MJF seems to have had the last straw with Nic Nemeth’s comments. He took to X with a lengthy post name-calling and issuing a challenge to end their dispute once and for all.
In his post, MJF addressed Nemeth’s ‘advice’ on varied episodes of Busted Open Radio criticizing his in-ring work. MJF proceeded to call him an ‘overhyped mid-carder’ with a warning to refrain from talking about him in any capacity. He mocked his WWE tenure when he was a part of the Spirit Squad.
MJF wrote:
“I’ve been listening to @NicTNemeth trashing me through veiled ‘advice’ and ‘notes’ on busted open for months when in reality he’s just s—-ing on me out of jealousy. This dude actually said I remind him of a younger Dolph Ziggler. lol. I don’t remember ever being an overhyped mid carder. This dude is delusional. This dude is jealous. And most importantly this dude should keep my name out of his f—ing mouth. I’m the most complete professional wrestler in the world. you couldn’t lace my boots or carry my mic.
Say my name again on your little show and I’ll beat the f—ing s–t out of you. You know where to find me.
In the meantime I’m gonna focus on my world title defense against ‘The God’ Kenny Omega at Dynasty. Cuz I only face the best of the best. Lmk when the spirit squad guy belongs in that conversation.” tweeted MJF.
The conflict began in January this year with MJF telling Nemeth to ‘stop being a b*tch’ and fight him. He even went to the extent of calling him out on an edition of Busted Open Radio. A back-and-forth ensued since but it seems to have reached its peak.
MJF is set to face Kenny Omega at AEW Dynasty on April 12. He referenced it in his tweet when he proclaimed to only fight the best of the best.
Nemeth is currently signed to TNA but cited his ability to compete for other promotions. It remains unclear whether the disagreement pertains to a potential bout on the horizon or a legit conflict.
The contract signing between AEW World Champion MJF and Kenny Omega for next month’s Dynasty pay-per-view will take place on next week’s AEW Dynamite.
Kenny Omega defeated Swerve Strickland to win a title shot against MJF Wednesday, earning the shot against MJF and retaining his EVP status in the process. As part of the story, any physicality at the signing will cancel the title match.
The Wednesday, April 1 episode of Dynamite will take place in Omega’s hometown of Winnipeg and thus he will be doing double duty. In a segment shared to social media, Omega will team with Brody King and AEW National Champion Jack Perry against The Demand.
After challenging Jon Moxley for a match at Dynasty, Will Ospreay will takes on PAC in a singles contest. This will mark PAC’s first singles match since January 2026 while Ospreay returned on last week’s Dynamite with a win over Blake Christian — his first match since last August’s Forbidden Door due to neck surgery.
AEW Dynamite updated lineup | This Wednesday | Winnipeg
Will Ospreay vs. PAC
Kenny Omega-MJF AEW World title match contract signing
The Demand (Ricochet, Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona) vs. Kenny Omega, Brody King & Jack Perry
The next challenger for the AEW World title is Kenny Omega after he defeated Swerve Strickland in the opener of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite.
Omega defeated Strickland clean after hitting a One Winged Angel, gaining revenge for Strickland defeating him in February and taking him out of action with his post-match attack.
With the win, Omega took Strickland’s number one contender status and retains his executive vice president role which was also up in the match.
During a segment later on Dynamite, Omega confronted MJF in the ring during a promo segment in which he offered up a challenge for April’s Dynasty pay-per-view from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. MJF agreed and then declined to shake Omega’s hand, leaving the ring.
**************
The two have squared off once before, coincidentally during MJF’s first title reign. Made with less than a week’s notice, the October 2023 Collision match saw Omega attempting to prevent MJF from becoming the longest reigning AEW World Champion ever which would have surpassed Omega’s reign.
MJF defeated Omega in just over thirty minutes and in the aforementioned segment, Omega said he was only at 60-80% and the current day version of Omega won’t fall for any bullsh*t antics MJF tries to throw at him.
Omega will be looking to regain the title he lost to Hangman Page in November 2021 while MJF is looking to extend his three month run.
AEW World Champion MJF didn’t mince words when he called out many of today’s indie wrestlers, saying that most of them are “lazy” and that they “suck.”
A former indie champion himself, he has appeared more frequently on the since since regaining the World title, saying it’s part of him being a traveling champion. He’s defended the title twice outside AEW and has more appearances planned.
Speaking to SI’s Jon Alba, he described the differences between those he has competed against in Limitless Wrestling (Alec Price) and House of Glory (Zilla Fatu) to everyone else.
“I think a lot of these guys suck. And the guys that I’m wrestling on these independents are the guys that are working hard and making the towns and doing everything that they need to do to become better talents,” he said.
He put over his own travels during his indie days, saying he would drive anywhere in North America, Mexico or Canada for “$20 and a can of Coke and a hot dog and a handshake,” saying he did so because he needs reps and wanted to get better.
“I think a lot of these new guys are lazy, they’re not getting in the car, they’re not traveling to do ring crew,” he said, noting that many feel that because there are options like WWE, TNA, MLW and AEW doesn’t promise anyone anything.
“You’re not signed yet because you f*king suck. Get better. Apply yourself. Go to training three to four times a week. Find a ring. Roll around. Make yourself better. Do tape study. Become a student of the sport,” he said.
The lineup for this Wednesday’s Dynamite just got more loaded.
During Collision Slam Dunk Saturday, it was announced that Rush will take on Darby Allin this Wednesday in St. Paul, Minnesota. Allin defeated Gabe Kidd in a coffin match this on the last episode of Dynamite and after the match declared that he wanted to challenge for the AEW World Championship. Rush and the rest of LFI recently returned to action and won a trios squash match during Saturday’s show.
The Women’s title will be on the line when Thekla defends against Mina Shirakawa. In a backstage interview, Thekla denied having any involvement in the attack that took out Storm on Wednesday, instead suggesting that Storm faked the attack so she didn’t have to face Thekla for the title.
Storm was originally set to face Marina Shafir in a no holds barred match this past Wednesday, but was found laid out just minutes before the show went on the air. Shirakawa replaced Storm and ended up defeating Shafir in a shock win.
It was also announced that MJF would be make his return to television. He was last seen at Revolution retaining the AEW World title in a Texas Death match, defeating Hangman Page. As a result, Page can never challenge for the title again.
AEW Dynamite (March 25)
Kenny Omega vs. Swerve Strickland – Omega gets Swerve’s number one contender status if he wins, Swerve gets Omega’s EVP title if he wins
AEW Women’s title: Thekla defends against Mina Shirakawa
Mick Foley has commented on MJF wearing Terry Funk-inspired gear at AEW Revolution.
MJF wore red, black, and white striped gear for his match against Hangman Page last weekend in Los Angeles. He also walked to the ring wearing a cowboy hat and poncho similar to those worn by Funk throughout his career.
“MJF HONORS THE FUNKER Major props to @the_mjf for honoring Terry Funk last weekend at @aew Revolution 2026… True legends never die! If I had one more match in me, it would have been with MJF. Sadly, it just wasn’t meant to be…”
Foley has previously stated in interviews that he had a secret meeting with MJF where the two worked on a multi-week program that would have led to a match between them. Foley said in an interview with Inside the Ropes last year that the program would have involved his son Dewey as well.
Foley’s post about MJF and Funk is available below:
An update is available regarding what is next for Hangman Page following his loss to MJF at AEW Revolution.
According to Fightful Select, Page is expected to have time off from AEW television. The report notes it is unclear whether his absence will begin immediately or if he will return to Dynamite in the coming weeks before leaving. There is also no timetable for how long he will be away.
During the Revolution post-event press conference, Tony Khan addressed the stipulation that Page can no longer challenge for the AEW World Championship, noting it is the same situation Cody Rhodes agreed to after losing to Chris Jericho at AEW Full Gear 2019.
“It’s the same thing with Cody, it was a gentleman’s handshake with both of them,” Khan responded when asked how strict the stipulation is. “They both came to me and said, ‘I want to put this at stake.’ And both of them, I told them, ‘That sounds f***ing nuts, dude.’ Both of them really wanted to do it. And in both cases I said, ‘Are you sure?’ And they both said, ‘Yeah.’ So it is an agreement we made. Second time it’s happened. [Page] is somebody that’s known for being a man of his word, and we made an agreement. So it’s a verbal contract.” that’s known for being a man of his word, and we made an agreement. So it’s a verbal contract.”
After Revolution, the future for some of AEW’s biggest stars is clear—but for others, what comes next is a huge question mark.
Here’s a look at what might be next for wrestlers like MJF, Andrade, and especially Hangman Page. The following is based purely on speculation and conjecture, and not on any backstage rumors or reports.
Hangman Adam Page
It’s not often that the loser of a pay-per-view main event is the biggest topic of discussion after a show, but then it’s not often that a company’s top star in the prime of his career promises to never challenge for the promotion’s top belt again.
So where do Page and AEW go from here? Let’s start with the simplest (though not necessarily smartest) solution: they eventually break the stip. Page is the one who put his future title shots on the line, though at the post-show media scrum, CEO Tony Khan called it a “verbal contract.” Could Page one day turn heel and simply go back on his word? Would Khan allow him to do so? Would kayfabe lawyers get involved, arguing on behalf of each side?
What if Page and AEW stick to the stip, and he never challenges for the world title again? Lord knows that there are plenty of other belts flying around the company. He could challenge Jon Moxley for the Continental Championship, or Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Championship, or Kazuchika Okada for the International Championship. Jack Perry is also the new National Champion, but he’s also a babyface, so that matchup seems unlikely. If AEW wanted to go to a WWE-style brand split and separate the rosters between the two shows, putting the TNT title on Page and making him the face of Collision wouldn’t be the worst idea.
The third possibility would be that Page’s days as a singles wrestler have ended. He has already won tag team and trios gold in AEW, but a full-time pairing with someone like Swerve Strickland is something that has not yet been explored.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman & Andrade el Idolo
The long-term future for MJF seems obvious—a main event title defense against Will Ospreay at All In in London at the end of August—but what happens between now and then is not clear. A lot of the company’s biggest babyfaces returned at Revolution (Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Adam Copeland, Christian Cage), but all of them attacked heels to settle personal disputes, so they won’t be challenging Friedman right away.
And then there’s Andrade el Idolo. Just two months after his full-time return to the company (following a contract kerfuffle with his former employers at WWE), Andrade has been doing almost nothing except winning great matches. He’s now 7-1 in AEW this year, including wins over Swerve Strickland, Kenny Omega, and now Bandido, the reigning ROH Champion. The sole blemish on his mark was a narrow defeat to Hangman Page, who is now out of the title picture. He’s a fresh face on the scene, he’s got a cool gimmick, and he’s a proven main eventer all over the world.
He’s also a member of the Don Callis Family, and technically a heel. Would AEW want to go with a heel-vs.-heel program on top? There was a tense moment between Friedman and Callis on TV lately, with Fletcher also involved. (Fletcher is another potential challenger for the World title, with no clear challengers for his TNT championship, but he faces the same heel-vs.-heel issues as Andrade.)
If AEW is looking for a strong babyface challenger, the best available candidate would likely be Darby Allin. He has main evented before, he has a history with MJF, and he got a big win over Moxley last year. As of late he has been feuding with Moxley’s Death Riders and then the Dogs, but he has a chance to put all of that behind him and move on to other things after Wednesday’s coffin match against Gabe Kidd.
FTR, Cage & Copeland, and the Young Bucks
FTR beat the Bucks clean at Revolution, but then were attacked by the returning Adam Copeland and Christian Cage. Cope and Cage then posed with the championship belts and said taking those would be the best way to hurt FTR.
The Bucks then muddied the picture by returning to the ring and confronting the Canadians. Fans were buzzing at the staredown. It’s obvious that none of the three teams are done with each other; the only question is who faces who first. One likely scenario: Cope & Cage win the belts from FTR, defend them against the Bucks, and then face both teams in a three-way, perhaps at All In. That would let Cope & Cage drop the belts without being pinned, and that would not be the first time a team of ex-WWE stars lost the AEW tag team titles.
Here & There
From there on down the card, Revolution set up some very obvious scenarios:
Kenny Omega returned to feud with Swerve Strickland.
Will Ospreay returned to feud with Jon Moxley.
Konosuke Takeshita lost to Moxley, and it’s time for him to leave the Don Callis Family and do the feud with Kazuchika Okada they have been teasing forever.
Toni Storm will, at some point, have a big match with Ronda Rousey, either one-on-one, or teaming with Mina Shirakawa against Rousey & Marina Shafir, or both.
Thekla defeated Kris Statlander in screwy fashion, so their issue remains unsettled.
Jack Perry, the new National Champion, can continue his feud with Ricochet, just as the hunted instead of the hunter.
The new Trios Champions—Mistico & Kevin Knight & Mike Bailey—can just have bangers every week against a variety of opponents. The Don Callis Family alone should be able to put together enough fresh combinations of challengers to last through the summer.
Hangman Page will never be able to challenge for the AEW World title again after losing to reigning champion MJF at Sunday’s AEW Revolution.
On his birthday, MJF defeated Page in a Texas Death Match in the night’s main event, a bloody fight that featured barbed wire, a staple gun, paper cuts, a broken pane of glass, light tubes, skewers, and a broken broom handle among other items. One of those was a hypodermic needle that was stuck through Page’s cheek in a callback to his Texas Death Match with Swerve Strickland.
Page nearly had MJF beat after driving skewers into his head followed by a buckshot lariat. Page then brought out a double dog collar in a callback to MJF’s violent match with CM Punk several years ago. He then dragged MJF to the apron and brought out a barbed wire board on top of another table as the fans chanted for fire. The two battled and MJF pulled Page off for a flip through the board/table.
MJF continued to whip Page with the collar chain, going up to the stage. Page countered, grabbing MJF and jumping into a table of electrical equipment that exploded. Both men eventually beat the ten count and Page dog walked him back to the ring. MJF kicked him low off a buckshot attempt and grabbed his title belt, hitting him in the head and barely beating the ten count. Page hit him with the belt and went for another buckshot, but MJF countered and choked Page out over the top rope to end the match.
Page was put on a stretcher, but MJF jumped up on the stretcher and stood over his opponent to end the pay-per-view.
Because of the stipulation Page offered in order to get the title shot, he and Cody Rhodes are now the only two men in company history to be ineligible to ever challenge for the World title again due to that stipulation.
It’s MJF’s first win over Page in four tries.
MJF wore the crimson mask first and was dragged through the broken glass, followed by a string of barbed wire in his mouth as Page pulled it back and forth from behind as if he were a horse. Page was later cut open after MJF stabbed him with a piece of the glass, followed by him dragging Page through the glass.
MJF’s second World title reign continues with the sixth successful defense of the gold he won at last December’s Worlds End. He came out for his first-ever Texas Death Match clad in tights and trunks and Western garb in honor of Terry Funk. Page is now 5-2 in his speciality match with his only other loss coming to Strickland at November 2023’s Full Gear.
Page held the title twice in his career, the first time from November 2021’s Full Gear when he defeated Kenny Omega through May 2022’s Double or Nothing when he notably lost to CM Punk. His second run came from July 2025’s All In Texas through November’s Full Gear.
MJF says that AEW is up in several business metrics since he won the company’s world title.
During an interview with TMZ’s Inside The Ring podcast, MJF also addressed other reasons why he feels the company is doing well.
MJF said:
“We’d be f—-ed if MJF left the territory, if you will. I’m the biggest star this company’s got. Right now, since I’ve won the championship, we’re up in every single metric: ticket sales, pay-per-view buys, ratings. We’re absolutely killing it right now.”
MJF continued:
“The other reason why our show is doing so incredibly right now is because of the cast of characters that are trying to take this championship away from me. You have Hangman, you have Kenny Omega, you have Swerve Strickland, you have Samoa Joe, you have Andrade El Ídolo, you have Kyle Fletcher, you have Bandido, you have Darby Allin, you have Brody King, you have Kevin Knight, you have ‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey. I mean, the list goes on and on. And the scary part is it’s growing.
That’s what’s so cool about All Elite Wrestling. The reason we’re catching fire right now, and everybody unanimously agrees, facts not feelings, is that we’re putting on the best professional wrestling shows in the sport today. And that’s because we have the best professional wrestlers in the sport today, bar none.”
MJF began his second reign with the title when he won it in a four-way match against Hangman Page, Swerve Strickland, and then-champion Samoa Joe at Worlds End 2025 on December 27 at the NOW Arena just outside of Chicago. Since that time, he has successfully defended the title against Bandido on January 14, Brody King at Grand Slam Australia, and Kevin Knight on the March 4 edition of Dynamite.
Outside of AEW, he has also defended the title against Alec Price at the Limitless Rumble on January 16 and against Zilla Fatu for House of Glory on February 20.
Up next for MJF, he will defend the title against Page at AEW Revolution on Sunday, March 15 in a match where if Page loses, he will never be permitted to challenge for the title again.
MJF’s full interview with TMZ is available below. The video is queued to his comments about AEW.
The following is an opinion-based preview and reflects that of the author and not the website.
AEW Revolution is AEW’s first real statement of the year, a new calendar with new intentions. This one feels different. Not louder, not more stacked necessarily, but more consequential. Almost every match on Sunday’s card carries the weight of a real-time decision. This isn’t just about who wins, but about who these people will be going forward.
Konosuke Takeshita getting what’s his or being deferred again. Marina Shafir walking through the door or watching it close. Kevin Knight being on the precipice of something bigger than the team he’s in. Hangman Page facing permanent exile from the one thing that defines him. Sunday’s Revolution 2026 isn’t just a show. Rather, it’s a card full of people standing at a fork in the road, whether they asked to be there or not.
These are the questions that get answered this Sunday in Los Angeles. Let’s run through the action.
AEW Revolution preview
Toni Storm vs. Marina Shafir with everyone banned from ringside
There is a specific and under-appreciated generosity in what Toni Storm is doing right now. For years, she was the division’s anchor and a main event metronome. Now, without gold attached, she’s doing something arguably more valuable: she’s making others matter. That’s a skill set not everyone has and fewer are willing to deploy it.
Storm is doing both because that is what the great ones always do. The Timeless character should not have worked at all, but Storm turned both it and herself into one of the most valuable commodities in all of pro wrestling at the ripe age of 30.
Marina Shafir has been many things in AEW. Background. Muscle. Faction decoration. Occasionally terrifying in small doses. But this is different. This is the door opening to something substantially more. Her credibility has slowly accumulated in the margins of larger stories and has led us to this moment.
There is no more patient waiting, no more promising glimpses. The lights are on and Storm, of all people, is the one at home. What Shafir does with this opportunity will define her ceiling in AEW. Either she leaves LA as someone the audience believes in, or she doesn’t. Sometimes it’s that simple. Sometimes, it’s that unforgiving. No pressure!
Prediction: Marina gets the big one
Darby Allin, Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong vs. The Dogs (David Finlay, Clark Connors & Gabe Kidd)
David Finlay has something, something real, something that separates him from his partners in ways that will eventually become impossible to ignore. The Dogs are loud and committed, and while Connors has his moments, this is clearly Finlay’s faction in the same way the Death Riders are (were??) always Jon Moxley’s.
The others exist in service of their leader, whether they know it or not. Gabe Kidd remains, to me, a performer whose reputation slightly exceeds his output, though I am watching him closely. The tag match on Wednesday delivered in a big way with a killer closing stretch that was a perfect preview of what kind of match this should be.
Roderick Strong’s addition is a welcome one. The man is a perpetual motion machine of offense. He fits comfortably into the chaos this match is building toward. Expect more of what we saw on Wednesday, only just a bit louder. This is a fun match on a heavy card and exactly what’s needed.
Prediction: Darby, Cassidy & Strong
Brody King vs. Swerve Strickland
No titles. No trophies. Just violence.
Swerve is never better than when he has an edge. There’s real menace and an earned anger in everything he does. He’s never needed a reason to make someone bleed, but he feels slighted and pettiness is a powerful motivator.
Brody King has come into his own. A hulking, physical performer who has rounded out his edges to become an across-the-board superstar. The man was quietly turning into one of the most compelling physical presences in the company long before anyone thought to build a match around it. Now they have, and the result is a collision that doesn’t need a single title belt attached to justify its existence.
Leave these two alone in the ring, and they will figure it out.
Prediction: Swerve
Andrade El Idolo (with Don Callis) vs. Bandido
Good lord, the juice in this match.
Andrade has never, ever been better — not in NXT, not in WWE, not in his first run in AEW, not anywhere. There is a clarity and a sharpness to him right now that suggests one of two things: this is either a man who finally knows exactly who he is and what he’s capable of, or yet another tantalizing Andrade tease where he dials it in for a stretch before logging out completely.
We know these runs are fleeting and fragile, but right now, in this moment? He is a Tropicana factory worth of juice, and everyone in that arena and everyone at home is going to feel it.
Bandido, meanwhile, remains one of the purest pro wrestling treasures on the planet. His ROH World title is well-earned even if its visibility is…limited. Everything he does is must-see. Everything he does makes the person across the ring look like a million dollars. What happens when the person across the ring already looks that good? There is potential for something really, really special here.
This is lining up to be the match people talk about on the way home. Plan your bathroom breaks accordingly.
Prediction: Bandido
Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher, and Mark Davis vs. Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey, and Mistico for the AEW World Trios title
AEW Trios Champions Don Callis Family (Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defend against Místico & JetSpeed (Kevin Knight and Mike Bailey)
We are in a moment for the fortitude and otherworldly determination of Mark Davis, a talented, rear-end-endowed man who has battled through more unfortunate injury luck than any one performer should be asked to absorb. It would have been so easy to give up and fade into generic Don Callis Family flotsam.
Instead, he worked his tail off and made the most of his situation. This is no charity act. Davis deserves to stand side-by-side with Okada and Fletcher as a champion. A rugged and beyond-solid worker, he is the kind of performer professional wrestling desperately needs to revitalize a sagging middle-class.
JetSpeed didn’t recruit a consolation prize when they brought in Místico. They recruited a living legend, this site’s Wrestler of the Year, a man so beloved in lucha libre that entire arenas exist in a state of permanent devotion to him. If anything, Knight and Bailey are the junior partners in this arrangement.
JetSpeed has worked better as a team than I ever imagined. I am frequently wrong. I am wrong about something every single day I am alive. Rarely have I been more wrong about something than I was about Bailey in AEW. I thought the act had a short shelf life at best and was an active drag on the product at worst. Nope! Not even close! The dude is not just a television worker, but a television highlight week after week.
The more interesting thread running through this match is Kevin Knight himself. Watch him. He demands it. He got the big match against MJF, he got the prime promo time, something big is coming. He’s already outgrown the trios title, but has he outgrown his tag partner as well? This is a burgeoning superstar with an uncapped ceiling. I can’t wait to see him try to reach it.
Prediction: Okada, Fletcher and Davis
AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) (with Stokely) defend against The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson)
A few variations on one big question I can’t get out of my head: What can they do to make this special? What can they do to make this meaningfully different than every other time these four men have shared a ring?
It’s an honest question and it deserves an honest answer which is probably not much, at least structurally. The bones of an FTR/Bucks match are well-documented at this point. We know the beats, we know the escalation, we know the breathless finishing stretch. The question is whether, on this particular night in this particular building in this particular ring, they find that thing that separates a great match from a transcendent one.
These are two teams well aware of their legacy and their places in wrestling history. Any implication to the contrary is shortsighted and naive. Both FTR and The Young Bucks are consumed with greatness, and, with their finish lines closer than anyone would like to admit, tearing down the house very much matters to them. How they do it is where the intrigue comes.
If they go 25 minutes and leave everything they have on the floor, this match can still be the thing everyone remembers. These four are too good at their jobs for it not to be.
Prediction: The Young Bucks win the titles
Image Copyright: AEW
AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley defends against Konosuke Takeshita with no time limit
Here is the honest Moxley situation as it stands: tweener Jon Moxley is incongruous. The Death Riders are firmly heels while their leader is no longer, at least not consistently. The audience has started cheering him again because the audience never really stopped loving him, which is either a testament to his permanent likability or a creative miscalculation, depending on how charitable you’re feeling.
The full turn feels all but cemented, but that creates a different problem entirely: can the Death Riders function without their True Ace as the fulcrum? Everyone in that group would need to take a significant step up for the faction to work independently of him, and that’s the big blinking question mark at the end of this sentence.
The no time limit stipulation exists because a second draw would be a bit of unconscionable, creative malpractice. One of them must walk out of LA as Continental Champion. The narrative weight of Takeshita finally claiming more gold and Moxley’s potential full face turn needs a clean loss to make it land with proper weight.
This is Takeshita’s moment and has been for a long time. Beating The Ace and bringing another title to the Don Callis Family does wonders for him. He should win, and win clean…and then the Death Riders should bust out the plastic bag one more time.
Prediction: Takeshita wins the title
AEW Revolution (Image credit: AEW)
AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions Babes of Wrath (Willow Nightingale & Harley Cameron) defend against Megan Bayne & Lena Kross
Megan Bayne is a top-of-the-card superstar in the making, and pairing her with another woman of size in Lena Kross is exactly the right move — two physically imposing, credible presences who should not ever resort to chicanery to win their matches. Bayne has been ready for titles for a while now and this feels like the first step in a full ascent toward every piece of individual gold.
Willow Nightingale is better than these titles. She is better than this program. She may well be better than everyone in this match. This is less hyperbole and more a statement of fact that AEW has been politely ignoring. Willow is a singles star being asked to be patient inside a tag team. Case in point is her singles title defense being on the pre-show and this on the main.
Harley Cameron is not for me. I’ll own that fully and without reservation. Some people find her endearing and charming which is almost certainly true, and I understand that I am likely the problem here. But as a professional wrestling act, she is an anchor on someone with greatness in her future.
The Babes of Wrath have been fun enough. Fun has a ceiling. Nightingale does not and the longer she remains ancillary attached to other people’s stories — Cameron’s rise, Kris Statlander’s everything — the further she drifts from the moment she’s owed.
Let Bayne and Kross have the titles. Free Willow.
Prediction: Bayne & Kross win the titles
AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla defends against Kris Statlander in a two of three falls match
Rarely is someone so comfortable in their character so quickly on national television. Thekla is by no means a rookie, but it still took a terrifyingly short time to become this fully formed, singular performer. No one is really doing it like her. She moves, acts and talks like an 80s action movie villain who is also, entirely and completely, herself. I could listen to her run down her opponents all day. Her delivery of ‘you wear sunglasses now!’ is something I’m still thinking about.
There is a specificity to her contempt that most heels can’t locate without using their opponents’ first names or winking at the camera. Her delivery is spiteful and it always feels like she’s airing a grievance. That’s the mark of someone who has done the work. AEW’s women’s division is flush with talent. Thekla came in like a thunderbolt, forcing everyone else to step up.
This is the rubber match with a fitting stipulation. Two out of three falls neutralizes the chaos that defined their strap match. It forces a longer story, rewarding craft over improvisation, and leans into both women’s ability to go a longer distance. Statlander is proof of concept as the wrestler who waited, grinded, and finally got there. Thekla is the proof of concept for what happens when AEW lets someone be who they are, even when they’re so different from everyone else.
Prediction: Thekla retains
Image Copyright: AEW
AEW World Champion MJF defends against Hangman Adam Page in a Texas Death Match where if Page loses, he can never challenge for the title again
Think about what that actually means, not as a pro wrestling contrivance, but as a story. Hangman spent two years crumbling, crawling back from the edge, reclaiming his moral compass, and eventually pulling the World title back out into the light. Now he walks into a Texas Death Match where losing doesn’t just cost him a championship match. It costs him everything, permanently, forever.
There’s a world where that’s interesting. This is not that world. It’s a booking inconvenience masquerading as drama, and it diminishes something that didn’t need help. The jubilation of Hangman freeing the title from that briefcase last summer is something only he could evoke. Few performers can tell that story. Fewer still can deliver that finale with the proper weight. Adding a “never again” clause is a solution to a problem that didn’t exist.
MJF, for all of his exhausting excesses, has been genuinely great lately. He’s cut the corny name-calling and started delivering his promos with actual meaning. The cowardly, overcompensating heel is still there, but his worst inclinations are being curbed, and the result is a real pro wrestling antagonist.
A Texas Death Match is the complete antithesis of what he is as a wrestler. There is no worse stipulation, no worse opponent. He didn’t burn down a man’s house. He didn’t stick syringes into anyone. MJF is desperate and has done gross things to stay at the top, but Hangman, with everything to lose, is a different beast entirely.
Hangman should win. Any result that doesn’t end with him leaving LA with the belt is misguided. His reign after All In wasn’t the best, but the solution is not to exile him from the title picture forever — it’s to do better this time. MJF losing in his first PPV defense should send him spiraling, and that’s a story worth telling. Give us that story.
If you’re planning on attending AEW Revolution in L.A. this Sunday, you’d better have your tickets in hand—CEO Tony Khan announced tonight that the venue is sold out.
“Thank you all who watch AEW!” Khan wrote on social media. “It’s one of my favorite weekends—AEW Revolution is this Sunday! Revolution will be sold out with a live gate over $1 million this Sunday! See you this Sunday for the PPV.” He went on to plug the Andrade El Idolo vs. Mascara Dorada match on Collision that will take place one day prior.
Crypto.com Arena has a capacity of up to 21,000 for wrestling shows.
AEW Revolution 2025 updated lineup | This Sunday | Los Angeles
Main Card
Marina Shafir vs. Toni Storm – Everyone banned from ringside
AEW Trios Champions Kazuchika Okada, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis defend against Kevin Knight, Mike Bailey & Mistico
AEW Women’s World Champion Thekla defends against Kris Statlander in a two-out-of-three falls match
Brody King vs. Swerve Strickland
Bandido vs. Andrade El Idolo
AEW Continental Champion Jon Moxley defends against Konosuke Takeshita in a no time limit match
AEW World Tag Team Champions FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) defend against The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
AEW World Champion MJF defends against Hangman Page in a Texas Death Match where if Page loses, he can’t challenge for the World title ever again
AEW Women’s Tag Team Champions Babes of Wrath (Harley Cameron & Willow Nightingale) defend against Megan Bayne & Lena Kross
Roderick Strong, Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin vs. The Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Clark Connors)
John LaRocca and Garrett Gonzales return with a brand-new Fight Game to discuss some of the most interesting topics in pro wrestling.
The guys give out their thumbs up and thumbs down before talking about AEW Dynamite which was live in San Jose. We talked about how the press conference went down, why I wasn’t part of the “media”, MJF, Sonjay Dutt, and the live experience of being at the show.
We also talked about the Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton match for WrestleMania and whether or not there will be additional changes.
We finished up the show with our new Observe This segment talking about stories from Dave Meltzer’s 1985 Observer Book. We rewatched The War To Settle The Score, which was on MTV in 1985 and talk the entire one hour TV event.
MJF says he would not take less money just to have a “WrestleMania moment.”
During a recent interview with Denise Salcedo, MJF said some wrestlers are willing to accept a pay cut in order to get booked by “the other place,” but made it clear that would not be the case for him.
MJF said:
“People will jump to the other place to get booked the same and or worse and be compensated for less. Why? I don’t know. If the answer is legacy, you know what I want my legacy to be? I want my legacy to be that my children are going to be able to afford to go to any school they want. They’re going to be able to afford to go to any restaurant they want. They’re going to be able to go on vacations. They’re going to be able to wear the nicest clothes. And that’s happening because I get compensated what my talent is worth.”
“I’m not going to settle for less compensation so I get to have a WrestleMania moment. That doesn’t make sense to me.”
“I can assure you, if you make a big enough name in All Elite Wrestling, your legacy is going to go a long way in this fan base. No one’s ever going to forget the name MJF.”
MJF continued to say that while he considers AEW president Tony Khan “a mark,” he also believes Khan is cognizant of how difficult it is to be a pro wrestler and compensates his athletes accordingly.
“I think it’s really important to pay your pro wrestlers, to pay your fighters, to pay your football players, your soccer players, your baseball players, what they deserve to be compensated.
Tony Khan, is he a mark? Yes. But he’s also caring and genuine and understands what we’re doing. We’re putting our bodies on the line for him to make money. So the least he can do is shill some of that back to us.”
MJF and AEW agreed to a new contract in 2024. While the deal has been described as long-term, the exact duration has never been publicly disclosed.
Up next for MJF, he is set to defend the AEW World Championship against Hangman Page on Sunday, March 15 at AEW Revolution. The match stipulation states that if Page is unable to defeat MJF for the title, he will no longer be allowed to challenge for the championship.
Understanding the value of a traveling World Champion is one thing that differentiates Tony Khan from Vince McMahon.
During his second AEW World Championship reign, MJF has taken the belt to indie promotions like Limitless Wrestling and House of Glory. Bringing back this tradition of defending the World title outside of your home promotion was a goal for MJF, and Khan has given him the freedom to do so. It’s a custom that went away when McMahon had a monopoly over the wrestling industry in the United States.
“The likes of Buddy Rogers and Harley Race … Jack Brisco, Dory Funk, these gentlemen would travel around, not just their local territory, but around all of the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia, and they would wrestle whoever was deemed the best of the best in that local territory or area,” MJF told Uncrowned ahead of AEW Revolution.
“Another thing is we have lost the history and the tradition of our sport, because for a very long time, professional wrestling was a monopoly. It was WWE, and that’s it. The idea of seeing — I’m just going to use an example — John Cena at your local independent company was sacrilegious to a Vince McMahon. But to a Tony Khan, who both understands and respects the idea of a traveling champion, it’s not ridiculous.”
MJF is set to defend his title against Hangman Page in a Texas Death match at Revolution this Sunday. If he retains, MJF will be on track to head into upcoming appearances for One Fall Wrestling and Beyond Wrestling as champion.
In the Uncrowned interview, MJF hyped that the World title picture in AEW right now is better than it has ever been.
“This is the most competitive the top of the card has ever been in the history of our seven-year-old promotion,” he said. “You have me, Hangman, Swerve [Strickland], Jon Moxley, Kenny Omega, Samoa Joe, Andrade El Idolo. Now you’ve got Brody King, who just popped up there and he fits like a glove, whether I want to admit it or not. You’ve got your Kyle Fletchers of the world, who are chomping at the bit, and your [Konosuke] Takeshitas, who are chomping at the bit. I mean, the list goes on and on — and that’s the scary part.”
Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles is hosting Revolution on Sunday. The MJF vs. Page match comes with a stipulation where, if Page loses, he will not be able to challenge for the AEW World Championship again.
