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If the last year has taught us anything, fans make a huge difference. AEW Double or Nothing was proof of that on Sunday night.
AEW Double or Nothing was one of the best AEW shows in a long time. The rowdy crowd at in Daily's Place was rewarded with an entertaining, albeit long show.
We had a fun opening match, an excellent tag team match, an exciting Casino Battle Royale, a well deserved title change, a show stealing AEW World Title match and an entertaining Stadium Stampede main event. AEW is well set for the future as they go back onto the road in the coming months. Here's hoping they can find a way to keep the momentum going with the return of live crowds.
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As we still try to figure out why people love singing Jungle Boy’s theme so much, let's look at the top five most surprising moments of AEW Double or Nothing 2021.
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#5 Heels win every title match at AEW Double or Nothing 2021
AEW Double or Nothing was certainly a fun night with thousands of excited AEW fans in attendance for the first time in over a year. This was always going to be the case when fans returned to arenas en masse after the pandemic.
So what were the fans given for their support during these difficult times? At AEW Double or Nothing, it seemed their reward was watching a lot of heels win on Sunday night in Jacksonville. It was a good night for evil.
The Young Bucks were likely the most surprising to win their match. They even beat Jon Moxley in a relatively clean manner at AEW Double or Nothing. Miro dominated Lance Archer to retain the TNT Championship.
Britt Baker had an emotional victory to win her first AEW Women’s Championship. And Kenny Omega cheated his way to a huge triple threat victory to keep his AEW World Championship.
It is doubtful any AEW fan expected the heels to lose all their titles but to see no fan-pleasing title wins was a huge surprise as well.
#4 The hot crowd for all four hours of AEW Double or Nothing 2021
What did we learn at AEW Double or Nothing? If we learn anything from this pandemic about professional wrestling, it is how much fans can add to any live event. AEW just wasn’t really the same without its loud and rowdy crowd.
How would these fans react during their very first full-time return at AEW Double or Nothing? It was impressively and surprisingly loud for the entirety of the quite long four hour show. Most wrestling fans will quickly become tired after that long but that didn’t happen at AEW Double or Nothing.
They sang along to “Wild Thing”, “Tarzan Boy” and “Judas” at AEW Double or Nothing. They yelled for Hangman Page to open the show. They reacted to every near fall in the AEW World Tag Team and Women’s Championship match. They were constantly chanting for favorites like Jungle Boy, Eddie Kingston, Orange Cassidy and Britt Baker.
You could even hear them cheering loudly during the Stadium Stampede match. I mean they were watching the main event from screens for a majority of the time and it was close to midnight in Jacksonville as the match was ending.
It was surprising to see a crowd so invested in over four hours of professional wrestling. Let us all hope this continues in professional wrestling for a long time. It makes the experience all the better.
#3 Jungle Boy Wins the Casino Battle Royale at AEW Double or Nothing 2021
If you had any doubt that “Tarzan Boy” by Baltimora could get over in 2021 then Sunday night at AEW Double or Nothing certainly ended all those concerns. Jungle Boy is quickly becoming one of the most over talents in all of professional wrestling. With a loud and raucous crowd in Jacksonville, Jungle Boy picked up the biggest victory of his career at AEW Double or Nothing.
The Casino Battle Royale was an entertaining twenty-three minute affair. Christian Cage seemed like an early favorite as he controlled the opening portion of the match. Matt Hardy and Private Party played the heel roles as they eliminated some of the fan favorites. Lio Rush was a huge surprise as the Joker in this match. He was able to put in some amazing offense in his brief appearance in the Casino Battle Royale at AEW Double or Nothing.
The match came down to the 47 year old Christian Cage versus a 23 year old Jungle Boy. Both of them fought on the ring apron and pulled off some impressive escapes from elimination. But finally Jungle Boy was able to eliminate Cage with a back body drop to pull off his biggest victory ever.
The Jacksonville crowd showed their appreciation for the talented Jungle Boy. He will get his shot at the AEW World Title in two weeks against Kenny Omega. It doesn’t matter what happens during that title match, Jungle Boy is clearly a star after Sunday night.
#2 Sting Impresses at AEW Double or Nothing 2021
At AEW Double or Nothing, Sting had his first match in front of a live audience in six years. This would make it really tough for any competitor, but if you add in the fact Sting is 62 years old? It would seem impossible to pull off a decent performance on Sunday night. At AEW Double or Nothing, we learned to never underestimate the power of Sting.
Sting was quite impressive in his tag match on Sunday night at AEW Double or Nothing. Watching Sting leap off the top of the poker chip set piece onto Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky was quite the surprising and impressive visual. While Darby Allin naturally took the majority of the bumps, Sting moved at a pace that shouldn't really have been possible for a 62 year old professional wrestler.
Sting was able to block Sky’s cutter by holding the ropes. He followed it up with a Scorpion Death Drop to pick up the pinfall victory after a very fun twelve minute match. It is hard to say how many more matches Sting will have but this tag team match at AEW Double or Nothing was proof that the Stinger can still produce some magic from time to time.
#1 Sammy Guevera saves the day at AEW Double or Nothing 2021
The main event at AEW Double or Nothing was an interesting choice. After the exciting AEW World Championship match, it was a surprising pick to have a cinematic match end the show. But the Inner Circle and the Pinnacle found a way to entertain during the thirty minute match time.
Watching the Inner Circle repel down the Jaguars scoreboard was a surprising choice to start the match at AEW Double or Nothing. It was also fun to see Urban Meyer, the Jacksonville Jaguars head coach, assist Chris Jericho during the match. Did we expect to see Konnan as a DJ? Likely not, but it also added to the excitement of the main event.
The end of the match will certainly stand out from AEW Double or Nothing. Chris Jericho fought MJF up in the rafters of Daily’s Place. In the end, Sammy Guevera and Shawn Spears made it into the ring itself. Spears used his steel chair on a few occasions to get some believable near falls. But Sammy kept coming back and hit the Senton Splash to win the match for the Inner Circle.
After losing at last year’s Stadium Stampede and quitting the Inner Circle earlier this year, it was a moment of redemption for the Spanish God. It was some smart booking on a fun night in Jacksonville. Here's hoping Sammy Guevera can use that momentum for a big singles push going forward.
