R-EVOLUTION V - 3/3/2024

[Steventon]

Things I liked:

- Everything about the main event, obviously. Not a lot else to add everyone hasn't already talked about. The video montage was wonderful. I'm a Bucks detractor but let's be honest, they were perfect foils here and deserve their flowers for the roles.

- Hangman going nuts on the ref and the finish to the world title match. Page is 100% going to claim he tapped out just to spite Swerve.

- BCC vs FTR was rad and better than their TV match, and it might have even been my favourite MOTN outside the emotion of the main event. Cool tag team spots, violence, some blood, heat, and I was surprised at the finish given how well protected FTR are generally. They seem to have cemented Mox and Claudio as players in the tag team scene going into the upcoming tourney.

- Roddy vs OC will be overlooked but was a super tight mid card match. Hyper-focused, some good spots (the backbreacker on the tunbuckle looking way better and being sold better than the Ospreay/Takeshita brainbuster) and Roddy winning clean without it making OC look weak. If Roddy is going to be the 'workhorse' having title defences regularly, this match bodes well. 

- Kingston vs Danielson was probably the weakest of their 3 AEW matches but still really good. They laid in the stiffness and the stuff with Kingston's hand was done well. A 50-50 match like this doesn't play to Eddie's strengths and Danielson kinda felt like he was going through the usual spots (as much as a guy like Danielson does), but it was still a thumbs up. The handshake and show of respect was a brilliant, well-earned moment and would have been the highlight of the PPV if it wasn't for the main event.

Things I disliked:

- Ospreay vs Takeshita - Guess I'll be that guy, but this was the epitome of Big Dumb Dumb Wrestling. All big spots and kickouts and hulk ups but zero story or structure. Sure, some of the spots were cool, but they were forgotten about quickly, and yes there were some good shots thrown, but there was plenty of obvious thigh-slapping going on too and nothing felt long-lasting (especially after a match like Kingston vs Danielson where both dudes visibly had the wounds of war by the end). The brainbuster spot was a combination of being legit dangerous and looking shite. 

Ospreay is undeniably talented and, like Jay White, I think he'll flourish in AEW away from sterile, workrate wankfest environment of New Japan, but these guys brought out the worst tendencies in each other. That said, I appreciate I'll be in the small minority on this one.

- Storm vs Purazzo was flat and showed that the face-heel dynamic is the wrong way around for these two

- Kyle O'Reilly making a big return and... doing nothing. Hopefully the guy's health is OK but if not, why do this. And if he is back in the ring, please no more storylines about who's friends with who. The times KOR has been best in his career were when he wasn't tethered to Strong/Cole/Fish and could forge his own path, putting him in an angle with these guys is the least interesting option.

- I'll be honest - Christian vs Garcia was pretty underwhelming for me. PPV openers are usually quite hot, but this didn't feel like there was much of a strong story in it or that they had much chemistry. This would have been a Rampage main event or Collision mid card bout and no one would talk about it a week later. Maybe they have better in them if they run it back.

- I'm not an Adam Cole guy, but where is he? This was meant to be a re-building of his faction with Wardlow and Strong winning, but having him absent makes this whole group feel solidly in the background. 

Edited March 5 by Steventon

[The Natural]

12 stitches for Darby Allin. Thought it'd be more. Back was shredded.

[The Natural]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GH0SxMHXMAAWQ9M?format=jpg&name=small

Sting and Lex Luger backstage.

[AxB]

http://vxtwitter.com/Raion74_/status/1764667953776062552

Post on the in-ring storytelling across the three match Kingston vs Danielson series.

[The Natural]

I thought there were five Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston AEW matches. Went to cagematch and there's four:

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Rampage, 27th October 2021.

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Collison, 2nd December 2023.

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Dynamite, 27th December 2023.

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Revolution, 3rd March 2024.

The series is 2-2.

 

[Curt McGirt]

5 hours ago, Steventon said:

They seem to have cemented Mox and Claudio as players in the tag team scene going into the upcoming tourney.

This is a good point. It's been going on for awhile but I haven't noticed; they are pushing them kind of subtlely into the tag scene to keep them away from the singles titles, who already have way too many people fighting over them. Giving them an FTR win shows they can hang. 

[Octopus]

4 hours ago, The Natural said:

I thought there were five Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston AEW matches. Went to cagematch and there's four:

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Rampage, 27th October 2021.

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Collison, 2nd December 2023.

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Dynamite, 27th December 2023.

Bryan Danielson vs. Eddie Kingston. AEW Revolution, 3rd March 2024.

The series is 2-2.

 

5 if you include the CHIKARA match. For fun though, I mentally look at the recent 3 as a trilogy. But all in all they play into an interesting overall narrative. Even with the Claudio distraction in their first match is pretty interesting to think about with the eventual BCC connection to Danielson.

If we added the 2 other matches to the really cool twitter post @AxB posted then we’d have

CHIKARA 2010 - Danielson on top of his game mostly dominating a brawling excellent leg selling Kingston. Claudio distracts Eddie which causes the loss.

AEW 2021 - Hard hitting match where Danielson chokes out Kingston while Eddie is still flipping him off. Sets up the disrespect in the 2023 matches.

When AEW is at its best, I really love the in-ring storytelling.

[Curt McGirt]

[HumanChessgame]

Late to the party as I was on vacation the past few days and watched most of the show from the New Orleans airport yesterday morning.

Danielson/Kingston and FTR/BCC were great matches in a vacuum, but when compared to the other recent matches they've had, not as much stood out. With the first, there was such a big deal about the whole enforced code of honor between Kingston and Danielson, but after Eddie won that was kind of it. I thought we'd get Bryan being forced to tell Eddie he respects him, shake his hand, etc. Claudio and Moxley wearing the Road Warriors shoulderpads was ill-fitting and pointless but the match was really starting to cook at several points. Kinda surprised Dax was the only one to get color. The finish really soured me on the match as a whole, but I'll be ok with it if we end up getting a rematch in the finals of the tag title tournament.

I'm kinda over Christian and his group and their shenanigans. The match was fine though I thought Garcia should have won.

The 8 man was a throwaway match and I'd have rather seen the women's tag match on the main show instead of this one.

Ospreay vs Takeshita was a great movez! match that will appeal to those into it. I thought Takeshita looked like a million bucks here.

Roddy and OC are kind of the opposite of "and then the bell rang" wrestlers for me. I'm over OC's schtick and charisma has never been Strong's strong suit but when both guys get going in the ring they really cook with gas. With everything else on the card this match probably won't get as much attention, but it was a sleeper hit. It's good to see KOR back, but his return was a big nothingburger.

The women's match was fine but nothing memorable. I think they should have done a better job of establishing Deonna beforehand. Also agree with those saying the heel/face dynamic was off.

I didn't grow up watching WCW as it didn't air around me until after Nitro started and I'd watch reruns of Worldwide after school. When I did start watching it, Sting didn't do that much for me as far as his character or wrestling went. Even throughout the Monday Night War era I never really got into him. That being said, his retirement didn't have any emotional impact for me the way it did for so much of the other fanbase, but from what I've read everyone who was a longtime fan enjoyed how things played out so I'm happy for them. I'm in the camp that enjoys the Bucks when they aren't turning their schtick up all the way and they did a fine job making Sting look great in his final hurrah.

Overall this was a great PPV from a workrate standpoint, though aside from the main event there wasn't anything that will really stand out as memorable.

 

[Go2Sleep]

The only thing I didn't like about the show was not pulling the trigger on Swerve. You just gotta give guys their moment when it's hot. Joe has no value as a long-term champion, heel Hangman can do a million other things besides keep going after Swerve, and it's kinda obvious Will Ospreay is the next big thing so they're in danger of missing the boat entirely on Swerve if they don't get him that belt by Dynasty at the latest. It feels like Kenny passed the torch to Will at Forbidden Door last year as the guy who embodies what AEW is going for as a company, and Will taking down the belt at All In (no matter who has it) is a bit of a foregone conclusion.

I really liked Takeshita/Ospreay, and the Sting sendoff was a fitting spectacle. Got a good laugh out of Sting not giving a single fuck about the TV cues at the end. For all the big names they brought out for the event, Scotty Riggs got the biggest pop in our watch party. I could do "remember this guy" with mid 90s WCW midcarders/jobbers all day.

 

[Jenalysis]

They need to do a loser leaves AEW for X days to cool off Hangman/Swerve feud, just have Swerve say "one of us has to go so the other can be champ".  They're kinda speedrunning a great program dry- it's too much of a great thing too quickly, and Swerve needs the belt this year.

 

I'd have Hangman lose by his own stupidity, leave, do the G1 (NJPW would love Hangman in the G1, especially if you let him do a program with Naito where Hangman learns to be tranquilo)- then come back as part of LFI (perhaps with another new member or two)

Hangman gets to come back at Forbidden Door because it's a NJPW/AEW joint event as a technicality, so he could pull something there.

 

 

Edited March 5 by Jenalysis

[Andrew POE!]

4 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

If Eddie Kingston decides to start using "Holy War" as his theme, it wouldn't be a bad idea.

[odessasteps]

Is that like when Quack used Liger's theme on the Indies before Chiakar? 

[Curt McGirt]

I still think Christian and his tribe have great value but I will agree with one thing, Danny should have won and the belt needs to go elsewhere. He doesn't need a reign like two of the champions on the other channels. Wouldn't an insecure and panicky Christian running after the belt again be better than just lording it over everyone? 

[Sublime]

I wanted Christian to drop the belt so The Patriarchy could win the tag belts and Freebird rules them, give Nick experience tagging with Christian regularly and in big matches. Killswitch can fill in for Christian on Rampage matches and other low stakes affairs.

[tbarrie]

24 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

I still think Christian and his tribe have great value but I will agree with one thing, Danny should have won and the belt needs to go elsewhere. He doesn't need a reign like two of the champions on the other channels. Wouldn't an insecure and panicky Christian running after the belt again be better than just lording it over everyone? 

I honestly thought we'd see Copeland intervene leading to Garcia winning the title. (More likely preventing Christian's flunkies from interfering than outright screwing Christian over, of course.) Disappointed that didn't happen.

[NoFistsJustFlips]

Sting had the perfect send off. And this is why I will never understand the tribalism of shiting on AEW existing (vice versa for any AEW tribalism that shit on WWE existing). Sting did so much for the wrestling business. He's a legitimate icon. And without AEW existing this amazing moment never materializes. WWE discarded him with a quickness after his injury. This moment never exists in this timeline without AEW. And that's not a shot at WWE. WWE does great moments for a ton of legends that deserve them as well. The more national wrestling that can give these guys their flowers like this the better.

I'm so happy for Sting. His entire run was pretty much perfect. There were only maybe 2-3 times the whole run where he didn't look at the top of his game. And this match especially, he never looked bad. He was never put into a position where we were sad for him or it was hard to watch. Everyone got to have the same feel good emotions he had. His cinematic debut match was in my opinion the best one of them all. He had a fun match against FTR. The coffin match at Webley was fucking dope. The six man tag with Punk was great. The six man tag at the first Forbidden Door was great. This was great.

What a feel good way to cap off a career. The presentation of the pre match video and his kids being previous versions of him. Just *chef's kiss*. I love when wrestling is done well.

[hobo joe]

I think Garcia’s the right guy to beat Christian, but there’s no harm in letting  it run a little longer. Let him run through Nick Wayne and Luchasaurus and have Edge help him even the odds for the big victory.

Swerve should’ve stayed heel and beat MJF. 

[Technico Support]

Vinnie V mentioned on the B&V show that (I assume as part of the PPV weekend), Shayna (Mother) Wayne got to sit down and watch a Buddy Wayne vs Ricky Steamboat match with Ricky Steamboat, which is awesome.

[DreamBroken]

Catching up on everything, not much to add but loved the show and everything about the main was pretty much perfect. The Sons of Sting continue to look like they'd make awesome wrestlers, great touch with their tributes and of course Seek & Destroy.  Looking forward to the upcoming tournament. I hoped it'd be more of a weekend-Crockett Cup style especially Dynasty being in April like the originals but I understand going with more of March Madness idea so that works too. 

Every match was at least good, with only Toni/Deonna not being quite as epic as I hoped for.  Glad to see Joe retain so he gets a somewhat longer reign and doesn't drop it in a three way. Figure Swerve still wins it next eventually but would personally love to see Joe vs Ospreay. 

[The Natural]

Sports Illustrated on Sting's last match with Darby Allin vs. The Young Bucks:

"Adding to an extremely dangerous spot is that glass, clearly, is unpredictable. But, multiple people confirmed, that was the one spot Darby wanted above all. There was a Plan B with a different finish in the event he could not return to the match, which turned out to be no more than a precaution.”

“Once it was determined that Darby would make the jump, safety measures were applied. A rehearsal occurred earlier than usual in the day, and a stunt coordinator instructed how to place the items and reviewed the proper protocols. There were also nearby doctors anticipating the spot, and they were on high alert. And had Darby not been able to return to the match, the Bucks were prepared to call an alternate finish.”

“For those involved in the construction of the match, including CEO/GM/Head of Creative Tony Khan, it was imperative that Sting win. One of the only dissenting voices about the finish was Sting. He preferred to give the moment and momentum to the Bucks, who he holds in extremely high esteem. But that simply was not going to happen as Khan and the Bucks, who are Executive Vice Presidents in the company, all firmly believed that Sting should end his career with a victory. Khan, the Bucks, and Sting ultimately agreed that a fun, happy ending would be best for AEW.”

“After the pay-per-view went off the air with Sting holding a microphone in his hand, the congratulations extended into the back. All the major players were thrilled, and the only issue backstage became people not wanting to leave the building in fear that the feeling they had all experienced would fade.”

[The Natural]

Meltzer:

Cage vs. Garcia, ***3/4.

Kingston vs. Danielson, ****3/4.

Wardlow vs. HOOK vs. Cage vs. Hobbs vs. Martin vs. Archer vs. Magnus vs. Jericho: ***1/2.

Cassidy vs. Strong: ****.

Moxley/Castagnoli vs. FTR: ****3/4.

Storm vs. Purrazzo: **3/4.

Ospreay vs. Takeshita: *****3/4.

Joe vs. Strickland vs. Page: ****1/2.

Sting/Allin vs. The Young Bucks: ****3/4.

Natural:

Cage vs. Garcia, ****.

Kingston vs. Danielson, ****3/4.

Wardlow vs. HOOK vs. Cage vs. Hobbs vs. Martin vs. Archer vs. Magnus vs. Jericho: ***1/4.

Cassidy vs. Strong: ****.

Moxley/Castagnoli vs. FTR: ****1/4.

Storm vs. Purrazzo: **3/4.

Ospreay vs. Takeshita: ****1/2.

Joe vs. Strickland vs. Page: ****1/4.

Sting/Allin vs. The Young Bucks: *****.

Edited March 8 by The Natural

[StuntmanCrowley]

Being there to witness this live with my daughter, which it was her very first live wrestling experience was surreal.  I honestly didn't think anything would top seeing Kingston/Akiyama live on Zero Hour before Full Gear 2022, but I can confidently say that seeing Sting's send-off live with my kiddo and two of my best friends in the world is hands down the best live wrestling experience I've ever had in my life.