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It seems like Kenny Omega was a pretty poor engineer at AEW Revolution. I mean, who couldn’t successfully set up an exploding pro wrestling ring? AEW fans expected more boom in the end.
AEW Revolution 2021 was a good pay-per-view. It was filled with good matches throughout the night including the main event. There was a good opening match, some strong surprise debuts, a well-produced cinematic match and a violent main event. It is a shame that an anti-climactic explosion will be the thing that is most remembered from the show. But like in every form of enentertainment, one always remembers the ending and AEW Revolution ended with a whimper instead of a bang. Here is hoping they learn from it and move on to a more successful 2021.
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While we try to figure out why Eddie Kingston passed out based on that explosion, let us present the list of the top five most surprising moments from AEW Revolution:
#5 Miro is portrayed as a monster finally at AEW Revolution
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A lot of professional wrestling fans were rightfully excited to see Miro debut in AEW in September of 2020. Miro always seemed to get a raw deal from WWE in terms of booking. It was exciting to see what he could do in a fresh pro wrestling landscape.
So it becamee very disappointing to see his booking in AEW. He was the “Best Man," the happy go-lucky friend of Kip Sabian. He spent most of his time worried about video games instead of destroying wresters in the ring. This all finally changed on Sunday night at AEW Revolution.
Miro attacked Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy before the match at AEW Revolution. The two attempted a comeback in the ring but to no avail. Even when Penelope Ford was knocked to the outside, Miro didn’t care. He simply tagged himself back in and finished Chuck Taylor off with the Game Over submission to end the match. Here is hoping Miro continues this surprising and long overdue character change in the weeks to come. We have had enough of the video game Miro for now.
#4 Christian Cage debuts at AEW Revolution
Paul Wight debuted on-screen during last Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite. He took that opportunity to announce the signing of a Hall of Fame worthy talent who would debut at AEW Revolution. It certainly let to a lot of buzz heading into Sunday night. It will be up to AEW fans to say if the surprise delivered.
Christian Cage arrived and signed his AEW contract after the Ladder Match at AEW Revolution. He had just made his in-ring return at WWE Royal Rumble earlier this year and was his first in-ring appearance in nearly seven years. He was impressive in the Rumble, and based on his appearance, he was also back in ring shape as well. It was certainly surprising to see Christian Cage opt to miss some of the storyline opportunities in the WWE to join AEW.
Christian Cage is 47 years old. What can he produce in the fast-paced in-ring style of AEW? It is hard to say but it will be cool to see him end his career on his own terms. And after an amazing career, he certainly deserves that opportunity.
#3 The Cinematic Street Fight at AEW Revolution
It was a surprise to see Sting’s first AEW match become a cinematic street fight at AEW Revolution. But knowing that Sting was 61 years old, it was a solid choice for this style of match. It allowed Sting to showcase his talent in the safest manner possible.
The cinematic match at AEW Revolution was extremely well-produced. It had some amazing camera angles and editing to heighten the gritty, street fight feel. Darby Allin was involved with his traditional insanity. Hobbs and Cage swung Allin into a glass window. That looked painful but wasn’t enough for Darby Allin. He decided to use an elbow drop from a couple stories in the air onto Cage on a platform a few stories below. Should we expect anything else for Darby Allin? He might not be wrestling at age 61 like Sting at this rate.
Sting was able to get in some good moves with a baseball bat against Team Taz. After the dramatic Darby Allin bump, he got the action back into the ring against Ricky Starks. Sting avoided some underhanded tactics before hitting a sunset flip and Scorpion Death Drop to pick up the victory at AEW Revolution. It was fun to see Sting in the ring once again and how he will be used in the future will be fun to watch.
#2 The very violent Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match at AEW Revolution
It was a strange choice to have an exploding barbed wire death match to end the AEW Revolution pay-per-view. This type of match hadn’t been done on a big stage since a series of them happened in FMW during the 1990s. It was uncomfortable to watch back then, so how could AEW pull it off in 2021 at AEW Revolution?
The match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley was truly crazy to watch. They did an excellent job of playing up the explosions. They were limited but effectively sold by all involved during the AEW Revolution main event. They had lots of blood and some very painful looking falls onto barb wire. The DDT onto the barb wire spot outside the ring was particularly gruesome to watch.
IGallows and Anderson cost Moxley the victory which was disappointing, but the quality of the match itself was very good. If the night ended at that point, it would have been called a major success. But fate had another idea for the ending of AEW Revolution. And it will likely forever overshadow the strong main event.
# 1 The not-so-explosive ending at AEW Revolution
Following a good main event at AEW Revolution, a countdown began toward the 30 minute mark where explosions were supposed to ignite in the ring. Kenny Omega, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson attacked Jon Moxley post-match, handcuffed him, and left him to stay in the ring while time expired. In another surprising moment, Eddie Kingston, former rival to Moxley, ran out to the ring to attempt a save. He wasn’t able to pull Moxley out in time so he simply covered his friend from the coming explosions. As the clock counted down to zero, it was a noble sacrifice by the Mad King. Or at least it would have been.
In one of the most underwhelming moments in AEW history, the explosive ending to AEW Revolution was just a few sparklers coming out of the ring posts and maybe four smoke bombs. It was an instantly disappointing way to end the AEW Revolution show. It was made worse by Jon Moxley, Eddie Kingston and the announcers selling it like it was some massive explosion. Poor Eddie risked his safety for that?
You do wonder why AEW didn’t call a quick audible to end AEW Revolution. They could have had Kenny Omega come out and admit he screwed-up the explosives. It likely would have been a better choice then ending AEW Revolution with a really bad Independence Day fireworks display. AEW will recover from this literal dud of an ending, but hopefully they will learn that you don’t promise something that you can’t deliver.
