Major AEW Revolution Match Confirmed to Be a Cinematic Match

All Elite Wrestling’s latest pay-per-view, Revolution, kicks off tonight at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida. The card has plenty of attention-grabbing matches, most notably an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley, but it was confirmed on Sunday afternoon that one of the bouts has already been pre-taped to air during the show. Sports Illustrated‘s Justin Barrasso reported in a Twitter thread hours before the show, “AEW Revolution note: The Team Taz-Darby Allin/Sting street fight was filmed ahead of time and is said to be a massive success. The match highlights Sting while ensuring he worked in as safe of an environment as possible; allowed Ricky Starks and Brian Cage to have some star-making moments; and gave Darby Allin – who had a chance to apply his film school background – more chances to be a daredevil.

“In this case, there is no denying that WWE’s loss is AEW’s gain. The failure to use the legendary Sting in a similar role, especially after proving in 2014 and ’15 that he was still a legitimate attraction, is a considerable blunder for Vince McMahon,” he continued.

Though “The Icon” has proven he can move around the ring with ease and take some serious bumps, it looks like AEW decided to err on the side of caution for the 61-year-old’s first match with the company. It’s worth noting that part of Tony Khan’s sales pitch to get Sting to sign was cinematic matches.

“I was pushing to get a cinema-style match with Undertaker,” Sting said in an interview on AEW Unrestricted back in December. “For probably a litany of reasons, it just wasn’t going to happen. When Tony called and spoke with me, he said, ‘Are you interested in doing cinema-style matches?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ I’d like to come back and do that and not disappear with my tail between my legs. I don’t have to go out on top, I’d like to go out in a positive light.”

Stay tuned for live coverage of AEW’s Revolution tonight!