A year later, Double or Nothing gave us a look at All Elite Wrestling 2.0

A fan-less Daily’s Place on Saturday night in Jacksonville showed AEW can put on a different type of pay-per-view with its expanded and more-versatile roster. Gone were the wild flips, spot-filled and dance-like sequences from a company that began with the majority of its wrestlers in the 6-foot-and-under range when Double or Nothing was AEW’s inaugural pay-per-view last year.

What we saw Saturday – some of it because of injury and travel issues along with the absence of fans – was more brawling-style matches and a look at the company’s new big, athletic toys in Lance Archer (6-foot-8, 265 pounds), Brodie Lee (6-foot-5, 295 pounds) and the debuting Brian Cage (6-foot, 265 pounds).

“They sure aren’t getting any smaller are they? Christ, what the hell,” Moxley joked after beating Lee and being asked about facing Cage next for his AEW world championship.

Cage, the former Impact Wrestling champion, is a big man who can do many of the things the small wrestlers can’t. He won the Casino ladder match Saturday and will face Moxley at Fyter Fest. Archer, who was the first of the three to debut in March after leaving New Japan Pro-Wrestling, lost his TNT title match versus Cody Rhodes and Lee failed to beat Moxley, but established himself as a top-of-the-card performer in the company.

“[Brian Cage is] one of those guys who just defies all physics and logic, like Brodie Lee just an incredible athlete that can do things a guy that size shouldn’t be able to do,” Moxley said.

It’s why the trio, like the 6-foot-8 Luchasaurus, are far from your standard giants. Archer does moonsaults while walking on the top rope and Lee has taken the lead on the mic with the Dark Order. Archer has a mouthpiece in Jake “The Snake” Roberts and Taz’s role with Cage remains to be seen.

“They bring different dynamics to the roster,” Khan said. “I don’t want to like lump them in to together as like big guys. I think they are all very special in their own way. They’ve all come through for us.”

Khan said Cage had been signed in January and paid to rehab a torn biceps he suffered on this way out of Impact. The plan was to debut Cage at Double or Nothing all along after his rehab.

“He had no idea what he was coming in to do, I totally kayfabed him,” Khan said with a laugh. “But we really, really believe in him and strapped a rocket to him you could say.”

While Lee’s debut – which was supposed to be in his hometown of Rochester — didn’t go as planned because of the coronavirus pandemic, his first AEW pay-per-view drew praise from his peers. His feud with Moxley started just three weeks ago after the company was forced to tape shows with a limited roster in Georgia because of coronavirus restrictions.

“Brodie to his credit stepped up on three weeks notice when he could be at home just waiting until the world goes back to normal,” Moxley said.

Archer may have been the only one that left the pay-per-view losing some of his luster to the audience in his loss to Rhodes after being built as this unstoppable force. No matter what, he left an impression on Rhodes after the match, calling him “one of the top three people I’ve ever been in the ring with.”

“The recruitment of Lance Archer to AEW, QT Marshall and Tony Khan were really, they were the ones that were on that search,” Rhodes said. “I questioned that search and I have no questions anymore more. … That’s what a wrestling company should be paying the big bucks for.”

For AEW, it added up to a pay-per-view they were proud of. Moxley compared it winning the Super Bowl when “we were an underdog” because of the circumstances brought on by COVID-19.

“You paid 50 bucks for a pay-per-view in one of the most damnedest times our country’s ever seen,” an emotional Rhodes said. “We’re obligated, I’m obligated. It’s my literal job to make you happy and I’m very happy with tonight.”