5 Ups & 5 Downs From AEW Double Or Nothing 2023

2. MJF (c) vs. Sammy Guevara vs. Darby Allin vs. "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry

The prospective quality of this match existed four years ago. That's the point, really; upon formation, All Elite Wrestling as a company carefully assessed what young talents might be fit to go in headline spots within a few years of launch. This was the manifestation of it, the big idea made real, and it's perhaps why a muddled built felt at times like it was doing individual disservices just about everybody other than a Champion too sensational to be denied.

The intricacies and sequencing were a sight to behold as the quartet attempted to tell the story of their first four years in the form of rapid-fire physical abuse. Less about what had been on television in the last few weeks, this was all Four Pillars first using everything they had to kick ass before borrowing from their mentors to do it all again.

This wasn't one story - not Jungle Boy failing once again to fully embrace the dark side, not MJF and Darby Allin's magnificently petty headlock takeover war, not Sammy Guevara's repackaging as a babyface that might just work this time, not countless others woven into the bout - but all of them illustrated through a breathless offering that thankfully did more for the three Challengers than anything we'd seen on screen in the build.

It was far far more than "alright on the night".