Welcome, one and all, to my first wrestling related post of the year. I wanted to get this one together because, honestly, I’ve missed doing the PPV prediction posts. And, given that I’ve actually kept up with the TV related to this one, I figured it was a good way to dive back in.
On paper, AEW Revolution should be an excellent show. There are a lot of strong pairings in the line-up, and the storylines going into the bigger matches have played out well. I’m also expecting some twists and turns along the way. So, let’s have a look and see what I think will happen.
SCU [w/Christopher Daniels] vs. The Dark Order [w/Alex Reynolds and John Silver]
The big thing coming into this one is that there’s a good chance that The Dark Order’s mysterious leader will be revealed. There have been a few obvious hints dropped that it will be Christopher Daniels, returning to his Fallen Angel gimmick. There have also been rumours that it could be Matt Hardy. I don’t think it will be Matt, because a) his contract won’t be up in time, and b) I don’t think the crowd would be willing to boo him. On top of that, the Daniel heel turn is so obvious, that I think AEW view going through with it as a swerve on the grounds that it’s so obvious the fans won’t expect it to happen.
The match itself should be fun. SCU can go, and while they haven’t shown their best yet, The Dark Order have a lot of talent. Just go back and look at some of their matches as the Super Smash Brothers to see what I mean. Regardless though, I predict a win for The Dark Order, with Daniels coming out as leader.
Pac vs. Orange Cassidy
So. I’m in the camp that enjoys the Orange Cassidy gimmick. I think that it’s fun, and Cassidy certainly does it well. We’ve been told that he’s going to try here. In an ideal world, this doesn’t reach the seven minute mark. What I think will happen is Cassidy will do this thing, and he’ll take his hands out of his pockets to make a comeback at some point. But…Pac will essentially murder him. He’s too big a star, by comparison, to give Cassidy too much here and, honestly, I don’t think Cassidy needs to get much in to maintain his popularity.
AEW Womens’ Title Match: Nyla Rose ( c ) vs. Kris Statlander
Stantlander’s rise to prominence pretty much came out of the blue. She should be a much better match for Nyla than Riho was, I think. I always felt like Riho never clicked for me, largely due to her inconsistent selling. Goofy alien gimmick aside, Kris has potential too. This has to be the Nyla show though. She’s a trans woman, which is a big deal, and seemingly quite divisive for some people. She’s also finally being built as a monster. Let’s be real here, the money match is not Nyla vs. Kris. It’s a PPV match at the end of a title feud between Nyla Rose and Awesome Kong. So, I see Kris fighting valiantly, but in the end, Nyla Rose retains.
Darby Allin vs. Sammy Guevara
Two breakout stars in the company clash head-on. Darby has had issues with Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle stable for a while now, so this one is logical. The thing is though, Sammy is the loss post for the group. He’s the one that will eat the pin more often than not. But it doesn’t matter because he does the arrogant youngster routine so well that people will pay to see him get beaten time and time again. Meanwhile, Darby is on the rise. This one will be competitive, but I fully expect Darby Allin to get the 1-2-3.
Jake Hager vs. Dustin Rhodes
Now, this is an interesting one. The former Jack Swagger and Goldust have actually had a heated rivalry built up for this one. This will be the first in-ring appearance in AEW for the Inner Circle’s bodyguard too. That should mean that he gets the win because a loss isn’t going to harm Dustin here, but…I think something else will happen. Jake needs to be seen as a real threat to anyone that steps in the ring with him. My guess is that Dustin Rhodes wins by DQ when Jake takes things too far. He’ll continue to beat Dustin down after the bell, we may even get a stretcher job, and Jake will take a clean loss in an eventual rematch,
AEW Tag Titles Match: Kenny Omega & Adam Page ( c ) vs. The Young Bucks
On paper, this one could go either way. While it’s expected that the Bucks will take the titles at some point, where this one gets complicated is in the in-fighting. All four were once part of The Elite. Page has been trying to step away from that, but his relationship with Omega means he’s stuck in it. I do expect there to be a heel turn here, and that’s going to be the key to it all. So, here’s what I think will happen.
The Young Bucks have been instigators in the in-fighting, largely due to their arrogance. There’s good cause there for them to feel bitter and decide to force people to accept them as the greatest tag team ever. So, during the match, we get a ref bump. During this time, The Young Bucks take Page out and get ready to finish him off with chairs. Kenny steps in to try to talk them down. They look at each other and smash Kenny. The ref wakes up in time to see The Young Bucks pin Kenny. The titles change hands, The Bucks turn heel, and Kenny and Page get on the same page.
Cody (w/Wardlow) vs. MJF (w/Arn Anderson)
Possibly the most heated matches on the card. The build-up to this has been phenomenal. MJF’s heel turn, the gloriously uncomfortable to watch ten lashes, all of it has been so good. I foresee Arn taking Wardlow out of the equation early on, allowing the two to just go at it. It’ll be played as personal, it’ll be rough, and in the end, Cody will win. The way it has built means he needs that win, while the loss won’t harm MJF.
AEW World Title Match: Chris Jericho ( c ) vs. Jon Moxley
This one too has been well built. Jericho was absolutely the right choice for the first champion, and you have to believe that Cody will be in the running again too, even with the stipulation of his loss to Jericho meaning he can’t. Right now though, there’s a very strong case to be made for Moxley. He’s a guy that I have been a fan off since his CZW days, and I’ve always seen the upside in him. In AEW, he’s looking like an absolute star.
While it would be fine for Jericho to retain the title, I feel like the only place for him to go after that would be a rematch with Darby Allin, then rushing the Cody rematch into being. Meanwhile, if Moxley takes the title, he has options in both Pac and MJF. My thinking is that Jericho drops the belt to Jon Moxley here and moves on to MJF, who uses his title shot to taunt Cody about losing the ability to have one, further building their rivalry.
So, those are my predictions. But what about yourselves? What do you think of the card, and who do you think will come out on top? Let me know in the comments below.
Matt Doyle Media 
Interesting predictions in hindsight especially since Moxley would win the title from Jericho. It’s weird to think it was AEW’s last PPV before Lockdown happened and the last major event that wasn’t in Florida.
Speaking of wrestling, I actually made a themed list on that subject on my film/anime/documentary review blog: https://iridiumeye.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/top-7-people-in-the-indie-britwres-scene-who-should-get-their-own-documentaries/
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I think I got 5 of 8 right if I remember right, which isn’t too bad really.
Good list at your end too. I kept up with the UK scene for years, but I’m a little out of touch with it at the moment. I guess ten years of retirement fom the ring will do that to you.
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Sounds about right. Good predictions anyway.
Thank you very much, Matt. I was curious if you were familiar with the UK scene. Retirement from the ring? You were a wrestler at one point? Wow!
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Yup, started in 2001 at NWA-UK Hammerlock. I came through the same class as Zack Sabre Jr, and worked with him a lot in our early days. He was so, so good, even back then. I used to help out training new trainees in the basics there too.
After I left Hammerlock (injury that didn’t heal until the school moved too far for me to get to easily) I was taken on as a booker/worker for a local company. I booked the first year and half of shows then the owner took over. As a fun one, I worked with Pete Dunne in his early days there too. He used to come down to do shows in his first couple of years of wrestling because we rented the ring from his trainer. He was another one who always had something. I retired in late 2010.
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Nice! You got to train alongside ZSJ? Wow, that must have been unreal especially with how crazy successful he’s been in different federations as well as how his tekker game is off the charts.
Sorry to hear about an injury and the school moving away for you. At least you got to work in that industry for a bit more. You got to work with THE Pete Dunne? That’s insane! Could you imagine how you’d be working with someone who would eventually be one of the most decorated champions in indie BritWres or even getting signed to the WWE years later? That must have been mind-blowing. I could only imagine the connections you made back then with different people. I hope your retired wrestling life has still been good though.
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Zack and I started at the same time, pretty much so we kinda came through that system together. He was easily my favourite opponent. Such a great talent, and really nice guy too.
Yup, he was known as Tiger Kid back then. Lost his mask and became Pete Dunne in the company I was booking for. Honestly, he really deserves the success. Humble guy that worked so hard every single time he was in there.
Retirement has been fine, but I do miss it. There aren’t any really local schools anymore though, so I can’t even test the waters for a return. Still, I had fun, and built a lot of memories.
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No way! That must have been such a fun experience especially in hindsight with how Zack has been blowing up without needing the WWE machine. Good to know that he’s a good person in addition to his top-notch tekkers.
Gotcha. I heard that was his original name. That name is kind of funny in hindsight because there’s a masked wrestler from Portsmouth called Lion Kid. Maybe they could’ve been a tag team. Hahaha! He has certainly worked hard. It’s amazing how decorated of a champion he was, co-owning Attack! Pro Wrestling with Mark Andrews, also co-owning the Defend Indy Wrestling clothing line with the aforementioned Andrews as well as Eddie Dennis, and being able to support his family with his wrestling.
I see. Sorry to hear that there aren’t any local schools near you anymore. That must have been fun getting into the scene there.
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It really is. Zack was definitely the standout in that class. Out of all of us, he is by far the most successful.
I think Attack was started by Pete and Jim Lee too. Jim used to wrestle as Helix and was a heat magnet down South. Andrews I like too, but never got to meet him.
It was fun, but hard work. They used to be 5 hour training sessions back in the early 2000s. Top quality coaches though. Zack and I mostly trained under Jon Ryan in those days.
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Sure thing. I could only imagine seeing him in a class with him being a clear prodigy of sorts. He certainly was successful especially with RevPro and even more so with New Japan right now.
That’s right. I heard mark Andrews came in not long after which also explained why they did a ton of shows in Wales given how he’s from Cardiff and all. I’m not too familiar with Jim Lee/Helix though. Andrews is good. I did think that Pokemon cosplay match with him and Eddie Dennis (FSU) against Pete Dunne and Wild Boar was hilarious. It was also interesting when Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster won the NXT UK Tag Titles to become the first ever Welshmen to win WWE gold. That happened a month or two before I reviewed Flash’s documentary.
I sure bet. 5 hour training sessions? Dang! I’ve had shifts at work that were shorter than that sometimes. It’s good that you had quality coaches though.
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Honestly, I’ve never been let down by his work.
Helix was a great heel. Decent ring work and really hated character down here. Andrews does some incredible stuff.
They were great coaches. For A while, a lot of the top guys in the UK came through there. Judy Fleisch, Jonny Storm, Douglas Williams, they were all Hammerlock originals. Finn Balor came through there too, though he was known as Fergal then.
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Awesome!
Alright. That sounds good if his heel work is that good. Andrews is very talented with those flips and kicks. He does seem like a likable person in character and in real life. Okay, pop punk isn’t my thing, but at least he’s not like most pop punk fans I’ve seen in real life and not just because he actually has musical talent.
Very nice! I recognize some of those names. I actually own a Jody Fleisch shirt and he recently showed up again in Progress. That guy is in his 40s now and he can still do some crazy moves. That last match he did against Omari (definitely check out his work, too) was a certified banger.
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It amazes me what some of the older guys can still do. They just seem to pick up less injuries than some of the current indie guys.
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Weird, there was when I posted it. Let’s try that again.
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Yeah. He’s been on the scene since 1996 which is crazy. When Jody Fleisch had his Progress re-debut a few weeks ago, he wrestled Danny Black who’s a younger wrestler from Lewisham, South London who has Daredevil-themed ring gear. The commentators pointed out that Fleisch had his debut three years before Black was even born which is just crazy putting it into that perspective. It does make me wonder how they can still go. I can understand someone lasting that long with a more conservative ring style, but The Phoenix himself still does a ton of high-flying stuff and not just his 720 DDT finisher.
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Right? He’s kept himself in such good shape and still has great conditioning. It’s like he knows how to do the flashy stuffbut minimise the risk to himself.
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Definitely and he’s clearly in great shape. He’s not trying to be a crash test dummy or being too flippy-dippy in a match. I like how he mixes other styles of wrestling instead of being just a one-trick high-flying pony. Jody certainly knows what he’s doing and can still have a great match.
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This will be worth a laugh. This was my debut match. Look out for me as Tad at the end. I was super skinny, and a little rough around the edges, but it wasn’t a horrific debut:
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Was there supposed to be a video link in your comment?
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Ah, I see. It removes the links from the comments. You can see it on YouTube as NWA-UK Jr Heavyweight No. 1 Contendership Superfight – NWA-UK Hammerlock (19.10.02)
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That’s weird. I’ve had comments with YouTube links, yet they still went through. Anyways, I did see that video you mentioned. It was interesting with you doing your best to be a technical wizard from the get go when you showed up. Sorry you didn’t win that match (kayfabe or not). Thanks for letting me know about it, Matt.
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It was a fun night for me to be sure. After a few months on sites, I think I settled into a style that was a mix of technical stuff with suplex for a while. Mostly though, I was someone they put out there to bump for people. My size and willingness to do so meant I could do that for the bigger guys pretty easily. I didn’t mind that though. I liked having a role there.
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Sure thing. That sounded like a lot of fun then and with you improving in your craft during your wrestling days. Being put out there to take big bumps? Wow. Good on you for committing to that back then even with the roles you had.
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