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AEW SWINGS FOR THE FENCES: MIKE'S COMPLETE REVOLUTION THOUGHTS

Welcome everyone to my ongoing thoughts on the AEW Revolution 2022 PPV!  Anthony is handling PBP so I'll be giving my stream of consciousness-style thoughts all night. 

AEW has done a fine job building this up, especially CM Punk vs. MJF.  It's rare at this point that I regret not attending a show live but had it not been for COVID and family concerns, I'd have been there for this one.

We opened up with Leyla Hirsch vs. Kris Statlander.  This was pretty good for the amount of time they had, with Hirsch scoring the win with a moonsault.  With the exception of one spot where there was a slip on the ropes, this was pretty good with a lot of nice exchanges.  Hirsch played the pissed off heel really well with her facial expressions completely believable.  Statlander looked good as well.  This was a nice introductory bout for the show and left room for the rivalry to continue.

Everyone's favorite weasel curmudgeon returned as Don Callis was interviewed by Tony Schiavone, making it clear his only loyalty was to Kenny Omega, not the other members of The Elite.   

Hook vs. QT Marshall was next and was exactly what it should have been as they build Hook - short bell to bell with a simple story and Hook's suplexes and finish being spotlighted.  Marshall really is super underrated in terms of how much heat he gets live and this was a nice example of that.  Perfect for what it needed to be.

Death Triangle vs. The House of Black was pretty much what people expect of AEW, all out insanity with tons of spots, strikes and dives with two big monsters smacking each other around in Brodie King and Erick Redbeard.  King hitting the DVDR on Redbeard looked awesome.    Penta's Fear Factory on the apron on Malakai Black was frightening.  Matthews' curb stomp looked brutal as well.  House of Black triple-teaming Rowan and misting his eye to set up the Brody piledriver was something.  This match felt like a sprint with everyone going to war at the same time.  Pretty entertaining and this was probably the strongest House of Black has looked thus far in their tenure here.  

It was pretty obvious here the crowd loved ALL OF THIS and we are told the acoustics in the building made this even better.  One person who has traveled to a lot of shows texted me the way the sounds bounced off the walls reminded them of the old Scranton CYC building in PA, which was an amazing venue for atmosphere.  Another person told the chops sounded like someone was cracking a beer bottle over someone's head.

The opening bout saw Eddie Kingston get the biggest singles win of his career, forcing Chris Jericho to tap out to a stretch plum.  Kingston and Jericho's facial expressions during the bout were off the charts great.  I don't think anyone expected this to start with Jericho being dropped on his head and acting like he was out on his feet.  This was a really fun generational war with a lot of stiff shots as they really took it to each other.  You have to love Eddie Kingston pulling out some Kenta Kobashi rapid-fire chops followed by a Roddy Piper eye poke.    Jericho had suplexed Kingston off the apron to the floor.  This was SUPER physical and these guys will be feeling it tomorrow.   The story was that after a Codebreaker, Kingston's eye was pretty much shut (playing off his legit broken orbital bone from a while back) and he was out on his feet to the point that he didn't immediately realize he won the bout.   Really fun bout that would have played well in Japan or anywhere else.  

The AEW Tag Team title bout was next with The Young Bucks and ReDragon challenging Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy.  I know this will SHOCK you but there were some big dives here!  The Bucks blocked off Jungle Boy and began whipping out all their signature spots.  ReDragon and The Bucks then laid out Luchasaurus, so they are conspiring to help each other, at least when it's convenient.  There were some really great spotlight moments for Luchasaurus against the Bucks here, kipping up into a double chokeslam.  Jungle Boy doing a springboard Doomsday Device with a lot of freaking fun too.  If you are an action junkie, this one rarely gave you a chance to catch a breath.  Lots of stiff kicks from Kyle O'Reilly and Matt Jackson as well that brought the house down.  One thing that kept standing out to me watching this is how much ReDragon were such a great, lucky addition to the company that would have been unthinkable a few years ago.  Fish was great as the base for a lot of stuff here and Kyle O'Reilly's hybrid MMA style really stood out against the style of The Bucks and the champs.  Really fun shooting star from Jungle Boy.  Some nicely timed near falls after Jungle Boy was struck with the AEW Tag Team title belt.    Tons of cool spots here and man, when the champs retained, they had EARNED the win. 

This was so much fun.  I know a lot of people give the Bucks crap about their style, but when you are watching it in the moment, it's like watching a Sabu match when he was in his prime - yeah, some of it might break the boundaries of logic, but it's so cool to watch in the moment, just a good spectacle when it works and hits right.  This was one of those bouts where everyone hit their stuff right and it worked, so much fun.Next was the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match, which had the most surprising result thus far with Wardlow capturing the brass ring.   I really expected Keith Lee to walk out the winner, so this was a nice twist.  This was a pretty damn brutal ladder match with lots of big Hosses, including Wardlow and Powerhouse Hobbs taking some big bumps off the ladder.  Not everything hit perfectly but it's not like those ladders are trained workers.  Some really physical spots here., Ricky Starks took a powerbomb on a ladder that was bridged and given his past neck issues, that's a crazy bump to take.  Wardlow has been a project for some time and this was the right move when you think about it.  Lee looked good but didn't stand out vs. the others in my mind.  Orange Cassidy was the right guy to add a different dimension here as well as Lordy, people love their Danhausen.   This felt like a big coming out moment for Wardlow. 

More thoughts on Page 2!

 

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