By Brian Argabright
If you’re going to fail, you might as well fail spectacularly.
Sunday night All Elite Wrestling promised fans a barbed wire exploding death match for its championship as the main event of its AEW: Revolution pay-per-view. Defending would be the “Best Bout Machine” Kenny Omega. Challenging would be Jon Moxley, whose background in promotions like Combat Zone Wrestling and showings in events like Bloodsport made this his kind of match.
The premise was simple – a pro wrestling ring that featured barbed wire wrapped around the ropes on three sides of the ring. With every contact of the rope, a “bomb” would go off, affecting the competitors. A timer would continuously countdown for 30 minutes and when it hit zero, one final massive “bomb” would explode and destroy whoever was in the ring.
Both men gave it their all and left their blood and sweat in the ring. After all, you don’t run into barbed wire without leaving a little piece of yourself behind. However, it was once said that the only thing fans will remember is the ending, and the ending of that match, and the pay-per-view, still has fans talking.
So Omega retained his title after interference from the Good Brothers, who are the tag team champions from a completely different promotion. They handcuffed Moxley and left him to seemingly perish, but then Eddie Kingston, who’d feuded with Moxley for a bit, ran to the ring and threw himself over Moxley to save his friend.
The timer expired and then came the “explosion” … which wound up being a couple of sparklers and some smoke bombs. No fire, no camera tricks or anything to indicate anyone was in danger. People in Del Rio’s neighborhoods have put on a greater display of pyrotechnics for birthday parties.
AEW has decided that instead of explaining what really happened, that the pyro was too light or it was safety first, though I doubt anyone was going to actually get hurt, they’ve instead decided to blame the mess on Omega’s faulty bomb-making skills. Kayfabe truly lives.
Look, I get it. The company didn’t intend for anyone to get hurt, and that’s the bottom line. However, the entire match was marred by the poor “explosions,” which were no more than muffled bangs and smoke. Most of the time they weren’t even synched properly with a wrestler hitting the ropes or designated areas. They either went off too early or too late. It was laughable, and then watching Kingston just lay there motionless and the announcers selling the whole thing as if they were watching a building come down just made it all that much more comical.
Failure is as much a part of wrestling as headlocks and dropkicks. This was just straight failure by a company that has been marred by issues like poor production, sound issues and a floundering women’s division that is bolstered by part-timers even after they promised to lead the way in that department. AEW needs to learn from this disaster and get back to doing what they do best, whatever that may be at this point.
