AEW Revolution 2023: MJF Retains AEW Championship In EPIC 60-Minute Iron Man Match

AEW Revolution results, Sunday, March 5, 2023. Courtesy of our friend Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) of RAJAH.com.

AEW Championship 60-Minute Iron Man Match
MJF (C) vs. Bryan Danielson

It's main event time!

The pre-match video package for our final bout of the evening airs now, telling the story leading up to tonight's highly-anticipated, high-stakes 60-Minute Iron Man showdown between Maxwell Jacob Friedman and "The American Dragon" Bryan Danielson, with the AEW World Championship on-the-line.

After the video package wraps up, we return inside the Chase Center in San Francisco, CA. where the entrance theme for Bryan Danielson hits and out comes "The American Dragon" for our main event of the night.

We hear the fans go bonkers as the title challenger makes his way out and settles inside the squared circle for this hour-long Broadway battle between MJF and the Blackpool Combat Club member.

The lights go out and when they come back on they are red and dark. Out comes a band dressed in all black and lining up in aesthetic fashion at the top of the entrance stage. They play some music and then the reigning and defending champion makes his way out and heads to the ring wearing a mask, which he removes once he enters the squared circle.

Bryan Danielson has his shoulder and ribs taped up and stands in one corner of the ring as "The Dapper Yapper" Justin Roberts handles the formal pre-match ring introductions for this championship contest.

"The American Dragon" gets a nice reception from the fans when introduced in the ring. Now the champ gets his pre-match formal ring intro by Justin Roberts. All that's left now is for the bell to ring again and get this headline attraction off-and-running.

Now we hear the bell and this AEW World Championship 60-Minute Iron Man main event match-up is now underway here at AEW Revolution 2023. We hear the noise in the building pick up considerably as MJF and Bryan Danielson get ready to get this fight underway.

Slow action from these two here in the early going, as both men are clearly aware that they must pace themselves if they want to stay strong throughout the sixty minutes allotted for this high stakes showdown.

We see a countdown clock appear in the corner of the screen off-and-on, keeping track of the 60 minutes scheduled for this main event match-up. We see MJF roll to the floor and avoid the action early on, continuing in his theme of burning time off the clock and avoiding the action as much as possible early on.

Excalibur mentions on commentary that while 60 minutes in a hard-fought battle in the ring on a big stage might not be nothing new for Bryan Danielson, however in the case of the defending champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman, his longest match is just a tick or so over 38 minutes. Bryan Danielson has had matches as long as 74 minutes.

At one point, we see Friedman extend his hand to Danielson for a handshake, but "The American Dragon" is having none of it. MJF rolls out to the floor again and grabs a drink from a woman in the crowd and throws it at the person next to her. Danielson heads out to the floor after MJF, but Friedman sees this and rolls back in the ring to avoid him.

Now we see Danielson head back in the ring and the two take turns taunting each other. Danielson gets a close roll-up on MJF for a two count. Moments later, we see MJF run Danielson’s taped up left shoulder into the ring post. He rolls out to the floor again for a drink of water, which he also pours on himself.

Back in the ring, MJF continues to work over Danielson, focusing his attack on the injured shoulder of the title challenger. The action spills out to the floor, where Friedman rams Danielson shoulder-first into the steel ringside barricade.

Friedman tells the fans to move and then teases throwing Danielson over the barricade, only to instead turn around and roll him back into the ring, where he follows in after him to deliver some more punishment. MJF stops the flip off the fans. Danielson starts to show signs of life from here, and he fights his way back into competitive form.

Danielson goes for a suicide dive onto MJF on the floor, but Friedman moves and sends Danielson into the barricade again. He brings him back in the ring and connects with a brutal hammer-lock DDT for another close near fall attempt.

As we near the half-way point in the 60-minute time frame, we see Danielson score back-to-back falls in a short matter of time to jump up 2-0 over MJF, the first of which came from his running knee finisher and the second from a low blow by MJF immediately when the next fall began.

Almost equally as fast, MJF gets two falls to tie this one up, 2-2 with 30-plus minutes still remaining. His first fall came via roll-up as Danielson was recovering from the aforementioned blatant low-blow. The second saw MJF quickly cover Danielson again while he was still recovering from the same low blow for another quick pin.

Danielson is fatigued and falls backwards off the ropes in the corner as the action continues. He recovers and gets MJF in a figure-four leg-lock. MJF fell to his back and sat up when the referee tried to count the pin. MJF slapped Danielson and told him that he hated him. Danielson leaned back in the hold and then slapped MJF right back.

We audibly hear Danielson yell "come on!" at MJF and MJF finally rolls him over to reverse the pressure. Danielson rolls back and squeezes away until MJF eventually makes it to the ropes to force the hold to be broken. Now we see Danielson smirk and then taunt MJF before kicking him. MJF rolls under the ropes.

Now we see Danielson join MJF on the ring apron, where he goes for a big pile driver. MJF avoids it. MJF hoists Danielson up but he escapes. The two trade strikes and then Danielson drops MJF with repeated kicks to the leg.

From there, we see Danielson set MJF on the top turn buckle. He heads up behind him with elbow strikes and then eats a punch in response from the champ that sends him crashing and burning on the floor down below at ringside. We see MJF ram Danielson into the steel ring post and then place him on the time keepers table. He then leaps off the top and connects with a flying elbow smash to put him through the table on the floor.

Ringside officials check on Danielson as MJF rolls back into the ring and the referee begins his ten-count on "The American Dragon" as he tries to recover on the floor at ringside. Danielson eventually rolls back into the ring, beating the referee's count and avoiding going down by one fall.

On commentary, Excalibur noted that MJF was now officially in the longest match of his career. We then see MJF take "The American Dragon" out to ringside where he hits a leaping tombstone pile-driver on the remains of the broken time-keepers table.

MJF sells his knee after the move and Danielson is busted open in the process. Back in the ring, MJF hits another big pile-driver and goes for the cover. He gets the 1-2-3 and is now up by a score of 3 falls to 2.

After scoring the latest fall, MJF heads to ringside to take another drink, which he again splashes on the fans in the front row. The word on Twitter is that didn't go over well the first time he did that in this match, with a young fan potentially being the victim of the first water bath given to the crowd.

Now we see MJF playing with his food, beating down Danielson in the ring and taunting him all-the-while. Mocking him for being the supposed best in the world and telling him that he "f*cking sucks." He grabs Danielson by the face and taunts his kids watching at home, saying he told them this is what would happen.

Friedman blows his nose on Danielson and dares him to hit him with his best shot. Bryan then "fires away" (yes, musical pun intended) with a big slap that MJF responds to with a vicious head butt that drops "The American Dragon."

We see the action spill out to the floor again, where this time MJF puts Danielson's arm behind his head and tries to run him into the steel ring post, only for Danielson to reverse on him at the last moment. Danielson then runs the ring apron and connects with a knee on MJF to shift the offensive momentum back in his favor as the crowd goes wild.

Danielson heads to the top-rope and leaps, splashing onto MJF with a huge high spot that gets the crowd going even wilder. Back in the ring, we see MJF start to fight back into competitive form. He tries locking his Salt of the Earth submission-finisher on "The American Dragon" as we're now under ten minutes remaining in this awesome match-up.

A diving head-butt from Danielson off the top-rope busts open MJF. He then locks him in the LeBelle Lock finisher for the submission. With the fall going Danielson's way, the score is now tied up 3 to 3. Both guys try their LeBelle Lock and Salt of the Earth finishers back-and-forth but neither can secure it for a full fall.

The action continues and we see MJF connect with a nasty middle-rope pile-driver on Danielson. The fans chant "Fight Forever!" as MJF sells his knee and Danielson continues to spill blood from his dome all over the mat. We see Danielson finally secure his LeBelle Lock as the final ten seconds tick off the clock.

We hear the buzzer and the match wraps up with a final score of 3-to-3. This one ends in a draw? Nope! "The Dapper Yapper" Justin Roberts gets on the mic after the medical team checks on both guys and he announces via Tony Khan that this match will not be allowed to end via a draw.

With that in mind, Justin Roberts announces that this match will continue for one more fall under sudden death rules. The bell rings again, the medical team clears way and now a dejected MJF looks across the ring at Danielson as this match re-starts.

Danielson quickly takes back over on offense. He locks MJF in a single-leg Boston crab, working over the softened up knee of the champ. We see MJF with his Dynamite Diamond Ring, but the referee notices it. He takes it off MJF's hand and sticks it in his pocket as MJF is still stuck in the hold.

MJF ends up getting Danielson's own LeBelle Lock submission finisher on him and he yanks back with all he's got and eventually gets the win in sudden death, going up 4 to 3 and getting the win to retain his AEW World Championship in a match of the year contender.

Great, great main event here tonight. MJF's music plays and he celebrates with his title at the AEW Revolution 2023 premium live event goes off the air on that note. Thanks for joining us!

Winner (4 to 3 in Sudden Death) and STILL AEW World Champion: MJF

The Dynamite Diamond Ring isn't going to help the Champ @The_MJF tonight!

Order #AEWRevolution LIVE on PPV right now!
🇺🇸: Cable & Satellite, @BRWrestling
🌐: @FiteTV @YouTube @dazn_wrestling @PPV_com @skysportde pic.twitter.com/OPtbxsZfc8

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 6, 2023

Tombstone Piledriver by the Champ @The_MJF, driving Danielson's neck into the mat!

Order #AEWRevolution LIVE on PPV right now!
🇺🇸: Cable & Satellite, @BRWrestling
🌐: @FiteTV @YouTube @dazn_wrestling @PPV_com @skysportde pic.twitter.com/6TU5FpzdD0

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 6, 2023

MJF is going full HBK mode.#AEWRevolution #AEW pic.twitter.com/SPwkcD3g9T

— Sportskeeda Wrestling (@SKWrestling_) March 6, 2023