Our 4-year-old came home one day declaring a new catchphrase: “No drama!” (or “NO! DRA-MA!”) It was cute, funny, and a good word to use to find out about his day: “Was there any drama today?” got a much more comprehensive response than the ol’ “How was school?” (answer, always: “so much fun”). A few weeks later we found out “no drama” was the top rule at daycare. It’s a good rule. Wrestling’s goal is to create drama on-screen, sure, but I’m not so sure about the claim a lot of old hats make that some of the best wrestling comes from the drama off-screen. Wrestling colleagues fighting seems really badass and awesome until the actual wrestling starts to suck.
CM Punk’s return to wrestling delivered some of the best of wrestling, ushering in an era of excitement that gave way too quickly bloat, disappointment and DRAMA. When we last left AEW in September at All Out, they were in dire straits because of it, albeit the longstanding kind that involved millions of dollars. That night began with the return of MJF (following his own summer of drama) and ended with CM Punk regaining the AEW World Title (following, apparently, years of the it).
At the press conference after, Punk — bloody, injured again, seated next to Tony Khan — went on a public rant directed towards Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and even Cabana’s mom, then fought Omega and the Bucks backstage with Ace Steele — like for real. It was crazy, albeit the kind of crazy that’s revealed in snippets of drama released over time in the weeks to follow.
Two-and-a-half months later, Punk was no longer World Champion or even around in AEW and MJF was challenging Moxley for the World Title. Was it good? Bad? Who was asking? Who was answering?
Long before AEW, before the first Full Gear and second and third, before Hangman’s gratifying World Title win and disappointing title reign, before CM Punk debuted and Cody Rhodes departed, before injuries and interim champions, it was still just pro wrestling. Was it good? Bad? I couldn’t tell you that. Sometimes it wasn’t for you. Sometimes it tried to be and missed the mark. Other times, many other times, any analysis was being influenced by continuously changing forces nobody had a full grasp on anyways.
The fourth AEW Full Gear was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
0. Orange Cassidy, Best Friends, Rocky Romero & A Very Evil, Very Mysterious Partner vs. QT Marshall, Nick Comoroto, Aaron Solo, Lee Johnson & Cole Karter
Fun! Light-hearted! Quirky! These were the nice words that came to mind while I watched this match. Most of it was 5-on-4 as the mystery partner wasn’t revealed until later, surprising no one when it was Danhausen — an upgraded version with color in his facepaint and a mason jar of teeth. As a hook to give Danhausen more credibility this could be good, even if loose teeth are so gross. The Factory’s mid-match cut-off of The Best Friend’s group hug was good too. ***
0. AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament – Semi Final: Ricky Starks vs. Brian Cage w/ Prince Nana
This match started hot and ended hot; it’s just there were 10 minutes in between. Starks going at Cage at the bell was awesome, his selling and bumps were emotive and kept the action interesting, and then they tried to have a whole other match that eventually got a pop at the 3 but should’ve ended with a flash cradle or something. ***
0. Eddie Kingston vs. Jun Akiyama
Jun Akiyama is a wrestling legend though compared to some of his peers kind of quiet about it. He debuted in 1992 and under guidance from Mitsuharu Misawa grew into All Japan’s Fifth Pillar and the ace of Pro Wrestling NOAH before Kenta Kobashi re-asserted himself. He returned to All Japan in 2013 and became their president until 2021 when he moved to Dramatic Dream Team (Captain Lou saw a lot of this). During all this time he wrestled in the U.S. once — one time! — minimal (?) considering his stature and the amount of appearances by many of his peers, even the older ones.
For these reasons and more it felt monumental to a sort of fan, the fan of Eddie Kingston and Jun Akiyama being on their TV, when Jun Akiyama came to… New Jersey, to wrestle for AEW, the result of Kingston staying on message in naming Akiyama his dream match long enough to where he was rewarded for it when he became another AEW guy without a spot in the PPV cycle. Akiyama first teamed with Konosuke Takeshita against Kingston and Ortiz on Rampage in a fun tag, and then wrestled Kingston one-on-one the next night on Full Gear’s Zero Hour.
They wrestled an All Japan 90s King’s Road style match, one of wrestling’s best styles rooted in selling, striking, and selling more. It had a few less head drops but would’ve made a solid Champion Carnival block match, which is no disrespect –- who is doing a King’s Road style match on PPV in 2022 for godssakes? Akiyama’s 53-years old, a little slower and lumpier and not here to necessarily provide greatness but an aura, an aura that locked right in when he flexed his neck muscles before the bell and stayed all 10 minutes. ****
Kingston cut a promo afterwards thanking Akiyama and King’s Road, looking to the sky to thank Giant Baba, Rikidozan, Mitsuharu Misawa, Jumbo Tsuruta (who I mis-heard as Jun Izumida — also RIP), and Antonio Inoki before looking at the camera to say “order the god damn pay-per-view” (and then promote Moxley/MJF!). It was one of the best pre-PPV promos ever, and it was just a few seconds before the actual PPV – oh, AEW!
1. Steel Cage Match: “Jungle Boy” Jack Perry vs. Luchasaurus w/ Christian Cage
So the wrestling gods said, Blood and bumps in a steel cage will get a babyface over. Jack Perry overcame both (and that creep Christian Cage trying to steal the key) then dramatically (the good kind) fired up to hit a Canadian Destroyer on a chair, deadlift piledriver (kudos to dino), and elbow drop off the (very tall) cage through a table. Luchasaurus bleeding black as he passed out to the STF was an incredible
bit to end on too. They did everything one could ask for to open the show hot and turn Jack Perry from the Jungle Boy to a serious player in AEW, at least as far as a wrestling match goes — more consistent appearances would be good too. ****
2. AEW World Trios Title: Death Triangle [c] w/ Alex Abrahantes vs. Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks
This match had a lot going on, most notably the return of The Elite since the drama in September. They entered with the whole crew (Callis, Cutler, Nakazawa) to “Carry on Wayward Son” by Kansas, money spent on licensed entrance music now wrestling’s universal sign of supremacy. Then they got right to it: Omega vs. PAC, Nick vs. Fenix (watch Fenix roll outside then inside the ring so freaking fast), Lucha Bros vs. Young Bucks. Kenny landed on his feet after a tope con hilo because he was back, dang it, but he ended up getting pinned by Fenix after PAC convinced Fenix to hit him with a wrench. It was a finish that could’ve been convoluted if it wasn’t delivered so well. Just a great bunch of wrestling, even with “F*ck CM Punk” and “Colt Cabana” chants re-enforcing all that DRAMA. ****1/4
3. TBS Title: Jade Cargill [c] w/ The Baddies vs. Nyla Rose w/ Vickie Guerrero
Nyla Rose entered in a lowrider with Vickie Guerrero, who was wearing an “I’m Your Mami” t-shirt (available at WWE Shop dot com because it’s Rhea Ripley merch). Jade entered in Thundercats-inspired gear most notable for the bottom part just being a thong. The match was decent or at least they didn’t lose a groove before Nyla’s cool one-two punch of Jade’s finish then a missed Swanton bomb followed by Jade’s finish being done by Jade. **1/2
4. 4-Way Match – ROH World Title: Chris Jericho [c] vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Sammy Guevara
21 minutes gave them enough time to play with but only during maybe 5 was the crowd or I locked in… even the greats can fall victim to the 4-Way Match. Jericho and Jericho Appreciatior Sammy worked together until Sammy broke a Jericho pin, which like any decent 4-Way was the cue to start making things happen: Danielson Knee+ to Claudio! LeBell Lock to Sammy! Judas Effect to counter the Claudio Swing!! Some of it was incredible, but they were surrounded by so much why, why a 4-Way and why Danielson in a 4-Way and why 20+ minutes and why Sammy and why couldn’t the Judas Effect finish hit clean? Where’s all this ROH stuff going, anyways?? ***1/2
5. Saraya (return) vs. Dr. Britt Baker
Most pro wrestlers that return to the ring after a long time away with injury seem to want their first match back to go a little long, something I kind of respect in a “prove it” sort of way even if in the moment it almost always feels like the wrong choice. Anyways, Saraya’s first match in almost 5 years was 13 minutes. ***
6. 3-Way Match – TNT Title: Wardlow [c] vs. Samoa Joe vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
Easy premise here: the big guys were fighting. It was fun, if not the right kind of meat (manly) for a card that could’ve used more meat (layers). Big Wardlow’s twisting dive off the top was a jaw-dropper and Hobbs spearing Joe through the barricade was a tremendous spot in a world filled with barricade spots, otherwise there wasn’t much to this before Samoa Joe became TNT Champ to shock and confuse the world. ***1/4
7. No DQ & No Countout Match: Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal w/ Sonjay Dutt and Satnam Singh vs. Sting & Darby Allin
Sometime after CM Punk left, Jeff Jarrett showed up. I still fundamentally disagree with the inclusion of him (and that goddamn theme song) in AEW programming, but this was the right amount of stupid fun for a card in need of something other than, I don’t know, a bunch of wrestling moves. Sting continued his run as an all-time great old man wrestler and 7’2” Satnam Singh’s two spots (he caught a Darby Coffin drop off the ladder then took a Coffin Drop/Scorpion Deathlock) were awesome. ***1/2
8. Interim AEW Women’s World Title: Toni Storm [c] vs. Jamie Hayter
When placed in the middle of a bunch of wrestling matches one of the best things wrestlers can do to make their match stand out is just beat the shit out of each other. They did that here and delivered a very good match that ended after interference from Rebel and Britt Baker that had levels to it: exciting, unnecessary, poorly executed, unpredictable… ***1/2
9. AEW World Tag Team Title: The Acclaimed [c] vs. Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland
The third match in the tag team series nobody saw coming was the weakest, not for lack of effort but this became a “series” thanks to big crowd reactions and there was less of that here. They deserved the semi-main spot and 20-minute runtime but weren’t helped by either, with Bowens’ taped-up arm and dissension between Lee and Swerve the focus before Daddy Ass ran out for revenge then Swerve tried to get Lee to use a pair of pliers. Instead of running a repeat of the Trios Title match finish, Lee just walked out. ***1/2
10. AEW World Title: Jon Moxley [c] w/ William Regal vs. MJF
Jon Moxley is the obvious choice for AEW’s top guy on star power alone, but he’s also one of a few who can successfully work a main event using both main AEW styles; for brevity’s sake call them Kenny’s Epics vs. Cody’s Stories. MJF leans the latter and can manage the former but is lacking that BIG match. Him vs. Darby at Full Gear last year came close, good on mechanics but great because of its’ surroundings, the things that make wrestling move besides the actual wrestling… moves.
Moxley/MJF for the World Title happened once before at All Out in 2020, back when MJF was with Wardlow, Regal was with WWE and CM Punk was still retired. It was good but lacking; this was better (and much more important) but still lacking.
The people respect Mox but Max grew up an hour-and-a-half away and worked as a face, entering like a hero and spending most of the match struggling to find an opening. A tombstone piledriver on the apron that gave him time to breathe, though it also hurt his knee which gave him another obstacle the rest of the match. It also led to a solid figure-four struggle even if the figure-four hasn’t beat anyone since Cody. Moxley’s Death Rider off the top seemed to put MJF out, then the referee got hit and things got Wrestling Pay-Per-View-ey: table piledriver, two referee bumps, and Regal turning on Mox to help MJF win. They all got a reaction (and the Regal turn was delivered brilliantly) but kind of minimized everything before them, too. ****
Happy Thoughts: Backstage drama and some runtimes aside, Full Gear was AEW’s best PPV of the year — or at least AEW’s best paced, most consistent and reigned in PPV of the year. There were good wrestling matches (Akiyama/Kingston, Steel Cage, Trios Title and World Title were highlights) and great memories too, like MJF cheating to win the title and those first words of “Carry On Wayward Son.” 4.0 / 5.0
