Team Strickland wins Anarchy in the Arena, Hook returns at AEW Double or Nothing

The fourth-ever Anarchy in the Arena match at Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing didn’t disappoint when it came to violence, plunder, some blood, and more violence — one that was won by Team Swerve Strickland.

Strickland, Kenny Omega, Samoa Joe, Katsuyori Shibata, Powerhouse Hobbs & Willow Nightingale defeated The Death Riders (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir & Wheeler Yuta) and the Young Bucks in the third-to-last match of the night.

The end came when Strickland hit a Swerve stomp on Nick Jackson while wearing his new Reebok sneakers adorned with thumbtacks while Omega hit a One Winged Angel on Matt Jackson onto an exploding table off the entrance ramp.

After being gone for several weeks, Hook made his surprise return, attacking Castagnoli with a golf club as a measure of revenge for taking him out in storyline on the April 9th Dynamite. Afterward, he glared at Joe and then walked away as tension within The Opps was heavily teased.

Joe then got a muscle buster and kokina clutch on Moxley, but Gabe Kidd ran in and took out Team Strickland with the briefcase holding the AEW title, punctuating things with a piledriver to Omega.

The Bucks lined up for the EVP trigger, but Yuta poured tacks into Omega’s mouth and then they connected on it. This led to a Castagnoli giant swing into a Yuta dropkick and a Moxley bulldog choke that nearly finished him off.

The heels then got Joe in a tough spot and brought him up to the entranceway where an ambulance was parked. Out of nowhere, a bloodied Mark Briscoe came out of nowhere with a flip dive off the stage to even things out. The faces eventually got all the Death Riders into the ambulance, leaving the Bucks alone with Strickland and Omega which led to the aforementioned sequence.

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Per usual, the first portion of the match had music playing which started with the Young Bucks’ 1700s era war tune which didn’t fit the mood. Kenny Omega then requested a change in song which turned into the Pointer Sisters’ I’m So Excited which AEW briefly used as a Dynamite theme song at the beginning of the year.

Omega later then requested a 2000s era alternative song which was Bodies by Drowning Pool which WWE used for a period of time in the mid-2000s. The song played three times through before the music portion ended.

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Here’s some highlights from a wild affair:

  • Strickland was adorned in a Predator tribute outfit while the Bucks were wearing “founding fathers” garb from the late-1700s complete with the aforementioned music.
  • Omega and Yuta were battling above an entrance tunnel and teasing jumping off. Hobbs then showed up and tossed Yuta into a group of 10-15 security members below before Omega followed up and jumped off with a moonsault.
  • At one point, Nightingale was chained by Shafir through her earring hole around the ring post. She eventually got free after Prince Nana secured a key later in the match.
  • Nick Jackson hit a senton on Hobbs from the above the entrance and appeared to hit his head on the stage or a light, but was ok after a few minutes. Matt Jackson and a refereee immediately checked on him.
  • Strickland drove out a forklift, with Nana on the back, and leaped off it to hit both Bucks with a Swerve stomp.
  • A staple gun got involved courtesy of the Jacksons. Matt used it on Hobbs’ back and then to his forehead which Hobbs just shrugged off. Strickland gained control and used it on everyone. Shafir got it and used it on Strickland’s tongue which he showed off after the match.
  • That led to a sequence where various members got their time to shine which includes Omega snapdragons for all (including Shafir) and Young Bucks superkicks for all including the referee and Nana.
  • Strickland and Nightingale combined for an Indytaker on Nick Jackson.