AEW FULL GEAR

Kia Forum in Los Angeles

EDDIE KINGSTON vs. JAY LETHAL (10:53): Since AEW added the new 2-hour weekly TV show, Collision, AEW TV has gotten watered down. Instead of having a great weekly show with Dynamite, now they have two just-okay TV shows. It was kind of obvious that would happen, as you can't possibly put on 5 hours of awesome wrestling TV every week. This happened with the WWE as well...so much so I barely watch any of it anymore because it's mostly just filler. The one thing that hasn't suffered so far is the great AEW PPV's. This will unfortunately probably change, too, as now they're putting on more PPV's every year. This year they'll be doing 8 when the last few years they had 4. So far it hasn't happened, but this show was not as good as the last 3 PPV's they had. While this was a good, entertaining show, the big problem was that the main event wasn't any good. That wasn't really a shock, though, as Jay White is always in boring matches. The pre-show started with an ROH title match in an arena that was still filling up with fans. This probably tells you something about the ROH title. I do kind of wonder who the hell actually subscribes to the ROH streaming service. Probably no one, as they announced that subscribers will now get the next ROH PPV as part of their $9.99 subscription when before they weren't. They didn't say if every PPV going forward will be part of the service, though. Mostly because this match was in front of an audience still filing into the building, it wasn't very impressive. It was okay. *1/2

CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. BUDDY MATTHEWS (10:28): I remember Buddy Matthews on 205Live looking so awesome I kept wondering when someone would push him. Sadly, AEW hasn't really pushed him either. Mostly he's been in tag team matches as part of The House of Black. When he does have a singles match like this one, he looks good but not as great as I thought he might turn out to be. Was I wrong about him? Maybe. Match was decent but nothing special. **

MJF & SOMOA JOE vs. THE GUNNS (9:26): If you're the tag team champs you can just, like, substitute wrestlers? Aren't there, like, rules? Adam Cole and MJF are still the ROH tag team champs...but for some reason they just let Somoa Joe take Cole's place here because Cole is injured. The catch was that if MJF agreed to have Somoa Joe be his partner in this match then MJF would have to give Joe a title shot in the future. Because of that stipulation, it kind of made it obvious that Jay White wasn't winning the title (not that anyone on Earth thought Jay White was winning the title). The crowd was really into everything Somoa Joe did in this match. Maybe they should give Joe the title. They might...as MJF beat Joe in a title match at Grand Slam in September. Why else would they do a re-match again months later? There wasn't much to this but it was a lot of fun. **1/2

ADAM COPELAND, STING & DARBY ALLIN vs. CHRISTIAN CAGE, LUCHASAURUS & NICK WAYNE (15:10): I was kind of surprised this went on first after the pre-show because it seemed like such a big match would go on later. Ric Flair came out because he's apparently going to attend every Sting match until Sting's retirement in March. This was kind of just a basic Dynamite match. Darby took some brutal moves, though, including being choke slammed from the ring onto the apron by Luchasaurus. Ric Flair did end up involved when he punched and chopped Christian and then Christian gave him a low blow. Adam Copeland got some big pops when he did a few moves like the spear. The crowd seemed to be mostly into Adam Copeland vs. Christian, which they teased but never really delivered much of. Entertaining match. **1/2

ORANGE CASSIDY vs. JON MOXLEY (12:04): This was not as good as their All In match. That was a PPV main event, though, so of course it wasn't. Moxley doesn't lose clean very often but he did here after a bunch of Orange punches. When Moxley lost the International title to Rey Fenix, it was only because Moxley got a concussion and they changed the finish. I guess they also changed future plans, as Moxley's reign didn't last long and ended up staying that way. This was very hard hitting and, of course, Moxley was bleeding. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. HIKARU SHIDA (10:25): The crowd popped big when 'Timeless' Toni Storm came out. Her new character is being a silent movie star from Hollywood. Don't ask. It's super cheesy and super stupid but I guess people enjoy the camp nature of it. The announcer, Nigel McGuinness, noted that Toni Storm tried to get him to buy war bonds. That was funny. As much as the crowds like her new gimmick, it doesn't mean they want to watch her wrestling. The crowd was pretty quiet during the actual wrestling part, which was mediocre. They popped when Shida used a Singapore Cane to hit Toni's manager at ringside. Toni Storm put a metal plate in her trunks and hit Shida in the corner with a hip attack. It was so obvious she had a metal plate in her ass that it was laughable that the ref didn't say something. Toni won the women's title here. *

BIG BILL & RICKY STARKS vs. FTR vs. BRODY KING & MALAKAI BLACK vs. DRALISTICO & RUSH "LADDER MATCH" (20:09): This was pretty crazy and wild and very entertaining. The big move in this was Brody King giving Dralistico a Gonza Bomb onto a ladder bridge. That's basically a slam into a pile driver. That looked sick. Cash Wheeler then jumped off the top rope onto one of his opponent's onto the same ladder bridge. Those were the two big spots. They all did pretty much everything else you can think of in a ladder match. Dax Harwood suplexed Ricky Starks from the top rope down onto everyone at ring side. Dax put his head in the ladder and spun it around, hitting everyone. Big Bill and Starks retained the tag team titles. Why they're the tag team champs when they're not even really a tag team is beyond me. This was a good match and the second best on the show. I really do hope they start putting Malaki Black in main event singles match soon, though. Not that he looked great in this match or anything, but just because he seems kind of lost in the AEW shuffle. ***

JULIA HART vs. KRIS STATLANDER vs. SKYE BLUE (11:22): Julia Hart won the TBS title here. They've been pushing her lately so that's not a surprise. It's not a surprise that the crowds like her, either, as she's a 21 year old blonde cheerleader. Or...was a cheerleader. I think she was a college gymnist, too. She's definitely improved in the ring, although Statlander is one of the more accomplished women's wrestlers in AEW. Skye Blue is a better wrestler than Hart, too. This was decent, though nothing special. The crowd popped for a few moves here and there like Skye Blue's flip power bomb and Hart's moonsault. Hart kind of stole the win by tossing Statlander off Blue when she was about to pin her and pinning Blue herself. **

SWERVE STRICKLAND vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE "TEXAS DEATH MATCH" (29:46): Now this was something. This was the kind of match that you have your eyes glued to the TV for 30 minutes. You gasp, you laugh at the insanity, you're completely transfixed and compelled. The only thing they did new in this was use a staple gun. Everything else they've done before; a cinderblock, glass, barbed wire, a barbed wire chair, and a barbed wire table were used. While the glass and barbed wire were fake, this was still brutal as hell and a complete bloodbath. It was hard to watch in spots. Every few minutes these two did something that was just bonkers that got the crowd to gasp in horror. Page ran out before his music even hit to beat up Strickland and give him a Buckshot Lariat. Page pulled out a staple gun and started to staple Strickland's chest and arms...at one point stapling Page's child's drawing on a piece of a paper to Strickland's cheek. This was because on Dynamite recently, Swerve had went to Page's house and filmed himself looking at Page's kid in a crib and ripping up his kid's drawing that was on the fridge. The most unique scene was when Strickland was busted open and Page leaned down and opened his mouth and drank Strickland's blood that was pouring down into Page's open mouth. That was so grotesque and the crowd went ape shit for that. I would probably go all night just writing about the various, sadistic things they did. At one point, Page was sitting on the top rope and Swerve hit Page in the back with a barbed wire wrapped chair and one barbed wire strand got loose and got stuck across Page's face. Swerve gave Page a slam onto a concrete block on the apron, then later smashed a concrete black against the back of his head at ringside. Page gave Prince Nana (who is now so famous because of his hilarious dance that Swerve's entrance featured dancing girls doing the Nana dance) a Dead Eye from the apron through a table. Page gave Strickland a top rope flip slam through a barbed wire table set up on two chairs. Swerve, at one point, stapled his own chest with the stape gun while grinning in his crimson mask. Swerve gave Page a pile driver while both were standing on the ringside barrier between the crowd and ring. Both men ended up wrapping themselves in barbed wire at one point. Even Brian Cage came down to interfere and Page wrapped him in barbed wire and gave him a Buckshot Lariot. Swerve took out a bag of glass and poured it onto Page's back then did a 450 from the top rope down onto Page. This was just a crazy, chaotic, wild, eyes-glued-to-the-TV, edge-of-your-seat, supremely entertaining match. The entire mat was covered with blood. The announcers were yelling that blood was splattering them. Swerve ended up choking out and hanging Page with a chain to win. This was the same way that Page beat Moxley in their Texas Death match earlier this year. Fuck...this was a memorable match. One of the best of the year for sure, and definitely a match you won't forget. ****

KENNY OMEGA & CHRIS JERICHO vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (20:52): Jesus...good luck following that. After ten minutes or so these four finally got the audience back and the audience chanted, "This is awesome!" This was, in the end, a very entertaining match. The story is that the Bucks have gone heel. On Dynamite they faced Penta and Kommander and used a low blow to start their heel turn. Here they played up being heels. Does this mean that Adam Cole will also turn heel and finally join them? If you remember, the Bucks, Omega, and Cole were all in a heel group in NJPW. Everyone kind of figures Cole will turn heel to win the title from MJF. And the storyline of the masked devil seems to lead to Britt Baker being behind the mask, since she's been off TV for no good reason lately. By the end of this match, when everyone was delivering big moves and the Bucks were doing high dives and super kicks non stop, this was fantastic. Omega and Jericho win, which means they don't have to break up as a tag team and they get the tag team title match that the Bucks had previously won at Wrestledream. ***

MJF vs. JAY WHITE (29:44): After MJF and Somoa Joe retained the ROH tag titles on the pre-show, The Guns beat up MJF and used a chair to damage MJF's knee. MJF was stretchered out and left in an ambulance. Adam Cole, on crutches, took MJF's place in this match. Then we heard an ambulance siren and backstage, MJF was driving the ambulance back into the building. I'm not entirely sure why they did this injury angle. I think it was because no one actually thought Jay White was winning the title so they did something to kind of give people some doubt. The problem with this storyline is that you had an injured, hobbling MJF work a 30 minute match. That might've worked if it was, say, 15 minutes. But the entire match had MJF crippled and yelling in pain and miraculously doing savior moves. That gets old after a while. At one point, MJF was supposed to do a top rope elbow drop onto Jay White on the announce table. That would've been cool...except the table broke when he put Jay White on the table. He did the move anyway, doing a top rope elbow drop down onto Jay White who was laying on the ground. Adam Cole tried to hit Jay White with the ROH tag title but Jay White grabbed the title and hit MJF with it when the ref wasn't looking. That got a near fall. Jay White put MJF in a leg lock submission and Cole was holding a towel ready to throw it into the ring but MJF reversed it. There was a ref bump. Cole tried to give MJF a ring to punch Jay White but White grabbed the ring. Eventually MJF got the ring and punched Jay White and the ref woke up and MJF won. While they over booked the fuck out of this main event, none of that was a problem for me. The ref bump and interference and Cole being there was all entertaining. The actual wrestling was boring. The match was mostly dull. If they had just done a regular match with MJF not being injured...would this have been better? Probably not, as Jay White is consistently in boring matches. He's in so many boring matches that I literally can remember every time he was in a good match. That Juice Robinson match in Long Beach. That short Okada Tokyo Dome match. That 45 minute Ibushi Tokyo Dome main event. And that 58 minute tag team match on Collision earlier this year. Usually he's in dreadfully dull matches. This was a good PPV with a dull main event. Oh, well. You kind of don't want to end the show that way...but at least Jay White isn't the champion. *1/2