Best and Worst Booking Decisions of AEW Double or Nothing Match Card Results

AEW Double or Nothing 2022 was long enough to pack in quite a lot. With over a dozen matches on the card, there were moments to celebrate and portions of the show that dragged.

Everyone will have their favorite contests of the night and outcomes that disappointed. Tony Khan can't please everyone but he strives to hit the ball out of the park with every segment, though not every swing leads to a home run.

The dust is still settling on the pay-per-view, but let's break down some of the best and worst booking decisions of the night for All Elite Wrestling.

• (Buy In) Hook and Danhausen defeated Tony Nese and "Smart" Mark Sterling by pinfall.
• Wardlow defeated MJF by pinfall.
• The Hardys defeated The Young Bucks by pinfall.
• Jade Cargill defeated Anna Jay by pinfall to retain the TBS Championship.
• The House of Black defeated Death Triangle by pinfall.
• Owen Hart Foundation Men's Tournament Final: Adam Cole defeated Samoa Joe by pinfall.
• Owen Hart Foundation Women's Tournament Final: Britt Baker defeated Ruby Soho by pinfall.
• Mixed Trios match: Scorpio Sky, Paige VanZant and Ethan Page defeated Sammy Guevara, Tay Conti and Frankie Kazarian by pinfall.
• Kyle O'Reilly defeated Darby Allin by pinfall.
• Thunder Rosa defeated Serena Deeb by pinfall to retain the AEW Women's World Championship.
• Anarchy in the Arena match: The Jericho Appreciation Society defeated Blackpool Combat Club, Eddie Kingston, Santana and Oritz by pinfall.
• Triple Threat match: Jurassic Express defeated Team Taz and Swerve in Our Glory by pinfall to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship.
• CM Punk defeated "Hangman" Adam Page by pinfall to win the AEW World Championship.

Whether there are contract disputes going on between MJF and AEW or not is a moot point. The way this had to go down was for Wardlow to squash the heel. Anything else would have defied the narrative.

This entire feud has been about MJF poking a bear he thought he had control over, only for Wardlow to fight back. The big man has been built as an almost unstoppable force. Why would he have had a competitive match when it was so clear he would overpower The Salt of the Earth?

Wardlow also needed to win in order to get an official contract with AEW to remain on the card. Had MJF won, this would have stretched out the inevitable past its expiration date, and the company would have had to figure out loopholes to keep Wardlow appearing.

A streamlined squash that keeps Wardlow looking like an absolute beast was the easy call.

Jade Cargill has been a juggernaut in the women's division, so why does she need help from a handful of her friends in order to retain her TBS title?

The Baddies can back her up in many scenarios and stand alongside her in tag team matches, but they shouldn't be causing distractions that tip the scales against someone like Anna Jay. Cargill should have been able to beat her on her own.

A flaw in wrestling storytelling is making every heel a coward. If Cargill strays from being the monster who can beat everyone and goes into the territory of heels who need help to win, she'll cease being different.

There were three people who popped up during this segment that made a bigger splash than the actual in-ring contest.

The less interesting of the three—though still a good booking decision—was for Kris Statlander to help back up Anna Jay. That positions her as a future contender for Cargill's title. As one of the tallest women on the roster, she's a perfect fit.

More importantly, the debuts of Stokely Hathaway and Athena were major talking points.

Hathaway is a charismatic manager who was underutilized in NXT. He'll be a fantastic foil for Cargill.

Athena is an established name who can be a highly valuable asset for the women's division, and coming in as more opposition for The Baddies allows for a Trios match.

Knowing now that the plan was for Martha Hart to present the two winners with championship belts and have a lengthy speech, it would have been awkward if Ruby Soho had won the women's tournament alongside Adam Cole, rather than Britt Baker.

Cole and Soho would have been giving each other death glares.

It's a shame Soho didn't win, as she could have used the victory to legitimize herself after coming up short in every important match prior to this, but the speech was clearly a priority and Baker had more than her fair share of supporters in the crowd who were happy to see her win.

Sammy Guevara and Scorpio Sky have been feuding over the TNT Championship for months. They've traded the belt back and forth, had numerous gimmicks thrown into their feud and cut every type of promo against one another imaginable.

It was time for both to move on. With this win and the stipulation that Guevara and Frankie Kazarian wouldn't get any more title opportunities, that is a hard-stop finale for this storyline.

Dante Martin has already called his shot and will seemingly be the next challenger for Sky's title. That will be a great contest.

AEW has an abundance of talented performers who could all make for great champions and challengers. The pool to draw from is much deeper than just Sky fighting the same two people.

The Jericho Appreciation Society had their first real challenge with the Anarchy in the Arena match, but they managed to overcome the group that went into this with the tougher image.

A group of sports entertainers beating the iron-willed fighters may seem strange, but it was the best-case scenario.

As heels, The JAS are better off steering this storyline on top than fighting from underneath. They will undoubtedly tout their success as proof they're the top faction.

The tension between Bryan Danielson and Eddie Kingston needed to factor in somehow, too. Having Kingston nearly set Danielson on fire out of recklessness and that dispute leading to the team losing their focus was a great catalyst for the heels to take advantage of the distraction and show their unity.

Going forward, will Danielson and Kingston have more of a grudge, or will Jericho and his cronies still be the prime target? That's the interesting story worth checking out on Dynamite, rather than just having the babyfaces go over and having nowhere left to go.

• It's hard to tell if Kyle O'Reilly or Darby Allin winning will make more sense in the long run.
• The same goes for the tag title match. The belts could have changed hands, but maybe Jurassic Express are better suited for the next challengers than going with new champions and resetting the division.
• CM Punk winning the title will be divisive. It's bad in the sense that Adam Page could have had a longer run, but it's good that the belt is on a bigger name. We don't know what the direction of either star will be going forward. It will be interesting to see how this all shapes out.

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