The goal of a great pay-per-view is to leave the audience happy at home. What the All Elite Wrestling “Revolution” probably did was to make people confused and discouraged. It was all part of a chaotic and mixed show at Daly’s Place in Jacksonville on Sunday that certainly wasn’t the company’s best pay-per-view offer. After a card full of trick combinations, it makes you wonder if AEW needs to go back to the big, pure wrestling that his name was built on.
Here are five lessons from the Revolution:
Defective wiring
AEW world champion Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley delivered a deadly fight with barbed wire, brutal, bloody and sometimes well-crafted that was hampered a little by following a street fight. But the ending was a failure – literally.
After Omega got the help of The Good Brothers to set Moxley for a One-Wing Angel finisher in a 1-2-3 chair, they beat him up more and left him handcuffed in the middle of the ring according to the timer set before the match it was running out for all explosives around the ring to explode. Eddie Kingston, setting aside all his differences with Moxley, went out and covered him when the timer reached zero.
BANG! – right? Well no.
Instead, we had the equivalent of Fourth of July sparks on each pole of the ring and a few small explosions outside the ring. Kingston, for some reason, sold it as a building leveling explosion – without moving for several minutes. Moxley did a promo after the match for the live crowd, not seen by the pay-per-view audience, but posted on AEW social media saying, “Kenny Omega may be a tough son of a bitch, but he can’t make a exploding ring is worth so-t. ”
AEW President Tony Khan doubled down during the post-show media call about the reason for the storyline to the unsurprising ending.
“The plans for this [ring] we saw in crayon [from Omega] and throughout the match we saw that it looked really cool and it’s a very deadly and painful match, ”said Khan. “In the end, I don’t know what people really wanted, unless you really wanted us to blow the guys up in the end, there’s a limit to what you can do. So, without really blowing up the ring and the two guys, I think the basic explanation is that Kenny’s ring was set to explode as ideal. He built this thing with a hammer and nails that we saw, the final bomb didn’t explode. ”
Khan also said that the reason for the plot will be addressed in Dynamite for people who may not have seen Moxley’s promotion or understood the plot. Even if you consider Khan’s explanation to be true and not a cover-up, it still won’t stop people from feeling that the company didn’t work out at the time. It is something that AEW would like to have to overcome with the public moving forward.
Street Fighting Man
Sting’s first game in over five years was not a home run, but it was a great success. The 61-year-old legend was used intelligently and safely in a cinematic street fight in a warehouse. He and his partner Darby Allin, who played an important role in the production of the match, defeated Team Taz’s Brian Cage and Rick Starks. Sting delivered a Deathdrop Scorpion to Starks to mark the pin on the ring brought to the building.
Sting, who took a powerbomb hit on Dynamite, was mostly a fighter out of being thrown into a wall by Cage and missing a Stinger Splash. He looked old at times, but on the whole he looked like someone who still had something in the tank. Pairing it a lot with Starks, who sold magnificently, was a smart move.
Although the action sometimes dragged on, the big points kept things interesting. Allin, who was jumping off walls and jumping off a platform with a huge elbow, left the game as someone you don’t want to miss. Cage received the powerful villain treatment of the film, carrying Allin up the stairs while holding him vertically and throwing him through a wall at one point. After that, Khan seemed open to the idea of Sting having a more traditional combination at some point.
“I think in cinematic fights, we will probably see Sting, but I would not rule out seeing Sting fight again, because I think he showed that he is very capable of that,” said Khan.
New Peeps
There were three talent surprises. The biggest was Christian – who was only in the final four of the WWE Royal Rumble – being the reward for Paul Wight’s provocation of a talent “worthy of the Hall of Fame” signing with AEW. It certainly wasn’t the industry’s moment of change as it was originally framed, but the positive thing is that we will probably see Christian (who is acting as Christian Cage) fighting a fair amount with new opponents. The bad part? A reunion of Edge and Christian will probably not happen in the ring again in WWE and he never goes to the WWE Hall of Fame he probably just took a hit. Khan said Christian had joined AEW in recent weeks.
Former Impact star Ethan Page, who has a lot of potential for creative and very good out-of-the-box matches, debuted at the Face of the Revolution ladder match.
Rising Japanese star Maki Itoh was a pleasant surprise replacing Rebel as partner of Britt Baker in the women’s pre-show. Itoh, who signed with Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, showed the charisma that gives him the chance to be a fan favorite. It was part of a strong night for women. Baker continues to grow like a heel after Rebel hit Thunder Rosa with his crutch to take her to the pin.
AEW women’s champion Hikaru Shida continued to bring out growing ferocity in a hard-hitting title defense against Ryo Mizunami.
Broken circle?
Chris Jericho promised changes to The Inner Circle after he and MJF lost their AEW tag team Championship match to The Young Bucks on one of the best outings of the night. The group will be holding a “War Council” on Wednesday’s Dynamite and it looks like something where the group will be able to vote shockingly on Jericho for holding them and MJF to complete their acquisition. Maybe Sammy Guevara will destroy him before he gets to the point, but the story seems to be heading for Jericho vs. MJF or Guevara vs. MJF.
Pass the filling
There were a series of correspondences that seemed to be completed on this card. The Casino Battle Royale tag team won by PAC and Rey Fenix, was just a device to get as much talent as possible on the show, which is understandable. Some good stories were told, but with the teams getting together every minute, everyone’s time to shine was short and fast. As always, John Silver made the most of it, even when Dark Order managed three different teams in the match. PAC and Fenix won a tag team title opportunity.
The Face of the Revolution ladder match – which caused winner Scorpio Sky to take a giant royal bronze ring to win a chance at the TNT championship next week at Dynamite – had very little history apart from Cody Rhodes’ shoulder injury that took it out of combining for long stretches. Although there was some good action – including Rhodes taking a Penta Destroyer to a ladder – this was a heavy and somewhat crowded place.
The best part of Miro and Kip Sabian’s victory over Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor is that the former Rusev is becoming increasingly fierce and threatening. This feud is finally over and his alliance with Sabian may end soon. Miro pushed Cassidy against Penelope Ford, knocking her off her apron and not worrying about her well-being before submitting Talyor to victory.
“Hangman” Adam Page defeating Matt Hardy with the help of Dark Order was at least a fun fill, a solid combination and the right reward for the plot. Page getting Hardy’s whole “first quarter earnings” story was a bit silly, but it could lead to some incredible moments in Dynamite and “Being the Elite”. Although it doesn’t look like Page ended up with Dark Order, he has the money to buy a round or two for everyone.
Best match: The Young Bucks vs. MJF and Chris Jericho
Biggest winner: Sting
Biggest loser: AEW
Grade: B-