Smark Out Moment

With the way the world has been going the past few months, there's no safe bet on what's going to happen next. Even in the world of professional wrestling, things have been completely chaotic.

WrestleMania 36 was held mostly at the WWE Performance Center and every episode of television for World Wrestling Entertainment and All Elite Wrestling has been relegated to no-audience, empty-arena venues.

However, after being declared essential businesses, the show is still going on, as will the next two pay-per-views for these companies: WWE Money in the Bank 2020 and AEW Double or Nothing 2020.

So while there's no safe bet for what's going to happen next, since both events have a gambling theme to them, let's roll the dice and try to guess what matches will take place on those shows.



This event will take place Sunday, May 10th at what appears to be a combination of venues. Some matches will probably happen at the WWE Performance Center, while the two titular ladder matches will be held at WWE Headquarters (aka Titan Towers) in Stamford, Connecticut.

We already know some matches are certain, albeit with some tweaks. For instance, those Titan Towers bouts will be the Men's and Women's Money in the Bank ladder matches, but not all of the competitors have been established.

Currently, all but two members of both matches have been established. We're still waiting to see who wins between King Corbin vs. Drew Gulak and Lacey Evans vs. Sasha Banks on Friday Night SmackDown, as well as the other two qualifying matches that haven't been announced.

We also know Tamina will face Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship, Braun Strowman will defend the Universal Championship against Bray Wyatt, and Seth Rollins will attempt to win the WWE Championship from Drew McIntyre.

Those five matches should make up most, but not all of the card. Last year, there were 12 matches, but some of them were very short (one was only 8 seconds, one was 20 seconds and another was 1:40). At the very least, we can assume there's roughly 8 matches in mind, so let's try to figure out what the other 3 might be.

With Daniel Bryan in the MITB ladder match and Sami Zayn not having a feud with anyone else going on right now, it's safe to rule out the Intercontinental Championship being defended. Andrade's been a backup opponent for McIntyre lately, so I doubt the United States title will be on the line, either.

We could see The Street Profits defend the Raw Tag Team Championship against The Viking Raiders. That could be in the cards. Also, the SmackDown Tag Team Championship may be in the mix with the ladder match we were supposed to get at WrestleMania, as The New Day vs. The Usos vs. John Morrison and The Miz should definitely happen at some point.

I doubt the Raw Women's Championship will be up for grabs. Becky Lynch is just waiting for her next opponent. I also don't think the women's tag titles will be on the card, as that match is happening this week on SmackDown.

The only feud I could see getting added is the Otis and Mandy Rose saga. That has no spot on the card at the moment, but it's easy to do Otis and Mandy against Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville.

So here's what I'm thinking this card will end up being:

1. WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Seth Rollins
2. Universal Championship Match: Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bray Wyatt
3. Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match
4. Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match
5. SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Tamina
6. Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits (c) vs. The Viking Raiders
7. SmackDown Tag Team Championship Triple Threat Match: The New Day (c) vs. John Morrison and The Miz vs. The Usos
8. Mixed Tag Team Match: Otis and Mandy Rose vs. Dolph Ziggler and Sonya Deville

This event was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 23 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Since venues are closed across the globe, it's not as though AEW can just go to another part of the area and rent out something like the Las Vegas Palms Casino Resort or Mandalay Bay Events Center instead, pack the house and call it a day.

They've already announced that the show will return to MGM Grand Garden Arena in 2021, and it seems as though that could set a precedent for the pay-per-view to always run in this venue, similar to how All Out appears to be a Chicago event for the foreseeable future.

It's hard to imagine the 21-man Casino Battle Royale will happen this year, given protocols for physical distancing, but that may actually still be a possibility. If WWE is an essential business, AEW was probably given clearance to act under the same regulations. Assuming that's the case, they're then able to have more than 10 people in a gathering at the same time.

If so, and if AEW is willing to risk the potential problems that can come about from that, I guess that's going to be on the card and will consist of...well...21 people. That's kind of the gimmick, after all.

The only other match we know is scheduled is the final of the AEW TNT Championship Tournament, which will crown the inaugural champion. It will be either Cody Rhodes or Darby Allin against Dustin Rhodes or Lance Archer. Given the circumstances, I'd bank on Cody vs. Lance Archer being that match. It just makes more sense and I can't see Dustin beating someone like Archer, who is just getting started as a monster and should only lose to Cody, MAYBE.

It does seem like they're building to a match between Matt Hardy and Chris Jericho, which may or may not be filmed at the Hardy Compound.

Everything else is up in the air.

Who does Jon Moxley defend the AEW World Championship against? It's not Jake Hager, as that's already happened.

Nyla Rose hasn't been involved in the women's division, despite being champion. If she fights the No. 1 ranked contender, it would be her against Hikaru Shida. That makes sense.

"Hangman" Adam Page has been MIA, so he and Kenny Omega may not defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship. If they do, the top ranked team is Dark Order. That may be a good way to get Brodie Lee on the card without having him need to wrestle a particular opponent. Then again, he's fighting Marko Stunt next week, so maybe the plan is to have Brodie Lee, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson against Jurassic Express with Luchasaurus/Lee as the two heads and Marko Stunt and Jungle Boy matching up more with Uno and Grayson.

Kip Sabian and Colt Cabana had a thing going. Maybe that's a match? Best Friends have been very active recently, as has Shawn Spears. They shouldn't be entirely ignored, but could just end up in the battle royal.

AEW likes to have 8-9 matches per card, so let's see what we've got.

1. AEW World Championship Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. ???
2. 21-Man Casino Battle Royale
3. AEW TNT Championship Tournament Final
4. Matt Hardy vs. Chris Jericho
5. AEW Women's World Championship Match: Nyla Rose (c) vs. Hikaru Shida
6. The Dark Order vs. Jurassic Express or Dark Order gets a tag title shot
7. Kip Sabian vs. Colt Cabana
8. Something with Shawn Spears, maybe
9. Something with Best Friends, maybe

That is harder to figure out, but there is still enough time to sort out some ideas for May 23rd. No matter what we get for Double or Nothing, you can bet it will still be a lot of fun.