AEW Revolution 2023
MJF and Danielson (Credit-AEW)
Here’s how we rated AEW Revolution 2023 from Chase Center in San Francisco. Curious how we rank matches? We’ve got a rubric for that.
AEW Revolution 2023
Ricky Starks def. Chris Jericho: ★★★
“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry def. Christian Cage: ★★★
The House of Black def. The Elite to win the AEW World Trios Championship: ★★★★ 1/2
Jamie Hayter def Ruby Soho and Saraya to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship: ★★★
“Hangman” Adam Page def. Jon Moxley: ★★★★ 3/4
Wardlow def. Samoa Joe to win the AEW TNT Championship: ★★
The Gunns def. The Acclaimed, and Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett, and Orange Cassidy and Danhausen to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship: ★★
MJF def. Bryan Danielson to retain the AEW World Championship: ★★★★ 3/4
Hangman and Mox (Credit-AEW)
Show Highlight—
MJF. The notion that Maxwell Jacob Friedman wasn’t one of the best in-ring wrestlers was settled 18 months ago. But that was the meta-undercurrent of this main event, that he wasn’t as good as Danielson in kayfabe and out, to drum up interest in this match. As we all knew, MJF had the moveset to carry this match (which he did—this felt more like an MJF match than the prototypical Danielson match) as well as the psychology to keep the audience captive. The world champion was the best heel in the business and you were subsequently sucked in as a viewer and there was none of this, his-schtick-is-getting-stale shit. Oh, and here’s more hot take shit: be brutally honest with yourself, in terms of in-ring workrate snobbery, at this point in their careers, wouldn’t you rather watch an MJF match than a Roman or Okada one?
What Worked—
Jericho put Starks over. The right person won and hopefully this puts an end to this program. Give Jericho’s face a rest by having his character cower away in kayfabe for a few weeks. There’s Keith Lee, Wardlow, Jack Perry, and Darby for him to have a feud with at Double or Nothing.
Tyranny of low expectations. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the Final Burial stipulation was a stupid gimmick, but at least there wasn’t an embarrassing botch at its ending like the exploding ring or the landing pads from Blood and Guts.
House of Black. They finally got their big moment. Because this rivalry was a matter of pulling light cords, maybe the pairing of the HOB and The Elite can be the program AEW decides to stretch out in various combinations for weeks on end. You can have tag matches with The Bucks and Buddy and Brody, and clearly, the audience is jonesing for Malakai and Omega. The three of them are all capable of being huge stars, there just has to be an investment where they don’t look too silly and they get in-ring time.
Jamie Hayter. The whole division has been elevated with her as champion and this match proved it. Excellent hard-hitting moves and snug clotheslines. This women’s inVasion angle isn’t the worst idea in the world, at least it can give the division some big picture direction, and hopefully it’s a way to eventually turn Jade Cargill babyface and do something different with her.
Texas Death Match. The best Texas Death Match I can remember. I’m not a fan of hardcore matches, but if you’re gonna do it, do it all the way. Even on the second viewing, I winced and was inthralled by the violence. The only thing keeping me from giving it the full monty was the spots of Moxley deciding to release the Boston crab on Hangman that was on the barbed-wire chair that Hangman had no logical escape from, and at the end when Mox picked up the brick and just set it aside (to avoid taking the buckshot on it, I know, but still). If it wasn’t for MJF’s performance, all the talk leaving this PPV would have been on Hangman. Once again, his character went on a compelling, redemptive arch and he looked like the badass and guy everyone wanted to get behind as the number one babyface on his rise to defeat Kenny.
FTR returns. Did they resign or are they setting the table for them to put the Gunns over on their way out?
Iron Man Match. The best Iron Man Match of all time. The stipulation tends to put some segments of the wrestling audience to sleep but I love the psychology of the match where it’s like real sports where you can gain points and create drama from there. And speaking of sleeping, I was concerned this would put the audience asleep just because of Great Wrestling Fatigue (which can happen, bafflingly enough), so I drove home from Sean’s house so I wouldn’t be sleepy on the road myself. My anxiety was unwarranted. The Chase Center was into every goddamn aspect of this match. Great little details that paid off later. Danielson’s smug confidence and smirking. MJF being in great shape and able to kip-up with Danielson and go hold for hold with him initially played into his ego not wanting to be outworked and also Danielson arrogantly thinking he would have more in the tank at the end. Stuff I normally don’t like worked great in this context: the endless cycle of 2 counts and rolling small packages made sense with Taz calling out that it’s going to exhaust your opponent to force them to kick out; MJF doing crowd work and hilariously fucking with the audience; MJF stalling and then breaking the 4th wall by saying a star was going to be reduced from the subsequent match rating. The ending was hot as hell with Danielson finally needing the AEW crowd to do the WWE Yes chant for him, only for it to not work and MJF to kick out of the running knee. A great, great match that’ll stand on a pedestal forever higher than Bret/Shawn and Rock/Triple H that as fans you’re kinda obligated to think of as 4 and 3/4 star matches when they’re objectively not.
What Didn’t Work—
Poor Wardlow. Someone had to follow Hangman/Mox and for the second time, his big PPV win was an afterthought.
MJF and Drinkgate. A shitty thing to do to a kid but what the fuck am I gonna say, I’m someone who loved DiBiase kicking the basketball away from that little kid. Different time and era nowadays I suppose. AEW did the right thing and seemingly made up for it.
Show Cringe—
RJ City. It’s a dick move to essentially say someone shouldn’t be on television anymore but…that was some of the most painfully unfunny comedy on a wrestling show I’ve ever seen. You could practically hear Trey Parker and Matt Stone making the, “Derp da derp” soundtrack over every fucking annoying, idiotic backstage segment. The bipolar tonal change between the main show and the preshow is still something AEW is incredibly struggling with. Right or wrong, the audience is conditioned to think a preshow match doesn’t matter, so overdoing it with bangers isn’t an option because it’s a decades-long, reinforced habit that you can’t reeducate an audience on. You can appreciate a different approach, but all that’s needed was what Eddie Kingston did a PPV ago. Not the comedic stylings of someone too broad for All That.
House of Black (Credit-AEW)
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