All Elite Wrestling marked its first pay-per-view event of 2022 with a landmark Revolution event that many consider to be one of the company’s best supercards in its three-year history. Featuring the Dog Collar Match between MJF and CM Punk, the Battle of the Adams for the AEW Title, and old scores being settled with Kingston vs. Jericho & Moxley vs. Danielson, we’ve got your complete rundown of what went down in Orlando, Florida this past Sunday.
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The Buy-In
Kris Statlander vs. Leyla Hirsch
Kicking off the evening was this bitter rivalry being settled after weeks of sneak attacks and promos. Statlander and Hirsch got the show off on the right foot with this opener to The Buy-In. “Legit” Leyla would get the win in this match thanks to a cheap shot with a metal turnbuckle piece to turn the tide.
Leyla Hirsch def. Kris Statlander via pinfall (9:51)
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The Transitional Champion
Entering to Kenny Omega’s theme music, the “Carny Piece of Shit” Don Callis made an unannounced arrival. He addressed the nature of Kenny’s injuries – blaming the fans for “sucking the blood” out of him as the cause of his injuries. He stated that Revolution would be a good night for The Elite, with the Young Bucks winning back their AEW Tag Titles and Adam Cole becoming a “transitional” AEW World Champ for a returning Kenny Omega.
The continuing power struggle between Cole’s faction and the Elite originals was furthered with Callis’s promo, especially with brushing Cole off as a transitional champion.
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HOOK vs. QT Marshall
Surprisingly, QT managed to get some offense in, using trickery to have a bit of an advantage against the super-popular HOOK. However, that wouldn’t help much at all as HOOK tapped into his cold-blooded style to shock and awe QT with suplexes a-plenty. The end came when HOOK applied the Redrum submission hold to submit QT for the victory.
HOOK def. QT Marshall via submission (4:58)
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Death Triangle & Erick Redbeard vs. The House of Black
The final match before the event kicked off saw the hostilities between Death Triangle’s PAC and Penta Oscuro — alongside ally Erick Redbeard — and the ominous House of Black come to a head.
We got some fun spots with Redbeard facing off against Brody King and Buddy Matthews meshing well with both Penta and PAC — which has me hoping we’ll see singles action with those three soon.
The end came when the House of Black felled Redbeard with a triple team combination — Malakai Black first spitting the mist in his face, followed by a knee from Buddy and a piledriver from Brody.
Overall, an entertaining trios match to get the action going in time for our opening contest.
The House of Black def. PAC, Penta Oscuro, & Erick Redbeard via pinfall (17:23)
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Revolution 2022
Chris Jericho vs. Eddie Kingston
You can tell Kingston was fired up for this bout because he didn’t waste time in dropping Jericho with the half-and-half suplex to start.
This match delivered in terms of being a violent encounter between two men who can’t stand each other. Jericho arguably had his best showing in AEW to date since the one-on-one match with Jon Moxley way back in 2020.
The end came when Jericho couldn’t connect with a Judas Effect, allowing Eddie to land consecutive Uraken backfists to leave his opponent dazed. Kingston would then close things out with the Stretch Plum submission, forcing Jericho to tap clean.
Post-match, Kingston tried to offer a respectful handshake, as Jericho promised he’d shake Kingston’s hand if he won this match. However, Jericho not only refused the handshake, but walked out.
The obvious angle coming out of Jericho’s handshake refusal is a potential heel turn due to his resentment of Kingston beating him clean. That said, Kingston’s big win here should set him on the path for big things in 2022. He’s too popular a star to not be in on anything huge in AEW.
Eddie Kingston def. Chris Jericho via submission (14:12)
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AEW Tag Team Championships: Jurassic Express vs. reDRagon vs. The Young Bucks
With the inevitable Young Bucks/reDRagon conflict taking centre stage of this match, it was a tall order for Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus to not get overshadowed by the Elite melodrama. In that regard, they succeeded in many ways – not only rising to the occasion when the time came, but also retaining their AEW Tag Titles.
True to AEW’s many tag team matches, the action was fast and furious, with all three teams getting their spots in.
The Bucks & reDRagon did indeed fall into conflict in this match
Jungle Boy got the big hero spot of withstanding offense from the Bucks and reDRagon, and hitting a furious flurry of offense in the match’s closing moments.
Jurassic Express prevailed after finishing off Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks with their double team finisher, capping off the most exciting match of the evening.
Jurassic Express def. reDRagon and The Young Bucks via pinfall (19:11)
Face of the Revolution Ladder Match
Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat was on the menu for this ladder match with Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs, and Keith Lee all a part of the action.
Orange Cassidy was one of the match’s standouts with his comedy wrestling antics blending well with the action. One spot involved Orange being trapped in a ladder and caught between Wardlow and Keith Lee, eventually using this situation to almost win the ladder match. We even got an appearance from Danhausen in the latter stages of the match, as he tried to curse Ricky Starks.
Aside from the inevitable Wardlow victory, there seemed to be hints of a greater feud between Keith Lee and Powerhouse Hobbs, which should be a barnburner of a match when the time comes.
Wardlow won the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match (18:18)
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Whose House?
After weeks of rumors and speculation, AEW made it official by introducing Shane “Sw3rve” Strickland to everyone. Though this was a rather short introduction to Strickland, this is a major signing by AEW that made an immediate impact just with his mere presence. Sw3rve is a hot commodity and one of the fastest-rising stars in wrestling today. His charisma and in-ring skills will be something that can only be a net benefit for AEW.
TBS Championship: Jade Cargill vs. Tay Conti
The TBS Champion made an impact with her entrance, accompanied by a live rendition of her theme music and showing up dressed as Jade from Mortal Kombat.
Jade’s continued work with Bryan Danielson in honing her in-ring skills have really shown its results throughout her recent matches, and this title defense was no exception. Though Conti put up a very good fight, it wasn’t enough as Jade retained her TBS Title and kept her win streak alive, now at a 29-0 record.
Jade Cargill def. Tay Conti via pinfall (7:03)
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CM Punk vs. MJF (Dog Collar Match)
From the entrances alone, fans knew they were in for one hell of a match. While MJF trolled fans by at first using Punk’s theme, things really picked up when Punk himself entered to the song “Miseria Cantare” by AFI, and sported boxer shorts to echo back to his Ring of Honor days. Completing the throwback was the ring announcer billing Punk as “The Second City Saint”.
The match started off with some intense fighting using the chain, but it would be MJF who would draw first blood on Punk. At one point, MJF held a microphone and attempted to get Punk to admit he’s a quitter, only to be met with an emphatic “Eat shit, Max!” from the Best in the World.
MJF introduced thumbtacks to the proceedings, eventually managing to hit a superplex on Punk to send him landing right into the pile of tacks.
In the match’s closing moments, MJF called out for Wardlow to assist him, but the big man conveniently couldn’t find the Dynamite Diamond Ring in his pocket, which allowed Punk to hit a GTS that caused Maxwell to fall onto the pile of thumb tacks. Seconds later, Wardlow did manage to find the DDR, just leaving it on the apron before making his exit.
Punk finished this violent Dog Collar match off by giving MJF a taste of his own medicine by KO’ing him with the Dynamite Diamond Ring.
This was a very satisfying and bloody conclusion to MJF and Punk’s feud.
CM Punk def. MJF via pinfall (26:48)
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AEW Women’s Championship: Dr. Britt Baker DMD vs. Thunder Rosa
This match had the lofty challenge of following a string of excellent matches, and they certainly did, but it unfortunately fell victim to the usual tropes of Dr. Britt’s title defenses as AEW Women’s Champion.
The frequent overreliance on the interference from Rebel and Jamie Hayter and that figuring into the finishes is something that’s plagued the latter half of Dr. Britt’s title run.
However, it appears the plan may just be to have a rematch of Rosa vs. Baker in two weeks time at the St. Patrick’s Day Slam edition of Dynamite — perhaps, with a stipulation to keep interference out. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Dr. Britt Baker DMD def. Thunder Rosa via pinfall (17:30)
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Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley
This match came about as part of the story of Danielson wanting to have Mox join forces with him to create the most formidable tag team in AEW history, while Mox opted to challenge Bryan so that he could finally secure the one win that has eluded him his entire career.
Of course, a match built on the statement of “I don’t stand with anyone ‘til I bleed with ‘em first” was always gonna end with blood, so we got Moxley busted open after he and Danielson mixed up outside the ring.
The American Dragon attempted to use his multitude of submission holds to maintain the advantage, with Moxley trying to match him at every turn. We got a sequence of Mox and Danielson trying to stomp each other’s heads in as their showdown reached its climax.
Mox would get the win over the American Dragon by reversing Danielson’s triangle choke into a pinning combination, which was enough for the 1-2-3.
The action didn’t stop even with the match concluded. Danielson went after Mox with mutliple security officials attempting to break the scuffle up.
Things really got interesting when William Regal made an appearance, to the surprise of nearly everyone watching live in Orlando and all over the world. Regal literally slapped some sense to both Moxley and Danielson, which led to the handshake between the two, apparently making their alliance official.
Jon Moxley def. Bryan Danielson via pinfall (20:44)
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Tornado Trios Match: The A.H.F.O. vs. Sting, Darby Allin, & Sammy Guevara
For what was ostensibly meant to be a “cooldown” match before the main event, it was anything but that. The Tornado Tag rules made it easy for things to descend into chaos right from the get go.
If Guevara and Kassidy’s crash through the tables on the stage wasn’t crazy enough, then surely Sting leaping off a concourse platform onto a pyramid of tables to incapacitate Andrade should’ve done the trick. Keep in mind that Sting is in his sixties and was thought to be done wrestling altogether seven years ago. Now he’s doing things like table spots and dives off the stage in his matches. Suffice to say, AEW has done a great job with making Sting’s matches feel special.
The good guys would pick up the victory with Darby hitting the Scorpion Death Drop on Matt Hardy onto a steel chair. He’d then follow this up with a Coffin Drop from halfway across the ring to secure the win.
Sting, Darby Allin, and Sammy Guevara def. The A.H.F.O. via pinfall (13:01)
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AEW World Championship Match: “Hangman” Adam Page vs. Adam Cole
“The Battle of the Adams” didn’t disappoint and made for a great way to cap off an all-timer PPV from AEW.
As Adam Cole made his entrance sporting attire echoing Halo’s Master Chief, Adam Page made a statement of his own, wearing rainbow Pride attire in an event held in Florida, where the state government has been on the cusp of passing “Don’t Say Gay” laws .
Appropriately enough, this main event showdown provided drama for days on end from the two Adams, with Big Platinum at stake.
O’Reilly and Fish moved the timekeeper’s table near the ring, ostensibly for Cole to put Page through. Hangman would fight back, instead sending Cole crashing through the table with a brutal Deadeye.
The action escalated when the Dark Order emerged to fight it out with the reDRagon duo. Of note was Hangman shoving Alex Reynolds aside when he was being helped up, which should lead to some rather interesting conversations between the two.
Hangman got a measure of payback on Cole by tying him to the top rope and teeing off with superkicks, eventually knocking him down with a Boom knee of his own. One Buckshot Lariat later, and this one was over.
Following the match, Page showed a form of respect by shaking Cole’s hand before celebrating his hard-earned win to end Revolution, having won The Battle of the Adams.
“Hangman” Adam Page def. Adam Cole via pinfall (26:00)
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Marc Quill is the editor of RingCrashers, GateCrashers’ home for all your All Elite Wrestling and indie wrestling needs. He’s also the web novelist behind Skye Emery: Bluebird, which you can read here. You can chat with him about wrestling, comics, and stuff in general on @MarcQuill on Twitter.
