Tony Khan’s Home for wayward WWE Superstars grows as William Regal becomes All Elite,
Sw3rve signs a contract and oh yeah, and Revolution was a pretty dang good show - time for a review!
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Things kicked off on the Buy-In though with ‘Legit’ Leyla Hirsch putting a spanner
in Kris Statlander’s works to steal a win, Hook sending QT Marshall home with a W and
the House of Black making good on a wonky build with a win over Death Triangle and my
big brother Erik Redbeard.
The main card started off hot as all hell with Eddie Kingston rushing to the ring to
dump Chris Jericho on his head from a vicious German Suplex.
The insane pace of the start didn’t let up either as both men continued the aggression
to the point that even Aubrey Edwards was forced to get physical.
Gowan Aubs.
deck him.
Jericho pulled out the big guns here landing a lionsault knees first into Kingston’s
face, hitting a top rope hurricanrana and multiple code breakers.
But Kingston managed to hold on - ducking out of a Judas Effect to hit a pair of spinning
back fists followed by the Stretch Plum to win.
This was exactly what you want from an opener and a heck of a way to put over Eddie Kingston
who so richly deserves this kind of shine, he fought hard, was seriously puffed up around
the eye at the end and still was denied his handshake.
After the intensity of the opener it was time to bring things down a notch with the three
way fight for the AEW Tag Team Championshsips.
WAS IT BOLLOCKS.
This is a three way tag bout including the Bucks, it was flips and tricks and working
over Jungle Boy to build to a couple of insane hot tags from Luchasaurus.
There was always a chance based on the build that Jurassic Express would get lost in the
narrative as the Bucks and reDRagon work through their issues by beating on Jungle Boy, but
the young Mr Perry got in some insane offense to wrench back the spotlight, including a
shooting star press onto Kyle O’Reilly who was scissored in a chancery on Luchasaurus.
The breakdown of the Bucks and reDRagon gave the champs the chance to hit the Jurassic
Express for the victory.
It couldn’t possible escalate from here right?
Guess what bitches it did!
The sextet of Keith Lee, Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Orange Cassidy and Christian
Cage put on a mad scramble for the Sonic the Hedgehog memorial trophy.
Taking pride of place in this meat platter was the hoss trio of Hobbs, Lee and Wardlow,
who teased but never quite broke into the all out brawl, instead being constantly interrupted
by the smaller guys who got lobbed about for their troubles.
Cassidy was the comedic backbone here as usual, pulling off inventive spots across the board,
including an amazing skit with a ladder held up by Wardlow and Lee that seriously popped
the crowd.
Eventually the three tonne trucks collided as Wardlow barged Lee and Hobbs off the stage
through some tables, buying him enough time to powerbomb Cage and then Starks into a ladder
bridge and claim the gold ring.
Much nicer than that other ring he carries around…
Tony Schiavone then tells us we have a live signing on the show as Swerve Strickland comes
out to officially join AEW - can’t wait for everything he is going to do here!
After that Jade Cargill and Tay Conti came to blows for the TBS Championship - both women
did well here, but this didn’t necessarily live up to its billing on the PPV.
Especially as this bout was lacking in the build department.
Conti and Anna Jay fought dirty throughout, giving Jade the chance to persevere and overcome
the odds, hitting the Jaded for the victory after 7-ish minutes.
Jade continues to improve in the ring though and hit a great looking frog splash with a
heck of a tuck in the middle.
This was followed up by initials warfare as CM Punk took on MJF in a match that had a
job ahead to live up to its build, which was a masterclass in emotional storytelling.
And I’m in two minds about whether it did really - this was an all out bloody war with
plenty of interesting chain spots, thumb tacs, Punk bleeding profusely, the works, but lacked
the emotional dynamic that made the build such electric television.
They’d definitely earned the beating the tar out of each other, but there was no tease
of MJF being awed at sharing the ring with a former hero, no hints of Max shining through
like that almost kayfabe breaking promo, no confliction in Punk’s merciless beating
of MJF.
This felt like the end of the feud as well, which is a shame because this is the stuff
I want to see them dive into because both men are such great talkers, that it just felt
like a shame to see this played so straight and violent.
But as straight up bloody fights go, this was really fun, Punk came out in ROH inspired
gear and to his old music after MJF swerved by cutting off Cult of Personality.
Punk worked over MJF’s right hand, the hand he wouldn’t shake and the one he wears the
Dynamite Diamond Ring on, not that he’d be getting to use it anyway, as MJF called
Wardlow out for the assist, but like a bad best man Mr Mayhem couldn’t find it in his
pockets, giving Punk the chance to hit the Go To Sleep and then Wardlow found the ring,
handing it to Punk for the knockout blow.
This Wardlow spot was honestly so f**king good, the crowd went crazy for it and it sets
up such good stuff for him with the TNT Title shot and MJF pissed at the betrayal here.
With the unenviable job of following that bloodbath were Britt Baker and Thunder Rosa,
who had their own stellar bloodbath last year.
This was a more straight-laced affair and the chemistry was still strong for these two,
but they struggled to truly get the crowd gassed for the fight.
Which is the difficulty when reheating a hot feud from a full year ago.
Rosa took Britt right to the limit, kicking out of stomp onto the title belt, getting
a visual pin from a tombstone and a tap out that was missed by the referee because of
distraction from Rebel.
The final stretch was a series of missed wins for Rosa when maybe the trigger should have
just been pulled and the belt put on her because the shenanigans ultimately fell flat as Britt
stomped her way to a successful defense.
Though another shot at the champ is coming up in San Antonio if Rosa can get through
Leyla Hirsch, so it seems like the title change is on for then.
After that it was time for Jon Moxley to tackle Bryan Danielson’s amateur wrestling chops
with just… regular chops… and kicks and punches.
Bryan ramped up the viciousness here, legit kicking Mox in the jaw at one point and slowly
transitioning from holds and catches into aggressive striking as he matched Moxley blow
for blow.
Eventually leaving Mox busted open, just as Bryan said.
The closing stretch saw Bryan coming in hot with the Busaiku knee and stomps to the head,
wearing Moxley out with a triangle sleeper and repeated blows to the temple, but a quick
technical slip from Mox rolls through into a stolen pin.
It’s a great ending as Mox steals it, but this was the Danielson show through and through,
he ran rings around Moxley for a lot of it and took him to his limit.
Post-match a brawl breaks out as Bryan is pissed when William Regal emerges from the
ramp and heads to the ring - I s**t you not, for me, this is probably the best debut AEW
have ever done.
Regal gets between the pair, slaps Mox, slaps Bryan and makes them shake hands.
This trio working together with some younger talent gets a huge hell yes from me.
Great match, great surprise at the end.
Time to bring things down a notch ahead of the main event, except we won’t be doing
that because that’s not the AEW way.
Instead we get an insane, arena spanning brawl between these six, plus Marq Quen, the Butcher
and the Blade.
No story here, just ridiculous spots - Darby diving into a binned man on a chair, check.
Sammy hitting a Spanish fly from the set-dressing onto the stage, check.
Sting diving from the stands through four tables, somehow, yeah, check.
This was nuts, if somehow not exactly the palate cleanser it was meant to be.
This was like eating a Carolina Reaper between courses.
After the chaos in the crowd Darby hit the scorpion death drop followed by the coffin
drop on Matt for three - with Darby’s daredevil nature now rubbing off on 62 year old Sting,
will they be taking on Team Extreme if Jeff Hardy turns up in AEW.
I can see it and I kind of want it.
And for the main event we had the highest concentration of Adams in one place since
Whatculture.
Which lead to some fun chants from the crowd, especially as you could expect them to run
out of steam around the five hour mark.
Page and Cole put on a great match though with Hangman nailing some big spots, but also
coming a cropper to Cole’s precision superkicks on more than one occasion.
Cole built the Panama Sunrise brilliantly throughout the match, never quite landing
it until the last stretch where he nails it, followed by a rapid Lowering of the Boom for
a super close two.
There was another back and forth exchange that saw Page slump to the floor as a way
of avoiding another Last Shot, then a deadeye to through a table on the outside which summoned
the Dark Order to run off reDRagon.
This gives Page a chance to tie Cole up in the ropes, superkick, a lower the boom from
Page and a Buckshot Lariat to close it out.
Hangman then shakes an unconscious Cole’s hand to complete the code of honor.
This was a great main event that managed to keep the energy high and crowd invested even
as we reached the five hour mark for those who had watched the Buy In.
Ultimately Revolution managed to stay the course for AEW with no major title switches,
but plenty of impactful matches between veteran and growing stars, two big debuts, and Wardlow’s
face turn coming on the same night he wins the Face of the Revolution being the real
story to write home about.
It’s a moment that yet again proves that AEW’s investment in growing their talent
does pay off and that there likely is room for hot new signees to come in, have their
dream matches and not swallow up the homegrown guys.
Kingston, MJF, Wardlow, Jurassic Express all came out of this show looking like stars.
That’s four stars, it's five stars, but I’m giving the show four stars.