11 Match Star Ratings From AEW Double Or Nothing 2023
9. 21-Man Blackjack Battle Royale For The International Title
Being there live, this might be a biased take, but that was the best traditional battle royal in history.
The finishing sequence between Orange Cassidy and Swerve Strickland, a suspenseful thriller of a chess match, was up there with the two best Royal Rumble finishes (2007 and 2023). Big Bill was incredible. Remember the 2015 Royal Rumble, in which Kane and the Big Show unceremoniously dumped your favourites as part of a terrible meta attempt at heat? Imagine the awesome version.
That was Bill's role here. His best night in AEW by some distance, he loved gobbling your tears, like he'd spent the last few days with glued lips in the remote Nevada desert, as much as he loved rampaging around the ring and kicking f*ck out of and throwing people out. His black hole slam variation drew an enormous pop in the building. I've personally rarely seen a performer so motivated to get over in a PPV slot.
This wasn't even the only great hoss sequence in the match: Brian Cage acting not so much as a base but actual velcro for the luchador contingent was a great sub-plot in a match loaded with them.
Kinetic in action, layered in storytelling, as tense as anything on the night, AEW advanced or initiated scores of stories and generated just as many pops. Jay White cutting off Komander's second rope walk before being eliminated himself deeper in the match was the perfect example of its rhythm: a relentlessly dramatic pendulum of action.
(Komander's rope walk was spectacular live, incidentally. It feels like he floats somewhere between the top rope and the rafters before crashing down to earth.)
Star Rating: ★★★★½