MR. TITO: The Young Bucks Did Great Business at AEW Revolution with Sting & Darby Allin

Heading into last night’s AEW Revolution show, I was worried that the HEEL Young Bucks were going defeat Sting/Darby Allin… Now, it’s not that I want to protect a 64 about-to-be 65 year old wrestler from putting anyone over. The issue heels not “getting theirs” in the end for torturing babyfaces. I watched AEW Dynamite in full on Wednesday (2/28) and was deeply worried that the Young Bucks of old would show up.

Instead, the Young Bucks did what was right for business… They were heels and in the end, payback was achieved for their dastardly deeds.

Good job, Nick and Matt.

We need more of that… Both of you are in a compromised position since you’re still active wrestlers AND being Executive Vice Presidents (EVP) of the company. History shows that most can’t handle performing and managing at the same time, as that appeared to be the Young Bucks as well. Yet, they did business on Sunday Night.

For Pro Wrestling, the formula is very simple… Heels break rules and irritate the babyfaces, and the babyfaces are gullible because they always try to do the right thing. However, they can’t be too gullible and they eventually have to seek revenge.

Not making light of his recent actions, but Vince McMahon played a great heel because he always got served revenge and he willingly accepted it. Steve Austin always overcame his obstacles and then got his arse whooped by Stone Cold. Compare that to how Stephanie McMahon operated… For years, she badmouthed wrestlers and bullied other female wrestlers. Only time she truly “got hers” was with Ronda Rousey, but that was only a given because Ronda was a former UFC fighter. Everyone else took their insults without any revenge. Can someone show me Daniel Bryan getting his revenge on the Authority for being repeatedly called “B+ Player” and then being placed in the Wyatt Family? Don’t even give me that duct taped effort known as Wrestlemania 30.

Triple H struggled during the 2000s because he wasn’t humble, despite holding the top position in the company and eventually going to marry Stephanie. He only seemed to chill out from his dominant reign as top heel once he finally married Stephanie. Then, for the rest of the 2000s, he took some pins… But then the competitive HHH showed up again to ruin CM Punk’s career during 2011 all because of a few promos. I still cringe when I think of HHH’s 2003 feud with Booker T.

The Young Bucks are talented athletes, but often lack psychology because they are so choreographed. Furthermore, they show no emotion for anytime they’ve lost in the past, if they did. That, or they’d score the first win and immediately bury and onboarding opponent, such as FTR.

In this case here, they “got theirs” in the end with Sting and Darby Allin overcoming the odds and beating the EVPs. All anyone can talk about is the EXCITEMENT of that match that Sting got to walk away a winner on his retirement day, while the Young Bucks are being spoken about positively for doing business. That’s how the wrestling business works… Heels get theirs in the end.

If you look at Roman Reigns right now, there may be some slight fatigue which is why so many were behind Cody Rhodes last year for Wrestlemania 39 and why they went nuclear on the WWE when Cody vs. Roman almost didn’t happen. Also with Roman, much of his matches end the same way with the Bloodline interfering to protect Roman from losing. While this works for a while, it can burn out fans. I believe Ric Flair wore out the fans after the Dusty Rhodes feud because it was endless amounts of matches that ended with Horsemen interference. Ditto for Hulk Hogan and the many, many NWO run-ins. Eventually, the heels need to get theirs.

Last night, AEW delivered a great show that has everyone satisfied with the Pay Per View product that they purchased… Build upon that momentum while keeping focused on the fundamentals of Pro Wrestling… Heels do dastardly things, but in the end, babyfaces should always deliver punishment and get revenge. Last time I checked, babyfaces typically push more merchandise and if you’re too strong heel centric, it will wear out your fanbase to believe in anybody to rise up and smackdown the heels.

Good job, AEW… You took care of Sting and for the many fans who loved this performer since the late 1980s (including yours truly), I’ve appreciated this AEW run more than you know. I’m still bummed that WWE treated Sting like garbage, but AEW made Sting fun to watch again. Furthermore, thank you to the Young Bucks for doing business last night. That’s how you should operate as EVPs of a company.

To Darby Allin… Please don’t dive like that again… Come on, man. If you became seriously injured from that spot through glass, how could you have finished the match and lived with being unable to celebrate afterward with Sting? You have legit athletic talent that should be showcased rather than the dare-devil side of you. Sting wrestled within 5 separate decades because he was CAREFUL with his body.

Good job, AEW… After a tough ending to 2023, this was a good bounce back show. Now, if Mercedes and Okada are truly coming, be really careful with how you introduce both and their creative moving forward. Get both cool entrance music that distinguishes who they are from the rest of the pack.

Simple fundamentals of the wrestling business will always help you win new audience members.

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