AEW: A look at the top 3 moments of Revolution 2021

AEW had its first pay-per-view of the year on Sunday, March 7. Revolution had a stacked card that included a tag team battle royale, The Face of the Revolution Ladder Match, and a cinematic street fight featuring Sting.

Each of the matches I mentioned had standout moments from QT Marshall turning on Dustin Rhodes during the match to Scorpio Sky knocking off Cody (literally and figuratively) to grab the brass ring to so many cool moments from the street fight.

Perhaps some will remember Revolution for what happened at the end of a fantastic match. At the end of the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch, the ring was set to explode with Moxley and Kingston in it. The final explosion was a massive letdown on TV. It didn’t help that Eddie Kingston sold the explosion like it was a life-threatening event (granted, he couldn’t have known what fans at home were seeing).

Despite the lackluster ending, Revolution was a good pay-per-view. After the show during the virtual media scrum, Tony Khan explained the dud ending by saying that “Omega is a great wrestler, but when it comes to building exploding rings, that’s not his forte.” That’s a pretty creative way to create an out (which Khan mentioned several times), however it doesn’t explain Kingston’s selling. They’ll address the ending on Dynamite.

While that ending was disappointing, here are the top 3 spots from AEW Revolution.

3. Surprise debuts for AEW

The first surprise actually happened on the Buy In. Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. was supposed to tag with her sidekick, Rebel against Thunder Rosa and RIHO. Just hours before the match, Baker used her DMD skills to determine that Rebel wasn’t fit to compete. Speculation began swirling on who Rebel’s replacement would be. Many people thought it would be Thea Trinidad, fka Zelina Vega.

To everyone’s surprise, it was actually Maki Itoh! AEW fans got to see her in the women’s tournament in the Japanese bracket. Of course, the assumption was that she was still in Japan. The crowd went nuts when she danced her way on stage. Luckily fans don’t have to wait long to see her again as she’s scheduled to be on this week’s Dynamite. 

Another surprise debut was one that quite a few fans guessed beforehand. The aforementioned Face of the Revolution Ladder Match had a mystery participant. Most fans correctly guessed that it was “All Ego” Ethan Page. Page recently finished up his Impact Wrestling contract. He was also in the Over Budget Battle Royale at All In. Unfortunately, Page did not grab the brass ring.

2. AEW signs a “HOF-caliber” candidate

On the go-home episode of Dynamite, the newest member of AEW announced that there had been yet another signing. Paul Wight, fka Big Show, made his debut and almost immediately announced this surprise.

By saying it was a “Hall of Fame caliber signing”, fans started guessing right away. CM Punk. Brock Lesnar. John Cena. Christian. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Christian started becoming one of the more popular guesses. Another clue? He was one of Tony Khan’s favorite wrestlers.

During Revolution, Dasha Gonzalez asked Wight backstage for a clue on the signing. The only thing he’d say is that the new signee “out works everyone.” Later, those words popped up on the screen before the name Christian Cage.

Cage walked to a podium and took out a clipboard. He walked into the ring and looked out as his peeps before signing his AEW contract.

In the virtual media scrum, Khan says that Christian contacted AEW because he wanted to “wrestle on a full-time basis”.

1. Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch

We all know what happened at the end. We also know everything that happened that lead up to the match’s conclusion and that shouldn’t be lost in all the jokes and memes.

Revolution has its first ever deathmatch and they went all out by having it be an exploding barbed wire deathmatch. Omega and Moxley have had an Unsanctioned Lights Out match, so it’s fitting that these two would be dancing partners in the company’s first deathmatch.

The two told a story that kept us on the edge of our seats waiting on an explosion and gasping when they involved barbed wire weapons. Omega hit his One-Winged Angel and Mox sacrificed his leg to throw it on the bottom rope to set off an explosion to disarm his opponent.

As the match was reaching the crescendo, the Good Brothers, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, came to Omega’s aide. They handcuffed Mox to make it easier for their friend to retain the AEW World’s Championship.

After Omega won, they celebrated in the ring. As they ignored the clock of impending doom, Don Callis got them to safety in the nick of time. The babyface with no friends lie helplessly in the ring, still handcuffed. Who came to save the day? None other than Eddie Kingston. Besides Omega, he is Mox’s biggest nemesis.

They had a deeply personal feud just a few months ago. Sometimes beautiful moments happen in wrestling. This was one of those moments. The man who sacrificed everything to get a title shot was prepared to sacrifice himself for the man he couldn’t beat in the ring. That should’ve been the most memorable, talked about moment of the show. Unfortunately, it has been overshadowed by a dud (that Omega crudely created).

Hopefully, AEW can salvage what appears to be Kingston’s face turn. Revolution was a bit long at times and there was a match that could’ve been left off the card or at least moved to the Buy In. Overall, Revolution was a good pay-per-view with some excellent moments. Let’s see how Double or Nothing tops Revolution.