Taking Our Lumps Or A Victory Lap: Wrestling Inc's AEW Revolution 2024 Report Card

As predictable as WWE Elimination Chamber may have been, with a clean sweep of its four main card matches that shot our consensus record to 13-1 on the year, we came into our first AEW pay-per-view of the campaign (and our first foray into a PLE/PPV outside of the WWE-sphere for our predictions) thinking that we'd be in some trouble here. But while the results did muster up some separation for our internal individual standings, as a whole, we crushed it again at 7-1. That's 20-2 on the year, and we'll take that any day.

Are we bragging? Well, maybe a little, but no, not really, because what's more important here is that The Rock is right: things in the pro wrestling world are cool again, with most everything humming along in a collective fashion that makes a whole lot of sense and is bringing far more smiles to the faces of those who watch it than it is frowns. Most people who participate in our PLE and PPV predictions cast a vote for what they want to happen, what they think should happen, or both. So the fact that we've hit on 20 and missed on only two tells you that most of us are getting what we want, expect, or both. And that's just great.

Now remember, as a general rule, we don't do pre-show stuff, and when a multi-person match gets scrapped in favor of a bigger multi-person match (or some other late alteration happens on a card), we skip that too. In this case, folks, that was a good thing, because that eight-man "All-Star Scramble" didn't deserve the near 16 minutes it got on the Revolution card and it doesn't get another minute here either. But everything else does, and there's a lot of it so with an eye on an uptick in brevity, let's have a look back on how our 16-person gaggle of picks fared at AEW Revolution.

Others receiving votes: BCC [6]

Coming off of a time-limit draw on "AEW Dynamite" a few weeks back, this one was something of a toss-up for our squad, with the nearly two-thirds of us leaning toward FTR, perhaps on account of the fact that FTR hadn't toppled any incarnation of the Blackpool Combat Club in a shade under three months, plus Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler being a longstanding tag team, whereas Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli, under the BCC label are not, are basically just two singles guys thrown together to compete as a tag team. 

Now, with the benefit of hindsight, and knowing that the AEW World Tag Team Championships have been officially vacated and a tournament (novel concept!) is soon to commence, it makes a lot of sense to have as many at least relatively-established tag teams at the ready therefore. And the BCC win at Revolution now sets the stage for these two to square off again somewhere in that bracket, at which, conventional wisdom would dictate the "Top Guys" likely going over. Well, maybe.

Others receiving votes: Takeshita [1]

It's likely that you either looked at this match as a show-stealer or a train wreck, in that Ospreay and Takeshita damn near offed each other at multiple times throughout the contest. But it's also likely that, just like 15 of our 16 panelists, you saw this going the way of AEW's latest big free agent get in Ospreay. So while the result probably didn't come as a surprise to most, here's hoping the action was more enjoyable for the masses than it was disconcerting at times in the official WINC Revolution War Room, where many of us were legitimately worried about one or both men and expressed as much aloud.

But hey, this is about our predictions, and now that we got that FTR loss out of the way, three cheers for our first win! Ospreay! Ospreay! Ospreay! What could be next for these two? Well, Ospreay didn't make the semi-permanent trek across the pond to play second fiddle to anyone, bruv, so we see his time in The Don Callis Family as numbered, with a likely elevation to the main event picture before too long (perhaps after he's disposed of the rest of Callis' cronies).

Others receiving votes: Bryan Danielson [6]

Danielson did his best to needle Kingston ahead of this match, but in the end, "The Mad King" played it cool enough to hang onto his Continental Crown Championship, prevailing over "The American Dragon" after blocking a Busaiku Knee attempt and finishing things with a stack powerbomb. And after all that nastiness leading up to the match, Danielson even offered Kingston the customary show of respect, which takes us back to our prediction piece for this one for a moment:

"Danielson has the ability to take away Kingston's life's work with a win, but 63% of us believe that the calm and composed Kingston is going to be the one to show up in Greensboro, and he will be the one leaving with the Continental Crown Championship, Danielson's respect ... and a very bruised chest, if their three previous meetings are anything to go by."

How's that for a forecast? Kingston was all business in Greensboro and left with the CCC, Danielson's respect, and if not a very bruised chest, then certainly a very bruised right arm from a series of trademark Danielson kicks. Since we didn't get the opportunity to examine Kingston, we'll just assume a bruised chest as well and call this one a straight-up foretelling of the future.

Others receiving votes: Daniel Garcia [7]

In what was our closest split at nine votes to seven, it seems our staff was torn as to whether or not Cage's run as TNT champion was to continue. In the end, the AEW powers that be weren't ready to make that switch, as Cage put away Garcia with a Killswitch (the move, not the person) to retain his precious title. There was plenty of involvement from Team Cage on the outside, with all of Killswitch (the person), and Nick and Shayna Wayne distracting and/or mixing it up directly, and only "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard around to help out on the other side (and not so impactfully, come to find out).

That begs the question: Does Daniel Garcia have any friends? Or what about the greatest friends of all, the enemies of one's enemies? Where was Adam Copeland? When does that feud re-ignite? (Better yet, when does it blow off?) And if not Copeland, who next for Cage?

How about Killswitch? If you're gonna be a dinosaur, go full dinosaur. In this case, that means start by getting your name back. Then smash Cage to bits (and do it soon. Because here's one of those why-did-you-tease-this-stuff-if-you're-not-going-to-pay-it-off?-scenarios.)

Others receiving votes: Orange Cassidy [1]

Poor Orange didn't get much love from our side in this one. But one man's whatever is a whatever faction's gain as The Undisputed Kingdom now has some AEW gold in its ranks. (Note the clarification there: AEW gold. It's different.)

Strong's run in AEW so far has been, well, strong, so good for him to get some payoff in the form of a midcard title and, if we're being authentic here, we should recognize the equity built into the International Championship thanks to Cassidy, who held it in this run for nearly five months and has had the belt over two reigns for 471 combined days of the 617 in its existence. (For the purposes of this superfluous math, we're respecting the lineage of its predecessor, the AEW All-Atlantic Championship.)

Looks like, from here, Strong has some business with the newly-returned Kyle O'Reilly, who feigned an attack on the new champ, only to embrace his old friend, but then decline an offer to officially join the group moments later. As for Cassidy, it wouldn't be too surprising to see the former champ take some time off. After all, it's hard work opening just about every episode of "Dynamite" since the beginning of time.

Others receiving votes: Deonna Purrazzo [2]

Purrazzo has been uber-focused on Storm and the AEW Women's World Championship since her arrival in AEW in January but that didn't do much for the confidence of our prediction peeps, save for two of them. She certainly had her shot here, slapping on the Venus De Milo at a key point in the contest, only to be distracted by Luther and Mariah May long enough for Storm to hit a Storm Zero and get the win. (May, by the way, killed it as a retro Storm lookalike. And by "retro," we mean old new Toni. Not actual retro "Timeless" Toni. You get it.)

Sadly, it seems like Purrazzo may have just been part of a holdover title feud as the AEW ladies are about to be joined by Mercedes Mone, all but assuredly making her debut for the company a week from Wednesday at the "Big Business" episode of "Dynamite." It would make all the sense in the world to have Mone thrown right into the title mix, especially now, with Storm having vanquished a game challenger in Purrazzo, but there are plenty of others in the women's locker room with a say in the matter as well.

Others receiving votes: Swerve Strickland [2]

In another dominant show of confidence, our pundits placed nearly all of their faith in the camp of the champion, Joe, with just two dissenters supporting Strickland in this one, and a big, fat zero for "Hangman" Adam Page. (We're not ragging on the latter here as he obviously played a key role in this feud, this match, and its outcome, and will now surely have a hand in where it goes from here. And — bonus! Nobody had to drink anybody else's blood this time!) In the end, Joe retained when Page tapped out and oh, that's so just the beginning here, isn't it?

The fact that there's lots of story still to be told between these three (and maybe others since Joe is that popular with the gold) as well as Sting's last match being the main event of this card after all (making a title switch inherently less impactful) makes this a sensible choice. Both Strickland and Page will want to stake their claim to another shot, Wardlow's got a guaranteed opportunity now after scrambling some eggs or something, SuperHOOK promised he'd be back at some point, Adam Cole will probably get out of his wheelchair at some point, and there's that MJF guy out there somewhere too.

Others receiving votes: The Young Bucks [6]

Of all of our interactions in the War Room on Sunday night, one that stuck out the most was one editor inquiring why any of us would have predicted that Allin and Sting would come out on top, since we all knew this to be Sting's last match and going-out-on-your-back and all that tradition stuff. Some cited that maybe the Bucks themselves would see a win for Sting's side as the right thing to do. Others claimed it was because this was a feel-good moment for Greensboro and it should end as such. But deep down, we knew — we just knew — that all of the celebrating of Sting (all rightfully so, mind you), all night long and well before that, ever since this date was announced, throughout the build to the pay-per-view, would lead to a ticker tape parade finale of sorts and a party for the world's biggest wrestling fan — who happens to be at the helm of this company.

Now then, credit where it's due: This was a great show overall and more than a fine sendoff for "The Icon." In particular, the entrance, with his sons portraying earlier versions of the Sting character, is sure to go down in wrestling lore.

We're also very glad that Darby Allin is still breathing, as that was no certainty by any stretch, after that crazy glass spot.

The expected humbling from AEW Revolution happened for some of us individually, but the collective forged forward yet again with another dominant performance. Up next on the docket is effectively three events in two days with "NXT" Stand and Deliver and Wrestlemania 40 on April 6 and 7 throwing 20-plus matches our way in all likelihood. Surely, that will muddy the waters and end our run of near-perfection? The math would dictate as much, right? Time will tell. (When you're hot, you're hot!)

In the meantime, one last collective "thank you" to Sting for one hell of a career and a big time "congrats" for going out on his own terms.