AEW Double Or Nothing 2025: 3 Things We Hated And 3 Things We Loved

Welcome to Wrestling Inc.'s annual review of AEW Double or Nothing, the show that has an entire nation of "Hangman" Adam Page fans believing once again! It would be impossible to watch Double or Nothing 2025 without commenting on Page defeating Ospreay in the men's Owen Hart Cup final in the main event, so we are obviously going to do that here — this column is about our opinions and our feelings, and a lot of us have opinions and feelings about Hangman Page.

We'll also talk Daniel Garcia passing out in the clutches of FTR, Mina Shirakawa coming to play against "Timeless" Toni Storm, and of course, Anarchy in the Arena — though the length of our format does mean that some matches, like the Continental title match, the tag team title match, or the stretcher match between Ricochet and Mark Briscoe. If you're needing more thorough and/or more objective coverage of the show, you need our Double or Nothing results page. If you want to know what the WINC staff thought of the PPV, however, you just need to stay right here. From Mercedes Mone continuing her undefeated streak to a wild Hiroshi Tanahashi appearance, here are three things we hated and three things we loved about AEW Double or Nothing 2025.

I wanted to like this match, I really did.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed...most of it? We all kind of knew who the match's victor and Owen Hart Cup Tournament winner would be as soon as Moné qualified for the finals (quarterfinals), so I wasn't exactly excited to see Moné and Hayter battle it out for what I took to be a guaranteed match result. I've always strongly preferred Moné's WWE work, with many of her AEW matches falling short for me (save for her two matches with Kris Statlander for the AEW TBS Championship). I don't think Hayter is the strongest in-ring performer on the roster either — good, but not great — so I was prepared for a sort of middling match. For what it's worth, I was pleasantly surprised by both of their performance! I was impressed, even! I think Moné strives when she is put with AEW's strong girls — Statlander, Hayter, hopefully Kamille in the future — and I was glad that AEW recognized the impact of these longer women's matches when they called out that the two women had been wrestling for seventeen minutes. For a second, it felt like maybe we were on the eve of something greater for AEW's women's division, which has been notoriously weak, save for a stunning few.

Then, Moné won via roll-up, and scrambled out of the ring with unbecoming desperation. Oh, I was vexed.

The roll-up is, notoriously, the most lethal move in wrestling — not because it ends matches more consistently than any finisher on the market right now (hyperbole, but you understand), but because it sufficiently extinguishes any fire that a match had. Hayter and Moné's match was so good, almost great, but all of their hard work seemed to be dashed as soon as Moné folded up her body around Hayter's to get a cheap one, two, three. I get that she's a heel. I get that this is probably leading to some storyline, judging from Moné's over-the-top and, honestly, cringe-worthy dramatics. Still! She could've won with some other cheap way. It would have felt several times more satisfying than having her win via roll-up. Oh, this vexes me.

She didn't even win via roll-up — it was a botched roll-up. After all of the hype Moné gets and all of the hard work she put in with Hayter to really sell their Owen Hart Cup Finals match, is so disappointing. Things happen in the ring, though — I understand that. It just kind of feels like salt in the wound; it's not enough that Moné won via roll-up (yawn). She didn't even do it right, and she dropped Hayter right on her head. What a way to ruin a perfectly good match. What a joke.

I don't know why Tony Khan is afraid to let women have dominant matches. Would it really have hurt anyone if Moné just got a pin? I'll tell you what, it would've hurt less than dropping Hayter square on her head.

Written by Angeline Phu

For a long while it looked so unlikely that Nigel McGuinness would be returning to the ring. In a world of unprecedented returns from career-ending injuries, whether it be Bryan Danielson, Edge, Saraya, or even Sting, he remained the outlier in that he had not returned to the ring and, sat at commentary every week, seemed content believing his time had passed. And yet, despite all of that, within the space of a year he has since made his return to the ring alongside an additional three appearances. 

He has wrestled at All In at Wembley, run it back with legendary ROH rival Danielson, returned to ROH itself to challenge for the Pure Championship – a title he helped to establish – and then this Sunday, after being attacked and provoked by FTR, teamed with Daniel Garcia to face the "Top Guys." All four different matches, each with their own justification for him to pick up the win. But what they share in common is that he has lost every single one. A Casino Gauntlet for a World title match, understandable. 

A match against Danielson while he was reigning AEW World Champion, understandable. Answering an open challenge for Lee Moriarty's title, a little less so, but still understandable. What is beyond the realms of understanding is why he would be brought back to team with Garcia – widely tipped as a future star yet to be tapped into – only to lose to FTR. 

To make matters worse, it was Garcia beaten in the ring with the flattest of finishes, locked in a seemingly never-ending Sharpshooter from Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler ambling into position to take out McGuinness with a whimper on the outside, forcing him to pass out – a grossly over-used finish in this promotion. Why? What did FTR gain from this? What did Daniel Garcia gain from this? And seriously, what did Nigel McGuinness gain from this? 

FTR continue to feel like a hollow shell of the workers that produced the trilogy they did with the Briscoes, and yet they continue to be booked so prominently over people who seem like they could do so much better. In the name of what? A "dream match" between them and Cope & Christian Cage – who have yet to even go through the lengthy period it should take to get back to being buddies again.

Written by Max Everett

Mina Shirakawa left her match against "Timeless" Toni Storm without the AEW Women's World Championship she so desperately desired, but by God, did she leave looking like the real winner.

I'll be the first to admit that I was skeptical of Shirakawa. I haven't watched her STARDOM stuff (no shade, there's just so much wrestling you can consume while also making time to touch grass), and my experience with her in AEW has been limited to her three-way feud with Storm and Mariah May. I didn't particularly enjoy the lesbian angle projected in that feud — I wrote a whole Hate piece about it and got hate mail, which is fun — so I wasn't completely convinced that Shirakawa would be able to hold water in a match against Storm, who has always been more of a character wrestler than an in-ring mastermind (compared to, say, IYO SKY or ATHENA).

I literally have never been more happy to be wrong.

I'll save you the trouble: I absolutely loved this match. I thought Shirakawa looked like a million bucks. I don't remember quite as strong of a performance from a new addition to the AEW women's roster, both in terms of booking and in terms of actual wrestling capability. Shirakawa's work with Storm was a masterclass in technical wrestler and in-ring storytelling, with bits and pieces of their long-term rivalry scattered throughout. Shirakawa showed up, Storm held her ground, and even though the ending was predictable, I can say that it was the better of the two women's matches on the card.

Shirakawa and Storm's match was pretty back and forth in the beginning. Each woman couldn't get a strong hold over the other — that is, until Shirakawa began targeting Storm's leg. Storm's leg became a focal point during the match, and while I do wish Storm sold it a bit more (my mind goes to "Macho Man" Randy Savage versus Bret Hart in 1987), I think that her failure to fully deliver on her first Hip Attack attempt was pretty good. I just am so impressed with how effortless Shirakawa made all those Dragon Screws and leg submissions work. I mean, her reversal of the Sky-High into a Figure-Four leg lock was just so effortless, it was literally a "blink and you'll miss it" moment. I also applaud Storm and AEW for allowing Shirakawa to get in as much offense as she did. It would have been very easy to just have Shirakawa have a few cool moments, then wrap up the title bout in 10 or so minutes. No, they allowed Shirakawa to shine, and considering her recent (or imminent) transition to a full-time AEW position, this match is very promising.

Yes, Shirakawa and Storm did swap spit at the end of the match, which I'm still not a fan of. If you're going to let them kiss, build up a lesbian storyline, cowards. Regardless, the match overall was such a technical masterpiece, I honestly can't be too mad.

Written by Angeline Phu

While putting the meant-to-be-serious Death Riders and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley into a silly storyline like Anarchy in the Arena doesn't make much sense, and the fact that some of these guys were getting up almost immediately from huge spots to continue to participate in the match and further crazy spots, I was able to enjoy this for what it was. It was absolute, fun, crazy, rather nonsensical chaos. Just like Anarchy in the Arena should be, though I do have a gripe about it not being in the main event spot. What I loved about the match and the fun I had during it completely outweighed anything that didn't necessarily make sense.

The entrance gear for some of the stars involved was everything, and big entrances and themed gear always make a match feel like a bigger deal. Swerve Strickland's Predator vibes were incredible, as was Kenny Omega's Captain America gear, and even the Young Bucks got a chuckle out of me for their "Founding Fathers of AEW" gimmick, even if it was Omega's reaction in the ring that really made me laugh. The music was also a fun, albeit random, part of the match. AEW playing "I'm So Excited" after getting heat for changing the "AEW Dynamite" theme song to it, and only using it once, was kind of cute, and Kenny Omega getting on the microphone to cause the switch to some Drowning Pool was fun.

I really loved that Willow Nightingale and Marina Shafir were involved in this match and didn't just stick to beating the hell out of each other. They got involved with the guys in the ring. At risk of starting an argument about intergender wrestling, I really didn't mind it here and Nightingale and Shafir being the two to compete in Anarchy in the Arena was a good choice. The match, incredibly, wasn't gory or bloody, which was a good touch after the bloody stretcher match earlier in the night. Shafir and Hobbs were busted open, but there wasn't a waterfall of blood anywhere staining the canvas. There were some gross spots that made me cringe, but I think in a good way, including Strickland taking the staple gun to the tongue and Nightingale being hooked around the ring post with a chain through her stretched earlobe.

This was all a lot of fun, including the ending. It's no secret that Strickland is my favorite AEW wrestler, and seeing him in the ring with Omega for a bit to end the match was really cool, especially their dual House Call and V-Trigger to the Young Bucks. Even the exploding table when Omega sent one of the Bucks through it actually looked pretty cool, despite being cheesy. Strickland hitting the Swerve Stomp in his new Answer Threes modified with tacks at the bottom to get the victory was a nice touch. Overall, I'm not entirely sure what this accomplished with the Moxley/Death Riders takeover storyline, but hey, at least I had fun.

Written by Daisy Ruth

I mean no disrespect to the Owen Hart Memorial Cup finals with Will Ospreay and "Hangman" Adam Page, but that match went on for far too long and I was already confused why it was the main event after Ospreay announced its place on the card on "AEW Dynamite" this week. Obviously, I thought the Anarchy in the Arena match was set to main event this show, but I was sadly mistaken. And it felt exactly like I thought it would. I was exhausted after all the excitement of the AITA match and it seemed like the crowd was as well. When I realized that the big match was going on before the Paragon versus the Don Callis Family of all things, I was even more confused. Talk about the cooldown of all cooldown matches.

Also, if AEW is attempting to start setting up for Forbidden Door in August with the appearance of NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi, that was a really bad place to do it. Seeing him wasn't exciting and I feel like that could have been done in a much better spot. The beat-down angle after the Don Callis Family defeated Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong just felt like an angle from an episode of television and didn't work at all here, even with Tanahashi's appearance and the rest of the good guys, including Brody King.

I really loved Double or Nothing last year when Anarchy in the Arena was the main event. I remember a lot about those spots, from Jack Perry being lit on fire to the Young Bucks using the thumbtacks in their kicks before Strickland did it this year. The match lends itself to the main event with all the crazy action and spots, and it just feels strange for it to not end the night. I think the Owen Cup final could have fit in well before AITA. Two exciting matches, especially when they're so different from one another, back-to-back isn't always a bad thing, especially for those of us watching at home.

While Ospreay versus "Hangman" was an excellent match, AEW really needs to cool it with these extremely long pay-per-views. There were plenty of spots where that match could have ended, and don't get me started on wrestlers kicking out of finisher after finisher or big spot these days. While the PPV was a fun one, I definitely would have booked the match order quite differently, and cut the Paragon versus Don Callis Family glorified "AEW Collision" match entirely.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Double or Nothing closed with "Hangman" Adam Page taking one step closer to his own Cowboy Redemption story, winning the Owen Hart Cup after almost 37 minutes of action against Will Ospreay and setting his All In Texas World title bout against Jon Moxley. 

The match itself honestly got really ugly in spots, with a couple of moments specifically looking a little more dangerous than most would be comfortable with – considering wrestling is supposed to look like it hurts, rather than doing actual damage. There was a Styles Clash that didn't quite land right from the apron to the floor, one of the more pressing times to get it right, spiking Page on the floor. 

He seemed as okay as one would be after such a move, but then it was Ospreay's turn later to take one, with the announcer's desk collapsing under their weight as Page set up for the Dead Eye; he hit the move on the way down, though once again it made for a wince-inducing landing for the "Aerial Assassin." But in the scope of what actually happened throughout the match and the way it gradually devolved into a desperately violent contest, the spots added to the feeling that this was a fight (granted, because all worked out). This was very much the sort of pro wrestling marathon one would come to expect from an AEW main event, and especially one with Ospreay wrestling, and while that might not be to everyone's taste – it did sacrifice some of the nuanced elements of classic wrestling – there were certainly some beautiful call backs and elements incorporated into it. 

Ospreay followed up on the idea that he had to do everything in his power to beat Page to demonstrate he stands a chance against Moxley, taking the bout to the darker place as he battered his opponent against the announcer's desk. He called back to a shared rival of theirs, after his repertoire had failed to keep Page down he landed Kenny Omega's V-Trigger and sought to land the One Winged Angel. Just like he had done when he first won the World title from "The Cleaner" at Full Gear 2022, Page knew how to fight out of the move and called back to another character-defining rival as he hit Swerve Strickland's JML Driver. What was additionally cool with that move was that Ospreay didn't kick out, rather getting his foot on the rope at the very last second – a rare bit of protection in a world of kick-outs. The shoot-out that Ospreay challenged Page to leading into this weekend was paid off, Page landing the Buckshot before Ospreay could get the Hidden Blade. Truth be told, that should have been the end of the match, but with everything else folded into the end there was very little room to complain, personally. All to ultimately get to the win, the penultimate step in the redemption story of AEW's rightful main character. Almost perfect in my eyes.

Written by Max Everett