Match Of The Month (March)

Will Ospreay vs. Konosuke Takeshita

AEW Revolution '24

3/3/2024

 March was another excellent month of wrestling.  Coming off a very exciting month of February, March came in like a lion, as AEW presented Revolution in Greensboro, NC. This event marked the final in-ring performance for Sting, as this was his last match teaming with Darby Allen to face The Young Bucks (more on that shortly).  However, while that was definitely the match everyone came to see and the world was on the edge of their seats to witness, there was another match that the world was waiting on, and this was quite the anticipatory matchup on paper.  While Sting was making his exit from professional wrestling, AEW's newest phenom, Will Ospreay, was making his official AEW in-ring debut facing Konosuke Takeshita, a young Japanese talent that has been highly revered himself over the years, especially during his time with AEW.  As both guys are members of Don Callis' Family, this was seen as a "who's the best" type of affair that Callis put together between arguably his two brightest stars.  Ospreay is CLEARLY a babyface here in a notoriously heel faction, as Ospreay is no stranger being in Callis Family business.  The thirty-one-year-old Brit had Callis in his corner during the EPIC Ospreay vs. Omega matchup at AEW/NJPW Forbidden Door II in Toronto.  Ospreay also was involved in a Trios matchup with Takeshita and former member Sammie Guevara (very brief member at that) facing the team of Jericho, Omega, and the ever-talented Kota Ibushi (Omega's partner as The Golden Lovers in DDT and NJPW).  Since then, Ospreay transitioned over into becoming a babyface again (even after his MONUMENTAL encounter just a couple of weeks prior at RevPro High Stakes against Michael Oku) and it became a matter of an odd man out situation with Ospreay getting tremendously cheered by fans.  With both these extraordinary talents in the ring, the fans greeted both men with "This is awesome" chants and "Holy shit" chants before they even locked up.  Once the match got going, this was phenomenal.  While these two were in the feeling out process for the first several minutes, the action understandably turned up quite a bit, and it was off to the races.  Ospreay demonstrated his exceptional flying abilities not too long thereafter, along with his finesse offense and overall magnificent ring presence and the ability to captivate you with seemingly every move he would execute or even attempt.  Takeshita, on the other hand, wasn't far from him.  His moves were impactful, but at times very deliberate.  He can fly and execute innovative offense almost like Ospreay can and, in fact, met Ospreay at every level. Both men knew how to counter each other quite often with suplexes, Spanish Fly offense and the like.  Within ten minutes, the crowd was on their feet giving them more "This is awesome" chants. While there were suplexes, plenty of chops and physicality, perhaps the one spot that made people cringe was approaching. Keep in mind, Ospreay almost legit knocked out Takeshita with a BRUTAL 360 forearm that was NASTY looking at it on slow-mo.  Once Takeshita shook the cobwebs loose, he responded with a thunderous forearm of his own that was stiff as hell likewise.  There was a moment in which Takeshita in fact executed seemingly a brain buster on the top turnbuckle, however Ospreay pretty much slid down the corner post and damn near landed legitimately on his head on the way down. Thankfully, his hip and ass area suffered more physical effects than his head and neck area did. From there, once again, it was offense after offense, counter after counter, close fall after close fall.  This was truly becoming an all-timer.  However, after a barrage of offense from both men, Ospreay got Takeshita with a Styles Clash, only to set up Takeshita for a Storm Driver '92 and his vicious finisher, The Hidden Blade, for the one-two-three.  This match was by every stretch of the imagination incredible.  Ospreay had indeed arrived in AEW and put on yet another masterful clinic against another guy who needs to be on everyone's best in the world list in Konosuke Takeshita.  Afterwards, a former member of Ospreay's New Japan faction, United Empire, emerged, as Kyle Fletcher came from the back.  Fletcher, who's the ROH TV Champion, had been stuck in England due to Visa issues, but finally got those worked out.  He is also one half of the fantastic team, Aussie Open, with Mark Davis, who's sidelined with a broken wrist that he sustained in their match against FTR at All Out.  Fletcher and Ospreay hugged each other in a reunion of sorts, but Callis made am tach between them at the following Dynamite that was almost every bit as stellar as this match was.  In one week (in fact 3 days apart, Ospreay managed to deliver two MOTY candidates to continue this otherworldly momentum he's on.  It's clear Ospreay is poised for the next level of his stardom, and with the past few matches he's had this year, a repeat of Wrestler of the year in several publications may be in sight yet again. Check the match out here.

Sting & Darby Allen vs. The Young Bucks

AEW World Tag Team Championships/Tornado Tag Team Match

AEW Revolution '24

3/3/2024

The runner-up Match of the Month was originally going to be the aforementioned Ospreay vs. Fletcher match on the 3/6 edition of AEW Dynamite, and rightfully so, as it was a STELLAR match and one of the best Dynamite matches in recent memory. However, because of the drama and emotions behind this match, the runner-up MOTM goes to the main event of AEW Revolution, which was Sting (in his final match) teaming with Darby Allen to face The Young Bucks in a Tornado Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Titles.  Since November, Sting has been stating he would retire at the 2024 Revolution PPV.  Leading up to the heart aching night, Sting had been a TREMENDOUS roll.  Along with the ever athletically feisty and gutsy Allen, the two were unstoppable together.  They were challenged (more or less) by a more sophisticated Bucks, as they were now going by their "birth names", Matthew & Nicholos Jackson.  In real-life, it's widely known that The Bucks, along with Kenny Omega, are EVPs of AEW, a move that still has generated tons of controversy over the years.  For this occasion, however, it fit and fit well, as they became more arrogant and power-driven then we had ever seen them.  On the 2/12 edition of Dynamite, Sting & Allen defeated Big Bill & Ricky Starks to become the AEW World Tag Team Champions, thus marking Sting's seventh Tag Team title in his career, alongside the likes of Rick Steiner and Lex Luger.  The victory was short-lived, as The Bucks, decked out in all white outfits, viciously assaulted Sting, Allen, and Sting's adult sons, Garrett and Steven with baseball bats.  A battered Sting and a bloodied Allen were laid out with the blood of Allen all over the outfits of the EVPs. While the next week, Darby addressed the Bucks (to critical panning by the way) and Sting was a no-show.  He showed up, as did Allen, on a video package the following week giving one of the most passionate and gripping promos he's done in years, as he incorporated in the real-life heartbreak of the passing of his father from the prior week, which presumptively is the reason he didn't appear the prior week.  The next week, Sting arrived in classic Sting fashion from the top of the ceiling reminiscent of his former "Crow" days battling the NWO in WCW back in '96 and '97. He and Darby went to work on the Bucks and the stage was now set for what was sure to be a memorable encounter for more than one reason and was it ever.  Having to follow the highly exceptional match of Ospreay vs. Takeshita was no easy task whatsoever, but the AEW World Title match of Samoa Joe vs. Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page did a great job. It was now time for the main event, as The Bucks came out first.  The former two-time champions and one of the most innovative and influential tag teams of the modern era were ready for a third reign.  Next up, the introductions of Allen, as well as Ric Flair and a surprise appearance by fellow Hall of Famer, and arguably Flair's greatest in-ring rival, Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, all happened to standing ovations for each.  From there, dry eyes became watery, as the video appeared on the screen of Sting watching old in-ring memories of him in what looked like a private theater.  While it SUCKED that we never got a chance to see his WCW, NWA, UWF, nor TNA/Impact work within the packages, he was able to see stills, images, as well as his work in AEW and NJPW with pride.  From there, the words, "It's showtime...for the last time" got us all in our feels.  We then had his eldest son, Garrett, come out, dressed up in Sting's gear from when he won his first NWA World title from Flair in Baltimore, MD at The Great American Bash of '90.  then, we saw Steven come out as "Wolfpack Sting", in which he donned a long hair wig and had his face painted in the black and red of The Wolfpack.  Then the real Sting came out, and to a thunderous, standing ovation with one of his old theme songs playing him out, Metallica's gritty, "Seek & Destroy".  The action started quickly, as all four of these men got involved attacking The Bucks.  However, things would turn up, and turn up big time.  We would see chairs, ladders, tables, and glass. The undoubted craziest spot of the match and the evening by far was when Allen attempted a Swanton Dive onto Nicholous, who was prone on a large plate of glass, and Allen missed, completely shattering the glass and ripping his back up to shreds in the process.  Keep in mind, Allen was on a sixteen-to-twenty-foot ladder when he dove.  Sting had to handle this fight two against one, and he did very valiantly for most of the fight.  In one of the most courageous and toughest displays of determination ever witnessed in today's era of wrestling, Sting was relentless in defending himself against the unpretty onslaught of The Bucks.  From low blows to chair shots to getting hip-tossed into a panel of glass and power bombed through a table, Sting endured it all.  At one point, even Flair tried to protect Sting and got superkicked for his troubles, as did Steamboat.  After half the match of being prone and hurt from the glass spot, Allen got back in action, and played a huge hand in the final few minutes, which saw Sting apply his legendary Scorpion Deathlock finisher to Matthew, and the elder Jackson brother tapped out to an ear-deafening pop from the Greensboro crowd.  Sting & Allen not only retained the Tag Team gold, but Sting retired undefeated.  With heavy emotion in the air, as well as a ton of pride and gratitude, the fans saluted Sting in his last commanding performance.  While many critics scoffed at the Allen spot, and some of how Sting was putting his body through its own bit of hell, the match as a whole was captivating, at times very uneasy to watch, but was a match Sting was more than proud of, and it was a performance worthy of going out in style for.  Although bell to bell, it didn't touch Ospreay vs. Takeshita, this match was special and told a story of a true legend and icon of the sport going out on his own terms and in a way nobody would ever forget.  To Steve "Sting" Borden, job well done!  Check the match out here.

Honorable Mentions

FTR vs. Castagnoli/Moxley/ AEW Revolution

Strickland vs. Joe vs. Page/AEW Revolution

Kingston vs. Danielson/AEW Revolution

Cassidy vs. Strong/AEW Revolution

Ospreay vs. Fletcher/AEW Dynamite 3/6/24

Hashimoto/Sharee vs. Cosmic Angels/Stardom Cinderella Tournament

Danielson vs. Taylor/AEW Collision 3/9/24

Oku vs. RUSH/wXw 16 Karat Gold Rush Tournament

Tsuji vs. Cobb/NJPW New Japan Cup

Danielson vs. Shibata/AEW Collision 3/16/24

Copeland vs. Cage/AEW Dynamite 3/20/24

Kingston vs. Okada/AEW Dynamite 3/20/24

Goto vs. Tsuji/NJPW New Japan Cup Finals