Welcome friends to another action packed edition of Wrestling Inc.'s retro review, where we roll back the years and rewatch a major event from the past to see what we loved, what we hated, and everything in between. For this one, given that AEW's 2026 pay-per-view schedule is kicking off this weekend with the seventh-annual Revolution event, we've picked the 2023 event as it has a few things in common with what will go down on March 15.MJF and Hangman Page will headline this weekend's card in a Texas Death Match for the AEW Men's World Championship, and it just so happens that the 2023 event also featured Page in a Texas Death Match, while Maxwell Jacob Friedman wrestled in the main event. That's the main reason this show was picked, but it's also a card that deserves highlighting as it took place in a very interesting time in AEW's short history.The company was still trying to rediscover its form and momentum in the wake of the "Brawl Out" incident which happened six months earlier, with The Elite firmly back on TV at this point while CM Punk was just a few months away from returning from injury. Interest in the company took a sharp decline thanks to Vince McMahon retiring from WWE in July 2022, leading to Triple H taking over the creative control of AEW's competition. The combination of The Bloodline being the hottest thing in wrestling at the time, Cody Rhodes wanting to finish his story, and a renewed sense of interest meant that AEW were fighting an uphill battle, but the company soldiered on and in the first quarter of 2023, there were some real signs of promise."AEW Dynamite" was very consistent at the start of 2023, anchored by MJF forcing Bryan Danielson to jump through every hoop imaginable in order to earn both the AEW Men's World Championship match and the stipulation that went with it. The feud between Jon Moxley and Hangman Page had reached boiling point, the line in the sand had been drawn between The Outcasts and the AEW originals in the women's division, and Jack Perry wanted to finally put his feud with Christian Cage to rest after nine months of dead father jokes.We've already highlighted classic matches, we've relived previous chapters in feuds that could be settled this Sunday, but now it's time to sit back, relax, and see what loved and hated about AEW Revolution 2023.
It was painfully obvious in 2022 that the AEW World Trios Championships were tailor made for The Elite. After all, the tournament to determine the inaugural champions was actually postponed until Kenny Omega was able to return from injury. The titles were created to give Omega and The Young Bucks a chance to have a long series of PWG-style party tags with some of the best groups around, and after they had finally vanquished Death Triangle in their best-of-seven series, there was only one trio AEW fans wanted to see challenge for the titles, The House of Black.The fact that we only ever got one match out of these six men is something that would be considered a criminal offense by some fans, and what's worse is that we didn't even get any build up matches like a singles bout between Omega and Buddy Matthews, The Kings of the Black Throne against Matt and Nick Jackson, and all of the combinations you can get with these six. With that said, the one match we did get is one of the best AEW World Trios Championship matches in company history.Malakai Black was someone who many AEW fans thought didn't really give everything he could during his time with the company, but this was a match where he looked genuinely motivated, especially in his exchanges with Omega. The same can be said for Matthews who matched Omega for explosiveness and intensity in the early going. Omega himself was already on a roll in early 2023, and he was putting up numbers in this one that if he didn't get sucked into the Jericho Vortex towards the back end of the year, he would have been in contention for being the wrestler of the year. The Jackson brothers were able to lean more into their chicken-s*** personas at times, especially when interacting with Brody King, and as for King himself, this was truly a star-making performance for him.It's hard to a do a move-by-move breakdown for a match like this given how quick it goes, but that works in the match's favor as the fans don't get a chance to sit down as things are always happening. Some might call out certain spots for no-selling, mainly on the House's side, but The Elite sold all of the big moves like they had just been killed. Omega's crumble selling of The End to where he ends up doing the splits, Nick Jackson taking a Buddy Matthews knee in mid-air while attempting a Meltzer Driver is a thing of beauty, and Matt Jackson taking the Dante's Inferno at the very end to seal the win for the challengers.This is a match that had a lot of hype going into it, but all six men lived up to that hype. The right team won, and making The House of Black the unstoppable final bosses of the trios division was one of the best things to come out of this show.
The AEW women's division, why can't Tony Khan get it right with you guys? Easily the most overlooked and underappreciated part of All Elite Wrestling to this day, the female roster has grown significantly over the past seven years, but it's baffling looking back on certain shows as it's a division that always took one step forward and two steps back.Take this match for example, a three-way match that saw Jamie Hayter defending the AEW Women's World Championship against Saraya and Ruby Soho. Saraya had aligned with Toni Storm in early 2023 and tried to create a female version of something that resembled the New World Order, only to come off as a group that wouldn't have looked out of place in the remake of "Mean Girls." The story going in was that Saraya was recruiting all the former WWE Superstars as The Outcasts to go against the babyface AEW originals like Hayter, Hikaru Shida, and Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D, while Ruby Soho was stuck in the middle as she came from WWE but loved AEW.That match kind of pushed this match back because up until Revolution, Hayter actually had a very fun title reign. She had a great match with Toni Storm to win the title at Full Gear, had one of the best women's matches in AEW history with Hikaru Shida in December, and had strong performances against the likes of Emi Sakura and The Bunny. If anything, a straight singles match between Hayter and Saraya would have been a much better fit for this card. But obviously they needed to fit someone else on the card because there was only one women's match (which is a booking problem) so they needed to fit another woman on the card in the form of Ruby Soho in order to go "See, three women, are you happy now?" Like come on, at least have Baker vs. Storm or something to compliment it.I feel like the addition of Soho, while necessary for the angle afterwards, ended up hurting the match more than it aided it. She's not a bad wrestler or anything, and this is far from the worst match the AEW women's division has ever put on, but it had been proven that Hayter puts in her best performances when she's allowed to let loose and be as stiff as possible in a singles match. Having to share the spotlight with two women who, and this is no offense to Saraya or Soho, weren't even in the same league as her didn't exactly paint Hayter in the best light which was a shame on a show that is so fondly remembered.The benefit of hindsight has let us all know that this Outcasts story went on for much longer than it should have, and it ended up getting in the way of what was a strong title run. Still, at least "Timeless" Toni Storm technically came from it, so there's that.
Due to the spotlight that the All In Texas main event was put under (and don't worry, there's something coming on that in the next few days), the original Texas Death Match between Hangman Page and Jon Moxley doesn't get talked about nearly as much. Whether that's down to recency bias or the fact that the sequel headlined the biggest AEW show on American soil is up for discussion, but it's a shame that this match has been overshadowed because it rocks as much now as it did in 2023.This is an insanely brutal match, to the point where I'd say the best way to describe it in comparison to the All In match is dirty. There is a distinct roughness to this match, everything feels so untidy in the most complimentary way possible. The fork spot that's replicated two years later but in the opposite roles is horrifying to watch. Hangman's blood literally splattering all over Moxley's chest is a wonderful visual, and Moxley doesn't let up in stalking Hangman like a killer. Speaking of blood, Moxley's blade job is fantastic here, as Taz says, he looks like he stuck his head in a blender because you can't tell where the cuts on Moxley's head stops and the wrinkles on his face begin.Moxley was firmly in his death match bag at this point in time. You could look at him a certain way and every gig mark on his head would burst open he bled so much during this period, truly getting back in touch with his CZW roots. However, that was part of what made his performances so engaging, acting far more unhinged than whenever WWE would call him the "Lunatic Fringe."There is barbed wire all over the place, bricks are brought out, chairs are just scattered everywhere, there's a genuine level of hatred between the two men given the story going into things. Hangman still hasn't forgotten the concussion Moxley gave him five months earlier (which is ironic in a way), while Moxley is sick of Hangman coming after him for something that was a complete accident, but has now come to the realization that he might have to put Hangman down for real this time. All of this plays into the finish with Moxley confidently wrapping himself with a steel chain, only for that chain to come back to haunt him when Hangman literally hangs him over the top rope and forces him to submit, an ending that would also play out over two years later.It's gritty, it's violent, it's borderline disgusting at times, but it is magical all at the same time. For all of the people who say Swerve Strickland is Hangman's best opponent, or Darby Allin is Moxley's best opponent, I respect your opinion. With that said, Hangman Page and Jon Moxley are made for each other, and to prove how good they are, this match is a classic and it isn't even their best Texas Death Match.
Whoever followed Hangman Page and Jon Moxley was going to have a tough time, and unfortunately for Samoa Joe and Wardlow, their AEW TNT Championship match had to take place in front of a crowd that had almost seen everything already on this night.The story going into this match was that Joe and Wardlow were tag team partners in the back end of 2022, with the ultra-cool name of WarJoe...yes really. However, Joe would turn heel and take the AEW TNT Championship from Wardlow at Full Gear, and with him already holding the ROH World Television Championship, Joe proclaimed himself as the "King of Television." Joe had Wardlow's number at every turn, to the point where Joe cut off Wardlow's trademark ponytail, something that "Mr. Mayhem" rocked as a tribute to his late father, and with that added motivation, he wanted war at Revolution.This match was fine, that's really all you can say to be honest. Much like the women's three-way earlier in the night, it's not a bad match, but it would have made much more sense if another match was in its place. That being something involving Powerhouse Hobbs, who won the annual Face of the Revolution Ladder Match on "AEW Dynamite"to earn a shot at Joe's TNT Title. You would think that the man who won the Face of the Revolution Ladder Match would end up with a match at Revolution wouldn't you? But no, this WarJoe story had to come to an end, and the blow-off was nothing more than a fairly standard TV match.If you really wanted, you could have had Hobbs, Joe, and Wardlow run back their three-way match from Full Gear, especially given that Revolution 2023 took place in San Francisco, California and two thirds of the match would have been California natives. Hobbs won the title from Wardlow anyway a few days after this show, why not do that here? Because Wardlow needed revenge on Joe, and that's another thing, the ending is fairly bad all things considered. Wardlow, the submission specialist that he is, chokes Joe out with his own finishing move. Like seriously? You're going to choke out Samoa Joe? At least MJF used wrist tape to help him do it at Grand Slam later that year, but just a standard choke? I'm not a fan.Speaking of MJF, his match literally ends with him forcing Bryan Danielson to tap to his own LeBell Lock, did producers and coaches not talk to each other before this show to make sure none of the finishes were too similar? Clearly not. Easily the lowest point on what had been up to this point one of the best AEW pay-per-views for some time. It didn't really need to be on the show, the guy who had a shot at it sat in the crowd watching on, and Wardlow should grow his hair back because he just looks like a guy with short hair.
When AEW first started, Matt and Nick Jackson proclaimed that they would make tag team wrestling great again, and that one day an AEW World Tag Team Championship match would main event a pay-per-view. Putting an emphasis on tag team wrestling was one of the priorities of AEW, but by the start of 2023, the division was in a very bad way, partly because the trios division had taken a lot of the top tag teams, meaning that this is what we were left with.You had The Gunns, who recently became the champions by defeating The Acclaimed, although they did deserve it a little bit due to them using "Many Men" by 50 Cent as a one-off entrance song. The Acclaimed wanted their rematch and got it here at Revolution, but the team of Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal had also wanted a shot at the gold while The Acclaimed were champions, and then you have Orange Cassidy and Danhausen, who were also there because they had nothing to do that day.This was the definition of a match designed to just get as many guys on the card as possible, but look at those teams I just mentioned, it's a division that is not in good shape. The Acclaimed were the only legitimate team that people wanted to see. The Gunns winning the straps felt so out of place for the time that most people forget they were ever champions. Jarrett and Lethal were singles guys that hung out a whole bunch, and that's the same for Cassidy and Danhausen, who were both very over with the live audience in fairness to them. Just to point out for Danhausen, this was his only AEW pay-per-view main card match, which considering how over he already is in WWE seems like a big missed opportunity.The match had a decent mix of comedy and action. Aubrey Edwards decides to go into business for herself by allowing a double Low Blow to happen but draws the line at Max Caster trying to hit Jarrett with a guitar. Billy Gunn hitting Satnam Singh with the Fameasser got one of the biggest pops of the match which shows you how invested people were, and The Gunns pinned Danhausen to get the win because obviously the guy who has never been on a pay-per-view main card before is eating the pin. Cassidy was the AEW All-Atlantic Champion at the time, you could have just had him defend the title.With all that said, the real purpose of this match existing is to set up the return of FTR afterwards. DaxHarwood and Cash Wheeler were gunning for, well, The Gunns, and immediately set up a match for "Dynamite" a few weeks later. Some people did think that FTR would go back to WWE, mainly because Harwood had a podcast where he would get everything off his chest about life in AEW, but once FTR got back in the title picture, everyone breathed a sigh of relief knowing that this sort of a match would never be a pay-per-view title match ever again.
One thing that you pick up on when you watch AEW Revolution 2023 is how quickly everything moves. Not every match has a little video package to accompany it, some entrance themes start playing as the competitors from the previous match are still leaving, and some elements of the show seem a bit rushed. However, this was all for good reason as everyone knew that the main event would need at least 60 minutes of time dedicated to it.The main event of AEW Revolution 2023 is the 60 minute Iron Man Match for the AEW Men's World Championship between MJF, who was making his first defense in this match, and Bryan Danielson. The "American Dragon" was not happy about MJF attacking William Regal shortly after Full Gear and vowed to take the "Triple B" away from Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The champion laid out his conditions that Danielson was happy to meet, but only if their eventual match, if Danielson got to it one piece, would be a 60 minute Iron Man Match. Despite MJF's best efforts, Danielson did get there in one piece, and given his history of being able to wrestle for one hour with little to no effort, this was always going to a match that favored the challenger.When this match originally happened, people were calling this the greatest Iron Man Match of all time, and while I don't think that's necessarily the case watching it back, it definitely deserves to be in the conversation. It's a slow burner throughout the first 25 minutes that eventually leads to Danielson getting the first fall. Not one to be on the back-foot, MJF gets himself disqualified with a Low Blow which doubles Danielson's lead, but this was all a plan to get two easy pins and bring the scores level at two falls each. There was another build up to a big turning point in the match as MJF hits an Elbow Drop from the top to the outside through the ring announcer's table, and follows it up with a Tombstone in the wreckage of the table, a Heatseeker, and MJF takes the lead. Danielson fights back and lands a big diving headbutt that splits MJF wide open (even Jon Moxley would be proud of that gusher), and that allows Danielson to take control of the match and level things up at three falls each.The final stretch is so good. People are falling over themselves at the idea of Danielson being the champion, but MJF hangs on for the time limit, only for the match to be restarted under Sudden Death Rules. However, MJF had a plan as he hit Danielson with an oxygen tank, before locking in the LeBell Lock of all things, forcing Danielson to tap. I loved basically everything in this one apart from the ending, but I understand why it was done. It's still one of the best AEW matches of all time, and a star making performance for the "Salt of the Earth."For Danielson though, it was just another Sunday night most likely.
