Revolution 2021: Three Things That AEW Got Exactly Right
AEW presented Revolution 2021 on Sunday evening in a variation from its normal Saturday pay-per-view shows.
The card was bound to have something for every wrestling fan to enjoy as a little bit of everything was featured. From an exploding barbed wire deathmatch to a ladder match to a battle royale to a street fight and even a few straight-up wrestling matches, this card had it all.
On top of the variety of matches, we were also surprised by Ethan Page debuting in the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match and the surprise announcement that the one and only Christian Cage is now All Elite.
AEW has grown a reputation for knocking it out of the park with its pay-per-view shows and Revolution 2021 was no exception. Here are the three biggest things AEW got right at the Revolution pay-per-view.
Planting the seeds of a split between Miro and Kip Sabian
While The Best Man angle was a fine way to introduce Miro to AEW the story has run its course. Kip Sabian seems like someone who will remain a mid-card performer while Miro’s place is undoubtedly at the top of future AEW cards.
At Revolution, Miro not only shoved Orange Cassidy into Penelope Ford, knocking her off the apron but also showed no concern for her well-being after it happened. Sabian spent the rest of the match checking on his bride while Miro stayed locked in on Taylor and Orange Cassidy. Definitely not a quality that a loyal best man should show.
How this split is handled will be vital to Miro’s ascension up the card. We don’t need a long, drawn-out feud between Kip and Miro stemming from Revolution. Let’s have Kip confront Miro backstage, Miro obliterates Kip, and then Miro moves on to bigger and better things. A nice clean split from Sabian will set Miro up to feud one on one with Orange Cassidy and beyond.
Scorpio Sky winning the Face of the Revolution ladder match
Scorpio Sky made a splash in AEW early when he teamed with Frankie Kazarian to become the first-ever AEW Tag Team Champions. After dropping the tag titles Scorpio hasn’t been a part of a featured story since.
Sky did get a TNT title shot against Cody Rhodes during Cody’s open challenge. He also had an underwhelming feud with Shawn Spears, which was more featured on Dark than it ever was on Dynamite. So getting Scorpio Sky back into a high-profile spot on the card is a bit overdue, to say the least.
Arguably the most athletic performer in AEW, Sky’s ability is beyond question. But he has been the nice guy up to this point in AEW. His newfound edge will serve him well going forward as it will make him much more interesting as a character. It will allow him to walk the line between face and heel and allow him to resort to dirty tactics when it is in his best interests.
Whether or not Sky will be able to take the TNT Title off of Darby Allin on Dynamite Wednesday remains to be seen. To be honest, Sky needs the title way more than Darby does. But either way, it is nice to see Scorpio Sky have a direction again. He is too talented to be lost in the shuffle.
Sting picking up the pinfall to end the street fight
It was a huge surprise to the wrestling world when Sting showed up at the WInter is Coming episode of Dynamite back in December. We had no idea what he was there for. Was he a face or heel? Would he wrestle? Can he still wrestle?
Over the next couple of months, the excitement of fans was replaced with frustration as week after week Sting would appear on Dynamite and do nothing but speak and stare at Team Tazz, baseball bat in hand.
In the weeks leading up to Revolution, we saw Sting become more involved with the physical aspect of wrestling, culminating with the Stinger taking a nasty powerbomb from Brian Cage.
The street fight at Revolution was the perfect use of the legend. Teaming him with Darby Allin and working in Powerhouse Hobbs, Hook, and the masked hoodlums all created enough content where the sole focus wasn’t on Sting the entire time. Not having to carry the match but simply be a part of it was exactly the way he needed to be featured.
dark. Next. Christian Cage joins AEW
It was a beautiful sight watching Sting land the scorpion death drop and cover Ricky Starks for the pinfall victory. Anyone that has given as much to Pro Wrestling as Sting has deserves to go out on their own terms. And Sting and AEW both proved that they still have an incredible amount to offer each other.