AEW Revolution 2022 Post Examination
Orlando, Florida—Addition Financial Arena
March 6, 2022
Wardlow (photo courtesy of allelitewrestling.com)
Eddie Kingston def. Chris Jericho
Eddie got the validating victory he needed. The storyline built to Eddie finally winning on the big stage, and that was more important to service that moment as opposed to Jericho turning heel again. A perfect instance of someone needing a win via submission, especially to cement that Jericho was and is always a dick. Simple but effective. Loved the post-match antics with Eddie disbelieving he won and still not getting the handshake, calling back to his matches against Danielson and Punk. ★★★★
Jurassic Express def. The Young Bucks and ReDRagon
Near perfect tag team spot fest. Loved Nick Jackson cosplaying as “Primetime” Brian Lee. Storyline of the match, if there was one, was that Jurassic Express would be isolated and both Elite factions would wear them down. Nice moment when the scrum of heels wisely avoided a dive by Luchasaurus, only to have Jungle Boy dive to the outside on the other side of the ring, sending Matt Jackson in a furry that he should have saw that coming. No missed spots, no massive stretch of believability on a kickout, Jungle Boy continues to look like the future of the company. ★★★★1/2
Wardlow Won the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match
I hope this brings about a trend of seeing big men in ladder matches more. Funny to think, in ladder matches and in mult-man ladder matches especially, we almost always saw body types of a Shawn Michaels/Jeff Hardy/Edge. Wardlow, Hobbes, and Keith Lee got their moments to shine. Orange Cassidy had the best spot where the big men lifted him up and he skinned the cat to get to the brass ring. Innovate ladder spots and it wasn’t the same highspots of ladders breaking after dives and sunset flips into powerbombs. ★★★★
Jade Cargill def. Tay Conti
We’d all love another 4 star match but Jade’s character didn’t need to be tested like that, a match around 5 minutes sufficed. Great start with Jade kissing Tay to throw her off her game. Jade laid out Tay and Anna Jay with some stiff big boots and she continues to make herself a female Goldberg that’s captivating to watch and not tiresome. Loved this trend of Jade mocking Tay’s background with asshole Karate Kid poses; it’ll only endear her to the crowd more. ★★
CM Punk (photo courtesy of allelitewrestling.com)
CM Punk def. MJF
Gory match with massive amounts of bloodletting by Punk. The dog collar was the perfect gimmick match for this storyline, with MJF literally and figuratively tied to his maddening projections on Punk. And Jesus Christ, don’t get us started on the schism that was Entrance-Gate—we’ll discuss that on the episode 23 of the Pod. Slow gradual start but important for the psychology of the bout. I can’t imagine how awful both guys’s necks feel after that match. Wardlow finally turned on MJF by “misplacing” MJF’s Dynamite ring, only to have Punk get it and wallop MJF for the win. Perfect blowoff to inarguably AEW’s best storyline in its existence. ★★★★1/2
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. def. Thunder Rosa
Inevitably there had to be a match that was going to suffer from the sequencing of the card. This wasn’t the disaster it was made out to be online. Both wrestlers looked like bedrocks of the women’s division that they are, just too much WWE style with heel distractions and shenanigans that made this feel like a TV main event. The payoff is coming weeks from now, you’d assume. Great fucking championship belt, though. Wow. I thought it looked inspired by the Mid-South North American strap and sure enough, Belts By Dan confirmed it later. ★★★
Jon Moxley def. Bryan Danielson
Match of the night and a certain match of the year candidate. After the violence already displayed on the card I thought this would suffer too from the match order. The violence instead stiff striking and submissions, not unlike a block final in the end of the G1. Danielson kicked the shit out of Mox’s ribs and midsection throughout. The match was solid but after they spilled out to the outside, and the camera’s took wide angles, it was as if there was a clear-cut second act of the match where the violence and intensity was ratcheted-up considerably with Moxley’s blade job. The finish was perfect with Danielson fixated on hardway striking on Moxley’s forehead to cause him to bleed more, allowing him to be vulnerable to a pin. William Regal’s surprise return made all the sense in the world and makes this a tag-team (or possible stable) that will breed more fantasy matches for the rest of 2022. ★★★★3/4
Darby Allin, Sting, and Sammy Guevara def. Andrade El Idolo, Matt Hardy, and Isaiah Kassidy
Not my cup of tea, but as batshit crazy clusterfucks go, I preferred this over the two, multi-man tag street fights from Full Gear. This felt like the best Raw main event from ’98/’99. Sting continues to look great. Because why not at 62 steal something from New Jack’s playbook? Andrade and Darby are a great pair and I’d like to see them wrestle more. Tragically, not a single girlish squeal from Isaiah Kassidy... ★★★
“Hangman” Adam Page def. Adam Cole
We’re fickle bastards, us wrestling fans. We wanted a credible challenger to Hanger but we didn’t want that challenger to actually beat him yet. The storyline has to be predictable to deem it worthy of its stationary on top of the card yet it must weave-in a narrative chock-full of surprises. We want the ranking systems but think it’s uncreative for that outright number one contender to call his shot. Whatever, what we all should have known was that Adam Page would bring it if he was given main event to tell the in-ring story he’s capable of. These two had tremendous chemistry; everything crisp, everything looking stiff. A classic, Takeover main event style that kept both Adams looking strong, with the right Adam most convincing in his victory. ★★★★1/4
Post Examination:
This was the best PPV AEW ever put on. Maybe not the most historic and feel-good-y inside (that would be All Out 2021). But this show had the best representation of something for everyone—you want All Japan 90s homages? Got it. You want NJPW Strong Style? Check. You want to see tag-team spotfests or streetfight clusterfucks or NXT Takeover/PWG amalgamations?—all there. The show itself breezed by even though it was essentially a five-hour show if you include the Buy-In (which itself was like a classic episode of Rampage). There was no wasted energy on anything, all the videos and hype packages were crisp and too the point, the entrances didn’t drag on, there were no silly backstage Komedy segments for an audience of one; just a classic evening of satisfying professional wrestling for an intelligent, adult fanbase. The expectations for the next PPV will only continue to escalate.
New storylines will kick-off with MJF and Wardlow. CM Punk could feud with “Hangman” Adam Page. The Elite can explode with The Young Bucks and ReDRagon having their first meeting in AEW while Kenny Omega returns to battle the usurping Adam Cole or even Jay White. Swerve and Keith Lee will need and get cementing in-ring victories. Miro will come back. Danielson and Moxley will team-up under William Regal to unleash all Hell on the promotion. The Owen Hart Tournament is starting soon. Great things to look forward to as we head to Double or Nothing!
MJF and Wardlow (photo courtesy of allelitewrestling.com)
