This weekend's AEW Double or Nothing will see the Anarchy in the Arena match return for the fourth time, pitting the Death Riders' Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Wheeler Yuta, and Marina Shafir alongside the Young Bucks against The Opps' Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Katsuyori Shibata alongside Willow Nightingale, AEW International Champion Kenny Omega and Swerve Strickland. This is the story so far.
Since WrestleDream, having taken the AEW World Championship from Bryan Danielson and re-skinned the Blackpool Combat Club into his Death Riders, Moxley and his faction have been dominant in the numbers game against effectively all of their foes. Up until recently, the trio of Yuta, Castagnoli, and the now-sidelined PAC were the reigning World Trios Champions. But the tide seemed to be changing when PAC was injured, forcing Moxley to take his place in defending the trios titles against The Opps.On the other side, Hook had sustained an injury requiring Hobbs to step up as the new member of The Opps. The bout saw Joe's team draw first blood on the Death Riders, wresting the titles away from the Death Riders by choking out the world champion himself in the middle of the ring.
Joe leveraged that win to get his own opportunity at the world title, facing Moxley in a Steel Cage match during "AEW Dynamite: Beach Break." But he ultimately failed to follow up while the involvement of the Death Riders was counteracted by the arrival of Joe's teammates and Nightingale, NJPW star Gabe Kidd emerged at the last moment to hand Moxley his briefcase (containing the world title belt) to strike Joe with it and retain his title. Kidd has not been announced as part of Anarchy in the Arena, but it would be a surprise if he didn't get involved one way or another.
In the space of just over a year, Strickland and Joe have gone from world championship opponents Strickland dethroned Joe at Dynasty 2024 to allies against the current holder of the title. But Strickland isn't just out for vengeance against Moxley and the Death Riders this weekend.
Much like he had done the year before, Strickland was looking to become world champion once again when he challenged Moxley at Dynasty in April. Joe and The Opps were on deck to help his former rival when the Riders inevitably reared their heads, and for a brief moment in time it looked as though he actually was going to succeed. However, the lights went out, then came back on to reveal the Young Bucks had returned they hit thethe EVP Trigger to Strickland in the middle of the ring and handed Moxley his title retention.
Moxley spent the weeks following Dynasty maintaining that he didn't want anything to do with the Bucks, who were last seen in AEW running away from the company as the Death Riders ransacked the show immediately following their tag title loss to Private Party last year. But with the Bucks' former teammate in The Elite and someone to have previously beaten Moxley for the title, Omega, joining the fold, it appears that necessity and a common foe at least temporarily changed his mind. To the point that Moxley teamed with the Bucks this past week, albeit unsuccessfully.
The Bucks and Omega sit on opposite sides despite all being Executive Vice Presidents in the company, the former turning on the latter in 2023; Omega teamed with Chris Jericho to defeat the Bucks in a title shot vs. disbandment match, prompting the fallout which led to Omega being removed by them from The Elite in lieu of Kazuchika Okada last year.
