Quick Thoughts: AEW Full Gear
Back in the saddle once again for another round
of thoughts on an AEW PPV entitled Full Gear, in what is built as the final PPV
of the year for AEW and the first since their weekly show Dynamite came around
its a good gauge where they are when it comes to building on TV to PPV.
Personally, going into the show I felt that Full Gear came around too early in
Dynamite’s life and didn’t give a real chance to fully flesh out the feuds on
the show. But I really appreciate the unique stage set up used as it makes the
PPV feel unique not using the same layout as all other shows.
With that being said the pre-show kicked off with Britt Baker taking on Bea Priestly in a grudge match of sorts. In short it was a decent enough match, I don’t think Britt is over enough to challenge again for the Women’s title as of yet but her getting retribution wraps this story up in a neat little package (I do really like her Lockjaw submission move). The after match antics were interesting with Brandi and Awesome Kong coming out cutting a chunk out of Bea’s hair. I mean if this gimmick keeps it as Brandi as the manager and Kong wrestling I’m fine with it, I have no desire to see Brandi wrestle. I do hope this gimmick change for the duo gets more fleshed out as the weeks go on.
The main show kicked off with The Young Bucks taking on the Inner Circle’s Santana and Ortiz. I really enjoy both teams work so to see them face off these nice. Ortiz really brought it, people are still talking about his superkick sell and so they should, him and Santana are a phenomenal team and showed they belong in the conversation for best tag teams in the world. It was a nice touch them targeting the leg of Nick Jackson meaning he couldn’t perform the Meltzer Driver that would’ve won the match. These teams worked really well together and this had everything you’d want in an opening match and really hooked the fans in. In terms of the story the right team won. While the afters of the match were fun with Ricky Morton’s Canadian Destroyer the real point of this match was to elevate Santana and Ortiz up the card and for people to really take note of them. I feel this was accomplished.
The next match of the card featured Adam Page and PAC finally fighting on PPV. While they had a match on the first Dynamite which PAC won and Page pinned PAC in a tag team match, it was nice to finally see this feud come full circle and the two fight on PPV. Adam Page has had an uphill fight to get over following his initial push but over the last few weeks he is over with the crowd (I imagine the phrase ‘Cowboy Shit’ has had a lot to do with this). PAC on the other hand is always phenomenal. Again this match had the right winner especially with the ending call back to their Dynamite match and the low blow that swung it in PAC’s favour but this time being caught and countered with Page getting the win was a good way to end this match and add another chapter into these guys story. While I feel PAC is main event ready Adam Page still needs some work for that, it is a shame that AEW doesn’t have a midcard title as of yet as I feel that would help elevate him. A lot of talent on the roster like Sammy Guevara, MJF, Darby Allin and the aforementioned Hangman Adam Page are all pretty close to being able to fully help and impact the top of the card that either a programme or run with a belt to elevate them could really help AEW in the long run.
The next match was a bit of an odd one for me as Shawn Spears took on Joey Janela. I struggle to get into Spears matches now especially after his feud with Cody is now over. However, this wasn’t a bad match just not a great match perfectly fine in my opinion. I did enjoy the tying the hair in the turnbuckle cable spot as well as Tully’s spike piledriver. It was fine for the main start of a few not really build up on TV fully. Hopefully they can hook me and others in the a reason to care about Spears.
We then went to a promo with Kip Sabian aligning himself with Penelope Ford in and effort to fully flesh out his new heel character. I felt this was effective, Kip is a good talent but fell in the pit of a lack of build or character as with a lot of AEW’s midcard, hopefully this can push him in the right direction.
Next we had a tag team match as SCU defended against Lucha Bros and Private Party. Despite previous reservations Lucha Bros are great for the tag division as the main event scene is loaded at the moment and the tag scene needs top top talent. However, it was too early to take the belts off of SCU and with them pinning Private Party and not Lucha Bros allows their feud to continue. AEW is doing a good job of pushing Scorpio Sky as a top talent with the tag tournament and the reign as Tag champs. It was nice to see Christopher Daniels return although the Pentagon mirror spot I think wasn’t really needed and he could’ve just appeared when the lights came back on. But it is nice to see this feud continue.
After this we had the ‘official’ main event of the night as Chris Jericho defended the AEW World Heavyweight Championship against Cody. I mean to begin with that dive onto the ramp by Cody was horrifying and I hope that hasn’t caused any major damage, thankfully the match was able to continue. This match built up to a crescendo and was very well done, not the most eye catching in terms of moves but these two are more story and character driven acts and the match they had fits this. I liked the ending of MJF throwing in the towel for Cody it’s a case that Cody didn’t lose on his own accord but someone made the decision for him and Jericho has been great as champion so taking the belt off of him wouldn’t be a good idea in my opinion.
After the match we saw the betrayal that everyone has been expecting as MJF low blowed Cody. It’s been hinted at several times before mainly at All Out where it looked like MJF would hit Cody with the chair but didn’t. This will be a good feud for MJF as Cody is the best face that AEW has and this will only stand to elevate MJF up the card. On a side note I like the fact they have brought in Wardlow in a MIF’s heavy/bodyguard as it gives someone for Cody to get through to get to MJF and will help extend this feud as there is only so much two people can do before they’d have to have a match.
Our final match of the night was Jon Moxley against Kenny Omega in an unsanctioned match. The response to this match was divided to say the least. I really enjoyed this, it was something I don’t normally watch or see. I liked the variety of the weapons used in the match and really helped sell the two not liking each other. As for the winner I was happy that Moxley won as he’s my pick to take the belt from Jericho and this will help building him up even though the match doesn’t count on record.
Overall I really liked this show. The matches were good and it helped that they had a tv show to build feuds up but they need to do this more though especially with the Women’s division. With a lot of time between now and when the Q1 PPV is they need to look at building up feuds now. If I had to rank this it’d probably be my second favourite PPV outing for AEW behind Double or Nothing a solid show I hope they can build off of going forward.
With that being said the pre-show kicked off with Britt Baker taking on Bea Priestly in a grudge match of sorts. In short it was a decent enough match, I don’t think Britt is over enough to challenge again for the Women’s title as of yet but her getting retribution wraps this story up in a neat little package (I do really like her Lockjaw submission move). The after match antics were interesting with Brandi and Awesome Kong coming out cutting a chunk out of Bea’s hair. I mean if this gimmick keeps it as Brandi as the manager and Kong wrestling I’m fine with it, I have no desire to see Brandi wrestle. I do hope this gimmick change for the duo gets more fleshed out as the weeks go on.
The main show kicked off with The Young Bucks taking on the Inner Circle’s Santana and Ortiz. I really enjoy both teams work so to see them face off these nice. Ortiz really brought it, people are still talking about his superkick sell and so they should, him and Santana are a phenomenal team and showed they belong in the conversation for best tag teams in the world. It was a nice touch them targeting the leg of Nick Jackson meaning he couldn’t perform the Meltzer Driver that would’ve won the match. These teams worked really well together and this had everything you’d want in an opening match and really hooked the fans in. In terms of the story the right team won. While the afters of the match were fun with Ricky Morton’s Canadian Destroyer the real point of this match was to elevate Santana and Ortiz up the card and for people to really take note of them. I feel this was accomplished.
The next match of the card featured Adam Page and PAC finally fighting on PPV. While they had a match on the first Dynamite which PAC won and Page pinned PAC in a tag team match, it was nice to finally see this feud come full circle and the two fight on PPV. Adam Page has had an uphill fight to get over following his initial push but over the last few weeks he is over with the crowd (I imagine the phrase ‘Cowboy Shit’ has had a lot to do with this). PAC on the other hand is always phenomenal. Again this match had the right winner especially with the ending call back to their Dynamite match and the low blow that swung it in PAC’s favour but this time being caught and countered with Page getting the win was a good way to end this match and add another chapter into these guys story. While I feel PAC is main event ready Adam Page still needs some work for that, it is a shame that AEW doesn’t have a midcard title as of yet as I feel that would help elevate him. A lot of talent on the roster like Sammy Guevara, MJF, Darby Allin and the aforementioned Hangman Adam Page are all pretty close to being able to fully help and impact the top of the card that either a programme or run with a belt to elevate them could really help AEW in the long run.
The next match was a bit of an odd one for me as Shawn Spears took on Joey Janela. I struggle to get into Spears matches now especially after his feud with Cody is now over. However, this wasn’t a bad match just not a great match perfectly fine in my opinion. I did enjoy the tying the hair in the turnbuckle cable spot as well as Tully’s spike piledriver. It was fine for the main start of a few not really build up on TV fully. Hopefully they can hook me and others in the a reason to care about Spears.
We then went to a promo with Kip Sabian aligning himself with Penelope Ford in and effort to fully flesh out his new heel character. I felt this was effective, Kip is a good talent but fell in the pit of a lack of build or character as with a lot of AEW’s midcard, hopefully this can push him in the right direction.
Next we had a tag team match as SCU defended against Lucha Bros and Private Party. Despite previous reservations Lucha Bros are great for the tag division as the main event scene is loaded at the moment and the tag scene needs top top talent. However, it was too early to take the belts off of SCU and with them pinning Private Party and not Lucha Bros allows their feud to continue. AEW is doing a good job of pushing Scorpio Sky as a top talent with the tag tournament and the reign as Tag champs. It was nice to see Christopher Daniels return although the Pentagon mirror spot I think wasn’t really needed and he could’ve just appeared when the lights came back on. But it is nice to see this feud continue.
After this we had the ‘official’ main event of the night as Chris Jericho defended the AEW World Heavyweight Championship against Cody. I mean to begin with that dive onto the ramp by Cody was horrifying and I hope that hasn’t caused any major damage, thankfully the match was able to continue. This match built up to a crescendo and was very well done, not the most eye catching in terms of moves but these two are more story and character driven acts and the match they had fits this. I liked the ending of MJF throwing in the towel for Cody it’s a case that Cody didn’t lose on his own accord but someone made the decision for him and Jericho has been great as champion so taking the belt off of him wouldn’t be a good idea in my opinion.
After the match we saw the betrayal that everyone has been expecting as MJF low blowed Cody. It’s been hinted at several times before mainly at All Out where it looked like MJF would hit Cody with the chair but didn’t. This will be a good feud for MJF as Cody is the best face that AEW has and this will only stand to elevate MJF up the card. On a side note I like the fact they have brought in Wardlow in a MIF’s heavy/bodyguard as it gives someone for Cody to get through to get to MJF and will help extend this feud as there is only so much two people can do before they’d have to have a match.
Our final match of the night was Jon Moxley against Kenny Omega in an unsanctioned match. The response to this match was divided to say the least. I really enjoyed this, it was something I don’t normally watch or see. I liked the variety of the weapons used in the match and really helped sell the two not liking each other. As for the winner I was happy that Moxley won as he’s my pick to take the belt from Jericho and this will help building him up even though the match doesn’t count on record.
Overall I really liked this show. The matches were good and it helped that they had a tv show to build feuds up but they need to do this more though especially with the Women’s division. With a lot of time between now and when the Q1 PPV is they need to look at building up feuds now. If I had to rank this it’d probably be my second favourite PPV outing for AEW behind Double or Nothing a solid show I hope they can build off of going forward.
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