk with Yuta on his shoulder
Conclusion
It was not perfect, but thanks to the double main event the show ended up being a good one. I'm of course irked by some things; Takeshita heel turn (he's too pure for that Tony!), Jamie losing in what was essentially a sprint, and the finish of the Unsanctioned Match (if AEW is not responsible for the harm caused by the competitors why is there a ref stoppage?), but the lows are outweighed by the good. We had some exciting twists that did reignite the crowd when they got quiet and both the Four Pillars and Anarchy in the Arena matches were as advertised.
My hope is that we find directions for the likes of Taya, Acclaimed, and many of the Battle Royal competitors, which Collision may manage to cater towards, but I can honestly say while it wasn't a great PPV, it was still worth the money, and I had more fun watching this than I did Night of Champions by a fair margin.
Match of the Night: Tough to call but I'm gonna go with the Four Pillars Four-Way over Anarchy in the Arena, Take my boy why you gotta be heel? And not even BCC Heel you gotta be Don Callis Heel!? I would've preferred betrayed heel Dark Order tbf not the Cinnabon man!
Best Entrance: Entrances don't get used too often which is why I tend to omit it but since we had 6 unique entrances in this show I'm picking Jade Cargill
Best Attire: I feel fine about picking Jade for Best Entrance because Darby wins best attire for me with the Elvis/Skeleton suit
Best Performance: Four Pillars tie, they all just did so well
Spot of the Night: Exploding Superkick by Matt
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