Earlier today, news broke that the first WWE Tag Team Triple Crown Champions (Raw/SD/NXT) The Revival, have been granted their release after months of speculation on their future. Over the past couple of years, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder have occasionally popped up in our news feeds with reports of being unhappy with WWE’s booking and creative. After threatening to leave the company several times, it seems that management have finally come to terms with the fact they can no longer work together.
And I’m sure this news will not please the likes of Triple H, who spent considerable time and resource building up The Revival as one of the best teams WWE has from a worker’s perspective. Their matches with DIY (Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano), Undisputed ERA, American Alpha, the Authors Of Pain, The New Day, The Usos, and others, have been praised as some of the best tag team action of recent years. Sadly for him, the unforgiving land of the main roster did not play too kindly with the throwbacks; who are known more for their old school mentality and straight up fighting attitude, than others who rely on flips, dives and flashy gimmicks.
Where Will They Go?
With that said, let’s take a look at their options post-WWE. I have them listed in a way to show where I believe they will benefit the most; but by no means am I saying they can’t work for several companies simultaneously. Becoming free agents could be their best option, as they may want to test the waters before committing themselves to a promotion they can call home for years to come:
#5. Rebirth / Tear Away
My first point isn’t touching on the subject of where they’ll land, but how they will. Just because they were called The Revival in WWE, doesn’t mean they will be called the same elsewhere. And who’s to say they won’t change literally everything about themselves? Maybe they will adopt an entirely new look? Perhaps they’re sick of #FTR and no flips, just fists? Who needs it, right? If there’s any time to ditch the old throwback ways and evolve in to a team befitting of 2020, this would be it. However, there is another option many may not have considered.
What if they split altogether? Part of the issue (for me at least), is that they’ve never proved themselves individually. Granted, some of the best teams of all time never did so either, but in this era it doesn’t hurt to prove your individual worth. Could Scott Dawson set the world on fire by himself? Would Dash Wilder become a household name fans will pay to see? These are questions which could have prayed on their minds for a while.
What if they break away from each other for a couple of years and then reunite further down the road? At least that way, they will be renewed with a fresh sense of experiences to draw from. They’ll no longer be so heavily reliant on each other to get bookings, and if one gets injured? Well, the other isn’t hurt anywhere near as much. But in saying this, it is undoubtedly a massive risk. They may want to strike while the iron is hot, much like most former WWE superstars do after getting released. Also, money talks.
#4. Impact Wrestling
LOLTNA!? I must be kidding right? Actually no, I’m not. After Impact lost the likes of The Lucha Brothers and LAX (Ortiz & Santana) to AEW last year, their tag team division has been starved so much.. it’s been headed by The North. Who? Exactly. Now, I’m not taking anything away from Ethan Page & Josh Alexander, they are clearly a solid team who did deserve a run with the titles at some point. However, if LAX and the Lucha Bros were still there? There’s no way in hell they’d become the longest reigning tag team champions in company history. They have zero competition, and this division is begging for a team like The Revival to take the reins and dominate it for as long as they like.
They would bring tag team action back to the forefront of its weekly programming, in a time when women like Tessa Blanchard and Taya Valkyrie are fighting over the World Championship. And the cool thing with Impact Wrestling is? They have good management now. Scott D’Amore, Don Callis and others will let them work elsewhere because they’re cool guys. There’s a ton of potential for The Revival to prove themselves as a top team again, getting back in to the flow of things before moving on to something bigger in 2021. Even if it’s just a stopgap measure, I think it will be healthy for them.
#3. AE-DUBYA
All Elite Wrestling will undoubtedly be on the lips of most wrestling fans around the world, the second after reading the news of The Revival’s departure. But you know, while it would be huge for them to stroll on to Dynamite and begin working their way up the tag team division rankings at a rapid pace, I sit here like a cheap version of Bad News Barrett raring to deliver some BAD NEWS!
Yet, I do so knowing I won’t get much joy in saying what I am about to say. AEW’s tag team division is already incredibly stacked! It’s already at bursting point. Let’s take a look at the plethora of teams already scratching & clawing their way.. just to get the pleasure of having any form of airtime on Dynamite:
- Kenny Omega & Hangman Page (champions)
- The Young Bucks
- SoCal Uncensored
- The Lucha Brothers
- The Dark Order (Evil Uno & Stu Grayson)
- Proud N’ Powerful (Ortiz & Santana)
- Best Friends
- Private Party
- Jurassic Express
- The Butcher & The Blade
- The Hybrid 2
- The Natural Nightmares
- MJF & Wardlow
- Shawn Spears & ??? (Spears is still looking for someone)
That’s at least fourteen different teams for a two-hour show! Then there’s other potential random partnerships like Cody & Dustin Rhodes, Kenny Omega & Michael Nakazawa, Chris Jericho & Jake Hager or Sammy Guevara (Inner Circle), and lesser forms of The Dark Order. It’s safe to say, that if The Revival do want to show up on Dynamite? They better have some guaranteed airtime penciled in to their contracts.. or there’s no point signing on the dotted line. The only other way? Is if AEW starts releasing some of these lesser teams to make room.
#2. NWA Powerrr
While working for the NWA may seem like a considerably huge step down, I think NWA Powerrr would be the perfect setting for them. The only issue I can see though.. is that they won’t get to work as longer matches as they would ideally like (the show is only an hour long). Nevertheless, the NWA division has a whole range of potential match ups with James Storm & Eli Drake, The Rock N’ Roll Express, Strictly Business, The Question Mark & Aron Stevens, Outlaw Inc, The Dawsons, and The Bouncers battling over the classic NWA World Tag Team Championship.
And if they wanted to split up down the road? The NWA offers solid character development with the intimate way they do promos. So if there’s anywhere I believe they could get over in a whole other way than anywhere else? It would be with Billy Corgan’s reborn National Wrestling Alliance. The perfect throwback promotion for a throwback tag team. Of course, they could still end up working elsewhere while being contracted with the NWA, so it’s not like it would be the only place we would see them.
#1. New Japan
While some wrestling fans are dying to see The Revival taking on The Young Bucks on Dynamite, there will be another group who would prefer they sign with New Japan. At least there, they are far more likely to be guaranteed the time to showcase their skills and work matches better than they ever did in WWE. I’m sure there’s a whole range of teams eager to work with them, including the current champions Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi. Outside of them, there’s many sub-teams from stables Los Ingobernables de Japon, Bullet Club, Taguchi Japan, Suzuki-gun and more.
While I’m not the biggest follower of New Japan, I am aware that Guerillas Of Destiny are the most consistent in claiming their main tag team championships, so they will be the target for The Revival to overcome in the long-term. They have also called out The Revival in the past. New Japan could serve as a 1-2 year adventure for Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder, just to give them the love for professional wrestling again. It’s done wonders for many English-speaking talents over the years, as they can use the platform to be taken seriously with the freedom to wrestle the style they want. The Japanese fans are some of the most loyal and respectful in the world, and I’m sure they will appreciate the talents of this tag team more than any other.
Where would you like to see The Revival go? And where do you think they will end up? Of course, it’s going to be a while amid what’s going on in the world right now. This gives us, and them, plenty of time to weigh up the options and think about what the future holds. Which tag teams would you like to see them work with? Thank you reading guys! And I hope to have more for you soon. Stay safe and farewell.
Guys, for shoot, even if you called us boring or said we have dad bods or no charisma or can’t cut a promo, I love all of y’all. Professional Wrestling has always been my dream. Y’all made it possible. #FTR
— Scott Dawson (@ScottDawsonWWE) April 9, 2020
