AEW Full Gear is a super good wrestling show and everyone should watch it.
Do you need more to go on? Alright, I’ve got all… article to convince you.
Do you need more to go on? Alright, I’ve got all… article to convince you.
It’s rare for a wrestling show to have fans go “I liked all of that match card and everyone who should have won did,” but that’s the kind of event Full Gear was. Now, if you’re a cynical smark, the one who thinks of a hundred ways it should go to the desired winner, then you could argue that it was a predictable event.
Then again, I doubt everyone out there predicted that we would see two beautiful men throw themselves at a pit of barbed wire and NOT have it be the end of the match.
So yeah, Full Gear was a pretty wild show and you should watch it if you consider yourself a fan of scripted grappling. It’s NOT for the faint of heart though, especially that goddamn, why-do-I-enjoy-this-kind-of-stuff Lights Out match.
Us wrestling fans are a sick lot, aren’t we?
Glorious Wrestling Violence
When Jon Moxley uttered those words a couple of weeks ago, fans wondered if we would actually get a match that would rival his days in CZW. While I have yet to see any of his matches there, this contest with Kenny Omega was a beautiful bloodbath, one that should be remembered for years to come.
In fact, I’d argue it was so memorable that I might never want to see these two share a ring ever again.
Admittedly, we’re probably going to see Omega and Moxley wrestle again sooner or later, but I don’t know how you can even hope to top this level of violence. We got spinebusters on shattered glass, ice picks on the forehead, the aforementioned pit of barbed wire that was incredibly unnerving, there was so much stuff they did here that I doubt they would be able to do better.
Then again, Kenny never hit that One-Winged Angel. I’m glad AEW is keeping Omega’s finisher this credible and could be reason enough for these two to get their barbed wire weapons ready for round two. Hopefully, it will be a straight-up singles match and one that actually counts on their win-loss record.
Bravo to both of these men for putting on an amazing hardcore match. Hopefully, they get this week’s episode of Dynamite off so that they can rest their bodies. Lord knows they’ve earned it.
Happy Birthday Chris! - MJF
FUCK MJF!
Sorry, getting ahead of my-FUCK MJF!!
Okay, first things first, this was a pretty great match. Cody and AEW World Champion Chris Jericho put on a quality showcase that would have been the main event of any normal wrestling show.
Cody was a great babyface in peril for most of the match, thanks to that bloody gash he got from a missed dive in the ramp he should NEVER EVER DO AGAIN. Seriously dude, that could have been concussion city if you weren’t lucky. Jericho was an incredible heel here too, always trying to get the cut open again with his fists, to the point that the crowd who had cheered him at first booed immensely every time he started to brag or stay in control.
And then that finish came, which pissed me off in a good way.
MJF, seemingly worried about his friend, threw in the towel after Jericho had locked in the Liontamer. Cody had already received a ton of punishment during the match, escaping a Boston Crab and kicking out of a Codebreaker, so there was always a chance that he could have escaped, but the hold was locked in so tight that no one would have blamed MJF had they not been suspicious of his behavior from the get-go.
The D&D-hating heel initially gave Cody a teary-eyed apology, which Cody eventually accepted. Had they ended it here, we could have analyzed this move to death and wonder if MJF really did it out of kindness, or threw in the towel to ensure that his “best friend” will never receive a title match ever again.
But it didn’t end there. After Cody forgave him, MJF straight up kicked him in the nuts to a chorus of boos. He simply said that it was his time and walked away with a smirk in his face, happy about the fact that his mentor will never get an AEW World Championship.
It wasn’t perfect; referee Aubrey Edwards should have disqualified Jericho for using the belt in his pants as a weapon, with Jim Ross having to come up with an excuse like Edwards being a fan who doesn’t want this match to end in such a manner. Sure, it’s a solid enough excuse but this wasn’t a no-DQ match. Still, it was definitely worth being the second-best match of Full Gear and arguably the best wrestling match of the show. I'm ready for Cody to get his revenge.
Proud-N-Victorious
As you can tell, this was a pretty good night for Jericho’s Inner Circle, and it all started with Santana and Ortiz picking up a win over The Young Bucks. This was a stellar opener and one that was actually pretty different from the usual Young Bucks match we see, at least from what this writer has seen from AEW.
Don’t get me wrong, this match was still filled with high-flying moves and cool double-team maneuvers, but the Bucks of Youth actually sold a lot for most of it. From what I’ve seen of the Bucks, it’s usually 10% selling and 90% flippy shit so they really impressed me here. Nick Jackson even limped later on when Kenny called them over during the main event.
Santana and Ortiz winning was the right decision since the two will likely challenge SCU in the near future (depending on this week’s episode of Dynamite, of course).
I would bitch about the Rock-N-Roll Express helping The Young Bucks beat the heels up afterward but we got to see Ricky Morton do a Canadian Destroyer and a suicide dive. No joke, that was in the first 30 or so minutes and should instantly make this show a must-watch.
AEW Full Gear gets an A. Not every match was great, but none of them were bad, and they all served a purpose. This is AEW’s last pay-per-view of 2019 and I can say that they went off with a bang…dynamite.
Elite Thoughts
- PAC and “Hangman” Adam Page had a pretty good match, with the originator of “Cowboy Shit” giving The Bastard his first singles loss in AEW. PAC was an excellent heel here, mostly using kicks and brainbusters, only resorting to high-flying moves to try and win, while Page proved that it wouldn’t be a bad decision to build this company around him in the near future. I really would have liked it if PAC had stayed undefeated for a while longer but this was the second match on the show and we probably shouldn’t have had two straight heel victories.
- Riho and Emi Sakura had the good match we all knew they were capable of doing, with the student beating her master to retain her AEW Women’s World Championship. Shame on those Twitter tough guys for wondering why this match even took place, especially after that spectacular finish. Sakura-san dished out some moves I’ve never seen, including a Vader Stomp and Vader Senton, while Riho’s creative cradle pins continue to be a thing of beauty. If there’s one thing to complain about this match, it’s that they played a great video package before it started instead of during Dynamite, which would have gotten more people interested.
- I wanted to like the triple threat match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship but felt that it was a bit off. There were moments when it seemed like SCU and the Lucha Bros were waiting for Private Party to do their cool moves on them, which felt a bit unnatural. Still, there were some cool spots here and it was nice to see Christopher Daniels return, cosplaying as Pentagon Tres, as Excalibur put it.
- The Shawn Spears/Joey Janela match felt like a showcase for the former Perfect 10. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, this could have been a match on Dynamite instead. I like the finish where Spears and Tully Blanchard used an Assisted Piledriver on The Bad Boy. Spears slowly becoming a psycho was also entertaining to watch, especially with how he wrapped Janela’s hair around the ring post, and he dropped his “10” taunt, which is a blessing.
Images from All Elite Wrestling
