AEW Double or Nothing delivered in the way it needed to

There are going to be many comparisons made between AEW and WWE, no matter what either promotion does. It will be unfair in some cases but perfectly fair in others. After all, the former is inviting as much by doing stuff like this, and that’s without even mentioning all the talk in the media.

All this before ever holding a show.

You have to crawl before you can walk, as they say, whoever the hell “they” are, and so I had relatively low expectations for AEW’s debut event, Double or Nothing. They pushed it hard, and the hype was real, but how much could they possibly deliver?

As it turns out, exactly what they needed to.

Let’s be clear about that too: all they needed to do was show they could put on an event pro wrestling fans will want to watch. They did that! It was fun! The matches ranged from good to very good, there were plenty of compelling characters, some moments we won’t soon forget, and it felt like it all meant something.

What more can you ask for?

I’m not willing to crown AEW the future of the industry, because that would be foolish. They’ve run one event, and haven’t aired a single episode of television. They didn’t reinvent the wheel here. It was a pro wrestling show that looked and felt like a pro wrestling show. But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, it’s an incredibly good thing, because there are many fans who are looking for exactly that, and aren’t getting it elsewhere.

They most definitely have my attention, and it feels like AEW can be a legitimate player in the game after Double or Nothing, far more than it did before.

Right now, that’s really all that matters. They proved they can put on a good show, and by the end I found myself wanting more. Double or Nothing, then, was a success in all the ways it needed to be.

When it comes time for the follow up, I’ll be watching.