At AEW Double or Nothing in 2019, the company opened the show with the incredible Casino Battle Royale. Adam Page won the match and earned the right to compete for the inaugural AEW World Championship. The Casino Battle Royale happened again on All Out 2020, this time won by Lance Archer. RELATED: 10 Times The Royal Rumble Winner Was Painfully. 17 men out of the 21 participants who will be part of the Casino Battle Royale are announced, leaving four mystery entrants. The winner of this battle royal will be competing against the winner of Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega match at a later date to crown the inaugural AEW World champion.

Hours before the AEW Games' first presentation fans discovered a new website, aewgames.com, was active and confirmed several aspects of All Elite Wrestling's plans with video games moving forward. The site, which has since been locked off via a password, confirms three games are on the way — an untitled console game developed by Yuke's Co., a game titled AEW Elite General Manager and AEW Casino: Double or Nothing.

The Japanese developer was previously heavily involved in developing WWE video games, starting with WWF SmackDown! on the PlayStation and WWF Royal Rumble on the Dreamcast in 2000. Their last title was WWE 2K19, ending their 18-year relationship with the franchise.

AEW president Tony Khan confirmed in the post-show media scrum for Full Gear on Saturday that the first two games were on the way.

'I can't say too much,' Khan said. 'We're making multiple games. We're working on more than one game in AEW Games and we're going to cater to different platforms. We're going to cater to different kinds of games and different interests. I think we'll put a title out, a console game that's best in class [for a] console game. We're really excited about it. We have some big surprises to come in 2020. I just can't say enough, there's still time in 2020. The show was great but there is still going to be a lot to come this year. That can impact our video game plans.

'And also, we're going to put something out for those people, like myself, that love putting wrestling cards up together and it allows somebody to do the job I do, be the general manager of AEW and book cards,' he added. 'That'll be fun. There's going to be a few different titles and then I don't think we're going to stop anywhere either. I think we're going to expand here at AEW Games because it's a great chance to build AEW, introduce gaming fans to AEW and introduce AEW to gaming fans, expand and build a business. There's a lot to come there, for sure.'

We will keep you updated on more information as it becomes available.

In an interview with ComicBook earlier this year, Kenny Omega (one of AEW's executive vice presidents who has been credited in helping develop AEW's games division) explained what modern pro wrestling titles are missing compared to classic games from the early 2000s.

0comments

'For me it's a feeling of actually performing a match,' Omega said. 'It's a feeling of impact with each maneuver. I also feel that, a big thing with No Mercy was that when you did a maneuver by a particular wrestler, the way it was performed and the way it the opponent received the move looked perfect in every single animation. That's because the artists back then, they weren't using green screens, they weren't using MoCap they were actually manipulating joints frame by frame by frame by frame while watching tape of said performer doing that maneuver to an actual opponent.

'There's a big difference,' he added. 'I know there's a lot of good athletes out there and I'm sure that there are a lot of people that do and can do a V-Trigger, but if it doesn't quite look like the way I do mine the way that I did the Kotaro Crusher, when I do the One Winged Angel it shows. Even if it's similar, it still doesn't feel the same. It doesn't feel right. I think that is what's missing in games, you just don't actually feel like you are the superstar, that you've chosen to control.'

With a little over two week to go until Double or Nothing, AEW have unveiled an original match type that will be one of the centre-pieces of the event.

Despite an inaugural AEW Champion yet to be crowned, the organisation have revealed plans for a 21-man Over The Top Rope Elimination Match to find their first challenger. Whoever that ends up being.

The match itself, 'The Casino Royale', looks like becoming a staple part of the fledgling promotion's calendar with numerous similarities to WWE's Royal Rumble already obvious. 21 man enter, they attempt to eliminate each other over the top rope and the last man in the ring receives a championship match at a later date. Where the matches differ though, are in their execution. Speaking in this week's Wrestling Observer, Dave Meltzer explained it thusly.

Casino Royale Aew Arena

The rules are that everyone draws cards from a deck. The first five wrestlers who draw clubs, spades, diamonds or hearts, are put together in a group. One of those groups of five will start the match. At the three minute mark, another suit group of five will enter. At the six minute mark, a third group of five will enter. The remaining group of five will enter at the nine minute mark. But this is a 21 man Battle Royal, and the final entrant, the person who draws the joker card, will enter by himself at the 12:00 mark. Eliminations are for throwing someone over the top rope.

Names already confirmed for this match are Jimmy Havoc, Billy Gunn, MJF, Michael Nakazawa, Jungle Boy. Glacier, Sonny Kiss, Joey Janela, Ace Romero, Brandon Cutler, Sunny Daze, Brian Pillman Jr and Dustin Thomas, who you may remember grabbed a number of headlines over WrestleMania weekend when he competed at Joey Janela's show despite being a double leg amputee. Trent Baretta and Chuckie T have also been announced, but this might be as part of an angle leading to a single's match.

The Casino Royale match isn't expected to headline the event, that honour instead going to Chris Jericho vs. Kenny Omega. Elsewhere on the card Young Bucks defend the AAA tag team titles against Pentagon Jr. & Fenix, Hangman Page takes Pac, Cody faces his brother Dustin Rhodes, and there's a triple threat match between Dr. Britt Baker, Nyla Rose and Kylie Rae. The event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 25, 2019.

This of course isn't the promotion's only major news this week, with confirmation coming from British broadcaster ITV that they would be showing Double or Nothing on their PPV service.

Casino Royale Aew Logo

Speaking about the news, owner Tony Khan said;

'We’ve stated since our launch that we want to make this the greatest time ever to be a professional wrestling fan, and part of this plan is to make our product as accessible as possible to a global audience. Since our launch in January, we’ve signed the best talent, sold out our debut show in record time, and we’ve built relationships and formed bonds with the best media partners like ITV. This collaboration with ITV is so important to AEW, ITV is the best in the UK, they were always my first choice to be our international PPV partner for DOUBLE OR NOTHING, and we’re looking forward to a great show.”

Interestingly, ITV are handling the show under their Sports Department, rather than the Entertainment Department they ran their own wrestling promotion World of Sport through. In much the same way as FOX intend to treat their relationship with WWE, this suggests that AEW will look to push the event as more of a legitimate sport than merely a light entertainment product.

Casino Royale Royal Caribbean

We need more writers about AEW and AEW Double Or Nothing! Get started below...