January 1, Wrestling Champ Faces Career-Defining Betrayal in Explosive Showdown

Wyatt’s Take

• All Elite Wrestling’s biggest night of the year features five championship matches with everything on the line — including careers and hair.
• MJF could become the youngest three-time world champion in company history if he defeats Darby Allin in a match where the loser gets their head shaved.
• Legendary tag team faces forced retirement if they lose their championship match in what promises to be a bloody, brutal affair.

Double or Nothing has been one of the must-see events for All Elite Wrestling since the company started back in 2019. The card is always stacked with marquee matches, featuring the best pro wrestlers the sport has to offer.

Sunday night will be no different as five titles are on the line in what is expected to be a chaotic and violent evening in Queens at Louis Armstrong Stadium. Here’s what working-class fight fans need to know before the bell rings.

The Divine Dominion of Megan Bayne and Lena Kross have defeated every challenger that has stepped to them. Zayda Steel and Vita Van will be the latest and if they can last at least five minutes with Bayne and Kross without losing, they will earn a future shot at the AEW Women’s Tag Team Championship.

It’s tough to see that happening without outside interference.

Prediction: Bayne and Kross continue their stranglehold on the women’s tag team division.

It’s always entertaining when “Big Boom” AJ and his family show up to an AEW event and take part in a match. Double or Nothing’s Buy In hour should be no different.

Going up against Shane Taylor Promotions, it should be another interesting showdown.

Prediction: “Big Boom” AJ, QT Marshall, Mark Briscoe, Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong pick up the victory.

The Death Riders and The Opps have morphed into a rivalry over the last few weeks due to the Death Riders’ involvement with Will Ospreay. Ahead of Ospreay taking on Samoa Joe later in the night, Claudio Castagnoli, Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta will take on Anthony Bowens, Hook and Katsuyori Shibata in a six-man tag match.

This should be the match of the Buy In.

Prediction: Death Riders get the win in a hard-hitting affair.

Anytime Kazuchika Okada or Konosuke Takeshita is on a pay-per-view card, it becomes must-see TV. But put them up against each other, it might be a show-stealer.

Okada and Takeshita have been begrudgingly working together as members of the Don Callis Family. But their animosity toward each other resulted in a match at Double or Nothing for the International Championship.

It will be one to watch and it has the potential to be the match of the night or match of the year.

Prediction: Konosuke Takeshita wins a wild one.

FTR knocked Adam Copeland and Christian Cage out of action for some time. When Copeland and Cage returned, they were out for vengeance.

The two tag teams negotiated a match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Double or Nothing. But Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler wanted the legendary duo to put their team on the line in an I Quit Match.

If Copeland and Cage lose, they have to retire as a team. This one will be bloody to say the least.

Prediction: FTR retain the titles.

MVP, the Hurt Syndicate’s manager, said fans can expect chaos and violence in the Stadium Stampede Match. It certainly looks like it will happen.

Chris Jericho and Ricochet’s rivalry blossomed to include several others. As the competitors take over Queens, it will be fun and interesting to see where these guys go to inflict the most damage.

Prediction: Team Jericho wins in a wild match.

A four-way dance for the AEW Women’s World Championship is expected to be especially chaotic. The match features wrestlers who have been champions before.

Thekla obviously comes into the match as the reigning champ but Jamie Hayter, Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida have all held the belt at one point or another. It has all the likelihood of being a fantastic match.

But the “Toxic Spider” has the advantage of the Triangle of Madness in her corner while Statlander and Shida may not be on the same page.

Prediction: Thekla retains.

There are three Owen Hart Tournament matches set for Double or Nothing — two on the men’s side and one on the women’s side. Samoa Joe takes on Will Ospreay, Bandido battles Swerve Strickland and Athena will square off against Mina Shirakawa.

Each match will have an underlying storyline. Joe and Ospreay are at odds over Ospreay’s apparent alignment with the Death Riders.

“This match is a dream for me,” Ospreay has said, but there will be a little extra to battle for — personal pride.

Strickland has made clear that he wanted to go after Bandido and followed him back to AEW. Athena, the Ring of Honor women’s champion, has dominated Ring of Honor but has yet to really get that signature win on the AEW side.

Shirakawa is looking to get back into the title picture with an Owen Cup win sans “Timeless” Toni Storm.

Predictions: Ospreay beats Joe, Strickland takes care of Bandido and Shirakawa defeats Athena.

Jon Moxley has been the AEW continental champion since defeating Okada in the Continental Classic Final at Worlds End in December. He’s dispatched each opponent that has stepped to him and no one has earned a shot at the title in more than a month.

That changed on “Dynamite” when Kyle O’Reilly took him to a time-limit draw. O’Reilly earned the title shot and has the advantage over Moxley.

He got Moxley to tap out at Full Gear in November and his team won the Blood & Guts Match on “Dynamite” days before that. What happens in this match is anyone’s guess.

Prediction: Moxley retains the title, but it’ll be really close.

The match everyone has their eyes on — Darby Allin versus MJF in a hair versus title match. If MJF loses, he will be forced to shave his head.

If Allin loses, MJF will join an exclusive club of three-time champions at the age of 30. There is a lot of animosity between the two wrestlers.

Allin won the title over MJF and has made clear he’s going into the match to prove he’s not a fluke. MJF believes Allin doesn’t represent pro wrestling well enough to be a champion.

Will the ring be turned into a barbershop in Queens on Sunday night?

Prediction: MJF upsets Allin to win the AEW World Championship.

Wyatt Matters

This is the kind of real, raw competition that heartland Americans respect — fighters putting everything on the line with no excuses. When men step into that ring and risk their careers, their pride, and even their hair for a championship, that’s the kind of grit and determination that built this country. No participation trophies here, just winners and losers decided by who wants it more.