AEW: Ranking every 2020 Pay-Per-View from worst to best

1. Revolution

Well, live crowds are always better, aren’t they?

To be honest, even if we talk the crowd bias out, this would still probably be the best show in my opinion. I wouldn’t say that every single match was great on this show, but the matches that were good, were really, really, REALLY good. So, let’s get on with it.

In the pre-show, Dark Order’s Stu Grayson and Evil Uno beat SCU in a nice little tag match. The post-match segment featured the debut of Colt Cabana, who along with Christopher Daniels, saved Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian from a beatdown.

The main show opened with the in-ring debut of Jake Hager in AEW against Dustin Rhodes. It was a fine match with one uncomfortable spot where Dustin forcefully kissed Hager’s wife for some reason. It went a bit longer than I’d have hoped, but the crowd didn’t mind, they loved Dustin. Finally, Hager made Dustin submit to the Ankle Lock.

Up next was Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevarra. There was an insane pre-match brawl that ended in Sammy hitting a 630 onto Darby on a table. The official match was a 5 minute non-stop mayhem fest. The crowd reacted huge for both competitors, and a whole lot of jaw-dropping sequences later, Darby hit the Coffin Drop for the win.

And then we get to what was my Match of the Year for 2020. The Young Bucks vs Adam Page and Kenny Omega for the AEW tag titles. Want proof that AEW has the best tag division on the planet right now? Here it is.

Again, it’s another one of those matches that words can’t do justice to, you’d want to watch it yourself. And if you followed the story into this match closely, you’d be crying at the intricate beauty of this match. It’s the best tag match I’ve ever seen, it has Adam Page at the height of his popularity. Seriously, the fans were going nuts for the guy, they booed the Bucks and even Kenny when he tried to restrain him.

This match had amazing moves, amazing counters, amazing counters to those counters. It had beautiful setpieces and unbelievable false finishes. Just see the reaction when Omega kicks out of the Golden Trigger at 1. In the end, it was Page’s day as he destroyed both Nick and Matt by himself, and hits the Buckshot Larriot on Matt for the win. And after the match, there were teases of Kenny turning on Page and Page turning on Kenny to signal that this story is far from over.

Nyla Rose and Kris Statlander had the unenviable task of following that classic and fair play to both women for trying. However, the crowd was mostly silent, the match was not bad per se, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. After some impressive feats of strength from both women, Nyla hit the Beast Bomb from the top rope to pin Statlander.

Up next was the grudge match between Cody and MJF, the conclusion of their white hot blood feud. This match was very, very intense, as you’d expect. MJF targetted Cody’s shoulder and his injured foot throughout the match. Both men used their teeth, Cody to get a rope break, and MJF on Cody’s injured foot. Cody finally got the upperhand and then decimated MJF while he started begging and pleading, to the delight of the crowd. Cody hit the Cross Rhodes and had the match won, but he decided to hit another, and then tried to go for another but MJF got out, clocked him with the Dynamite Diamond Ring, and fell on him for the win. It was a devastating story in all the right ways.

And then we got Pac vs. Orange Cassidy, the funniest wrestling match in recent memory. If there were any doubts in fans’ minds about whether or not Cassidy would get over on national TV, they dissapeared on this night. The crowd engagement in this match was unbelievable, every single spot landed. Orange doing his little kicks as Pac looks like the most annoyed person on the planet is comedic gold, and it’s even funnier when he starts kicking back.

That’s basically what this match is, Cassidy annoying Pac and the crowd loving every second of it. Orange rolled away from Pac to avoid a Black Arrow and the crowd react as if it was the counter of the century. They booed when Pac brutalized Cassidy, cheered when he made his heroic comeback, and then booed again as Pac made him submit to win the match. This bout cemented Cassidy in AEW.

And then the main event, a one-eyed Jon Moxley finally becoming the AEW World Champion by beating Chris Jericho. This match started with brawling on the outside, Jericho’s doing his usual heel schtick, grabbing cameras and flipping birds. Moxley locks Jericho in the Walls of Jericho. The rest of the Inner Circle started interfering so the referee booted them out. Sammy sneaked in and hit Moxley with the belt but the Mox kicked out.

Jericho works Moxley’s good eye, but Moxley’s hits the Paradigm Shift, removes his eyepatch to reveal a perfectly fine eye, that got a huge pop, and then nails another Paradigm Shift to win the title.

Then Moxley cut a great babyface promo, thanking the fans like a true champion and locker room leader to send everybody home happy.

Marvelous.