It has been far too long since All Elite Wrestling graced the pay-per-view arena, but this Sunday night we are back with the undisputed greatest professional wrestling available on the planet today! Revolution 2022 comes to you LIVE from the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, FL starting at 8pm EST/7pm CST on traditional PPV providers as well as Bleacher Report ,Fite.TV for International fans, and select theaters!
On the night of March 6th, four Championships will be on the line, two men will be bound by a Dog Collar, six will try to ascend the Ladder towards a TNT Title match, and there is plenty of more wild action in-store for the fans in Orlando, as well as those watching around the world!
What will the face of AEW look like when the final bell tolls on Sunday night? Will we see new champions crowned, and new contenders step up to the plate? Who will walk away in victory and whose head will be hung in defeat? The best way to find out now is watch Revolution 2022 on your favorite pay-per-view provider starting at 8pm, but be sure to join us for the Revolution 2022: Buy-In prior to the event on the official AEW YouTube channel!
AEW WORLD TITLE MATCH…
“Hangman” Adam Page(c) vs. Adam Cole
The two Adams; both have career resumes that stack up quite impressively. Within the confines of All Elite Wrestling, Adam Page has claimed both the AEW World Tag Team Titles and AEW World Title that will be at stake at Revolution 2022. With the former, he and Kenny Omega stand as the second longest reigning champions at 228 days and tied with The Young Bucks at 9 successful defenses to their reigns. As the World Champion, Page defeated “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega to claim the honors, ending the longest World Title reign in AEW’s history, and sending one of the greatest wrestlers of this generation off to lick his wounds.
Since then, Hangman has battled Bryan Danielson in two championship matches! The first went to a 60 minute stalemate and is undoubtedly one of the greatest matches professional wrestling has seen in ages, and then followed it up by defeating “The American Dragon” on the first TBS-hosted Dynamite. Page then put down the Texas Death Match World Championship challenge of “The Murderhawk Monster” Lance Archer after an exhausting, bloody, brutal battle. So of course, the week after that violent display, Adam Cole chose to step up to his old friend’s face and formally issue his intentions for the AEW World Title.
And of course, despite Cole’s pretense of wanting this fight to be man-to-man, reDRagon was right there to remind Hangman Page that his next challenger does not ride alone into this fight, or any other for that matter. But that fact is not something the AEW World Champion has to be reminded about because once upon a time, Page was one of those running buddies, traveling the wrestling roads right alongside Adam Cole when both worked for Ring of Honor. They shared hotel rooms, they shared the cars, in fact when Page became a regular part of that company in 2013, Cole was one of his earliest bouts.
They were involved in a handful of fights together, but their world went through seismic shifts on back-to-back days in 2016. On May 8th in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, Adam Cole would align himself with the infamous Bullet Club right alongside The Young Bucks, Tama Tonga, and Tanga Loa. Twenty-four hours later in Dearborn, Michigan, Page would turn his back on Colt Cabana, the Briscoe Brothers, and the Motor City Machine Guns to follow his road trip roommate into the BC. By that point Page had watched his friend win that company’s World Title once, and Hangman would watch him win it two more times before Cole was first excommunicated from The Bullet Club, and then departed ROH with Page handing Cole a loss.
It wouldn’t be until after Cole’s departure that Hangman Page acquired his first championship in that company, and it would be in the form of Six Man Titles alongside The Young Bucks (with the trio affectionately referred to as The HungBucks). It was a 200+ day championship reign that ended in March 2018, and it would also be the last title Hangman Page would hold winning the aforementioned AEW Tag Team Titles in January 2020. This Adam went nearly two years without tasting a championship while having to sit back and watch his former roommate, his old BC running buddy, not only rise to prominence down in Orlando, but excel.
Adam Cole would be the first North American Champion that company ever saw, and to this day, his 396 day reign atop that mountain is still the longest in their history. Suffice to say, with Bobby Fish, Kyle O’Reilly, and Roderick Strong at his side, Adam Cole became one of the top competitors across the professional wrestling board.
Meanwhile, as has been previously discussed in-depth (Read Here) Adam Page struggled to find his place in the world of All Elite Wrestling, even when he reigned as a champion with Kenny Omega, and it would be quite sometime before Hangman finally felt comfortable in his own skin. But once that confidence came, when he finally found that depth of self-belief, Hangman earned the AEW World Championship that Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley, and Kenny Omega had all elevated into the most prestigious championship in the game today.
But before Page achieved that landmark victory, in fact during a two month hiatus stemming from an injury inflicted by The Elite yet in which Page also celebrated the birth of his child, his former Bullet Club ally Adam Cole sauntered into All Elite Wrestling. Immediately aligning himself with The Elite despite some old issues with Kenny Omega, Cole began building his resume both with his mates and as a solo act. By the time Kenny lost the AEW World Title to Hangman at Full Gear 2021, Adam had racked up a 7-2 record with losses only coming in multi-man bouts, and told Omega “Cleaner, I got this” when Kenny informed The Elite he was taking a leave to recuperate from mounting injuries and the loss of said championship.
It didn’t take Cole long to put those words into action as he would bring Bobby Fish into the equation to assist The SuperKliq, something that didn’t exactly sit well with The Young Bucks given the history between Fish’s old reDRagon tag team and the brothers Jackson. And if that didn’t sit well, then one can easily imagine how the Bucks felt when Cole then brought Kyle O’Reilly, the other half of reDRagon, into the fold. Well all of that is a story for another match taking place on March 6th, it illustrates just how much Adam Cole was insulating himself while simultaneously racking up the victories to get into contention.
And that is exactly what he did; while Page was fighting his heart and soul out with Bryan Danielson, Cole was notching his belt against Wheeler Yuta and Jake Atlas. When the World Champ was focusing on the threat of “The Murderhawk Monster”, Cole was fighting a Lights Out Match with Orange Cassidy, and while that was a loss for BayBay, officially it does not exist, and Cole’s position as the top man in the rankings remained unaffected. It’s kind of an interesting parallel to Dr. Britt Baker’s own path to the Women’s World Title in which she lost a Lights Out Match to Thunder Rosa but two months later ended the historic title reign of Hikaru Shida, but just as with reDRagon, that is a tale for another fight taking place at Revolution 2022.
So regardless of that unofficial loss to “Freshly Squeezed”, and following Page’s title retention against Archer, Adam Cole was now in the prime spot to challenge for the World Title. That led us to the moments in the video embedded above with Cole and reDRagon assaulted the champ, but it also brought the collective unit to these moments below in which the very complex relationship between Hangman and The Young Bucks once more reared its head:
With Matt and Nick walking away, leaving Fish and O’Reilly to their just desserts, it reflected back on the choice The Young Bucks made to not get involved in the Full Gear 2021 World Title match that resulted in Page’s championship victory. Whether it was out of adherence to that agreement in November, or a demonstration of their disdain for reDRagon, the brothers Jackson left Kyle and Bobby to answer for their crimes while fans were treated to Story Time with Adam Page.
From their first meeting almost nine years ago in Richmond, VA to the time spent in various hotels, on random highways, as well as inside rings, and from their run together in The Bullet Club to this World Championship collision less than 10 miles away from where Cole had his greatest successes pre-AEW, it feels as if life has come full circle for the two Adams. It’s the undefeated in singles competition Adam Cole taking on the defending World Champion Adam Page on pay-per-view this Sunday night LIVE from the Addition Arena in Orlando!
Will we see the Panama Sunrise bring a sunset to Adam Page’s title reign, or will the last sound Adam Cole hears on March 6th be the boom of Buckshot? Tune into traditional PPV providers, Bleacher Report, Fite.TV if you’re international, and even in select Cinemark/AMC/Regal movie theaters to watch the action go down!
AEW WOMEN’S WORLD TITLE MATCH…
Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D(c) vs. Thunder Rosa
While this match may have been made official a week ago when the two women signed the contract on Rampage, the reality is that this collision has been brewing for over a year. When Thunder Rosa first arrived in All Elite Wrestling back in September 2020, it was as the NWA Women’s Champion and she was gunning for the AEW Women’s World Title then held by Hikaru Shida. Rosa would valiantly try to claim the title as her own at All Out 2020, but it would ultimately prove to be one more notch on the belt of Shida’s record-setting title reign. Still, Thunder Rosa impressed in her losing effort and as a result, she stuck around in AEW, even defending that NWA Women’s Championship against Ivelisse on one edition of Dynamite, and battling Serena Deeb for it on another broadcast of AEW’s flagship program. With each match, win or lose (and it was mostly win), Rosa repeatedly demonstrated that she was one of the absolute best athletes in pro wrestling today. She had a fire that connected with the people, a heart they admired, and absolutely no quit in her system, but as much as the fans respected that, there were some in AEW who felt Thunder Rosa did not belong.
Enter: Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D…
The Good Doctor made it no secret how she felt about Rosa’s presence in AEW, and their issue would ultimately escalate into a match at Dynamite: Beach Break 2021 in which the assistance of Rebel allowed Baker to secure a victory via referee stoppage. Rosa did not quit, she did not submit to the Lockjaw, instead she was knocked out by a turnbuckle that had been exposed courtesy of Baker’s Little Helper.
That was February 10th, and by March 17th the Rosa/Baker issue had reached a boiling point and the very first Women’s Unsanctioned Lights Out match would be set for Dynamite: St. Patrick’s Day Slam! Although there had been a handful of these matches beforehand, none had taken place on Dynamite and all three had involved either Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, or both. This was an historic moment for AEW, as well as for the Women’s Division, and it prove to be one of the most memorable matches in AEW’s history to date.
It was a violent, bloody, visceral affair that saw chairs, ladders, and thumbtacks all come into play before finally coming to an end when Thunder Rosa dropped Britt Baker through a table at ringside with a Fire Thunder Driver. It was absolutely a cathartic moment for Rosa, proving beyond a shadow of doubt that she belonged in All Elite Wrestling, and that she was the better fighter on that night. In the moment, it was a glorious triumph for Rosa, but in the big picture, it was Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D who found a way to parlay her loss into greater successes.
See part of what comes with that Lights Out stipulation is that, while a wrestler has free reign to unleash hell upon their foe, after the final bell rings, nothing changes in the standings. The record books don’t reflect the win or the loss, the rankings are not affected, and officially the match never happened. It is a moral victory of sorts, but in terms of championship standings and title opportunities, a Lights Out win has no bearing.
Instead Dr. Baker would win her next six singles matches, challenge Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women’s World Title at Double Or Nothing 2021, and come away as the new champion! Now it wasn’t exactly something she pulled off all by herself, but at this point, nearly a year since that victory, it should come as little surprise that Rebel played a part in a Britt Baker victory.
That being said, or rather taken in consideration, the Good Doctor has successfully defended her championship against Nyla Rose, Red Velvet, Kris Statlander, Ruby Soho, Tay Conti, and Riho en route to this Sunday night’s PPV collision. By hook or by crook Britt has pulled off those victories, as well as others, and kept a grip on the AEW Women’s World Title for 280 days. She may have quite a ways to go to match Shida’s historic reign, but The Good Doctor has left a huge impact on AEW and on her division.
One of those women who has felt the impact, the wrath, of D.M.D, has been Thunder Rosa. Perhaps it’s been a nagging thought in the back of Baker’s mind for the last year, maybe that Lights Out loss left seeds of doubt that finally blossomed when Thunder was on the verge of fighting for a title herself. Perhaps it was spite that drove Rosa to pull Mercedes Martinez back into the AEW fold after being absent since 2019, and to point her at Rosa. Thunder was just one match away from fighting for the TBS Title, and while Mercedes was the reason she did not, Britt Baker was the reason Martinez was back in the first place.
And it wasn’t just that moment that lends towards a belief Britt Baker is afraid of Thunder Rosa, it is also the fact that prior to the Jade Cargill fight “La Mera Mera” had won thirty straight one-on-one matches! In fact, from March 6th until that December 28th TBS Title Tournament loss, the only defeats Rosa tasted were in a Three Way with Cargill and Nyla Rose, and in a tag versus Britt on the Revolution 2021: Buy-In. That’s an amazing 35 wins over the course of 37 matches, but what may be more amazing is that during that entire run, Rosa did not receive one single championship opportunity. Coincidentally, though more likely not, Britt Baker reigned as AEW Women’s World Champion during the vast majority of Rosa’s run there.
But one can only run from their fate for so long, and it finally happened that Thunder Rosa was awarded the championship opportunity many felt she had earned long ago for Revolution 2022. Then, just a few days ago on Dynamite, the challenger demonstrated to the champion that she had been right to fear her all this time when Rosa pinned Dr. Britt Baker right in the center of the ring. It was absolutely undeniable, no ducking and dodging the reality of the moment, the champion got pinned. Now it’s not the first time in this situation for Britt, Riho pinned her in on Rampage: Black Friday to earn that Battle Of The Belts shot, but Baker managed to find a way to retain. Difference there being that Baker had two weeks between the pin and the championship match to get it together whereas here, she barely has four days.
There, Baker didn’t fear Riho despite the record the original Women’s World Champion had against her, but here, well the fear and spite radiate off the Good Doctor. Baker may have found a way to parlay the Lights Out defeat into a greater spotlight, but commercial success doesn’t change the results. While she got to the World Title first, Brit still knows what happened at St. Patrick’s Day Slam and has been haunted by it ever since.
Why else avoid a woman for nearly a year who had clearly earned a shot several times over? Why else conspire to cost Thunder that TBS Title Tournament match? But the running has ended, the fight can no longer be avoided, and after nearly a year of anticipation, Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker will finally collide with the AEW Women’s World Title at stake!
WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH…
Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus(c) vs. reDRagon (Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
This one is complicated to say the least; well the history of reDRagon and The Young Bucks is not that complicated, it’s a pretty straightforward case of four men who have fought each over the PWG Tag Team Titles, the IWGP Junior Tag Titles, and the ROH Tag Titles, as well as in numerous other bouts. They do not get along, they were never on the same side of the ring fighting for a common purpose, and from the moment Bobby Fish was brought into the wheelhouse of The SuperKliq by Adam Cole, the tension was palpable.
And that is where everything gets complicated, when the past met the present here in AEW, and was then further exacerbated by the arrival of Kyle O’Reilly. The reDRagon unit was complete, the allies Adam Cole had cultivated over the years since leaving ROH were now back at his side, but what of the friends he had returned to at All Out 2021? Where do The Young Bucks sit in this situation now that reDRagon is in the picture as well?
That is what has led everyone to this situation here at Revolution 2022; we’ve got Fish and O’Reilly advancing to this championship match at the expense of The Young Bucks in the first #1 Contender’s Battle Royale but reDRagon also helping Matt and Nick advance to this fight in the Casino Battle Royale. Perhaps it was a make-good, reDRagon giving the former World Tag Team Champs a hand in advancing, and thus further tilting the odds of the titles ending up in this dysfunctional family. See: complicated.
And here are Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus watching it all play out, and possibly banking on this erstwhile alliance between The Young Bucks and reDRagon self-destructing come game time. After all, regardless of the drama between the challengers, it is ultimately all about the World Tag Team Championships and the fight to claim them. Fish and O’Reilly want to claim them in their very first opportunity, the brothers Jackson want to reclaim the crown and become the first two-time champs in the division, and the defending champs want to continue building their resume as title holders.
The World Tag Team Titles have not been at stake in a Three Way Match since Full Gear 2019 when SCU successfully retained over The Lucha Brothers and Private Party, so that in itself makes this a special one. The fact that it’s putting reDRagon versus The Young Bucks for the first time in years enhances that element, and should JB and Luchasaurus conquer both these teams to retain, it will be one of the most special nights of their careers as well!
Who will emerge from this fracas as AEW World Tag Team Champions? Will reDRagon and The Young Bucks combust as they both try to snatch the crowns from Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus? Can the defending champs survive two teams coming for their heads? We will find out live on pay-per-view this Sunday night!
TBS TITLE MATCH…
Jade Cargill(c) vs. Tay Conti
It has been said before, possibly ad nauseam, but it bears repeating: Jade Cargill is a rookie. She just hit her one year mark as a professional wrestler earlier this week, and yet here she is, coming into AEW’s first pay-per-view of 2022, as the first-ever TBS Champion. Not only that, but she also enters into March 6th as an undefeated fighter with twenty-seven consecutive victories, and all but two in one-on-one matches. Making it all the more impressive is that these wins are not just over the wrestlers fighting their heart out for a spot on Dark or Dark: Elevation, they are also against some of the top-tier combatants in the Women’ locker room. She has toppled The Bunny, Julia Hart, Ruby Soho, Anna Jay, Thunder Rosa in a singles match as well as a Three Way with Nyla Rose, and Red Velvet,…in her rookie year.
Jade has the longest active undefeated streak in AEW, she holds the record for longest unbeaten streak in the Women’s Division, and “That Bitch” sits with the second longest streak in AEW history behind Colten Gunn’s thirty-five straight wins. Given she has accomplished all that in her first year as a professional wrestler, it makes one wonder just what is to come for the rest of her career, and speculate just how long this streak of hers can go on.
This Sunday night at Revolution 2022, there is one woman who wants to put an end to that record effective immediately, and that is AEW’s resident Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt Tay Conti! Conti have Dr. Britt Baker a run for her money at Full Gear 2021, and although she did not leave with the AEW Women’s World Title, it certainly wasn’t because Baker did it all by herself. Undaunted, Tay Conti is back in the hunt for titles and her sights are now set on the TBS Title around Jade’s waist!
Clearly Jade does not have any respect for Conti’s credentials, and that could be a championship-ending mistake. Cargill may be that rare wrestler who picks up the game naturally, and that may be because she comes from an athletic background herself in basketball, but so too does Tay Conti. The differences between the two women is that Conti has been learning the professional wrestling craft for several years now, and her athletic background comes from fighting. She has been fighting on the mats for most of her life, getting choked out and submitted, doing the same to her training partners and opponents alike, throwing each other around to learn the craft. Tay Conti should never be underestimated, not even by a five-star athlete like the TBS Champion.
The question now is if Tay can parlay all her fighting skills into the ingredients necessary to be the first one to defeat Jade Cargill. Can Conti break the streak, take the title, and do what her best friend failed to several weeks ago? We will all find out Sunday night!
DOG COLLAR MATCH…
CM Punk vs. MJF
When one experiences a loss, especially the first one, there are a multitude of ways to respond. There is the “dust yourself off and try again” method, there is “wallowing in self-pity”, there’s “blame others”, and there is “make excuses”. Several weeks ago, in front of his hometown Chicago audience, CM Punk experienced the first defeat of his All Elite Wrestling career, and at the hands of Maxwell Jacob Friedman no less.
It wasn’t the first loss of CM Punk’s wrestling career, not by a long shot when the man’s in-ring journey started in 1999, but it certainly stung a great deal more than a majority of the others. After all, this match was one Punk had been pursuing for weeks but MJF kept throwing one body after another into the path of “The Best In The World”. Now Max did step into the ring with Punk one time, albeit with FTR at his side, but he spent the entirety of the match running away from his foe, desperately avoiding any contact with Punk.
Then he threw Wardlow into the ring with Punk and, quite frankly, it would have been “The WarDog” credited with Punk’s first loss if not for the arrogance and ego of MJF. After a multitude of powerbombs, including one through a ringside table, Punk was nothing more than a broken body waiting to be pinned, but Max’s insistence that Wardlow continue the assault led to Punk securing the win with a small package pin.
So then Shawn Spears got his shot at being a human shield, but after talking a big game, “The Chairman of AEW” got put out by a Go 2 Sleep in under a minute. As was the case when Max made Cody endure a number of trials, as went down when Jericho had his Labors, there eventually came a time when the inevitable became the unavoidable. MJF had to step into the ring with CM Punk, and he elected to do it in the Windy City. It was absolutely an ego play by Max because should he win, it would be in front of Punk’s most faithful fans, friends, and family, as well as in the city where Punk returned to the sport after seven (or 16 depending on perspective) years away from professional wrestling.
What a battle it would turn out to be! For forty minutes Maxwell and Punk battled it out with every fiber of their being, and as much as he may be a despicable human being, it would be difficult for anyone to argue MJF isn’t a premiere pro wrestler. He took Punk to his absolute limits, forced his former favorite wrestler to find depths he hadn’t plummed in years, while his body began to betray him. It became a task for Punk to even stand up, to move, to fight, but he never stopped battling through that pain and finding a way to push his forty-three year old body past its limits. Punk dipped deep into his bag of tricks, ripping the top rope pedigree he once dubbed The Pepsi Plunge out from the bottom, all in an effort to beat this brash, arrogant twenty-four year old who screamed to the world “I’m better than you and you know it”. It was almost as if Punk’s old “Straight edge means I’m better than you” credo was being spat back in his face, and he was fighting parts of himself that bled into the wrestling world he left behind in 2014. Could Punk have persevered through his body breaking down in front of the entire world, and actually beaten Maxwell as he did Darby Allin, Eddie Kingston, Lee Moriarty, and all those he’d faced since returning to the fray? We will never know because, after such a tremendous fight that proved Max was worthy of being talked about with the elite wrestlers, he still left nothing to chance, and used Wardlow to feed him the Dynamite Diamond Ring. What happened from there was a true travesty as seconds later MJF beat his former hero because of that ring, but the sad thing is, when looking back on that match, Maxwell could very well have won it on his own accord.
But it isn’t in his nature; he’s a snake, a sneak, and will cut any corners to get his way, even when he doesn’t need to do so, but perhaps Max’s worst flaw, of which there are many, is that he’s also arrogant. It’s evident in his favorite spiel, it’s evident in how he treats Wardlow, and it was evident the night he created an opening for Punk to get a rematch, and not just any rematch, but one that would go down at the time and place of Punk’s choosing, as well as with whatever stipulation “The Best In The World” chose to include. All Punk had to do was find himself a partner not named Darby or Sting, and then beat FTR in a tag team match; not a small feat by any means, but MJF was banking on no one else being willing to support Punk. Max certainly didn’t expect Jon Moxley to be the one who rose to the occasion to assist Punk in this endeavor, and his arrogance certainly didn’t think Punk would actually win the match.
So now what would Punk do? The future was his to determine, and although the location of Revolution 2022 for the rematch had to be an absolute, the question of the stipulation was wide open. A Steel Cage could be erected to try and keep any of The Pinnacle from getting involved. A Last Man Standing rule could be implemented so the two warriors could fight until one was unable to continue. Really anything was fair game, but it seems that Punk chose to look into history-his own, that of this rivalry with MJF, and the larger history of wrestling as a whole to make his decision…
A Dog Collar Match; a leather collar wrapped around the neck of both competitors, a chain attached to each, effectively binding Punk and Max together until the fight came to its likely bloody conclusion. It was made most famous by Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine back in 1983, but its a stipulation used throughout the history of wrestling, and has led to some of the most violent encounters ever seen. Punk himself has fought under these conditions on a pair of occasions, once against Raven and another against the recently departed Jimmy Rave, and both resulted in two of the most brutal affairs ROH every witnessed in its 20 year history. MJF too has felt the chain weighing him down during his wrestling career, also on two occasions as a matter of fact, one coincidentally enough against Ethan Page way back in April 2019. He’s not unfamiliar with the pain of the collar and chain, he knows its a situation in which there is no escape from your opponent, no reprieve from the violence, and as such has only been used once in AEW’s history between Cody Rhodes and Mr. Brodie Lee. Max’s reaction to this stipulation being laid down was…surprising…to say the least, and somewhat moving considering the source of the story.
Suffice to say Punk did not know how to respond, the fans did not know how to respond; this was a side of Max that actually seemed deserving of sympathy, a side of MJF that actually felt like there was once a decent human being inside Maxwell. He made Punk question himself, question his own culpability in how Max has evolved, and it led to this…
A snake; MJF pulled Punk in and bit him just like the snake Punk compared himself to in the parable famously referenced at ROH’s Death Before Dishonor III event in June 2005. It was a banner moment in the career of Punk, the night he won that company’s World Title, and it is no coincidence that MJF, being the long-time fan of Punk, chose to spit those words back in his face.
Once again, in his arrogance, MJF might have bitten off more than he can chew, and this picture captured by fan on Wednesday night’s Dynamite more than tells that story:
There’s a saying, f*** around and find out, MJF absolutely just did that with his assault on CM Punk. Max may think he got a leg up, some sort of advantage, but the reality is more likely that he just ripped open a part of CM Punk that he will regret having unleashed. MJF may have seen this side of Punk on DVDs or YouTube videos, but living with it chained to your neck, there is nothing that can prepare a man for that experience. The question to be answered now is which man will survive it this Sunday night at Revolution 2022?
BLEED TOGETHER…
“The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
As soon as Jon Moxley returned to AEW, the eyes of “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson fixated on the former AEW World Champion. At first it was unclear just what Dragon wanted from Mox; was he just eyeballing potential competition? Was he waiting for an opportunity to assault Jon?
The answer would come in short order when Danielson came to the ring after Mox’s victory on the February 2nd Dynamite and laid out his vision for the future of AEW. It was a future shepherded by Jon and Bryan, one in which they took the young talent under their wing and tutored them on how to be professional wrestles. It was a future in which violence reigned supreme with Danielson and Moxley united to run roughshod over AEW, collecting any championship they want whenever they want, and generally dominating the playing field. Despite their dislike for Danielson given his actions the last few months pertaining to Adam Page and The Dark Order, the fans seemed to appreciate the idea, and Jon, although he didn’t give an immediate response, seemed at least intrigued by the proposition.
Bryan’s answer from Moxley would come in short order, and in a fashion rather unsurprising given the man in question. If Jon is even going to consider what Danielson has proposed, there will be blood…
And that blood nearly came early when, after Danielson defeated Christopher Daniels on Dynamite, Bryan elected to continue assaulting “The Fallen Angel” with stomps to the head. Moxley hit the ring, likely less out of concern for Daniels and more out of desire to get into it Bryan, and offered his Sunday night foe out right on the spot.
So it will be violence this Sunday night at Revolution 2022 when, some 14 years and change since they first met in Chillicothe, OH, “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley go head-to-head! Right here are two individuals who love the fight; one in Bryan who loves dishing out the pain, torturing his opponent and the other in Mox who seems to feed off his own pain, using it to push him deeper and harder into the fight. The combination of the two is certainly explosive as foes, that much we will all experience first hand on Sunday, but what if this fight actually does lead to the vision Bryan laid out? What is scarier: the thought of what these two men will do to each other or what they could do on a unified front?
ONE-ON-ONE…
“Le Champion” Chris Jericho vs. “Last Of A Dying Breed” Eddie Kingston
It is finally happening; after weeks and weeks of Chris Jericho and Eddie Kingston orbiting each other’s space in AEW, exchanging verbal barbs, and even ending up with mutual foes in 2point0/Daniel Garcia, as well as mutual allies in Santana & Ortiz. On Sunday night at Revolution 2022, they will step into the ring but not to talk, there will be no microphone in the hand of Tony Schiavone or Alex Marvez looking for a word, there will only be fists, there will only be fighting.
What started as something about the effect Chris Jericho has had on the careers of Ortiz and Santana, be it positive or negative, well it has slowly turned personal between Eddie and Chris. Each man began to paint this picture of their foe, Jericho as a leech and Kingston as a failure, and both went in hard on their perceptions of one another. Chris threw Eddie’s family history into his face to show him as just a loser while Eddie looked a Jericho as a user surrounding himself with young, hungry talent to keep him propped up.
It is amazing that, given the deep cuts each man sliced into the other, this has not erupted into physical violence already. Jericho, more so than Eddie, chose to go for the jugular with his talk about Kingston’s family, and Chris’ belief that “The Mad King” would just fall off the top of the mountain if he ever reached its zenith.
Here is the unfortunate reality of Eddie’s AEW career though: Jericho isn’t exactly wrong. Eddie versus CM Punk, Eddie versus Miro, Eddie versus Bryan Danielson, Eddie versus Jon Moxley, even Eddie versus Cody in his first AEW match; those fights all have the same thing in common…Kingston did not win the big one. He was right there, on the precipice of a greatness that his talent shows he is capable of and that the fans believe he can achieve, and yet…
This is a chance to show the world different, perhaps the last chance to show up and prove that everything Jericho said about not winning the big one, about being born for failure, that it is all just utter garbage falling out of the mouth of one of AEW’s preeminent trash talkers. Eddie can backfist Jericho’s face off and shut his mouth from ever speaking ill of Kingston again, or Eddie can come so close to scoring the big victory, showing all the heart in the world in the process, but still chalking a loss in the record book.
Jericho is a top athlete in a locker room of premier ones, there is no doubt of that, and Eddie is going to treat it as another fight of his life situation. But this time, the battlefield is just as much in the psyche of Kingston as it is inside the Revolution 2022 ring on Sunday night. Eddie needs this, as much to shut Jericho up and prove him dead wrong as to prove to himself that nothing Chris said is the reality of who Eddie Kingston is in his soul. He is not a loser; he is “The Mad King”, he is “The Last Of A Dying Breed”, and he is going to ascend to the top of the mountain.
TORNADO TRIOS MATCH…
Darby Allin, TNT Champion Sammy Guevara, & Sting vs. The AHFO (Andrade El Idolo, Isiah Kassidy, & Matt Hardy)
The AHFO has been on the hunt for the TNT Title for several weeks, just as they’ve been on a mission to sign Darby Allin to their unit for quite some time. Neither quest has been fulfilled, but that doesn’t mean Andrade and Hardy’s people haven’t had life difficult for Darby, Sting, and Guevara.
Even Sammy and Darby aiming for a competitive contest over the TNT Title was tarnished by the machinations of Andrade, and although it resulted in “The Spanish God” retaining the championship, it wasn’t exactly a win he could be proud of achieving. That being said, his victory over Andrade in a TNT Title fight was one for which the reigning champion could be proud, but it still led to The AHFO assaulting the champion. But this time, Sting and Darby were right on the spot to assist Guevara, demonstrating a measure of respect for the 2-Time TNT Champ that two years ago, when he and Allin fought at Revolution 2020, would not have been considered.
That set-up this Tornado Trios match for Sunday night, but it also led to Sammy delving into a first for the TNT Title, a Three Way defense just 48 hours before Revolution 2022!
So now, with the championship titles still around his waist, Guevara will unite with two erstwhile allies in Darby Allin and Sting to face Andrade, Matt Hardy, and Isiah Kassidy of the AHFO. To be frank, the alliance of the AHFO has not blossomed into successes just yet, but a win in this situation would absolutely catapult their conglomerate into the attention of everyone in All Elite Wrestling. This is a battle between the two stellar trios, but it may also be a fight for the validity of what the Hardy/Andrade combination brings to the table!
FACE OF THE REVOLUTION LADDER MATCH…
Christian Cage vs. Keith Lee vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Ricky Starks vs. Wardlow
***WINNER EARNS FUTURE TNT TITLE MATCH***
One year ago, AEW introduced the concept of the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match. A series of qualifying matches that ultimately led to the fight at Revolution 2021 with a shot at the TNT Title as the prize for the victor. That night, “All Ego” Ethan Page made his debut in the company while his future Men Of The Year tag team partner Scorpio Sky ascended the ladder to grab the brass ring. Coincidentally it was that victory, and the subsequent loss in his TNT Title fight with Darby Allin, that slowly led to the place where Sky finds himself now, aligned with Ethan and Dan Lambert.
This year the surprise didn’t come the night of Revolution 2022 but rather in Atlantic City when “Limitless” Keith Lee arrived in AEW and decimated Isiah Kassidy en route to being the first qualifier for this year’s iteration. Orange Cassidy, Powerhouse Hobbs, Ricky Starks, and Wardlow would all qualify over the next several weeks, with Christian Cage snagging the final spot on Rampage when be bested Ethan Page.
There is so much intrigue heading into this Ladder Match; Team Taz has been all up in the business of Keith Lee since he debuted, and they certainly had their own issues with Christian Cage when he first came into the company. Wardlow has been pressured for weeks on end about winning the Ladder Match, winning the TNT Title, and then relinquishing it to MJF. Apparently Max has changed his mind about all that, not because he doesn’t want championships, but because he doesn’t believe “The War Dog” can pull out the win…
Which of these six competitors will ascend to the top of the ladder this Sunday night and claim their shot at the TNT Title? And an equally valid question after Dan Lambert’s announcement on Rampage would be just who may be the champion when said winner gets their opportunity at St. Patrick’s Day Slam in San Antonio? Will it be Sammy Guevara or Scorpio Sky after next Wednesday’s title fight in Ft. Myers?
REVOLUTION 2022: BUY-IN
ONE-ON-ONE…
KRIS STATLANDER VS. LEYLA HIRSCH
After weeks of rising tensions, hateful words, and physical aggression, Kris Statlander and Leyla Hirsch will lock horns once again! It’s not their first dance in AEW, that went down on Christmas Day and saw Statlander come out as the victor in Greensboro. That night these two women fought as friends, a competitive bout, but still it was a match between two friends. Unfortunately that match, that loss, also seems to be the night that has led Hirsch down the path she has chosen, a path where she’s discarded Stat and Red Velvet as friends, and instead chosen violence.
It’s led to brutal words, hurt feelings, and now it will lead these two women back into the ring with any semblance of friendship left in gutter. Which of these women will arise with their hand raised on this Revolution 2022: Buy-In contest? Tune into the official AEW YouTube channel starting at 7:30pm EST/6:30pm CST to watch them clash!
SEND HIM!
HOOK VS. QT MARSHALL
Fans have been waiting for it for weeks, safe to say HOOK has been waiting for it too, and while QT Marshall’s been doing a great deal of things to avoid it, there is no escaping it now! It is time for HOOK to finally sink his arms around the throat of his former trainer, and put QT Marshall to sleep. Fans have witnessed HOOK put down Fuego Del Sol, Serpentico, Bear Bronson, and two of Marshall’s students in Aaron Solo and Blake Li. QT has thrown other bodies in the way, but HOOK has discarded all of them like pieces of trash; in fact that abuse of those poor individuals may be the one thing he and Marshall have in common.
Come The Buy-In on Sunday night, Marshall has a chance to show the world that he was right about HOOK the entire time, but conversely “The Cold-Hearted Handsome Devil” has the opportunity to put QT down and quiet his demands for respect.
TRIOS WAR!
Death Triangle (PAC/Penta Oscura) & Erick Redbeard
vs.
The House Of Black (Brody King/Buddy Murphy/Malakai Black)
On Friday night’s edition of Rampage it seemed as if The House of Black would once again run roughshod over Death Triangle. Still fighting with one man down because of Rey Fenix’s injury, PAC, Penta, and Alex Abrahantes found themselves surrounded by The HoB with apparent violence rapidly becoming their future. It felt inevitable until an unfamiliar music broke out accompanied by a very familiar name on the giant entrance screens; Erick Redbeard had arrived in AEW and clearly he was aligning himself with Penta and PAC!
An absolute giant of a human being, Redbeard sent The House of Black scurrying away from the ring as security futilely tried to quell the situation. All that resulted was Erick demolishing everything in his path as Brody King, Buddy Murphy, and Malakai Black watched from a safe distance.
Come Sunday night’s Buy-In event prior to Revolution 2022, there will be no safe distance for The House Of Black when they meet inside the ring with Death Triangle and Erick Redbeard in Trios competition! As with so many situations going down Sunday night, this is a situation ripe for violence and it goes down absolutely FREE on the official AEW YouTube channel! What a tremendous way to kick off the night with these three Buy-In bouts leading right into Revolution 2022 proper!
All Elite Wrestling returns to pay-per-view this Sunday night with Revolution 2022! Live from the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, FL, the festivities kick of with The Buy-in at 7pm EST, and the pay-per-view at 8pm EST/7pm CST! The event is available on traditional PPV providers as well as Bleacher Report, Fite.TV for International fans, and select theaters! It has already been a landmark week for AEW, and professional wrestling as a whole, what else could possibly happen this Sunday night?
Article source: allelitewrestling.com