IN LAIMAN’S TERMS #468
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Talking (With Myself) About AEW Revolution 2024
Due to multiple circumstances, I was unable to write a live column like I usually do. That and I was enjoying it with my partner, who was seeing their first PPV ever, so that was far more important to me. With that in mind, I’m trying a new format inspired by a journalist I’ve been reading since I was a kid. I’m going to address some of the things I thought while they were happening and respond with things I’ve thought since then in order to work through my impressions from this PPV. This is easier to do than live responses, so I might do this for PPVs from now on, though the other circumstances that made this necessary are not likely to be repeated. Anyway, here we go.
Why do faces constantly go into situations alone with heels notorious for shenanigans? Hasn’t Daniel Garcia been portrayed as smarter than that?
Daniel Garcia and Christian Cage worked an opening match that wouldn’t have been out of place at the beginning of Sting’s career, which felt appropriate for both the venue and the show in particular. The crowd was hot, Daniel Garcia’s rise has been a very slow burn, interrupted by stagnating in the JAS, but he has been shown to have allies. While Daddy Magic did appear, eventually, the home-state FTR have been associated with him frequently as of late. You would think maybe he’d ask them to balance out the odds?
Is Christian’s continued run (with a six-second interruption) necessary to continue with the title when long title reigns are pervasive in wrestling at the moment?
I do think maybe this is an overcorrection in the wrestling industry, seen from years of title reigns ranging from hot potato short to “three months isn’t short in the modern day” to “a one year title reign is such a big deal that we need to count every single day it lasts.” I don’t think Daniel Garcia is damaged from this, even if I think he’s smarter than going into a situation with four-to-one odds and the Patriarchy’s penchant for getting involved in Daddy’s (no Magic) title defense.
Would it have been a better story for Eddie Kingston to fail in his mission and fall again, given the usual direction in which his character tends to go?
I think it was very important for Bryan Danielson to put over Eddie Kingston the way he did. Bryan Danielson (and the BCC in general) are some of the most versatile members of the roster, in that they can be heel or face given the moment, sometimes in the same match. While I don’t like seeing Danielson lose in this supposedly final run, I have a feeling he has Sting-like authority over what he gets to do. Therefore, I think that Danielson is doing exactly what he wants during his alleged last year, and that included Eddie Kingston. The digital exclusive afterward further indicates that position on his part.
Should the ROH champion maybe be on ROH sometimes?
Yes.
Is the best part of Bryan Danielson’s current run the antagonistic relationship with Nigel McGuinness on commentary?
The best? No, the best is the in-ring majesty he continues to give us throughout this run. However, Nigel on commentary and his constant support of Christian and digging against Danielson is something that only continues to enhance those respective segments. However, it does need to pay off eventually. It seems weird to me that someone who is willing to put over a new signee just to spite a rival would also pay relatively little attention to someone constantly questioning his abilities and relationship with clams and the digging thereof. A minor gripe, overall. Nigel is setting a new standard for HAM on commentary.
Should they have just had the MEAT Madness match with the four wrestlers who were in the 8-man scramble?
Yes.
Any further elaboration on that?
it’s not just because of my antagonism toward another member of this match and their particular crowd disposition at the moment. We saw four wrestlers, one of whom recently shown to be tough enough to kick out of a Musclebuster at one, being down for over five minutes after being tossed from the ring 30 seconds into the match. if you eliminated that small part of the match before that moment and almost everything after, this would’ve been right in line with Hobbs/Miro from last year. That’s what the crowd clearly wanted too, given the chants and crowd participation levels, not to mention the contrast with the rest of the match.
Should there just be a MEAT division with how over it is?
As long as they don’t have yet another title introduced. I already think they need to merge a few of them as it is. But please, when the crowd is this into something, give the people what they want.
Did they miss an opportunity with Orange Cassidy’s second International title reign?
I acknowledge that this was probably not what they planned to happen. Perhaps they were charting a three-to-six month chase, similar to what they did with Adam Cole a few years ago, where Orange Cassidy just couldn’t get over the final boss in this feud and Moxley kept beating him no matter what he did, until he didn’t. Orange Cassidy’s first title reign was a thing of beauty, constantly putting on great opening matches, selling the effects of defending the title so many times, and finally collapsing in a heap after a brave but ultimately failing quest to beat the standard bearer of AEW. The second reign was just kinda there, which isn’t to throw any shade at the excellent death match recently or his performance in general. It just kinda seemed to be on autopilot once the Undisputed Kingdom called their shot in January.
But didn’t it seem rather anti-climactic, given the big deal they made out of the first title loss?
Maybe, I think there’s going to be something in the works with Trent turning on him. But yes, with the injury to the back and facing the guy who does a lot of breaking of backs, it felt like it just happened and we had to quickly move on.
Did you ever think you would see Kyle O’Reilly in a ring again?
Wrestling has taught me that even career-ending injuries can be Not That, but seeing him in the ring again with his old friends was a very emotional moment. While the commentators were pointing out that his face was showing signs of the conflict he was feeling, as he was walking backward up the ramp, it was much more likely that he was feeling something perhaps he never thought he’d get to again. Those are moments that transcend wrestling storylines, for me anyway. He deserved that moment.
Isn’t it nice that (finally) the BCC didn’t ultimately lose at the payoff match for a feud?
Though it was a surprise to see FTR lose in North Carolina, I’m grateful that the BCC haven’t continued their pattern of the Elite feud, especially with Danielson losing to Eddie again. The BCC are supposed to be the measuring stick of toughness and in-ring performance, whether they’re faces or heels at that particular second, but if they always end up losing after antagonizing someone, it defeats the purpose, not to mention the magnitude of beating them.
What do they do now? Have another match with FTR with the stakes increased?
Probably more likely that they’ll make a run at the vacated tag titles, since Mox is probably not going after the world title anytime soon. But with all his vaguely threatening promos at an unnamed person as of late, maybe that’s what will prevent them from doing so. In my experience, constant references to someone who hasn’t been named yet often leads to a debut, and while I wouldn’t argue with Okada’s first feud being with Mox, it feels like he would lose that one too simply by New Debuting Star armor. All that being said, this match was exactly what it needed to be; old-school, brawling, intense tag team wrestling, and the BCC should usually be the superior force in that context. That’s what their whole stable’s purpose is, after all.
Did something seem off with the Women’s title match?
Other than AEW once again reverting to giving the women one match, for a title, and giving it less time and intensity than anything else?
Right, other than that.
The match didn’t reflect the feud past the opening vignette. This felt like a cut-and-paste of the opening match earlier in the show, down to the shenanigans. It also rang rather familiar of many women getting title shots against, say, Jade Cargill or Britt Baker a few years ago, where the death clutch on a title leads to a debut, a shenanigans-filled loss, and a tumble down the card. The feud was built up excellently, and then the match just felt flat by comparison. This didn’t feel like “former friends finally collide in a blood feud.” It felt like “Taya Valkyrie is the latest to lose to Jade Cargill after a surprise debut.” And while I don’t know much about Deonna, I feel like she deserves better than that.
Does this mean you’re out on Toni Storm’s “Timeless” gimmick?
The all-but-namesake of the HAM Award these days? Absolutely not, I’m enjoying every over-the-top, bacon-flavored second of it. But I also think that losing the title is what makes the character even better, going off the deep end and further being a walking catastrophe. The whole division deserves better than this, and there have been signs of improvement. This, however, felt like bad nostalgia in an evening chock full of the better kind.
Not having known much about Will Ospreay before you started watching wrestling again, did this match exceed your expectations?
Kind of the photo negative of the previous one, isn’t it? Deonna/Toni had a great build but a lackluster match. This match was tossed out almost as an afterthought. “Hey, we’ve been confined to Rampage for a few weeks, how about, I don’t know, Konosuke Takeshita vs. Will fucking Ospreay?” I expected this match to be a classic and I was even giddy about my partner seeing Will Ospreay for the first time. This is even with my exposure to him being limited to his AEW material. He, like someone else I’ll be talking about later, feels like reputation by wrestling fan osmosis, for lack of a better term. I know far more about him via reputation than I do from actual experience, but I trust the people from whom I’ve heard these things, therefore my expectations I feel are appropriate.
Did the Callis Family gimmick fail?
I don’t know what it is with AEW and heel stables in the last few years, but I’ll be JBLdamned if this one doesn’t fit right in with the Firm and Undisputed Kingdom of grandiose debut and then… inconsistent-at-best follow-up. All three have been made out to be taking over the show, making people unify with enemies in order to create their best defense, and then… well they messed with Jericho in a tag title match and beat up some guys on Rampage, I guess? The nuclear heat that Callis was getting by merely being there, how do you not take more advantage of that? How is it that Powerhouse Hobbs feels, yet again, like an afterthought because of aligning with another group?
You seem to be complaining a lot about something that exceeded your expectations.
Like I said, the opposite of the last match. The build for this match was hot gahbage, as Andy Billman would say, but the match itself blew my mind. I feel like Will Ospreay put some extra sauce into this match as compared to the previous because he’s actually signed full-time with the company now, and that’s no slight on him. Why wouldn’t you perform differently under those circumstances? Takeshita, since beating Omega twice and looking like a Worldbeater against Darby in January, hasn’t done a whole lot. But holy shit, if there’s ever an example of how to increase your stock despite losing, this was it. This is the kind of match that just makes me go “holy shit, I love wrestling.” And that bruise on Ospreay’s back was no fucking joke. Good thing, you don’t have to fall on your back a lot in this sport or anything… Oh wait, match against Kyle Fletcher on Wednesday, my mistake.
Will this be an example of a big debut that doesn’t flounder?
Never put it past AEW to have a remarkable debut for someone and then forget that they exist for a while, but this feels like too big of a slam dunk to mess up. The last big one, I think, was Adam Edgeland, and while I have immensely enjoyed his Christian feud as well as his matches with the young guys, it seems like I’m in the minority on that. At least from my perception. But when you’ve got the return to Wembley coming up this summer, I doubt they’ll miss on that easy of a shot to take. However…
Did they miss the mark with not having Swerve win?
I’m trying really hard to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I’m struggling. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Samoa Joe as champion. He has a presence and an aura just from showing up in a suit and yelling at fools. But he would have that anyway.
Does that mean you didn’t like the story of the match with Hangman keeping his promise to screw over Swerve?
Absolutely not, that was a brilliant psychological move, and it paid off what Hangman has been saying for months to anyone who would listen. I think that was a really cool use of a long-form storyline. But I also think that Swerve is now on the other side of a title match where maybe an audible should’ve been called. Back a little while ago when the Acclaimed were red hot and the crowd desperately wanted to see them win the tag titles against Swerve and Keith, it wasn’t called and their subsequent make-good at Arthur Ashe didn’t feel nearly as big as it would’ve that night. I really don’t want that to be the case here, but damn if they didn’t have a Swerve title victory while he’s incredibly over and amazing hand-delivered to them, only to not take the opportunity. I want to be wrong about that feeling. I want to see Swerve win the world title and have it be just as big of a moment as it could’ve been right there. But I don’t know for sure if that can happen.
Was it a good idea to never have Sting lose during his entire AEW run?
The thought that inspired this style of column in the first place. I’m conflicted about it still, and I don’t know where I ultimately stand on it. Sting, much like Ospreay but over a much longer context, is someone I’ve appreciated much more out of Fan Osmosis than actual experience. I didn’t watch WCW, my TNA consumption was limited, I wasn’t watching during his WWE run, and I missed about half of his AEW run before I started watching. With the exception of a movie I had to watch for a podcast one time in January 2017, I’ve never had a bad thing to say about Sting, and I haven’t heard anyone else say anything beyond something along the lines of “he needs to be carried to a good match.
That doesn’t answer the question.
I know it doesn’t. Ultimately, I don’t know. On one hand, this was a make-good, an apology, a chance to rewrite the ending of a story that could’ve ended with a bad buckle bomb and a bunch of stories of what could’ve been. On the other, someone’s career could’ve been made by being the first (and maybe only) to end Sting’s undefeated run.
So you wanted the Young Bucks to win?
Absolutely not. I wanted Ricky Starks to be the one to get that win, and then have Sting and Darby beat the Young Bucks. The Bucks don’t need that big of a moment in order to cement their legacy. Ricky Starks is in desperate need of not losing one of those chances, and I feel like they missed their opportunity there.
So you don’t feel like Sting put anyone over?
Somehow, despite never losing, I don’t feel that way. If it makes sense, I feel like all Sting matches were non-canon, in a way. Like a loss to Sting not only doesn’t matter, but doesn’t factor into anything else because it’s Sting. Sting’s presence, his character, his farewell tour, all felt like they were separate from the other goings-on. It was like we had this company, this wrestling show, and we’d also have the Sting show where Darby Allin gets to come along for the ride, and several other stars also get to team with someone they probably consider a hero.
So what did you think of the match itself?
That Darby spot was one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen, only outdone by the million cuts afterward. The rest of the match was pretty much what I expected. The Bucks played their role very well, and I love the meta subtext about it. I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but I appreciate it nonetheless. This was the ultimate final stop for someone who deserved to go out the way he did, and it was what everyone wanted to see. Too many times in wrestling, “what the people really want to see” has been treated as a bad thing because of its supposed predictability. And while I maintain my concern over the previous match’s outcome, I don’t think you could’ve had a more universally beloved moment take place for someone who, by all accounts, deserved to go out on his own terms.
Was it weird to have Sting’s sons dress up as previous versions of him on the same night that Mariah May dressed up as Toni Storm’s earlier gimmick?
If that’s the biggest thing I can complain about, I think we’re doing all right. I doubt the two sons cared too much.
Would Swerve winning have been overshadowed by the Sting match?
Did Ospreay/Takeshita feel overshadowed?
No.
Then I don’t think that would’ve either. Perhaps to no one moreso than Swerve himself.
Did you think this was the best PPV in AEW history?
I did not. I think it was really good, and it had the potential to be great with a few changed decisions. Ultimately though, I had a wonderful time with my partner watching the show, and that’s probably what I’ll remember most from this event.
LARGE HAM
Darby. I don’t think you can be more over-the-top than jumping off a ladder through a glass table for no other reason than you can.