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Add FightsATW on GoogleAEW’s tentpole PPV event, Double or Nothing, was live from Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York, New York, headlined by the “Title vs Hair” match between AEW World Champion Darby Allin and challenger MJF. The twelve-match card, including the 3 ‘Buy In’ matches, acts as the lead into ALL IN, the biggest PPV in AEW, while Forbidden Door acts as the buffer between all of the weekly TV along the way.
MJF went on a huge media tour during fight week leading up to tonight, and the action was spread out very well—the pace was a pleasant change from the oversaturated ad breaks that completely derail a show’s momentum.
MJF KEEPS HIS HAIR AND DARBY’S TITLE
It was an insanely fun match that started out hot, though the majority of the early offense came from the challenger, MJF. AEW ran a ‘hair gimmick’ back in February of this year, and in that program, Wheeler Yuta lost his hair. However, in the case of MJF, who has real aspirations (and potential) on becoming a Hollywood star with movie roles already coming quickly for the face of pro wrestling’s alternative.
With as much commercial promise as MJF holds, many found the stipulation to shave his head profoundly interesting—how far are wrestlers willing to go for their art, and when Hollywood calls, how far into the backdrop does the squared circle fall? Apparently, AEW stars are willing to go pretty far.
Darby is known for his crazy spots and violent matches that perfectly play into his gimmick out of the ring as a mountain-climbing, skateboarding, stunt-performing maniac. Yet, the first half of this match was fought from a more technical standpoint as Darby proved he is more than just pure carnage.
Sure, the back of Darby’s head ended up getting busted open, but his mat work flowed even stronger as he performed counters, reverses, and rollup attempts in an effort to win. He managed to lock the ‘Scorpion Deathlock’ on MJF in the first half of the match as well.
However, the match took a more concerning turn as the action spilled out and up the ramp until they reached the main stage. That is where Darby performed the biggest spot of the night as he climbed atop the scaffold before crashing down on MJF through a table. There were a couple of even scarier spots where Darby took brutal bumps—like when his feet got clipped on the top rope as he hurled himself to the outside, only to land on the back of his neck and shoulders.
We got a shot of the hair clippers as MJF tried to buzz cut Darby before the match had even been concluded, and by that time, the referee was giving major allowances.
In the end, MJF picked up the victory and won his 3rd AEW world title in the process as he paves his way to All-In, where, if he is still the champion, will face the winner of the Owen Cup (Will Osperey existing as the favorite to win and he was successful in his opening round matchup versus Samoa Joe).
Darby was placed in a stretcher and strapped in; that is when MJF decided to add insult to injury with the world title in hand, but Kevin Knight, the last man to beat MJF, came out to chase off the newly crowned champ. Only after MJF ran off, Knight decided to frog splash Darby, who was still strapped into the gurney.
OTHER TIDBITS
- Cope and Christian won the AEW Tag Team titles from FTR in a tag team ‘I Quit’ match
- Both Strickland and the aforementioned Osperay won their Owen Cup opening-round matchups against Bandito and Joe, respectively.
- Thekla retained her AEW women’s world title in her four-way match.
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