10 Terrible Debuts AEW Quickly Fixed

2. Christian Cage

Tony Khan has learned to his cost over the years how damaging it can be to over-promote and under-deliver, but never was this clearer than at a show that proved to break every pay-per-view record in company history.

Revolution 2021 was a superbly well-built card, headlined not just by an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch between AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and Jon Moxley, but by the promise of a major, major star debuting in All Elite Wrestling. Khan had assured fans that this was a name as big in any in wrestling and he was going to work full time for the company.

The fact that Paul Wight dropped the news on the pre-Revolution edition of Dynamite only informed that further - the former Big Show was a big deal, and this was somebody bigger. Christian Cage - with the upmost respect intended - was about...the same.

Cage was and is an awesome get for a young company and so many of the future stars laying in wait in AEW, but the guy strolling into an empty arena showing off his new t-shirt was nowhere near evidence of that - particularly when fans had speculated on the likes of Brock Lesnar and CM Punk due to the build.