After all of the title matches were wrestled, the feuds were fought, and the traditional bouts were out the window, AEW fans were treated to the finale of Double or Nothing 2024: Anarchy in the Arena. In a matter of 30 minutes, give or take a few seconds either way, eight of the biggest stars in the AEW Galaxy went to absolute war with no rules other than that someone needed a 1-2-3 to secure the victory, with Excaliber, Tony Schiavone, and Taz tasked with telling the very chaotic story to the fans watching along at home.
Given a few days to collect his thoughts, Schiavone gave his review of the match on his What Happened When podcast, letting fans know just how it felt to be tasked with verbalizing such an incredibly violent spectacle.
“So some things happened in that match. Obviously, the one thing that happened was Jack Perry getting burned, but a lot of things happened in that match. Darby being tied up by his legs. As that's going on, to be honest with you, I'm thinking, ‘What the f**k are we doing?!'” Tony Schiavone boldly declared via Fightful.
“Again, you're right. It's memorable. It's things that happened that you're going to remember for a long, long time. When people say, ‘Hey, did you ever see AEW Double or Nothing?' They're going to say, ‘Yeah, I remember when they burned Jack Perry, and they tied Darby Allin upside down, and he wore a face guard with thumbtacks on.'”
From the flamethrower spot, to the studded Reebok Superkicks, to a fight over whether or not production should play “The Final Countdown” throughout the match, a debate Bryan Danielson unfortunately lost to Matthew Jackson, in the end, fans in Las Vegas and watching along from around the world were afforded a truly interesting spectacle the likes of which they may never see again… at least until next year, as Anarchy in the Arena is an institution that only seems to get bigger with each passing year.
Tony Schiavone believes AEW has built an incredible pre-show team.
Elsewhere on What Happened When, Tony Schiavone commented on the collection of characters he gets to work with weekly in AEW, from the backstage producers like Jeff Jarrett – whom Schiavone lovingly refers to as an “old f**ker” – to RJ City and even Renee Paquette, the do-it-all AEW interviewer whom the former WCW personality believes is one of the most talented people he's ever worked with. Throw that trio together, and Schiavone believes AEW has found a fantastic pre-show panel that can help to tell the story and set up fans for an extended show filled with twists and turns.
“I guess I shouldn't have been, but I was kind of blown away [by] how versatile Jeff Jarrett is. That f**ker can do it all. I mean, he literally can do it all. I sent him a note. I said, ‘Dude, for an old f**ker, you can certainly do everything.' I was just blown away by it. Maybe I shouldn't have been. I thought his work on the pregame show — Of course, to me, I love RJ City. Some people do, some people don't. I just think he's a very talented very positive guy and works pretty hard behind the scenes as well,” Tony Schiavone explained via Fightful.
“Renee [Paquette] has to be the single most talented person I think I've ever worked with as far as on-camera work. Everything is so natural to her, and she's so good at what she does. When they threw Jeff Jarrett in and Jeff was just — I just thought he did a masterful job. I even let him know that. I said, ‘For an old f**ker, you can just about do anything in wrestling.' Wrestle, talk, like you said, everything. Hell, he could probably run a camera, too, if need be.”
While AEW still doesn't have a pre-show on par with WWE just yet, as they don't fly in multiple personalities and place them at a desk to add a “real sports” feel to the proceedings, they have seriously stepped up their offerings over the past few cycles, with Jarrett joining Paquette and RJ City to add some old-school wrestling knowledge to their more fast-and-loose style of wrestling commentary. If Schiavone approves of this pairing, which may change in the future depending on the venue, the load-in, and the setup, it sure sounds like AEW might have found themselves a winner, as in the end, it's all about pairing the correct pieces that fit together perfectly.