It’s Memorial Day Weekend, and you know what that means! AEW’s presenting Double or Nothing, one of their biggest events of the year. Things feel a little bit different this year, as AEW Dynamite is in pre-emption mode due to the NBA Playoffs, and we’re all kind of looking ahead to July, when these wrestling promotions will go back to touring the country.

Yeah, June’s looking like a whole lot of nothing, as far as the actual televised shows go. Surely there will be lots of crazy news happenings, but the matches & such will seem secondary.

AEW’s trying with this show, and there’s a ton of stuff booked. So let’s break it down and see how the BetOnline odds are looking. As a reminder, these picks are for entertainment purposes only.

Adam Page (-500) vs. Brian Cage (+300)

Page had a bit of a rough warmup match with Joey Janela on Friday night.

.@theAdamPage isn't mad, Brian, he's just very disappointed. #AEWDynamite #AEWonTNT pic.twitter.com/k9jIqBvUzt

— TDE Wrestling (@tde_gif) May 29, 2021

Doesn’t look like the kind of thing that will hold him back, but Cage will certainly be motivated to prove that he can beat the Hangman on his own. A bunch of money came in on Hangman on Saturday, and considering Cage won the first battle, it should be Adam Page going over to set up the FTW Championship match. Or to move Adam Page up the actual championship rankings, whichever.

Casino Battle Royale:
Christian Cage (-200) vs. Penta El Zero Miedo (+400) vs. Jungle Boy (+600) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs (+900) vs. Matt Hardy (+1400) vs. Preston “10” Vance (+1400) vs. Max Caster (+1400) vs. Nick Comforto (+1600) vs. QT Marshall (+2000) vs. Evil Uno (+2800) vs. Isiah Cassidy (+2800) vs. Marq Quen (+2800) vs. Colt Cabana (+3300)

There are some unlisted options here:
Matt Sydal
The Blade
Griff Garrison
Brian Pillman Jr.
Anthony Bowens
Dustin Rhodes
Lee Johnson

None of them are a very viable choice with the possible exception of Pillman. It’s easy to see why Christian is the favorite here, as it seems like only a matter of time before they get to giving him a title shot & this would be the easiest way to do it. Penta is always a threat, and I think Jungle Boy would have a pretty great match with Kenny Omega. Vance is somebody they’re high on and could pay off, big, but I wouldn’t go much lower than Jungle Boy on the food chain if you’re looking for an upset.

Personally, I’d rather see Omega vs. Jungle Boy than Omega vs. Christian. But that’s just me.

Cody Rhodes (+135) vs. Anthony Ogogo (-175)

Now we travel back to 1985, where Cody Rhodes is defending America’s honor against the evil Englishman, who has said & done all kinds of outrageous, offensive things like putting a British flag on Cody’s prone carcass. He’s decided that for one time only he will take on his father’s moniker of “The American Dream”, as he needs that little extra oomph to get over the hump against a man that’s had a grand total of two matches.

Ogogo seems to have a ton of potential and I’d like to see him made a star. He’s in my Fave Five, for heaven’s sake! But if we’re looking at ways to make money off of this show, we have to look at Cody Rhodes as an underdog against a guy that’s had two career matches.

AEW Women’s Championship
Hikaru Shida (+350) vs. Britt Baker (-600)

Are we ushering in the Era of D👇M👇D👇?@RealBrittBaker faces @shidahikaru for the #AEW Women's World Championship this SUNDAY LIVE on PPV at #AEWDoN! pic.twitter.com/cuGVAhzu5j

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) May 29, 2021

You’re going to notice that the odds on some of these championship matches are pretty one-sided. It’s understandable considering the booking, and especially in the case of the Women’s Championship. Dr. Baker has been one of the stars of the pandemic for AEW, she’s been involved in some of the company’s biggest moments & most talked about matches. She has been the face of a division that’s been improving by the month, and now seems like the time to strap her up. Whether or not she’ll be the face of a new era remains to be seen, but now’s the time to find out.

Listen, you won’t find many bigger supporters of Dr. Baker than yours truly. If this was a Roundtable style column, I’d be taking the Good Doctor. Here, we’re talking about making money. Generally speaking, AEW booking tends to shy away from “shocking swerves” at moments like this, but there is an argument to be made for keeping the title on Shida. You could always do the “double turn” and give fans an actual reason to boo Shida against Baker on a later title defense in a venue that isn’t Daily’s Place. I’d stay away from getting cute here and just put the title on Britt, but out of the underdogs in these title matches, Hikaru Shida is the best pick and the best way to make some fake money off of this.

AEW World Championship
Kenny Omega (-650) vs. Orange Cassidy (+400) vs. Pac (+600)

Oh, I was gonna do it. Just wanted to see if the belt will fit in my backpack. See you Sunday.#aewdynamite

— Orange Cassidy (@orangecassidy) May 29, 2021

As cute as it would be for Orange Cassidy to win the AEW World Championship, it’s not happening here. Maybe someday, but right now is Kenny Omega‘s time. He’s not going to lose the AEW Championship before he loses his other titles, so there’s no reason to even think about it right now. You could throw some money on Orange if you want to be cute, but other than that you gotta stay away.

AEW TNT Championship
Miro (-600) vs. Lance Archer (+350)

What’d I do? 🤷‍♂️

— Lance Storm (@LanceStorm) May 29, 2021

We’re finally seeing the Miro that people wanted to see when he arrived in AEW, and it’s working pretty well. If Friday night’s crowd is any indication, Miro squashing fools will make him a pretty big babyface going forward. It’ll be interesting to see whether AEW embraces it, lets Miro keep doing what he’s doing, or tries to make him less likeable. It’s obviously too soon to take the TNT strap off of him, and I don’t see much of a chance for Lance Archer to pull the upset.

Should be a pretty interesting match though, and it’ll be interesting to see where Archer goes from here. Will there be more interactions with Sting? Is the Jake Roberts thing really working? I don’t really have any answers for these questions, which is why I ask them.

Sting & Darby Allin (-300) vs. Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page (+200)

From TNA to WCW to now AEW – here is the wonderful legacy of Sting disguising himself as Sting. pic.twitter.com/NQtHt3cw6N

— Garrett Kidney (@garrettkidney) May 29, 2021

Considering it’s Sting in a match, and Darby Allin is the new hotness and doesn’t need to be losing too often, it’s really hard for me to tell you to put your money on Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page. I’m going to tell you to do just that. Sky & Page are guys that AEW sees a lot in, and we’ve seen that Sting/Darby feuds with people tend to last a long time. A win here would be a much bigger deal for Sky & Page, and could lead to a long-running issue. Sting hitting the Scorpion Death Drop & Darby hitting the Coffin Drop would pretty much end things.

Plus, Sting’s record over the past several years…not so good. Big time losses to Triple H & Seth Rollins, unable to win the TNA Championship from Magnus, he’s just not the sure-fire bet to win that he once was.

Stadium Stampede
The Inner Circle (-200) vs. The Pinnacle (+150)

Friday was about making people believe that the Inner Circle was going to lose this match. Their in-ring promo segment didn’t exactly showcase a ton of confidence, with each member saying something along the lines of “if this is the last time”. I know they’re supposed to be decent fellas now, but a little bit of confidence would have made us feel better. The Pinnacle beatdown at the end didn’t exactly help their cause either.

So yeah, it’s easy to see how the IC became the betting favorites. They went down so hard on Friday that they must be going over on Sunday, right? Not necessarily. The Circle has never won a Stadium Stampede match, for one thing. For another thing, we know Chris Jericho has a bad elbow & who knows what kind of shape Santana & Ortiz are after those sick piledrivers. Also, I just have this feeling in my stomach that one of Jericho’s friends are going to stab him in the back in order to end the group. Much like Seth Rollins made himself a big deal by ending the Shield, one of these men will try & make themselves a big deal by ending the Inner Circle.

I dunno man. There’s just something about Sammy Guevara that gets my Spidey-Sense tingling. That’s why betting on the Pinnacle isn’t a bad idea.

AEW Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (-150) vs. Jon Moxley & Eddie Kingston (+110)

Mox & King are two of the best today, and are just delightful together. I would absolutely love it if they became Tag Team Champions. Most other people would as well, and that’s why the Young Bucks aren’t as heavily favored as one might expect. To me, it seems like a good time to actually lay some money down on the Young Bucks, even if they also remind me of Ned Flanders’ kids.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show! Or enjoy whining about the show, you do you.