Minus-Star Match Reviews: Adam Cole vs. Chris Jericho – AEW Double or Nothing 2023

It’s hard to tell which of these two men has had a bigger fall from grace. On one side there’s Adam Cole, once an indie darling through-and-through, adored in ROH and beyond, and a staple of NXT for several years. His style, flashy as it was, excited the diehard NXT audience and got him much acclaim. Then there’s Chris Jericho, a veteran, pioneer, legend, and industry staple who, at one point, came to fame for his ability to constantly reinvent himself and get even the most absurd and insignificant of concepts over with the audience.

But back in 2023 things were not looking good for either man. Cole’s AEW debut was completely overshadowed by Bryan Danielson’s and his career in the company was mired by injury, stop-start pushes, and extremely dubious booking. And then there’s Jericho who…erm…has become the Randy Marsh of professional wrestling and doesn’t give a flying fuck about what anyone thinks of him. One need only look at his body – I mean, his body of work post-COVID: he has become a parody of himself and gets more screentime than almost anyone else in the company. That would be fine…if all his talk and hype actually led to something satisfying.

The Story

Upon returning to AEW after suffering a nasty injury, Adam Cole was confronted by the Jericho Appreciation Society’s Daniel Garcia. Cole won their match the following week and celebrated with his then-girlfriend Britt Baker. Soon afterwards Cole attacked Garcia after his match with Keith Lee to get revenge. Jericho and Cole then decided to meet in the ring to “talk out their problems” only for the JAS to beat down both Cole and Baker. Cole was outnumbered in subsequent interactions with the JAS, that is until Cole’s former NXT Roderick Strong debuted and made the save. The feud escalated from there until it was decided that Cole and Jericho would face off in an Unsanctioned Match with, of all people, Sabu serving as Special Enforcer.

The Match

This took place on May 28, 2023. It was rated ***1/4 out of five by the Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer. This is an Unsanctioned match yet it’s the first singles match on the show. Yeah, that makes total sense. Jericho comes out first to a decent reaction with most people just wanting to sing his entrance music. Sabu’s out next and the graphic accurately describes him as a “pioneer”, which is fair. Cole’s out last and at least on this video the crowd sounds much more subdued compared to the other two.

Things start of chaotically as the JAS attack Cole, Roderick Strong and Sabu, only for the babyfaces to even the odds without much effort. It’s kinda silly that fifty-something-year-old Sabu, with his body held together by duct tape, can drop active wrestlers half his age with one punch but that’s wrestling logic for you. Jericho and Daniel Garcia double-team Cole until Sabu enters the ring with a chair, at which point everyone bails. Something happens off-camera near the commentator as Jim Ross screams “HEY! STUPID!” as Jericho confronts Sabu with a chair of his own. Chair duel! Sabu out-chairs Jericho as chaos continues ringside yet he barely gets any sort of pop when he does his trademark pose. Then Sabu casually climbs the top rope and dive onto two guys brawling near a table, causing all three to fall through it.

A long stare-down in the ring between Cole and Jericho builds to…Cole saying his catchphrase. Lazy, phony brawling ensues. Jericho gets thrown to the floor and allegedly lands badly on his arm which Cole targets. For about five seconds as he then switches to working the legs. Cole teases a Panama Sunrise from the top rope onto the apron but Jericho blocks it and lands a snap suplex from the apron to the floor.

A fan screams “CHRIS JERICHO LIPSYNCS!” as Jericho attempts a powerbomb through a table setup ringside. Cole fights back so Jericho drops him face-first onto the apron. More sloppy brawling. Jericho cuts Cole off with a clothesline and pushes a chair into his throat. Jericho sets up a chair in a corner but Cole blocks and ultimately sends Jericho running into his own weapon face-first. Cole charges but Jericho drops him with a…push? Shove? Jericho attempts a Lionsault but Cole answers with a sudden superkick. Another Panama Sunrise is countered into the Walls of Jericho. Cole goes for a ropebreak but it’s unsanctioned that doesn’t fly so Cole reaches over the edge of the ring…and SLOWLY pulls out a fire extinguisher. A long setup sequences ensues but Cole manages to spray Jericho in the face.

Cole smashes Jericho with the tank and covers for two. Jericho sinks down after hitting two chops so Cole charges for the Last Shot, only for Jericho to surprise him with a Codebreaker. Jericho sprays Cole and drops the tank on his groin. He pulls out a kendo stick and teases using it but here comes Britt Baker with a kendo stick of her own. Baker unloads on Jericho with kendo stick shots. Saraya comes out to even the odds, apparently, but she eats kendo stick shots before she can do anything. Baker chases Saraya to the back as Cole chokes Jericho with the other stick. Cole lands a stick-assisted Backstabber for two, to which the fans chant “we want tables”. Cole goes to the top rope but Jericho throws a chair at his head and Cole gives the fans what they want as he falls through the table setup at ringside.

Jericho bashes Cole’s head into the apron and then pulls out handcuffs on an extra long chain. He cuffs one of Cole’s hands but before he can cuff the second Cole DDTs him onto the chain for two. Cole handcuffs Jericho to himself, turning this into an impromptu chain match. A botched Panama Sunrise gets another two-count. Jericho ducks a Last Shot and gets two off a roll-up. He whips Cole with the chain and goes for the Judas Effect elbow. Cole ducks it but Jericho starts choking him with the chain. Cole flips out of a corner and lands two superkicks and a successful Last Shot. Followed by another. Cole starts hammering Jericho in the face until blood appears around Jericho’s eye. The referee calls for the bell. Cole wins and the crowd boos!

Winner due to a referee’s decision after 19:00: Adam Cole

You can watch the match here.

Review

Remember when WWE booked Seth Rollins to face “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt in a Hell in a Cell match, the ultimate stipulation in which anything goes, and they decided to go with a bullshit referee stoppage finish? Well apparently Jericho and Cole saw that and thought, “yeah, let’s do something like that.” Even with Jim Ross doing his very best to justify the decision to end an unsanctioned match it came across as just the dumbest thing they could possibly do. It ended up being a tacky bait-and-switch with a finish that contradicted the stipulation and ultimately insulted the viewers’ intelligence. Granted, that seems to be far more common in professional wrestling than it should be, but in this case that disappointing conclusion bookended something that wasn’t all that exciting to begin with.

Despite their best efforts, this match ended up being straight-up boring. It was dull, plodding, and completely directionless. They brought Sabu back and his payoff was a token table spot that ended up meaning nothing. Despite the story, there seemed to be little to no chemistry or heat between Cole and Jericho. The pacing was glacial as they floated aimlessly from one token hardcore spot to another. The limbwork largely went nowhere. The surprise appearances from the women got light pops but nothing sustained. Both Baker and Saraya just appeared and left in the span of a minute, instead of Baker making quick work of Saraya and then sticking around to help her boyfriend. But worst of all this match legitimately lacked tension. Cole and Jericho moved so lazily and with such a ho-hum air about them that they failed to live up to the storyline reason for this match. There was no feeling of animosity, revenge, or outright aggression out of either man. Some of the hardcore spots felt so overwhelmingly performative that it dulled the atmosphere. No wonder the crowd came across as either bored or apathetic: they weren’t being treated to a contest befitting all the warnings and disclaimers from the announcers.

Final Rating: *1/2

I’ll give them minor credit for trying but this was and still is a garbage match. Even if their core audience is more forgiving – or, at the very least, patient – with the product there are times when even the staunchest fan can look at what they’ve paid to see and say “what is this shit?” It’s not offensive, just extremely underwhelming and in no way delivering value for money or value for time invested. It was a wash, a poor performance, an unsatisfying conclusion to a storyline that, on paper, demanded so much more.

This isn’t the worst thing AEW has ever put on Pay-Per-view but it’s a strong contender for biggest unnecessary bait-and-switch in AEW history. If you’re going to have an Unsanctioned Match actually make it violent and concerning enough to make people believe that any animosity shown in the ring is at least somewhat plausible. If that’s too much to ask then you’re better off booking and promoting a straight singles match; at least that way fans wont feel cheated or get their hopes up unnecessarily.

Thanks for reading.