12 Match Star Ratings For AEW Revolution 2022

In the strictest definition, CM Punk Vs. MJF, as an end to end presentation, was the greatest cinematic match of all time. The visuals, the sound, the heft, even, by the finish, the shot composition, this transcended wrestling - so much so that, at times, the crowd didn't react to it. The level of detail was almost too rich.

The AFI entrance wasn't just stirring nostalgia. This was CM Punk, as he foreshadowed on Rampage, reminding himself just who the f*ck he is.

The payoff to an instant classic of a programme was incredible. Every beat made sense. MJF targeted Punk's knee after Punk made a rare strategic error by chaining himself up and cracking it against the steps. The injury prevented Punk from executing the Go To Sleep, informing crushing near-misses, where Punk chewed up MJF's hand, knowing full well that MJF would cry out for Wardlow when he couldn't gut it out himself. And cry he did, literally, showing ass like the genius heel he is. Punk was otherwise the smart operator as the elder statesman genius he is; after an early bulldog was thwarted when MJF yanked the chain, Punk rolled it up to prevent a second counter.

In a match pitched in part as a tribute to Roddy Piper, Punk and MJF also invoked the storytelling brilliance of Bret Hart and Mick Foley. This wasn't so much laid out as it was directed, in Bret's seamless vision of building a story in which every beat was as well-linked as the weapon. The thumbtack spots meant as much as they did when Foley used the plunder; the suspense and the catharsis of MJF's GTS slapstick bump were unreal.

It was slow and attritional, a pace that simply doesn't hook a crowd like it used to, sadly, but it worked - eventually - because just look and listen to that finale. In a match with gruesome chain shots and thumbtack bumps, the diamond ring was sold as the most devastating weapon of all.

A nasty, claret-soaked war, it was wonderfully detailed but never in a way that felt cute.

Star Rating: ★★★★¾