AEW Double or Nothing Predictions

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WrestleMania 41 is in the rear view mirror and that means it’s time for us at Talent Alone to bring back the yearlong predictions competition. Last year, well last year we didn’t play, but the year before Adam took a commanding victory and as such is hefting the burden of the title of leader of the IWC (a title he did not ask for or want). Now that we are onto the first pay-per-view of the prediction calendar (what’s a Backlash anyways?), our heroes have returned to the internet canvas to paint a master piece of wrestling predictions.

 

This Sunday, AEW take center stage in everyones 47th favorite state, Arizona, for Double or Nothing. The company is looking to build on the momentum set from Bill Simmons mentioning it on a podcast and what a card to show off in response. The Owen Hart Cup Finals and three of AEW’s eight championships are on the line and let me speak for everyone when I say, there’s only eight?!

 

The counter is reset to 0-0, lets get into it and see who will get to replace Dave Meltzer, Highlander Style, come the end of the year.

AEW Double of Nothing Predictions

Men’s Owen Hart Cup Finals: “Hangman” Adam Page vs Will Ospreay

MIKE: Hangman has been the real MVP the last year or so for the company. Through all of the meh Death Riders nonsense at the top of the card he’s been one of the acts that’s been worth tuning into see. With all that praise out of the way, he’s losing here. From the second Ospreay signed with AEW the company has pushed him as that big free agent signing and the future face of the company. All signs point to him being the one to finally defeat Mox for the belt in August at Forbidden Door in London Bruv. 

 

WILL OSPREAY

 

ADAM: Mike has the right of it here. Ospreay is the golden goose that AEW has been waiting for and after cutting his teeth to the tune of several matches of the year in Japan, AEW wants to put him in the spotlight. I’m guessing Hangman will go on to feud with someone holding a mid card belt soon enough but the arrow is pointing up for Assassin’s Creed Boy.

 

WILL OSPREAY

Women’s Owen Hart Cup Finals: Jamie Hayter vs Mercedes Moné

ADAM: Okay hear me out, it makes sense for Jamie Hayter to win the Owen Hart Cup. She could get more juice out of the “title” as she continues to build herself back up after her long injury layoff AND it would perfectly seguay into a match against the last woman she wrestled pre-injury – Toni Storm (not to tip a future pick). All the smart money is on Moné, but no one ever accused me of being smart.

 

JAMIE HAYTER

 

MIKE: I’m going with Adams’ aforementioned smart money pick in Moné. I imagine they want to eventually get to the big Champ vs Champ matchup of Stomr vs Mercedes. In a weird way Hayters fallen into the roll of a mid card wrestler that can absorb losses and if they ever feel like heating her up to fill in a world title challenger spot at down the line they can.

 

MERCEDES MONÈ


ADAM: I guess neigher of us are calling her the CEO?

AEW Tag Team Championships: ( C ) The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) vs The Sons of Texas (Dustin Rhodes & Sammy Guevara)

ADAM: Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara kind of look like a scene from Memento together. Like Dustin Rhodes is always saying some weird shit while Sammy looks like he cant remember what happened and is trying to piece it together from context clues.

 

Look there’s two arguments to be made here:

 

  1. The Hurt Syndicate have been great on AEW TV and should retain to keep that going.
  2. They JUST added honorary bald black man MJF to the faction and it would make a lot of sense for him to cost them the match.

 

I think I still lean Hurt Syndicate here because at the very least, Sammy can understand what an L looks like when he sees it.

 

THE HURT SYNDICATE

 

MIKE: The question for this match really hinges on how long they want to wait for MJF to turn on them. Knowing AEW it will probably be a long time from now. Maybe in the meantime MJF can act all goofy and funny. Kinda like an odd couple pairing with a bunch of hilarious catchphrases, cheesy signature moves, and wacky sketches. All the fans that love ironic wrestling will go wild for it. Sure it will just be fun at the moment and have a negative long term effect on MJF’s character but it’ll be- oh wait they already did all of that. 

 

The Hurt Syndicate is hot right now. Just keep it going


THE HURT SYNDICATE

AEW Women’s World Championship: ( C ) “Timeless” Toni Storm vs Mina Shirakawa

ADAM: I honestly couldn’t tell you a damn think Toni Storm did pre-AEW but I can tell you that “Timeless” Toni Storm has been one of the best gimmicks the Woman’s Division has pulled off. Can’t make much of an argument against Storm to retain here but I’m looking forward to seeing more Toni Storm at the top of the card.

 

“TIMELESS” TONI STORM

 

MIKE: I’ve done a complete 180 on the Timeless Toni Storm character. In the beginning I felt it was too much schtick and would fizzle out before long. However, as the Mariah May story began to come full circle my eyes were opened. Storm is in the zone with the gimmick, to point where it doesn’t feel overly put on like someone playing a role in a community theater. Her promos continually get a laugh at, while also showing the ability to add an element of seriousness when it’s called for. She’s hands down the most over women in the company, and as I previously said, is head for a showdown with Moné. 

 

“TIMELESS” TONI STORM

FTR (Dax Hardwood & Cash Wheeler vs Daniel Garcia & Nigel McGuiness

MIKE: I’m not against the FTR heel turn, as they were in need of a new direction, I’m just still bitter they never got features they should’ve when they were red hot as babyfaces. My lamenting aside, they’ve shown in the past they can be effective heels. I’d be shocked and dismayed if they were to lose so early into their new heel run. My long term prediction is that this one of a couple feuds that they have to keep them occupied until September when All Out takes place in Toronto. At that point I see them facing a returning Cope Hogan in his hometown in a match where maybe, just maybe, he reunites with a certain turtleneck sporting wrestler and former best friend.

 

FTR

 

ADAM: I think this could be a schmoz finish leading to a future angle, it could be a clean win for FTR or this match could get bumped to the Pre-Show because when you get down to it, who really cares about this match? It makes more sense for FTR to win to set up the Copland/Cage match down the road (ooooooh thats who you meant with the turtle neck) but some of it feels like everyone is out of position for that angle and maybe we’ll all forget this match happened in three months.

 

FTR

Stretcher Match: Mark Briscoe vs Ricochet

ADAM: A guy who looks like Mark Briscoe fighting Ricochet feels like a set up for the next Ryan Coogler movie. Call it “Creed IV” and have Mark Briscoe played by Michael B Jordan. That’s right woke pinko media, MIchael B Jordan isn’t playing Ricochet. Fix your privilege.

 

RICOCHET


MIKE: Ricochet sent Zach Gowen to the hospital so now Mark Briscoe wants to send the former Prince Puma to the hospital. Simple way to get to this stipulation, but it’s pretty funny that they set it up by featuring Gowen, the one legged wrestler who had a cup of coffee in WWE over a decade ago that featured him getting thrashed by Brock Lesnar and wrestling Vince McMahon. Felt like a deep pull that doesn’t appeal to anyone outside of longtime wrestling fans, but just like back in that WWE, beating up an amputee is a solid way to get heat. Feels like Ricochet loses a lot, so let’s say he pulls some dastardly evil trick to get the win. Maybe he goes full Kevin Nash vs Goldberg and zaps Briscoe with a stun gun. That would be a shocking turn of events.

 

RICOCHET

Anarchy In The Arena: Team Mox vs Team Swerve

MIKE: Mox has shown in the past to be the constant MVP that the company can rely on to pick up the ball at any time, so it’s surprising how down I am on the Death Riders gimmick and this title run. I’m all for long term storytelling but it just hasn’t kept my interest and the briefcase is stupid. The only man too pull off a briefcase carrying gimmick is Samuel L. Jackson. I’m not alone in my negativity and it seems Tony Khan’s response to this sentiment was to just add more people to the angle until half the roster was involved. We should get the usual chaotic brawl all over the arena that features some comedy and a lot of carnage. One thing I do like is the twist of having Willow Nightingale and Marina Shafir in the match. I’m high on Nightingale and the company seems to be as well. Let’s go with her pinning Shafir for the dub. Would be a great way feature and avoids any of the other big name wrestler having to eat an L.

 

TEAM SWERVE

 

ADAM: Anarchy In The Arena is the highest ceiling lowest floor match that they put on AEW PPV every year. The Mox gimmick wasn’t working but has started to hit its stride as we approach Double or Nothing and Swerve has been great for two straight years on the roster. Like my Talent Alone cohort above, the addition of Nightingale vs Shafir gives this match a lot of juice and I think it’ll be a good year for Anarchy In The Arena. The outcome of this match rarely, if ever, has much of an influence over booking so the idea of the Baby Faces closing the show on top makes a lot of sense, however, we gotta disagree at somepoint here Mike. 

 

TEAM MOX

 

Some will ask, “How many years does this gimmick have left?” And I respond to say, how long has WWE made Survivor Series work?

 

Check Mate

AEW Continental Championship: ( c ) Kazuchika Okada vs Speedball Mike Bailey

MIKE: Speedball is fun and  good in the ring. So the match should be good as long as it doesn’t over stay its welcome. Okada needs to stay strong as they continue to tease Omega Okada 5.

 

KAZUCHIKA OKADA 

 

ADAM: Let me start by saying, Okada Omega 5 will happen but it doesn’t have the juice anymore. Gonna be a Nomadland ass match where everyone calls it great but its really just Frances McDormand shitting in a bucket.

 

With that out of the way, to set up the eventual head to head between Okada and Omega, I think it makes more sense for Okada to drop a reasonably unimportant belt that he has held for over a year to an indie darling who has never really gotten much mainstream run.

 

SPEEDBALL MIKE BAILEY

The Undisputed Era The Paragon (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reily & Roderick Strong) vs The Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle Fletcher, & Josh Alexander)

MIKE: Here’s where I piss off the segment of AEW fans that are too sensitive and like to scream on Twitter. The Paragon is a dumb name. It sounds like they pulled out a dictionary, opened a random page, closed their eyes and pointed to a word. They looked down and said, “Ooh that’s a word most people would have to google the definition of and is also the name of a video game.” The group is an example of how Triple H really knew how to present certain acts in a way to made them feel big time and get the most out of them. Hate me all you want, but none of them have been as interesting or felt like bigger stars than they did in The Games version of NXT. Now that I’m done shitting on them, I’ll pick them to win.

 

THE PARAGON

 

ADAM: MIKE HAS MADE ME SO MAD THE PARAGON IS A GREAT NAME AND ADAM COLE HAS NORMAL LENGTH ARMS AND A REGULAR SIZED HEAD!

 

THE DON CALLIS FAMILY

There you have it. Nine matches, four disagreements. Tune into Double or Nothing and then come back here and read the article afterwards when I change all of my blurbs to make it look like I won. Suck it Mike, maybe you should learn how to log into WordPress.

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