The five-week AEW world title reign of #SpeakingOut alum Darby Allin came to an end Sunday night in a loss to former champ Maxwell Jacob Friedman in the main event at “Double or Nothing” in front of a lively sellout crowd in New York City.
Top to bottom, solid show – the lowest-rated match, per CageMatch, was the 6.67 for the Athena-Mina Shirakawa matchup in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament.
Could have done without wasting 31:10 bell-to-bell, plus another 10 minutes of intros, for the Stadium Stampede, but the spotfest did get an 8.45 rating from folks on CageMatch.
That was 40 minutes or so for me to get the dogs outside and check my email, so, not a total loss.
The pressing question for me, post-show: why did we have to endure five weeks of the skateboard punk as the world champ?
What did it accomplish, having a 170-pound sideshow freak posing as a world champion wrestler?
Darby Allin as a world champ is a step above Vince Russo putting the WCW belt on David Arquette.
And, stop it with, he was a “fighting champ.”
Tony Khan booked Darby Allin to be a fighting champ – what, we’re supposed to believe that was Darby’s idea?
It wasn’t exactly murderer’s row that he defended against, aside from Konosuke Takeshita – Khan should lose his promoter’s license for that one, putting Allin over Takeshita.
I had hope for Tommaso Ciampa, but Khan has already booked him to the middle of the midcard.
Brody King and PAC should be used better, but never will be.
Sammy Guevara continues to serve out his lengthy penance in Ring of Honor.
“Speedball” Mike Bailey couldn’t sell out a high school gym.
Please don’t tell me the Darby title reign was about turning Kevin Knight, who was also on this hit list, heel.
I’m looking forward to Kevin Knight as a heel. He can be Swerve Strickland-level, if booked right.
The turn shouldn’t have involved Darby Allin, though – it should’ve had Knight turning on Bailey, his recent tag partner.
All putting the belt on Darby Allin for five weeks did is make it less impressive when Will Ospreay wins the world title at “All In” in London in August.
Ospreay should have been booked against an MJF coming in on a months-long winning streak; now, when he wins, he’s the second guy to beat MJF for the world title this year, and the third guy to beat him in 2026 – Khan, inexplicably, booked Knight to a win over MJF last month.
It’s not my dad’s money.
Match of the Night: Konosuke Takeshita d. Kazuchika Okada (19:01)
CageMatch voters had this one as their match of the night, too – giving it a 9.56 rating.
Okada has been mailing it in for months, but for this one, he looked to be in better shape, and he worked a match more like his late 2010s run in New Japan than his recent series of uninspired matches in AEW.
Takeshita, with the right presentation, is a tentpole for AEW going forward.
Surprisingly Good: Jon Moxley d. Kyle O’Reilly (18:44)
I wasn’t looking much forward to this one, because we’ve seen it several times, including last week on TV.
And then they started working.
This was about as good as a worked wrestling match as you will see.
Moxley can get himself too much into nonsense match layouts, but this one would have worked in 1980s Crockett.
Intense! Will Ospreay d. Samoa Joe (13:52)
I loved the first minute – Ospreay came out of the gate with an Oscutter, Joe recovered and answered with a stiff back elbow, and the potatoes came hard and fast thereafter.
Ospreay needs to work this style – albeit, with fewer of the potatoes – going forward.
The high-wire act needs to become a thing of the past if he’s going to want to squeeze out another five years in the business.
Best Sales Pitch: Mick Foley on “Zero Hour”
Foley was the co-host of “Zero Hour,” and the first 50 minutes looked like it was just going to be a cameo.
Then we got MJF coming out for a confrontation after Renee Paquette got Foley to break down the main event, and Foley forecast a Darby Allin win.
Foley broke the fourth wall for a brief moment, thanking MJF for engaging him in a moment in a wrestling ring that he wasn’t sure he’d ever get again – ahead of MJF attacking him with a low blow.
Allin came in for the save, and Foley sold an Allin win in the main event with an impassioned pep talk promo that surpassed the promo that Sting cut for Allin ahead of his improbable upset win last month.
Chef’s kiss, to the perfect way to sign off on “Zero Hour.”
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Chris Graham
