AEW Revolution 2026: Biggest Winners & Losers

The revolution was televised, or at least available on PPV, last night, as AEW presented the 2026 edition of its Revolution event. We’ve already broken down what happened on the results page, and the staff has thoroughly dissected what they loved and what they hated.

That means it’s time to dig into the winners and the losers from Sunday’s big show. Sometimes winners were just that, winners, like MJF, who survived 46-minutes of horror to leave Los Angeles triumphant. Sometimes Winners are losers, like the man he beat, who has a lot to think about in the future, and sometimes someone who won is a loser, like FTR’s Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler.

Enough bloviating, here are the winners and losers from AEW Revolution.

Despite being a legitimate fan of his work, I have no idea who Hangman Page is, without the AEW World Title. I don’t think his loss on Sunday will permanently keep him from the world title scene, but he has been in the title’s orbit for the entirety of the promotion’s life, and it is time for him to figure out who he will become.

I think Cody was going for something similar when he strapped himself with the “can never challenge for the world title again” stipulation, but he didn’t have the history that Hangman now does, and so I am simply interested to see where Page goes from here.

We got a brief little taste of what it could look like, during his partnership with Speedball and Kevin Knight, and now he will be forced to dream up a future for himself without the title.

Wrestlers are artists, at the end of the day, and Hangman Page needing to be a viable world title contender has always been something of a restriction on his presentation. Page is now a free man, who can become whoever he needs to become, and do whatever he wants. Like I said, I assume this is a long road to him earning back the right to challenge, but that is fresher than the umpteenth Swerve Strickland feud.

When Swerve Strickland beat Brody King on Sunday, I was terrified that Hangman Page was going to win the world title, and force us into the umpteenth chapter of his feud with Strickland. Luckily for everyone, that is not to be.

Hangman’s freedom is Swerve’s freedom in this case, as Swerve is poised to face –at some point– MJF. Yes, Will Ospreay came back and so did Kenny Omega, but there is still room for Swerve to call MJF out on his nonsense and be the proud star that he’s been for the last few years. I’m sure Hangman will still be lurking in the shadows, ready to reignite the feud, but for now, Swerve’s road heads directly towards the AEW World Title.

While many are certain that Ospreay and MJF have a collision down the road planned somewhere, I’m not so sure. If Ospreay is going to finally win the AEW World Title this year, MJF is a good foil for his hopes and dreams, but Swerve is a great one, and one with whom Ospreay has plenty of history. Either way, MJF or Ospreay, the future is bright for Strickland.

MJF is the belle of the ball, the prettiest girl at the dance, whatever the metaphor, MJF is going to be the name on every main eventer’s lips for the next year. In some ways, he’s been the little brother of Hangman Page, as much the face of AEW as Page, but a little younger and a little snottier.

His victory on Sunday ensures that his entire summer will be spent being chased by a who’s who of AEW stars. Omega, Ospreay, Strickland, every one is going to be coming after the title, and therefor, everyone is going to be coming after MJF.

He’s also a much more confident presence this time around. The builds to his title matches haven’t relied on quite so much low-hanging fruit, and the time off has done him well because he also moves much better in the ring than he has in years.

It seemed impossible but MJF is interesting again, and having the spoiled champion survive a deathmatch that lasted longer than most episodes of “Mad Men” did a lot to make him look like the star AEW has often promised him to be. He’s made it very clear that AEW is stuck with him, and that can be an uphill battle for someone as bristling as MJF, but if he keeps growing the way he has, he’ll be able to keep his presence fresh for years to come.

God help us, Ronda Rousey is back.

The AEW Women’s Division was already pressed for time, and now they’re going to have to find a way to work the former UFC Champion into what little screen time they already have. I understand that Rousey brings a certain, gawking fanbase. There will be rubberneckers who want to see how she handles herself in a place like AEW, but it also just means that there’s one less spot for the women who have been grinding for years to make the Women’s Division mean something.

It feels like AEW has fallen for the old trap of picking up WWE leavings. We are about to learn the lesson we already learned with Adam Copeland, or Jake Hager, some people aren’t working in WWE anymore for a reason. I’m not sure what Rousey brings to the table, other than less-than-reliable freak show eyes.

If she’s just a guest, fine, but if she’s really going to become a presence on AEW television, I run the risk of both of my eyes popping out of the socket from rolling them harder than anyone’s rolled their eyes before.

I think that, if there’s three people in AEW who can afford a loss, it’s the perpetually-over Orange Cassidy, the bulletproof Darby Allin, and Roderick Strong, who loses a lot anyway, so what’s the problem? 

Which is why it was incredibly funny that the three men were able to defeat The Dogs, who are just now establishing themselves on AEW, after years as a Bullet Club offshoot in NJPW. Don’t get me wrong, the biggest star might be David Finlay, but that is even more reason to give the three men a little more legitimacy than whatever it is you call what happened on Sunday.

The Dogs will likely be able to come back from this loss, but it does kinda feel like they’re DOA. I’m glad Finlay’s getting paid, and I think Connors has star potential, but they are also the kind of talents who can easily get lost in the shuffle of AEW’s immense roster.

Maybe I’m wrong, in fact I hope I’m wrong, but it feels like they’re just waiting for Jay White and the Ass Boys to come back, unless they were released and I forgot. But considering I even had to ask, none of this is boding well for them.

Look man, I get it. AEW is for the sickos. But some of us are normal people who have to work in the morning. If AEW is going to run on a Sunday, they need to curb the 4.5 hour extravaganzas, or strictly become a Saturday night PPV promotion.

Last night was ridiculous. I understand that buying a ticket means you’ve got to take the ride, but I’m tired of wrestling punishing me for being a normal person, who works normal hours, and quite frankly can’t just mainline the product for hours on end. Maybe I’m just not the right kind of junkie for AEW shows, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not the only one. When you have both me and Dave Meltzer on the same side, you have united the disparate masses and should probably listen: The show was too f***ing long.

You want wrestling to live forever? You need to make shows that the kids can easily watch. I’m not saying give me a bloodless, 4-match card, but there needs to be some kind of balancing act. 

I’m tired of asking “Is this all a little too much?” and being greeted by the vacant, overstimulated stare of the AEW faithful, who seem to say “It is too much, and isn’t it great?” as their lives melt away, one overlong show at a time. This is one of the downsides of making a wrestling promotion for people who will stay up for NJPW shows until the cold light of dawn comes peeking through the blinds.