AEW Revolution (2021) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It took place on March 7, 2021 at Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida, while the Street Fight was produced as a cinematic match and was broadcast pre-recorded at an undisclosed location. It was the second event in the Revolution chronology and was AEW's first PPV event held on a Sunday.
Nine matches were contested at the event, including one on The Buy In pre-show. In the main event, Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley in an Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch to retain the AEW World Championship. In other prominent matches, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Chris Jericho and MJF to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championship, Hikaru Shida defeated Ryo Mizunami to retain the AEW Women's World Championship, and Darby Allin and Sting defeated Team Taz (Brian Cage and Ricky Starks) in a Street Fight, in what was both Sting's AEW in-ring debut and first match since September 2015, coming out of retirement. The event was also notable for the surprise appearances of Maki Itoh, Ethan Page, and Christian Cage, the latter two making their AEW debut.
Match Results:
The Buy-In Kick-Off: Tag Team Match
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. and Maki Itoh (with Rebel) def. Riho and Thunder Rosa
This ended the recaps and video packages on the preshow with Britt Baker announcing the surprise appearance of Maki Itoh making her debut stateside in an AEW ring to fill in for the "injured" Rebel. This match wasn't more than your run of the mill women's match you would find on a typical week of Dynamite. Rebel would lend the assist with one of her crutches to aid the heels in a win. This match merely served to further the Thunder Rosa vs. Britt Baker feud - something the Women's Title Eliminator should have done. In all due respect to Ryo Mizunami and Nyla Rose, but Britt Baker and/or Thunder Rosa should have won that tournament. Allowing Shida to select and book her own challengers is booking malpractice at this point where common sense booking should have prevailed.
The only positive to come out of this is that it seems we're getting a resolution to this feud between Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker in a non-sanctioned main event on the 3/17/21 episode of Dynamite, a first for the ladies of AEW. I wouldn't be surprised if Baker goes over there either, especially since Rosa has to wind down on her appearances with the NWA starting tapings after their upcoming restart PPV later this month.
Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team ChampionshipThe Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) def. The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho and MJF) (with Wardlow)
Tag Team Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship
What can I say here about this? It's a Young Bucks tag team match. It's either you love the dozens of spots, dives, and flips with even more near-falls/kickouts or you just don't like it at all. The only thing that really blew me away about this match was that the Bucks found a way to work with Jericho throughout the entire match to hide any signs that his out of shape ass was gassed within the first 5-10 minutes. MJF took majority of the abuse from the Bucks' offense here, but there wasn't a single moment where I was convinced that MJF and Jericho were going over, despite some outside interference from Wardlow. Jericho ended up eating the Meltzer Driver in the end, followed by the pin to allow the Bucks to retain - as he should in this situation. Everything Jericho has done since the Orange Cassidy feud has been absolutely a waste of his talents, especially when he came into this company at the start as the highest profile name on the entire roster. Now he's not even shadow of his former glory within the span of the past year.
Later in the show, Jericho and MJF had a post-match interview where they announced that there will be a "War Council" meeting of the Inner Circle to discuss some much needed changes to the faction on the upcoming episode of Dynamite. Anyone with two functioning eyes could see that MJF was staring a hole through Jericho - making it more than obvious that he's going to perform a hostile takeover of the group.
Casino Tag Team Royale for a future AEW World Tag Team Championship match
Rey Fénix (representing Death Triangle) won by last eliminating Jungle Boy (representing Jurassic Express)
Two tag teams started the match. Every 90 seconds, a new team entered. A team was eliminated when both competitors of the team were thrown over the top rope and both feet hit the floor. The match continued until there was only one competitor or team remaining.
| Draw | Team | Entrants | Order | Eliminated by | Eliminations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Natural Nightmares | Dustin Rhodes | 16 | The Butcher, The Blade, The Bunny, and Luchasaurus | 0 |
| QT Marshall | 7 | Himself | 2 | ||
| 2 | The Dark Order | Alan "5" Angels | 1 | Santana and Ortiz | 0 |
| Preston "10" Vance | 15 | The Blade | 0 | ||
| 3 | The Inner Circle | Santana | 12 | Jungle Boy | 3 |
| Ortiz | 9 | Jungle Boy | 3 | ||
| 4 | The Sydal Brothers | Matt Sydal | 3 | Santana and Ortiz | 0 |
| Mike Sydal | 2 | Santana and Ortiz | 0 | ||
| 5 | The Dark Order | Evil Uno | 13 | Marko Stunt | 0 |
| Stu Grayson | 8 | Bear Country | 0 | ||
| 6 | Gunn Club | Austin Gunn | 5 | QT Marshall | 0 |
| Colten Gunn | 6 | QT Marshall | 0 | ||
| 7 | The Pretty Picture | "Pretty" Peter Avalon | 4 | Gunn Club | 0 |
| Cezar Bononi | 10 | Luchasaurus | 0 | ||
| 8 | Varsity Blonds | Brian Pillman Jr. | 14 | The Butcher | 0 |
| Griff Garrison | 11 | Luchasaurus | 0 | ||
| 9 | Bear Country | Bear Boulder | 18 | The Butcher | 2 |
| Bear Bronson | 19 | The Butcher | 2 | ||
| 10 | Jurassic Express | Jungle Boy | 29 | Rey Fenix | 5 |
| Luchasaurus | 17 | Bear Country | 3 | ||
| 11 | The Butcher and The Blade | The Butcher | 23 | Daniels and Kazarian | 2 |
| The Blade | 20 | Pac and Fenix | 1 | ||
| 12 | Private Party | Isiah Kassidy | 22 | Reynolds and Silver | 0 |
| Marq Quen | 21 | Pac and Fenix | 0 | ||
| 13 | SoCal Uncensored | Christopher Daniels | 24 | Rey Fenix | 1 |
| Frankie Kazarian | 26 | Pac | 1 | ||
| 14 | Death Triangle {Team Winners) | Pac | 28 | Jungle Boy | 3 |
| Rey Fenix | - | Individual Winner | 5 | ||
| 15 | The Dark Order | Alex Reynolds | 25 | Jungle Boy | 1 |
| John Silver | 27 | Rey Fenix | 1 |
Boy was this match a carnival act until the final two to three teams came out. I couldn't help but laugh at the Dark Order having not one but four separate entries into this match, only to still walk away with a loss. The final moments between Death Triangle and Jungle Boy was great though and the true highlight of this entire affair.
That spot that I'm sure everyone under the sun has shared of Evil Uno overselling the hell out of that hurracanrana out of the ring from Marko Stunt should have had him laughed out of any locker room. I didn't understand why Dustin Rhodes was mad at QT Marshall for tossing out the Gunn Club. Everyone is in this match trying to fucking win and it's everyone for themselves, Nightmare Family members or not. Glad to see that they haven't lost the narrative on that storyline about if SCU lost another tag team match (non-battle royal) that they would split up for good. Ironic that they haven't had any matches on Dynamite. Instead, they have been regulated to Dark for the last few months. That's sad that the storyline/angle isn't getting more shine on TNT.
Singles match for the AEW Women's World ChampionshipHikaru Shida (c) def. Ryo Mizunami
Singles match for the AEW Women's World Championship
This wasn't a bad match. It just began to drag on a bit towards the end where both Shida and Mizunami did far too many near-falls for my taste. How many of these title matches have we seen at this point where Shida has to hit that Shining Wizard/Flying Knee that she does at least 2-5 times before she puts her opponent down? I have honestly lost count myself personally.
Shida girl, we love you but it's time to retire that Final Fantasy VII Remake-inspired ring gear and come out with something else.
Tag Team MatchMiro and Kip Sabian (with Penelope Ford) def. Best Friends (Orange Cassidy and Chuck Taylor) by submission
Tag Team Match
This was a complete waste of time. While I applaud Miro for his renewed aggression, this was a match that could have been on the Buy-In or on Dynamite the prior or following week - if anyone cared enough about it. I'm more shocked that they are continuing with this partnership between Miro and Kip Sabian after Kip and Penelope got married. I get that all five of these people don't have anything else going on, but you can't tell me that they couldn't find anything else for these people to be doing. Miro should be ripping guys apart on that roster like a phone book instead of doing this lame Twitch gamer/streamer feud with Chuck Taylor and Orange Cassidy. It's a waste of talent between everyone involved.
Big Money MatchWinner receives the loser's 2021 first-quarter earnings."Hangman" Adam Page def. "Big Money" Matt Hardy
Big Money Match
Whether it's "Broken", "Woken", or "Big Money" Matt Hardy, it seems like none of these schizophrenic gimmick changes for Matt Hardy are working. It's hilarious to me that the same people who are raving about this "Big Money" Matt Hardy gimmick were some of the same people who were laughing at it when he did the same thing in IMPACT Wrestling. Now it just seems like he's playing the part of a sleezy business manager, taking advantage of the talents that he employs. Much like the match before it, this was another nothing match that could have been on the episode of Dynamite prior or after this PPV or simply another match on the Buy-In earlier.
The only positives to come out of this match was a decisive win for Adam Page and potential for some hilarious segments featuring Page and the members of the Dark Order that he has befriended spending Matt Hardy's first-quarter earnings.
Face of the Revolution Ladder Match for a future AEW TNT Championship matchScorpio Sky def. Cody Rhodes (with Arn Anderson), Penta El Zero Miedo, Lance Archer (with Jake Roberts), Max Caster, and Ethan Page
Face of the Revolution Ladder Match for a future AEW TNT Championship match
I can't say that I was too surprised to see Ethan Page as the mystery final entrant in this match. He left IMPACT Wrestling a few months ago in huff after whining about how his final feud against the Karate Man didn't go as he imagined it, especially when people shit all over the "special effects" in that Mortal Kombat-inspired clusterfuck. I don't see how he's going to stand out on this roster when people were calling him discount/Great Value Brand MJF when he was in IMPACT. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Everything in this match was skewed towards Scorpio Sky winning it. He was the only one who was constantly climbing up the ladder and nearly pulling down the "brass ring" - yet another painful WWE "cute" jab/insider reference - at every opportunity. There were some interesting spots to be had here, but let's be realistic here for a moment and ask this question. Is there anything left in these matches to do that hasn't been done to death already?
I have to wonder exactly how "hurt" is Cody's shoulder when he's still going all in like this in matches, especially in a punishing match type such as this. Shouldn't he be gearing up to take some time off to be with his wife Brandi for the birth of their first child? But whatever, it's his life after all.
Street FightDarby Allin and Sting def. Team Taz (Brian Cage and Ricky Starks) (with Hook and Powerhouse Hobbs)
Street Fight
Right off the bat, the biggest thing that stuck out about this match was that it was shot like a segment in Lucha Underground. From what I have read after the fact, Darby Allin was putting his film editing talents to use here and tailored the match his liking on the cutting room floor. I thought it was fucking stupid that the commentary team were talking over this match as if it was live, when it was clearly taped in advance. If I had paid to see this event live, I would have been royally pissed off to see that this was taped when AEW made no announcement that Sting wasn't wrestling live on this show.
Speaking of Sting, I thought his weaknesses and shortcomings were hidden well here. This match was for him what the Boneyard Match was for The Undertaker last year against AJ Styles. Ricky Starks played the role that Styles did with Taker, making sure to take care of the Legend every step of the way and made sure he looked like a million bucks. Between everyone playing to their strengths and the visual presentation of this match, it easily made for the best thing on this entire PPV in my honest opinion. That's surprising too as one would think that people would be sick of cinematic matches after WWE abused them over the past year.
Between getting their asses kicked for two weeks in a row prior to this PPV and losing here, I can't see how anyone believes that Team Taz has any street credibility left in any shape nor form. Their entire team came down to lay waste to Darby and the 60+ year old Sting and still couldn't get the job done. I can't knock AEW on the decision to make Sting and Darby go over as that made the most logical sense, especially for Sting's first official match back in over 5 years. All that I'm saying is that Team Taz need to start racking up some wins after this is all said and done. This should be a group of killers, not guys who keep running from a 60+ year old man every week like a bunch of cowards.
Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch for the AEW World ChampionshipKenny Omega (c) (with Don Callis) def. Jon Moxley
Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch for the AEW World Championship
When it comes to these "deathmatches" between Moxley and Omega, I haven't been a fan of not a single one of their matches between the two of them. This is another that adds to that list. I don't think they have good chemistry together and I don't feel like neither man compliments the other's fighting style to both of their detriment. I did appreciate the small attentions to detail throughout this match as there were explosions that were triggered each time someone was thrown into the barb wire ropes or when someone went through the tables covered in barb wire at ringside.
Sadly, the only thing that everyone will remember this match and this entire PPV for is how it ended. After Omega retained the title after an assist from the Good Brothers, they beat the holy hell out of Moxley and leave him for dead in the middle of the ring as the timer is counting down for the timed explosion to destroy the ring. Eddie Kingston (Moxley's former best friend) ran out and dove on top of Moxley, covering him up with his own body while covering his own head like a tactical nuke is about to go off.
 |
| At least we know that Kingston still cares, despite how stupid this was. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to hear how pissed him and Moxley were when the explosion was a dud. |
The timer reaches zero and absolutely nothing goes off.
As a result, Kingston looks like a complete dumbass for sitting in the ring selling the "explosion" as the show faded to black with the medical personnel tending to him like he took a bullet for Moxley. Meanwhile, no one's tending to Moxley, who is a bloody mess as a result of this match and the post-match attack from the Good Brothers.
What makes this situation pathetic is that Tony Khan tried to sell it off as "Kenny Omega and Don Callis' poorly constructed death trap designed in crayons" when this is a company that never attempts to maintain any sort of kayfabe/believability when it comes to their storylines. The only thing they had to do was to own up that they fucked up and we'll try to do better next time. It's not hard. People make mistakes; nobody's perfect. Instead, AEW gave this piss poor excuse to their audience like everyone watching this show is as stupid as how WWE treats their "fans" from week to week.
Closing Thoughts
Like previously mentioned, the only thing that people are going to remember from this show is the hilariously awful ending to this PPV after they hyped up the spectacle of an exploding barbed wire deathmatch to no end. Imagine how Onida has to be feeling after they paid him to promote that crap...
 |
| Christian Cage is now All Elite. |
The ending of this show aside, I really felt sorry for Christian Cage. He came out without any fanfare, despite the fact I know I marked out when I was watching live and heard his old TNA theme (at least a remix of it anyway) playing over the speakers when he unceremoniously walked down to the ring, signed the contract and left without saying a single word. They couldn't cut time from any of these matches to give him like 5-10 minutes of time to speak to the live crowd? I mean, well shit. Thanks for comin', I guess.
 |
| Facts. |
I don't blame him for people being disappointed and/or underwhelmed by his debut either. That's all on AEW sending Paul Wight out there saying he's Hall of Fame worthy, high-profile talent. Of course people's minds went into overdrive thinking on the levels of CM Punk or Brock Lesnar signing with them. Christian Cage's signing didn't go over as badly like the "fart in church" like the ending of this PPV, but AEW's typical means of overhyping their new signings was to their own detriment here. It would have made a bigger impact if they didn't say anything and Christian just showed up as a surprise in the middle of this PPV to sign his contract.
There were some decent matches on this card, but majority of this show was stuff that could have been saved for Dynamite if we're perfectly honest. I do applaud them for making Sting's in-ring return for the first time in five years a sight to behold.
AEW Dynamite on TNT(3/10/21)
AEW Dynamite on TNT
Match Results:
“Hijo del Fuego” Rey Fenix (3-2 singles) w/PAC def. Matt Jackson (0-0 singles) w/Nick Jackson
Much like a lot of the Young Bucks' matches, you can toss the Lucha Bros.' matches into the same category of either you're going to love it or hate it. It's going to be fast-paced with a lot of high-spots, flips, dives, and near-falls with a lot of it not making much sense, but it's cool to look at. That's not a knock against those guys as they do a lot of spectacular shit in these matches, especially Fenix, but sometimes I wish they would slow it down and try to put a sensible, cohesive match together someday.
It drives me nuts too because I know Fenix is capable of it when he had logical matches in Lucha Underground that weren't all high spots. He can slow down and work smarter too. It's just that AEW's style allows these guys to work without any rules or logic behind a lot of these matches.
Backstage, Eddie Kingston and Jon Moxley ATTEMPT to explain what happened at the end of Revolution.
I could buy into Kingston's promo and this pretty much solidified the babyface turn for him in my eyes. Thank goodness too as I thought he was rotting away being associated with The Butcher, The Blade, and The Bunny. The only thing that I could knock in this great promo from both guys is that they had to make that snide remark against IMPACT (a company that they are working with no less) by saying that they probably paid for the bomb.
“The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes w/Arn Anderson def. Seth Gargis
This match ends faster than a hiccup before Cody is interrupted by Pentagon (dressed to the nines in a sharp business suit in the audience with a translator) challenging him to a match next week on Dynamite. Sure, whatever, I'm game for this despite feeling like this feud came out of nowhere.
I have NO idea what Lance Archer and Jake Roberts were talking about when they interrupted Sting. If they are going for a Sting/Lance program then my vote is on "all kinds of no". Let Sting work with someone else instead of another big guy that could probably put him on the shelf for good after doing something stupid in the ring.
This company has no fucking idea on what to do with Lance Archer. Some weeks he's in the right place and right match across the ring with the right opponent then another week he's running out, beating up random guys for no reason. For Christ's sake, pick ONE program for him and see it to its end instead of more of this schizophrenic booking.
“All Ego” Ethan Page def. Lee Johnson
The audio issues continued through the entrances and the first few minutes of the match and are fixed when they come back from break.
The audio issues were too distracting from whatever NBA game that was piping through so I was more paying attention to NXT at this point.
I did laugh at Adam Page showing up on the lawn mower that he bought with Matt Hardy's money before the Dark Order rode on that thing with him.
Christian Cage is supposed to be coming out for a promo but Kenny Omega, The Good Brothers and Don Callis come out instead.
The heels try to ham it up as the explosion at the end of Revolution went all according to plan, all while making fun of Kingston and Moxley. Omega even had the face palm-worthy line of the week, "69 me, Don!" before they reenacted the finish of that PPV to cringe-inducing results as they dry humped each other in a 69 position while the overhead cameras shot all of this. I cannot fathom how anyone is behind Kenny Omega as a heel. He's not a good heel. He's one of those go-away and get the fuck off my television level heels in the vein of Jinder Mahal. Yes, I went there. Say what you will about Omega's in-ring ability, but him on the microphone isn't it at all. Here's another thing that blatantly stupid about this: they have the cinematography eye and technical knowledge to frame this well and do something as extravagant as the cinematic match between Sting and Darby against Team Taz at Revolution, but they fuck up money shots during spots ALL THE FUCKING TIME on these shows. Jesus Christ, get your priorities in order.
I felt this segment took away all of the stink that Kingston and Moxley took off of the finish of Revolution at the start of the show, only to remind people how fucking stupid it was when Kingston and Moxley had already remedied that situation for the most part.
The whole segment ended with Moxley and Kingston brawling off screen with the Good Brothers while Christian Cage sneaked into the ring to size up Kenny Omega. It seems like they are teasing this to be Cage's first program and I don't know why they are setting him up for failure right off the bat.
If you asked me a few weeks ago, I would have laughed off the Dixie Carter and TNA/IMPACT Wrestling comparisons from about 15 years ago, but right now, Tony Khan is running his company almost in a mirror image to that train wreck. At least Dixie brought in Sting and Christian into her company when they weren't nearing the end of their mileage in terms of their name value and what they could offer to this young talent roster. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that Christian gets to have a last run in the limelight on his own terms - outside of the shadow of Edge and in a company that appreciates and knows how much his talents are worth. I'm just not a fan of immediately setting him up for failure in this feud for the AEW World title right off the bat. I don't understand why AEW insists on feeding guys to their champions right off the bat, only to "rehabilitate" them later then wonder why they aren't over anymore. After they had that first big loss at the title, how can you expect fans to still care about them after the fact? Unless you're already big fans of said talent(s), then it's hard to invest into that character when you see them lose at the first big opportunity. It's the same mistake that WWE does time and time again with their 50/50 booking that people criticize them for, yet wonder why no one is getting over today.
Trios MatchThunder Rosa, Hikaru Shida & Ryo Mizunami def. Dr. Britt Baker DMD , Nyla Rose & Maki Itoh w/Vickie Guerrero & Rebel
Trios Match
Watching the start of this match live, I couldn't facepalm and shake my head any harder than I did when the other girls involved into this match erupted into a brawl while Maki Itoh stood on the stage and sung her entire entrance routine. Shida came up onto the stage to intervene, only for Maki to give her the most polite, gentle mic shot I have ever seen in wrestling while Shida was left selling it like she got shot. Holy fucking shit this was stupid.
At this point, I just don't fucking get it about the grand fascination with Maki Itoh outside of she dresses like she's the wrestling equivalent to Misa Amane from Death Note. I'm curious to see how many people catch that reference...
Matt Hardy says that Adam Page stole from him but he has more than enough money to sustain their business through April 1. Page says he is adding a new addition to their group and introduces The Butcher and The Blade. He says they are going to destroy The Dark Order.
TNT Championship MatchDarby Allin (c) def. Scorpio Sky
TNT Championship Match
Sky cashes in his big brass donut ring tonight for a shot at the TNT Championship. Once again, Sky falls short, only to go berserk following the loss, signaling his heel turn. If his demeanor during his guest commentary spot last week on Dynamite were any clue to go by then this turn shouldn't have been much of a surprise. It's a welcome change too because we've Sky challenge for the TNT title time and time again, only to have it slip between his fingers each and every time.
I do want to applaud Darby and Sky for having the best match on this entire show. They had their high spots and dives here, but it wasn't just all spots like the opener. Darby got "hurt" early on into the match and Sky sunk his teeth into the wound like any predator should to work it throughout the entire match. This made for a great narrative from bell to bell here. While I don't necessarily want to see guys work a body part in every match, I do would like to see matches make sense in a narrative sense instead of coming across as entirely chaotic.
The Inner Circle's "War Council" meeting in-ring to close out the show
The Inner Circle comes out down to the ring for their “War Council.” Everything is skewed towards MJF turning the Inner Circle's members against Chris Jericho, despite Sammy Guevara's warnings, only to swerve everyone that MJF's scheming has backfired with the entire Inner Circle reunited against him. That turns into a swerve onto a swerve (or rather a hat on a hat in terms of execution) when MJF reveals that he has been recruiting the talents to make his own faction to take out the Inner Circle right under their noses. That's when they are all laid out by FTR (w/ Tully Blanchard), Shawn Spears, and Wardlow. On paper this seems like a good idea with MJF leading his own Four Horseman-like faction, but Spears is the odd man out. Don't get me wrong. I raved about Spears when he was Tye Dillinger in NXT, but everything he did on the main roster of WWE (or lack of thereof...) to the sheer nothingness he's done in AEW since it's inception - outside of legitimately busting open the back of Cody's head with that botched chair shot - hasn't done anything for me or anyone else to make him feel deserving of this spot within this faction. They had already planted the seeds for Adam Page to be part of this group when they were toasting together with Arn Anderson nodding approvingly during FTR's contract signing. That felt like a wasted opportunity.
Who knows, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself and Adam Page will be recruited for this faction down the road? This seems like the perfect position for Wardlow to be in for whenever he breaks off as a singles star after splitting away from MJF - in the same vein as Batista in Evolution.
On a positive note, I'm glad that they went with MJF to lead this faction instead of Cody as how it seemed like they were leaning towards initially. I think Cody realized that he would definitely end up with the Jeff Jarrett (from the start of TNA/IMPACT Wrestling) comparisons if he ended up being the leader of a faction with the wealth of potential like this.
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| Standing together, this group doesn't look too bad TBH... |
Despite the awkward execution, I liked this ending to Dynamite this week with this new faction setting the stage for what is to come. Rumors of the spoilers to the upcoming episode of Dynamite for 3/17/21 says that they are calling this faction "The Pinnacle" and I really hope they don't go with that name. I liked the name that FTR went with when they had that toast with Adam Page last year - "The Mid-Atlantic". It would be a clever throwback to the territory days.
Note: As of this posting (3/18/21), "The Pinnacle" is the name that they actually went with, so yeah...
