Biggest Winners & Losers of AEW Double or Nothing 2024

Chris Jericho walked into this three-way for the FTW Championship as the underdog, despite his years of experience and status as the biggest star of the three. But there's a reason he is perpetually forging new stables of underlings to do his bidding, and why this current incarnation is called The Learning Tree.

And that is because it works, which Jericho proved by retaining his title.

The entire match, Hook and Katsuyori Shibata had moments where they double-teamed him. It could have been an easy route for them to take him out and then settle who the next champion would be between the two of them. But Jericho's cunning allowed him to stay in the fight long enough to avoid any pitfalls until what seemed to be the bitter end.

That's when his intelligence and preparedness came into play, as having backup in Big Bill and being able to utilize him in a No Disqualification match paid off. More so, having found a second contingency plan was the real key, as he took an adversary in Bryan Keith—who nearly became one of his opponents in this match—and turned him into an ally sometime before the event.

Keith's interference was the difference-maker that gave Jericho the victory and allowed him to walk out still the champion, with a second ally to help him hold onto that belt going forward.