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AEW Revolution is coming to us from the Chase Center in San Francisco CA. Our commentary team for the pre-show is Ru City and Renee Paquette with Ru on the red carpet and Renee in the arena.
Renee runs down the card as well as all of the places you can watch it.
She then previews Jon Moxley vs. Adam Page with a video package edited out of the special they had on TNT Friday night. Don Callis joins her and gives his perspective as a old school heel.
I think this is a good idea, since, in the past, the pre-show was a bunch of matches that didn’t make it onto the main card.
It’s time for the first match with Taz, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone on commentary
Mark Briscoe and The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) (with Alex Abrahantes) vs. Ari Daivari and The Varsity Athletes (Josh Woods and Tony Nese) (with "Smart" Mark Sterling)
The Varsity Athletes and Ari Davair come out with Mark Sterling giving them introductions like a basketball team.
Penta and Nese start out with Nese starting out with stalling techniques. Then all six men fight in the ring and then as Nese and Penta stay in the ring, everyone else brawls at ringside. When Woods tags in, he is able to take over after Penta had been able to dominate Nese. From here, the Varsity Athletes work over Penta with quick tags. Davari looks so different I didn’t recognize him, both with a new haircut and adding some muscle.
With Penta as the man in peril., it’s not as spot filled as usual for the Lucha Bros. When Rey tags in, he works a faster style, cut off by Woods. Once Mark Briscoe tags in, we get the typical craziness from the Lucha Brothers, and Mark Briscoe is able to get the wn.
Winners: Mark Briscoe and The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix
Mark Sterling gets a Fear Factor after the match.
They announce that Double or Nothing, as well as the Dynamite and Rampage for that week will be in Vegas as well over Memorial Day weekend.
RJ then asks the Jericho Appreciation Society about not being at ringside for Jericho;s match. After they explain how angry they are, Jericho joins them and they celebrate.
RJ then tries to interview Toni Storm and I am already tired of his bits.
Britt Baker is with Renee, and she says that she doesn’t care where someone is from, but they had better respect her. She gives the test of her interview to push that she is team AEW. She then pushes AEW All Access.
We then get the video package for Samoa Joe vs Waardlow. We go to RJ with Powerhouse Hobbs, so now Hobbs intimidates RJ to hype his match on Dynamite against the winner.
Renee is then with Sonjay Dutt who eggs the crowd on with booing him and he goes over the Tag Team Championship match.
We then Have Tony Schiavone explain the Final Burial Match between Jack Perry and Christian Cage, and it’s basically a casket match.
RJ is then with Adam Cole for the AEW All Access show, and every time RJ shows up on my TV, my brain screams “Bathroom break.”
Renee goes over the card one last time as we go to the PPV!
It’s time for the PPV proper and the commentary team is Excalibur, Taz, and Jim Ross.
Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Starks the Jericho Appreciation Society is banned from ringside
They start by throwing hands and then Starks just beats on Jericho in the corners, showing a lot of fire. Starks is super over with this crowd and they are cheering for everything he does. When Jericho turns it around, he doesn’t think he’s getting enough heat, I guess, since he flips off the crowd. The announcers are putting over that Jericho is on a losing streak, and that Starks has taped ribs.
For the middle of the match, Jericho starts slapping him around before hitting big moves to show he doesn’t respect Starks. They are working a fairly old school match with Starks getting near falls, and when Jericho is in charge, his holds and moves are done to piss off the crowd. Both guys are working the match well in their roles and the crowd is eating it up, counting along with all of Ricky’s near falls.
When Jericho locks in the Walls, the crowd goes nuts for Ricky to get out of it. Ricky working out of it and putting on his own gets a big reaction. Sammy Guevara comes down to ringside and Action Andretti takes him out. This allows Jericho to get the bat and nails Ricky, but Ricky blocks the Judas Effect and hits the Rochambeau for the pin and the win.
Winner: Ricky Starks
Good meat and potatoes match to start the show, and it shows me that Starks is a much bigger star that he is being booked as. The guy is beloved by the crowd and they need to take advantage of that.
Christian Cage vs Jungle Boy Jack Perry in a Final Burial match
In the pre-show, Renee called him Jungle Jack Perry, which means JR’s name is sticking with her at least.
It’s pretty much a brawl, and after JB gets in some offense, Cage takes off through the crowd. So, we get a brawl on the steps in the crowd. JB tosses Cage back over the barricade and Cage tries to go up the ramp, but realizes the coffin is up there. They return to the ring and JB gets in a lot of blows before Cage takes over by pulling JB off the ropes by his hair.
Cage stops to drink in the crowd’s booing him. They go back to brawling at ringside, and on Comcast cable, the picture is glitching a bit. Cage is busted open as he grabs JB’s belt and starts whipping him with it. Cage makes sure to do it in front of JB’s family at ringside. Cage whips him up the ramp and then chokes JB on the stage, so we see the casket in the background of most shots.
When Cage opens the casket, there are chairs in it. They brawl at Casketside. Cage sets up a chair JB tosses Cage off the stage and then leaps onto him. They go back to the stage and Cage begs off in order to get in close for a low blow.
Cage slams JB’s head into the coffin repeatedly and then tosses JB in the casket and they brawl as Cage tries to keep the casket from being closed. JB gets out of the casket and the brawl continues. We then get Cage’s chair vs JB’s shovel. No finesse in this thing, just a match that uses the brawling to play off the emotion. JB sets up for the Con-Chair-To and finally hits it after not being able to do it in the past. He then hauls Cage to the casket, tosses him in and gives him a kiss on the forehead before slamming the lid.
Winner: Jungle Boy Jack Perry
Solid blow off to a feud that has gone on for a long time, and Cage did his job in making JB feel like a bigger star.
The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) (c) (with Don Callis) vs. The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) (with Julia Hart)
Hard to believe that when malakai came in, he was so over he got the crowd to turn on Cody Rhodes, and now he’s been used so haphazardly over the time since there. They get a decent reaction when they come to the ring, but they definitely need to be rebuilt. The commentary team positions this as a dream match, but there wasn’t nearly enough build for thai to be that for me, especially since the House of Black hasn't had much in the way of a match in weeks.
Don Callis joins commentary and puts over how nervous he is. Buddy and Omega go hold for hold to start off with. Black tags in and the crowd wants to see this. Omega stays in the ring. They have a nice hold for hold sequences as well, but when Matt tags in, he calls for Big, Bad, Brody King. Matt then goes to tag in Nick and Nick backs away.
They do a bit where each member of the Elite tries to hit a shoulder tackle and he ignores them. That sounds the tag team alarm, and it’s time for all six men to get into the ring and it’s time for Young Buckery.This leads to another sequence where Brody takes everyone out, and he’s being shown to BE a brutal big man. JR says “That’s a lot of ink coming at ya!”
Omega gets in some offensive on King, but Buddy Mattherws ends it with a beautiful shotgun drop kick that also knocks the Bucks off the apron. Omega attacks again and after he can’t get any finishing moves, Brody hits a clothesline that turns Omega inside out. House of Black is able to cut off the Bucks’ big moves for the most part, so when they hit THEY HAVE MORE IMPACT.
The Bucks get a flurry, but Black cuts them off with a rising knee strike. Again, we get Omega and Black facing off. Julia Hart grabs a foot and JR calls her a Jezebel, but the crowd is treating House of Black as the babyfaces in their cheering. They do a sequence where Omega accidentally gives a V Trigger to Hart.
Black starts hitting finishers on Omega with the Bucks breaking up the pins. The Bucks get to have a super kick party. Black takes a BTE trigger and Buddy breaks it up. The Hous e fo Black hit Dante’s Inferno and Black gets the pin on Matt for the win.
Winners and NEW Trios Champions: The House of Black
Jim Ross is done for the night and Tony Schiavone takes his seat.
I really liked this match because the House fo Black showed they were smarter than the Bucks, knowing when to cut them off and put them back on their heels. The Bucks and Kenny did a great job of feeding into that story and making the whole match feel like they were outmatched. One of the knocks against them has been that they present themselves as monsters, and here, they gave the House of Black the spotlight.
Jamie Hayter (c) vs. Saraya vs. Ruby Soho
Ruby has a new look with a nearly shaved head and a style of a mohawk.
They brawl out of the ring and into the crowd. Ruby has the upper hand out in the crowd but Saraya takes over when they return to the ring. Ruby is down as Hayter and Saraya fight in the ring and Saraya gets the spotlight for this sequence. Hayter slams Saraya on the apron, and I have heard it is the hardest part of the ring, and Toni Storm is right by her side. This means we get Ruby and Hayter for a while.
When Saraya returns to the ring, Hayter is in charge. With all three in the ring, the moves are looking crisp, with Hayter pushing power moves. Ruby and Saraya look better than they have in a long time. Crowd is clearly behind Hayter. They do a nice bit when both Hayter and Ruby are attacking Saraya and she screams at them to stop, which they do before both attacking her at the same time.
They match moves into each woman pinning the other with the last one breaking it up. In the end, Hayter is able to get a rollup on Ruby for the pin and the win.
Winner and still AEW Women’s Champion: Jamie Hayter
Storm and Saraya start a beat down on Hayter and after Britt Baker is beaten down, Ruby tosses them and yells this is our house. Ruby then gives Hayter No Future and Baker Destination unknown. She is then given a spray can and she sprays the L on Baker and Hayter.
More thoughts on Page 2.
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