Recap and Review of AEW Revolution 2022
Tonight, was the annual AEW Revolution Pay Per View and the card from bottom to top looked great on paper. AEW has made a lot of strides over the last year with telling better stories in and out of the ring. There are multiple matches on tonight’s show that had me excited and intrigued about what direction the company is going over the next few months. Here is what went down at Revolution.
-Buy In: Leyla Hirsch defeated Kris Statlander.
-Buy In: Hook defeated QT Marshall
-Buy In: House of Black defeated Death Triangle.
-Eddie Kingston defeated Chris Jericho
-Jurassic Express defeated The Young Bucks and reDragon to retain the AEW Tag Team Championships.
-Wardlow wins the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match
-Jade Cargill defeated Tay Conti to retain the TBS Championship
-CM Punk defeated MJF in a Dog Collar Match
-Britt Baker defeated Thunder Rosa to retain the AEW Women’s Championship
-Jon Moxley defeated Bryan Danielson
-Darby Allin, Sting, and Sammy Guevara defeated Matt Hardy, Andrade, and Isaiah Kassidy
-Adam Page defeated Adam Cole to retain the AEW World Championship.
The Buy In featured three matches. Leyla Hirsch AND Kris Statlander opened the Buy In to settle their differences that have been brewing for weeks. This was a solid match between the two with Leyla resorting to dirty tactics to steal the win. Next, they sent in Hook to take on QT Marshall in another match that’s brewing for weeks. QT gave it a valiant effort, but he couldn’t stop the undefeated Hook. The last show on the Buy In feature the House of Black taking on the Death Triangle. The one thing about these Buy In matches is that they all have had a story behind them. They aren’t just throwing away matches. Death Triangle and House of Black are two very dark and sadistic factions, so it’s been very fun watching them wage war against each other. This match could have gone either way, but it was Malaki Black with his mist on Erick Redbeard that secured the victory for the House of Black.
AEW Revolution opened with Chris Jericho taking on Eddie Kingston and it started off fast with Kingston and delivering a nasty half nelson suplex. These two laid in some really hard shots throughout the entire match. The whole reason this match took place and got personal was due to each man’s relationship with Santana and Ortiz. Prior to coming to AEW, Santana and Ortiz ran hard with Kingston. However, when they came to AEW they aligned with Jericho as part of the Inner Circle Jericho pulled out a lot of his old tricks during this match, but Kingston’s determination prevailed at the end by submitting Jericho to win the match. Jericho had told Kingston if he won that he would shake his hand, but that did not happen. One must wonder if this feud is going to continue.
The Tag Team Division in AEW has a ton of depth, so at any time any team can step up and insert themselves into a Tag Team Championship Match. Jurassic Express have been fun to watch from day one, but they found themselves against two of the best tag teams of this generation in the form of the Young Backs and reDragon. Adam Cole has been trying to get all his friends on the same page, but a lot of that dissolved throughout the match. This match looked like it could have gone either way with all three teams pulling out all the stops. Jurassic Express overcame essentially a handicap match to retain their championships and live to fight another day. I’ll be curious to see who steps up to challenge for the Tag Team Championships, but what happens to the love-hate relationship between the Young Bucks and reDragon? Can they continue to coincide, or will Cole’s supergroup fall apart?
Next up was the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match featuring Christian Cage, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, Wardlow, Keith Lee, and Orange Cassidy. This is one of those matches that is just crazy, unpredictable. I saw a lot of unique spots in the match that I haven’t seen in a Ladder Match before. Anytime you can bring innovation and creativity to a Ladder Match. I wasn’t shocked to see Wardlow grab the brass ring, because he’s been leaving a path of destruction for months. He also leaved a path of destruction during this Ladder Match. Wardlow now gets a TNT Championship Match. With Wardlow find all this newfound success, I think it’s just a matter of time before he parts ways with MJF.
One of my biggest issues with AEW has been putting the TBS Championship on Jade Cargill when she didn’t have nearly the experience as other women in the company. Tonight, she took on Tay Conti who has been amazing since coming to AEW. This was probably Cargill’s best match to date, so hopefully this will help her confidence going forward. The Women’s Division in AEW is much like the tag team division. There is so much depth that anyone can step up at any given time and be in the championship picture. With many women going after both Cargill and Baker, will we see someone step up into the spotlight and go after the gold?
I can’t remember the last time I saw a Dog Collar Match on a big show, but this one had such a great build up and story to it. The story between CM Punk and MJF has been one of the best stories in pro wrestling in recent memory. Even their entrances in this match told a story with MJF messing with the crowd and CM Punk calling back to his Ring of Honor days. This was match was a very methodical and brutal with both men willing to punish each other anyway they possibly could. The end of match came when Wardlow showed up to help CM Punk instead of MJF. As someone who has been enjoying Wardlow’s destruction, I cannot wait to see this story unfold.
One of AEW’s best women’s matches in their history was the Lights Out Match between Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker. They have been fierce rivals ever since, but this time it was for the AEW Women’s Championship. This match told an excellent story as Thunder Rosa had the match won multiple times, but Baker had help from her friends at ringside. It should also be noted that Britt Baker was wearing a brand new AEW Women’s Championship Belt that looks much better then the original. Britt Baker is a great champion, but as I mentioned before AEW has backed themselves into a corner with two heel champions. Both Baker and Cargill keep running through challengers, it’s going to be hard to believe when someone steps up to challenge either of them.
The match I was looking forward to the most was Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley. They have traveled to the same places and have encountered each other under different aliases. I knew Moxley versus Danielson was going to much more aggressive and intense then Daniel Bryan versus Dean Ambrose. Danielson said that Moxley was going to bleed, and Danielson kept good on his promise. It seemed like Danielson was picking a part Moxley throughout this entire match, but Mox is very resilient and wouldn’t stay down. Mox was able to reverse one of Danielson’s submissions into a pinning combination. After the match, it looked like the two were going to continue to fight until William Regal showed up to make them shake hands. Regal been a mentor to both men and if he can get both me on the same page it’s going to be a dangerous duo.
A match that many considered a sleeper was the Trios Match. On one side was Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin and Sting. On the opposite side was Matt Hardy, Andrade, and Isaiah Kassidy. This was another wild, crazy and unpredictable match that had a lot of weapons and interference. I think these six were out to prove that this was not a match that fans should have slept on. I have to say that Sting continues to amaze me into his 60’s. I will be the first to admit that I was skeptical about him wrestling again after his injury and how he was treated in WWE. Sting has proven me wrong, and I firmly believe that he should have gotten the treatment that Goldberg got when he came to WWE.
In the Main Event, Adam Page put the AEW Championship on the line against Adam Cole, who has had an incredible run since arriving in AEW. These two have a lot of history together during the time in Ring of Honor. reDragon did their best to try and ruin this amazing match, but Hangman overcame the odds again to retain the championship. I do think Cole will be champion at some point, but for now we have more “Cowboy Shit” in store. With Cole, reDragon, and the Young Bucks failing to win championships, I am interested in what happens with them. Earlier in the night, Don Callis had made his return to AEW, but Kenny Omega was not with him. When Omega does return, will he assume leadership of the group, or will there be tension between he and Cole? As for Adam Page, he’s now beaten Danielson, Archer, and Cole. The big question is who should be his next challenger?
This show was amazing. The action and the stories were incredible. There are not a lot of pay-per-views that can hold my attention for the full three of four hours, but Revolution did. The Buy In really set the tone for the night and that’s what a preshow should do for the main show. At the end of the night, I got to give Revolution a 9 out of 10. It was almost flawless. Next up is Double or Nothing on Memorial Day Weekend and it’s in Las Vegas. I hope AEW rolls the dice and take some chances with new challengers emerging and putting some new wrestlers in the spotlight.
