Folks, gather ‘round because the FTW Championship match at AEW Double or Nothing was a spectacle more surprising than finding a goldfish in your morning cereal! The legendary Chris Jericho managed to hold onto his FTW title in a chaotic triple threat match against former champion HOOK and the formidable Katsuyori Shibata. And how did he do it? With a little help from his friends, of course!
Jericho, always the strategist, enlisted a “Bounty Hunter” to ensure his victory. Enter a masked Bryan Keith and the towering Big Bill, both ready to do Jericho’s bidding and turn the odds in his favor. It was a night where “The Learning Tree” proved that sometimes you need a whole forest to get the job done.
The match kicked off with Jericho introducing a bag of dice—because why not add a little gamble to the rumble? Unfortunately for him, both challengers suplexed him right onto those dice, reminding everyone that wrestling and board games are a dangerous mix. The trio then squared off in the ring with kendo sticks, where Jericho took the first swing. But HOOK and Shibata stood firm, returning the favor and beating Jericho like a drum at a rock concert.
The chaos escalated as Shibata set up a table in the ring. HOOK hoisted Jericho onto it, climbed to the top rope, but Shibata had other plans. In a twist that would make any plot thickener proud, Shibata executed a Death Valley Driver on HOOK, sending both him and Jericho crashing onto the table. The table, in an act of defiance, refused to break, and poor HOOK seemed to clip the back of his head on the edge.
HOOK, showing the resilience of a cat with nine lives, locked Jericho into a Red Rum. But before anyone could shout “new champion,” Big Bill blindsided HOOK, attempting to chokeslam him through an outside table. HOOK, channeling his inner ninja, countered and sent Big Bill crashing through the table instead.
Back in the ring, the action was as intense as ever. Jericho managed to lock Shibata in the Walls of Jericho, but Shibata countered with a Figure Four. Not to be outdone, HOOK returned and mirrored the submission, locking in a Red Rum on Jericho, just as they had done to Keith to set up this match.
The climax came when Keith, dressed in black and sporting a luchador mask, stormed the ring with a trash can. He used it to lay out both challengers, putting the can over Shibata’s head for good measure. In the final moments, Jericho hit HOOK with a Judas Effect and pinned Shibata, who was still trapped in the trash can. The result? Jericho retains his FTW Championship in a match that was as wild as a rodeo.
So, folks, the night belonged to Chris Jericho, who proved that with a little help from his friends (and a lot of chaos), he’s still the FTW Champion. Tremendous!