Things aren’t looking too great for AEW. The current state of the promotion is nothing new though. Despite all sorts of storm warnings that ship has been sailing through rough seas for quite some time now. The roster is so bloated it is rupturing the hull. North American ticket sales are languishing taking the wind right out of AEW’s sails. The core problem is that the booking and utilization of the talent is so unfocused that even a set of gyro compasses couldn’t put the S.S. AEW back on course.
That being said when it comes to pay-per-view events the roster does bring it. They do everything they can in the ring to subvert expectations based on the feeble, slipshod angles. The exceptional talent like Keith Lee, Lance Archer, Miro, Pac, etc, who reappear and disappear like the wind making it difficult to even follow or stay interested in the product or its angles.
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AEW talent pulled it off once again with Full Gear but that isn’t to say it was a solid show because it really wasn’t. Up until the Sting, Darby Allin and Adam Copeland versus Christian Cage, Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne match the card was very mediocre. Even that match didn’t really live up the hype. Then there were two absolute stinkers in a row too. Both Orange Cassidy versus Jon Moxley and Hikaru Shida versus “Timeless” Toni Storm were embarrassments. Two of the very worst matches of the year.
Full Gear finished strong though with “Hangman” Adam Page versus Swerve Strickland putting on phenomenal Texas Death Match that will surely go down as one of the best hardcore matches ever produced while MJF and Jay White brought the show to a solid close.
The best thing about the Texas Death Match wasn’t just the merciless brutality of it all but that Swerve Strickland showed how unbelievable his wrestling range is. He is without a doubt one of the greatest of his generation and if booked right could be a future Hall of Famer. This Texas Death Match was a hybrid Last Man Standing Match as either man could only lose if they couldn’t get to their feet by the count of ten.
Page attacks Strickland before the bell can even ring. He lands the Buckshot literally seconds into the match. Strickland rolls to the floor. Hangman bounces Strickland off ringside barricade after ringside barricade. Hangman throws a chair into Stickland’s face before he tapes Strickland’s hands together. Hangman pick up a staple gun. He staples Strickland’s arm and chest.
He staples a piece of paper to him and his other arm right in front of the camera. Strickland takes a chair right to the head. Hangman attempts to staple a child’s drawing or painting to his face but it falls off. Strickland’s forehead is streaming, dripping with blood. Page staples it to the other side and this time the piece of children’s art sticks.
Page leans below Strickland so his blood can drip into his open mouth. Nope. Not kidding, folks. Man-O-Man. I have seen everything in wrestling but nothing like this.
Page swings a barbed wire steel chair at Strickland. Strickland kicks him in the “lower abdomen” and Prince Nana cuts through the tape binding his wrists, hands together. Page staples Strickland’s chest again. Strickland just stares blankly at him. Page staples him again two or three more times. No reaction at all. Strickland bends Page’s hands back. Page is stapled in the head.
Strickland takes the staple gun and gleefully staples his chest a few more times. He laughs as blood pours from his head. Strickland sets up the barbed wire steel chair in a corner. He rams Page’s head into it. He rakes Page’s forehead with the barbed wire. Strickland brings a cinderblock out from under the ring. Strickland and Page battle on the ring apron. Strickland bites Page’s forehead and gives him a Death Valley Driver on the cinderblock.
Strickland lines up Page on the the guardrail. He piledrives him on it. Strickland pours a bottle of water over his bloody face. Pages comes up bleeding from the back of his head. The official checks on him.
Page climbs to the top rope with the barbed wire chair. He moonsaults onto Strickland. Strickland halts Hangman’s Buckshot Lariat. He kicks the barbed wire chair into his face. Page reverses Strickland’s Tombstone Piledriver on a chair driving him down instead. The official lays the count on both men. Page is up and Nana assists Strickland to his feet. As Strickland batters Page’s back with the barbed wire steel chair Nigel McGuinness cries out: Someone has to stop this match! Strickland powerbombs and stomps Page onto the chair from the top rope.
“There are no words to describe this,” says an exasperated McGuinness.
Strickland pulls out a bag of broken glass and pours it onto Page. Strickland splashes Page from the top rope driving the glass into himself and into Page. A JML Driver has Page up at the count of nine. Nana pulls a barbed wire board from under the ring. Strickland puts the board between two chairs in the ring. The board reads: Swerve’s House. Swerve and Hangman fight on the top rope. Page slams Strickland onto the board twice and drills him with a Deadeye. Hangman wraps a piece of barbed wire around Swerve’s mouth and face. He hits Swerve with the Buckshot Lariat. Swerve cannot get to his feet to beat the count. Nana pulls him out of the ring and onto his feet. The crowd goes insane.
Brian Cage hits the ring. Took him long enough, eh? Cage powerbombs Page, bucklebombs him and drops him with The Machine. Cage pulls out a table from under the ring. The crowd chants: We want fire!
Cage lifts Page up for a powerbomb. Page rakes him with barbed wire in the eyes. Page belts Cage twice with the barbed wire wrapped around his elbow. A lariat has Cage rolling out of the ring. Nana scrambles into the ring. He hits Page with a steel chair. Stupid, stupid Nana. Page gives Nana a Deadeye off the apron and through the table.
Strickland smashes a cinderblock over the back of Page’s head. Page still tries to get to his feet. Swerve wraps a steel chain around Hangman’s neck and a steel post. He chokes out Page. Page gets to his knees but no further.
“By the grace of God, this one is over,” said McGuinness.
The White and MJF championship match was an entire Full Gear angle of its own. MJF was attacked by The Gunns at the end of his and Samoa Joe’s ROH World Tag Team Championship match on Zero Hour. Before the horrified eyes of a still recovering Adam Cole, MJF was carted away to a local hospital so that his injured leg could be evaluated. Later on in the show, White would demand that he be declared the winner of the match and new champion by forfeit. A hobbling Adam Cole defended his bromance’s honor by officially taking MJF’s place in the match.
Adam Cole came to the ring on crutches and his ankle still in a fracture boot.
“The man is on crutches. What are we doing here?” asks Taz.
Jay White is accompanied to the ring by The Gunns and carrying the AEW World Championship belt. White limps to the ring mocking Cole.
As White purposely stumbles around the ring Nigel McGuinness laughs as he says the bout should be a “Last Man Standing Match”.
Just as the match is about to start an ambulance drives into the arena and MJF is at the wheel. MJF’s leg is wrapped in medical tape. MJF’s music hits and down to the ring he comes limping all the way. Officials try to stop MJF. He fights through them all. Meanwhile, Jay White is smiling and laughing in the ring.
MJF hugs and thanks Cole as he leaves the ring and the bell rings. MJF lands a punch but falls to the canvass. A shot block has MJF crawling on the mat. White focuses all of his attacks on MJF’s injured leg. Each time MJF fights back White kicks at the leg.
White throws MJF to the floor. The Gunns attack.
Tazz says MJF is “defenseless” and cannot even “defend himself here”.
White pitches MJF out again. MJF punches at the Gunns. The numbers are too much for him though. White does throws MJF to the Gunn for a third time. The official catches them about to smash MJF’s leg with a steel chair. He bars The Gunns from ringside to the delight of the crowd.
White tears off MJF’s t-shirt throwing it in Cole’s face. White dares Cole to come into the ring.
“Hit me you f—–g piece of s–t!” MJF yells at White.
MJF falls the mat after White kicks his knee out from under him.
MJF gets in some offense with an elbow smash, a clothesline and a slam. MJF rams White’s head into a turnbuckle again and again. White whips MJF across the ring but MJF collapses to the mat.
White just dumps MJF over the top rope. MJF lands with a thud on the floor. White yells out at Cole as he is about to bash MJF’s head off the ring apron. MJF blocks the move bouncing White’s head instead. MJF DDTs White on the floor.
MJF tears down the announce desk. MJF rolls White on the desk. It immediately collapses as soon as White lays on it. The crowd boos.
Wah. Wah. Waaaaah.
MJF climbs to the top rope anyway. With White laying on the floor he lands a flying elbow drop.
As MJF heads back into the ring White damages the knee even more with a Dragon Screw Leg Whip. With MJF in the Tree of Woe White stands on MJF’s knee until MJF throws him off.
White puts MJF in a figure four. Cole pleads with MJF not to give up, not to quit. Cole thinks about throwing in MJF’s t-shirt to stop the match. MJF reverses the hold and the pressure.
White reaches the ropes escaping the hold. Cole picks up the AEW World Championship. He ponders hitting White. White rips the belt from his hands. He hits MJF in the head with it. MJF kicks out at two.
MJF pushes White off his knee. The momentum causes White to collide with the official knocking him out. Cole puts MJF’s Dynamite Diamond Ring on the canvass. White attacks MJF from behind. White snatches the ring and puts it on. He gives Cole the finger. Before White can land his shot MJF punches him in the “lower abdomen”. MJF puts on the ring. The Gunns rush the ring. MJF punches them both. MJF stops a Blade Runner with a punch to the head with the ring. MJF pins White. MJF is not only your scumbag he is still your AEW World Champion.
AEW Full Gear 2023 Results
Zero Hour
Jay Lethal versus Eddie Kingston – Ring of Honor World Championship Match
Lethal and his entire entourage hit the ring. This includes Karen and Jeff Jarrett. The crowd chants “Eddie! Eddie!”.
Kingston fights out of an attempted figure four sending Lethal to the floor. Double J dares Kingston to leave the ring. Lethal and Kingston trade chops. Lethal flees that battle. On the floor, Lethal rams Kingston into a steel post. Double J lays in some shots of his own while the official’s back is turned. Sanjay Dutt does as well. An overhead belly-to-belly suplex into a turnbuckle gets Lethal a two count. An exploder suplex has Lethal landing awkwardly on his neck. Kingston follows that up with machine gun chops and a running kick in a corner for a two count.
A Lethal Combination has Lethal climbing to the top rope for his flying elbow. Kingston blocks it the first time but not the second. He barely kicks out. Kingston stops the Lethal Injection with a pair of suplexes. Kingston punches Dutt off the apron. Karen Jarrett and Satnam Singh argue with the official on the apron. Kingston and Lethal battle for possession of Jeff Jarrett’s guitar. Ortiz appears and he snatches it. He smashes it over Dutt’s head. Kingston avoids the Lethal Injection with a suplex and a backfist for the pin. Ortiz and Kingston celebrate. Kingston gets on the microphone. He says there is a lot of “s–t” up next and he calls Stokely Hathaway a “bald-headed bitch”.
Winner: …and still Ring of Honor World Champion, Eddie Kingston.
Match Rating: 7 / 10
Winner: Claudio Castagnoli
Match Rating: 5 / 10
As Joe enters the ring the Gunns hit the road. While MJF hits the ring Joe holds the ropes open for him. MJF has the numbers 365 all over his gear. One presumes he is predicting a win in the main event tonight so he will have held the AEW World Championship for 365 days. As he struts over one Gunn, MJP spits at another and swivels his hips at Joe. The Gunns attack him from behind. As the Gunns whip MJF into a corner Joe uses his body to shield MJF from hitting the buckle. MJF clotheslines both Gunns to the mat.
MJF to Joe: I don’t need your help!
Joe tags in anyways. Joe and MJF exchange words. Joe dives out onto the floor onto the Gunns. Joe walks away from a Colton drop kick. Joe smiles as he batters him with one haymaker after another. The Gunns turn things around cutting MJF off from Joe. The Gunns throw MJF off the ropes. They announce a double clothesline but hit double elbow smashes. The Gunns mock the crowd.
MJF ducks under both Gunns finally tagging in Samoa Joe. Joe demolishes both Gunn. He attempts a Muscle Buster. MJF tags in for one of his own. MJF is thwarted by a drop kick. MJF double-DDTs the Gunns. He signals for the Kangaroo Kick but Joe tags himself in. The Gunns hit 3:10 to Yuma on Samoa Joe. MJF foils the pin by pulling a Gunn to the floor. Both Gunns slam MJF’s head into the steel ring stairs. As they set-up Joe for another 3:10 Adam Cole’s music plays. Cole comes out on crutches. The Gunns are distracted. Joe wins the match with a Kokina Clutch.
MJF greets Cole and they hug. MJF shakes Samoa Joe’s hand in the ring. If MJF wins tonight, Joe has earned himself a shot at the AEW World Championship. The Gunns drop MJF. The Gunns take a steel chair to MJF’s left knee over and over as all Cole can do is look on. The Gunns wrap the chair around MJF’s ankle and hit the ankle with a stomp from the second rope. MJF is writhing in pain. He has to be taken away on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. Adam Cole’s soul is crushed.
Winners: …and still ROH World Tag Team Champions, Adam Cole and MJF.
Match Rating: 7 / 10
Main Card
Sting, Darby Allin, and Adam Copeland (with Ric Flair) vs. Christian Cage, Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne
A child’s choir sings Christian Cage and his gang to the ring. Ken Jeong gives the team a thumbs-down from the crowd. Ric Flair is out first styling and profiling. Nigel McGuinness says that Christian stated that Flair comes back more than herpes and is just as welcome.
Adam Copeland, Darby and Sting are shown cloaked in shadows each holding baseball bats. Copeland has half his face painted like Sting and Darby Allin. Steve-O is shown freaking out at ringside. Nigel calls Copeland the “biggest jackass” in the arena tonight. Hardy-Har-Har. The crowd keeps singing Copeland’s theme even after it ends.
Christian hugs Wayne before he starts the match. Wayne cheap shots Allin as the crowd chants: Who’s your daddy? Sting tags in throwing Wayne to the floor and the ringside barricade. Christian tags in. Sting gives Copeland his wish and tags him in. Christian bails from the ring tagging in Luchasaurus. Luchasaurus crushes Copeland pillar to post until Copeland lands a spinning neckbreaker.
Darby flips out of a chokeslam right into Christian who guillotines him backwards over the ropes. Luchasaurus chokeslams Allin over the top rope onto the ring apron. The announcers remind us that Allin is supposed to catch a flight to climb Mount Everest after the show.
The heels block Allin from tagging out to his partners. Wayne does the Flair strut in front of The Nature Boy and then gives him the finger. While they are on the second rope Allin bites Wayne’s fingers, slams his head into the turnbuckle and slams him down with a powerbomb. Allin looks to be bleeding from his ear.
Christian crawls under the ring, reappears on the opposite side and rams Edge’s head into a steel post. Sting chases Christian. Luchasaurus drops Sting with a clothesline. Allin makes it to an empty corner. Christian mocks Allin since there is nobody to tag. Copeland is tagged. Christian flees the ring. Copeland gives Luchasaurus an Impaler. He spears him off the apron. Copeland picks up Wayne pressing him over the top rope. Luchasaurus catches him. Allin dives through the ropes onto them both. Sting hits them with a flying clothesline. Sting and Copeland fight out of a double clothesline. Sting and Copeland pummel Luchasaurus with a Scorpion Death Drop and a flying elbow smash at the same time. Allin tosses in Wayne. They double suplex him as Allin executes a flying body press.
Ric Flair and Christian start arguing on the floor. Flair throws off his jacket. He means business.
Flair lays in some chops. Christian catches him with a poke in the eye and a low blow. As the official is attending to Flair, Christian retrieves his championship belt. He swings at Copeland. He hits Luchasaurus instead. Copeland chases Christian. Christian leaps over the barricade and into the crowd.
Luchasaurus is Stinger Splashed, Speared and Coffin Dropped for the pin. Sting and Flair shake hands after the match. Allin pushes the crowd to cheer for Sting. “This is Sting’s f—–g last time wrestling in the state of California. Let’s hear some f—–g noise! Let’s hear it!” he says.
This match should have been so much more and it just wasn’t. It was very, very flat.
Winners: Sting, Darby Allin, and Adam Copeland
Match Rating: 7.5 / 10
Tony Schiavone is with referee Bryce Rensberg as he meets with Jay White and Bullet Club Gold backstage. White comes out with the AEW World Championship. He claims he is the champion. He is ticked off that production is playing the Gunns’ music and not his. Schiavone says MJF will not be able to compete tonight. The match has been cancelled and by default Jay White is the new champion. Adam Cole’s music hits. Cole says there is no way in hell White is leaving the arena with “Max’s championship.” Cole said he made a promise to MJF and has already spoken to Tony Khan.
“If MJF cannot defend his AEW Championship I will do it for him,” says Cole. “One leg or not, tonight’s main event is Jay White against Adam Cole Bay-Bay.”
White laughs and laughs. He says he will take out Cole for good this time.
Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley – AEW International Championship
Wheeler Yuta accompanies Moxley to the ring. Hook is with Cassidy. Moxley bashes Cassidy from one side of the ring to the other. On the floor, he smashes his head into the announce desk and slams him on the barricade. It is all Moxley in the ring as he hoists Cassidy up and slams him on his back. Cassidy catches Cassidy with a Bossman Slam. Still no offense from Cassidy. As they battle on the ropes, Moxley bites Cassidy. Cassidy rakes his back and bites him. Moxley is naturally already busted open. Cassidy takes Moxley down with a Superplex and a DDT. Moxley kicks out at one. Cassidy dives into Moxley. Moxley throws himself into the announce table. They do the spot again. Moxley is propelled better into the table. Cassidy dives out for the third time but hitting Moxley with an elbow this time.
Moxley no-sells a Slumdog Millionaire. He pounds on Cassidy with the hammer and anvil smashes. Moxley transitions to the bulldog choke. Cassidy breaks free. He kicks Moxley in the face. Moxley no-sells that too. Cassidy puts Moxley into RedRum. Moxley makes it to the ropes. The official pulls Cassidy off Moxley and in doing so Moxley pulls off the top turnbuckle.
Cassidy kicks out of a cutter and a piledriver. Moxley mocks Cassidy by giving him the same lame kicks he does others. Cassidy puts his hands in his pockets. Moxley crashes head-first into the exposed turnbuckle. Moxley bungles around and absorbs six Orange Punches and a Beach Break for the pin. An absolutely stupidly booked matches. One of the silliest and worst matches of the year.
Winner: …and new AEW International Champion, Orange Cassidy.
Rating: 2 / 10
Hikaru Shida (c) vs. “Timeless” Toni Storm (with Luther) – AEW Women’s World Championship
Both women open the match throwing bombs. Shida takes the wind out of Storm with a running knee strike. Shida drapes Storm over the top rope and lays in some chops. Mariah May is looking on backstage. She is concerned. Storm’s chest is just beat red. Storm fires back with chops of her own and a bulldog. A missile drop kick scores Shida a two count. Storm catches Shida on the second rope and slams her down hard. Luther hands Storm one shoe while putting another in the back of her trunks. Storm surrenders the one in her hand to the official and clocks Shida with the other. Shida kicks out. Shida kicks it into high gear landing strike after strike. Storm lands some of her own. Shida scores a two count with a Falcon Arrow.
Shida leaps off the top rope. Storm rolls out of the way. Shida comes up limping. Storm puts Shida into an ankle lock. Shida retrieves her kendo stick. Luther grabs the kendo stick. Shida kicks him in the “lower abdomen” and beats him with the stick. Storm puts a metal tray into her trunks. It is hanging out for all to see yet the official sees and does nothing.
Storm adjusts the tray before hitting her hip attack on Shida in a corner. When she comes out of the corner you can clearly see the tray hanging out of the back of her trunks again. Storm gets the three count. Mariah May brings a bouquet of flowers down to the ring for Storm.
Winner: …and new AEW Women’s World Champion, Toni Storm.
Match Rating: 3 / 10
Ricky Starks and Big Bill (c) vs. La Facción Ingobernable (Rush and Dralístico) vs. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) vs. Kings of The Black Throne (Malakai Black and Brody King) – Four-way tag team ladder match for the AEW World Tag Team Championships
One big mess of a match but a good mess. What does anyone expect when it was made a ladder match literally hours before the show. Dax catches Black with a haymaker and that knocks him clear out of the ring. The ropes are used as a slingshot to fire a ladder into Dax’s face. Dralistico slings Dax off the ropes. He leapfrogs Dax. Dax flies through the ropes spearing Rush off the apron and into everyone else. Dralistico splashes everyone following that. Black does the same thing with a backdive off the ropes. Dax suplexes Starks off the top rope onto everyone as well. Dax and Rush joust each with their own ladders. Dax finally just throws his ladder at Rush.
Dax does the whole helicopter spot with a ladder around his neck until Dralistico drop kicks him. Wheeler comes running off the rope. Black springs the ladder off the ropes into Wheeler. Dax stands on a ladder in a corner. He low blows Black and piledrives him on the ladder itself which was the most impressive spot of the match. King dives through the ropes. Bill hits him with a ladder.
Brody climbs the ladder. Bill tips it over so Brody lands on some stacked ladders. Brody takes Dralistico and spikes him on a ladder that is bridged on the apron and a ringside barricade. Wheeler splashes Brody on the same ladder.
Ricky Starks and Cash Wheeler battle at the top of a ladder. Starks swings one of the belts into Wheeler’s head. Starks pulls down the belts for his team.
Winners: and still AEW World Tag Team Champions, Ricky Starks and Big Bill.
Match Rating: 8 / 10
Kris Statlander (c) vs. Julia Hart vs. Skye Blue – AEW TBS Championship
Statlander dares both of the challengers to bring it. She slams Blue onto Hart and tries to pin them both. Statlander kicks out of Blue’s pin. Blue lands near Hart. They stare at each other. Hart jumps on Statlander’s back. She just slams Hart down. Hart and Blue double-team Statlander on the floor. Statlander suplexes both of them though. Double super-kicks knocks Statlander into Dreamland. Hart and Blue shake each other’s hand in the middle of the ring. Hart headbutts Blue.
Statlander catches Blue slamming her on her face. Statlander climbs to the top rope. Hart pushes her. Statlander falls onto the apron and then the floor. Hart almost pins Blue with a moonsault but Statlander pulls Hart off of Blue. Statlander powerslams Hart on the arena floor. Blue lands two kicks on Statlander. Blue hits Code Blue for a two count on Statlander. Statlander gives Blue and Hart a series of Deadlift German Suplexes. Statlander hits Blue with Saturday Night Fever on Blue. Hart clotheslines Statlander off Blue. She pins Blue instead.
Winner: …and new AEW TBS Champion, Julia Hart.
Rating: 6 / 10
Tony Schiavone is in the ring. He introduces the newest member of the AEW roster for a “blockbuster contract signing”. It is Will Ospreay. Ospreay says he is going to finish up with NJPW first out of respect for the promotion and then join AEW. “I will be on the road to Revolution but more importantly I am All Elite!”.
“Hangman” Adam Page vs. Swerve Strickland (with Prince Nana) – Texas Death Match
Winner: Swerve Strickland
Match Rating: 9.5 / 10
The Golden Jets (Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho) vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
Omega bumps fists with the Bucks before the match begins and during the match. Jericho has Matt Jackson beaten down in a corner. Omega tags himself in and backs Jericho off. Jericho is puzzled. They argue for a bit.
“CM Punk!” chants begin. They are followed by some boos.
Omega comes down hard with his Terminator Dive on Matt Jackson. The Bucks double team Jericho on the floor. Trapping and slamming his right arm into the steel steps. The Bucks work on the arm to prevent Jericho’s Judas Effect. Jericho’s arm is bleeding. Omega is hot-tagged in. Omega battles both of The Bucks.
Jericho has Matt Jackson in the Walls of Jericho. Nick looks to break it up. Omega pulls him off the apron. Matt fights his way out of the hold. Matt and Jericho throw hands while on their knees. Matt Double Northern Lights Suplexes Omega and Jericho. Omega is German Suplexed on the apron.
Nick Jackson kicks Jericho in the “lower abdomen”. Omega reads him the riot act. When he turns around Matt kicks him in the same place. Omega interrupts the pin attempt as Matt drops Jericho with his version of the Judas Effect. Nick shoves the official. As their back is turned Jericho punches him in the “lower abdomen”. Jericho tags in Omega. Omega enters the ring and isn’t sure what to do. Omega takes it to the Bucks. Omega kicks out of Matt’s One-Winged Angel. Jericho blocks the Meltzer Driver with a Code Breaker. Omega pins Matt with a One-Winged Angel. Nick Jackson smashes steel chairs at ringside. Matt does the same.
Winners: The Golden Jets (Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho)
Match Rating: 8 / 10
MJF (c) vs. Jay White – AEW World Championship
Winner: …and still AEW World Champion, MJF.
Match Rating: 8 / 10