MJF defeats Bryan Danielson in AEW Revolution Iron Man match

MJF survived his first-ever hour-long Iron Man match, defeating Bryan Danielson 4-3 in the main event of Sunday’s AEW Revolution in sudden death overtime with Danielson’s own LeBell Lock.

MJF tried his best to cheat to win in overtime, distracting referee Bryce Remsburg with a teased belt shot only to attempt to then hit the challenger with the Dynamite diamond ring. Danielson countered into a hurricanrana followed by a busaiku knee that nearly got him the title.

After Danielson had MJF in a single leg crab, MJF tapped but while holding the ropes, tricking Danielson into thinking he won. As he approached, MJF (sitting at ringside) hit Danielson with an oxygen tank from under the ring, followed by him using Danielson’s own Lebell Lock. Danielson looked to be out, but got his hand up before his hand hit the mat a third time. MJF kept the hold on, however, getting Danielson to eventually tap out.

It’s MJF’s second successful title defense while Danielson is still looking for his first taste of AEW gold.

Getting to sudden death

With 70 seconds to go, Danielson countered into a single leg crab that MJF nearly tapped to, biting his own hand to prevent the tap. MJF survived for the duration, tapping just after time expired. They called for a draw and both men were tended to by medical personnel in the ring with MJF getting oxygen — the tank of which he would use to his advantage later.

Tony Schiavone, via Tony Khan in the back, then told Remsburg and Justin Roberts that the match would go to sudden death.

In a match that had several ebbs and flows and saw both men bleed, things escalated in a second half that saw MJF go airborne with an elbow drop through a table followed by a piledriver through the same table.

MJF was bleeding heavily with roughly 12 minutes left and submitted to a LeBell Lock shortly after that tied things up for Danielson at 3-3. MJF regained control and kept trying to submit Danielson afterward, working on his injured shoulder through several Salt of the Earth attempts. A bow-and-arrow type submission nearly got Danielson to tap with less than eight minutes to go.

With five minutes to go, both men began to empty whatever tanks they had left, unleashing hard forearms, a MJF Heat Seeker, and Danielson anvil elbows. MJF couldn’t follow up with a pin off a second rope tombstone piledriver on Danielson with two minutes to go due to an injured knee.

The match also saw MJF throw a drink on a young fan at ringside early on that was not part of the presentation. According to our Bryan Alvarez who was in attendance, the child’s mother was furious with Fightful reporting several AEW personnel, including Amanda Huber, tended to the family afterward.

Here’s the sequence of falls during regulation time:

• Following a wild pin sequence, Danielson got the first fall at around the 35 minute mark after a busaiku knee connected to go up 1-0.
• MJF later hit a low blow and got disqualified to go down 2-0. However, MJF then pinned Danielson twice in seconds (thanks to no rest period) to tie things up at 2-2.
• In the second half, MJF went up 3-2 after hitting an elbow drop on Danielson while he laid prone on a ringside table. He then hit a running piledriver on the same table, busting the challenger open. He began squeezing the blood out of the wound before sending him back inside for the easy pin.
• Danielson tied things up at 3-3 after submitting a bloodied MJF with a LeBell Lock.