Posts
Good Morning!
Hey, it’s Revolution Weekend! Before we get into things, I wanted to talk a little bit about the Stinger himself. This is a guy who has been on our little blue marble in the universe for over sixty years (!) and has been performing since 1985 (!!). For a little perspective, that’s the last time the Bears won a Super Bowl. Hell, my WIFE was born in 1985 – on Monday morning, for not just her but thousands of wrestling fans, the part of their lives where Sting isn’t a professional wrestler will begin. The part of Sting’s life where he was a wrestler – the part after his attendance of a WWF show in California, until his retirement nearly forty years later – will be over. He’ll be Steve Borden again, dad and husband and man of faith.
I revealed this little nugget to my wife and we immediately decided she’ll wake up Monday and reflexively put on Crow makeup. A snow machine will kick on whenever she enters the living room, and Metallica’s “Seek and Destroy” will become number one on her Spotify list. But I digress…
Sting has been as good a guy, both in kayfabe and in real life, as any pro wrestler I can remember. He’s one of those “never hear a bad word about him” dudes. I think that’s part of why Sunday’s show is going to be so special for so many of us. He’s a good person, going out on his own terms, and he’s probably one of the few who we believe when he says he’s done. Read this autobiographical article in The Players’ Tribune, and this one at the same site written by his AEW tag team partner Darby Allen, one can learn a lot about Sting.
For as much as the Chicagoland version of me is a CM Punk guy, Eddie Guerrero is always going to be my all-time favorite wrestler. While the first professional wrestling I ever saw was SummerSlam in 1990, when I got really into the sport it was watching WCW Monday Nitro in my friend’s basement – shoutout to Benny, Jerry, PJ, and Ed) around 1997. And Eddie was a big part of that. I didn’t realize until years later what similar personal stories Eddie and Sting had. Both men suffered crises of faith and battles with addiction. But both also did the work overcoming those demons, and eventually becoming two of the most beloved guys in their industry. Of course, Eddie’s story had a much sadder ending, passing away in a hotel room, his heart having suffered too much from the years of abuse. For Sting, getting to go out in a way fitting for a hero, whether that’s on his back or standing tall in victory, just feels like the best possible way to finish his legendary career.
One last thing. The Players’ Tribune posted the above YouTube video of Sting listening to voicemails they collected from the man’s family, friends, and fellow wrestlers. It’s sweet, but there’s a point that I think encapsulates how much he puts into his performance. He’s clearly getting emotional hearing all these nice things…and someone off screen must walk past and do the “Stinger point” at him – the Scott Hall style thing, you know the one – and he instantly pops back into Showtime mode, hitting them with the point back. It’s a little thing for him, something he’s probably done hundreds of thousands of times for hundreds of thousands of fans. But Sting knows what it means to someone else, and just flips a switch to give them a moment that’ll stay with them forever.
That’s what we’re losing on Sunday night. Not just another performer, but one of the last true Icons of the industry. A man who genuinely cares about the fans, and who gives his all to make that ticket price worth it to everyone in attendance. And while it’s ultimately his call on how he goes out as Revolution ends, I’d love to see him ride off into the sunset, undefeated in All Elite Wrestling, standing tall over the kind of sleazy heels in the Young Bucks that he’s eventually overcome his whole career.
To me, that’s Sting.
A Quick Recap of the Weekend in Wrestling
Friday’s SmackDown gave us The Rock in full heel mode, but added some wrinkles to both WrestleMania and the road we’re on to get us there. In a (LONG) promo to open the show, Roman Reigns quickly tired of the crowd not properly acknowledging his presence, to the point where Roman was ready to dip out. After a clearly frazzled Paul Heyman explained that they couldn’t leave until The Rock made his appearance, Rocky joined the Bloodline to call out Cody Rhodes, and to indirectly allow for two main even matches to be locked in. A tag team match between Rhodes, with Seth “Freakin” Rollins, and The Rock, joined by Our Tribal Chief, would decide whether Cody gets a title shot on night two of WrestleMania – albeit with “Bloodline Rules,” whatever that means.
So Roman was basically put into a match he didn’t necessarily want. BUT he also didn’t allow the promo to end with Rock calling the shots for the family. When Rock went for the segment-ending “If ya smelllllll…” Roman literally pushed the mic from Rock’s mouth. Reigns said he’d do anything for the family, but he needed one thing from The Rock – he needed Rock to acknowledge him. Rock paused, removed his sunglasses, and did so. But the tension was there, even after the two embraced and Rocky admonished the fans for booing his willingness to do anything for family as well. The tension was there, and I’m hoping this may even lead to a match for the position of Tribal Chief, whether it’s at next year’s ‘Mania or at another big event like SummerSlam.
The rest of the show was good, with a lot of match-building and storyline growth. LA Knight was featured wandering the backstage area, hunting for AJ Styles until he ran into SmackDown GM Nick Aldis, who informed him that AJ was home to prevent just this confrontation. Knight was adamant that he’ll get his hands on Styles one way or the other, and I think we’ve all but locked in this match for WrestleMania as well.
Tiffany Stratton got a big win over Naomi, which was a great way to build off of Tiffy’s incredible performance in the Elimination Chamber. It sucks that it came against Naomi, but maybe this leads to a full-on program between the two superstars.
The Kabuki Warriors battled a definitely-not-evil Dakota Kai and Bayley, only for Kai to turn on Bayley in an expected move that honestly felt a bit rushed to me. Still, they needed to establish Bayley as a lone wolf babyface, abandoned by her former friends and proteges, and they did that. Now let’s see those duct-taped Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Bayley Buddies at ‘Mania for Bayley’s match against IO SKY!
Bron Breakker absolutely destroyed fellow NXT wrestler Xyon Quinn with a spear and a pinfall, keeping the big fella’s momentum strong going into both ‘Mania season and next week’s NXT Roadblock TV special.
The following Carlito versus Santos Escobar street fight was a lot of fun, and featured the return of Rey Mysterio after Carlito and his LWO pals were laid out by Escobar’s Legado de Fantasma. Rey’s grey beard poking out of his Jason Baker-designed hard mask is a cool look, and the good guys celebrated the returning hero after a victory.
After Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate met Aldis to lobby for a WrestleMania rematch against the Judgment Day for the Tag Team championships, we got a good main event that saw Randy Orton defeat Austin Theory, with the always-great Kevin Owens on commentary. Theory and his buddy (for now) Grayson Waller attacked after the match, only to eat some finishers and allow the good guys to stand tall to end the show.
On Rampage, CMLL continued their invasion/collaboration with AEW, as we saw Claudo get a hard fought victory over Rugido, and Magnus qualify for the All-Star Scramble (RIP Meat Madness) over Matt Sydal. Lance Archer teamed with The Righteous for a quick squash, and beloved former champ Riho made her return to the ring in a decent match with Trish Adora, who absolutely should be on TV more often. I don’t watch enough Ring of Honor but I have heard she’s put some good matches on over there.
We also saw Ruby Soho and Angelo Parker continue their on-screen pairing, only for them to get wrecked by Saraya and pals. I like that we still have a story that’s basically Rampage-centric, giving fans a reason to tune into the fastest hour of wrestling on TV.
Collision was up next, but aside from the opening three-way that saw Dante Martin earn his way into the All-Star Scramble, and the main event that featured several of the guys that will be on the Revolution card, it wasn't super eventful. We did see Mark Briscoe attempt to set Buddy Matthews on fire with the entrance pyro, though! That was cool.
And that’s that! All caught up. It’s time for…
The Let’s Watch Some Wrestling AEW Revolution Preview!
Just so we’re keeping track, my current PLE/PPV record is .500. A perfect Elimination Chamber was preceded by an abysmal one outta six for NXT Vengeance Day and a half-and-half Royal Rumble. Hopefully it was just a rough start to the year, or people will start to doubt my incredible prognostication!
We’ve got eleven matches on the card per Wikipedia, although that includes a pair of Zero Hour matches. However, since we know they’re happening, they still count towards the overall record. The main card features six championship matches and another fight for a title shot. We’ve got a lot of predicting to get to, so ramblers, let’s get rambling!
Zero Hour Match: Julia Hart and Skye Blue versus Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale in a tag team match
I’ve been talking up Kris Statlander a lot recently, because she deserves it! She’s talented, creative, and has a personality that rarely gets the spotlight it should. Willow is fantastic as well, if still a little rough from time to time, but that will smooth out with experience. Julia Hart is just getting back from injury and Skye Blue has had some decent outings lately, including a win over Statlander on Dynamite after kinda-manager Stokely Hathaway distracted Stat by offering her a chain to attack Skye.
All that is to say that the bad guys will likely pick up the win here, allowing Hart to look strong in her return to the ring while also building the rift Stokely has introduced between Nightingale and Statlander.
Zero Hour Match: The Bang Bang Scissor Gang versus Planet Jarrett, Private Party, and Willie Mack in a twelve-man tag team match
What’s there to say about a tossed-together twelve-man tag team match? It’ll be fun, and I’m sure there will be some good spots to go along with the assumed tension that will lead to (maybe) a trios title unification when the Bang Bang Gang remembers that they’re just better as bad guys. I’ll go with the good guys winning, but not without a miscommunication or two.
FTR versus the Blackpool Combat Club in a tag team match
I can’t help but think that the victory by the BCC on Wednesday’s Dynamite foreshadowed a few events. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but I see FTR winning here and (spoiler for several paragraphs down) Danielson losing to Eddie Kingston as well. What I’m hoping is that those losses lead to some self-reflection on the part of the Blackpool Combat Club, with the members realizing the BCC might be better off separating for a while. Regardless, these guys put on a hell of a show on Dynamite, and I’d expect the same on Sting’s send-off show.
Will Ospreay versus Konosuke Takeshita
This might be our match of the night. Ospreay’s first performance as an AEW wrestler, Takeshita getting a big stage against a world class opponent, and the Don Callis family there to … well, okay, they don’t add much to the fight. But Callis aside, these two have the ability to tear the house down, and barring interference or some other shmozzy finish, it might be a contender for match of the year. I think Ospreay starts his All Elite run with a win, but that won’t take anything away from my sweet Cinnabon son Takeshita.
Maybe the two even shake hands afterward, before Callis orders the other family members to attack Ospreay. That sends Will on a face run that can take him all the way to London in August, and maybe allows Will Hobbs and Takeshita to defect alongside him.
Chris Jericho vs Wardlow vs Powerhouse Hobbs vs Lance Archer vs HOOK vs Brian Cage vs Magnus vs Dante Martin in an All-Star Scramble for a future AEW World Championship match
This is our replacement for the Meat Madness match we were teased but had cruelly taken away due to Miro and Keith Lee unable to participate. Honestly, it’s nice that Tony Khan wanted all participants of the big MEAT matches to be healthy and take part in Meat Madness, so I’m fine with waiting for Miro and maybe Keith Lee to get cleared. That’s speculation on my part, but those are the names I remember garnering MEAT chants, however as we’ve discussed I also have the memory of a goldfish. But I digress!
This scramble, the breakfast replacement for the full dinner that Meat Madness would have supplied, features a more diverse lineup – a continental breakfast, if you will. It’s light, but it’ll pass the time and leave you just full enough to get through the day…ok, I’m taking this metaphor as far as it’ll go. Wardlow has been cutting some passionate promos lately in between destroying jobbers in squash matches. Between those and Adam Cole’s initial claims that Wardlow will win the AEW World Championship just to hand it over once Cole is healthy, I think Wardlow is picking up the win here. Maybe he holds onto that title shot for a while, until Cole is ready to get back in the ring. Or maybe he just cashes it in at the next pay-per-view, giving the champ another win and setting up a face turn for the big, meaty Wardlow. Who’s to say?
Orange Cassidy © versus Roderick Strong for the AEW International Championship
I have said a lot about the whole Undisputed Kingdom / Devil storyline, which means I can say less here! The whole faction feels like a placeholder without MJF on television, but if they’re trying to make the best of a dumb situation, AEW is going to start putting things in motion to make this a dominant group.
That means Strong gets to be the guy to take the International Championship off of Cassidy after a second run that never quite reached the heights of the first, but still provided plenty of great matches. Cassidy’s been favoring his back since the attack after his match on Wednesday, and Roddy is known for some great counters into backbreakers, so this should be another good one…just not one that Cassidy walks away from as champ.
Eddie Kingston © versus Bryan Danielson for the Continental Crown Championship
I’m seeing a lot of folks online thinking this is an obvious win for Bryan Danielson, but I disagree. Danielson really seems to love the builds to his matches as much as his ability to tell a story between the ropes, and he’s found a similar skill set in Eddie Kingston. Once the handshake stipulation was established, I felt like this is Kingston’s moment. On a card where even if the good guy wins in the main event, we’ll all be a little down knowing what that means, Kingston winning gives another good moment for the crowd to cheer the good guy overcoming the odds, and the bad guy getting what he deserves. I see Eddie retaining, earning that handshake, and Danielson getting mad or getting down on the BCC.
Christian Cage © versus Daniel Garcia for the TNT Championship
Daniel Garcia has been so damn impressive in the past few weeks. His in ring work has been amazing, he’s improved immensely on the microphone, and he’s gone from the guy struggling to get a point in the Continental Classic to a technician who deserves respect – and this title shot.
However, if he’s respected, then Christian Cage is there to remind him that he had a father…and his father is dead. I should not find that stupid line as funny as I do, it gets me every time. Anyways, the suspicious disappearance of Adam Copeland after his beating from Cage’s Patriarchy crew makes me think one of two things: either Copeland intentionally stepped away to allow Garcia to get the full focus during this match with Cage, or Cope is coming back and blaming Garcia for his suffering. I’m kinda hoping for the latter, as a full rivalry between Copeland and Garcia would be fun as hell. It would also kinda align Christian and Copeland, maybe giving us that final tag team run many fans have been hoping to see.
Since I’m hoping for the motorcycle-helmeted surprise attack a la ECW One Night Stand 2006’s main event, I also have Christian Cage retaining his TNT Championship. Garcia has some friends that will help neutralize Killswitch and Nick Wayne, but he’ll still fall victim to a spear and a big reveal after the pinfall.
“Timeless” Toni Storm © versus Deonna Purrazzo for the AEW Women’s Championship
I enjoy the “Timeless” Toni Storm gimmick – the black and white camera, the hammy acting, the vague innuendo, it’s all great. I’ve also argued from the start of its popularity that Storm hasn’t needed a championship to keep the character strong. However, now that she’s had a good run, losing that title could send her into fun new directions, i.e. absolutely losing her goddamn mind. That’ll be fun when it happens, probably shortly after Mercedes Moné debuts. It’s not happening tonight.
Deonna Purrazzo has had a lot of fun with this rivalry, and I think both women have really gotten their story over. The whole mentor/mentee thing and the matching tattoos have worked well, and Purrazzo has had more good matches than bad in her introduction to AEW fans since her debut. If I have a problem with her, it’s that Purrazzo’s wrestling character just doesn’t work as a good guy. She keeps the whole “Virtuosa” thing, with the shooing hand motions and better-than-you attitude, but fans are expected to cheer her over Toni because Toni is having a bit of an identity crisis?
I don’t mean to complain. Storm and Purrazzo will put on a good match, Storm will retain, and she’ll eventually hand the belt over to Mercedes. Hopefully the debut of a real, legit superstar in the women’s division means everybody gets more TV time – you know, rising tide lifts all ships – and we continue to see Storm’s great character work.
Samoa Joe © versus “Hangman” Adam Page versus Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship
The story that we’ve been seeing over the last few weeks has been really interesting. Hangman has been incredibly single-minded in his pursuit of Swerve, and I think that’s going to play into how he wrestles this three-way match. Swerve wants a championship, and he’s willing to do anything to get it, as evidenced by the whole breaking-and-entering-and-child-endangerment thing a while back. Samoa Joe rightfully seems disrespected by the two men who are getting a shot at his title. And these three mindsets could lead to an interesting finish on Sunday.
I’m thinking Joe retains, and here’s why. Hangman, as intent on preventing Strickland from winning a title as he is on winning one himself, will cost Swerve the match at Page’s own expense. Sacrificing himself to keep the belt off of his enemy, as it were. I believe Swerve deserves a championship, and he deserves to win it in the biggest possible way. That can’t possibly happen on a night when an industry icon is hanging up his boots. So, we carry this storyline on a little longer. We allow another battle between Page and Strickland. Maybe we even let Wardlow take the title off of Joe, only to drop it to a waiting and highly-ranked Swerve. Who’s to say? All I know is I wouldn’t put a world title change on a retirement night where it’s not even the main event, and therefore Joe keeps his belt.
Sting and Darby Allin © versus The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Team Championship
It all builds to this. It’s a long night with ten matches preceding it, but this building will explode once Sting’s music hits. We spoke at length about Sting, so let’s give a little thought to the other guys in this match, and how a win or loss affects them.
The Young Bucks, relishing their roles as evil vice presidents, have already done a lot with their characters since their return from hiatus. It’s been said and written that they lost their smiles, to borrow a phrase from Shawn Michaels, and that they weren’t really having fun as wrestlers. This heel turn seems to have helped get them back in a better mindset, and a win would cement them as the worst bosses since … well, most wrestling bosses, really. They would get a lot of mileage from sending Sting out on his back, and some might argue that the old way of putting a guy over as you leave is what Sting would want to do. Darby would also benefit, with a long rivalry with the Bucks growing out of this match.
I also will tell you that I personally don’t care about any of that. You send the fans home happy, you let the good guys win, you allow the legendary man who gave us all more than any of us deserved over the last 39-plus years to stand tall and walk off a champion. Does it make booking difficult, forcing Darby to find another partner or relinquish the title? Not really. It’s pro wrestling, you can always think of a way to get a belt off someone. Force Allin to partner with mystery guys every week, or have him respectfully give up the titles that he won with the Stinger, moving on from tag team action to focus on his own career, refreshed and revitalized by a mentorship from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring.
I won’t be mad either way. I understand wanting to put guys over, and I also understand a business wanting to thank a guy who meant so much to it. So what I’m really hoping for is spectacle. Get a helicopter to bring Sting in. Sign Metallica to play “Seek and Destroy.” Do a full-on shmozz where the Bucks reveal that they’ve put a bounty out on Sting, and then have every other performer on the roster surround Sting and Darby in Sting masks. Hell, pull the “I love you, I’m sorry” from HBK and just let Sting no-sell it. I have a hundred of these in my head, but at the end of the day I just like seeing the good guys win in the end. It’s the naive kid in me that keeps me watching this stuff. Good guys win, bad guys lose, we all try not to openly bawl.
Closing Up Shop
And that’s it! Kind of an emotional rollercoaster today, huh? I’ll be back on Monday to do a short recap, and we’ll see how things went. Have a good Sunday and enjoy Revolution!
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, drop 'em in the comments section below! And follow me on Twitter (X), Facebook, BlueSky and/or Instagram using the links on the right.
Thank you so much for reading. If you liked what you saw, consider telling your friends, mentioning Let’s Watch Some Wrestling on social media, or even buying me a hot cup of coffee using the Ko-Fi button. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next time, dear reader. Until then, Let’s Watch Some Wrestling!
