Good morning! It’s Friday! However, with Collision and Rampage coming up in the days before Revolution, I wanted to try something a little different and do the full AEW Revolution preview on Sunday morning, where we can do a quick recap of those shows as well. However, Casual Friday is the RAW and Dynamite of Let’s Watch Some Wrestling, and even though only a few of you read it, I think it’s best for all of us if I write something for the start of the weekend. So let’s go over Dynamite, featuring what may well be the last appearance of Sting on network television.
Rumors were all over the place about Hangman Adam Page prior to Wednesday’s show, and his entrance on crutches didn’t put a lot of hope into fans. Even his entrance graphic told us to lower our expectations:
It was all a cunning ruse by the Hanger, meant to draw out Swerve Strickland, who you just knew was gonna arrive to gloat about the injury. Samoa Joe followed shortly thereafter, and just as Swerve allowed himself to be distracted by the current AEW Champion, Hangman made his move, assaulting Strickland from behind with his crutch. I bought it; he sold it well and I’m not nearly as intense a follower of the dirt sheets as some other fans.
After a bit showing the arrival of the Young Bucks, baseball bats in hand, we got to BCC versus Eddie Kingston and FTR. This match was as good as one would expect from their recent interactions, especially Cash Wheeler and Jon Moxley going head to head, but it did go a little bit long. After the draw the teams had recently, and the upcoming tag team match on Sunday, maybe a shorter DQ would have been the way to go? Either way I’m sure we’re in for a good pair of matches to grow from this, as we also have Kingston and Danielson to look forward to at Revolution.
I did have one observation I shared on BlueSky that I’d like to share here, because I thought it showed why Danielson is such a master of this craft. Early in the match, Dax Harwood went down onto the floor, and Danielson immediately went over to take advantage. However, Bryan saw Kingston notice and head over, and he hesitated until Moxley and Castignoli were by his side before he attempted to go after Dax once more. Little things like that, showing just a bit of fear until his backup was by his side, is why Danielson is going to be in every hall of fame that matters after his retirement – the guy just gets storytelling in a match in a way so many performers just don’t.
Let’s see…Jericho talked about his match with Atlantis Jr., son of a man he fought with and against in CMLL. And then Will Ospreay made his first appearance on AEW TV since signing with the company! He told us that his bags were lost on his way here, and then had a tense handshake/staredown with Konosuke Takeshita after Don Callis and pals made their way to the ring.
I think the direction they are headed in is the right one – get Ospreay away from Callis and working as a good guy ASAP, so his big match at Wembley in August generates maximum cheers. More importantly, get Hobbs away from Callis too. And my sweet Cinnabon son, Takeshita, too. Hell, let everybody join up with Ospreay against Callis and a new class of recruits that actually could use the heat he can generate! He hasn’t done much with his current family and it would be nice to see what Hobbs and Take can do without him.
The Bucks mentioned instituting a dress code after interrupting Eddie in a post-match interview, and then Orange Cassidy had a good match with Nick Wayne interrupted by no less than four separate factions/teams. After Cassidy got the win, Roddy Strong got a quick beating in on the International Champion before Best Friends Trent and Rocky Romero made the save.
Our token women’s match of the night – a term I hate using and hopefully get to retire once Mercedes Moné makes her debut – was Kris Statlander (with Willow Nightingale and Stokely Hathaway) against Skye Blue with our TBS Champion Julia Hart. Shenanigans involving Stoke and a chain led to Blue getting the distraction victory, but it was a really solid match featuring competitors we don’t get on Dynamite all that often.
With Hart still not quite cleared for combat, keeping these women together is a good sign that we may see another TBS championship run for Stat, or one for Willow? Statlander is, unfortunately, so easy to overlook as a character but she’s a blast if you pay attention when she gets her moments. The gear that was an homage to Zoolander, this week’s shoutout to pro bowler Pete Weber’s iconic “Who do you think you are? I AM!” bit…she’s got a hell of a creative mind, and I hope she’s able to get some more freedom once (again, hopefully) the women’s division gets more attention.
Jericho had his match and it was okay, but really I just think it’s time for him to go away for a while. Even if it’s just a hiatus for a few months before another re-invention, which he has proved time and time again that he’s capable of, his whole gimmick, his whole personality…I’m just over him for now. I think it would be better for him and for AEW as a whole if they took a breather.
The Young Bucks finally found Sting’s locker room. It was the one labeled STING in large letters; it shouldn’t have been that hard to find, really. But I digress. They busted in and found a bunch of hanging bats and a mirror. That led to them heading to the ring, where a bunch of masked Sting fans made gestures at them until one revealed himself to be Darby Allin. He attacked, but got taken down by the Bucks. Ric Flair then shambled to the ring, ready to attack Allin, but then he decided to go with the old eye-poke and punch combo on the Bucks, earning the old man a low blow and a beating. Sting’s music hit, and we got to see the Icon lowered from the rafters by a harness! It was a pretty dope moment, one I would hope to see again on Sunday. Well, that or they somehow one up this moment by signing Metallica to play Sting out, but that’s wishful thinking. Stinger got to show the Bucks how to properly wield an aluminum bat, getting some nice clangs out of the bats clashing before laying Nicholas Jackson out with a Scorpion Death Drop in the middle of the ring to end the show.
It was pretty cool to see the Stinger flying down to the ring, and I’m sure I’m not the only fan who’s sure they’ll be bawling by the time Revolution goes off the air on Sunday. But it’s gonna be a great show and the end of a legendary career, and it’s a great card to boot. I’m looking forward to it!
Closing Up Shop
So there’s your thorough breakdown of our go-home Revolution, a solid-to-good show with a cool ending. We’ve got SmackDown and Rampage tomorrow and Collision on Saturday before Sunday’s Revolution PPV, and I’ll post a preview on Sunday morning so we don’t miss any matches (don’t worry, I’ll post on the socials to let you know when it’s up). So far, Wikipedia says there are nine matches set, including a few that have play-in matches on Rampage, so I can’t imagine more than one or two additions. Also, pour one out for the MEAT MADNESS match, which was replaced with an All-Star Scramble due to the unavailability of both Miro and Keith Lee, or so I’ve read.
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