All Elite Wrestling presents its first pay-per-view of 2021, Revolution, Sunday night from Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, with a jam-packed card headlined by Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega for the AEW World Championship in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch.
The first of its kind in AEW, the match promises chaos and violence, but it is hardly the only high-stakes championship clash on the card.
The Young Bucks defend their world tag team titles and Hikaru Shida puts her women's title up for grabs, while TNT champion Darby Allin teams with Sting in The Icon's first match in six years.
What led to the matches, and who will leave with their arms raised in victory?
Find out with these previews and predictions for every announced match on the card.
From the closing moments of AEW's debut pay-per-view, Double or Nothing in May 2019, Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega have been embroiled in the company's most vicious and violent feud.
Moxley jumped Omega on the first episode of Dynamite and delivered a Paradigm Shift through a glass table. From there, they battled in an unsanctioned Lights Out match at Full Gear in November of that year.
The feud took a break throughout most of 2020 before jumpstarting in time for the December 3 Winter is Coming episode of Dynamite. There, Omega conspired with Impact Wrestling Executive Vice President Don Callis to screw Moxley out of the AEW world title.
Since then, Moxley has made it his goal to avenge the wrongdoing, even when it meant suffering a beatdown at the hands of The Cleaner and his buddies, Impact Wrestling tag team champions The Good Brothers.
On the February 24 episode of Dynamite, Moxley sent a message loudly and clearly to his foe, promising if he was to go out, he was going out in glory in an Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match at Revolution, a match hand-selected by Omega.
The match promises a level of violence and brutality we have yet to see from AEW. Yes, the aforementioned Lights Out match brought barbed wire, glass and thumbtacks to the table, but this is the first time we have seen a match of this type in a major North American promotion.
The question is whether Omega will be able to find a way to steal another win.
Given the effort that has gone into telling this story, turning Omega heel and setting up the Impact contingent, all signs point to that answer being a resounding, "yes."
Prediction: Kenny Omega retains
Team Taz has been at odds with Darby Allin since Brian Cage's debut last May at Double or Nothing.
The Human Suplex Machine, his hand-picked FTW champion, and young upstarts Ricky Starks and "Powerhouse" Will Hobbs have beaten down, punished, pummeled and obliterated Allin on numerous occasions.
The resiliency of the young competitor and his intestinal fortitude kept him coming back for more and fueled him to defeat Cody Rhodes for the TNT Championship. Still, gold did not prevent Allin from catching a beatdown, leading to the shocking debut of Sting in AEW.
Winter is Coming, the December 3 special episode of Dynamite, saw the arrival of The Icon, marching to the ring and fending off an oppressive heel faction while saving Allin. Just as he had numerous times in his days as the vigilante of WCW.
In the weeks that followed, he would repeatedly appear in support of Allin, who drew comparisons to the Hall of Famer.
The February 17 episode of Dynamite saw Cage rattle Sting with a jarring powerbomb, the first major bump the legend had taken in almost six years. He recovered nicely, joining Allin in an attack of Team Taz a week later and leaving Starks lying following a Scorpion Death Drop.
All signs would seemingly point to the returning hero conquering the evil foes and earning his first win in years, even as the unrelenting force of Cage and the undeniable talent of Starks looms large.
Allin has made a career of winning big matches against tough opponents. With Sting by his side, he will win his biggest yet.
Prediction: Darby Allin and Sting
Chris Jericho and MJF escalated things with The Young Bucks Wednesday on Dynamite as they attacked, bloodied and left Matt and Nick Jackson's father in need of medical attention.
It was the first real emphasis on that particular rivalry, especially considering both teams have had their own issues to deal with.
The Bucks have been embroiled in a deteriorating relationship with world champion Kenny Omega and Impact tag team champions The Good Brothers, while Jericho and MJF are still reeling from Sammy Guevara quitting The Inner Circle.
Which team will be able to shake off their personal issues, and will the challengers be able use the champions' emotions against them in a winning effort?
Possibly, but this feels like the perfect opportunity for Guevara to make his presence felt and ruin his former cohorts' championship aspirations.
Prediction: The Young Bucks retain
Women's World Championship Eliminator Results:
- Thunder Rosa defeated Leyla Hirsch
- Riho defeated Serena Deeb
- Nyla Rose defeated Tay Conti
- Britt Baker defeated Madi Wrenkowski
- Yuka Sakazaki defeated Mei Suruga
- Emi Sakura defeated Veny
- Ryo Mizunami defeated Maki Itoh
- Aja Kong defeated Rin Kadokura
- Rosa defeated Riho
- Rose defeated Baker
- Sakazaki defeated Sakura
- Mizunami defeated Kong
The ongoing Women's World Championship Eliminator Tournament to crown the top contender to Hikaru Shida's AEW Women's Championship will continue Wednesday night on TNT with the semifinals, in which Sakazaki will battle Mizunami while former titleholder Rose will do battle with Thunder Rosa.
Common sense says the lack of preparation time for Shida ahead of her title defense, her opponent not yet known, would favor whoever emerges from the tournament victoriously. That is not necessarily the case here.
Shida is a world-traveled competitor who has clashed with every single competitor still remaining in the tournament.
If Rose does emerge victoriously, Shida stands a chance, if only because of the familiarity that exists between them. It was The Native Beast who she defeated at last May's Double or Nothing to win the title.
Shida is no stranger to Sakazaki, either, having beaten her in a Four-Way last February. She last combatted Thunder Rosa in August at All Out.
It is Mizunami who presents the greatest challenge, if only because it has been years since Shida locked up with the veteran competitor in Japan's WAVE promotion.
Despite the presence of the Japanese competitors in the tournament, this feels like an opportunity to spotlight a more consistent AEW wrestler. Given the momentum she has been able to carry throughout the last year, expect Rosa to earn the tournament victory and cash in her title shot successfully.
Prediction: Thunder Rosa wins the tournament to face Shida and the title
Already announced for the match: Cody Rhodes, Lance Archer, Penta El Zero M and Scorpio Sky
The Face of the Revolution Ladder Match is an opportunity for one competitor to rise to the occasion and capture a guaranteed opportunity at the TNT Championship, held by Darby Allin.
Rhodes and Allin have history dating back to the beginning of AEW and, in fact, it was The American Nightmare who Allin defeated to win the title back at Full Gear. Allin has always mixed it up with Archer in the past, but he has not had a singles match with either Sky or Penta to this point.
Max Caster of The Acclaimed will battle The Dark Order's Pres10 Vance to fill one of the two open spots in the match, with the last opening being filled at the Revolution pay-per-view. Tony Khan and AEW have a long history of filling these sort of matches with massive surprises, so it remains to be seen who will step in.
What does not, at least based on recent trends, is the winner.
After a relatively so-so 2020, Archer has exploded back into championship contention by way of dominant wins over Eddie Kingston and his ladder match qualifier win over Rey Fenix. The Murderhawk Monster is finally showing those flashes of dominance most expected when he exploded on to the scene last year and adopted the cerebral Jake "The Snake" Roberts as his mentor.
Following a hot start to 2021, Revolution feels like his coronation.
Prediction: Lance Archer
Miro made life a living hell for Chuck Taylor ahead of Kip Sabian and Penelope Ford's dream wedding at Beach Break, forcing him to be his personal butler after beating the Kentucky Gentleman in singles competition. It backfired, as Taylor and fellow Best Friend Orange Cassidy ruined Sabian and Ford's big day and made Miro look like a fool in the process.
Now, the Bulgarian Brute will look for revenge as he partners with Superbad to battle Taylor and Cassidy in tag team competition.
We have seen a more angry, ruthless and ferocious side of late out of The Best Man as Miro has exhibited the unstoppable fury fans waited for upon his arrival at AEW. He has snapped on more than one occasion, leaving anyone in his path lying in a heap.
He is most certainly the X-factor in Sunday's match and the competitor Taylor and Cassidy will hope to neutralize if they have any shot of picking up the win.
As great a tag team specialist as Taylor is, and as much as Cassidy grew and evolved in 2020 during his feud with Chris Jericho, it feels rather unlikely they will be able to stop the path of rage that Miro is on.
Prediction: Miro and Kip Sabian
Matt Hardy's failure to lure Hangman Page into his budding business enterprise has set up a Big Money Match between the living legend and Anxious Millennial Cowboy.
Nary stupid, Page recognized Hardy's attempts to sign him to a contract and swindle him of his money while simultaneously cutting him off from The Dark Order. Page's reaction? Sign a contract of his own, for a match against Hardy in which if he wins, he gets 100-percent of Hardy's first-quarter earnings.
Never one to be outdone, Hardy asked Page to put the same on the line, and the former tag team champion did just that, heightening the stakes for their Revolution clash.
This feels like a moment of comeuppance for Hardy. After signing Private Party and taking a significant percentage of their earnings, manipulating his way into a big payday like an old-timey carny promoter, he sees his fortune evaporate on the end of a Buckshot Lariat from Page.
Sure, there could be a surprise upset wherein Hardy continues to build his heel persona since Page is over enough to recover fairly quickly, but this feels like the babyface's match to win, strictly from a creative stance.
Prediction: Hangman Page
Announced for the match are: Bear Country, John Silver and Alex Reynolds, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson, Santana and Ortiz, The Butcher and The Blade, Private Party, and Top Flight.
Rules for the Casino Tag Team Royale are as follows:
- Order of entry is selected by lottery.
- Two tag teams will start the match.
- Every 90 seconds, a new team will enter the match.
- Individual eliminations occur when a competitor is thrown over the top rope and both feet touch the floor.
- Tag Teams are eliminated when both competitors have been ruled out of the match.
- The match will continue until there is only one competitor/team remaining.
- The winning team will earn a shot at the AEW Tag Team Championship.
Private Party has been the highest-profile team of the bunch of late, thanks in large part to their on-screen partnership with Matt Hardy and crossover appearances on Impact Wrestling. They have built considerable momentum for themselves and are en route to delivering Hardy that massive payday he has been chasing.
But do not count out Silver and Reynolds, who have made the absolute most of every opportunity presented to them this year. Dynamic and explosive, they could easily win the match and, eventually, the titles.
Especially if Johnny gets HUNGEEEE and starts tearing through the competition.
The dark horse team is Bear Country, who AEW fans have not seen a bunch of.
Bear Bronson and Bear Boulder are nasty bruisers who will offset the aerial antics of Top Flight's Dante and Darius Martin while matching Santana and Ortiz's tenacity. Whether they can earn their first significant victory on a major pay-per-view broadcast is uncertain.
Prediction: Reynolds and Silver