HEYDORN’S TAKE: Don’t hold me to this – AEW Revolution 2023

Another month of March and another AEW Revolution event on PPV. Wait, wait, wait. I mean, AEW “Gimmick Matches” 2023!

There is a lot happening on this show. A lot. An Iron Man Match, Texas Death Match, Final Burial Match, Triple Threat Match, Fatal Four-Way Match, JAS Barred From Ringside Match, and a major announcement from Tony Khan – whoops! That’s on Wednesday. Two turtle doves and partridge in a pair tree as well …

I mean that’s a lot of gimmicks, but a lot of them do make sense given the stories and stars involved. Others make less than zero sense and that’s the story of AEW Revolution 2023 event for AEW and is a continuation of the same story that we saw at Full Gear last year, All Out before that, and Forbidden Door before that. Some of these shows are focused and other parts just aren’t and AEW Revolution 2023 follows suit.

Call this a preview, a calm look into the distant future, or a gaze into a wondrous crystal ball; just don’t hold me to anything, ok?

Jon Moxley vs. Adam Page – Texas Death Match

This has been excellent. This match has history behind it, some very serious matches and moments, and top tier promos that have captured the full picture effectively. Moxley and blood is a combination that triggers some these days, but I loved what he did on Wednesday night. It felt authentic and articulated the depth of the feud nicely. Page’s promo paired with Moxley’s nicely and was the opposite to most of it including trivial, but detailed elements like outside vs, inside background atmosphere. These two are going to have a war with the winner in line to take on MJF. Moxley has been there, so Page will take this one.

Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow – TNT Championship

Oh yeah! This match is happening. We haven’t seen much between these two throughout the last month. That said, they’ve told a personal story between the two with Wardlow bringing his father into the story. That worked on this level and because of Joe moving on to ROH, this is primed for Wardlow to get his TNT Championship back.

Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Starks – JAS barred from ringside

This feud needs to end and it will on Sunday night. Yay! Sarcasm aside, this program has been good for Ricky Starks following his elevation coming out of the MJF feud. Starks has held his own on promos and when he wins this match, he’ll still be at a world title level. The question is, who does Tony Khan have lined up to face him next.

Jaime Hayter vs. Saraya vs. Ruby Soho – AEW Women’s World Championship

Not a fan. The OG vs. Outsider story that this match has fallen from hasn’t stuck the landing and fans truly don’t seem to care what the hell happens at this point. Props to AEW for giving the women a story, but it just hasn’t been good. Worse than that, it’s taking Jaime Hayter away from simply having strong matches against credible challengers. Hayter retains and we’re back exactly where we were things in the women’s division six weeks ago.

The Gunn’s vs. The Acclaimed vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal vs. Orange Cassidy & Danhausen – AEW World Tag Team Championship

Holy moly. Let’s cram 10 pounds of you know what into a five-pound bag shall we? The Gunn’s vs. The Acclaimed is not the marquee tag match that AEW promised when it started, but it is the match that should be on this show. That’s the feud. Why are these other teams involved? Well, who the hell knows? To take the pin, I guess. The Gunn’s win and retain their championship.

The Elite vs. House of Black – AEW World Trios Championship

So disappointing. Look, the AEW World Trios Championships were a bad idea. They’ve effectively stolen all of the major tag team title contenders, while not really establishing themselves as something meaningful for top talent to have. This match is the biggest Trios Match AEW can put on aside something involving CM Punk and FTR returning. Apparently, there wasn’t any interest in building it up as such ahead of AEW Revolution 2023, though? Like, what are we doing here. The Elite retain.

Christian Cage vs. Jungle Boy – The Final Burial

What the hell is The Final Burial? The fact that I’m asking this question 24 hours before the PPV event is a problem. Christian Cage cut one of the best AEW promos of the year on Wednesday night and Jungle Boy got nothing out of it because of a silly and completely out of character vignette that took place in a graveyard. Jungle Boy needed time in the audience to build himself up on top of all the heat Cage generated. Instead? Nothing, nada. This has been a good long-term story overall from AEW, but the finish to it all ahead of tonight missed badly. Jungle Boy gets the win, but is he elevated? Time will tell.

MJF vs. Bryan Danielson – AEW World Championship 60-Minute Iron Man Match

An excellent world championship program and certainly the best built one with the best story since Kenny Omega vs. Adam Page. There are many tentacles floating throughout this thing. The AEW World Championship, MJF hanging with Danielson, Danielson’s injured shoulder, and Danielson’s family. That’s a lot of material to work with from a match perspective and these guys will use it all to their advantage. Danielson did more than enough with his go-home promo to get people buying into the notion he may win, but he won’t. This is about MJF and he’ll retain before moving on to Adam Page or Adam Cole.

CATCH-UP: PPV PRIMER – AEW REVOLUTION 2023: Preview and predictions for MJF vs. Danielson, Page vs. Moxley, more