9 Match Star Ratings For AEW Double Or Nothing 2020

3. Nyla Rose Vs. Hikaru Shida - AEW Women's Championship Match

Stadium Stampede
Fite TV

Not quite on the level of AEW's best Women's match - that was Nyla Rose's title win over Riho in February - Rose and Hikaru Shida entered an astonishing shift of hard graft in a noble bid to reach its level.

With no proper crowd, little buzz and a bad stigma - AEW's women's division has ranged from amateur hour to, at best, unexpected triumph - Rose and Shida willed a cracking, PPV-calibre championship match into existence. Rose bullied Shida and wrecked her through a poker table in a great control sequence that maximised her best qualities. Rose is a better performer than she is a wrestler - she's tremendous at getting her character over as a former thespian - and she squared up to Billy Gunn in a moment that put her over as an indiscriminate badass. Shida carried the emotive working weight of the match, selling the anguish over every failed knee strike that she had to rely on her spirit to get right at the finish.

Bespoke pay-per-view sets don't just look gorgeous; they create a platform on which to further stories, and here, in a phenomenal spot rich in visual poetry, Shida launched herself from one poker chip to another, smashing Nyla's face in as it toppled, to symbolise the vast the size of the challenge she faced.

This was an artful and brutal pro wrestling match with the right title change, the gravity of which was sold excellently.

Star Rating: ★★★¾

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!