AEW Revolution

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.

All the Revolution PPVs have 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. 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 shows of the year produced quarterly, along with Double or Nothing, All Out, and Full Gear. With All In becoming one of AEW's annual events in 2023, it supplanted Double or Nothing as AEW's marquee event, and overall biggest event of the year, with the previous "big four" plus All In becoming the "big five".

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.

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.

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.

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. 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). Sting and Allin retained, thus Sting retired as both an undefeated tag team with Allin and as champion.

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.

Reception

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

Events

See also

*List of All Elite Wrestling pay-per-view events

References

External links

All Elite Wrestling Official website

{{All Elite Wrestling events, Revolution

Revolution
Recurring events established in 2020
2020 establishments in the United States