9 Lessons AEW Should Learn From Revolution 2021

2. Cinematic Wrestling Can Work

Jon Moxley Barbed Wire
AEW/FITE TV

Remember when cinematic wrestling was unique, exciting and engaging? Yes, it once was. Back in the days of Broken Matt Hardy and The Decay, when Jeremy Borash was in charge and the imagination of the Hardys was unleashed across the Hardy Compound? There used to be plenty of mileage in heavily-edited movie-esque pro wrestling.

WWE may have taken all the fun out of the form by having Braun Strowmand and Bray Wyatt bandy about in a 'swamp', but AEW gave a fantastic reminder of how thrilling the trope can be with the war between Sting, Darby Allin and Team Taz. This was heaps of fun, a stunningly violent display of creativity and excitement, full of perfectly-placed spots and a real sense of grandiosity.

This was exactly what cinematic matches should look like. All four men involved all brought something different to the table that could be exploited in such a match (Sting's ephemeral presence, Cage's power, Starks' charisma and Darby Allin's willingness to fall from great heights), and it was clearly put together with subtlety and understanding. Two thumbs up, nay, three thumbs up.

The last thing anyone wants is for AEW to start spamming cinematic matches, but this was a breath of fresh air for the form. There's life in this genre yet.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.