AEW Double or Nothing 2025 advertised another lengthy card with two high-stakes Owen Hart Foundation Tournament Finals.

Mercedes Mone battles Jamie Hayter on the verge of yet another championship win as part of her belt-collector gimmick, and more importantly, a win that could set the stage for the biggest women’s match in wrestling between Mone and current AEW women’s world champion Timeless Toni Storm. Storm is also in a lookahead situation as she defends her world title as a major favorite against Mina Shirakawa.

The men’s Owen Hart Foundation Final pits Hangman Adam Page against Will Ospreay in one of the most anticipated pay-per-view matchups in years. Ospreay and Page’s tournament final match will likely decide AEW’s next world champion, and as a result, the savior for the promotion in the main event of AEW All In Texas come July.

Keeping up with tradition, AEW Double or Nothing 2025 also advertised Anarchy in the Arena pitting Swerve Strickland, Kenny Omega, Willow Nightingale and The Opps vs. The Deathriders and The Young Bucks.

• AEW Double or Nothing 2025 Event Venue: Desert Diamond Arena (Glendale, Ariz.)
• AEW Double or Nothing 2025 Tickets Distributed: 7,397
• AEW Double or Nothing 2025 Tickets Available: 706

Mercedes Mone has not suffered a single pinfall or submission loss since her AEW debut at Big Business in March of 2024. In addition to her executive bona fides as AEW’s CEO, Mone’s winning ways has become her gimmick as a belt collector. Mone lays claim to the AEW TBS Championship, the RevPro Undisputed British Women’s Championship, the RevPro Southside Women’s Championship and formerly the NJPW Women’s Strong Championship, which she lost in a Triple Threat match where she did not take the losing fall.

It’s very likely that Mone’s next belt will be the ceremonial Owen Hart Tournament Championship. Mone is a -300 favorite to keep her AEW undefeated streak alive, thereby setting up a dream showdown opposite AEW women’s champion Toni Storm.

After an underwhelming return on a pre-show, Jamie Hayter has had a revival in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament, but has little chance to shock the world and win the Owen.

The Hurt Syndicate (THS) has been the best-booked faction in all of AEW, above both The Death Riders and The Elite who have felt forced since each of their respective returns to the company. Alongside MJF, The Hurt Syndicate is the best storyline in AEW, with MJF serving as a fish-out-of-water member of the group. In fact, all of Twitter is making the same Owen Hart/Nation of Domination joke. Like, literally everybody on Twitter is making that joke as if they came up with it themselves.

MJF does not have a scheduled match at Double or Nothing, but is expected to be in the Hurt Syndicate’s corner. Expect Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships as they run through a weak tag team division. I also expect MJF’s involvement to help THS before he inevitably falls out with the stable in the very near future.

Toni Storm went undefeated in championship eliminator matches until Mina Shirakawa showed up. On a night where Tony Khan—who has become notorious for his lack of authority—panicked midway through the Beach Break Dynamite and changed Shirakawa’s music at the demand of AEW’s internet-bound sickos, the charismatic challenger earned a shot at the AEW Women’s World Championship.

Unfortunately for Mina, Toni Storm is on a collision course to finally face fellow top star Mercedes Mone in what is easily the biggest women’s match in all of AEW, if not in all of women’s wrestling.

After WWE successfully pulled off the announcer-turned-wrestler gimmick with Pat McAfee and Gunther at Backlash earlier this month, it’s AEW’s turn to book a babyface announcer to wrestle not one, but two heels. Former wrestler-turned-announcer Nigel McGuinness stood up for himself and Tony Schiavone against FTR’s bullying ways, with Schiavone playing the Michael Cole to Nigel’s McAfee.

FTR opp Daniel Garcia has since asked McGuinness to team up with him, opening the door to what could be one of the more emotional matches of the show. FTR needs this win as they continue to rise up the tag team ranks alongside new manager Stokely Hathaway. FTR also needs to be booked stronger as they are one of the few real threats to dethrone the Hurt Syndicate amid a decimated tag team division. Don’t be surprised if McGuinness turns on Garcia.

Ricochet has tried his hardest to reinvent himself as a Twitter heel, but the act has fallen short in terms of generating real-life interest. Ricochet has been highly entertaining as a heel character on TV, but far from a ratings draw. Since January 1, 2025, Ricochet’s quarter-hour segments have lost a net 655,000 total viewers and a net 172,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic. This translates to an average loss of 25,000 total viewers per quarter-hour and 11,000 in 18-49 viewership.

The trend continued this past Wednesday on Dynamite where Ricochet was prominently featured in back-to-back quarter-hours. From 6:00 pm PST to 6:15, Ricochet’s match against Anthony Bowens lost 70,000 total viewers (10,000 in 18-49.) The next quarter-hour, featuring the conclusion of Ricochet vs. Bowens and a brawl with Mark Briscoe, lost 39,000 total viewers (4,000 in 18-49.)

Ricochet’s feud with Mark Briscoe has been rushed. Briscoe ran Ricochet off after Ricochet defeated Zach at Beach Break, only for AEW to announce a Stretcher Match. This despite zero physicality between the two in one segment, not to mention no singles matches. I expect Ricochet to defeat Briscoe and become the first heel to feud with Darby Allin (and lose) upon Darby’s return from Mount Everest.

Anarchy in the Arena never disappoints, but it will be difficult to top last year’s fire-breathing extravaganza, especially with two ice-cold heel stables joining forces in The Death Riders and The Young Bucks.

The Death Riders continue to dominate AEW whether the fans want it or not, but with Moxley’s forced dynasty likely to come to an end this summer, he must be kept strong in order for that inevitable loss to mean something.

AEW Kazuchika Okada has been a shell of “The Real Okada,” and it has nothing to do with age or physical limitations. Okada took a certain pride in his work in New Japan Pro Wrestling that he simply does not seem to have since coming to America, where he signed a big contract with AEW.

“Everybody who’s gonna wrestle Okada has it in their mind, ‘I’m gonna get the real Okada. I’m gonna get this guy,’” said Bryan Alvarez on Wrestling Observer Live.

“It almost never happens, but Mike Bailey’s the next.”

If Okada doesn’t seem to care about his AEW matches, why should I?

The Paragon is a reimagined version of The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong and Kyle O’Reilly) facing off against The Don Callis Family, consisting of Dave Meltzer teacher’s pets Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita.

Josh Alexander will be there, too.

As AEW looks to build up its tag team division to give THS real competition, Fletcher and Takeshita are another pair of candidates to heat up as a top tag team, especially with Meltzer—Tony Khan’s favorite reporter—begging for the Callis Family duo to become stars in AEW based on technical wrestling alone and little else.

Prediction: The Don Callis Family def. The Paragon

Hangman Adam Page Vs. Will Ospreay

AEW has done a great job building up a babyface savior to dethrone the Death Riders. AEW pay-per-views typically struggle from being too predictable, which is not a problem when it comes to storyline development. The problem is, AEW is not good at telling stories. Storylines come secondary to the real calling card of AEW pay-per-views: Match quality. But when all match outcomes are predictable, it makes it more difficult to justify spending upwards of $50 for a glorified exhibition.

This time around, however, AEW has succeeded in telling a meaningful story between Will Ospreay and Hangman Adam Page at the climax of an important tournament. I legitimately can see either man winning, which is a great thing, especially in the most important match of the night, which also happens to be the main event.

Ospreay and Hangman did a very good job stating their case as to why they should and would win, and sealed their dueling babyface promos with a beer.

I can’t wait for this one.

Prediction: Will Ospreay def. Hangman Adam Page