AEW Revolution 2023 Match Card Picks Including MJF vs. Bryan Danielson
All Elite Wrestling presents its first pay-per-view of 2023 with Revolution on Sunday, broadcast live from San Francisco's Chase Center on the Bleacher Report app and headlined by a 60-Minute Iron Man match for the AEW World Championship between MJF and Bryan Danielson.
Will The American Dragon defeat The Salt of the Earth and win the one title that he has yet to add to his resume, or will MJF prove himself as the equal to the best in the world?
Find out with this preview of the show and predictions for the card's announced matches.
No Prediction: Four-Way for AEW World Tag Team Championship
1 of 7Colten and Austin Gunn will defend the AEW World Tag Team Championship in a Four-Way match at Revolution.
Former champions The Acclaimed make up one-third of the opposition while Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal, winners of a Battle Royale last Wednesday on Dynamite, make up the second.
The fourth team has yet to be determined. That will happen Wednesday night in a Casino Battle Royale, which will feature the following teams:
- Top Flight
- Aussie Open
- "Daddy Magic" Matt Menard and "Cool Hand Ang" Angelo Parker
- Best Friends
- Dark Order
- The Kingdom
- The Butcher and The Blade
- Lucha Bros
- Claudio Castagnoli and Wheeler Yuta
- Rush and Preston Vance
Since the final team is not official, there is no prediction for this match.
Ricky Starks vs. Chris Jericho
2 of 7
Ricky Starks already has two victories over Chris Jericho, one coming in a one-on-one setting and the other in a tag team match, but nonetheless the two will clash this weekend.
On the surface, this appears to be the perfect opportunity for Tony Khan to establish Absolute as the undisputed face of AEW's future. Another win over Jericho, this one on pay-per-view, would be a monumental one for the young star and continue his momentum.
History suggests, though, that will not happen.
Jericho has rarely lost three matches to the same opponent in AEW. While there is undoubtedly a push to establish Starks as a top-tier competitor with the promotion, that trend is unlikely to change here.
Without the Jericho Appreciation Society at ringside, the veteran will snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, winning the match despite common-sense creativity and elongating a program that should end at Chase Center.
Prediction: Jericho
Texas Death Match: Jon Moxley vs. 'Hangman' Adam Page
3 of 7
The Texas Death match between Jon Moxley and "Hangman" Adam Page is the toughest on the entire card to predict.
Page really cannot afford another high-profile PPV loss, but Moxley is one of the most protected wrestlers in AEW. Add in the hardcore match stipulation and what appeared to be the genesis of a Blackpool Combat Club heel turn last Wednesday on Dynamite, and you have reason to believe this match belongs to Mox.
When you also factor in the teases of an Elite reunion with Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks and the BCC being the perfect collection of competitors to battle the most powerful force in all of AEW, the likelihood of a Moxley victory is even greater.
After all, there would have to be something to drive Page back into the arms of his Elite friends, and being outnumbered and unable to finish the job against Moxley is that thing.
In what will likely be one of the best matches of the night, Moxley digs deep into his history of death-match wrestling and narrowly gets past Hangman.
Prediction: Moxley
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TNT Championship: Wardlow vs. Samoa Joe
4 of 7
TNT champion Samoa Joe choked Wardlow out and cut his hair on the final Dynamite of 2022, humiliating The War Dog and establishing dominance in their feud.
However, a recent return has Wardlow set up to avenge the defeat and take back his title.
On the surface, this feels like a redemption story for the former titleholder, who badly needs to build momentum after a questionable second half of 2022 that saw him stumble as champion before the aforementioned angle.
The 35-year-old should absorb the focused and cerebral attack of his rival, deliver the Powerbomb Symphony to The Samoan Submission Machine and regain his title.
"Should" is the important word here, though.
The question is how much Joe's status as Ring of Honor TV champion, the relaunch of that brand on television and its upcoming Supercard of Honor event will affect Tony Khan's desire to protect him.
Is he as willing to have the legendary ROH competitor lose knowing he will be such a significant part of it?
Wardlow beating Joe feels like the right call and, despite the ROH wild card, it's the outcome fans should expect to see as Khan refocuses on rebuilding the big man's credibility.
Prediction: Wardlow regains the title
AEW Women's World Championship: Ruby Soho vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Saraya
5 of 7
Ruby Soho has been portrayed as the centerpiece of the rivalry over the AEW Women's World Championship.
Not only is she a top contender capable of beating any opponent, but her loyalties have also been called into question, putting her at the heart of a feud between the AEW originals (champion Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker) and the outsiders (Saraya and Toni Storm).
The result is the best utilization of Soho to date and a rare intriguing storyline for the women's division. But the tattooed babyface's story is not the only one to pay attention to.
Saraya and Storm have waged war on the AEW originals, including humiliating them by spray-painting them as losers. The former will seek to dethrone Hayter, who has partnered with Baker to provide resistance.
There are a number of ways this match can play out, with Soho making the turn and joining the heels, ensuring Saraya wins the title in her first shot at the gold. Saraya can more predictably rely on Storm to help capture the title. Soho could prove her assertions right by winning the title and ignoring the battle around her.
More likely is a successful defense from Hayter, who will likely pin Soho to avoid Saraya losing in just her third individual performance since returning last November at Full Gear.
That outcome keeps alive the heels' argument that Saraya is a deserving No. 1 contender and sets up a potential one-on-one match at some point between Sunday and Double or Nothing in May.
Prediction: Hayter retains
AEW World Trios Championship: The Elite vs. House of Black
6 of 7
The House of Black should be a bigger deal than they are.
Malakai Black, Brody King and Buddy Matthews are strong workers with a great look and presentation, but for whatever reason, they have not been allowed to build momentum or credibility, and the result has been an underperforming act through little fault of their own.
Even Sunday's AEW World Trios Championship match against The Elite, which should be the start of a reclamation project that convinces fans to invest in them, feels more like them being the latest challengers for the champs to dispatch of rather than genuine challengers.
The contest will likely be awesome because of the talent involved, but there has been nothing about this brief program that has led anyone to believe Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks are in any real danger of losing.
Prediction: The Elite retains
Iron Man Match for AEW World Championship: Bryan Danielson vs. MJF
7 of 7
Bryan Danielson has viewed his AEW World Championship match against MJF as a shot at avenging a savage attack on William Regal and the culmination of his own quest to attain the one world title that has eluded him.
He has defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Bandido, Brian Cage, Timothy Thatcher and Rush to earn his way to Revolution and a match with The Salt of the Earth.
As much as it appears the 60-Minute Iron Man match is about The American Dragon, it is equally about MJF, if not more so.
The AEW world champion has talked a big game over the course of his career and referred to himself as the best wrestler alive. Now, he has to back it up against the guy many consider the real best in-ring performer of his generation.
The 26-year-old also has to hang with Danielson for 60 minutes and not allow the challenger to score more falls on him in that span than vice versa.
And what happens if he doesn't? What becomes of MJF, fresh off a split from his fiancée as referenced in his promo last Wednesday on Dynamite, if he loses the most significant thing still left in his life: the AEW World Championship?
It's a contest rife with stories around two men who will do everything in their power to ensure that the first Iron Man match in AEW history lives up to expectations and eclipses the other strong bouts on the card.
And by the time the bell rings for a final time, MJF will not only retain his title but also beat Danielson fair and square by one fall.
Prediction: MJF retains
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