AEW Double Or Nothing 2026 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

AEW Double or Nothing 2026 is officially upon us, with a high-stakes nine-match main card featuring five title matches, three tournament matches, and one Stadium Stampede. And once again, it's time for the Wrestling Inc. staff to predict the winner of each and every contest!

Making these predictions is never completely easy, but some cards seem easier than others, and it must be said that this year's Double or Nothing appears to be one of those cards. The WINC crew is largely in agreement on a large portion of Sunday's bouts, with no fewer than four matches resulting in a unanimous decision from our collective voting body. But you never know — we've been wrong before, and Tony Khan will throw you some curveballs from time to time. Let us know who you think will win in the comments, and let's get to the picks!

One hundred percent of the Wrestling Inc. Staff can't be fooled, but I do admit that I would find it very funny if a team made up of Ricochet, The Gates of Agony, Mark Davis, Andrade, and a spin-off of a Bullet Club spin-off were able to defeat two former WWE Champions, a former AEW World Champion, two EVPs, an NCAA All-American, and Luke Perry's kid. It just doesn't really sound like a fair fight, especially when you factor in that Jericho has yet to get a big return win over Ricochet.

Jericho has assembled a team so strong that the possibility of them losing to Ricochet, Andrade, and The Rest sounds ridiculous. Omega is no longer one tummy punch away from death. The Young Bucks have money again. The Hurt Syndicate are still...um...hurting people. There's no weak link on the team. If this were WWE, I'd say Shelton Benjamin might be able to take a pinfall, but AEW has seemingly had much more respect for the former Intercontinental Champion. Meanwhile, everyone on Ricochet's team appears lucky that they're on Ricochet's team, since he is begging to eat some kind of heinous pinfall in this match. I don't know what he's going to be thrown off/through, but Ricochet seems doomed for some kind of big fall.

Written by Ross Berman

Sadly, a wrench has already been thrown in the Women's Owen Hart Memorial Tournament, as now-former TBS Champion Willow Nightingale had to withdraw from the competition, in addition to relinquishing her title, after suffering a shoulder injury. Instead of her previously scheduled match against Alex Windsor at Double or Nothing, another match will take place, with ROH Women's Champion Athena facing Mina Shirakawa. Not many of us are betting against the "forever champion," with 87% of us predicting the "Fallen Goddess" will advance to the next round of the tournament.

Shirakawa and Athena have met in singles competition just once before, and pretty recently, at that. Athena scored the victory over the "Timeless Love Bomb" at ROH Death Before Dishonor 2025. While Shirakawa may be a crowd favorite, and she certainly needs something to do now that her tag partner "Timeless" Toni Storm is on the shelf for at least the rest of the year, we don't think she's pulling out a victory over one of the most dominant women's champions in history.

Athena may have a lot on her plate with her title on ROH, and her goal of beating Bruno Sammartino's record of seven years as champion, but we think she deserves more time to shine on AEW programming. Winning at Double or Nothing and advancing in the tournament will certainly help her get more AEW TV time.

Written by Daisy Ruth

We've said it for months, but Will Ospreay is very likely on his way to an AEW World Championship match at All In in London, England. And to ensure that, he can take one of two routes: dethrone the AEW World Champion — whether that be MJF, Darby Allin, or someone else — ahead of the August 30 pay-per-view or win the Men's Owen Hart Foundation tournament.

The more probable path lies in the Men's Owen Hart Foundation tournament, which Ospreay has already found great success in. Last year, Ospreay advanced to the finals of the men's iteration, defeating the likes of Kevin Knight and Konosuke Takeshita in the early rounds before falling to the eventual winner, "Hangman" Adam Page.

This year, Ospreay will take on two-time AEW World Champion Samoa Joe in the opening round. Yes, Joe is certainly a force to be recognized with. But in our eyes, there's nothing more powerful than a man eager for redemption and a world title shot in his home country. That's why 100% of the Wrestling Inc. staff believe that Ospreay will use that dual-hunger as fuel to firstly push him through Samoa Joe at Double or Nothing, then potentially, to the tournament finals once again. Furthermore, we imagine that the possibilities of Ospreay facing his former United Empire stablemate Mark Davis and 2025 All In tag partner Swerve Strickland along the way are too good for AEW to pass up.

Have we mentioned that Ospreay is on the poster for AEW All In as well? Even more evidence to support our theory an AEW world title match awaits him at the event.

Written by Ella Jay

Sometimes, I have to guess what was going through my co-workers' minds when they had to vote on an event, and then sometimes I was covering the night they announced the Owen Hart Cup brackets, in which case, I can say that everyone in the WINC Slack channel saw the brackets and were immediately convinced that the final will be Swerve Strickland vs. Will Ospreay. You might be able to make the argument that Claudio has become popular enough to sneak into the finals, but no you can't and no he hasn't. This is going to be Swerve vs. Ospreay for the right to challenge for the world title in Wembley.

Literally any other opponent would give up the game, as Ospreay's crowning moment seems to be on the table every time AEW is heading to Wembley. With Swerve, there is at least a chance that Swerve could be heading back to the arena where he lost the title to Bryan Danielson. In that chance, all of the drama of the tournament lives.

Swerve could be facing a reincarnated version of Bruno Sammartino in MSG and I'd still say that he's the one who has to get to the finals. With all due respect to Bandido, the man has an ROH Championship to defend. It will certainly be a great match, but the result is not in doubt, at least according to the Wrestling Inc. staff.

Written by Ross Berman

Jon Moxley will be making the fourth defense of his Continental Championship this weekend against a man that made him submit twice last year, Kyle O'Reilly. Over the past year, O'Reilly has proven to be something of Moxley's boogeyman opponent, beginning with a bout in which he forced Moxley to get himself disqualified rather than submitting. Moxley was later counted out with O'Reilly as he looked close to submission once more, and finally his hand tapped the canvas inside Blood & Guts and then in a singles match at Full Gear. 

O'Reilly got injured shortly thereafter, and Moxley went on to win the Continental Classic and thus the title from Kazuchika Okada. Three defenses later, and O'Reilly had Moxley in yet another submission as the 20-minute time elapsed on their Continental Eliminator this past week, sealing a rematch for the title with the added stipulation that there will be no time limits. 

According to the poll put to Wrestling Inc.'s staff ahead of the event this weekend, O'Reilly will have a hard time waiting for lightning to strike a third time, with 93% backing Moxley to get the title retention and the proverbial monkey off his back. Of course that does leave 7% backing the challenger to wrest the title from Moxley.

Written by Max Everett

In a match that's perhaps one of the biggest draws of the entire Double or Nothing card, AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada will defend his gold against his Don Callis Family stablemate, yet bitter rival, Konosuke Takeshita. No matter what, we think this match leads to oriignal Don Callis Family member Takeshita leaving the faction, and a whopping 87% of us believe that he's leaving Callis' clutches with the title in hand.

The pair's feud has been bubbling to a breaking point for a while now, but their only singles match came during the 2025 Continental Classic semi-finals. In the match, Okada pulled out a screwdriver and nailed Takeshita in the head while the referee's back was turned, advancing to the final where he'd eventually be defeated by Jon Moxley. Fans were already clamoring for a Takeshita vs. Okada match and were delighted it happened at Worlds End, but it just wasn't enough, and we're getting it again at one of AEW's biggest shows of the year.

Okada has held the International Championship for over 313 days now after he defeated Kenny Omega for it, to then become the Unified Champion, last July. It feels like he hasn't defended often, either, which makes his reign feel longer. We think it's time once again for Takeshita to carry gold in AEW, and even though he's been International Champion before — if he defeats Okada and walks away from the Don Callis Family, though he may limp away after a post-match beatdown at Double or Nothing, it will mean a lot more.

The former IWGP World Heavyweight Champions will look to top their four-and-a-half star Revolution match on Sunday. It's going to be a battle, but almost all of us, at 87%, believe Takeshita is emerging from Double or Nothing victorious.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Last month, we thought that Adam Copeland and Christian Cage would walk out of AEW Dynasty, set in their home country of Canada, as the brand new AEW World Tag Team Champions. Evidently, we were wrong, as Cope and Cage instead left the pay-per-view titleless and bloodied while the referee raised FTR's hands in victory.

Fast forward to the present day, Copeland and Cage are now back in the tag team title picture, with the stakes raised even higher. This go-around, Copeland and Cage will challenge FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) for the titles in an "I Quit" match, and in the event that they lose, Copeland and Cage must permanently retire as a tag team.

The idea of Copeland and Cage, two of the most respected and iconic veterans, ending their tag team journey without at least a taste of AEW tag gold seems far-fetched, so much so that 100% of us are banking on them bouncing back with a win at Double or Nothing to avoid it. AEW certainly loves those feel-good moments, and what better way to create one than by awarding Cope and Cage with not only their first set of AEW tag team gold, but their first overall since 2001?

It's no secret that Copeland and Cage are also no longer in the prime of their careers, which means the window to retirement is closing in. Copeland himself recently acknowledged that he may have two full years left as an in-ring competitor. Meanwhile, Cage suggested that he'd re-evaluate his own wrestling future once his existing contract expired around 2027.

This is likely Copeland and Cage's last chance to win tag team gold of any kind, so we believe AEW will maximize it to the highest degree with the announcement of "and new" at Double or Nothing.

Written by Ella Jay

Thekla will be defending her Women's World title against three others this weekend, with former champions Kris Statlander, Jamie Hayter, and Hikaru Shida all challenging her for the mantle at Double or Nothing. 

It will be her fifth defense of the title since becoming champion in February, dethroning Statlander and since beating her in Two Out of Three Falls at Revolution in March. And she also holds a victory over Hayter after Dynasty. Shida is the only one to have not challenged for her title thus far, having gone 1-1 in singles action since returning in April. 

Nevertheless, the poll put to the Wrestling Inc. staff reflects an 87% belief that Thekla will be walking in and out of the champion. With everyone in the match possessing their own justification to be champion, Statlander and Hayter command a mere 7% of the vote, while Shida received no votes. And with no disqualifications and the Sisters of Sin, Julia Hart and Skye Blue, lurking on the periphery, there's a chance that even in a four-way the numbers will still favor the champion.

Written by Max Everett

MJF looks to reclaim the AEW World Championship from Darby Allin, earning himself his third reign with the gold, but he's putting his hair on the line to do so. There are a few reasons why 60% of us believe MJF is winning this hair-vs-title match, including the fact we don't believe he's shaving his head after he underwent a hair transplant, but also because we think there could be bigger plans for him and the "Big, Beautiful Belt" going in to All In.

Allin has had one heck of a run with the gold, putting up seven total consecutive defenses across "Dynamite" and "Collision" against the likes of Kevin Knight, Tommaso Ciampa, Konosuke Takeshita, and more, but it was widely reported that Allin would reign for a good time, not a long time. We also saw Allin pass out while applying the Scorpion Death Lock to Sammy Guevara during their "Collision" match, so the seed has been planted that his body is close to giving out, something that MJF is going to take advantage of.

While Allin has been working hard to defend the title and be a fighting champion, MJF has only had one match on "Dynamite" since his championship loss in a squash on April 15. MJF is fresh, and he's going to be out for blood. A motivated MJF is a dangerous MJF, and he's got a lot on the line on Sunday.

As for All In, if Will Ospreay emerges the winner of the Owen Hart Tournament, he's going to need a heel to go one-on-one with to capture the gold for the first time at Wembley Stadium. Many of us amongst the 60% who believe MJF is winning at Double or Nothing also believe he'll still be champion for that All In bout.

Written by Daisy Ruth