Full Gear was this past Saturday, and it felt like the reset button some fans desperately asked for got pressed. There were so many championship and multi-man matches, Full Gear was bound to be fun. But could AEW make amends for the insanity of the last few months after All Out? Would the show rekindle the missing fire?
Let’s talk about it!
Steel Cage: Luchasaurus vs. Jungle Boy
Our first match of the evening truly set the tone for what was to come. The steel cage match between Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy was the unexpected first match of Full Gear, but the intense feel of this match never stopped throughout the rest of the evening. It was the perfect opening match, as Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus put on a barn burner.
We all know the story. Former friends turned bitter enemies that can only be settled inside a steel cage. As ice cold as this feud became, that’s how hot this match was. Jungle Boy started bleeding after two minutes, which completed his transition into Jungle MAN. It wasn’t long into it when Jack had the proverbial crimson mask. But this match revolved the strength of Luchasaurus not being able to keep Jungle Boy down. The boy from the Jungle had a star-making performance.
It wasn’t long into the match before they were brawling outside the cage. Christian unlocked the cage, which got him thrown out by the refs, but this introduced all sorts of plunder. Luchasaurus grabbed tables and chairs…Oh my! This just escalated an already intense match to insane levels. Jungle Boy tried a Destroyer from a chair, his version of Christian’s Killswitch, and an Avalanche Sliced Bread with no luck. Luchasaurus wouldn’t go away.
But the heart of Jungle Boy ended up as the deciding factor. Despite Luchasaurus hitting a Tombstone and facebuster, Jungle Boy landed a chair shot to the head and an Elbow drop from the top of the cage! Lo and behold, the Snare Trap finishes Luchasaurus in an instant classic. This was one of my favorite matches of the entire evening.
4.5/5
Trios Championship: Death Triangle (c) vs. The Elite
The Elite are back! They were truly missed and the crowd let them know. You could feel the magic in the air when “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas was belted out by every fan in the sold-out Prudential Center. And that magic continued throughout this entire Trios Championship match. It felt like 2019 AEW again with the constant chants and cheers. There was even an interesting chant directed at a former AEW World Champion. This match, more than any others, felt like a return to a past AEW era.
And that’s a great thing.
All Elite Wrestling knows trios matches. The Elite and Death Triangle were in that trios match. What? Did you think the match would be BAD!? The match had a frenetic pace, the moves were insane, and The Elite played the hits. It was amazing. If you haven’t seen it yet. What are you waiting for?
There wasn’t much story until the end. PAC has been using a ring bell hammer to win matches, but he couldn’t convince Penta or Fenix to use it. He initially threw the hammer to Fenix, who ended up throwing it back. This allowed Kenny Omega to get the upper hand on Fenix. Kenny hit the V-Trigger and set up for the One-Winged Angel, except PAC eventually convinced Fenix to accept the hammer. Rey Fenix hit Omega with the hammer and rolled the Cleaner up to steal the victory from the jaws of defeat. Everyone and their mothers expected The Elite to win that match. A wonderful shocker!
4.75/5
Match of the Night
TBS Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Nyla Rose
Anyone following those first two matches was in a bad spot. The emotional highs of a steel cage and The Elite returning needed a slight low to help ease the crowd. Major props to Jade Cargill and Nyla Rose for performing in that spot because they killed it. Nyla continued her awesome mind games, but it didn’t matter as Jade put on her best performance to date to claim her title back.
The story of this match was a continuation of the mind games that Nyla Rose got under Jade’s skin. Jade started the match well by pump kicking Nyla over the ringside barricade, but Nyla evened the odds by using Jade’s signature moves and her own flying knee drop. Both ladies traded each other’s moves; Beast Bomb from Jade and the Jaded from Nyla. That was a nice touch. But, in the end, Jade Cargill triumphed once more after hitting the Pump Kick and Jaded for the pinfall.
3.75/5
That was Jade’s best match, even though it’s possible the wrong person won. The story possibilities of awesome personality TBS Champion Nyla Rose far outweigh what we could be doing with Jade Cargill. Who takes the title off of Jade now? Athena is doing awesome stuff as a heel now, so maybe her. But would Athena challenge for the TBS or AEW Women’s title?
RoH Championship: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio vs. Sammy Guevara
Full Gear was the evening of the multi-man match. They were all great and the Ring of Honor championship 4-way was no exception. Chris Jericho outsmarting the competition to overcome the odds is a tale as old as time. The wily veteran bested three AEW stalwarts in a fantastic match that truly shined on a special night for AEW.
This match had oodles of stories throughout this match too. Faction allegiances rang true for a good portion of the match. Claudio and Danielson would only fight Jericho and Guevara, and vice versa. The pace was through the roof right off the bat as they all fought hard and fast. That’s a rarity in a Jericho match. The cracks began to show as Jericho hit a Lionsault and accidentally hit Sammy, who was being held by Danielson. This led to the brawling crossing streams as Guevara began fighting Jericho.
I have been critical of Sammy Guevara in the past, but he shined brightly in this match. A lot of the story revolved around him pulling off the upset and doing everything he could to do so. He even hit the GTH on his mentor! For a quick moment, it looked like Guevara was going to steal it after that. The issues with Guevara tend to crop up during singles matches, where his lack of selling and psychology start showing, but he was phenomenal in this match. A bright and shiny bright spot in a great match.
Everyone traded moves back and forth, trying to surprise each other and steal pinfalls. There was an awesome spot where Claudio and Danielson were trading monster uppercuts. Still don’t understand how they do that. But when all was said and done, the legend figured out a way to win. Jericho surprised Claudio, who was swinging Sammy, with a flying Judas Effect and a regular one to finish the match and retain his title. A crazy cherry on top of a delicious sundae.
4.5/5
Saraya vs. Dr. Britt Baker DMD
Wrestling is awesome in 2022 because Saraya is healthy and looking great. Full Gear had THREE women’s matches on the main card, which is an amazing feat in and of itself. And every single one of them, including this one, was amazing and over-delivered. Nobody was expecting Saraya to come back, after five years, and put on a clinic, but she only had a tiny amount of ring rust. This match was way better than anticipated.
The story of this match was actually surprising. Saraya’s health and time off were the easy stories, except revolving the entire match around her neck would be a difficult balance to find. What moves could you do that would legitimately put her in danger? Apparently, neck breakers galore were perfectly fine.
There was a nice touch of psychology here. Britt hit Saraya toward the beginning of the match, which caused Saraya to writhe in pain and grab her neck. The Doctor looked concerned until Saraya shrugged it off. Britt then began targeting the neck with DDT and neckbreakers. She twisted the knife a little bit because Saraya’s brother was ringside. That added a little more emotion than the match needed. It felt a little forced.
Saraya made her triumphant comeback with an apron facebuster and a flying crossbody. This culminated with a Rampaige (I didn’t hear a new name…?) that didn’t finish off the former AEW Champion. The ending felt a little uncoordinated, but they both ramped up the intensity with a bunch of moves, one after another. Britt had a nice Full Nelson reversal into the Lockjaw.
When all was said and done, Saraya hit two Rampaiges in a row to put Dr. Britt Baker away to seal her comeback victory. This match wasn’t the cleanest match ever, but it was a lot better than expected. Saraya kept up with Britt, which ended up being a nice complement of styles.
3/5
TNT Championship: Wardlow (c) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs vs. Samoa Joe
ANDDDD NEWWWWW!!!!
Up next was a match between three legitimate monsters for the TNT Championship. At first glance, this triple threat had the makings of a frenetic bout between three dudes trying to kill each other. What we got was a little slower and shorter than expected, but fun nonetheless.
This match had one of the weirdest builds out of all the Full Gear matches. Samoa Joe and Wardlow were friends and teammates until Samoa Joe turned on him because “Wardlow forgot who was the most dangerous” member of the AEW roster. Then Powerhouse Hobbs was thrown into the mix to hit Spinebusters at random. This was enough to build a huge PPV match between these three behemoths.
Wardlow impresses with every single outing. He shines so brightly with his appearance, strength, and freakish athleticism. He was the star of this match. Early in the match, he emulated Jeff Hardy with a Whisper in the Wind and a Swanton Bomb. Wardlow is between 50 and 60 pounds bigger than Jeff Hardy and can do those moves. That’s insanely impressive.
Hobbs blasted Samoa Joe through a ringside barricade to neutralize him for a while, except the champ was tuning up the symphony inside the ring. Wardlow started the Powerbomb Symphony and conducted a couple of movements, but was interrupted by Samoa Joe hitting Wardlow with his Ring of Honor championship. Joe snuck into the ring out of nowhere, neutralized Wardlow, and stole the TNT Title by submitting Hobbs with a Rear Naked Choke. Samoa Joe is a double champion in another surprising result.
3.5/5
- Jericho and Hager backstage with Schiavone. Orange Cassidy has a friend that is a former Ring of Honor Champion…Tomohiro Ishii versus Jericho this week on Dynamite. Also, apparently Cassidy is facing Jake Hager for the All-Atlantic Championship
Darby Allin & Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal
You don’t always get what you want in life. Darby Allin and Sting could be having amazing tag matches with the stalwarts of the division. They could be telling a breakup story between the mentor and the student. Instead, we get Darby Allin and Sting against Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal in a No DQ match. Nobody wanted this match. We surely didn’t expect this match. And you know what? Honestly, it was pretty good.
This match had no story. It was four dudes going haywire for ten minutes. Jeff Jarrett and Jay Lethal tried outsmarting Darby and Sting with an army of Sting lookalikes, but it didn’t work. Sting surprised Jarrett from behind in a fun little beginning part. All four men battled through the crowd a little bit. Sting did his routine crazy jump from one high point.
The best part of this match only involved one member of it. Darby Allin had grabbed a tall ladder and attempted his first of many Coffin Drops, but Satnam Singh appeared from nowhere and caught him like an irritated mother grabbing her small child from a tree. Outside of this, it was a standard match. Nothing crazy happened. Jarrett got a guitar shot on Darby Alling, which was unsurprising.
The match ended after Sting and Darby did a cool double team Coffin Drop Scorpion Deathdrop to neutralize Satnam. They did something similar to Lethal to finish the match.
3.25/5
AEW Women’s Championship: Toni Storm (c) vs. Jaime Hayter
ANDDD NEWWWWW!!!!
The third and final Women’s match on the evening was head and shoulders above the other two. Toni Storm and Jaime Hayter fought for the AEW Women’s World Championship in a match of the night contender. Both ladies gave everything they had in a slugfest that should be considered one of AEW’s best women’s matches of the year.
The story of this one revolved around both ladies being former roommates. They knew each other’s signature and finishing moves and tendencies so well that they could counter and survive. Both ladies even hit the other’s finishers toward the end. They battled all over the ring and ringside area; doing what they could to neutralize the other. Storm used her Hip Attack often to try and knock out her former friend.
Not enough can be said about Jaime Hayter’s increase in confidence as a character. She would hit a move, pose, and continue the punishment of Toni. She even messed with referee Paul Turner at one point. Her doing cocky covers fits her persona perfectly too. Hayter truly believes nobody can stop her right now. She may have a point…
Toni Storm did her damnedest, however. She strung together a Thesz Press, Diving Crossbody, and a Swinging DDT to even the momentum. Body ladies almost got knocked out after a headbutt resulted in a two count.
The match escalated toward its conclusion after Rebel came down to the ring. Jaime had previously told Britt Baker and Rebel that she didn’t need help, but her friends decided to assist anyway. Rebel got herself ejected after hitting Toni Storm with the belt and getting caught with it. Storm kept rolling, which led to Britt Baker curb stomping her onto the belt, but Toni wouldn’t stay down for a three count.
A three on one match was too much for Toni Storm to overcome. Britt removed the turnbuckle pad, which allowed Hayter to push Toni into the metal buckle and hit the Hayterade lariat to finally win the match. Jaime Hayter is the new AEW Women’s Champion!
4.25/5
The interference at the end was a little wonky. It felt a little overbooked, but making Storm look unbeatable was probably the point.
AEW Tag Championship: The Acclaimed (c) vs. Swerve in Our Glory
Recapturing the magic of a match is difficult. The Acclaimed and Swerve in Our Glory had one of the best matches of the year at All Out but never found that same high in the two subsequent matches. That being said, it’s difficult to find a tag program where all four members come out looking better than before. A quality story is necessary for that, which this match overflowed with. I don’t usually detail most of a match, but this match deserved it.
Everything came to a head in this rubber match between heated rivals. Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee’s internal turmoil boiled over finally, Anthony Bowens’s injury history, and The Acclaimed overcoming all of it to stay AEW Tag Team Champions.
Everyone was wondering how injured Anthony Bowens was. Swerve and Keith Lee spent a good portion of the match targeting it and making it worse. This is where things got interesting. Keith was doing it for a competitive advantage, but Swerve wanted to cripple Bowens. Swerve went out of his way to grab a ring barricade, which angered the big man still fighting in the ring.
Both teams got back to fighting after this. Bowens was isolated, and Caster got a hot tag, which then led to a cool tandem facebuster cutter move. Here’s where the barricade came back into play, as Keith Lee saved his partner from falling into it, only to get hit with a crossbody and fall into the barricade himself. That escalating Lee’s anger was a nice touch.
The Acclaimed showed their resilience throughout. They built momentum, but Bowens couldn’t hold his arm up attempting a tandem move. Swerve had enough of The Acclaimed and found the pliers he used to break Billy Gunn’s fingers. Keith Lee threw the pliers away, got himself a smack in the face by the enraged Swerve, and walked out on his partner. The Limitless One had enough of his partner’s antics and abandoned a championship opportunity. Acclaimed hit their tandem move that Bowens couldn’t hit earlier to win the match.
4/5
AEW World Championship: Jon Moxley (c) vs. MJF
ANNNDDDD NEWWWWW!!!!
The main event of the evening saw the sunset of one era into the dawn of a new one. Jon Moxley took on MJF for the AEW World Championship in a good match with a great ending. Everyone saw the end of Mox’s reign coming, but AEW added a little salt to the wound of the Blackpool Combat Club leader.
The crowd was completely behind MJF in this one, which allowed Jon Moxley to do something he’s never done as an AEW talent: be a heel. This was a fun character shift with Moxley flipping off the crowd numerous times. Moxley played the bully heel by dominating Max for a good portion of this match too. He relished the opportunity to punish the Devil of AEW. Moxley wasn’t impressed by MJF in the slightest. That confirmed what he said throughout the build as well.
MJF evened the odds with a lariat and arm whip. This allowed him to grab the timekeeper’s table and set it next to the ring. Unfortunately for MJF, he hurt his knee attempting a piledriver on the apron, which led to Moxley hitting his own piledriver through the table that he set up himself.
Moxley then started targeting MJF’s knee straightaway. Regardless of MJF gaining momentum with the Heatseeker, Moxley used a Figure Four and chop block to continuously punish the young star. By the time Moxley hit an Avalanche Paradigm Shift, it looked like MJF was down for the count. Then again, someone else had other plans…
Ultimately, MJF could not defeat Jon Moxley. He didn’t have what it took. For this reason, MJF pulled referee Bryce Remsburg in front of Moxley delivering a lariat. MJF had previously vowed to defeat Moxley the right way, but that wasn’t the case at all. MJF then pulled out the Dynamite Diamond Ring, that trusty tool he’s always used, to steal the victory. This triggered William Regal down to ringside, who berated MJF and then slipped the brass knuckles into the ring. MJF won after blasting Moxley in the face.
4/5
The Devil and the Gentleman Villain.
Overall
And that was how Full Gear ended! With the betrayal of betrayals! William Regal abandoned his Blackpool Combat Club faithful to align himself with MJF. That crazy ending capped off a wonderful evening of Professional Wrestling.
Full Gear was AEW’s best PPV of 2022. It had everything you want from a wrestling show. Great matches with equally great stories from top to bottom. Nothing about this show had a down moment. One could even argue that it’s one of AEW’s best PPVs ever. Even the lauded All Out from 2021 had Paul Wight and QT Marshall in a nonsense match. Full Gear was one of the most complete shows AEW has produced.
The only thing it didn’t have was a shock return or debut, but it’s important to realize that AEW cannot do that for every show. That well has slightly dried up. Ultimately, Full Gear was a great show because of the current AEW performers. That’s great to see.
Verdict: 4.5/5