AEW Revolution Review - March 15, 2026

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Zero Hour: Boom & Doom def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions The Infantry

The last few Boom & Doom matches actually had something of a story built up in advance. This was just randomly announced on ROH TV the other day. The Infantry have only ever been utility players in AEW, so there was no way they were winning here. This was another enjoyable outing from Boom & Doom, but it was no different than any other match they've had to date. The bloom may be off the rose at this point, so they need to switch things up if they're going to keep coming back.

Zero Hour: AEW TBS Champion and AEW Women's World Tag Team Champion Willow Nightingale def. Lena Kross

I always expected Nightingale to retain the AEW TBS Championship here, but I was more so curious what kind of showing Kross would have because we haven't seen a whole lot of her so far in AEW. She spent a majority of the match on offense and it wasn't very interesting, but on the whole, it was a decent bout. Kross and Megan Bayne's attack on Nightingale afterward played into their AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship matchup later on.

Zero Hour: "Jungle" Jack Perry Won the AEW National Championship in a 21-Man Blackjack Battle Royal

This bled into the main show. I don't know if it was the rules being confusing or what, but I found the match to be hard to follow, not to mention this consisted almost entirely of midcard and lower-level talent (is the term "jobbers" too harsh in this case?). I figured Ricochet would retain, but Perry lost to Ricochet twice before, so I was fine with him finally taking the title here.

AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR def. The Young Bucks; Adam Copeland and Christian Cage Returned

This was the usual excellent match from these two teams. I know some fans are fatigued by this feud, but it's been almost two years since their last encounter and the dynamic has changed once again. The Bucks being so over in their home state had me thinking they may win after all, but I was happy FTR retained. Copeland and Cage returning afterward felt predictable but was still a cool moment and allowed them to rekindle their rivalry with FTR while also planting the seeds for them facing the Bucks at some point, possibly at All In.

"Timeless" Toni Storm def. Marina Shafir; Ronda Rousey Debuted

The stipulation was that everyone was barred from ringside. This rivalry has been going on for months and I can't say I've cared much at all, but I appreciate the effort to put more women's matches on the pay-per-view card. It was solid, straightforward stuff. I was wondering why this didn't just happen on Dynamite, but we found out exactly why afterward when Rousey showed up. I know she had that one Ring of Honor match in November 2023, but I'm shocked she never did anything with AEW after leaving WWE. She has that Netflix fight coming up in a few months and this feels like an attempt to convince wrestling fans to check it out. Spoiler: It won't work, at least not for me.

AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley def. Konosuke Takeshita; Will Ospreay Returned

This had no time limit after their previous match at Grand Slam: Australia ended in a time-limit draw. They once again worked well together here, though I could have done without the blood. It's not like their issue (if you can even call it that) was that personal. The crowd came alive down the stretch for the nearfalls, but the finish was deflating. Moxley has consistently delivered in the ring this year, but I was really hoping Takeshita would take the title because Moxley has been boring as a character since winning the Continental Classic.

The Divine Dominion def. The Babes of Wrath to Win the AEW Women's World Tag Team Championship

The Divine Dominion is the new team name for Megan Bayne and Lena Kross. Poor Penelope Ford, who can't catch a break. She clearly would have won the tag titles with Bayne had she not gotten hurt again, but her loss is Kross' gain. There wasn't much to the match, but it was smart to keep it on the shorter side since Nightingale's shoulder was "injured" coming into the contest. It was also smart to get the tag titles off Nightingale so she can focus on being the AEW TBS Champion.

Swerve Strickland def. Brody King

I know Strickland vs. Kenny Omega was apparently the original plan for this pay-per-view before a prior scheduled commitment for Omega forced them to pivot, but I'm glad King was put in a prominent position coming off his AEW World Championship opportunity against MJF last month. Their bout wasn't a barn burner by any means, but it was good and they received an ample amount of time. Omega's return surely would have felt like a bigger deal had there not already been so many surprises on this show, but it was still nice to see him, nonetheless.

AEW Women's World Champion Thekla def. Kris Statlander in 2-Out-of-3 Falls Match

I thought it was strange for this to have two-out-of-three falls since they just had that bloody Strap match on Dynamite last month. They even incorporated the strap into the end of this match. This was still really well wrestled, but the crowd never sounded fully invested. Also, what's the point of doing a two-out-of-three falls match if the entire matchup went as long as most matches normally would?

JetSpeed and Mistico def. The Don Callis Family (Mark Davis, AEW TNT Champion Kyle Fletcher and AEW International Champion Kazuchika Okada) to Win the AEW World Trios Championship

I thought for sure that Don Callis Family would retain the Trios titles because they just won them and I wasn't aware of Mistico being under any sort of a deal to AEW, but I'm happy to have been wrong. We found out afterward that Mistico is under a dual contract to AEW and CMLL, so hopefully that means he'll be appearing in AEW regularly going forward. This was a super fun sprint. JetSpeed and Mistico developed 

Andrade El Idolo def. ROH World Champion Bandido (Non-Title)

Honestly, this was the match I was most excited for on paper for Revolution and it didn't disappoint. They managed to keep the crowd engaged and produce some great action. I'd be down for a rematch with the ROH World Championship on the line, but I get the sense that Andrade doesn't give a shit about that title (why would he?) and will instead keep his sights set on the AEW World Championship.

Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong and Darby Allin def. The Dogs (Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd and David Finlay) in a Tornado Tag Team Match

This was basically a buffer match before the main event. It served its purpose in that respect, but this was another matchup that would have been better suited for Dynamite or Collision. It benefited from the tornado stipulation, though, as that kept the pace moving. I don't understand the need for the babyfaces to go over with The Dogs just debuting as a trio. We still have yet to hear from Finlay on television, by the way. Maybe in a vignette but definitely not in the ring or in a backstage segment. He can't be getting lost in the shuffle that quickly.

AEW World Champion MJF def. "Hangman" Adam Page in a Last Chance Texas Death Match

After another long show, MJF and Page had the tall task of waking the crowd back up. This was a lengthy main event and it would've been easy for the crowd to be as quiet as they were for past pay-per-view main events, but this was such a spectacle that the crowd was ultimately into all of it. Of course, there were some spots that I wasn't a fan of, but you know what you're getting with Texas Death matches in AEW by now and they no doubt made the most of the stipulation. MJF retaining was the right call and I'm intrigued to see where Page does now that he can't challenge for the top title ever again (or so he claims).

Overall Show

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: The runtime of these AEW pay-per-views is out of control. This event emanated from Los Angeles, so it wasn't as late in the night as it was on the east coast (like what I had to endure when I attended Full Gear in November), but even this crowd faded at certain points because there were so many matches. It's egregious. With all of that said, this was a terrific show with a ton of highlights. AEW is on a roll right now, but Tony Khan desperately needs to reassess the structuring of these shows. He won't, but he should.

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