8 Match Star Ratings For AEW Revolution
4. Nyla Rose Vs. Kris Statlander - Women's Championship Match
A misfire that bordered on an insult salvaged, just, by two determined women who deserved better.
Nothing could follow the World Tag Team Championship match, so of course the women were made to. This had a depressing air of obligation to it that of course bred an apathetic atmosphere. If AEW positioned this in such a way that felt careless, why should the fans have cared?
Really, this dynamic was failed as soon as the match graphic was made. The appeal of this monster mash should have lay in its parity. It should have followed a spree in which Nyla had killed, over a prolonged period, all manner of smaller babyface opponents before being confronted, at last, with somebody her own size. Then what?
How would she adapt, or measure up?
That was the hook of Nyla Rose Vs. Kris Statlander. That was the drama, but with no such story told - nor any story - they had to orchestrate their own from an impossible position.
After a slow and sluggish start, bereft of heat, they almost succeeded. They exchanged bombs that would have detonated big, in an alternate timeline, and Statlander's counter to Nyla's deadly flying knee-drop was creative, in-character brilliance.
They weren't totally blameless - the finish was rough in places - but they did more than enough to shame the promotion.
Star Rating: ★★¾