The Revival (professional wrestling)

The Revival is a professional wrestling tag team signed with WWE, currently performing on the Raw brand. The team consists of Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson. They held the NXT Tag Team Championship on two occasions, the most for one team.

History

NXT (2014–2017)

In 2014, after returning from injury, Scott Dawson teamed up with a debuting Dash Wilder with the two performing extensively at live events under the name The Mechanics. The two made their debut on the July 17, 2014 episode of NXT, losing to the team of Bull Dempsey and Mojo Rawley. They made only one further televised appearance in 2014, losing to Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady on the October 23 episode of NXT, but continued to wrestle extensively at house shows.

The duo resurfaced and picked up their first televised win on the July 29, 2015 episode of NXT, defeating Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady. They were involved in an 8-man tag-team match that was taped prior to NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. At NXT TakeOver: Respect, Dash and Dawson were defeated in the semi-finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic by eventual winners Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe. On the October 21 episode of NXT, The Mechanics' ring name was changed to Dash and Dawson. On the October 28 episode of NXT, Dash and Dawson would attack Enzo and Cass before their match, completely laying out Enzo while decimating Cass' knee, leaving him unable to compete.^[3] Due to an earlier victory over NXT Tag Team Champions The Vaudevillains, Dash and Dawson earned a title match on the November 11 episode of NXT, and won the match to become NXT Tag Team Champions.^[4] They successfully defended their titles against Amore and Cassady at NXT TakeOver: London. Beginning in February 2016, Dash and Dawson began performing under the team name The Revival.^[5]

On February 23, 2016, The Revival attacked Enzo Amore outside the WWE Performance Center.^[6] The team made their first appearance on WWE's main roster at Roadblock, successfully defending their championships against Amore and Cassady. On April 1 at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, The Revival lost the NXT Tag Team Championship to American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan).^[7] On June 8 at NXT TakeOver: The End, The Revival regained the titles from American Alpha, thus becoming the first team to gain the NXT Tag Team Championship twice.^[8] On the July 6 episode of NXT, The Revival faced American Alpha in a two out of three falls match for the titles. While losing the first fall via submission, the two were able to score the next two to retain the title. At NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, the champions retained their titles over Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano. In a rematch between Ciampa and Gargano (now called #DIY), The Revival would lose their tag titles at NXT TakeOver: Toronto in a 2/3 falls match after scoring the first fall via pinfall.^[9] At NXT TakeOver: Orlando The Revival would lose to The Authors of Pain in a Triple Threat Elimination Match that also featured #DIY.

Raw (2017–present)

On the April 3 episode of Raw, after WrestleMania 33, The Revival answered an open challenge issued by The New Day. They defeated The New Day, after the match they attacked Kofi Kingston, who was not participating in the match. They defeated The New Day once again the following week on Raw. On April 14, Wilder subsequently suffered a fractured jaw during an NXT live event, and was estimated to be out for eight weeks, putting the team on a temporary hiatus.^[10] Wilder returned 8 weeks later, walking backstage during the attack on Enzo Amore. Over the following weeks, Big Cass would accuse The Revival, among other suspects, of attacking Enzo. Big Cass would later be mysteriously attacked backstage, this time accusing the Big Show as the suspect. On the June 19, 2017 episode of Raw, it was revealed that Cass was the one who attacked Enzo after faking his attack to lure suspicion away that he was the attacker, with The Revival stating their alibi of being innocent. On July 10 episode on Raw, The Revival attacked The Hardy Boyz after their match with Gallows and Anderson.

In wrestling

• Double team finishing moves
  • Shatter Machine (Flapjack (Dawson) / double knee facebreaker (Wilder) combination)
• Double team signature moves
  • Backbreaker hold (Dawson) / diving elbow drop (Wilder) combination
  • Bearhug (Wilder) / diving leg drop (Dawson) combination
  • Belly-to-back suplex (Wilder) / diving leg drop (Dawson) combination
  • Clubberin' (Double beat down to an opponent in the corner)
  • Drop toe-hold (Wilder) into a running elbow drop (Dawson)
  • Figure-four leglock (Dawson) followed by a diving stomp to the opponent's knee (Wilder)
  • Powerbomb (Wilder) / diving clothesline (Dawson) combination
• Nicknames
  • "The Top Guys"^[11][12]
  • "GTTOAT (Greatest Tag Team Of All Time)"
• Entrance themes
  • "Southern Proud"' by CFO$^[13] (May 13, 2015 – June 12, 2017)
  • "Southern Proud (Remix)" by CFO$ (June 19, 2017 – present)

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked Dawson #135 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016^[14]
  • PWI ranked Wilder #132 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016^[15]
• WWE NXT
  • NXT Tag Team Championship (2 times)
  • NXT Year-End Award (2 times)
    • Tag Team of the Year (2016)^[16]
    • Match of the Year (2016) - vs. #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) in a 2-out-of-3 falls match for the NXT Tag Team Championship at NXT TakeOver: Toronto^[17]

References

External links

• Dash Wilder on Twitter
• Scott Dawson on Twitter
• Scott Dawson on WWE.com
• Dash Wilder on WWE.com
• David Harwood on IMDb
• Daniel Wheeler on IMDb