AEW went Double or Nothing last night in Queens, NY, and the show was jam-packed with action. Title matches, a Stadium Stampede, bus crashes, head blood, tables, Mick Foley getting hit in the beanbag, the show had it all, and you can read about all of it over on the AEW Double or Nothing 2026 results page. The Wrestling Inc. Staff also went deep into their feelings and discussed what they loved, and what they hated.Now, all that is left to assign Winners and Losers. As always, it will not be a literal account of the winners and losers, but instead more of an assessment of who looked good, who looked best, and who...well...simply did not.Sometimes losers are winners, like Darby Allin, and sometimes winners are losers, like Cope and Christian, who are -quite simply- mislabeled as tag team specialists, and are heading for deep water, fast, in their young reign as tag team champions.As always, the conversation can continue in the comments section. Without further adieu, here's the winners and losers from AEW Double or Nothing 2026.
I wasn't initially sure what to make of Darby Allin's brief sprint as AEW World Champion. I initially wrote it off as an AEW original, who has waited patiently, getting their turn in the spotlight, but now that it's over, it's a much weirder, much more interesting reign than I gave it credit.A lot of world title reigns are the same. The champion faces the usual coterie of main event stars, the defenses are stretched out over weeks and months, often the same match -barring any stipulation- that showcases everyone without giving up too much before the conclusion of the reign. Not so with Darby's quasi-suicidal 39 days as champion.Allin's reign was something of an oddity. The challengers weren't the usual main event scene, often instead feeling like popular stars auditioning for the main event treatment, while Allin made fans legitimately wonder if he would be healthy enough to drop the title to the next champion intentionally. It was the kind of reign that can be easily digested by any future AEW fans, who can queue up his various TV defenses on YouTube and knock it out in an afternoon, without feeling like they've wasted time on redundant storyline beats. Now that it is over, and can be measured in totality, it was the championship equivalent of living fast and dying young, which was perfect for Allin.
This might be the most controversial Losers I've ever written, but it's my column, and I'm free to write what I like within reason.Adam Copeland and Jay Reso are two incredible wrestlers, who were fortunate enough to be a tag team alongside the cream of the crop of WWE's tag team golden era. It is impossible to be as talented as they are, wrestle The Hardys, The Dudleys, The APA, Jericho & Benoit, and a collection of others, and not become one of the "greatest tag teams of all time," but I've never truly thought of Cope and Christian/Edge & Christian/The Brood/Whatever You Want To Call Them as the tag team greats their reputation suggests. The idea that they need to return to their tag team roots just doesn't pass muster for me. It's like if Simon & Garfunkel were two Paul Simons, and people tried to suggest that their best work was when they were together, despite the fact that in this universe there would be two Graceland albums, and for that matter two Hearts and Bones albums, and thus just completely untrue.Creatively, I think them being AEW Tag Team Champions is a dead end, and I also worry that they don't have the physical ability to hang that they thing.Adam Copeland's TNT Title reign ended due to an injury he suffered, attempting to keep up with the current generation, and I worry that -should the two end up tangling with FTR and The Young Bucks, as the tea leaves seem to suggest- we are heading for another Copeland derailment. I can see the "Adam Copeland injured in Wembley TLC Match" headlines already. I think Cope and Christian could've lost the match on Saturday, riding off into the sunset as a tag team, leaving fans wondering what could've been, and instead are heading for the deep waters of having to actually deliver a level of greatness that is easier to imagine than it is to realize.
I blinked, and suddenly Thekla took over the AEW Women's Title division in ways not seen since Britt Baker. I am not complaining in the slightest. She's a badass wildcard, who will throw down at the drop of the hat. While Marina Shafir is clearly Jon Moxley's protege, Thekla is Jon Moxley's daughter, at least spiritually, and I'm starting to think she might be just as important to the Women's Title division, especially since Toni Storm is MIA.Thekla is that perfect mix of believably dominant, but also every defense has me thinking, "Well, actually, this might be the one where she loses." The four-way match on Sunday was a who's-who of the current women's division, even resurrecting Jamie Hayter from her tag team purgatory, and Thekla still found herself on top of the mountain.The women's division has a tendency to rely on people a little more prim and proper than Thekla. She has a violent dirtbag streak in her that is fun to watch. She reminds me a little of prime Thunder Rosa, and if Rosa is going to be off on the fringes of the division, then I'm glad that there's still some of that energy alive in the division.
Alright, this one kinda hurts to admit, but I really feel like Bandido has hit some kind of ceiling in AEW. I don't even know why. He's a great wrestler. Tony Khan clearly feels that he's good enough to carry ROH, and he even had a wildly entertaining tag title reign with Brody King, but it feels like they only pull him out when they need to get over the Swerve Stricklands of the world. I don't buy that there will ever be a Bandido AEW World Title reign. Maybe it's his finisher, it's too complicated. I don't know the specifics, I just know that Bandido is better than first-round sacrifice to Swerve Strickland.The Men's Owen Hart Cup Bracket is so tilted towards a Strickland/Ospreay final, that it robbed both opening round matches of their drama. However, Will Ospreay and Samoa Joe at least had the novel story of "Samoa Joe cuts off all of Ospreay's signature Ospreay-isms," making for a fun ride to an inevitable conclusion, whereas Swerve vs. Bandido was a little more plodding, despite the breakneck speed and high-impact offense.This isn't a terminal case of loserdom or anything, Bandido can always bounce back, but it just felt like the ROH Champ deserved better
Kevin Knight is coming into his own as AEW TNT Champion, and turning him into Darby Allin's latest enemy feels like a brilliant move on everyone's part. Allin obviously needs another feud on his way back to the AEW World Title, and Allin's history with the TNT Championship already makes him a perfect contender for Knight's title, but now that there is a bit of personal injury and injustice added to the mix, AEW has the ingredients for more than just a quick title defense.A feud with Allin could make an already good heel turn into a great one, and an already solid TNT Title reign into a starmaker. The open challenge has run its course. It's now time for Knight to inspire challengers who actually want to end him, along with his reign. By betraying the AEW fanbase, Knight isn't just in line to feud with Allin, but also his likely shocked tag partner Mike Bailey.There's always been money in a Knight vs. Bailey match, but with an actual heel/face dynamic, and Bailey hoping to win his friend over from the darkside, AEW could have one hell of a comic book Wembley Stadium match on its hands. Knight's reign already had my interest, but with his main event heel turn, I am legitimately excited what the future holds for one of Magic City's biggest fans.
Kyle O'Reilly has become Jon Moxley's perosnal enhancement talent. He was given a few wins early in their feud, and now he seems to be the almost-ran of the AEW Continental Title Division.This is one of the downsides to narrative convention. Jon Moxley needed to be humbled by O'Reilly, who beat Moxley by surprise, so that he had a reason to get better within the Death Riders, and now that he's done the training, and put in the work, all that was left was to prove to O'Reilly that he won't be fooled again. It's a good story, and it was a good match, but it doesn't change the fact that O'Reilly can no longer say he "looked good in defeat"or whatever else you usually say to salve these kinds of losses. No, he's just a loser, for now.There's always time to rehabilitate him in this year's Continental Classic, but that doesn't change the fact that O'Reilly just doesn't look like he will ever be able to overcome the obstacle that is Jon Moxley, now that Moxley has learned the lessons he was supposed to learn.
