After the second iteration of the All-Elite Wrestling (AEW) Revolution Pay-Per-View, some of ComicsXF’s finest come together to break down the event in its entirety.
Charlie Davis: Well. It’s the Big Show. Wait! No that’s not it. I mean it IS the Big Show, but just not that Big Show. God, sorry I’ve already turned into a mess and Revolution hasn’t even started yet. What a dark harbinger. Hello? Can anyone help me out here?
Mikey Zee: Well, at least you and Kenny Omega are together in that regard, Charlie. “Triple Hell,” anyone?
Robert Secundus: In this newly arrived season of Spring, time of pollen and pestilence, biting insects and blooming irises, as creatures breed in and mold creeps in damp fields and damp houses (respectively), yea, as generation and corruption, disgusting being and vile becoming, as these things once more overwhelm our lives and we forget the pristine, beautiful, silent stillness of better, wintrier times, I think: love a Spring PPV. The seasonal colors, the sunlight, the warmth, all these things can obscure the time’s reality. It is a good time to be reminded of the way of all flesh. It is the perfect moment for an exploding barbed wire death match. Kenny’s diagram speaks to me, and what it says is et in arcadia ego.
Forrest Hollingsworth: Yeah…what Rob said, and also it’s time to smash our action figures together and maybe even let them smooch. LET’S GOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Vishal Gullapalli: I haven’t been watching AEW in months! Who are these people?
Thomas Cummins: I just hope everyone has fun.
Britt Baker and Maki Itoh v. Thunder Rosa and Riho
MZ: This wasn’t my first thought about this match, but it was definitely my most significant: oh my god, MAKI! ITOH!!!
TC: Considering how much of a favorite she was during the most recent Women’s World Championship Eliminator Tournament, I’m not surprised to see her back again tonight. It’s even more impressive since she didn’t make it past the first round on the Japanese side.
MZ: Yeah, and apparently she was wrestling Japan 44 hours before this? Even if it was pre-taped, that’s incredible.
VG: So apparently there are pre-shows in pay-per-views. I only managed to tune in for the back half of this one, but was delighted to see Maki Itoh in the US. She’s a complete delight. Also real happy that Britt Baker is still putting on good matches (even if I want her in the main card). Thunder Rosa is also great! I have no real opinions on Riho because she hasn’t been around in forever, but she’s still a good wrestler.
FH: Yeah, Vishal, I actually think the idea of a “buy-in” match — where people who aren’t sold on the PPV get a final chance to be enticed in — is a little antiquated in an age when everyone can get video packages, a breakdown of the card, and more online easier than in the days of cable. It has the (I think unintended effect) of making this match feel cheaper and Maki Itoh is anything but cheap. In any event, this ended up being my favorite match of the night. The 50-50 split between western wrestling and Joshi worked really well both narratively as a follow-up to the women’s tournament, and technically as a showcase of styles. It gives the impression that they’re going to continue to use Shida as a bridge between the two divisions, and potentially as a unified target and I just love, love, love that. Especially, since it has the potential to be more impactful to the careers of women who haven’t had as much of a shot as they deserve at AEW.
RS: I think it was different in the earlier stages of AEW— the Buy-In really was a Buy-In, because people were testing AEW out. They didn’t know if they should commit to a PPV yet, and so the Buy-Ins by necessity had to have a level of prestige. Now AEW is a known quantity. I think the Buy-In still somewhat retains this quality— I know some people whose first wrestling show period was Revolution yesterday, and I know the Buy-In helped convince them to stick around for the whole night— but overall I think the Buy-In is more and more becoming just a pre-card, which is a shame (especially when you get such a delightful match as this one).
CD: I agree with all the above stated points. I love Britt, I love Riho, I love Maki and I love Rosa. Amazing across the board.
TC: And I love Rebel. It’s easy to overlook her because she’s not an active wrestler with the company and her managerial role with Britt is, well, unorthodox to say the least. I’m glad they’re finally giving her some moments to shine. Every spot she had with the crutch was a gift. She has such great chemistry with Britt. Between this and the Tooth and Nail match from All Out, I hope she’s a mainstay in Britt’s PPV matches moving forward.
CD: OKAY. So I’ve got a bunch of screen shots to put in for the rest of the article. Let me just grab…
Uh.
Oh God guys I’m so sorry. I think Kenny Omega got to my screenshots and doodled all over them just like he did the plans for the Deathmatch. Well…I guess I can still use them…
The Young Bucks v. Chris Jericho and MJF
CD: I am probably the biggest Young Bucks fan in this document because I love two handsome brothers, UNLIKE SOME PEOPLE. But I will admit, I was not excited for this match when we wound up here. It’s not The Bucks’ fault, I just am a little cooler on MJF and Jericho than maybe most people? But man oh man about half way through I ate my damn words on this one. Angry Matt Jackson is the best Matt Jackson and Bucks in peril always makes things SO EXCITING. There was an incredible false finish and even MJF’s heelish mocking of the Buck’s old “SUCK IT” gimmick complete with the right amount of crotch chops made the ensuing Superkick Party incredible.
VG: Jericho is visibly unable to go in the ring with the Bucks – he has some good spots like that Code Breaker counter to the Meltzer Driver, but he spent a lot of the match kind of wandering around. MJF was the real highlight of the match for me – he can make anyone he wrestles look like a babyface, even if I hate them! And I hate the Bucks.
CD: Vishal will come around at some point. I am sure of it.
MZ: I do agree with Vishal in terms of Jericho’s ring presence here… I definitely felt like he was almost a non-entity in this match. Which, all things considered, is probably for the best. But damn if MJF mocking the Bucks’ younger and more vulnerable years didn’t pop me, and the latter half to the finale of this match was INCREDIBLE.
TC: The longer MJF has been tied to Jericho, the more I’ve actually been able to enjoy him as a heel. Even though Jericho was barely there, I think he’s serving an important purpose, and one that he’s been very good at in the past: putting over the younger AEW talent. Also, I’d like to add that even though The Bucks weren’t the target of the Inner Circle’s original feud with the Elite, it’s still nice seeing strands of stories from over a year ago still being played out.
FH: I like the Bucks angrier than I do their usual more reserved work (funny to say for dudes that frequently do 450 splashes) so this mostly worked for me, the comments about Jericho above aside. If they continue to channel this angry kinetic energy and frustration into the eventual implosion of the “new” Elite, we’ll be in a very good place.
Tag Team Battle Royale
CD: AEW has had some of these Battle Royal Matches before, but they have never clicked the way that this one did for me. I was plugged in the whole time. The story threads worked, the pacing worked and I’m so happy that they have a gimmick match that can excite and thrill me now. I was pulling for John Silver, but DEATH TRIANGLE ALL THE WAY. The ensuing match against the Young Bucks is going to RULE.
VG: I think it’s telling that the final four was all people I expected to be in the final four – AEW’s done a really good job setting up who their plucky babyfaces are, and who the strong but likable heels are. I feel like this battle royal was their first real foray into the world of Johnny Hungiee with a big crowd – they put him in the Final Four to see how over he was, and he got massive pops. I look forward to seeing how they push him from here. That being said, I think my favorite moment was QT Marshall’s apparent heel turn. I haven’t ever really paid attention to him, so this is by far the most interesting development from this match.
CD: If you HAD been watching Dynamite, you’d have seen that the catalyst for QT doing this is that no one gave him any credit when they mentioned how good Shotty Lee was trained when he won his first match. He thanked everyone BUT QT. Whoops.
VG: I can’t wait for QT’s inevitable “You People” promo. At least it’ll feel earned! But yeah I’m super excited for PAC and Fenix vs the Bucks – sure the Bucks won’t lose because they’re selfish jerks who need story reasons to drop their belts but I will be cheering for the good flippy boys regardless.
MZ: I’ve loved Private Party since the very first episode of Dynamite, but their gear here was incredible and really shows how much they’ve grown into their own. John Silver facing off against PAC and giving him a taste of his own medicine was absolutely great, and I need those two to have a rubber match ASAP.
AEW’s tag team battle royales have been mostly misses for me up until this point, with the action often feeling chaotic and almost uncoordinated. Too many boys in the ring, that kind of thing. But this iteration finally felt like they nailed the filming, pacing, and camera cuts for this match type, which was great to see especially in a tag team division as deep as AEW’s.
TC: I’m absolutely on the same page as everyone else, this match worked in ways it never has in the past for AEW. Considering we’re not that far removed from, in my opinion, a lackluster men’s Royal Rumble at the end of January, this was a breath of fresh air. One moment in particular that I enjoyed was 10, Uno, and Stu all working together in the ring. I’m still a bit sour that 5 was eliminated first, but in a match like this you can truly see the magic of The Dark Order as the biggest stable in the company.
FH: Dynamite and PPVs need to act in a reciprocative loop, and this royale was a great example of how to execute that. Finish some TV stories, introduce some new ones – the TH2 interference on Hardy’s behalf was especially well done for example. More immediately though, I was satisfied with the stealth build of Jungle Boy. He’s been in the final four of every Royale to-date, and the way they toyed with making it finally feel like his moment was masterful. You could easily point to Hangman as AEW’s punching bag, the down and out one, but Jungle Boy arguably gets even less and yet remains confident in the face of still-mounting adversity. That’s a testament to how much they trust both the performer and the character as much as Tony Khan’s purchase of Tarzan Boy for him is. Stu Grayson picked up a bear!
Ryo Mizunami v. Hikaru Shida
CD: For a lot of people, this was the show stealer. I’ve got my heart set on something else, but I absolutely see where they are coming from there. These two women put their all into it and I loved seeing Joshi wrestling highlighted on an AEW PPV like this. Considering that so many stars have come from Japan and they are basically renowned for how good they wrestle, this one slapped. Literally. Did you see Ryo’s chops? DAMMIT. My chest hurts just looking at them.
MZ: So many of them, almost like she was toying with Shida! It was great. I also loved seeing Shida’s new entrance gear, which feels appropriate considering how her on-screen and backstage role in AEW has evolved. Ryo Mizunami is such a fucking star, and she proved it here—even if she didn’t quite land her Kazuchika Okada-esque lariat attempt. Finally, I’m so glad to see AEW do a proper build to a women’s championship bout. Not only did we get multiple video packages peppered throughout the last few Dynamites on Wednesday nights, we also got a subtitled package specifically for this main event! For a women’s division that has visibly struggled with how to promote and showcase their Joshi talent, this felt like a breath of fresh air.
TC: Mikey, I absolutely agree. When the pandemic is finally over, I think we’ll finally see a push all the Joshi talent truly deserve.
FH: This was really great. I love when Shida shows that more dominant, cocky heel streak that she has (toying with using the chair as a weapon before vaulting off it), and the narrative importance of that side of her is really brought out in a match with a long-time foe like Ryo is. Securing her win here, I’m relatively certain Shida is sprinting towards being AEW’s first 365 day champion — good for her, and also good for whoever eventually dethrones her, with the chaotic run in at the end being a good reminder of all the major players.
VG: I think what excites me the most is that between this match and her previous defense against Nyla, Shida’s been showing a nastier side of herself. She’s not fighting dirty, but she’s fighting mean. I want to see more of that – I think that an unfortunate side effect of having international talent is that they’re frequently relegated to just being “really good foreign wrestlers” instead of full-fledged characters (See: Cesaro for a long time). There isn’t really a language barrier with Shida, her English is fantastic, but she’s able to do some really strong storytelling in-ring, a language everyone understands. My bold prediction is that Shida’s going to be closer to a heel than a face by the time her championship reign ends, and I’m completely here for it.
RS: It was the run in, even more-so than the incredible match itself, that really made me ecstatic. It feels like with this influx of incredible Joshi wrestlers, we now have a stacked cast for plotlines in the women’s division!!! We have rivals, friends, and possibly factions. I hope this means we get more than one women’s match a week (at 9:24PM EST).
FH: Hopefully without JR’s restaurant quality PIP, even!
Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy v. Miro and Kip Sabian
CD: THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MY COOL DOWN MATCH. WHY WASN’T IT MY COOL DOWN MATCH?? Chucky was bleeding! Miro was horrifying and ORANGE CASSIDY’S SUPERMAN PUNCH IS BETTER THAN ROMAN REIGNS. BELIEVE THAT!
VG: Low key this was my favorite match of the night. Miro’s debut was… underwhelming to say the least, and his whole gamer gimmick never worked well for me. Best Friends have been floundering since the start of this Miro/Kip feud, when they lost their title match against FTR. Honestly, they were part of the reason I stopped watching – I was just thoroughly uninterested in every segment they gave this feud. But finally, after months and months, Miro looks like a monster. He looks unstoppable. And since Best Friends are going to be treading for a bit until TRENT? gets back, this was the best way to use them. Make me sad at how poor Chuckie’s getting treated!
MZ: It’s sad, but having seen Chuck’s matches from PWG until now, it’s obvious to me that he can fucking GO. We just haven’t seen much of that in AEW, as he’s been focused on angles, storytelling, and putting other people over. Plus, TRENT? is the obvious leader of the Best Friends. This felt like a match where Chuck found his own niche, seeing him bleed and suffer at the hands of Miro.
I don’t want Chuck to become a Jason Todd, but I do want that Saturday morning cartoon or shonen anime-style moment where he uses the power of his friendship to finally show Miro his true inner strength. Chuck’s got a big heart, he just doesn’t believe in himself yet, and this match showed it. That being said… Miro definitely felt like he worked as a monster, but even more than that: Miro’s selling! To see a monster like him go toe-to-toe with Orange Cassidy and barely hang on was absolutely great. Miro and OC are magic in the ring together in my opinion, and somehow manage to be both scary and hilarious at the same time. I’m personally very glad this match only served to amp up their feud.
RS: I love that Charles got to have his big moment. One of my favorite tropes is the Hero Who REFUSES to Just Stay Down And Remains Defiant in The Face of Brutality, and I love it especially when he is a Big Ol’ Softy.
FH: I found the pacing of Orange coming out to the ring a little… awkward, but maybe that just suits the character. Either way, this is the best they’ve done with Miro yet and having him use Kip as a ragdoll for the tag was a great way to forward the idea that he simply can’t be contained, even by his supposed best friends. He may be more of a ticking time bomb than the exploding ring is and that’s exciting.
Matt Hardy v. Hangman Page
TC: MATT FACT! Matt Hardy has never had a good pair of pants in his entire life. For a guy who calls himself “Big Money” Matt, these are some very cheap-looking pants.
CD: What did you say Thomas? That Matt looks like he got his pants from Ross Dress For Less? More like Small Money Matt, am I right? But honesty, pants aside this one ALSO RULED. Matt’s pants might suck, but he can still go in the ring. I am glad this outing was far less cursed for him as his other AEW PPV appearances, but in the hands of Hangman Page… I cannot say I am surprised.
Speaking of Hangman. UGH THE BOY HAS FRIENDS NOW. After months of feeling abandoned by his oldest friends, he’s finally got some people he can count on. The story of the Dark Order always having his back even if he’s not going to join their faction fully is super great. He’s got some people that look up to and admire him now. I just hope that pressure doesn’t start to weigh on him.
TC: I give Matt a hard time, but you’re correct. This match absolutely ruled. I think it was my favorite of the night. As someone who religiously watches Being the Elite, the story here hit me like a ton of bricks. The show was jam-packed, but at the end of the night, the entire Dark Order coming into the ring to hug Hangman was what I revisited multiple times.
CD: It was honestly perfect and I can’t want to see where he goes from here.
MZ: Apparently in the post-show media scrum, Hangman teared up when asked how he feels about being the late, great Brodie Lee’s successor as the person who brings the Dark Order together. Honestly, no one could replace Brodie, but seeing this story play out with Hangman has been honestly so fulfilling. Friends that support you even when you gotta do your own thing… so sweet…
FH: The debut of Gofundme “Broke” Matt Hardy is going to be a lot of fun, and like the Mimosa Mayhem match with Jericho before it, I think the sheer ridiculousness of the stipulation really suited the characters here. Hardy came across as looking selfish in the feud with Sammy Guevara, but the way they’re elevating Private Party like Jericho did with OC before feels better. My wife and I also got the Cowboy pizza from hall of fame worthy take and bake favorite Papa Murphy’s for Hangman so I’m glad it wasn’t in vain.
VG: Charlie mentioned wanting the previous match to be a cooldown, and I found that this one was the cooldown for me. Nothing against Hangman, I’ve loved him for more than a year now, but Matt Hardy’s put a sour taste in my mouth since All Out, and I’m maybe the only person in the world who doesn’t love the Dark Order. They’re fine, but I’m not exactly excited to see Hangman with them. Ah well.
Ladder Match
CD: There sure are a lot of boys in the ring! Oh and they are fighting over a large ring? God what is even going on here…
VG: The match went too long. Ah well Cody needs to get his spots in! I have no clue who Ethan Page is but I liked him, and Scorpio winning will hopefully give him a direction and pull him out of Dark for a while.
FH: Put some respect on Page’s name! He’s a workhorse, a guy with a knack for fascinating characters and the kind of meta humor and commentary the Bucks like exploring in BTE, and he can go in the ring, having previously been one half of The North, Impact’s tag champions for over a year. He’s also got a heelish streak that I think that’s feeling surprisingly needed as all of the Dark Order turns face. You’re right that no matter how excited I am about his debut, the match felt sluggish and disorganized throughout – less a story a more a plodding stringing together of spots, even if the literal brass ring is the kind of stupid stuff I stick with wrestling for.
RS: Sounds like someone should have told them… gotta go fast.
TC: I know Cody technically can’t go after the AEW belt yet, but he’s been the TNT champion twice now, and it felt a bit off having him in this match for me. He was gone for a long time during the match as well. I let out the loudest groan when I saw him coming back with the medical staff through the tunnel. Ethan is definitely someone I’ll be keeping an eye on. He made a big impression on me in the few episodes of Impact I’ve seen, and he impressed me with his showing in the match. It’s time for Cody to step aside for a while. Let Scorpio go after the belt, then let Ethan go after Scorpio.
VG: Yeah, Thomas, I had the same response to Cody’s return. He needs gold the least out of everyone at AEW right now, he’s in a good position as the guy who wrestles in gimmick matches with Snoop Dogg and Shaq. I’m glad he’s helping to put other folks over, but at this point his spot could have gone to anyone else.
FH: I have to say that Cody hanging out in the tunnel felt like they were trusting my intelligence a little more than when Randy Orton dipped out of the WWE rumble recently, and I appreciate that. Scorpio’s merciless smashing of Rhodes’ injured arm against the ladder was also a good character spot showing that Sky is ruthless and hungry enough to take on Darby.
MZ: This was definitely the cooldown match to me. I love Scorpio Sky dearly, even with the weird and poorly-telegraphed heel direction he’s been going in recently. But this was the match I consumed mostly through Twitter timeline memes while I took a break from the breakneck pace the rest of the PPV had.
That being said, I’m glad Scorpio finally got to have his moment. Hopefully AEW lets him make something of it.
AEW’s Big New Signing
VG: It’s… it’s Christian.
FH: Ahem… IT’S CHRISTIAN!
CD: It is! He was just in the Royal Rumble, right? I didn’t just imagine that? I don’t think I did. Oh well. I love Christian. I’m glad he’s here.
TC: It’s Christian Cage. Is Brian Cage about to get a new tiny kayfabe brother?
MZ: Maybe… but I don’t think that’s how wrestling families work. However, I’m still intrigued by this signing, especially given how well that moment at the Royal Rumble worked.
FH: Charlie called the resident Buck fan spot earlier so I’m cashing in on being the big Captain Charisma fan. Cage clearly used the Royal Rumble appearance as a personal litmus test to see if he was going to get to end his career on the terms he wanted at WWE and, well, we know the answer now and I’m glad for it and for him. Tony Khan says that he wants to wrestle “frequently” and with the important reservations about injury proneness, I’m very, very here for that. He is kind of the definition of a “wrestler’s wrestler” from both a technical and storytelling perspective, and his appearance in the foundational TLC matches (as well as being a part-time vampire) certainly speaks to his hall of fame worthiness. I have only been watching wrestling regularly for the past two or so years, but catching up on Edge and Christian has always been my favorite. We can’t know what the specifics of his “multi-year” future with AEW look like, but I was so sincerely happy to see the guy that I’m already along for the ride.
Quick aside, though, bud – the “Instant Classic” title on your All Elite graphic is much better than “Out. Work. Everyone.” So let’s go with that and if you need someone to workshop more stuff for you I’ve embedded my phone number as a series of esoteric clues in this column. (5!).
Team Taz v. Darby and Sting
CD: Oh, I love the movie The Warriors.
Wait…
RS: I have extremely mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I think from a technical aspect, this was an extremely good proof of concept that AEW can do cinematic matches that are devoted to something other than comedy. I hope we see far, far more of these in the future. On the other hand, I want to see a variety of people in these matches, and I want this seemingly endless feud to be over. I don’t want to see Sting cut a promo on Taz before being interrupted by his team of Strong Boys every week for another two months. I want it to be done. I also would prefer that commentary just quieted down during these segments that are very much designed to work without commentary. The Final Deletion is what got me into wrestling, and I don’t know if I’d be watching today if I’d sat through JR and Excalibur talking over everything.
MZ: It felt almost like a Twitch streamer talking over a cutscene.
FH: Darby has an undisputable, sometimes fantastic, sometimes cloying flair for the dramatic and I was a little worried this was going to come across as much more self-serving than it did. Rob, you’re right that the mix between the degree of cinema they were going for and the live commentary was off at best and actively distracting at worst, but I’ll be damned if I don’t mark out for the murdered-out black and tactical orange that Team Taz has made their calling card. (I’m working from home so I can wear the otherwise stupid or threatening orange FTW dad hats Taz is putting out this week without fear, too!)
They looked like a legitimate threat to the legendary Sting while keeping him safe and that goes a long way with me, especially as they touched on stuff like Ricky more or less being right that he isn’t much these days without his bat. It was careful, considered, and also messy and that’s the exact kind of stuff a young(er) superstar like Darby needs to be presented with to cut his teeth on so I’m at the very least looking forward to the next one. Still have no idea what kind of “street” the warehouse they were in was supposed to be, though.
TC: The commentary was extremely distracting for me. As soon as I realized it, I could barely pay attention to what was happening on screen. I think with cinematic matches like this, the more polished the finished product is, the less commentary there should be. That being said, this was the perfect way to get Sting back in the ring. I mean, he’s a senior citizen! We need to make sure he’s not going to break a hip.
MZ: Yeah, the commentary was ADHD hell for me, and honestly I don’t remember much of this match. The music video-esque entrance was the thing that sticks out the most in my memory, and it was absolutely beautiful. Best crossover of The Warriors and The Fast & The Furious that I never knew I needed. I do hope they release a cut without the commentary track at some point in the future, but I guess we’ll have to see.
Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch
CD: I am going to be straight up with everyone. I thought I was going to be wayyy more intoxicated while watching this than I was. I was nervous, so I bought some Jack Daniels
(Mox’s favorite whiskey) and some Vanilla Coke (the best kind of coke) and had endeavored to numb the horrifying haunted feeling I get in my chest whenever I watch Kenny and Mox go at it in the ring. I wrote extensively last week about how my first taste of a Deathmatch between these two changed, delighted and horrified me.
The stakes were raised significantly this time and Kenny’s soul has degraded to the point where when I squint I can hardly see the same man that Mox fought all the way back in November of 2019. I had no doubt that these two men would bring it and they fought for 25 minutes at the same horrifying, deliberate pace they did all that time ago at Full Gear. They brutalized each other and from where I am standing, or sitting as it were, they still have my match of the night. Barbed wire ropes rigged to explode, that symbolic barbed wire bat… blood OODLES OF BLOOD. This type of match was never going to be for everyone, but UGH. I love them both so much.
VG: This was around 20 minutes of a fantastic match and another 10 minutes of disappointment, at least for me. I’ve had trouble with Kenny Omega recently – when he’s in the ring he’s great, but when he’s not wrestling the artifice becomes tangible in a way that I don’t love in my wrestling. Moxley’s always worked for me because he never felt artificial – obviously he’s putting on a show, but he feels real. Kenny Omega is, in story, putting on a false face, but in doing so, he’s also exposing that Kenny Omega is another false face, and causing the whole facade to fall apart. The match was really good when they were able to sell that they were trying to avoid genuine bodily harm to themselves. But the poor production on the final explosion revealed the artifice of the entire affair.
It doesn’t help that the Good Brothers coming in and interfering in the match instead of just helping Kenny tie Mox up after the pinfall made the whole conclusion feel cheap even before the “explosion.” Eddie Kingston had a moment that should have been star-making, and was the best story of the night, but story only goes so far in wrestling, and it’s unfortunate that this is the stage that such a blunder was made.
FH: I actually had more of a problem with the Good Brothers run-in than I did with the conclusion. That’s the kind of interference that happens on Dynamite to build up Mox being angry enough to surpass Kenny, not as the final piece to a very storied and worthwhile feud. It felt too reliant on the “everything happens in the ring post-match” kind of storytelling that occasionally makes NJPW difficult to follow. I understand straddling the line between kayfabe and the real life leave Mox is expected to take, but the timing was off and it made the narrative moments feel needlessly lessened – had the handcuffing happened at the 40 or 30 second mark it would’ve read better.
That being said, I was still very entertained and moved by the sheer spectacle of this and by the professionalism exhibited by everyone in the ring. Getting past and even mastering that subconscious, ever-present fear of injury is the thing that seperates good wrestlers from great wrestlers and this really felt like Kenny and Mox are both there for better and worse, in story and out. The raw passion and violence of that was palpable — I’ll sing that inspired break of the One Winged Angel until my dying breath — and the added appearance of Eddie Kingston, the most legit guy in the company if not the industry, was really poignant.
If someone jumps in front of a gun for their friend and the gun misfires that person still jumped. I think they can pull off the fallout of the botch in both exciting and unexpected ways, they’ll just have to be more careful than they thought.
RS: I think this is probably because I’m relatively new to wrestling, and so I haven’t built up the frustration yet to false finishes or dirty wins that fans have— but that stuff generally doesn’t bother me (again, yet), and it didn’t bother me here. For me, story really does go that far, and I adored the story that we got. I think this feud has really highlighted the loneliness of these men. That’s what this story has been about; Moxley, the man who once said he enters from the street because he doesn’t trust anyone in the locker room, seems to be profoundly alone in this company. The few times he’s made connections, they either betray him or they just pass him by, on to their own feuds and concerns. Kenny has returned to the Bullet Club; he’s recreated a faction that surrounds himself with people— but he’s still melting down, he’s becoming an increasingly desperate person because he’s pushing away all the genuine people around him and embracing opportunists and carnies. They’d show up to ensure a victory, but they would never stick around if anything was really going to blow up (sorry) in Kenny’s face.
And so Mox is defeated by Kenny’s minions, and left alone, and no one in the locker room is willing to come out— except one of his bitterest enemies. A man who fought and fought to destroy Moxley, a man who Moxley in turn destroyed. Why? Because Eddie might be his enemy, but beyond the fights, the feuds, the history, they have a genuine connection of respect. They genuinely care about each other. They are passionate. There’s a genuine love there that could lead someone to sacrifice his own well-being. And I think that’s only possible— that this genuine passion and respect could be brought out of Eddie Kingston, who has spent his time here manipulating people, deceiving them, who has walked such a strange and compelling line between sincerity and insincerity— I think that’s all only possible because of Mox’s own gasoline-fueled heart. I think in that moment where Eddie Kingston leapt onto Mox’s head to protect him— I think in that moment Mox won the day. And I think it showed us how and why he’ll win the war. Kenny worries that he is alone and so surrounds himself with dangerous and capricious men. Mox thinks he’s alone, but with a heart like his, he’ll always, when it really matters, be able to find someone like Eddie to be in his corner.
MZ: Rob, you said it so much better than I have the words for at the moment, but as a fellow recent fan, I’ll be honest. In the heat of the moment, with the timer ticking down, I saw Eddie run out and nothing else mattered. Sometimes the best friend is your bitterest rival, and this was a beautiful display of that love. I barely even noticed anything but Eddie’s form curled around Mox, because I was legitimately crying and too overcome with emotion to process anything else.
CD: Rob, you’re right. Kenny won the battle, but Mox won the war. He has everything Kenny has turned his back on. It’s beautiful symmetry.
Overall
RS: Part of the reason why this PPV was so emotional for me was that it marks one year of Pandemic Wrestling. I’m sure it must have been much more emotional for everyone who had actually made it to Revolution at C2E2, days before all our lives changed. Revolution itself seems to be the big Concluding Chapter PPV, before Double or Nothing begins the cycle anew every year. So I was wondering what you folks thought of it as a kind of ending of a year’s worth of stories. What do you think of it as a wrapup of one year of Pandemic Wrestling, and what do you think of it as an ending for the past year’s stories?
CD: Honestly Rob. This was the catharsis I needed. Even if we won’t be returning to crowds for sometime, I feel like I can put some ghosts to bed. Or at least try to. Mox and Kenny run through the blood of AEW. They are destined to literally fight forever and I am not complaining. I love the episodic nature of the cycles here. It’s like seasons and really lends itself to the long term storytelling that the Elite is good at. What I DO hope happens next is that Kenny fights Eddie because holy f is that gonna be something.
FH: I was very satisfied by this! I understand why people might be frustrated by the closing moments of the show and what that by necessity implies for Dynamite this week but I also find that the unpredictable energy of it, the highs and the lows, the heated conversations afterwards and the memes are all part of the otherwise unobtainable magic of wrestling that has been a real bastion for me in the hardest times of my life. Also! Hey! Maki Itoh 🙂
VG: Honestly, I think this was 95% of a great PPV, so it’s at least a damn good one. Ending aside, there was a lot of varied styles and matches, and nothing ever felt the same as what came before. I honestly forgot about the tag match to open the show until I came back to write about this – not because it wasn’t good, but because there was so much more after it, it was kind of overload. I’m glad AEW does 4 PPVs a year, they’re able to stuff them with as much actual content as they want, and don’t have to deal with nearly as much filler.
TC: Vishal, you’re absolutely right about AEW sticking to their guns with only 4 PPVs per year. As much fun as WWE’s “themed” shows are, I’m never left as satisfied as I was after finishing Revolution. After being in the crowd for Rev last year, right before the pandemic began, this year’s show had a lot to live up to in my mind. It more than surpassed the high bar I set for it. This was the most fun I’ve ever had watching a PPV at home. If this is the kind of quality we can expect from AEW in the future, one of their shows will be the first post-pandemic live event I attend.
RS: For me, Cody’s first promo at the start of the no-crowd shows was a defining moment of the past year. It’s been an extremely hard year for everyone, so I don’t want to overstate things in my life— but in a lonely, dark, painful time, wrestling has been one of the few positive constants. And so I’m really glad that this Revolution began with new people coming together— that it went forward with moments like Hangman surrounded by genuine friends— that it concluded with an image of the broken and bloodied discovering that they were not alone. I think that’s a good end to this chapter.
MZ: Rob, you raise a good point, about this show feeling like putting a bow on the last year. A year ago at Revolution we saw, among other things, Colt Cabana debuting with an attack on the Dark Order, the Elite (Kenny and the Young Bucks) fall apart in one of the best tag team matches maybe ever in wrestling, a single women’s title defense match, and Jon Moxley crowned as AEW champion. Twin images float through my head: of Hangman unsure of his alliance with Kenny, and of Mox as the peoples’ champ raising the belt above his bloody head.
And then Sunday we got not one but two incredible women’s matches, Hangman finding new friends in the Dark Order to support him (and Colt as an extremely important member of that faction), the Young Bucks channeling their anger into a successful tag title defence, and Eddie making a selfless sacrifice for Mox. Looking back on it in that way, it’s frankly incredible thinking about how far AEW has come to define itself as a promotion in the past year. I mean, we still had a Dark Order with creepers a year ago.
I think, no matter what way you slice it, there was a lot to love at AEW Revolution 2021. I’d even venture to say it might be one of AEW’s best PPVs yet. I can’t wait to see what happens from here.
Charlie Davis is the world’s premier Shatterstarologist, writer and co-host of The Match Club.
Forrest is an experimental AI that writes and podcasts about comic books and wrestling coming to your area soon.
Thomas Cummins
Robert Secundus is an amateur-angelologist-for-hire.
Vishal Gullapalli is highly opinionated and reads way too much.
