The SmarK Rant for AEW Double or Nothing 2025 – 05.25.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Double or Nothing – 05.25.25

Live from Phoenix, AZ

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Taz

Owen Hart tournament final: Mercedes Mone v. Jamie Hayter

They fight for a takedown to start and that’s a stalemate, but Hayter puts her down with a big boot for two. Mone gets a rollup for two and rolls her into a half-crab, but Jamie boots out of that and they trade legbars. Jamie turns it into the half crab of her own, but Mone powers out and sends Jamie to the floor with a running knee on the ropes. Back in the ring, Mercedes rolls her into a submission hold and goes to work on the back. Sideslam gets two. Mercedes with a rear chinlock, but Jamie powers out of that, so Mone hits her with a meteora for two. Hayter dropkicks her into the corner as something is not clicking here and they’re moving really awkwardly. Hayter goes up and Mone brings her down with a legsweep for two. Mone misses a charge and Hayter makes a comeback and dropkicks Mone into the corner. Mone dropkicks the back and hits the triple suplexes, but Hayter comes back with her own suplex. Mone with the backstabber, but Hayter blocks the Moneymaker and hits a lariat for the double down. They fight to the floor and Hayter does a clothesline off the stairs, slipping off them in the process but thankfully not hurting herself, and back in that gets two. Mone with another pair of backstabbers to set up the Bank Statement, but Hayter fights out of it and gets a backslide for two. They fight to the top and tease a top rope Moneymaker, but Mercedes ends up kind of doing a seated senton instead. Hayter misses the lariat, but rolls Mone into a rear naked choke for a big reaction from the crowd, but Mone rolls her over for two. Back to the Bank Statement, but Hayter fights to the ropes, so Mone rolls her over again. Hayter fights out with a backbreaker after a couple of tries and follows with the lariat, but that only gets two. Another lariat is blocked and Mone tries a tombstone, but Hayter reverses to her own for two. Another lariat, but Mone catches it and reverses to a DDT cradle for the pin at 21:31 to win the tournament. Last few minutes were excellent, with near-falls for Hayter that the crowd completely bought, and thankfully they were able to get there after some initial struggles. ****

FTR v. Nigel McGuinness & Daniel Garcia

Cash mocks Nigel’s “two finger gimmick” while Excalibur explains the meaning to Taz, and Cash offers a hug to Daniel to show everything is forgiven. Daniel takes him down in response and offers the dance, so Dax comes in and beats on Nigel in the corner. Nigel fires back and the babyfaces team up and try for stereo submission holds, but FTR bails to think it over on the floor. Back in the ring, Nigel with the headstand in the corner, suckering Cash in with that for the mule kick, and that gets one. Blind charge misses and FTR tosses him and goes to work, however. This allows FTR a chance to go mess with Tony, and he calls them JERKS. Such language. Back in the ring, FTR double-teams Nigel and Dax has some really mean mockery of his issues, and then Cash takes Nigel off the apron with his own Tower of London, which he dedicates to Tony. TOP OF THE MORNING TO YA, YOU OLD PUNK! Back in, that gets two while Taz ponders changing his opinions of FTR. Cash with a chinlock while using the ropes and Dax for leverage, but Nigel fights out and hits a rebound lariat for a double down. Hot tag Garcia and slugs away on both FTR in the corner, and a back suplex on Dax gets two. Daniel with the Dragon tamer, but Cash breaks it up with a lariat. So Nigel comes in and they double-team Dax with a Tower of London for two. Cash breaks up a Shatter Machine and they all slug it out until FTR collides, giving us the stereo submissions while Stokely tries to save. Out to the floor for another brawl, as Nigel forces an apology out of Cash, but it turns out his fingers were crossed and Cash still thinks Tony is an annoying shit. What a heel. Back in the ring, Garcia with the wacky rolling superplexes on Dax, but FTR manages to turn it into a PowerPlex instead, which gets two. FTR with a Shatter Machine on the floor to take out Nigel, prompting Tony to check on him while Daniel fights FTR alone in the ring. Dax hits him with a piledriver for two, and they add a stuff piledriver for another two, as Daniel makes the ropes. Dax with a Sharpshooter while Cash takes out Daddy Magic, and Daniel passes out at 22:22. Thought they were going for something big with Tony there and it just ended up being an old school heat finish. ***1/2. FTR are amazing dickheads.

Stretcher match: Ricochet v. Mark Briscoe

Mark has started growing his hair out just to spite Ricochet, who you may have heard is bald. Ricochet attacks on the apron and immediately makes the mistake of pointing to his bald head to indicate intelligence. So Briscoe slugs away on the floor and runs him into the ambulance as Triller loses the feed for a bit, and we return with them fighting back to the ring again. Ricochet bumps off the stretcher and Briscoe puts him on it, but can’t drop the elbow, allowing Ricochet to run him into the railing to take over. Ricochet tries his own splash on the stretcher, but misses, and Mark drops the Cactus elbow on him and then climbs the barricade and drops another one on him. Mark drops chairs on him and goes for a table, but Ric cuts him off and Triller is messed up AGAIN, and we return with Ricochet spraying cleaning product in Mark’s eyes. Mark is unsurprisingly busted open and Ricochet rams him into the bare metal stretcher and wheels him to the ambulance, but Mark uses a crutch to prevent the doors from closing. Mark fights back with a handy fire extinguisher and back to the ring for a lariat and Jay Driller. Finally the table gets used and Mark goes up and puts him through it with the froggy bow. They fight up the ramp, but Ricochet once again finds his magic scissors and stabs Mark in the face. But that’s clearly not the first time someone has stabbed Mark Briscoe in the face with scissors and he quickly recovers and steals them. So Ricochet finds a SECOND pair of scissors, stabs him again, and then kicks him in the nuts and hits the Spirit Gun before loading him in the ambulance and closing the door for the win at 15:28. This way overdelivered and was a tremendously fun brawl. ****1/4

AEW World tag team title: The Hurt Syndicate v. The Sons of Texas

Bobby tries for the full nelson on Dustin right away, but can’t hook it, and they slug it out in the corner instead. Over to Shelton, who tosses Dustin with a suplex for one. Dustin slugs back and Sammy comes in with a dropkick, but Shelton hits him with more suplexes. Over to Bobby, but Sammy fights him off with a superkick, but walks into a chokeslam. Shelton takes him to the floor for some punishment from MJF out there. Back in the ring, Bobby just hurks Sammy up and flips him into a Dominator for two. Sammy fights back with a cutter and it’s back to Dustin, who runs wild on Shelton and powerslams him. Dustin with the Code Red for two. He gets the Shattered Nuts kick in the corner and bulldogs Shelton for two thanks to MJF accidentally distracting the ref, but Shelton takes Dustin down with an anklelock until Sammy saves. Dustin with a Crossroads for two while Sammy takes out Bobby outside. Dustin goes up and Shelton brings him down with a suplex for two, so MJF offers the diamond ring because they’re taking too long. So Sammy makes a comeback on Lashley, but Bobby spears him and Shelton gets two, with Dustin making the save. MJF goes after Dustin and Bobby doesn’t want the help and spears Dustin through the railing himself. Sammy tries a dive and Shelton cuts him off with a shot on the apron, and back in the ring for a superkick to finish at 13:28 and retain the titles. This was kind of a mess and the crowd wasn’t particularly into it. **. Hurt Syndicate has beat enough scrubs, it’s time to start working some actual contenders into the mix.

So at this point I uproot my life and move from Australia to Belgium and that seems to resolve the connection issues with Triller. I knew I couldn’t trust the Aussies!

AEW Continental title: Kazuchika Okada v. Speedball Mike Bailey

Bailey goes after the arm and takes Okada out of the ring with a rana, but Okada yanks him off the apron and suckers him into kicking the stairs. So Bailey instead does the crane kick gimmick with the other leg, and follows with a triangle moonsault to the floor. Back in the ring, Bailey with the kicks, but Okada catches one of them and takes him down with the dragon screw and then pancakes him to take over. Back to the floor and Okada gets his DDT out there, and then back in for a DDT in the ring for two. Okada with a hip attack in the corner and a dropkick puts Bailey back on the floor again, but he waits for Okada to charge and hits him with a moonsault with great timing. Back in the ring, Bailey with a missile dropkick and some vicious kicks to put him down for the shooting star, which gets two. Okada cuts him off with the neckbreaker and goes up with the elbow drop, but Speedball cradles him off the middle finger, for two. Bailey with the falcon arrow and he goes up with another shooting star, but Okada gets the knees up. They slug it out and Okada hits him with a body shot, but Bailey fires back with a spinkick in the corner. He goes up and Okada dropkicks him to the floor. Back to the apron and Bailey hits him with the backflip kneedrop out there and then back in for a spinning kick in the corner. Okada misses a dropkick and Bailey hits a backflip kneedrop, but then walks into a dropkick. Rainmaker is countered by another vicious kick and he follows with the running kick, which gets an apparent pin, but Okada’s hand was in the ropes and the ref calls it off. Bailey gets wrist control and batters him with kicks, but Okada pulls him into the lariat and tries the Rainmaker, which Bailey reverses into a rollup for a very hot two. Another sick kick and Bailey goes up for Ultima Weapon, but Okada hits him with a dropkick in mid-air and finishes with the RAINMAKER at 16:10. Incredible finish. ****

AEW Women’s World title: Toni Storm v. Mina Shirakawa

Mina takes her down and goes for the knee right away, and a rolling cradle gets two. Mina with an inverted figure-four and she wraps Toni’s leg around the post, but Toni fights back with a suplex on the floor, and back in for two. Toni with a backbreaker and fisherman’s suplex for two. Mina with a tornado DDT and she goes back to the leg again as they fight to the floor. So Mina uses Luther as a launchpad and hits Toni with a dive, but then Toni uses Luther as a human shield to block another dive and then uses him as a stepping stool to get back in the ring. Mina with a figure-four and Toni quickly makes the ropes. They fight to a double down and Toni comes back with a pair of german suplexes. Mina dropkicks the knee, but Toni hits a Sky High for two. Toni goes up and Mina takes her down with another figure-four, and Storm makes the ropes. Mina with a sling blade for two. Glamorous Driver gets two. Toni comes back with the hip attack, but Mina rolls her into another figure-four and Toni has to make the ropes again. Big Package gets two, and Storm Zero finishes at 15:00 to retain. And then we get a passionate kiss of respect, as they do in Phoenix, according to Taz. Kudos, Phoenix. ***1/4

Anarchy in the Arena: Swerve Strickland, Kenny Omega, Willow Nightingale, Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata v. Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson, Marina Shafir, and Wheeler Yuta

Kenny is repping Captain America, complete with trash can shield. The Bucks, meanwhile, are now the Founding Fathers, complete with their faces on Mount Rushmore and an intro from Justin Roberts so overblown that even Tony calls it the biggest bullshit introduction he’s ever heard. And he’s heard a lot. So Joe is notably absent from the introductions, but then appears behind Claudio in the audience and the brawl is on. The music choice this year is the Bucks’ marching music, which is silly and fitting. So Kenny requests a change and we get “I’m So Excited” instead, which fires up the babyfaces and allows them to slug away in the corners while the women go fighting up the stairs. Joe beats up Claudio at the merch table, and then Kenny plays DJ and switches it up with Drowning Pool, which is much more applicable. So Moxley has managed to find a fork and he uses that on Hobbs’ head. Kenny tries a dive off the balcony, but Yuta cuts him off, until Hobbs tosses him off the balcony and onto a pile of geeks. And then Kenny moonsaults them for good measure. Into the ring, Moxley goes back to forking Hobbs again, but he comes back with a spinebuster through a table in the corner to get some revenge. Kenny with You Can’t Escape on Matt for two, and we head outside for the womenfolk and their battle. Willow smashes a bottle on Marina’s head and slams her on a table that refuses to break. Shibata wraps barbed wire around his shin and kicks Yuta with that, and back in the arena, the Bucks take out Swerve and do some dancing until Omega attacks them. Swerve takes the Bucks out with House Call kicks and dives off the stage onto Claudio, but he gets caught in a Giant Swing and sent into a speaker. Taz: “Good, maybe the music will stop now.” And it does. Marina and Willow fight back into the building as Marina is armed with a frying pan and a chain. Meanwhile Kenny tries the Terminator Dive on the Bucks and that backfires on him spectacularly and he gets put through a table while Marina chains Willow to the ring post via her ear. Someone saw Final Destination I see. In the ring, Moxley and Marina double-team Shibata with kicks while the crowd chants “Please help Willow”. Over at the stage, the Bucks put Hobbs through a table with a swanton off the entrance. Hobbs actually fights back and the Bucks toss a chair at him to put him down again. But then Swerve gets driven back with a pallet jack, and dives off with a Swerve Stomp on both Bucks to make the save. Back to the ring and Hobbs lays people out with spinebusters while Nana finally frees Willow, who joins in with Hobbs while sporting “Big Black and Jacked” t-shirts. And then we get multiple chokes, but they’re broken up with 450 splashes, prompting Nick to find a staple gun. This only angers Hobbs as he gets stronger like the Hulk and then Swerve shows off his staple gun skills. So Marina goes low on him and uses the staple gun on his tongue, but Willow saves with spears on everyone, only for Moxley to hit her with a cutter. Omega runs wild with snapdragons, including one on Marina, but the Bucks run wild with a SUPERKICK PARTY. But then they mess with Willow and she teams up with Swerve for a Meltzer Driver on Nick that gets two. Back to Joe and he destroys everyone, but then Hook hits the ring and takes out Claudio with a golf club before stomping away again. Joe with the muscle buster and choke on Moxley, but Gabe Kidd runs in and breaks it up, allowing the Bucks to shove tacks in Omega’s mouth. Giant Swing and dropkick from Yuta sets up the choke from Moxley, but Joe makes the save. But then Mark Briscoe comes flying off the stage out of nowhere to even it up. Omega gets his One Winged Angel on Matt, through an exploding table, to pay off that spot, and Swerve uses a thumbtack shoe on Nick for a Swerve Stomp to finish at 35:00. Well I don’t know how the hell they’re gonna follow THAT one. Just incredible non-stop insanity and big spot after big spot. *****

Konosuke Takeshita & Josh Alexander & Kyle Fletcher v. Adam Cole & Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly

Death slot, definition: THIS MATCH. I mean, they’re actually really bad for following super crazy matches with main events and losing the crowd, so kudos for actually using a cooldown match for once. The Paragon works on Takeshita’s arm to start, and then they work on Alexander. Over to Fletcher and he gets worked over while the announcers go on a funny run about Lance Archer at ringside. Callis: “I was telling him to get a better seat so he can see.” Taz: “HE’S SEVEN FEET TALL!” Callis: “Yeah, but I don’t see height.” Roddy gets caught in the heel corner while Taz bemoans family issues of the past, and Callis gets some shots from the outside as well. Back in the ring, Alexander with the arm while Callis and Taz snipe at each other about terms, and Roddy comes back with a clothesline on Alexander and brings Cole in. Cole with a backstabber on Alexander for two as Lance Archer now joins commentary in place of Callis and the Paragon double-teams Alexander. Josh and Kyle trade anklelocks and it’s back to Cole, but Fletcher blocks the Panama Sunrise with a superkick. Callis Family with a triple powerbomb on Cole for two. They all fight to the floor and Roddy drops Alexander with a backbreaker on the railing. They all trade the big moves in the ring and Fletcher catches Cole with a running boot, but O’Reilly gets the guillotine. Takeshita breaks that up with an elbow to the head, however, and Fletcher finishes with the brainbuster at 12:52. They were working hard here but it was mostly left to die at this point in the evening. ***1/4. The Callis Family all gangs up for the beatdown, but we get an unexpected save from Brody King, Ishii and Tanahashi. I feel like as a cooldown match, this was way too long and had way too much going on by the end. Sometimes simple is better in these cases.

Owen Hart tournament final: Will Ospreay v. Hangman Page

They trade takedowns to start and battle to a stalemate, and then try for the finishers and dodge those as well. Ospreay with a rana and standing moonsault for one, but Hangman blasts him with a forearm to put him down. Ospreay fires back with his own springboard elbow to put Hangman on the floor and follows with a dive, but Page catches him and slams him into the railing. Back in for a slam into the corner, and that gets two. Page with a pair of back suplexes for two. Ospreay fires back with chops and puts Page on the floor with the corkscrew kick, which sets up the SPACE FLYING TIGER DROP. Back in with the rack bomb for two. Will backdrops him to the floor, but Hangman comes back with the springboard clothesline and follows with the moonsault to the floor. Back in the ring, Hangman with a powerbomb into a Sharpshooter, but Will makes the ropes. Will wants a chop battle and Hangman absorbs those and hits him with another back suplex, but Will pops up with an enzuigiri and they trade bombs until Ospreay hits the Spanish Fly for a double down.

They fight to the top and Will slips out for the cheeky nandos, but Page explodes out with a buckshot lariat. Another one is countered by Ospreay and Hangman is left hanging on the ropes, so Ospreay hits a shooting star to the back to bring him down for two. Page moonsaults into a tombstone for two, but Ospreay rolls into a Styles Clash, which Page reverses into an Angel’s Wings for two. Page tries a BME, but that misses and Ospreay hits him with a Hidden Blade and sends him to the apron. They slug it out there and Ospreay catches him with a powerbomb and follows with a Styles Clash from the apron to the floor. Hangman beats the count at 9, but walks into an Ozcutter and that gets two. Hidden Blade gets two. Ospreay gets frustrated and slugs away on Hangman until he bails to the apron, but Hangman teases rising up for a lariat and Ospreay wisely boots him off the apron and into the announce table. So Will continues his frustration and rams Page into the table, but they try something and the table collapses early underneath them. Looked like they were going for a Deadeye but they sure didn’t get there.

So Page hits the Deadeye on the remains of the table instead, and back in the ring for the Buckshot, but Ospreay backs off to avoid it. So Will takes off the elbow pad and preps the Hidden Blade, and it’s a SHOWDOWN as they meet in the middle, and Page hits the Buckshot first and gets two. Back to the apron for another try, but this time Ospreay hits the Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker for two. Ospreay with another Hidden Blade, but that misses and they’re both down. So now Ospreay decides to go for a V-Trigger and One Winged Angel to really be a dick, but Page reverses to a JML Driver for two. Another buckshot, but Ospreay rolls through it, so Page hits a regular lariat and finishes with a second buckshot lariat at 37:00 to win the tournament! I would have put money on Ospreay getting that title shot at All In. Ospreay delivers again and Page gets one more chance at redemption as a result. *****1/2.

Really I bought the show for two matches and they both delivered exactly what I wanted out of them, and we got a couple of other great matches, so this is a thumbs up from me.