8 Weirdest Wrestling Matches From Every Major Promotion
2. AEW: Casino Battle Royale - Double Or Nothing
The Michael Nakazawa vs. Jebailey match was at least halfway excusable: it was a sweetener to the money mark AEW partnered with that serviced that particular crowd, even if it was the most dark match to ever dark match.
The Casino Battle Royal was the first official AEW match, if not the first canonical AEW match, and it was a beyond bizarre choice: Cody has sold the promotion as a wrestling "buffet", but this was a pure comedy match that falsely advertised the premise of AEW on the free-to-air pre-show ahead of its first-ever pay-per-view. Elements of it were incredibly entertaining, and it was a successful star vehicle for MJF, who of course battered bilateral amputee Dustin Thomas immediately.
This was an inspired ghoul-pop, but that same bilateral amputee eliminated Cody's next big show opponent Shawn Spears, 55 year-old Glacier was in it, the inclusion of Sunny Daze was Garrett Bischoff-level nepotism, Michael Nakazawa smothered himself in baby oil, and Tommy Dreamer ran through his old E-C-Dub bit years after his TNA runs invited widespread this f*cking guy scorn.
Ultimately, it didn't affect the buy rate, nor the company's impressive TV launch, nor the prestige of Chris Jericho's AEW World Championship - but this was cheeky. If this match was a Tinder profile pic, AEW made itself look like a d*ck pic-sending creep, as opposed to a handsome bastard with cheekbones to die for.
Less Cody, and more James Ellsworth.