At the end of the day, Full Gear is a dumb name.
No Tony Schiavone on commentary tonight – bummer.
Elevated entrance ramp – COOL!
0. Dr. Britt Baker vs. Bea Priestley
Britt’s BMF walk to the ring was awesome. Bea has a heel thing to her but the unprofessional gimmick makes me reluctant to invest. Also maybe Kong wrote her off after the match? Either way – solid match, solid comeback. **
1. The Young Bucks vs. Proud & Powerful
Ortiz is crazy, I like him. I like Santana too. Their new tag team name – not so much. I liked this match as far as it being a fun bunch of wrestling sequences, but not so much as a tone-setting opener. For such a long match (21 minutes) it didn’t really peak and ended kind of sudden too. The actual content was pretty good though. I wish they leaned more into P&P getting armdragged than referee hijinks early on. Santana and Ortiz did a Gory Special/Camel Clutch/Boston Crab combo which was sweet. Matt Jackson did a plancha that got a great camera shot. Nick’s collapse on the Meltzer Driver was a little over-dramatic but the crowd’s SHRIEK was endearing. And Santana ate another man’s gum! Proud & Powerful win clean as a sheet. Good match, great look at Santana & Ortiz, but a bit much. Tighten it up, you know? ***1/4
After the match Sammy Guevara strolled down to the ring and brought out a sock full of quarters and he is such a scuzzy shit that it seems legitimate that his crazy dumb ass would not just bring the weapon but actually use it. Before he could though, The Rock & Roll Express (who were in the front row, yes) ran in and went OFF, baby. Ricky Morton did a Canadian Destroyer and tope suicida – absolutely unreal. Rock and Roll DID never die, baby. Great moment.
2. Hangman Adam Page vs. PAC
Another match that got nearly twenty minutes and fell flat because of it. I’m all for a good long match but you’ve got to know when it’s time to just get to the point. Adam Page and PAC six months into AEW kind of need to get to the point. There was good stuff here – PAC will absolutely be a vicious prick and stare people down and it’s very good, and he’s also very capable of all the cowboy shit Hangman Page wants to do. The brainbuster on the floor was wild too. Good work but nothing extra. ***1/4
3. Joey Janela vs Shawn Spears w/ Tully Blanchard
A slower and more deliberate match than the previous two and yet it both got its’ point across better AND somehow had more luatic spots. Spears is cold and embracing being the antithesis of AEW, while Janela cemented himself as the local nutjob – he took a powerslam off the apron, backbreaker on the top post, and a spike piledriver (with assist from Tully!) on the floor. He also did a somersault plancha that had to hurt. Spears tying Janela’s hair into the tag rope was a good bit too. Maybe it should’ve been… shorter? But I liked this. ***1/4
Kip Sabian. Penelope Ford.
4. Triple Threat Match – AEW World Tag Team Title: SoCal Uncensored [c] vs. Private Party vs. The Lucha Bros
Endless displays of insanity, and once again Fenix is the dude. A triple jump corkscrew plancha, c’mon. Private Party rules too, and Kazarian low key just keeps up and busts out his own crazy spots – it’s both the least spectacular and most impressive stuff in the match. The AEW tag division is good, but this was a wild match among many. Let the crazy breathe, baby. ***1/4
5. AEW Women’s Title: Riho [c] vs. Emi Sakura
This ruled, both a great standalone match and an impressive piece of business in that they had this feeling like a main event despite the on-screen effort not being there until the day of the show. Sakura was incredible here – cutting Riho off, throwing her around, singing along to a Romero Special, and pretty brilliantly going from charming to MEAN as she busted out backdrop drivers and nasty chops. The tilt-a-whirl backbreaker she did as Riho mounted a comeback was a thing of beauty. Riho brought it too, firing up with all the strength possible from a small young lady. I loved how Sakura made her work to lift her for a northern lights suplex too, and the cradle reversals at the end were incredible – blistering, logical, dramatic. Excellent wrestling. ****
6. AEW World Heavyweight Title: Chris Jericho [c] w/ Jake Hager vs. Cody w/ MJF
This, as with all the Cody stuff in AEW, was all about the presentation… and the presentation was tremendous. Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson, and Great Muta (suspiciously dressed as Keiji Muto) were introduced before the match as judges in case this Very Important Championship Match went to a sixty-minute draw. Cody made an entrance that would make Triple H take notice, with MJF at his side instead of Stephanie McMahon. The unique introductions that Justin Roberts gives both competitors are great, something I missed in wrestling. There is also an incredible bit in the middle here where Cody’s mom slaps Jericho twice and audibly says FUCK YOU, which was just the best.
What this was was a championship match. It went 30 minutes and it was very good, mostly because the long title match is a fading art and I am as shocked as anybody that the two guys keeping it alive are Kazuchika Okada and CODY. Jericho was along for the ride here, completely serviceable but reliant on Cody just Dusty’ing his ass off. They paced this to go long early, bringing all the armbars and stalling you could ever want, before Cody did a big dive onto the ramp and busted himself open by landing on his face. The rest of the match was a bloody Cody selling his ass off as Jericho punched at his wound and tried to put him down.
I can’t say there was a ton of meat here but Cody sold his ass off, the crowd stayed invested, and the MJF towel throw finish as Cody was trapped in the Walls of Jericho was well done. Good quality main event championship pro wrestling. ***3/4
MJF turn on Cody = worth every penny.
7. Lights Out Match: Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley
Well this sure escalated. It went from a silly hardcore match with trash cans and chairs to an absolute freak show with a barbed wire bat, bumps on gold chains, a dive over the top rope through a table, bumps on mouse traps, and a man’s back being dragged through shards of broken glass. If that wasn’t enough they suplexed each other onto a good old-fashioned barbed wire board in the United States of America on a national wrestling presentation. And they ripped up the ring and took bumps on the exposed wood, including a Phoenix Splash by Kenny into nothing and Ambrose dropping him with a high-angle Dirty Deeds.
And… yeesh. I get it, guys! Pain is only a four letter word, you’ve been held back from your full potential, etc etc. And you had a fun match, abeilt one that like many others on this show went a little too god damn long. And I’m not sure how I feel about that barbed wire board bump – while neat to see in this setting, between the ring crew dragging it out as if it was a set change and the Bucks and Page begging Omega not to go through with it, they made a real effort and making this crazy insane thing seem really stupid and fake.
All in all, a chaotic occasionally awesome match that was good fun but not the epic life changer they seemed to be going for. ***1/2
The MJF turn on Cody was a great wrestling moment, but otherwise this show felt a little cold. Pretty much all the wrestling was good but either went too long or was missing an extra ingredient to become notable. Good wrestling is good, but new wrestling company needs more than good wrestling. The last three matches are worth a watch, especially Riho/Sakura, but Big Tony needs to step in and talk to The Elite: The Bucks and their 20-minute opener, Kenny going full Big Japan for 40 minutes, even Cody’s big entrance and title presentation and turn… these guys are the pillars, but chill out a little. 6/10
