AEW Double or Nothing | |
---|---|
Promotions | All Elite Wrestling |
First event | 2019 |
Signature match | Stadium Stampede/Anarchy in the Arena |
AEW Double or Nothing is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Established in 2019, it is held annually in May during Memorial Day weekend. The inaugural Double or Nothing was also the first PPV as well as the first event produced by AEW and is thus considered the promotion's marquee domestic event. It is also considered one of the "Big Four" PPVs for AEW, along with All Out, Full Gear, and Revolution, the company's four biggest domestic shows produced quarterly.
The name Double or Nothing was originally referenced in a promo that Cody Rhodes made immediately after the September 2018 All In event, which was an independently produced PPV that came as a result of a bet with wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer. Rhodes, a key figure behind All In who would become a co-founder and wrestler for AEW from 2019 to 2022, said "I know when you make a bet, sometimes you go double or nothing"—AEW was then founded in January 2019 with Double or Nothing as its first event that May. The name is also a reference to its Las Vegas theme, with the event traditionally held at arenas on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The only exceptions to this were the 2020 and 2021 events, which were originally scheduled for Vegas but had to be held at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic—after Florida loosened its COVID-19 protocols, the 2021 event was AEW's first PPV to have a full capacity crowd, as well as the final PPV held at Daily's Place before AEW resumed live touring in July that year.
Since the 2020 event, Double or Nothing has featured a specialized tornado tag team match between two multi-man teams as one of its marquee matches, oftentimes the main event. For 2020 and 2021, this was the Stadium Stampede match. To capitalize on the rise of cinematic matches during the pandemic, both year's events were headlined by the Stadium Stampede match, which was contested in both Daily's Place and the adjacent TIAA Bank Field stadium. With the return to Las Vegas beginning with the 2022 event, Stadium Stampede was replaced by Anarchy in the Arena with the wrestlers fighting all throughout the host venue.