THIS Was The Most Genius Wrestling Angle In Modern History
This was crucial. Instantly, AEW put an arm around its audience.
The booking was in sync with them. It was at once reassuring and dramatic, striking the perfect balance of tone. No drama is boring, but genuine anxiety is miserable. AEW had targeted the exact root of the problem, and aimed to correct it while casting doubt over whether they would.
In the first match, Cody defeated Darby Allin in a tremendously worked, closely-contested styles clash that built impeccably on their previous encounter at Fyter Fest. Cody won, to strengthen him ahead of his match with MJF. In an inspired bit of booking, one that informed a fantastic programme and virtually guaranteed a ratings victory on the respective Dynamite shows, MJF set out his horrifying list of stipulations that Cody had to meet in order to face him at Revolution. He couldn't touch him, he had to defeat the massive Wardlow in a steel cage, and he had to take ten straps of a whip.
To answer the question posed in the cold open, Cody was still Elite - but was mere weeks away from a segment that would challenge his aura, only this time in the careful fiction of the story.
In the main event, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks faced PAC, Fénix and Pentagon, Jr. This was an incredibly inspired match because it was guaranteed to be a pulsating exhibition of the Elite's talent - a glorious reminder of how great they are. And it was: Kenny Omega, in a very challenging position, had to put himself over as the best wrestler on the planet. With a viciousness precise even by the standards of his explosive physical timing, he went ballistic, smashing the sh*t out of the future Death Triangle in a stunning performance in which he played, and played convincingly, the role of clutch player. Omega starred in a total banger emblematic of both AEW and the stable it was named after. The idea was that, by restoring the vision of AEW, AEW fans would restore their faith.
But that's not all it had to be.
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