9 Match Star Ratings For AEW Revolution 2021

Before the sh*tty, cringeworthy climactic "explosion," there's a match to rate. Two incredible professional wrestlers risked their wellbeing and scarred themselves for your entertainment. That cannot be ignored.

And that match was phenomenal.

The core drama of an Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match is in avoiding the sh*t out of those ropes and selling the horrors of the electrocution. In two expert moments, Mox and Omega set the crucial tone. Propelling hearts into mouths with last-second near-misses and dread-inducing suspense. Mox's eyeball hovered dangerously near that barbed spike, putting over the puncture as much as the explosion in what was an astute story beat, given the extent to which the barbed wire was folded into the violence. The way in which that first explosion is triggered is also pivotal.

In a great spot, Mox didn't stagger and flail in what is the traditional but hoary method. Nor did he lunge into it and risk appearing foolish. In a gut-punch all the more impactful for its sudden inevitability, he was blinded and thrown chest-first into the fire. This explosion looked awesome. The promise of those lurid '90s magazine photographs had been realised with the level of deeper storytelling and elite athleticism one would expect of the dynamic.

Deeper into a gruesome video nasty, Mox and Omega remained faithful to the real core of their overarching story: in the fiction, Mox is the hero. The superior, more upstanding competitor. When he wasn't getting his forehead lacerated or V-Triggered into oblivion, his suplexes were more devastating, delivered at a more dangerous-looking angle, and sold as more effective.

This was paced, plotted and built so perfectly. It's difficult to recall a match that flew by so quickly. The inherent flaw in the genre is that any move not involving an explosion feels lesser than after an explosion. The power of the One-Winged Angel accounted for that - the lore is such that it feels like a bomb - and the mechanics of the resulting near-fall were total genius.

In another great update, Mox rocked Omega with two consecutive get-f*cked explosions and doubled the catharsis in what was, before the finish, a truly innovative and yet faithful reboot of an old form.

Star Rating: ★★★★¾

But it didn't end there. It ended on an unacceptably, powerfully lame angle. This was such dismal execution of a fabulous idea that it ruined the idea itself. This wasn't innovative, but it was great. In theory. Eddie Kingston turned babyface, playing Onita, by throwing himself onto Mox. Given their history, and the nuanced role Eddie played ahead of Full Gear, this was inspired.

It descended into the cosplay it ultimately all was when some sparklers a child could comfortably hold were "set off" above the turnbuckle. The scene looked like a bunch of grown-up wrestling fans impersonating, badly, the wrestling they grew up watching.

Trite backyard amateur hour, and an almost profound shame.