We're looking at one of the most stacked cards in recent memory for an AEW PPV. That may sound like hyperbole since their PPVs generally always deliver in big ways, but almost every single match on this card is poised to be incredible in-ring with the matches that aren't (in my opinion) still likely to do some fun storyline stuff.

Let's talk about those in the not-poised-to-be-incredible category first: The Hurt Syndicate vs The Outrunners and Jon Moxley vs Adam Copeland. For the former, this will be a fun match with The Outrunners being the babyfaces of all babyfaces while getting murdered. For the latter, I'm sure the match will be technically fine but I've not been super into most of the Death Riders stuff, especially moving from Mox's standpoint of "let's make these young guys tougher" to "let's fight one of the oldest guys on the roster". But, I'm hoping we'll see some storyline beats for Wheeler Yuta, Jay White, and Christian Cage before things are all said and done.

I'm ready to be blown away by most everything else. Toni Storm and Mariah May have been the stars of AEW for months and months now and their blow-off tonight should be tremendous. Similarly, Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher will have their blow-off (for now) inside of a steel cage. Swerve Strickland and Ricochet battle to see who becomes the new number one contender to the World Title. MJF and Hangman Page will, I imagine, attempt to murder each other. Kazuchika Okada defends the Continental Championship against Brody King, Konosuke Takeshita defends the International Title against Kenny Omega, and Mercedes Moné defends the TBS Title against Momo Watanabe.

It's an embarrassment of riches!

Hangman Did Nothing Wrong

MJF and Hangman Adam Page kicked off the show in bitter, brutal fashion. MJF used a classic fake-out manuever, using Hanger's old babyface music as the intro to his own entrance – just to make sure you knew he was a real piece of shit.

No collar and elbow tie-ups, no chain wrestling – these two beat the piss out of each other in and out of the ring with a point to prove. For MJF, his jealousy and insecurity know no bounds. Shouting at Page toward the end of the match, "WHY NOT ME?!", MJF wasn't hiding behind a facade of being a tough guy or a little scoundrel. The cracks began to show yet again for everybody to see.

Hangman fought like hell through a gnarly looking bruise or welt growing on his shoulder after diving into the ring steps and a sickening tombstone piledriver on a chair setup on the outside of the ring. Hangman returned the favor with an Angel's Wings that spiked MJF right on his head and face.

Hangman had an awesome counter to the Heat Seeker, holding MJF in the air and then entering the ring with MJF on his shoulders to deliver the Deadeye in the center of the ring. Just wonderful chemistry between these two.

Hangman got the win with the Buckshot Lariat in the center in a match that was free from the usual MJF bullshit: no fake selling of the knee, no ref bumps, no Dynamite Diamond Ring. Just a match between two guys hellbent on killing each other.

Mercedes Moné continues to elevate the women's division

Mercedes Moné successfully defended the TBS Title against Momo Watanabe in an intense match that made both women look incredible. Mercedes has turned out amazing match after amazing match in AEW ever since she turned full heel and seemed to shake off some of the ring rust or WWE stink or whatever it was.

Momo may not be familiar to all AEW fans, but being a former STARDOM devotee I've been a fan of Momo's for years. Not being familiar with her made no difference to the crowd in attendance tonight; they bought everything Momo was selling and bit on her near-falls and near-submissions.

They said it on commentary and it was true: this felt like an old AJW match in all of the best ways. Momo laid in her kicks like a fucking maniac. Mercedes splatted Momo multiple times on the arena floor and in the ring with sick powerbombs.

Mercedes may have caught a damaging kick right on the jaw or in the mouth toward the end of the month; fingers crossed that there's no lasting damage there because the kick itself was stiff.

In the end, Mercedes came through with the Moné Maker into the Statement Maker for the submission win. Throughout the match, we saw Billie Starks watching on from a skybox for what I can only imagine was to produce a scouting report for Athena. Could we finally see ROH's Forever Champ make her presence known in AEW again when All In comes to Texas? I'm not a praying man, but I'll be asking all of the deities to make this a reality.

Leslie Jones rents a room in Swerve's House

What else can I say? We all knew the matches at Revolution would be unfathomably good. Ricochet has been on a God run in AEW since turning heel and Swerve Strickland, well... he's the fucking man. Always has been.

Ricochet came out with the Jimmy Rave robe, now modified to have his own logo on the back. Blasphemous!

Swerve came out with one of the worst live-music entrances in the history of wrestling with a drummer playing to his theme song but off by several beats. It was brutal.

Once the match started, though, drum complaints went out the window. As with the two openers, Ricochet and Swerve tried to absolutely maim one another. There was at least one scary spot in this match, keeping in line with the previous two matches, where Swerve took a Death Valley Driver on the floor but was nearly spiked due to a shaky foundation from Ricochet.

Early on in the match, Swerve shoved Nana to the ground on the outside causing a distraught Nana to exit to the back immediately. Swerve and Ricochet had a hell of a fight until Nana eventually returned, grabbing the robe (why didn't you grab it the first time you left?!) which caused some distractions and a couple of additional Nana bumps at the (accidental) hands of Swerve.

At one point toward the end, just after being squashed in the corner due to a Swerve sidestep, Nana was leaning on the apron in the corner. Swerve was in the same corner setting up for the House Call and my heart sank a little thinking Nana was about to grab Swerve's foot and turn on him. Thankfully, this didn't happen and Swerve successfully kicked Ricochet's head off.

With a JML Driver, Swerve secured the win and became the new number one contender to the AEW World Championship. Post-match, Swerve officially presented the robe back to Nana and the two embraced to the delight of everybody: the crowd, Leslie Jones, and me.

And just as a note: every member of every crowd needs to take lessons from Leslie Jones on how to behave at wrestling events. She was losing her mind in the second row this entire match and it was pure joy. I love her.

Toni & Mariah's Hollywood Ending

Do you like blood? I hope you like blood.

"Timeless" Toni Storm had a rough start for me. The character was fun and the promos were delightful but the in-ring stuff felt hampered by the need to fit bits and goofball heel tactics into the matches.

Once they settled into the character and figured out how to deliver both a fun character and the incredible wrestling Toni Storm was already known for? Well, baby, now you got a stew goin'.

The writing was on the wall from day one with Mariah May. We all knew she'd eventually turn on Toni Storm, but I think most of us were surprised about when it happened. After winning the Owen Hart tournament, I figured there'd be some time to build more tension before Mariah finally pulled the trigger.

I was wrong and I'm glad for it.

Mariah murdered Toni Storm on the stage after winning the tournament in one of the most surprising turns I can remember, which goes to show how well they both built their characters and relationship. I knew it was going to happen and I was still surprised when it did!

Since then, the two have spilled each other's blood and traded the World Title back and forth. Tonight, they closed the chapter on the third match in their series with The Hollywood Ending.

It was a fucking bloodbath.

You want tables? You want chairs? You want a Taipei Deathmatch? You got it, baby!

Toni Storm was busted open on a piledriver on the steps and looked pissed or frustrated afterward. Maybe she nicked herself a little too deeply and knew it, I'm not sure. It did take me out of things briefly just because it felt like one of those moments where a wrestler knew they were hurt and were trying to figure out a way around the injury.

Whatever the case may be, Toni carried on and soon Mariah was gushing just as much.

With broken glass on their fists and embedded in their skin, the fight ended on the stage with the white high heel that kicked this whole thing off. Toni almost cost herself the match by hesitating with the shoe but rallied moments later to stab the heel into the head of Mariah before driving her challenger through a table with the Storm Zero piledriver.

As "The End" appeared on the video wall, Toni lay collapsed on top of Mariah may – cradling Mariah's head and pressing her head to her former protégé's chest. A fitting ending to one of the greatest feuds and stories in decades.

Tiger Driver King

In the second massacre of the evening, Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher expectedly tore each other to pieces inside of a steel cage. Fletcher has staked his claim as a main event wrestler in AEW. He's young, he's ridiculous in the ring, and his promos get better each week.

Ospreay's rise to become a main event star happened before he got to AEW, but he's been the all-important bridge for guys like Fletcher and Mark Davis to bring them up to the main event alongside him over the past several months.

I don't think this was a match that Fletcher had to win; he's already done the work of establishing himself and already has a win over Ospreay. For Ospreay, though, this was an important step in realigning his path in AEW. We know now that Swerve Strickland is the new number one contender for the World Title, but that doesn't mean Ospreay can't flutter around that belt in the background.

Or maybe Ospreay has his sights set elsewhere? His sometimes-partner Kenny Omega became the International Champion at Revolution – could a friendly/not-so-friendly rivalry ignite between the two?

I wouldn't be surprised to see Fletcher off of TV for a few weeks to sell the loss and the beating, but I similarly wonder what comes next for Don Callis' golden goose. With Takeshita no longer a champion, does the team of Fletcher and Takeshita suit back up to chase the Tag Titles?

There is a lot of intrigue around both Ospreay and Fletcher, and that intrigue spreads its tendrils all throughout the AEW roster because both ben could easily slot into any position and make it make sense. Both men are deserving of shots at any title in the company and both men are clear main eventers who have proven that they can bring anybody they face up to their level.

It's maybe not been quite so obvious just how important wrestlers like Swerve, Ricochet, Ospreay, and Fletcher are to the future of AEW than it was tonight at Revolution.

Wrapping Up

Kenny Omega returned to glory when he defeated Konosuke Takeshita for the International Title. I love Takeshita, but this was the right move for Omega. It solidifies that he's back in full force while also doing a thing I'm always a big fan of: it put a secondary title around the waist of a World Title guy. This can only raise the prestige of the International Title, though Takeshita's defenses had done that already to their own degree.

I hope that whatever comes next for Takeshita comes quickly. He floundered a bit in his AEW career before finally being put into high gear with the Don Callis Family. My fear would be that losing the belt puts him in the background again, but maybe we'll see him step into another belt's orbit. Perhaps an Omega/Takeshita match is on the horizon for the Continental Championship?

The Hurt Syndicate vs The Outrunners was fine for what it was and didn't let me down or surprise me. The same could be said for Okada vs Brody King. I was pulling for a Brody King win to solidify him as a major name after the departure of Malakai Black. Perhaps they see Brody and Buddy Matthews as a tag team and they'll be built to dethrone The Hurt Syndicate down the road.

Either way, Brody falls into a similar category as Takeshita in that he has often been faded into the background. Was that just a symptom of the House of Black and whatever weirdness drove Malakai Black out of the company? That's what I have always assumed and what I hope, because I'd love to see Brody doing big things in AEW in 2025.

In the main event, Jon Moxley wrestled Adam Copeland in a match where two guys fought over which shade of green reigned supreme. It was not a good match. Maybe it would have been good had it gone on about 90 minutes earlier in the show, but having to follow everything it had to follow was always going to be a death sentence.

Wheeler Yuta interfered during a ref bump and hit Copeland with the Busaiku Knee. I groaned. Yuta, again, inexplicably sides with Death Riders for reasons nobody can explain after yet another tease that he could be growing a conscience and some self confidence.

Christian Cage appeared late in the main event and cashed in his contract, attempting to pin a weakened Copeland to win the belt. He didn't succeed, sadly, and Mox choked Christian out to retain the title.

So, great. Yay. Wonderful. Death Riders bullshit will drag on and on into the future and I will continue to be bored to tears by it all.

Save us, Swerve.