AEW Revolution

AEW Revolution
AEW Revolution logo
PromotionsAll Elite Wrestling
First event2020

AEW Revolution is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Established in 2020, it was originally held in late February, but moved to early March in 2021, and that year's event was also AEW's first PPV held on a Sunday. It is considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs for AEW, along with Double or Nothing, All In, All Out, and Full Gear, the company's biggest shows produced throughout the year.

All the Revolution PPVs received positive reviews, with the 2020, 2021, and 2024 PPVs receiving particular critical acclaim. The 2020 and 2023 event was voted as the Best Major Wrestling Show of their respective years for the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, while the 2021 event was the highest-grossing non-WWE wrestling PPV since 1999. The latter was also AEW's largest attended event during the COVID-19 pandemic up to that point. The 2024 Revolution was notable as it hosted Sting's final match.

History

The inaugural Revolution event took place on February 29, 2020, at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois, and was held in partnership between the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2). This inaugural event would be AEW's last pay-per-view (PPV) held before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, which moved the majority of AEW's shows to Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida.[1] Later that year, AEW President and chief executive officer Tony Khan referred to Revolution as being one of the promotion's "big four" PPVs, their four biggest domestic shows of the year produced quarterly, along with Double or Nothing, All Out, and Full Gear.[2]

A second Revolution was held on March 7, 2021, moving Revolution to the early March slot. This second event was originally scheduled for February 27, but due to the Canelo Alvarez vs. Avni Yildirim bout in Miami Gardens, Florida airing that same night, AEW rescheduled Revolution for Sunday, March 7, which in turn made it AEW's first PPV to be held on a Sunday; the promotion had considered Saturday, March 6, but UFC 259 was airing that night.[3]

AEW resumed live touring with fans in July 2021. In turn, the 2022 Revolution was held on March 6 of that year at the Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida. It was the culmination of a three-day event, with an episode of Rampage and a fanfest taking place on March 4 and 5, respectively, at the same venue.[4]

Revolution's 2023 event took place in San Francisco's Chase Center on March 5, featuring a critically acclaimed Iron Man match between MJF and Bryan Danielson as its main event.[5]

Wrestling veteran Sting had his AEW debut match at the 2021 Revolution. On the October 18, 2023, episode of Dynamite, he announced that his retirement match would be at the 2024 Revolution.[6] It was a tornado tag team match in which Sting and Darby Allin defended the AEW World Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson).[7] Sting and Allin retained, thus Sting retired as both an undefeated tag team with Allin and as champion.[8]

On November 19, 2024, it was announced that the 2025 Revolution event would take place on March 9, 2025, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California.[9]

Reception

For the 2020 Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards, the inaugural Revolution event was voted as the Best Major Wrestling Show of the year.[10] The following year's event became the highest grossing non-WWE wrestling PPV since 1999.[11] It was also AEW's largest attended event during the COVID-19 pandemic up to that point, with an estimated 1,300 spectators.[12]

Events

# Event[13] Date City Venue Main Event Ref.
1 Revolution (2020) February 29, 2020 Chicago, Illinois Wintrust Arena Chris Jericho (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship [1]
2 Revolution (2021) March 7, 2021 Jacksonville, Florida Daily's Place Kenny Omega (c) vs. Jon Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch for the AEW World Championship [3][14][15]
3 Revolution (2022) March 6, 2022 Orlando, Florida Addition Financial Arena "Hangman" Adam Page (c) vs. Adam Cole for the AEW World Championship [4]
4 Revolution (2023) March 5, 2023 San Francisco, California Chase Center MJF (c) vs. Bryan Danielson in a 60-minute Iron man match for the AEW World Championship [16]
5 Revolution (2024) March 3, 2024 Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro Coliseum Sting and Darby Allin (c) vs. The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson) in a Tornado tag team match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
This was also Sting's retirement match. 		[17]
6 Revolution (2025) March 9, 2025 Los Angeles, California Crypto.com Arena TBA [9]
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Johnson, Mike (January 20, 2020). "AEW REVOLUTION PPV MAIN EVENT SET, DYNAMITE CRUISE EPISODE NOTES, MAIN EVENTS FOR NEXT WEEK, NEW JAPAN STAR HEADING TO AEW?, ROCHESTER PRE-SALE AND MORE". PWInsider. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  2. ^ Defelice, Robert (November 8, 2020). "Tony Khan Likes AEW's 'Big Four' Pay-Per-View Schedule, Announces 'Beach Break' Special For January". Fightful. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Lambert, Jeremy (November 7, 2020). "AEW Revolution Announced For February 27". Fightful. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Lambert, Jeremy (December 8, 2021). "AEW Announces Date And Location For AEW Revolution". Fightful. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
  5. ^ Taylor, Sanchez (2022-11-20). "AEW Revolution 2023 Date & Location Revealed". WrestleTalk. Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  6. ^ Rose, Bryan (October 18, 2023). "Sting to have retirement match at AEW Revolution 2024". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  7. ^ Russell, Skylar (February 14, 2024). "Sting & Darby Allin To Defend AEW World Tag Team Titles Against Young Bucks At AEW Revolution". Fightful. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
  8. ^ Powell, Jason (March 3, 2024). "AEW Revolution results: Powell's live review of Sting and Darby Allin vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Titles in Sting's final match, Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page for the AEW World Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  9. ^ a b Currier, Joseph (November 19, 2024). "AEW announces new dates: Hammerstein debut, Revolution 2025 in Los Angeles". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved November 19, 2024.
  10. ^ Thomas, Jeremy (February 26, 2021). "Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega & AEW Win Big In 41st Annual Observer Awards". 411Mania. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  11. ^ Guzzo, Gisberto (March 14, 2021). "Report: AEW Revolution Does Roughly 125,000 Buys Worldwide, Grosses Just Over $5 Million". Fightful. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  12. ^ Heydorn, Zack (March 6, 2021). "In-person attendance number revealed for AEW Revolution". PWTorch. Retrieved March 14, 2021.
  13. ^ "All Elite Wrestling Event Results". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  14. ^ Nason, Josh (January 22, 2021). "AEW Revolution date being moved, two March dates under consideration". Figure Four Online. Retrieved January 23, 2021.
  15. ^ Rose, Bryan (February 17, 2021). "Exploding barbed wire deathmatch to headline AEW Revolution". Figure Four Online. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  16. ^ Tessier, Colin (November 20, 2022). "AEW Revolution 2023 Confirmed For The Chase Center On March 5". Fightful. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  17. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (November 29, 2023). "AEW Revolution 2024, Home Of Sting's Retirement Match, To Take Place In Greensboro, NC On March 3". Fightful. Retrieved November 29, 2023.