AEW Double or Nothing 2021 Results: Reviewing Top Highlights and Low Points

If All Out is All Elite Wrestling's WrestleMania, Double or Nothing has become its SummerSlam as arguably the second-most important event of the year.

With nearly all the promotion's titles on the line, a Casino Battle Royale and a Stadium Stampede match, the card had a lot of promise. But did it live up to its potential, or did it fall short?

Now that it's finished, what were the pros and cons of the night?

Presented in order of appearance, here are the highlights and low points of AEW Double or Nothing 2021.

Tune in to TNT on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. ET to catch all the action of All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite.

AEW Double or Nothing 2021 Results

• (Buy In) Serena Deeb defeated Riho by submission to retain the NWA Women's World Championship.
• Adam Page defeated Brian Cage by pinfall.
• The Young Bucks defeated Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston by pinfall to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship.
• Jungle Boy won the Casino Battle Royale.
• Cody Rhodes defeated Anthony Ogogo by pinfall.
• Miro defeated Lance Archer by referee stoppage to retain the AEW TNT Championship.
• Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. defeated Hikaru Shida by submission to win the AEW Women's World Championship.
• Darby Allin and Sting defeated Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky by pinfall.
• Kenny Omega defeated Orange Cassidy and PAC by pinfall to retain the AEW World Championship.
• Stadium Stampede match: The Inner Circle defeated The Pinnacle by pinfall.

AEW pre-shows don't overstay their welcome. The first half-hour fills in audiences on all the storylines for the card in case you missed out, and the latter half presents a match as a teaser.

In this case, Serena Deeb and Riho had a great contest for the NWA Women's World Championship.

It was interesting to see Deeb play heel, which worked well in setting up Riho as the fan favorite the crowd could get behind rather than splitting the difference between the two.

The match was hard-fought, and Deeb's ability to find a way to retain will go a long way in making her reign stronger.

This was more than enough to whet everyone's appetite without taking away from anything later in the night.

The opening contest of the main card was simple but effective. There weren't tons of bells and whistles, but it didn't feel lacking in its simplicity, either.

This was straightforward: Adam Page recently lost to Brian Cage and needed to get back his win. Meanwhile, Cage wanted to win a second time around without help from Team Taz, who happened to interfere and effectively cost him the match.

Page and Cage put up a strong showing against that the crowd ate up. There were some good spots—a moonsault from Page and a vertical suplex from Cage in particular—that got the fans on their feet.

When everything was said and done, the right man won and the story of Cage's issues with Team Taz continues. You can't ask for more than that.

Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley were never going to have the same style of match with The Young Bucks that Matt and Nick Jackson are used to. Rather than something with more finesse with a focus on athletic maneuvers, this was more of a brawl.

That was a welcome change of pace. This wasn't a hardcore match like the Stadium Stampede, but it had its fair share of brutality too.

Some fun standout moments were Moxley kicking out after a one-count following a series of superkicks, Matt Jackson trying to do a Roman Reigns taunt and the Meltzer Driver on the ramp.

Now that The Young Bucks have a pinfall over a former world champion in Moxley, it should only boost their egos. That will be interesting to see develop even more over time and make it much sweeter when a team eventually dethrones them.

One of the most crowd-pleasing segments of the night was the Casino Battle Royale, which played perfectly into the audience's energy.

Multiple entrants got massive pops for just coming out, and few people overstayed their welcome, but it didn't sour the mood when they were eliminated.

Lio Rush was a worthy surprise for the final entrant. While some may be disappointed it wasn't someone like Daniel Bryan or Samoa Joe, those names were never teased, so it's not on AEW to meet those expectations. Rush is an established name and, assuming he sticks around, should be a fun player on this brand.

Ending things with Christian Cage and Jungle Boy was a smart call. Fans would be happy no matter who won. But an even better decision was to give the win to Jungle Boy, who's perpetually the guy who can almost reach the summit but never quite makes it.

Now he will get an opportunity to capture the title. He will likely come up short, but he should put up a great showing in that effort, and this will be viewed as a major stepping stone toward his future success.

Whether it was Anthony Ogogo's lack of experience, the placement on the card after so many great matches where the crowd needed a break or just the way this was laid out, this match was a noticeable decline in quality from what preceded it.

That's not to say it was horrendous. It was far from the worst match ever. But to call it a highlight just wouldn't be right. It was arguably the bottom rung of this event.

The American pride angle didn't translate into the psychology of the match whatsoever. A few fans chanted "USA!" half-heartedly.

Ogogo's gimmick was supposed to be his punches being so devastating people couldn't take them. Then Cody Rhodes took a few, and it meant nothing. A few minutes later, he scored a win with a vertebreaker.

Unfortunately, this was forgettable.

While not as bad as Ogogo vs. Rhodes, the TNT Championship match failed to turn things around. It was another generic segment that didn't feature anything worth going back and checking out if you missed it.

Arguably, the highlight of the contest was Miro throwing Jake Roberts' bag that was supposed to contain the snake. Obviously, that wasn't the true contents, as that would be a case of animal cruelty. But that silliness was the most fun part of this portion of the show.

It was smart to book Lance Archer to pass out rather than tap out, as that's less of a hit to his credibility. However, this didn't feel like it had any finality to it or enough setup, so you could easily walk away from it feeling hollow.

For months, it's been clear Dr. Britt Baker was the best choice to take the AEW Women's World Championship from Hikaru Shida. It was only a matter of time, and when this match was announced, it felt like a must.

Thankfully, that came to pass with a Lockjaw after several near-falls, crowning Baker the new head of the women's division.

However, that outcome didn't play out as well as it should have. The match itself quickly became something of a mess. Sloppy executions of maneuvers carried on long enough that it became concerning something might be wrong.

Perhaps it was the heat getting to them. Maybe they were just having an off night or the fans in attendance sparked their nerves. But after Baker's concussion at Fight for the Fallen 2019, when she continued to wrestle long after she should have been stopped, this was alarming.

Hopefully there's no story other than a lack of chemistry and some askew wrestling and everyone can focus more on the positives of Baker as the new champion going forward.

This match was far from the greatest fight of the night, but it accomplished everything it needed to do and in short order.

Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page didn't look bad and were able to give the spotlight to the two bigger selling points of the segment, Sting and Darby Allin.

In Allin's case, his big moment was Page launching him into the crowd. That looked brutal and kept up the trend of Allin putting his body on the line.

With Sting, he showed that he's built from magic materials. To be his age (62) and having been forced to retire years ago, only to still be able to move around as well as he did, is just astounding and deserves major recognition. He was a legend decades ago and continues to prove he's a unique icon.

To no one's surprise, putting three incredibly talented wrestlers like these together and letting them do their thing resulted in a fun match.

Orange Cassidy was the fan favorite, and every near-fall had the crowd hyped for his possible title win. That should prove to AEW brass that he's worth considering for the belt at some point down the line.

PAC was his usual self, always flying around the ring in a way that seems like he has stunt cables.

To anchor it all, Kenny Omega lived up to his reputation as one of the best wrestlers of his generation. His heel character has allowed him much more flexibility with his storytelling, meaning his matches are more than just a series of maneuvers, as they have been in the past.

Having Don Callis by his side as his stooge manager interfering, costing Cassidy a potential win, was a great example of all those elements colliding, which prompted the crowd to chant "f--k you, Don!" That is a sign of a job well done.

Ignoring how the editing could have been better to not just show one set of people at a time, this cinematic match was filled with a near constant stream of thoroughly entertaining moments.

Each brawl had its own environment. Chris Jericho and MJF fought around a lot of food and used sheet pans and such. Wardlow nearly stabbed Jake Hager with an icicle from a walk-in freezer.

A laughable but awesome moment was the shot of "The Chairman" Shawn Spears hanging out in a room filled with hundreds of folding chairs. That was over the top—but in a great way.

Sammy Guevara running up and flipping off a wall was another standout spot that shows how impressive his athleticism is.

The weakest part was Santana and Ortiz fighting with FTR in the club, but even that had different lighting and a cameo from Konnan as the DJ to spice things up a bit.

While there was a bit of a lull when things slowed down, and though the contest could have been trimmed a few minutes, this was a very fun main event that sent fans home happy.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.