9 Match Star Ratings For AEW Double Or Nothing 2020

9. BUY-IN: Best Friends Vs. Private Party

Private Party continued their regression, unfortunately, in a decent match marred by blown spots. They didn't look like the same team that worked the same opponents to such thrilling, eye-catching effect at Fyter Fest last year.

The thing about a Private Party botch is that it is really glaring. Their style requires a certain willingness to suspend disbelief that goes beyond that which is usually expected; the set-ups to the double team moves, the silly string in particular, take a long while. When they aren't executed well, as it wasn't here, that Michael Scott GIF face intensifies. It feels almost like a punishment for investing. All that wait for that, and all that. It's deflating, when the peppy sugar rush thrill of the act is meant to achieve the precise opposite of that feeling. At times - as when Trent countered a double team with a pair of backdrop suplexes - the sequence was so choppy that it was difficult to tell if he had improvised or if it just looked like it went awry.

There's still immense potential to the team; Marq Quen showed his performer's instincts by thieving Trent's sacred headband in an improved spot, and they are absurdly rich in creativity and athleticism. And even when they're plagued with timing issues, they are still equipped to get the heart racing: Quen barely has to generate momentum to execute his tope con hilo, and Isiah Kassidy timed his convoluted deception spots very well in his shine.

It was an exciting enough - if flawed - exhibition.

Star Rating: ★★¾