AEW Revolution 2025 Review
Excellent opener to start the night. While AEW fumbled the ball with the MJF/Adam Cole storyline, they certainly did a good job of making me care enough leading up to this match. Just absolutely brutal stuff between these two, including a pretty stiff piledriver on a chair at one point. The Angel's Wings from Hangman to MJF was such a poetic finish.
★★★★
While not the most terrible match on the card, the ending result was just too damn predictable for me to even care about this one. Hopefully this is leading to something more interesting down the line due to the inclusion of Billie Starks this past Wednesday (maybe facing Athena?), but as is, this match was just OK.
★★★
#1 Contenders Match for the AEW World Championship - Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet
Excellent storytelling going on with this match. For weeks on commentary they were teasing tension between Swerve and Nana due to the jacket, so when Swerve shoved him in the heat of the moment, it was so enthralling. The back and forth between these two were insane, especially the tope suicida into a death valley driver. Swerve winning was kind of predictable, but doesn't put a damper on how good this was.
★★★★
A filler match if ever there was one. I realize this has precedence due to Okada beating Buddy Matthew's at Grand Slam, but the build to here never gave me a reason to care. This match never goes into the next gear, and while there was a couple of amusing moments, there was nothing here that stood out.
★★★
Truly the worst thing on the card. I don't get the popularity of the Outrunners. I don't find their gimmick particularly funny, and Tony Schiavone having a midlife crisis, waxing nostalgic over the 80's every time they come out is irritating. This match went for way too long. The Hurt Syndicate should've just jobbed these fools. Making this a nearly 10 minute affair makes them look incompetent.
★★
Match of the night. It not being in a co-main event spot does such a disservice to how much work these two has put into this storyline (and pretty typical of Tony Khan and AEW). Probably some of the most brutal and innovative stuff I've ever seen in a women's match. I don't think I've ever seen a major wrestling company have wrestlers tape up their fists with glass glued on there, so that was shocking. The ending, with Toni hitting Storm Zero on Mariah through a table that has the Hollywood sign on it, that was cinema. Unfortunately, the rest of the show doesn't reach these heights.
★★★★★
Billing a secondary title over the Women's World Title match is just bull crap, I don't care who's in the match or not. Anyway, I've seen plenty of Kenny Omega matches, but since his return something just feels off. It's probably because he's still recovering from his diverticulitis, but both this and his Grand Slam match felt like they were wrestling in slow motion, which unfortunately made the matches a slog to get through. Although, I will say the commentary for this one did a decent job of telling the story that he fought through his injuries to win the title, so I can't completely dismiss this one.
★★★½
Typical AEW move having this match go on way longer than it really should have. Clocking in at 29 minutes, there were so many false finishes that really didn't need to happen. You could've shaved five minutes off this thing and still got the insane Spanish Fly off the top of the cage. Not to mention I don't buy Kyle Fletcher as the future of professional wrestling, as he comes off as a petulant child by the end of this. It's fine if you guys liked it, but it was a miss for me.
★★★
Utter bullshit that this took the main event spot over Toni Storm and Mariah May. I gave this move the benefit of the doubt because Cope's promos leading up to this match hyped me up for this match. What I got left a sour taste in my mouth. What we got was a mostly one sided 26 minute affair that was very slowly plodding. Who the hell produced this match? Because it made Cope look absolutely weak compared to Moxley. Then we get to the overbooked ending, with Wheeler Yuta, Jay White, and Christian ultimately wasting his cash-in opportunity only for Jon Moxley to retain. It pisses me off when companies waste title opportunity contracts like this, because it makes it feel like the match they won it in feel like a waste of time (this also applies to Money in the Bank). So we waited all this time, just to feed it to this already tiring Deathriders storyline? Screw all the way off.
★★½
PPV Grade:
Match Quality: 66/100
Show Structure: 50/100
Atmosphere: 90/100
Story: 70/100
Production: 80/100
Overall: C- (71/100)
With a strong opening and an utterly bullshit ending, this show is extremely polarizing to me. With strong matches like Toni Storm vs Mariah May and Swerve Strickland vs Ricochet we could've had a banger PPV. But we just had to have The Outrunners and that overbooked finish to really sour this event. They better have something cool in store for us on Dynamite.
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