AEW Revolution 2024 Results: Winners, Live Grades, Reaction and Highlights

The Icon took his final bow Sunday night at AEW Revolution as Sting wrestled his last match, teaming with Darby Allin to defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship against the company’s megalomaniacal EVPs, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson.

Did the Hall of Famer enjoy one last success under the bright lights, retiring a champion, or did the EVPs acquire even more power by taking the titles that have eluded them since 2022?

Find out the answer to that and more with this recap of Sunday’s pay-per-view broadcast, live from the historic Greensboro Coliseum, home to some of the most unforgettable moments in professional wrestling history.

Announced in advance of the Revolution pay-per-view were:

The Bang Bang Scissor Gang kicked off Sunday’s Zero Hour kickoff show with a big win as ROH World Trios Champions Jay White and The Gunns partnered with AEW World Trios Champions The Acclaimed and Daddy Ass to defeat the mishmash team of Jeff Jarrett, Satnam Singh, Jay Lethal, Private Party, and Willie Mac in a bloated 12-Man Tag Team Match.

A messy match benefited from a hot crowd, but not enough to elevate its overall quality.

There was plenty of action, sometimes disjointed, that concluded with “Switchblade” leveling Mack with Blade Runner for the win.

For a match thrown onto the card mostly to get everyone on the show, this was fine.

When you take into account White wasting away at this spot on the card, though, it only makes the meaninglessness of the match stand out. How is a guy who arrived in the company with so much momentum on his side, and challenged for the world title last fall, in such a spot?

A post-match promo teased something of substance potentially coming at the Big Business episode of Dynamite on March 13 in Boston. For his sake, hopefully, it is something with long-term substance because this isn’t it.

Result

The Bang Bang Scissor Gang defeated Jarrett, Lethal, Singh, Private Party, and Mack

Grade

C-

Top Moments and Takeaways

The lengthy rivalry between the team of Kris Statlander and Willow Nightingale, and the duo of TBS Champion Julia Hart and Skye Blue, wrote its latest chapter in the night’s second Zero Hour match.

The heels controlled a large portion of the match by isolating each of their opponents at different portions of the bout. Late, though, Statlander and Nightingale’s power advantage proved to be the difference.

After Nightingale broke up a pin by Hart on Statlander that proceeded a picture-perfect moonsault, the babyfaces mounted a comeback that concluded with a big powerbomb from Nightingale to Hart for the victory.

A good match that was a bit messy at times, but it still did a better job of telling a cohesive story than the opener and highlighted the four competitors very well.

Result

Nightingale and Statlander defeated Hart and Blue

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

The opening contest of the AEW Revolution main card saw Christian Cage successfully defend the TNT Championship against Daniel Garcia in a strong match.

The in-ring psychology of Cage was on full display as he manipulated his way to an advantage and proceeded to work over the challenger. At one point, the massive Killswitch interfered on behalf of the champion, cutting off a comeback by Garcia, only for a revenge-minded “Daddy Magic” Matt Menard to hit the ring and fight the masked heavyweight off.

What no one accounted for was Nick Wayne’s presence at ringside. The 19-year-old rocked Garcia, allowing Cage to deliver the Unprettier and secure the victory.

Quality and sensible in-ring content, another highlight-reel performance from Garcia, and smart booking that protected the challenger in defeat helped make this a big thumbs up to start the show.

Result

Cage defeated Garcia to retain

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

For the second, consecutive AEW pay-per-view, Eddie Kingston and Bryan Danielson tore the house down with an intensely physical and personal war of attrition.

Kingston retained the Continental Crown Championship, overcoming an injured right hand, damaged during a missed chop that struck the ring post, and an extremely focused Danielson to earn another quality victory.

The story here was Kingston’s grit and resiliency and the mounting frustration it caused in Danielson.

Both competitors threw everything they had at each other before the champion uncorked a left-handed comeback that rocked Danielson, a lariat that countered a Busaiku Knee, and a powerbomb that ended The American Dragon’s championship chase.

This was a fantastic match with a great story and a performance from Kingston that all young and aspiring wrestlers should study. He sold the right hand, never using it unless necessary.

That includes throughout the match and even after, insisting Danielson raise the left one after the heel finally showed him respect via handshake.

This was excellent and an early contender for Match of the Year.

Result

Kingston defeated Danielson to retain the Continental Crown Championship

Grade

A

Top Moments and Takeaways

Chris Jericho, Powerhouse Hobbs, Lance Archer, Wardlow, Dante Martin, Hook, Brian Cage, and Magnus battled in an All-Star 8-Man Scramble Match, a late addition to the card after injuries forced the cancellation of the previously booked Meat Madness Match.

Different field of competitors, same outcome, though.

On the heels of a bombshell promo, Wardlow channeled his sudden momentum into a hard-fought victory, obliterating Martin with a powerbomb for the win.

The match was essentially a collection of spots and sequences with no connective thread to speak of. That is not necessarily a bad thing, especially for a match that came together as late as this one did.

Still, the crowd struggled to invest in it the way they did the other matches on the card but they did react favorably to some of the action throughout.

Wardlow winning was the right call because a loss here would have rendered that aforementioned promo irrelevant. Now with a championship opportunity in his possession, it will be interesting to see if Adam Cole does as he suggested he would in his inaugural promo as the leader of Undisputed Kingdom and makes the big man hand it over to him.

Result

Wardlow defeated Martin, Jericho, Magnus, Archer, Hobbs, Hook, and Cage

Grade

C+

Top Moments and Takeaways

AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy had spent the last year and a half overcoming injury and proving his toughness against all challengers. Sunday night, he simply had no fight left in him.

Hampered by a back injury that threatened his competition clearance, he found himself on the defensive nearly from the get-go as he defended his title against The Undisputed Kingdom’s Roderick Strong.

Strong, known previously as The Messiah of the Backbreaker, expertly picked his opponent apart, leaving him incapable of delivering his signature move and stringing together a consistent offensive.

The challenger ultimately caught Cassidy with a knee strike and delivered End of Heartache for the win.

After the match, Kyle O’Reilly made his first appearance in well over a year, hugging the new champion and turning down an offer to join the Undisputed Kingdom, instead whispering something to his friend and walking away.

The match was quite good, as one would expect given the talent involved. Kudos to Cassidy for consistently selling everything surrounding the back, and to Strong for being as relentless in his attack on it.

The O’Reilly development was interesting and should create some drama within the Undisputed Kingdom; maybe even heat it back up after it descended into the ice age in terms of crowd heat and significance over the last few months. Regardless of what it means for the story, it was a welcome return for one of the great technicians of the last decade.

Result

Strong defeated Cassidy to win the International Championship

Grade

B

Top Moments and Takeaways

In the home of some of the greatest tag team encounters in the history of Jim Crockett Promotions, Blackpool Combat Club’s Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli defeated FTR’s Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler in another superb match.

The match started slow, with both teams feeling each other out amid an audience still recovering from the night’s action to this point. Once things picked up, though, the crowd came alive and the match intensified.

Harwood bled buckets late, the drama was at a high following some quality near-falls, and the crowd was behind the idea of the hometown FTR scoring the victory. The alertness of the BCC, however, allowed them to break up several attempted pins by the babyfaces and ultimately put them away with stereo submissions.

Much was made after the match of Moxley and Castagnoli being individuals in a group, with the win solidifying them as a team. It would seem to suggest that a future as a tag team is not out of the question, nor is a championship opportunity.

If that is the case, the outcome at least had a purpose. Still, it felt like a misstep given FTR was in their home state, in an arena that the teams they molded themselves after made famous.

Result

Moxley and Castagnoli defeated FTR

Grade

A

Top Moments and Takeaways

“Timeless” Toni Storm can thank her butler, Luther, and obsessively loyal fan, Mariah May, for the continuation of her reign as AEW Women’s World champion.

The champion found herself reeling late, only to capitalize on a distraction from Luther and a momentary distraction from May to put No. 1 contender and former friend Deonna Purrazzo away with the piledriver.

The AEW faithful were surprisingly quiet for the match, especially given the backstory and that two of the better technicians in any women’s division in North America were having a quality battle.

Some of that can be attributed to the long runtime of the show to this point and the match’s placement in the cool-down spot of the show. Some can be attributed to a women’s division that is still growing and evolving, and a crowd still acquainting itself to it.

Regardless, it was a disappointingly weak crowd for a match that should have been hotter based on the talent involved, their real backstory, and the character work at play.

Result

Storm defeated Purrazzo

Grade

B-

Top Moments and Takeaways

Will Ospreay made a successful in-ring debut as a full-time member of the AEW roster, defeating fellow Don Callis Family member Konosuke Takeshita in a Match of the Year candidate.

A hellishly physical encounter full of awe-inspiring sequences and athleticism, with the story thread of two teammates testing each other, it captivated the audience from the opening bell and elicited chants of “fight forever.”

None of that was necessarily unexpected. Ospreay is great and Takeshita is one of the brightest young stars in pro wrestling today. They went out there and had a banger of a match that will be one of the most talked about of the entire night.

Ospreay was as advertised, the match was as good (if not better) than expected, and the result was a great way to kick off the New Japan export’s run with AEW.

After the match, in an interesting development, Ring of Honor World Television Champion Kyle Fletcher appeared and after a brief staredown, embraced his United Empire teammate, but not before Excalibur revealed on commentary that the two will clash Wednesday night on Dynamite.

It will be the second, consecutive match pitting Don Callis Family members against each other, suggesting the namesake of the faction may be up to no good.

Result

Ospreay defeated Takeshita

Grade

A+

Top Moments and Takeaways

The hatred that exists between “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland supersedes the AEW World Championship, or so the finish of Sunday’s title bout, also including champion Samoa Joe, would suggest.

An action-packed main event that highlighted each star, as well as the ongoing rivalry between the two challengers, came to a head when Joe trapped Page in the Coquina Clutch. Before Strickland could break it up, Page tapped up, awarding the match to the champion.

The insinuation in commentary was that Page’s hatred for Strickland was such that he tapped out on purpose to prevent his foe from winning the world title and that flies in the face of everything that the audience just watched and invested in.

The goal of a world title match should always be to win the title. In theory, competitors work their entire careers to get that championship opportunity and for one of the challengers in such a match to just voluntarily tapout to stick it to someone else is asinine and insulting to the viewer.

Sure, there is a story at play here between Strickland and Page that has seen them do things the likes of which we have not ever seen before. They have portrayed disdain for each other extremely well, but that does not excuse diminishing the value of the prize that everyone on the roster should be fighting for.

The match was good, quite so. That was hampered by the massive creative misstep in the closing seconds.

Result

Joe defeated Page and Strickland to retain the AEW World Championship

Grade

B+ for the match, D for the finish. Call the whole thing a C+.

Top Moments and Takeaways

The legendary career of wrestling’s last great icon, Sting, concluded Sunday night in a wild, chaotic, violent main event that saw him and Darby Allin defeat Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, The Young Bucks, to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship in a Tornado Tag Team Match.

There were ladders, tables, and chairs but the introduction of panes upped the ante and the violent content. It can be argued that the last bit was unnecessary, and it was, but the match as a whole was a memorable end to what is one of the greatest careers for any star in professional wrestling history.

Sting looked like a world-beater, overcoming everything the Bucks threw at him before securing the victory with his Scorpion Deathlock. He was triumphant, able to soak in the adulation of the fans in Greensboro and celebrate an unbeaten record in AEW as he took one last moment in the spotlight.

It is apropos that one of the most selfless megastars in wrestling took the opportunity after the match to thank the fans and Allin to close out the broadcast, which cut off mid-speech due to timing constraints.

That is another issue for another time but for now, the finale of Sting’s career was an unforgettable moment that delivered in spades.

Result

Sting and Allin defeated The Young Bucks

Grade

A for the entire presentation

Top Moments and Takeaways

Minus the controversial finish to the AEW World Championship match, or at least how it was presented by the commentary team, the company absolutely stuck the landing with Revolution.

There were two legitimate Match of the Year contenders here in Kingston vs. Danielson and Ospreay vs. Takeshita, and everything else ranged from good to great.

Most importantly, the show was sold on the back of Sting’s retirement match and the main event lived up to expectations. The greatest avenger in wrestling history once again thwarted the plans of the evil and injust, sending fans home happy and bringing an end to his career.

Everything that hit did, mostly, and the result was a great way to kick off the company’s PPV slate here in 2024.

Grade: A