The battle royal is one of the most fun match types to watch, as it basically amounts to a large group of wrestlers all fighting at the same time, and with the same goal: throw everyone else over the top rope, and be the last one remaining in the ring. It’s a distinct little subgenre of wrestling, with its own tropes and go-to spots that frequently surface, like a wrestler landing somewhere that keeps them safe, or a bad guy going through the middle ropes so that they’re not actually eliminated.

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All Elite Wrestling has its own special version of the match type, called the Casino Battle Royale. Wrestlers in this match draw playing cards and are arranged into one of the four suits, entering the fray at the same time -- except the wrestler who draws the Joker card, who enters solo at the very end and is usually a surprise character. AEW has done six of these so far, so let’s run through each of them, starting with the least well-received.

6 All Out 2019: Women’s Casino Battle Royale

All Out 2019: Women’s Casino Battle Royale

The special Buy-In preshow for All Out 2019 featured the second-ever Casino Battle Royale and the first featuring the women’s division, with the winner going on to the big match to crown an inaugural Women’s World Champion on the first episode of Dynamite. It’s an oddly forgettable affair made stranger in retrospect by virtue of this 21-woman affair being mostly women who didn’t stick around with AEW. While it was nice to see talent like Tenille Dashwood, ODB, Jazz, and Faby Apache, it’s weird in retrospect that the Joker ended up being Mercedes Martinez, who soon signed to NXT instead. Nyla Rose would be the last woman standing in this match, going on to lose to Riho in that Women’s Title match -- though Rose would eventually win it.

5 All Out 2020: Men’s Casino Battle Royale

AEW All Out 2020: Men's Casino Battle Royale

Despite reservations about the Casino Battle Royale, 2019's All Out was a strong effort for AEW, so the 2020 sequel was highly anticipated. However, the show was ultimately a mixed bag, with any positives seemingly counterweighted by an opening cinematic match that was very poorly received and outrage over Matt Hardy working a match with an apparent head injury. This unfortunate streak continued with this iteration of the Casino Battle Royale, which featured the men of AEW this time.

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While bright spots of the bout included strong performances from Will Hobbs -- back then still strictly an AEW Dark mainstay -- and Darby Allin, all was overshadowed by Joker entrant Matt Sydal crashing to the canvas after botching a Shooting Star Press. Lance Archer would win this belt thanks to some Jake Roberts-based interference, and go on to unsuccessfully challenge Jon Moxley for the AEW World Title.

4 Double Or Nothing 2019: Men’s Casino Battle Royale

Double Or Nothing 2019: Men’s Casino Battle Royale

The pre-show of AEW’s first-ever event also featured the company’s first Casino Battle Royale, where the winner would be able to fight to become the first World Champion later that summer. That winner turned out to be Adam Page, who’d lose to Chris Jericho at All Out, but this Battle Royale did more than just determine a World Title contender. It would also introduce much of AEW’s roster, including Joey Janela, Sonny Kiss, Luchasaurus, Private Party, MJF, and Orange Cassidy in addition to some novelty surprises like an appearance from WCW legend Glacier. While not the best battle royale AEW has put on, there are some fun moments that helped set the stage for a fun night of wrestling.

3 Double Or Nothing 2021: Men’s Casino Battle Royale

Double Or Nothing 2021: Men’s Casino Battle Royale

It seems tough to place the Casino Battle Royale on any given PPV card, because they’re always messy and chaotic, and come off as a little worse following a high quality match like The Young Bucks vs. Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston, like this Double or Nothing 2021 edition did. The Joker entrant for this one was a debuting Lio Rush, who unfortunately got injured during the match and quietly bowed out of AEW, making his entry easy to forget. What isn’t forgettable, however, is the ending.

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The last men in the ring were beloved veteran Christian Cage and wildly popular up-and-comer Jungle Boy, with the latter surprisingly winning the match after an exciting back-and-forth. While Jungle Boy was unsuccessful in dethroning AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, he did gain a mentor in Cage, who basically took Jungle Boy under his wing and started hanging out with Jurassic Express in an ongoing angle that’s continued all the way to the latter part of 2021.

2 All Out 2021: Women’s Casino Battle Royale

Ruby Soho wins the AEW All Out 2021Casino Battle Royale.

The 2021 edition of All Out was a huge show, with lots of great debuts like Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson, hotly anticipated matchups like CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, and some legit classics like The Lucha Brothers vs. The Young Bucks in a steel cage. The Women’s Casino Battle Royale also proved to be a very fun match, elevated by a hot crowd despite some production problems, and ultimately turned into a feel-good affair with the Joker entrant, a debuting Ruby Soho. The former Ruby Riott was one of the biggest missed opportunities during her WWE run, so it was exciting to see her get such a hugely positive reception from the Chicago Crowd. Beyond just a promising debut, the finish was great too, with Ruby Soho ultimately tossing out Thunder Rosa to get the win and title shot at Britt Baker.

1 Revolution 2021: Tag Team Casino Battle Royale

Revolution 2021: Tag Team Casino Battle Royale

With Revolution 2021, AEW offered a variation on the Casino Battle Royale. Not only did they opt for 90-second staggered entrances, Royal Rumble style, but they also featured exclusively Tag Teams -- so both members of a team had to be eliminated -- with the winners challenging The Young Bucks for the Tag belts. It’s a half-hour bout with lots of fun action and tag team drama as Fenix eliminated Jungle Boy to earn himself and his Death Triangle partner PAC an awesome but unsuccessful shot at the Bucks on the 4/14/21 episode of Dynamite.