All Elite Wrestling
AEW Revolution
February 29, 2020
Wintrust Arena
Chicago, Illinois

Watch: B/R Live & FITE (Non-US)

Meet our previewers

Rich Kraetsch: The face that runs the place, co-host of the VOW Flagship Podcast and the person who will be giving out handshakes for a very low price on Saturday should you be attending Revolution with him. 

Suit Williams: Suit is ready for one of the most well-built and highly anticipated pay-per-views he’s ever seen as a fan. You can hear him preview this show as well on his podcast Smark Sports, and you can see his thoughts on the show live @SuitWilliams.

Buy-In Match
The Dark Order vs. SCU (Kazarian & Sky)

Rich: With the Nightmare Collective finally put out to pasture, The Dark Odor (or Dork Order, whichever you prefer) is the last remaining putrid stain on an increasingly flawless weekly television show. The long play here is the reveal of the Exalted One but at this point, I’m not sure I’ll even care who that is. Thankfully, this hokey bullshit has been relegated to the Buy-In and the undercard but in due time, these talented wrestlers will be taken off TV, repackaged and we can never ever utter the words Dark Order ever again. Prediction: SCU

Suit: This feud has been building for a few weeks now, with Dark Order wanting Daniels to join the ranks. The intrigue here is that Dark Order have been leaning into the idea that Matt Hardy will be their leader, saying things like Daniels will be made obsolete. I could care less, as I’m not into the Dark Order in any way, shape, or form. But, I’ll concede that a Matt Hardy project may be a draw for some fans. All I can hope is that Dark Order get some type of heat so that their matches aren’t as tough to watch. I’ll say the former champs get the win here, and that will lead to the emergence of the Exalted One soon after. Prediction: SCU

Orange Cassidy vs. PAC

Rich: I’m not going to rain on anyone’s parade here so I’ll make this quick. Orange Cassidy will put his hands in his pockets, there will be a spot involving his sunglasses—likely PAC stepping on them—and maybe we get a suicide dive while Cassidy has his hands in his pockets. If you’ve seen one Orange Cassidy match you’ve seen them all. With that said, he’ll get one of the biggest pops of the night and I received no less than four text messages from friends proclaiming how excited they were that Orange Cassidy will be at Revolution. I have no problem admitting I’m in the minority here. Prediction: PAC

Suit: I was surprised that PAC didn’t look like he had anything to do on the PPV, and was even more surprised when after PAC’s ironman match on Dynamite, Orange Cassidy wandered out and got kicked in the face. This is a good match to book here, and I’ll say why. Orange Cassidy doing nothing has gotten over huge. And with the belief that Orange will try, in the excellent words of Chuck Taylor, him actually doing moves is all he needs to do to get a reaction. PAC will shut him down and get a win to bounce back from the Omega loss, and OC gets over in defeat. What more could you ask for? Prediction: PAC

AEW Women’s Championship
Nyla Rose © vs. Kris Statlander

Rich: One of only two matches on this entire show without what I would consider a great build but a match with a ton of potential. Thus far we’ve seen Nyla Rose bulldoze through much smaller women on her path towards winning the AEW Women’s Championship. Now with Statlander we have a woman who, while still somewhat smaller, is still physically imposing. The result should be a better comfort level for Rose and Statlander should presumably have a solid base to do her flying-based offense. Both women have improved a lot as of late and this could be a great opportunity to see their hardwork come together in a good match. There does exist the possibility of a sloppy trainwreck as despite the improvement both are still babies in the industry. I think there’s no doubt that Rose retains the title here but my focus will be on the in-ring capabilities of both and how well these two gel. Prediction: Nyla Rose 

Suit: While this is the match with one of the smaller builds on the show, it is still one with great potential. Both Rose and Statlander have impressed for people at their level of experience. There is a fear of this match coming apart, and in that scenario, their inexperience will serve as a hindrance. But I think these two will work to make something memorable here. As Nyla just won the title a few weeks ago, I’ll pick her to have a strong defense here. Kris is a longer term project, and I don’t think losing to the dominant new champion will hurt her much. Prediction: Nyla Rose

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Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes

Rich: If you had told me 5-6 months ago that I’d be attending a live wrestling show and FKA Jack Swagger vs. Golddust would be one of the matches and that I’d be looking forward to said match, I’d have you institutionalized. Yet, here we are. In the grand scheme of things, this is one of the most irrelevant matches of the night and certainly not one that’ll be synonymous with this show years down the line. With that said, AEW has done a tremendous job building to this undercard match and the very fact that we haven’t seen Hager wrestle every week in the build adds to the intrigue. While I’m uncertain what the long term plan of Rhodes is and I still feel like him feuding with Cody is his last big-money match, this match should still be a lot of fun. Likewise, I can also see this being a 30-second squash to help establish Hager even further as a protected monster. Prediction: Jake Hager

Suit: A match that would be considered WWE Superstars fodder in 2010 is a highly anticipated PPV match in 2020. What a world we live in, huh? Dustin has been excellent in his role as a scorned veteran looking to beat some respect into somebody, but Hager is the play here if he’s gonna be any type of presence in AEW. Dustin will get a fight in, but Hager will dominate and stand tall in the end. Prediction: Jake Hager

Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevera

Rich: A battle between two of AEW’s young stars and two future pro wrestling superstars. Guevera is someone we’ve been raving about since the moment this website started and he’s finally found his home in AEW. Sammy has jump off the screen charisma and even manages to steal some of the spotlight when he’s in the ring with one of the all-time greats in pro wrestling history: Chris Jericho. To boot, he’s a tremendous pro wrestler who always has a knack for stepping up in the big spot and taking a crazy bump at the perfect time. On the other side is a guy who I think will main event a major AEW PPV in the next year: Darby Allin. The undeniable appeal of Allin is going to be too much to contain after a while and the fans and Allin will force AEW to put him in a huge title match or prominent feud, he’s just that good. The attachment Allin has to the fans, particularly women and children, is unmatched by any non-Elite-aligned member of AEW’s roster. Like Sammy, Darby picks his spots and always delivers in big moments. Putting these two together is a recipe for disaster… but the good kind. I can’t wait to see what these idiots do to themselves on Saturday. Both men can lose forever and still keep their aura but it’s Allin who should emerge victorious here as he continues his rise up the AEW ranks. Prediction: Darby Allin

Suit: A match that could be a main event program in a few years time. Another simple program, with Sammy breaking a skateboard over Darby’s throat and Darby wanting payback. But when you book your wrestlers like people who should be cared about, simple is all you need. I’ve got Darby winning this one here. Sammy can get beaten like a drum and not suffer a bit, all he has to do is walk out to the ring with his stupid face and get heat. Darby has low-key been involved with the Inner Circle since the first month of TV, and I think that will pay off with a PPV match with Jericho at some point. To get there though, I think he has to get through Sammy G here. Both men are the real deal though, and they are gonna go all out to make this match one to remember. Prediction: Darby Allin

AEW World Tag Team Championship
Kenny Omega & Hangman Page © vs. The Young Bucks

Rich: AEW fucked around and made a star. After blowing Page’s initial push in AEW, the creative team and Page himself re-worked the character into a nonchalant, beer-guzzling ass-kicker with big dick Tim Riggins energy and viola: he’s a star now. I’m sure the long-term goal was for Page to turn heel but his new persona is absolutely adored by the AEW crowd. We’re now at a point where you can make a legit case that it’d be more beneficial to turn the Bucks or Omega heel instead of Page… a lot can change in a few months. Personally, I don’t think we need to see a huge “turn” here as I think both sides can continue to tease and build up their tension until eventually, AEW will have to make the call as to which of these men turns. For now, though, let’s keep the Omega/Page train rolling, they are a team having tremendous matches and the continued development of Page’s character will only help him more whether as the mega hated heel or the company’s biggest non-Cody babyface. Prediction: Kenny Omega & Hangman Page

Suit: Hangman Page has given AEW a very good problem to have here. He is over like rover, brother, and that is not changing anytime soon. But the story seems to have been building to him turning heel, and if that happens, it’ll be a Becky Lynch situation where the fans just go with Hangman instead of booing him. So do they turn the Young Bucks? Does anyone turn? It’s a very intriguing situation surrounding a match that has a floor of 4 stars. This is my pick for match of the night, with the potential to be a real Match of the Year contender. As far as who wins, I’m gonna roll with The Bucks. I think this team has gotten Hangman where the company wants him to be, and there is money in the Bucks as tag team champions. The big question is where do Hangman and Kenny go from here if they do lose? Prediction: The Young Bucks

MJF vs. Cody

Rich: I challenge you to find me a better built American pro wrestling feud in the last five years. I don’t think you’ll find it. Every step of this feud has been meticulously laid out and designed to accomplish two goals: make MJF a detestable heel and Cody the hero babyface. Mission accomplished. Cody has had to endure whippings by a belt, MJF’s monster lackey Wardlow, a cage, his fear of heights, he’s lost and gained friends along the way and now finally this Saturday, he gets his hands on MJF. There’s a lot of debate as to whether this should be the blowoff and if Cody should beat MJF and celebrate in the middle of the ring over his dead body OR if MJF should find some way to once again screw over Cody and save the blowoff for another day. I’m on the fence. In one breath, MJF is the perfect guy to break AEW’s mostly clean finish policy for and Cody is an absolute master at gaining sympathy so if there’s anyone that’ll make it a positive: it’s these two. There is probably still some money in MJF vs. Cody again and the pop when Cody finally gets his hands on MJF should be enough for the crowd to feel satisfied. AEW has to toe a delicate balance lest they become reliant on cheap finishes to protect future matches. Still, this would be a great opportunity to continue the goals set out with this feud: make MJF a detestable heel and Cody the hero babyface. Whether MJF uses a chair to win the match, someone turns on Cody or MJF even finds a way to get Cody disqualified, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of these two. Prediction: MJF

Suit: Before this week, I thought this would be pretty cut and dry. Cody would finally get his hands on MJF and get his revenge, just like he did with Shawn Spears at All Out. But I never thought of this feud continuing after this show for some reason. The concept never crossed my mind. But this is the perfect feud for it, as I don’t want this feud to end yet. These two have a great dynamic, and I don’t think they have peaked this issue yet. I think MJF stands tall here before Cody actually wins the feud. Prediction: MJF

AEW World Championship
Chris Jericho © vs. Jon Moxley

Rich: As if this feud needed any more juice the closing angle to this week’s Dynamite was spectacular. A few months back we received a lot of feedback on Twitter and other mediums wondering just how AEW was going to be able to keep this story fresh and interesting for 2-3 months. Mission accomplished. We’ve talked about it from day one but there needs to be a reset in fan’s minds. Just because other wrestling companies cannot and frankly will not tell long-term, multi-month stories doesn’t mean that AEW won’t or can’t. Jericho vs. Moxley is proof positive. What began as a simple courtship from Jericho ballooned into Jericho gifting Moxley a car, a seemingly way-too-long payoff for Moxley to finally turn down his spot in the Inner Circle and then, really, when the story felt like it was all but complete, things ramped up even further. Moxley got stabbed in the eye—an injury he sold across the world—then he went eye-for-an-eye with Santana culminating in a multi-week micro feed between those two. Jericho went a step further debuting Jeff Cobb and now, months after they first crossed paths we are finally getting the culmination of this story. I don’t want to call it a miracle that a pro wrestling company saw a big-time match, created a feud around two of its biggest stars then stayed the course for months with well-planned and well-plotted stories that resulted in everyone involved coming across as better for it, but, here we are. This type of stuff should be commonplace in American pro wrestling but it’s not. So, for now, I give this match and the build my utmost praise. The result is really up in the air, another feather in AEW’s cap, the go-home angle showed a bloodied Jericho standing over his fallen victim Moxley. WWE Booking 101 would tell us that means Moxley is 100% winning. But there we go again. We need not fall into that trap. I think it’s a coin toss with a justification for each man to walk away from Revolution as the champion. My pick would be Jericho as I think they’ve only scratched the surface of what he can bring to the company as champion but I won’t be crying any tears if wrestling biggest badass Moxley walks out of the Wintrust Arena with the belt above his head. Either way, I can’t wait. Great job by everyone involved in making this match happen. Prediction: Chris Jericho

Suit: This was an absolute master-class in how to book a story over the course of several months without ever feeling like it is treading water. Once the swerve happened with Moxley refusing to join the Inner Circle, AEW could have simply had Jericho send his goons after Moxley every week and had Mox take them out until the PPV. But they went one step further by building up personal reasons as to why each guy wants to beat Mox, along with the overarching reason of helping Jericho. Ortiz got drilled with the Paradigm Shift, Santana got his eye poked out (with the car key that the Inner Circle tried to bribe Moxley with), Jeff Cobb was a paid hitman that Mox got the better of. It has all led to this feud peaking at exactly the right time, making this feel like a title fight as opposed to just a title match. As far as who wins, I’m gonna differ with Rich and pick Moxley. I’m not opposed to Jericho keeping the title longer, as he’s been one of the biggest highlights of the company so far. But outside of Cody, Mox feels like the biggest star in this company right now, and I think him losing here would put a dent in his star power. I think the game changes here, and Jon Moxley walks out of Chicago a World Champion. Prediction: Jon Moxley