AEW Full Gear Recap and Review

by bravobuster1200

After taking a few weeks off of rasslin, to the point where I didn’t even watch Wrestledream, Kitty and I are back to recap and review All Elite Wrestling Full Gear. A new thing I am going to do with these recaps is my predictions. It is about 11:15 in the morning the day of the show so these predictions are ready to go long before the show. Without further ado, let’s get to it! Some of these m...

Predictions:

Hangman Page
Kyle O’ Reilly
Mercedes
Bucks/Alexander
Kyle Fletcher
Shelton Benjamin
FTR
Megan & Marina
Darby
El Sky Team
Hook/Kingston
Boom & Doom
The Acclaimed

My meal for the preshow is a ham and cheese sandwich with salt, pepper, mustard, mayo, and tapatio on a Katsuyori Ciabatta roll. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m ready for some rasslin!!

Saturday Tailgate Brawl:

Bang Bang Gang def The Acclaimed, Big Bill & Bryan Keith, and The Outrunners: The Outrunners are out first with Dalton Castle. I once got to be one of the boys for Dalton when he made an appearance at Lucha Libre and Laughs in Denver. It was a fun experience except for running around barefoot on the sticky floor of the Oriental Theater. That was the same show I met Bryan Keith and as I’ve said before, he’s a pretty cool dude. Anthony Bowens is out alone followed by the Best Wrestler A-live. The Bang Bang Gang are the final team out and I forgot how much I enjoy watching Juice Robinson. Bowens and Austin Gunn start us off with some good back and forth. After Max Caster reminds everyone that he is in fact one of the most entertaining wrestlers alive, the match starts flowing similarly to every multiperson tag match. As much as I hate cigarettes, the Marlboro gear The Outriders have is fantastic. After a pretty solid match, Juice rolls up Anthony Bowens. The Bang Bang Gang are $200,000 richer and I’m 0-1 on my predictions. Bowens yells at Max who took a boot from Big Bill a few moments before the finish. There is a fun dynamic between the Acclaimed guys that I like. Before we get a video package promoting the matches on the main card, Juice humps the bag of money which is a sentence I just wrote. I told you that dude was entertaining. The match itself was fine for what it was, but it was a little short for an 8 person match. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

Boom & Doom def Roppongi Vice: RPG Vice is out first without their banger NJPW music, which is a shame. QT is out with The Rizzler and Aaron Solo. AJ comes out with Big Justice and the whole crew makes their way to the ringside area. AJ and QT are up early and single out my guy Rocky Romero. AJ gives QT a big assist on a dive to the outside. At some point during a lengthy commercial break, RPG Vice took over and started putting the heat on QT. After some interactions on the outside, Treat pushes Big Justice to the ground, causing Paul Wight to get out from behind the commentary table. Trent and Rocky run away and I can’t blame them. The faces take over for a bit, before Don Callis gets on the apron allowing Trent to hit AJ with a cast for a near fall. A whole lot of fuckery later, AJ and QT hit a blockbuster/powerbomb for the win. This was a very fun match, but not much more than that. ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆.

We get a backstage segment with Don Callis, Josh Alexander, and the Young Bucks. We get news that Okada hasn’t shown up yet. This could be an interesting wrinkle for the trio's match.

Hook & Eddie Kingston def WorkHorsemen: I’m already getting the feeling this will be the glorified squash portion of the preshow. The Workhorsemen getting the jobber entrance during the backstage segment only lends credence to that theory. After about 3 minutes total, Eddie gets the pin while Hook gets a rear naked choke on the other member. This wasn’t even a glorified squash. It was fine for what it was. ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆

CMLL World Trios Championship: El Sky Team vs. The Don Callis Family: Takeshita and Hechicero are out first with Don Callis. This team is stacked even without Okada. El Sky Team comes out next and is equally stacked. This match is stacked. The DCF jumps the luchadores and just beat the piss out of them. Hechicero does the arm snap spot through a chair on Mistico. He gets taken to the back and it looks like this’ll be a regular tag match. A bit later. Okada pulls up in a sports car, in his gear, and looks like he’s coming to the ring. This match carries over into the start of the PPV, so I guess we’ll do the same.

Main Show

El Sky Team def The Don Callis Family: Okada comes out with his full entrance and a ton of pyro. I still don’t associate his new music with him. Hechicero tries to get Okada and Takeshita to shake hands, but Okada busts out the middle finger on Takeshita. That match will be insane! Mistico comes back out to even the odds for his team and now we’ve got our promised trio’s match. Mistico gets Takeshita in a submission only for Okada to break it up. Okada then starts attacking Takeshita before tossing him out of the ring. HERE WE GO BOYS!!! After a bunch of really good action, Mistico gets Hechicero to tap out. Once it got going it was a very good match. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. As someone who used to despise lucha, I will fully state I was wrong. When done at its highest level, it’s fucking mindblowing.

Pac def Darby Allin: A few weeks removed from Pac putting Darby through a flaming table, we arrive at a straight up wrestling match. I actually really like this as a de-escalation of the Darby/Death Riders story. This should be a fun one. Pac is out first. Then we get a pretape of Darby wrapped in gauze watching all of the interactions between him and Pac over the past few months. He then makes his entrance. The two circle up and start with some good chain wrestling. And I mean some really damn good chain wrestling. After a bit of that, the two end up on the apron where Pac military presses Darby up. While holding him up, Pac turns 180 and gives Darby a big slam to the floor. OUCH. After Darby gets back in the ring, Pac starts ripping all the bandages off and works the burns. There’s a very good reason why you’re supposed to wear a shirt when going through a flaming table. Darby does more Darby things throughout this match, because of course he does. Towards the end, Darby locks Pac in the sharpshooter. Instead of tapping, he starts waving someone to him. Wheeler Yuta runs out and drops a baseball bat in the corner before distracting the ref. Pac hits Darby with the bat for the win. Damn good match. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Timeless Love Bombs def Babes of Wrath, Sisters of Sin, Megan Bayne & Marina Shafir: After the incredible Blood & Guts match, these ladies are continuing to show why they all rule. As all of them make their entrances, a reminder that whichever team wins gets to pick a stipulation for their respective semi-final match in the tag title tournament. How am I expected to choose between the Babes of Wrath and Timeless Love Bombs??? The match starts hot as everyone brawls on the outside with Marina and Toni in the ring. Marina and Megan dominate early on. There is a lot of good moments where everyone gets their shit in as well as some good tension between the heel teams after Sisters of Sin knocked Megan/Marina off the apron at one point. After another very good match, Toni and Harley go back and forth with several pins before Toni gets the big package for the win. We might be getting a Taipei Death match on Dynamite, which is just insane. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

AEW Tag Team Championship: FTR def Brodido: FTR is out first with a video package from Big Stoke Productions. Brodido comes out next and we are set for a banger. After a bit of back and forth, Brodie King starts chopping everybody, then Bandido body slams him onto Cash Wheeler. Bandido goes for a big dive but FTR catch him and slam him into the announce table. Later on, Brody King goes for a dive buy Stokely pushes his guy out of the way and gets destroyed by the big guy. After a bunch of incredible near falls, FTR hits a Shatter Machine on Bandido for the win. Fantastic match with a few too many kickouts of big moves. ★★★★★★★★☆☆.

Ricochet wins the National Championship Casino Gauntlet match: I’m not a fan of AEW having another title, but here we are. Big Bobby is out first with MVP. MVP goes to the back to grab my predicted winner Shelton Benjamin. I am super interested in seeing how both these guys start things out. Ricochet is out third and… man I don’t envy him here. As Ricochet cuts a promo on the ramp, the GOA beat down Bobby and Shelton while he beats up MVP with the live mic. Ricochet is fucking hilarious, I don’t care what anyone says. The referees come out to break things up as Ricochet break dances in the ring. Claudio is out next. There is a very loud “We Bald People” chant in the arena. This is great so far. Daniel Garcia is out next. A loud “He’s not bald” chant echoes throughout the arena. This crowd is a lot of fun. Orange Cassidy is out next, I guess man. Wheeler Yuta is out next and the Death Riders are out in force. They proceed to beat Orange Cassidy down until Ricochet joins their train of European Uppercuts. They then beat him down until Kevin Knight comes out. Roderick Strong is out next. Mark Davis comes out next and just destroys everyone with piledrivers. Speedball Mike Bailey is out next. Him and his partner work together to take down Mark Davis until both go for a pin. The duo clean house before going after each other. They have a solid back and forth before Daniel Garcia intervenes because he hates cool things. Matt Menard is out next and immediately confronts Danny. Those two go off to fight in the crowd. Claudio and Mark Davis are alone in the ring before Bobby and Shelton slide back in and take everyone out. They take turns beating the hell out of Ricochet. Everyone gets one last spot before Kevin Knight hits a UFO splash on Yuta, followed by Ricochet hitting a Spirit Gun on Knight for the win. Very fun match. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

No Holds Barred: Kyle O’ Reilly def Jon Moxley: Mox is out first, then Kyle. Kyle shoots a double and the two brawl and grapple for a bit. Mox powders to the outside where he gets a fork from Marina. The two fight over it but Mox is able to get the advantage and opens up Kyle’s forehead. A bit later he takes the fork to Kyle’s left nipple, which I can say I have never seen before. Mox gets busted open soon after. Somehow, Mox has the fork this entire time, but Kyle is able to wrestle it away before stabbing Mox in the forehead multiple times. He then rolled out and grabbed a chain from under the ring. After a very brutal match with some great moments, such as Kyle grabbing his own tights to prevent Mox from getting a kimura locked in, Kyle once again gets a submission victory with a chain assisted ankle lock. Great match that was a way to put Kyle over to the moon. ★★★★★★★★☆☆. After the match, Mox jumps Kyle but the conglomeration comes out to save their boy. The Death Riders leave through the crowd, but there does seem to be some tension brewing amongst them.

TNT Championship No DQ match: Mark Briscoe def Kyle Fletcher: A video package of Mark Briscoe talking about his family and the challenges of his life plays. I know I predicted Kyle to win this one, but after that, it would hurt to see Mark join the DCF. As the two fight, they pull out several chairs and the flimsiest ladder I’ve ever seen. Mark leans the ladder against a chair, places Kyle on it, then goes for a dive. Kyle moved and Mark crashed and burned in a big way. The two then go back and forth with another of the flimsiest ladders I’ve ever seen. A bit later they bust out a couple of tables to go through. After that, Kyle gets a bucket of thumbtacks and pours them out in the middle of the ring. He does the thumbtacks in the mouth then superkick spot on Briscoe. He then goes for a powerbomb onto the tacks, but Mark counters and hits a suplex onto them. Mark then grabs a barbed wire table, a regular table, and a big-ass ladder. There is an amazing looking spot where the ladder is set up, then Mark sets Kyle on the table over the thumbtacks. Kyle climbed off and went up the ladder. Mark fought him off and hit a big froggy bow onto Kyle off the top of the ladder through the table. There is a terrifying spot where Kyle stabs a screwdriver up through the turnbuckle pad to go for a top rope brainbuster, but luckily nothing bad came from it. Mark hits a Razor’s Edge through the barbed wire table then a Jay driller on the tacks for the win. A feel good moment to end a great match. ★★★★★★★★☆☆

I will say that after Blood & Guts and the back to back No DQ matches plus the cage match later, I’m kind of over the weapons and blood. Tony, if you’re reading this, please have Zack Sabre Jr book the next month of tv or something.

$1,000,000 match: The Young Bucks & Josh Alexander def Kenny Omega & Jurassic Express: The Bucks are out first with a fun Wheel of Fortune inspired tron video. Then Alexander comes out. Next up is the Jurassic Express with their incredible entrance music. Kenny comes out to a massive ovation. The match starts with Nick Jackson and Jungle Boy with some good back and forth, fast paced action. Everybody gets some stuff in before Kenny gets in and does his thing. At some point he aggravates an Achilles injury, which Alexander works viciously. The Bucks get in and avoid it. Some good storytelling brewing in this one so far. A few minutes later, Nick Jackson went for a dive, but Luchasaurus looked to be out of position and failed to catch him. Luckily he seemed to be okay. After a great match, The Bucks are broke no more as they hit the BTE trigger on Jungle Boy for the win. ★★★★★★★★☆☆. After the match, a bunch of DCF members maul Kenny and try to break his leg. Don Callis tries to convince The Bucks to leave. They throw the bags of money down and make the save on Kenny by clearing the DCF out with the help of Luchasaurus. The Bucks and Kenny take a moment to take in the situation as the crowd chants “Hug it out”. They offer handshakes to Kenny, but he slaps their hands away and goes for hugs instead. THE ELITE ARE BACK BABY!

AEW Women's World Championship: Kris Statlander def Mercedes Mone: The CEO is out first, flanked by guys holding her 13 titles. Once again, I need to see her win like 25 championships just to see the entrances. Stat is out next and comes out of a crashed spaceship, which was cool as hell. We get right into it as they get after it right away. Early on, Stat is selling her left arm/ shoulder and Mercedes proceeds to viciously work said arm. At one point, Mercedes hit 14 suplexes in a row and I got exhausted watching. The rest of the match was very good and Kris Statlander hits her finish for the win. I do like the story of Mercedes being able to win every belt on Earth except for this one. There are a lot of fun places that could go. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆

AEW World Championship: Samoa Joe def "Hangman" Adam Page: At Midnight Eastern time, it’s time for the main event. Joe is out first, then Hangman comes out to American Venom from Red Dead Redemption 2. THAT’S MY COWBOY!! The blood starts flowing very soon after the bell rings as Joe gets a nasty gash on his forehead. Not too long after, Hanger gets some color as well. Later in the match, Shibata-san comes out and grabs the championship belt and tries to climb the cage. He is stopped by Eddie Kingston. In the ring we get a ref bump. Powerhouse Hobbs comes out and tries to hit Hangman with the belt but gets taken to dick kick city for his troubles. Hangman uses the open door to hit a buckshot lariat. The ref is still down so Hook comes out to wake him. He grabs the belt and drills Hangman with it. He opens his jacket and reveals an Opps shirt. Joe gets Hanger up and hits a muscle buster on the belt for the win. Samoa Joe is your new AEW Champion. Pretty good match, but with the amount of gimmick matches on this show already all of the blood lost its effect. I’m saddened to say that I have to break my “All Hangman Page matches start at 8” rule. ★★★★★★★☆☆☆. After the match, the Opps are celebrating and the lights go out. A graphic appears on the big screen of a house on fire. Prince Nana is out and that only means one thing. Swerve is back but has a new song that I’m not big on. He walks down to the ring and whoops everyone's ass before standing side by side with Hangman Page as the 4 Opps members walk up the ramp. The show fades out and that’s the end of AEW Full Gear.

As is the case with every AEW PPV I’ve seen, it was a very good show overall. My main complaint would be that it’s too long and it started too late. There is no reason for the main event to be STARTING at midnight where the event is taking place. It is 10:30 pm my time as the show went off air. I’ve been watching wrestling for 5 and a half hours at this point. I would say another complaint is the overuse of stipulation matches. I’ve never actually seen a Continental Classic, but it seems like it's the AEW equivalent of the G1 Climax, so that should definitely be toned down quite a bit for the next month or so. Those are all of my thoughts on AEW Full Gear. It was a damn good show and I can’t wait to see where they go with Joe as the champ. Thank you for reading and always remember, don’t let the bastards grind you down.

Predictions: 6/13