AEW Double or Nothing will be LIVE from Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York, New York, TONIGHT, Sunday, May 24, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on HBO Max pay-per-view!
This is the eighth annual Double or Nothing and the first ever held at Louis Armstrong Stadium, bringing AEW’s marquee event to the East Coast for the first time. Double or Nothing 2026 features nine matches on the main card, including five championship bouts and three quarterfinal matches to kick off the 2026 Owen Hart Foundation Tournament for both the men and women, as well as the fourth Stadium Stampede in AEW history.
Before the main card, The Buy In is free to watch on HBO Max and AEW’s YouTube channel, starting at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT, featuring three additional matches. AEW CEO & GM Tony Khan announced this past Wednesday that the legendary Mick Foley will join Renee Paquette as her co-host – Mrs. Foley’s baby boy is coming to All Elite Wrestling tonight!
Check out the full AEW Double or Nothing preview below to find out how we arrived at each of these matches before it all goes down tonight!
AEW Double or Nothing Match Card & Preview
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AEW World Championship Title vs. Hair Match: Darby Allin (c) vs. MJF
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AEW Women’s World Championship Match: “The Toxic Spider” Thekla (c) vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander
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AEW International Championship Match: “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita of the Don Callis Family
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AEW World Tag Team Championship New York Street Fight “I Quit” Match (if Cage & Cope lose, they can never team again): FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) (c) vs. Cage & Cope (Adam Copeland & Christian Cage)
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AEW Continental Championship Match (No Time Limit): Jon Moxley (c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly
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Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinals: Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe
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Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinals: Swerve Strickland vs. ROH World Champion Bandido
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Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Quarterfinals: ROH Women’s World Champion Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa
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Stadium Stampede: The Demand (Ricochet, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun), The Dogs (Clark Connors and David Finlay) and the Don Callis Family (Andrade El Ídolo and AEW National Champion Mark Davis) vs. Jericho, The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin), the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), “Jungle” Jack Perry and Kenny Omega
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AEW Double or Nothing Buy In: AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship 5-Minute Eliminator: Divine Dominion (“Megasus” Megan Bayne and “Colossal” Lena Kross) (c) vs. Zayda Steel & Viva Van
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AEW Double or Nothing Buy In: The Opps (HOOK, Anthony Bowens and Katsuyori Shibata) vs. Death Riders (Daniel Garcia, Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta)
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AEW Double or Nothing Buy In: The Conglomeration (Mark Briscoe and AEW World Trios Champions Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong) & Boom & Doom (Big Boom AJ and QT Marshall) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Carlie Bravo, Shawn Dean and Anthony Ogogo)
AEW World Championship Title vs. Hair Match: Darby Allin (c) vs. MJF
Last month, Darby Allin turned a victory over Andrade El Ídolo at AEW Dynasty into an AEW World Championship match at Spring BreakThru three days later, where he stunned MJF with a headlock takeover into a pin to become AEW World Champion for the first time.
Since then, Allin has defended the title against all comers, refusing to slow down despite the mounting damage of a week-by-week championship gauntlet. Meanwhile, MJF continued to demand a rematch, which Allin repeatedly denied, insisting that MJF put something on the line. Finally, Allin told MJF he’d give him an AEW World Title shot if MJF agreed to have his head shaved if he lost. The vain and selfish MJF was haunted by the idea of being bald seemingly everywhere he went, from backstage to his social media algorithm. Two weeks ago, on Dynamite, he finally signed the contract and attacked Allin after Allin had just been through a hellacious AEW World Title defense against “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita.
Allin comes into this match already having solidified his first AEW World Championship reign as even more than a fighting champion. From the start, Darby admitted this is his 15 minutes and wanted to make the most of it – because it’s a feeling and goal he chased for so long, so why not take every chance to defend his AEW World Title? One week after beating MJF, Allin had his first AEW World Championship defense against “Psycho Killer” Tommaso Ciampa. He has since gone on to successfully defend it six more times after that against Brody King, TNT Champion “The Jet” Kevin Knight, PAC, Takeshita, Sammy Guevara and, most recently, “Speedball” Mike Bailey this past Wednesday. He’ll walk into Double or Nothing with seven title defenses in less than 35 days. Only MJF’s first reign (10 defenses over a record 406 days) and Jon Moxley’s first reign (9 defenses in 277 days) produced more successful defenses.
Tonight, MJF will be fighting to become a three-time AEW World Champion, yes, but if he loses, he goes home both empty-handed and bald. It would be an understatement to say MJF has been gotten to by the idea of losing his hair, so how far will he go to keep it? MJF might have two pinfall victories over Allin, but this is the first time he’ll face Allin as the championship challenger. With Allin’s AEW World Title and MJF’s hair both hanging in the balance, who walks out of Double or Nothing with the AEW World Championship?
AEW Women’s World Championship 4-Way Match: “The Toxic Spider” Thekla (c) vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida vs. Kris Statlander
This marks Thekla’s Double or Nothing debut, and she makes it defending the AEW Women’s World Title against three former AEW Women’s World Champions, a first in AEW history.
Hayter was the woman who first pinned Thekla last October at AEW WrestleDream. Statlander was the second person to pin Thekla, but wound up losing the AEW Women’s World Title to The Toxic Spider in a Strap Match on Dynamite in February. Thekla went on to successfully defend the title against Statlander in a 2-Out-of-3-Falls rematch at AEW Revolution in March. Shida is one of the most decorated Women’s World Champions in AEW history, with three title reigns, including a record 372-day reign as champion the first time she held the title. So while Shida doesn’t have the same history with Thekla as the other challengers, her reputation speaks for itself.
There are also other factors at play beyond Thekla’s history with the competition. Triangle of Madness have terrorized the women’s division, with Skye Blue and Julia Hart doing whatever it takes to keep the AEW Women’s World Championship in Thekla’s toxic web. That’s run them afoul of Hayter and Alex Windsor, the Brawling Birds, who have been more than happy to fight whenever the two sides are in the same place. And then there’s the tense alliance of Shida and Statlander, which could easily come crashing down with so much up for grabs. Will Thekla’s toxicity be enough to defeat three former champions, or will one of her challengers become AEW Women’s World Champion once again?
AEW International Championship Match: “The Rainmaker” Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. “The Alpha” Konosuke Takeshita
Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada have been uneasy with each other as members of the Don Callis Family ever since Callis brought Okada into the Family before he faced and beat Kenny Omega to win the AEW International Champion and become the first-ever AEW Unified Champion last year at All In: Texas. Of course, that International Championship was the one Omega won from Takeshita at Revolution last March. Takeshita hasn’t had another shot at winning it back until tonight, and a win could mean even more than becoming champion.
Takeshita demanded this match with Okada, and after trying to keep the peace for the better part of a year, Callis finally agreed to let the two fight for the AEW International Title at Double or Nothing, if they tagged together against the Young Bucks at Dynasty. Takeshita agreed, but the partnership broke down multiple times in the match until Takeshita left Okada to fend for himself. Despite breaking the deal, Okada told Callis he still wanted to face Takeshita and tonight, that finally happens.
These two met for the first time in singles competition at AEW Worlds End 2025, where Okada won in the semifinals of the 2025 Continental Classic by using a screwdriver. That result only added to the tension. This is one of the most anticipated matches in AEW history – unless you’re Don Callis, who could be watching two of his top dogs fracture the Family beyond repair. Can Okada turn away Takeshita for a second time? Or will Takeshita reclaim the AEW International Championship and severely bruise the ego of The Rainmaker?
AEW World Tag Team Championship New York Street Fight “I Quit” Match: FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (c) w/Stokely vs. Christian Cage & Adam Copeland
At All Out 2025 in Toronto, Cage and Cope defeated FTR, but in a vicious post-match attack, FTR destroyed Beth Copeland with a spike piledriver. That left both men looking for answers until they returned at Revolution in March and made clear they wanted the AEW World Tag Team Championships after FTR defeated the Young Bucks. Yet at Dynasty in Vancouver, FTR retained after bloodying Copeland during the match and further injuring Cage’s fractured arm. That result only sharpened the edge. Cope demanded a third match and put everything on the table himself: if Cage and Cope fail to win the titles on Sunday, they can never team together again. FTR added the “I quit” stipulation in hopes of humiliating Cage and Cope.
The challengers have their own history with that stipulation. At a Dynamite in Toronto in March 2024, Cope forced Cage to say, “I quit,” to win the TNT Championship, which Cope jokingly reminded him of recently. However, Cage has insisted ever since that he never actually said those words. Now, the two men stand together with the same stipulation in play, only this time, their legendary partnership is on the line.
FTR call themselves the greatest tag team of any generation. Tonight, Cage and Cope have the chance to refute that claim in the most definitive way possible, or lose their partnership trying.
AEW Continental Championship Match (No Time Limit): Jon Moxley (c) vs. AEW World Trios Champion Kyle O’Reilly
O’Reilly has had Moxley’s number, as we saw once again when The Conglomeration member went the distance with Moxley on this past Wednesday’s Dynamite in an Eliminator Match, nearly tapping out Mox for a third time as time expired. O’Reilly earned this Continental Championship match as a result, and there will be no time limit to survive this time.
Now, Moxley has to beat O’Reilly to retain his championship, which he’s been unable to do so far. Moxley actually thanked O’Reilly for pushing him to this level, but is that false bravado from a man who doesn’t have the answer he needs? O’Reilly is as confident as he’s ever been, and with good reason. He tapped out Moxley twice and truly believes he’ll do it again at Double or Nothing. Will O’Reilly be the one to end Moxley’s reign, or can Moxley finally figure out O’Reilly?
Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinals: Will Ospreay vs. Samoa Joe
These two have never faced each other in any match. Indeed, Double or Nothing is the first time Will Ospreay and Samoa Joe will ever share a ring as opponents. And if the stakes weren’t high enough in this quarterfinal matchup in the 2026 Owen Cup and all that’s at stake there, there’s the issue of Ospreay’s training with the Death Riders – the very same Death Riders that viciously attacked him, targeting his neck after the Lights Out Steel Cage at Forbidden Door 2025.
Major neck surgery and months of recovery followed. Ospreay made a surprise return at Revolution and went right after Moxley and the Death Riders. Ospreay got his shot at Mox and the AEW Continental Championship at Dynasty. Still, Ospreay’s inability to stay focused on the belt rather than the revenge cost him, and Moxley retained. However, Moxley saw that as an opportunity to help Ospreay become the best version of himself, which Ospreay knows he needs to be if he wants to win the AEW World Championship finally.
While Ospreay has prospered alongside the Death Riders so far, he ignored multiple invitations from Joe to join The Opps, which only angered the former AEW World Champion. Ospreay enters the Owen Cup with a clarity of purpose, and he made that clear to Joe this past Wednesday on Dynamite. He’s doing what he has to do to be the best, because he has a whole country on his back. He needs to win the Owen Cup to earn a shot at the AEW World Championship at All In: London in Wembley Stadium.
Ospreay and Joe have been in the finals of this tournament over the years before; Joe did it in 2022 before losing to Adam Cole, while Ospreay took the loss in last year’s finals to “Hangman” Adam Page, in arguably the match of the year. Amazingly, either Ospreay or Joe will exit in the opening round this year. So, who is better equipped to get the job done tonight and make a run to win their first Owen Cup?
Owen Hart Foundation Men’s Tournament Quarterfinals: Swerve Strickland vs. ROH World Champion Bandido
After an extended absence, Swerve Strickland went looking for Bandido and burned a Most Wanted poster to send a message to the ROH World Champion. Swerve took it several steps further when he brutally attacked Bandido at ROH Supercard of Honor last weekend after Bandido had been through a tough title defense against Blake Christian. Bandido answered back this past Wednesday with a sneak attack of his own, which caused Swerve to retreat.
Tonight, they’ll finally go one-on-one, but the stakes aren’t just personal. The winner moves to the semifinals of the Owen Cup, where they’ll face Claudio Castagnoli or Bandido’s tag partner (and a past Swerve rival), Brody King. Will Swerve take the next step in his thirst for power, or will the Most Wanted take out the Most Dangerous?
Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament Quarterfinals: ROH Women’s World Champion Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa
This match was originally scheduled for a future date, but when Willow Nightingale announced a shoulder injury that forced her to relinquish the AEW TBS Championship and withdraw from the tournament, the women’s bracket was reshuffled, with Athena vs. Mina Shirakawa moved to Double or Nothing.
At All In: Texas last year, Athena broke Mina Shirakawa’s hand during the Casino Gauntlet. Mina had a chance at revenge a month later, but she lost her ROH Women’s World Title match to Athena at Death Before Dishonor. Athena arrives as the longest-reigning champion in ROH history, with a ROH Women’s World Title reign at 1,261 days, and a massive chip on her shoulder after losing in the semifinals of last year’s tournament to the eventual winner, Mercedes Moné. Shirakawa laid out Athena during their 8-Woman Tag Team Match this past Wednesday, but can she send Athena packing with another early exit, or will Athena begin her redemption run?
Stadium Stampede: The Demand (Ricochet, Toa Liona and Bishop Kaun), The Dogs (Clark Connors and David Finlay) & the Don Callis Family (Andrade El Ídolo and AEW National Champion Mark Davis) vs. Jericho, The Hurt Syndicate (Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin), the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson), “Jungle” Jack Perry and Kenny Omega
For the first time since 2023, Stadium Stampede is back, and this time, it’s the biggest version yet. A record 14 competitors will take on the chaos of a match where anything goes anywhere in the stadium!
What started as The Demand beating up Jericho in 3-on-1 attacks every week turned into multiple rivalries and alliances being formed. Jericho recruited Lashley and Benjamin to join him, so Ricochet cut a deal with Don Callis to enlist the services of AEW National Champion Mark Davis and Andrade El Ídolo. It was Ricochet who helped Davis beat Perry for the National Title, so Perry decided to join Jericho’s side with the Bucks and Omega. The Dogs, who’ve had their own issues with the Bucks, rounded out Ricochet’s squad. So now, this 7-on-7 showdown brings Stadium Stampede back to Double or Nothing for the first time since 2021.
The original Stadium Stampede, a Jericho creation, took place at Double or Nothing 2020, where the Bucks and Omega faced off opposite Jericho. Those four men will be on the same team this time around, and they are the only ones with Stadium Stampede experience. There’s nothing like a Stadium Stampede, and with the biggest field ever, this will be one you won’t want to miss!
AEW Double or Nothing Buy In – AEW Women’s World Tag Team Championship 5-Minute Eliminator: Divine Dominion (“Megasus” Megan Bayne & “Colossal” Lena Kross) vs. Zayda Steel & Viva Van
Alongside Christopher Daniels and coming off of their strong showings at Supercard of Honor, Zayda Steel and Viva Van issued a challenge this past Wednesday, and Divine Dominion eagerly accepted. The AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions have promised a future title shot to anyone who can last five minutes with them. So far, no one has even lasted three minutes. Can Steel and Van stay alive for five?
AEW Double or Nothing Buy In – Trios Match: The Opps (HOOK, Anthony Bowens & Katsuyori Shibata) vs. Death Riders (Daniel Garcia, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta)
The training of Will Ospreay has brought The Opps and Death Riders to blows yet again, although, unlike last year, Ospreay finds himself on the other side of the battle, much to the chagrin of Samoa Joe. When Ospreay ignored Joe’s offers, The Opps tried to attack Ospreay, but they were run off by the Death Riders. This Trios Match sees both sides take to the battlefield before the Ospreay vs. Joe Owen Cup clash on the main card.
AEW Double or Nothing Buy In – The Conglomeration (Mark Briscoe and AEW World Trios Champions Orange Cassidy and Roderick Strong) & Boom & Doom (Big Boom AJ and QT Marshall) vs. Shane Taylor Promotions (Shane Taylor, Lee Moriarty, Carlie Bravo, Shawn Dean and Anthony Ogogo)
The bad blood between Shane Taylor Promotions and The Conglomeration comes to a head in a massive 10-man tag, with Boom & Doom joining forces alongside OC, Briscoe and Roddy. The issues began at Supercard of Honor, when The Conglomeration came to the aid of new ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Outrunners and Dalton Castle, after Shane Taylor Promotions attacked them following their loss of the titles.
STP remains on the hunt for gold, and they’ve been looking at the AEW World Trios Titles. But tonight, we’ll see 10-man tag team action with a pair of past STP rivals in Boom & Doom joining forces with The Conglomeration. They beat The Infantry at Revolution, which included a memorable spear from Big Justice on Shane Taylor. Will it be five big BOOMS? Or will STP ruin the fun?
How to Watch AEW Double or Nothing & Start Time
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Date: Sunday, May 24, 2026
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Start Time: 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT (The Double or Nothing Buy In starts at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT on HBO Max and AEW digital platforms and runs for one hour before Double or Nothing.)
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Location: Louis Armstrong Stadium – Flushing, New York
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How to Watch: Double or Nothing is available to order on HBO Max in the United States! For more, including how to order, click here! Double or Nothing is also available on Amazon Prime, MyAEW, YouTube (Buy In only), and other streaming and pay-per-view platforms.
