AEW R-EVOLUTION IV - 3/5/2023

[Matt D]

The card is missing that one match. If we’re not getting Jarrett vs Cassidy, and we’re not, I hope we get Claudio vs Cassidy now. 

[Go2Sleep]

I think the card is pretty full unless they're going to hold off on JB/Christian. The IM is obviously taking up over an hour, and I think Mox/Hangman will be in the 30-minute range as well. That's 6 more matches (it's not in the OP yet, but Elite/HOB looks like a lock too) plus promos to fit in 2.5 hours.

I'd rather see Claudio/OC get a Dynamite main event spot where they can really shine (maybe in 3 weeks at the KC show if TK is reading). I'll take Claudio/Yuta vs. Silver/Reynolds on the pre-show, though.

Edited February 23, 2023 by Go2Sleep

[JLowe]

I thought that both the MJF-Danielson segment last night (other than the self-harm comments) and the Mox-Hangman bit at the end were both very effective builds for the PPV, but maybe could have been saved for next week for the actual finial pre-PPV show? Those are 2 of your main draws, including your main event. 

[The Natural]

To Tony. Please put the AEW World Championship on Bryan Danielson as AEW Revolution 2023 will go out at 1am on the 6th of March, my birthday. Thank you, Paul xxx.

[YouHaveUntil5]

I think MJF retains here, and then in the post-match a voicemail is played where TK is explaining how things have been discussed with Kenny, Matt and Nick and they’ve agreed to move on, then Punk comes out to end the show. 

Edited February 25, 2023 by RefMattyD570

[porksweats]

Toss another one to the card.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2023 by porksweats

[Belgian_Waffle]

Does anyone think there's even the slightest chance MJF isn't retaining? I don't mean that contemptuously or rhetorically, I just think it's way too early in his reign for him to drop it and I assume they went with Danielson as the opponent so they could have an established guy in the main event and sell the ppv around the idea of seeing a great match since nobody would think the title was changing hands so soon. Probably also why they should have just put Hangman vs Danielson on a ppv last year instead of Hangman vs Cole (who also nobody thought was winning and who didn't have a prayer of following the two Hangman/Danielson matches). 

[matt925]

1 hour ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

Does anyone think there's even the slightest chance MJF isn't retaining? I don't mean that contemptuously or rhetorically, I just think it's way too early in his reign for him to drop it and I assume they went with Danielson as the opponent so they could have an established guy in the main event and sell the ppv around the idea of seeing a great match since nobody would think the title was changing hands so soon. Probably also why they should have just put Hangman vs Danielson on a ppv last year instead of Hangman vs Cole (who also nobody thought was winning and who didn't have a prayer of following the two Hangman/Danielson matches). 

I’m curious to see how the match unfolds and I expect to watch a masterclass from danielson, but there’s no “big fight feel” here. 

[Leonidas]

I don't have any interest in seeing MJF beat Danielson clean, or in seeing him cheat to beat him either, but that's what will happen, the former is more likely than the latter. But then I don't think MJF should be beating Takeshita or Yuta clean either, heels cheat. The scumbag heel that outwrestles your favourites leads to the heel getting cheered in the long run. MJF's reign has been a mess so far and this angle feels like filler until they figure out what's next.

[S.K.o.S.]

Seeing so much talk about Action Andretti turning on Starks and siding with Jericho that you'd think it had already happened. I hope that's not the direction they go, wouldn't make a ton of sense after Andretti got fireballed and would probably drag the feud out for another ppv cycle.

[Belgian_Waffle]

26 minutes ago, S.K.o.S. said:

Seeing so much talk about Action Andretti turning on Starks and siding with Jericho that you'd think it had already happened. I hope that's not the direction they go, wouldn't make a ton of sense after Andretti got fireballed and would probably drag the feud out for another ppv cycle.

I find it weird booking too since they're already presumably building to an eventual Garcia face turn one day...kind of feels like it would just be two young guys teaming with Jericho so they can eventually turn on him and go babyface.

The whole involvement of Action just muddies Starks' ascension anyway, I wish they hadn't prolonged both feuds simultaneously, especially since Starks *****really***** should be getting two straight clean wins over Y2J and refocusing on MJF. 

[JLowe]

All this build for Andretti is perfect for him to take the fall and then become an RoH regular where he can work on his promos and be more of an upper card guy.

[Belgian_Waffle]

2 hours ago, JLowe said:

All this build for Andretti is perfect for him to take the fall and then become an RoH regular where he can work on his promos and be more of an upper card guy.

Yes and hopefully someone in the back has already told him to never make a joke about a woman grabbing his balls again no matter how many times Grandpa Jericho insists it's good for a pop. 

[Dolphman 3000]

9 hours ago, S.K.o.S. said:

Seeing so much talk about Action Andretti turning on Starks and siding with Jericho that you'd think it had already happened. I hope that's not the direction they go, wouldn't make a ton of sense after Andretti got fireballed and would probably drag the feud out for another ppv cycle.

 

[Octopus]

The concept of the MJF vs Danielson feud is very interesting, but the execution didn’t hit as hard. MJF resents the world for his break up and hates Danielson risking his health while he has everything Max wants in life. Hates him for wrestling every week and crippling his body, but the heel contradiction being that Bryan was wrestling weekly as a stipulation set up by MJF. That is a good twist to a dynamic of “you have to win each match I set up” storyline that has been done a few times already. It feels weird that a few weeks before the actual event Danielson has earned his shot and is seemingly not going into the match as battered. Also, we get super villain car crash IM A HEEL promo as the build throughout. Did they come up with the explanation for Maxwell’s distain mid-feud? The pieces were there for fantastic storytelling but really falls short of previous rivalries we’ve seen MJF have. 

Match booking-wise, smart to have Dragon as the first big opponent. Especially building with great Danielson matches to show how special of a talent he is. MJF’s win in an Iron Man match against who is as highly acclaimed as a great wrestler is an easy move to make. Maybe he beats Hangman or Moxley next. Or even a returning CM Punk. Lose to super baby face like Cole or Kingston or Daby or Wardlow or whoever you want to be the face of the company. 

Or give Danielson the win for @The Natural
——-

Andretti involvement sounds like was a Jericho call while Ricky was the plan in motion. Maybe they team as Starketti? I’m not really too interested in all of this but hopefully Starks’ profile rises.

———

Can you have a Texas Deathmatch not in Texas or is it such a signature gimmick that it can be held elsewhere? Regardless, really cool stuff and I hope no one gets hurt.

——

Give me more Samoa Joe murdering smaller people and being the king of tv. I think he loses here though. We’ll see if there is a go home promo for it.

——-

I’m very interested in the Women’s title match. Big opportunity for each person to shine. I really hope for a great match. I would have like Toni in the Saraya spot, but a part of me is hoping Saraya hits it out of the park after a shaky start with the company. 
——

Tag will crown the almighty Jarrett as grand-co tag team champion and EVP.

——

Jungle Buddy and Christian doing a thing? 

[Belgian_Waffle]

I honestly wondered if that MJF car crash promo was something that he and Tony were still discussing/fine tuning but pulled the trigger on slightly early (as in, maybe even just earlier in the same show than was planned) when the Bunny got hurt and they needed to fill 5 minutes ASAP. 

I'm in the minority on this one but I kind of think Saraya should win the belt for a little bit? I normally would never subscribe to this logic but the fans already turned her heel so having her heel AND losing is just going to reduce interest in her further. At least if you put the belt on her it's kind of like the Gunns where the fans are suddenly invested in seeing the babyface regain the belt. I think given the fanfare of her debut and her going over Baker at the last ppv, the company is kind of painted into a corner where you don't really want to look like you invested hopes & resources into someone who immediately flopped. The fans are behind Hayter and Baker enough (and to a lesser extent Ruby and Willow) that AEW could "protect their investment" as it were and put the belt on Saraya so as to retain her credibility but still have the goodwill of the fans for awhile in that they'd be pretty assured either Hayter or Baker are getting the belt back sooner than later (which is to say, I only stand by everything I just wrote in this paragraph on the condition that they would go into it with the assumption that Saraya's run would be a relatively short legacy run kind of deal). 

[Zakk_Sabbath]

Re: 'J.A.S. Banned From Ringside' vs. 'Everybody Banned From Ringside'

Spoiler

Could be something, could be nothing, but Chris Jericho filed to trademark 'Jeri-Show' last week. Perhaps we're going to get a traditional Paul Wight turn for the first time on AEW TV?

https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4806:7zgndh.3.1

 

[Zimbra]

1 hour ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Re: 'J.A.S. Banned From Ringside' vs. 'Everybody Banned From Ringside'

  Reveal hidden contents

Could be something, could be nothing, but Chris Jericho filed to trademark 'Jeri-Show' last week. Perhaps we're going to get a traditional Paul Wight turn for the first time on AEW TV?

https://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4806:7zgndh.3.1

 

I think it's gonna be dumber than that:

Spoiler

I think Andretti turns on Starks and this interminable feud goes on for another 3 months.

 

[Casey]

On 2/25/2023 at 8:38 AM, RefMattyD570 said:

I think MJF retains here, and then in the post-match a voicemail is played where TK is explaining how things have been discussed with Kenny, Matt and Nick and they’ve agreed to move on, then Punk comes out to end the show. 

I love it. Do it, please TK.

[Brandon Bones]

I’m thinking the pecking order clout dynamic will have MJF chasing Bryan the whole match.  After Bryan scores either 1 or a couple of early falls that’ll have MJF scrambling to catch up with every shitbag tactic.  Max will eventually get put over on the merits of his heel character.  
 

Bryans toil and hill climbing toward the match itself is meant to show just how much better (on paper) he is than Max.  MJF will have to use what we know him to be thus far to be properly put over.

Or just have Bryan outclass him at every turn to facilitate an actual name brand wrestler as champion before jump starting house show tours.

[Log]

Danielson's never had a really high-profile Iron Man match, has he?

You have to think he's been thinking of interesting falls for one for a long time.

[Gorman]

4 minutes ago, Log said:

Danielson's never had a really high-profile Iron Man match, has he?

You have to think he's been thinking of interesting falls for one for a long time.

Yes, I announced his Iron Man match with Doug Williams in the main event of Scramble Madness. 

AmDrag won 1-0 with a fall at the 18-minute mark. The match went 30 minutes. Superb match, of course.

[Matt D]

48 minutes ago, Gorman said:

Yes, I announced his Iron Man match with Doug Williams in the main event of Scramble Madness. 

AmDrag won 1-0 with a fall at the 18-minute mark. The match went 30 minutes. Superb match, of course.

I was at that card! I should go back and watch that match.

[Matt D]

Double posting, but I want to write up my thoughts on the card. I'll warn you. It's pretty bleak overall. I think with almost every one of these matches, there's something I would have rather done or seen differently. 

Danielson vs MJF: Given how my life is set up, I almost never see these things live. With this match, it's almost a blessing. Who wants to watch an hour long match in 2023? The story here is the purity and love of pro wrestling vs selling out and cashing in. At some point, every MJF story is about his own shallowness and hypocrisy. The story behind the story is how they're going to fill the time, but we've seen Danielson fill time in AEW. We know that MJF can go. I hope that he leans into the 80s heel shtick he's been doing in ring as much as possible here, but the simple fact of the matter is that to fill an hour. he's going to have to lean into that and a whole lot more. I would have much rather seen this at 45 minutes or especially 30. You could still get the same idea across but it wouldn't be such a foreboding chore to imagine watching. 

Page vs Mox: Mox is pretty much the ideal Page opponent because he has to take it to him and brawl and not just hit his early match death valley driver or whatever other bullshit he does as part of his typical match structure. That said, we've seen it three times. Again, I get the story. Mox knocked him out and then in their rubber match, rolled him up. Now Page needs to prove he's a man by knocking Mox out so he can't answer the call. That's the only way to win. I just don't really care. The gimmick is going to slow things down when we've seen them go at one another for three matches already. Ultimately, I think I would have liked to see a different gimmick, maybe a bullrope, maybe retaking the idea of a cage, most especially an I Quit match. We've seen them try to knock each other out. Let's see something else?

Joe vs Wardlow: I don't want to see Joe lose the title. I don't want to see Wardlow win the title. I don't want to see this match.

Elite vs House of Black: I think this is one of the most interesting matches on the card, and that's coming from me who usually skips the Elite trios matches. House of Black can act as bases and add some real contrast to the Elite's act. There will be clearer face/heel lines than usual (hypothetically) and the Elite should be able to draw sympathy. That said, House of Black is capable of doing a lot of stuff despite their size and presence and I hope the match doesn't devolve to that immediately. They can build to it with real heat on the Elite and then pay off the fireworks in an amazing 5 minute finishing stretch. So this could be really good or it could be the usual bullshit. 

Gunns vs Acclaimed vs Triple J vs Best Friends*: Probably the match I'm looking forward to seeing the most, but it'll be a lot of bodies and a lot of masters to serve. Putting OC and Danhausen in there is clever and ties up a bunch of stories over the last few months. I'll be honest though. I would have much rather seen a Gunns vs Acclaimed: Titles vs Custody of Billy Gunn straight tag and OC defending the All-Atlantic Title against Jarrett in a singles. Tag matches this big are kind of a mess even when you have guys good at directing traffic in there. I'd be interested in seeing the Acclaimed interact with OC and Danhausen though. 

Hayter vs Saraya vs Ruby: What an absolute disaster.

Jericho vs Starks: No one wants to see this! At least it makes no sense for Andretti to interfere after the JAS took him out last night. Maybe Paul Wight does? Who knows? In an ideal world, Starks wins decisively in the middle of the ring and everyone moves on.

Christian vs Jungle Boy: Speaking of moving on, these guys need to move on! Christian is the most useful heel in the company and only has so much of a shelf life. They need to get usage out of him. I've always preferred him as a babyface though. His offense leans more into it and the best part of Christian is how he can work his stuff in creatively from week to week. Granted, the second best part of him in 2023 is that he's one of the only guys who can get heat, but the streetfight stip here makes me think that we're going to get a bunch of weapon shots and complicated set ups on bumps or whatever and that doesn't really play to Christian's strengths.

Ultimately, there are a few things I'm looking forward to seeing on the card, like more Jarrett/OC interaction, but no actual matches. 

That said, I'm very positive on both the ROH taping and the upcoming ROH PPV. Like I said before, given the talent and Tony's penchant to book good matches, if you don't like AEW, just wait a few weeks. But I'm not liking this PPV at all on paper.

Edited March 2, 2023 by Matt D

[JLowe]

It's funny @Matt D, I feel almost the complete opposite of you, although you have gotten me to come around on Jarrett. I do agree about Jericho-Starks and especially Christian-Jungle Boy. Mox-Page and Bryan-MJF are what is selling me this PPV, and I'm truly pissed that The Acclaimed, their hottest act, is being relegated to a comedy 4-way.