It’s Sunday night, and you know what that means …
All Elite Wrestling returns with their annual AEW Revolution 2023 premium live event from the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA.
On tap for tonight’s show is a stacked lineup of jam-packed action, which kicks off with the Zero Hour pre-show at 7/6c.
Featured below are complete AEW Revolution results from Sunday, March 5, 2023. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live from 7-12am EST. on TBS.
AEW REVOLUTION RESULTS (3/5/2023)
The Zero Hour pre-show is now officially off-and-running. We shoot inside the AEW Revolution 2023 show venue at the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA. where Renee Paquette welcomes us to the show.
She addresses the fans, which make a ton of noise behind her. She then introduces her co-hosts, which include RJ City, who is backstage in the arrival area waiting on talent to show up to the building. Paquette then begins running down the scheduled lineup for tonight’s show. The crowd reacts as each match graphic flashes across the screen.
RJ City Talks To Orange Cassidy & Danhausen
We then shoot back to RJ City, who is with Orange Cassidy and Danhausen, the latter of whom is in a flowered moo-moo and a French beret. RJ City asks what they’re wearing. They say “clothes.” They ask if they have a team name. Danhausen says “Yes, Orange Cassidy and Danhausen.”
Don Callis Joins Renee Paquette To Talk Texas Death Match
Paquette then sends us into a video package to tell the story leading up to tonight’s rubber match Texas Death Match between Jon Moxley and “Hangman” Adam Page. When it wraps up, we return to Paquette, who is joined by Don Callis to break down the bout.
Mark Briscoe & The Lucha Bros vs. Ari Daivari & Varsity Athletes
After they wrap up their discussion, they send things down to Excalibur, Tony Schiavone and Taz, who get us ready for our first pre-show match of the evening.
With that said, after some quick introductions from the commentary trio, we send things down to ringside where the ring announcer begins the formal ring introductions for our competitors in the first match of the evening.
Mark Briscoe’s theme hits and out he comes to a nice pop from the San Francisco fans. He settles in the ring and then the theme for The Lucha Bros hit and out comes Rey Fenix and Penta El Zero Miedo as fire and pyro erupts and the fans go nuts.
After the first three-man team settles in the ring, the theme for their opponents hits and we hear “Smart” Mark Sterling on the microphone talking his men to the ring. Josh Woods and Tony Nese of Varsity Athletes come out and are joined by Ari Daivari.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our first match of the evening here on the Zero Hour pre-show for AEW Revolution 2023. We see Nese and Penta kick things off for their respective teams.
Early on we see Penta dominating the offense. He makes a tag and in comes Rey Fenix, who does much of the same. “Smart” Mark Sterling hops on the apron at one point, but he is handled and the baby face trio continues to dominate.
After some double-team action, we see Josh Woods settle into the offensive lead, working over Fenix. This lasts for a while and then Penta makes the tag. Penta fights back into competitive form and tags in Fenix, who adds to the offensive lead until missing a top-rope spot. Woods then hits a brainbuster for a close near fall that Penta breaks up.
We see the heels control the action for a few minutes until finally Briscoe gets the hot tag. The commentators talk about how you’re not a pro wrestling fan if you don’t like Mark Briscoe. He has the crowd going absolutely insane as he hits high spot after high spot looking for the finish.
Things build to the finish, which sees Briscoe avoid being put away despite having a foreign object busted over his head. The fans break out in a loud “Dem Boyz!” chant as Briscoe fights back and The Lucha Bros hit the ring to provide an assist.
The Lucha Bros hit an insane double-team spot and then Briscoe comes off the top-rope with a froggy-bow for the pin fall victory. After the match, Alex Abrahantes brings “Smart” Mark Sterling into the ring for a beat down to further pop the crowd.
Winners: Mark Briscoe & The Lucha Bros
RJ City Talks To The J.A.S.
Once the match wraps up, we see an ad for AEW Double Or Nothing 2023 and then Renee Paquette reacts to the opener before sending things to RJ City, who is with the Jericho Appreciation Society.
“Magic” Matt Menard starts by asking RJ City to tell him how his nipples feel. He says they’re not hard. City says, “You like that don’t ya, pervert?” He says they’re not because J.A.S. are banned from ringside when Chris Jericho and Ricky Starks collide tonight.
Daniel Garcia then talks about how soft his jacket is, but says it’s not as soft as “Absolute” Ricky Starks. He then touts having the celebration of a lifestyle after Jericho beats Starks. Then “The Ocho” walks in and pumps them up more as the segment wraps up.
RJ City Talks To Toni Storm
We shoot back to Paquette briefly and then are sent right back to RJ City, who is now standing by with Toni Storm. She asks what Saraya’s strategy is for tonight’s triple-threat AEW Women’s Championship match.
Storm refuses to answer a question about Saraya’s strategy and then refuses a follow-up question about who made her jacket. She’s asked if she’ll challenge Saraya for a title shot if she wins. Storm says they’re such good friends that she could probably ask for it and she’d just give it to her.
Finally, he asks if she and Saraya still do “that spray-paint thing.” Storm says they do and then pulls out a spray-paint can and sprays a giant green “L” on him to end the segment.
Renee Paquette Talks To Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.
Now we head back to Renee Paquette, who is standing by with Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. The fans chant for her and she says she can tell the fans tonight are on the side of the AEW originals.
Baker then talks about the gameplan for Jamie Hayter in her AEW Women’s Championship defense against Saraya and Ruby Soho later tonight. Baker takes a shot at MJFs 30 minute promos on TV each week when talking about tonight’s main event.
They plug the AEW All Access reality show and wrap up. Paquette then sends us to a video package telling the story behind tonight’s TNT Championship showdown between Samoa Joe and Wardlow.
RJ City Talks To Powerhouse Hobbs
Once the video package wraps up, we shoot back to RJ City again, who is standing by now with the Face of the Revolution ladder match winner, Powerhouse Hobbs. City asks Hobbs about his TNT title match at Dynamite.
Hobbs talks about opening the Book of Hobbs on Wednesday night and they joke about the ring that he pulled down in the Face of the Revolution ladder match.
Renee Paquette Talks To Sonjay Dutt
After that, we shoot back to Renee Paquette, who is standing by with Sonjay Dutt. The fans boo. Dutt asks if they’re really gonna boo him when he’s here with his family, who is in the crowd or backstage apparently. The fans boo some more.
Paquette asks him about the AEW Tag-Team Championship match later tonight and Dutt vows victory for Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal. From there, we shoot to a video package for the Jungle Boy vs. Christian Cage Final Burial match.
RJ City Talks To Adam Cole
After the video package, we shoot backstage again where RJ City is standing by with Adam Cole … BAY-BAY! He sets him up for the BAY-BAY routine when pointing out that we’re here in the Bay area of California tonight in San Francisco for AEW Revolution 2023.
The two promote the AEW All Access reality show coming up and then banter back-and-forth before hyping Cole’s in-ring return on March 29.
Jim Ross Has Entered The Building
Now we head back to Renee Paquette, who introduces the video package for our main event of the evening, the 60-Minute Iron Man match pitting MJF against Bryan Danielson for the AEW World Championship.
She is joined by RJ City and the two banter back-and-forth and hype tonight’s card. Jim Ross’ theme hits in the background. As “Boomer Sooner” plays, we see “Good Ole’ J.R.” taking his seat on commentary for the main card, which is coming up now.
Chris Jericho vs. Ricky Starks
The main premium live event is now officially off-and-running. We shoot to Excalibur, Jim Ross and Taz, who hype up tonight’s card and plug the Draft Kings efforts surrounding tonight’s show.
Now we return inside the Chase Center where “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts mentions that our opening contest is one fall and features the J.A.S. banned from ringside.
With that said, the familiar sounds of “Judas in my Mind” by Fozzy plays as Chris Jericho emerges. Fireworks and pyro explodes as he makes his way to the ring with the fans in San Francisco singing along to the tune of his entrance theme.
Ricky Starks’ theme hits and out he comes to a huge pop. He settles in the ring and takes his entrance jacket off, revealing his ribs are heavily taped up. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one.
Starks jump off to an early offensive lead, taking it to “The Ocho” and knocking him out to the floor. He hits a tope suicida on the wizard of AEW on the floor. He continues to beat down the J.A.S. leader at ringside as the fans cheer him on.
Back in the ring, the action continues with “Absolute” Ricky Starks in the offensive driver’s seat. Jericho takes over shortly thereafter and then dumps Starks out to the floor. He turns and gives the San Francisco crowd the double birds, prompting louder boos from the fans.
Jericho settles into the offensive driver’s seat and works over “Absolute” as the fans break out into a dueling “Let’s go Ricky!” and “Y2J!” chant. Jericho throws Starks into the corner and he does the Ric Flair upside-down flip and then walks the ring apron, only for Jericho to springboard off the middle turnbuckle and drop kick him.
We see Starks come off the ropes with a tornado DDT to slow down Jericho’s momentum and buy him some much-needed time to recover. Jericho and Starks head to the top-rope together, where Jericho looks for a top-rope super-plex.
Starks fights out of it and drops Jericho down with an inverted-suplex. He leaps off afterwards but Jericho catches him in his injured ribs on the way down with a big knee. Starks hits a big spot for a near fall after that. Jericho fights back but runs into a big spear from Starks for a near fall attempt of his own. Starks finishes this one off moments later for the win.
Winner: Ricky Starks
Final Burial Match
Christian Cage vs. “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry
Now we gear up for our next match of the evening, which is the first-ever AEW Final Burial match, pitting bitter-rivals Christian Cage and “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry.
We head to the ring where Christian Cage’s theme hits and the pro wrestling legend makes his way down to the ring. He settles inside the and his theme music dies down.
From there, the familiar sounds of the catchy entrance tune for his opponent, “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry plays. Out he comes as fans sing along with his tune. He settles in the ring and it’s time to get this one underway.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with our next match of the evening. Immediately the brawl is on between these two, which sees the action spill out of the ring and into the crowd. They brawl throughout the sea of fans inside the Chase Center for the first few minutes of the bout.
As the brawl continues, they fight back over the barricade and on the entrance ramp near the casket and hole in the ground where the burial must take place for this one to be over. We see Jungle Boy hit a big spot, slamming Cage hard on the unforgiving entrance ramp.
Back in the ring, Jungle Boy does the ten-punch spot in the corner while the fans count along with each shot that lands. He also bites at the face of the wrestling legend, who eventually escapes and blasts Jungle Boy with a blatant low blow to shift the offensive momentum in his favor.
We see Christian stand on the long hair of Jungle Boy and yank his arms back behind his back — hard. He calls Jack Perry a “loser” as he continues to beat him down. The fans try and rally behind the former Jurassic Express tag-team member.
The two fight over near the dirt / grave and Cage beats Jungle Boy down some more before slamming him face-first off the casket and digging. He then repeatedly bashes Jungle Boy face-first off the casket. He then opens the casket and puts him inside it.
Before he can shut the lid, however, Jungle Boy starts fighting back. Cage uses some dirty tricks, including throwing a handful of dirt into the eyes of Jungle Boy to help find his way back into the offensive lead.
Now we see Christian Cage setting a chair under Jungle Boy’s face, before picking up another and looking for his con-chair-to. Jungle Boy avoids it and grabs a shovel. He begins beating Cage down with it. He uses the shovel handle to choke Christian, who scratches at his eyes to free himself.
Jungle Boy puts his Snare Trap submission finisher on Cage right next to the hole. He uses the shovel handle and pulls it back into the gritting teeth of the wrestling legend. He lays Cage’s face on a chair and then blasts him with another for a con-chair-to of his own.
He then drags a lifeless Cage over to the casket. He puts him inside and slams the lid shut. The casket then falls into the hole and the match ends. Jungle Boy wins.
Winner: “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry
AEW Trios Championships
The Elite (C) vs. The House Of Black
The video package runs for our next match of the evening, which will be our first championship contest of the evening, as the AEW Trios Championships will be on-the-line, as The Elite trio of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) defend against The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King & Buddy Matthews).
When the video wraps up, we shoot back inside the Chase Center where the lights in the building go down and then the theme for The House of Black hits. The trio make their way to the ring in wild masks accompanied by Julia Hart. They settle in the ring and remove the masks.
Now the lights come back on and the familiar sounds of the entrance theme song for The Elite hits. The crowd pops as “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks make their way down to the ring for their latest AEW Trios Championship defense.
Don Callis joins the trio of Jim Ross, Excalibur and Tony Schiavone on the call for this one. The bell sounds as fans chant “Elite! Elite! Elite” We see Kenny Omega and Buddy Matthews kick things off for their respective teams.
“The Cleaner” gets the better of the early exchange between the two and then Buddy Matthews tags in Malakai Black. As Malakai and Omega circle each other, we hear the fans break out in a “This is Awesome!” chant already.
Malakai Black fares well against Omega and “The Cleaner” decides to tag out. In comes Nick Jackson, who points to Brody King and says he wants a piece of him. Malakai obliges. Brody King comes in. Nick sees the size difference and immediately changes his mind, tagging in Matt Jackson.
Brody King starts to get in some offense and we see Omega hit the ring, but Brody handles him as well. All three of The Elite head to the floor to re-group, but The House of Black all take the fight to them on the floor. Now we see back-to-back-to-back high spots with bodies flying all over the place and the crowd going insane.
We see Brody King go on another offensive tear, handling all three members of The Elite by herself. As The Elite start to fight back, we see Julia Hart get involved from ringside, which keeps the momentum in the favor of The House of Black.
Omega hits a V-Trigger after the Bucks hit super kicks and just like that, The Elite are back in the offensive driver’s seat. We see Omega taking it to Malaki, who is now the legal man for The House of Black. Omega goes to bounce off the ropes, but Julia Hart hops on the apron so he stops.
From behind, we see Malakai blast him. Omega then accidentally blasts Julia Hart with a V-Trigger. All the members of both teams start to filter in and hit high spot after high spot again as the fans break out in a thunderous “This is Awesome!” chant. The Elite hit the BTE-Trigger on Malakai but can’t finish him off.
The Young Bucks look for the Meltzer Driver but Buddy Matthews interferes to break it up. We then see The House of Black hit their Dante’s Inferno finisher on Jackson for the pin fall victory. We have new AEW Trios Champions.
Don Callis throws down his headset out of frustration. Jim Ross thanks the guys for having him before leaving. Tony Schiavone will take his spot for the second half of the show. Great match. Omega looks distraught afterwards.
Winners and NEW AEW Trios Champions: The House Of Black
AEW Women’s Championship
Jamie Hayter (C) vs. Ruby Soho vs. Saraya
The gang welcome Tony Schiavone to the broadcast and then the video package for our AEW Women’s Championship showdown airs. From there, the theme for Saraya hits and out she comes accompanied by Toni Storm.
From there, Ruby Soho’s theme hits and as the Rancid tune plays, the women’s wrestling star makes her way to the ring. She settles inside and the tune dies down as she and Saraya await the arrival of the reigning and defending champion.
Now the theme for Jamie Hayter hits and out comes the AEW Women’s Champion for our second title bout of the evening here at AEW Revolution 2023. The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one.
As soon as the bell sounds we see Hayter go right to work on Saraya. The fans chant the champ’s name as she then turns her attention to Ruby Soho. The action quickly spills out to the floor where we see a violent streak from Saraya start to show itself.
Toni Storm watches on close by at ringside as her friend continues to dominate. Ruby Soho ends up slowing down her momentum with a leaping drop kick. As Saraya and Hayter duke it out, we see Soho leap off the barricade and splash onto both of them.
Back in the ring, we see Saraya working over Hayter as Soho continues to recover on the floor at ringside. We see the pace pick up as all three ladies are in the ring duking it out now. Things build to some big spots and then we see Hayter avoid a No Future.
Hayter then winds up wiping out Saraya with a Hayterade. Soho and Hayter start trading roll ups until Hayter grabs a crucifix on Soho for the pin fall victory. With the win, Jamie Hayter retains the AEW Women’s Championship.
Once the match wraps up, we see Toni Storm lay out Britt Baker and attacked Jamie Hayter with Saraya. Baker broke things up, as Soho was sitting in the corner watching this happen. She launched Saraya and Storm to the floor, saying they don’t run this place.
She held up Hayter’s hand, only to lay both her and Baker out with No Future. Soho took the spray paint sprayed a L on Baker and Hayter, as she officially aligned herself with Storm and Saraya.
Winner and STILL AEW Women’s Champion: Jamie Hayter
Texas Death Match
Jon Moxley vs. “Hangman” Adam Page
Here we go! The video package airs to get us primed for our next match of the evening, which will be the rubber match in the trilogy series between AEW top-stars Jon Moxley and “Hangman” Adam Page.
After the video package wraps up, we head back inside the Chase Center in San Francisco. We see red lights in the arena and then the theme for “Hangman” Adam Page hits and the former AEW World Champion emerges to a big pop.
Page settles in the ring and his music dies down. Now the familiar sounds of “Wild Thing” plays as Jon Moxley makes his custom entrance through the crowd inside the Chase Center as the fans go bonkers. He settles into the ring as well and it’s almost time for this Texas Death Match to get underway.
The bell sounds and we’re officially off-and-running with this one. Early on, we see Mox pull a roll of barbed wire on a board out and use it. Some additional barbed wire is brought out that is wrapped around the faces of each man, as this one turns extremely bloody extremely fast.
Page takes the barbed wire and rakes Moxley’s head with it. Mox is bleeding like a stuffed pig. Mox gets his hands on a fork and has evil intentions behind using it, but is stopped by “Hangman.” Mox then wraps his legs around the dome of “Hangman” and stabs him with the fork over-and-over again. Page is now bleeding profusely as well.
We see some more shifts back-and-forth in offense and then a steel folding chair wrapped in barbed wire and a giant heavy chain is entered into the foreign objects mix. The weaponry is plentiful in this one, and so is the blood pouring out of both men and the loud noise from the crowd.
Now the back of the head of Mox in addition to the faces and heads of both guys is split open after it is peeled off the barbed wire following another wild high spot. Mox’s face is just a disgusting bloody mess, as you might expect in an AEW Texas Death Match involving “The Purveyor of Violence.”
Two folding chairs are set up outside the ring and the barbed wire covered board is laid across it like a bridge, which Mox ends up slamming “Hangman” through to the delight of the blood-thirsty AEW fans inside the Chase Center.
A brick is also brought into the mix and used in the ring in what has been a very, very bloody and violent brawl. We see Mox come close to finishing off Page on a few occasions, however “Hangman” refuses to be put away thus far.
We see Mox counter a Buckshot Lariat attempt by Page with a huge Paradigm Shift. He follows that up with a Seth Rollins-style running stomp with Page slamming head-first into the aforementioned brick. As the action continues, however, it is Page who ends up tapping out Mox to go up 2-1 in the trilogy. Great, great match.
Winner: “Hangman” Adam Page
TNT Championship
Samoa Joe (C) vs. Wardlow
It’s time for our next match of the evening. The video package airs to tell the story leading up to tonight’s TNT Championship showdown between current, reigning title-holder Samoa Joe and former champ Wardlow.
The theme for “The King of TV” hits and out comes the reigning champ. He settles in the ring. Wardlow’s theme also hits and the charismatic fan-favorite also settles inside the squared circle for our latest championship contest here at AEW Revolution 2023.
We hear the bell sound and we’re now officially off-and-running with this one, which see these two bitter rivals get this one off to an intense start. We see some good back-and-forth action and then Joe settles into the offensive lead. We see Powerhouse Hobbs, the man who will challenge the winner of this match, watching on as the action unfolds.
Time after time it looks like “The King of TV” is gonna have Wardlow finished off, only for Wardlow to survive each and every time. Joe locks his submission finisher on Wardlow, but Wardlow gets his foot on the ropes to force the hold to be broken.
Wardlow starts to fight back into the offensive lead, but Joe cuts it short. Joe starts to take over again, but then Wardlow takes back over. We work our way into the finish after a few more minutes, and this one ends with Wardlow putting Samoa Joe to sleep with his own submission finisher for the victory.
With the win, Wardlow regains the TNT title. Once the match wraps up, we see Wardlow celebrating his victory with his title in the middle of the ring as the fans show him some love.
The commentators talk about his first title defense already being decided, with him defending against Face of the Revolution ladder match winner Powerhouse Hobbs at Dynamite on Wednesday.
Winner and NEW TNT Champion: Wardlow
AEW Tag-Team Championships
The Gunns (C) vs. The Acclaimed vs. Orange Cassidy & Danhausen vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal
The video package for our next match of the evening, which will see the AEW Tag-Team Championships on-the-line, airs. After it wraps up, we head back down to “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts for the ring introductions.
First out is the team of Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal. Out next is Orange Cassidy and Danhausen to a nice pop. From there, the former champs The Acclaimed make their way out and Max Caster does his usual freestyle rhyming as they head to the ring.
AEW World Tag-Team Champions The Gunns (Austin and Colten Gunn) also come out and we’re about to get this four-way title tilt off-and-running. The bell sounds and here we go.
Coming out of the gate, we see The Acclaimed duo of Caster and Anthony Bowens get Jarrett in position for the Scissor Me Timbers spot. Before they can hit it, however, Sonjay Dutt runs in and they end up hitting him with the fan-favorite spot instead.
Caster and Bowens then do the “scissor me daddy!” routine only to be attacked from behind by the reigning and defending champs. The Gunns start to shift the offensive momentum into their favor and as they take over, the fans bury them with loud “Ass-boys!” chants.
Jay Lethal ends up using the Golden Globe that he and his friends stole as a weapon on Caster. Jarrett follows up and looks to finish him off for the win, however The Acclaimed tag-team member avoids being put away and the action continues. Soon after this, we see The Gunns steal the win to retain.
After the match, FTR hits the ring and takes out The Gunns and stand tall in the ring. The commentators put over their return as the fans go nuts, by pointing out that Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler are back and noting that they have the AEW World Tag-Team Championships in their sights.
Winners and STILL AEW Tag-Team Champions: The Gunns
AEW Championship 60-Minute Iron Man Match
MJF (C) vs. Bryan Danielson
It’s main event time!
The pre-match video package for our final bout of the evening airs now, telling the story leading up to tonight’s highly-anticipated, high-stakes 60-Minute Iron Man showdown between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and “The American Dragon” Bryan Danielson, with the AEW World Championship on-the-line.
After the video package wraps up, we return inside the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA. where the entrance theme for Bryan Danielson hits and out comes “The American Dragon” for our main event of the night.
We hear the fans go bonkers as the title challenger makes his way out and settles inside the squared circle for this hour-long Broadway battle between MJF and the Blackpool Combat Club member.
The lights go out and when they come back on they are red and dark. Out comes a band dressed in all black and lining up in aesthetic fashion at the top of the entrance stage. They play some music and then the reigning and defending champion makes his way out and heads to the ring wearing a mask, which he removes once he enters the squared circle.
Bryan Danielson has his shoulder and ribs taped up and stands in one corner of the ring as “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts handles the formal pre-match ring introductions for this championship contest.
“The American Dragon” gets a nice reception from the fans when introduced in the ring. Now the champ gets his pre-match formal ring intro by Justin Roberts. All that’s left now is for the bell to ring again and get this headline attraction off-and-running.
Now we hear the bell and this AEW World Championship 60-Minute Iron Man main event match-up is now underway here at AEW Revolution 2023. We hear the noise in the building pick up considerably as MJF and Bryan Danielson get ready to get this fight underway.
Slow action from these two here in the early going, as both men are clearly aware that they must pace themselves if they want to stay strong throughout the sixty minutes allotted for this high stakes showdown.
We see a countdown clock appear in the corner of the screen off-and-on, keeping track of the 60 minutes scheduled for this main event match-up. We see MJF roll to the floor and avoid the action early on, continuing in his theme of burning time off the clock and avoiding the action as much as possible early on.
Excalibur mentions on commentary that while 60 minutes in a hard-fought battle in the ring on a big stage might not be nothing new for Bryan Danielson, however in the case of the defending champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman, his longest match is just a tick or so over 38 minutes. Bryan Danielson has had matches as long as 74 minutes.
At one point, we see Friedman extend his hand to Danielson for a handshake, but “The American Dragon” is having none of it. MJF rolls out to the floor again and grabs a drink from a woman in the crowd and throws it at the person next to her. Danielson heads out to the floor after MJF, but Friedman sees this and rolls back in the ring to avoid him.
Now we see Danielson head back in the ring and the two take turns taunting each other. Danielson gets a close roll-up on MJF for a two count. Moments later, we see MJF run Danielson’s taped up left shoulder into the ring post. He rolls out to the floor again for a drink of water, which he also pours on himself.
Back in the ring, MJF continues to work over Danielson, focusing his attack on the injured shoulder of the title challenger. The action spills out to the floor, where Friedman rams Danielson shoulder-first into the steel ringside barricade.
Friedman tells the fans to move and then teases throwing Danielson over the barricade, only to instead turn around and roll him back into the ring, where he follows in after him to deliver some more punishment. MJF stops the flip off the fans. Danielson starts to show signs of life from here, and he fights his way back into competitive form.
Danielson goes for a suicide dive onto MJF on the floor, but Friedman moves and sends Danielson into the barricade again. He brings him back in the ring and connects with a brutal hammer-lock DDT for another close near fall attempt.
As we near the half-way point in the 60-minute time frame, we see Danielson score back-to-back falls in a short matter of time to jump up 2-0 over MJF, the first of which came from his running knee finisher and the second from a low blow by MJF immediately when the next fall began.
Almost equally as fast, MJF gets two falls to tie this one up, 2-2 with 30-plus minutes still remaining. His first fall came via roll-up as Danielson was recovering from the aforementioned blatant low-blow. The second saw MJF quickly cover Danielson again while he was still recovering from the same low blow for another quick pin.
Danielson is fatigued and falls backwards off the ropes in the corner as the action continues. He recovers and gets MJF in a figure-four leg-lock. MJF fell to his back and sat up when the referee tried to count the pin. MJF slapped Danielson and told him that he hated him. Danielson leaned back in the hold and then slapped MJF right back.
We audibly hear Danielson yell “come on!” at MJF and MJF finally rolls him over to reverse the pressure. Danielson rolls back and squeezes away until MJF eventually makes it to the ropes to force the hold to be broken. Now we see Danielson smirk and then taunt MJF before kicking him. MJF rolls under the ropes.
Now we see Danielson join MJF on the ring apron, where he goes for a big pile driver. MJF avoids it. MJF hoists Danielson up but he escapes. The two trade strikes and then Danielson drops MJF with repeated kicks to the leg.
From there, we see Danielson set MJF on the top turn buckle. He heads up behind him with elbow strikes and then eats a punch in response from the champ that sends him crashing and burning on the floor down below at ringside. We see MJF ram Danielson into the steel ring post and then place him on the time keepers table. He then leaps off the top and connects with a flying elbow smash to put him through the table on the floor.
Ringside officials check on Danielson as MJF rolls back into the ring and the referee begins his ten-count on “The American Dragon” as he tries to recover on the floor at ringside. Danielson eventually rolls back into the ring, beating the referee’s count and avoiding going down by one fall.
On commentary, Excalibur noted that MJF was now officially in the longest match of his career. We then see MJF take “The American Dragon” out to ringside where he hits a leaping tombstone pile-driver on the remains of the broken time-keepers table.
MJF sells his knee after the move and Danielson is busted open in the process. Back in the ring, MJF hits another big pile-driver and goes for the cover. He gets the 1-2-3 and is now up by a score of 3 falls to 2.
After scoring the latest fall, MJF heads to ringside to take another drink, which he again splashes on the fans in the front row. The word on Twitter is that didn’t go over well the first time he did that in this match, with a young fan potentially being the victim of the first water bath given to the crowd.
Now we see MJF playing with his food, beating down Danielson in the ring and taunting him all-the-while. Mocking him for being the supposed best in the world and telling him that he “f*cking sucks.” He grabs Danielson by the face and taunts his kids watching at home, saying he told them this is what would happen.
Friedman blows his nose on Danielson and dares him to hit him with his best shot. Bryan then “fires away” (yes, musical pun intended) with a big slap that MJF responds to with a vicious head butt that drops “The American Dragon.”
We see the action spill out to the floor again, where this time MJF puts Danielson’s arm behind his head and tries to run him into the steel ring post, only for Danielson to reverse on him at the last moment. Danielson then runs the ring apron and connects with a knee on MJF to shift the offensive momentum back in his favor as the crowd goes wild.
Danielson heads to the top-rope and leaps, splashing onto MJF with a huge high spot that gets the crowd going even wilder. Back in the ring, we see MJF start to fight back into competitive form. He tries locking his Salt of the Earth submission-finisher on “The American Dragon” as we’re now under ten minutes remaining in this awesome match-up.
A diving head-butt from Danielson off the top-rope busts open MJF. He then locks him in the LeBelle Lock finisher for the submission. With the fall going Danielson’s way, the score is now tied up 3 to 3. Both guys try their LeBelle Lock and Salt of the Earth finishers back-and-forth but neither can secure it for a full fall.
The action continues and we see MJF connect with a nasty middle-rope pile-driver on Danielson. The fans chant “Fight Forever!” as MJF sells his knee and Danielson continues to spill blood from his dome all over the mat. We see Danielson finally secure his LeBelle Lock as the final ten seconds tick off the clock.
We hear the buzzer and the match wraps up with a final score of 3-to-3. This one ends in a draw? Nope! “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts gets on the mic after the medical team checks on both guys and he announces via Tony Khan that this match will not be allowed to end via a draw.
With that in mind, Justin Roberts announces that this match will continue for one more fall under sudden death rules. The bell rings again, the medical team clears way and now a dejected MJF looks across the ring at Danielson as this match re-starts.
Danielson quickly takes back over on offense. He locks MJF in a single-leg Boston crab, working over the softened up knee of the champ. We see MJF with his Dynamite Diamond Ring, but the referee notices it. He takes it off MJF’s hand and sticks it in his pocket as MJF is still stuck in the hold.
MJF ends up getting Danielson’s own LeBelle Lock submission finisher on him after blasting him behind the ref’s back with an Oxygen tank and he yanks back with all he’s got and eventually gets the win in sudden death, going up 4 to 3 and getting the win to retain his AEW World Championship in a match of the year contender.
Great, great main event here tonight. MJF’s music plays and he celebrates with his title at the AEW Revolution 2023 premium live event goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!
Winner (4 to 3 in Sudden Death) and STILL AEW World Champion: MJF
