Caption: MJF clutches the AEW World Heavyweight Championship after his bout with Bryan Danielson

By Ryan Harless

Ryan Harless is a third-year undergraduate at BGSU from Hillsboro, Ohio. He is majoring in Sport Management with a Journalism Minor. Baseball and golf at all levels are his primary interests but he is also interested in combat sports, hockey, basketball, and football.

March 12, 2023

AEW: Revolution has now come and gone, and it was an absolute blast. Over four hours of amazing storytelling and pro wrestling masterclass yet again from an AEW PPV. Pure action from the first bell to the finale of the 60 minute ironman main event, this show had it all.

Revolution Rush Hour (Pre-Show) – Mark Briscoe & Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. & Ray Fenix) def. Varsity Athletes (Tony Nese & Josh Woods) & Ari Daivari

This match served its purpose as the show opener getting the crowd hot with great ‘lucha style‘ action. The Varsity Athletes & Daivari put up a good showing, but were no match for the quick-paced style of Ray Fenix and Pentagon Jr.

Mark Briscoe helped get the crowd into the match with his redneck kung-fu and insane charisma. I will be very excited to see the direction he takes in AEW in the coming months.

The Varsity Athletes and Daivari were dispatched with relative ease by the baby faces to start the show on a high note for the crowd.

Ricky Starks def. Chris Jericho

Ricky Starks had yet another great showing to open the PPV alongside Jericho. These two had a simple story to tell; Starks needed to get Jericho off his back so that he could finally become the main event star that he is.

Starks fought through a few outside interferences (even though the Jericho Appreciation Society was barred from ringside) and he was still able to get the job done. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Starks has himself a world title match within the coming months.

Jungle Boy Jack Perry def. Christian Cage

There was one main-show match that wasn’t on the card when I wrote my previous article predicting the show.

Jungle Boy and Christian Cage have had a rivalry going back almost an entire calendar year. It has been a little stop and start due to some very unfortunate injuries. These two last stepped in the ring against each other in September, where Christian turned Jungle Boy’s friend (Luchasaurus) against him in a rather bland match.

This time, both wrestlers were at full health and ready to go to war. The stipulation for this match was a burial match, where in order to win, you need to put your opponent in a casket and close the lid. I felt it was a very fitting stipulation for this rivalry as Jungle Boy has been working towards dropping his Tarzan like gimmick and becoming a “more serious” wrestler.

In the days leading up to Revolution, Jack Perry, who is the son of late actor Luke Perry, cut a promo telling Christian that “since he liked to talk about his father so much, he was going to give him a first class ticket to meet him,” which really added heat to the matchup.

Jungle Boy looked to be in a bad spot and had to fight his way out of the casket, just before Christian managed to get the lid shut. Christian ended up bloodied and beaten by the end of the match before he was rolled into the casket.

House of Black def. The Elite – AEW World Trios Championship

These two teams NEVER disappoint when they step into the ring and Sunday was no different. This was absolutely a must-win match for the House of Black as they desperately needed a win on a big stage to stay a legitimate threat. And they got exactly that in this clinic of tag team wrestling.

There was fast-paced action coming from all of The Elite and two of the three House of Black members in this match. The House of Black bring such a great mix of styles with Malakai Black and Buddy Matthews being fast strikers and the 6’5” 285 pound Brody King has the power to decimate anyone in his way.

Nonstop action from bell-to-bell from both teams alongside false-finishes that had the audience on the edge of their seat made this an instant classic. Buddy Matthews perfectly countered The Elite’s “Meltzer Driver” (their signature / match finishing move) with a beautiful knee to the face before the House of Black hit a trio of power moves on The Elite to secure the Trios Titles.

Jamie Hayter def. Ruby Soho and Saraya – AEW Women’s Championship

Jamie Hayter continues to be one of the hottest stars in the company; even as the heel of this match she had the crowd in a 50/50 spilt between her and Ruby Soho.

Hayter was flanked to the ring by Britt Baker who helped her out by distracting the referee on multiple occasions. One such occasion allowed her to have a break after being hit by Ruby Soho’s “Destination Unknown” (Soho’s signature move).

Hayter managed to fight back and retain her title which I believe was the right move. After the match, Soho threw Saraya and her friend Toni Storm over the top rope and stood alongside with Hayter and Baker, only to then double cross and attack them before re-aligning with Saraya and Storm.

“Hangman” Adam Page def. Jon Moxley via submission – Texas Deathmatch

In perhaps the best pro wrestling deathmatch on U.S. soil ever, Page and Moxley absolutely tore the house down. This match was everything it should have been in terms of violence and sheer chaos.

In just two minutes, Moxley was bleeding profusely from his forehead, but quickly turned the tides by finding a metal fork and jabbing and slicing into Hangman’s forehead. That of course busted Page himself open and opened the proverbial floodgates for the rest of the match.

Page found himself being sent face first into a chair wrapped with barbed wire and later had his hands curb-stomped between two bricks. Moxley took his fair share of punishment as well, receiving a powerbomb onto steel chairs wrapped in barbed wire, and getting thrown out of the ring onto a board covered in more barbed wire.

The match came to an end with Page wrapping chains around the neck of Moxley who was on the outside of the ring, and pulling him up off the ground until Moxley tapped out.

It was an absolute perfect bloodbath that we might not get to see for a long time again.

Wardlow def. Samoa Joe – TNT Title

These two were fighting an uphill battle from the start as the crowd was clearly knackered after the great deathmatch before them.

The two put on a good performance but the audience just needed a rest as they were relatively silent for the majority of the match. Towards the end of the match, the crowd finally came around and got excited in time for Wardlow to place a rear-naked choke on Joe and scream “DIE!!” as he beat Joe for the TNT Title.

At the conclusion of the match, the commentators mentioned that Wardlow will be facing Powerhouse Hobbes this Wednesday on AEW Dynamite for the TNT Title.

Hobbes won the “Face of The Revolution” ladder match last Wednesday for the right to face the winner.

The Gunn Club def. The Acclaimed, Triple J (Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal), and “Freshly Squeezed” Orange Cassidy & Danhausen

This was a very fun match for everyone involved. The Acclaimed got the crowd excited with Max Caster’s freestyle rap, Triple J were both despicable heels who used the giant Satnam Singh to their advantage, and Orange Cassidy and Danhausen showed that they aren’t just comedy characters and can easily hold their own in the ring.

My personal highlight of the match was the square off between Satnam Singh and the nonchalant Orange Cassidy, for whom the crowd went absolutely crazy. Another tag team masterclass took place here making it evident that these teams all have chemistry with one another.

The Gunns managed to retain their titles and gave a post-match interview in the ring with Renee Paquette. They were interrupted by the return of FTR who rushed the ring to a huge ovation from the crowd.

The return of FTR to AEW’s tag team division is huge as this match, albeit fun, showcased how shallow their tag division can be. I would expect FTR to regain the tag titles at the next AEW PPV, if not sooner.

MJF def. Bryan Danielson – 60 Minute Ironman Match for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship

Going into this match, I was expecting that it would be pretty good. I didn’t think there would be any way that it would hold my attention for the whole hour though. This match made me pay for thinking that way by making it go by in what seemed like a flash.

By far, this was my favorite match the AEW has produced in their almost four years of being around. And I should have expected it given that the best character in pro wrestling today (MJF) and the best pro wrestler of all time (in my opinion, Bryan Danielson) would wrestle for an hour straight.

MJF came to the ring in a devil mask accompanied by an orchestra of strings playing him in like a god and he set out to maintain that impression.

The first fall in the match went to Danielson when he hit a busaiku knee at around 25 minutes and pinned MJF. MJF then hit a low blow on Danielson (putting himself down 2 falls to 0) before quickly scoring two pinfalls of his own to even the score.

Danielson scored his last fall in the 60 minutes submitting MJF with an STF but the score remained 3-3 at the end of the hour after MJF hit a second rope pile driver and pinned Danielson. As the 60 minutes wound down, Danielson had MJF locked in a submission, and it seemed that MJF might tap out before the time expired. However, he held on just long enough for time to expire before profusely tapping out.

Both wrestlers were covered in blood and absolutely exhausted – MJF was even laying on the outside of the ring taking in oxygen through a mask and a tank. AEW would not let their PPV end in a draw at the end of an ironman match so it was determined that the match would continue under sudden death rules.

MJF was still taking in oxygen outside of the ring when Danielson came over to pull him into the ring. MJF drilled Danielson in the head with the tank of oxygen and quickly discarded it before the referee scuttled into the ring and covered Danielson to retain his AEW World Heavyweight Championship.

All in all, I think this was a 5/5 PPV. I was also very excited to see that of all the matches I predicted in my last article, I got all of them correct!