8 Match Star Ratings For AEW Revolution

AEW had built Revolution with a streak of near-perfect episodic television.

Cody Vs. MJF, a classic beloved babyface versus sociopathic heel dynamic, peaked like damn Everest with its heart-wrenching - and life-affirming - major segments. It's sort of unreal; these people love Cody and they despise MJF, ardently and earnestly. The Elite Explodes saga stood in wonderful contrast to it. This is a different, untapped breed of wrestling storytelling; every character has a legitimate grievance tempered - but perhaps not saved - by an enduring brotherhood. It is nuanced, intelligent business that moves bravely away from binary machismo and has generated real, emotive anxiety. Chris Jericho Vs. Jon Moxley, and yes this does need to be pointed out, is precisely why WWE should entrust its talent with their own creative input. This epic saga intersected comedy and violence superbly.

Jack Swagger Vs. Goldust was an excellent prospect (!) better built than anything WWE managed with Jake Hager for nine years. Darby Allin Vs. Sammy Guevara was as inventive as hell: initiated with a classic injury angle, but built with artistic short films. This is the perfect illustration of AEW's ability to create stars, and the perfect riposte to gotten-to hAHa aEW iS MAin EvENted BY WwE guYS! takes.

All the while, AEW engineered an even grander anticipation by threading several compelling story beats across a storm of in-ring classics on Dynamite. AEW Revolution was the best-built pay-per-view in decades, much less years.

Did Revolution live up to this level of hype?

Brawling with fire early, consistent with the storyline, this was fought with a real intensity by Kazarian in the early going.

All dangerous suplexes and impactful high spots, it was an inspired choice for the Buy-In - remember the ultra-sh*tty comedy? - because it was compact, well-worked, and obscured the tentative-at-best interest in the Dark Order through a crowd fired-up for a major show, if not a major match.

But as ever, much of the excellent work was undermined by the amateurish presentation of the Dark Order. They transitioned into the heat very well, in such a way that it didn't frame Kazarian as a moron, but the reaction to the Creepers' attack sounded like a put-off drone, and not legit heat - a not ideal atmosphered intensified by chants of "spooky perverts!" during the heat. This audience, as high as hell on a white-hot fan-servicing product, continues to banter off the concept.

That heat spot dragged - and again, it probably wouldn't feel that way, if the reaction to the act was loud or earnest - but Kazarian's acrobatic tag-in was fabulous in its ingenuity, and Scorpio Sky's explosive hot tag looked typically crisp and physical.

It was a familiar story - the Dark Order's tandem work was convoluted but coherent, and when the wrestlers bled through the act, it bordered on awesome - but the Exalted One reveal needs to manifest itself as one hell of a chapter to make it worth reading.

Star Rating: ★★★