AEW FULL GEAR

Newark, New Jersey

BANG BANG GANG (AUSTIN GUNN & JUICE ROBINSON) vs. THE ACCLAIMED (ANTHONY BOWENS & MAX CASTER) vs. BIG BILL & BRYAN KEITH vs. THE OUTRUNNERS (TURBO FLOYD & TRUTH MAGNUM) (6:07): It's Tuesday, November 25th, at 11:35 PM. I just finished watching this show tonight even though it took place on Saturday night. These AEW PPV's are always great but so fucking long. It takes me forever to finally get around to watching the whole thing. Because of that, I watched the three pre-show matches on Sunday so I barely remember them. This was a really good PPV, though. It was also AEW's bloodiest ever. Jesus Christ. And this is coming two weeks after Blood & Guts, which was, obviously, super bloody. That show, by the way, was one of the best wrestling shows of the year. One reason was that it was a regular episode of Dynamite so it wasn't on PPV (it was longer than usual, at 2 hours, 35 minutes). This year they had a women's and men's War Games match plus a 'Hangman' vs. Will Hobbs street fight. Darby Allin also got tossed onto two flaming tables. Plus Toni Storm got a mirror smashed over her head. Statlander got pushed onto a bed of nails. That was a hell of a show. None of these pre-show matches were particular great. The Newark crowd was pretty good all night but they did get quiet during some of the duller moments. The show was 4 hours and 25 minutes, plus this hour pre-show. That meant the show didn't end until 12:25 AM. Yikes! They're lucky Saturday Night Live wasn't live. I don't even remember much about this match except Juice looks like he has a new hairdo. I still can't figure out what they're attempted to do with The Acclaimed and apparently neither do they. **

BOOM & DOOM (BIG BOOM AJ & QT MARSHALL) vs. RPG VICE (ROCKY ROMERO & TRENT BERETTA) (11:57): The Costco guys are back. Big Boom AJ looks like he's been hitting the cake display too hard at Costco these days. The Rizzler had a cape on. Are those Tiktok stars still popular? Or is it over? I did laugh when Trent pushed the kid over. I'm horrible. **

EDDIE KINGSTON & HOOK vs. THE WORKHORSEMEN (ANTHONY HENRY & JD DRAKE (1:48): This was short so fairly pointless. They haven't done much with Kingston since he returned. I don't think he's even in the Continental Classic this year, which starts on Thanksgiving eve. He won it the first year, didn't he? 1/2*

EL SKY TEAM (MASCARA DORADA, MISTICO & NEON) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (HECHICERO, KAZUCHIKA OKADA & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA) (13:44): CMLL is the hottest promotion of 2025 in the whole world. That's kind of crazy, really. Sky Team is one reason. They're a popular team often in the main event on Friday nights at Arena Mexico. Mistico is CMLL's big star but Neon looked phenomenal in this match (he's younger, so that helps). They did the gimmick again where this match bled from the pre-show into the PPV. Okada's entrance started the PPV (he was late because of storyline travel issues...he pulled up in his car backstage without a shirt on and in his wrestling trunks). They played up the Takeshita/Okada feud. I'm guessing that match will be either the final or semi-final in the Continental Classic. Probably the final since it's literally the hottest feud AEW has these days. Both of those guys are on the NJPW Tokyo Dome show in January. Okada is wrestling Tanahashi in Tanahashi's retirement match. And Takeshita is going to lose the IWGP title to Yota Tsuji. This match was very exciting and a lot of fun. It was for the CMLL trios titles, which Sky Team retained. ***

PAC vs. DARBY ALLIN (16:57): Fairly entertaining match, though no gruesome or crazy moments here. PAC press slammed Darby from the apron to the floor. That was about it for big moves. Darby was all taped up because they said he had second degree burns from when PAC tossed him off the stage through two tables on fire at Blood & Guts (yes, they somehow left the cage). So PAC tore off Darby's bandages and clawed his burns with his nails. **1/2

TIMELESS LOVE BOMBS (MINA SHIRAKAWA & TONI STORM) vs. BABES OF WRATH (HARLEY CAMERON & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE) vs. MARINA SHAFIR & MEGAN BAYNE vs. SISTERS OF SIN (JULIA HART & SKYE BLUE) (13:09): They're doing a tournament for the new women's tag team titles. I'm not sure why the finals weren't on this show but I guess they decided to drag it out. We got this superfluous match instead. It was one of the weaker matches on the show. Not sure the crowd was really into any of these women. *1/2

FTR (CASH WHEELER & DAX HARWOOD) vs. BRODIDO (BANDIDO & BRODY KING) (20:11): Great match. They did the deal where Bandido kept kicking out at 2 non-stop towards the end and the crowd was going wild. FTR won the tag titles here. The only champion to retain on this show was Statlander. This was wild and entertaining and the crowd was super into it. Fantastic stuff. ***1/2

RICOCHET vs. BOBBY LASHLEY vs. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI vs. DANIEL GARCIA vs. KEVIN KNIGHT vs. MARK DAVIS vs. MATT MENARD vs. MIKE BAILEY vs. ORANGE CASSIDY vs. RODERICK STRONG vs. SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. WHEELER YUTA "CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH" (22:54): Oh, AEW has too many titles you say? Well screw you, man! We're adding another one! It's getting ridiculous, really. This match was to crown the new National title champion. Okay. Usually, these Casino Gauntlet matches have a surprise entrant, but not here. The match was entertaining. It started with Lashley and Shelton having to wrestle each other. A lot of action. It was fun. Ricochet is the new National champion. ***

KYLE O'REILLY vs. JON MOXLEY "NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH" (19:17): AEW told a perfect story that culminated at Blood & Guts. At the last PPV, Darby Allin got Moxley to tap out. On the Dynamite after, Kyle wrestled Moxley and had him in the ankle lock and Moxley was about to tap out again. Moxley knocked out the ref to cause a DQ so he would have to tap. They did the match again and Moxley escaped again without tapping. This led to Kyle making Moxley tap out finally at Blood & Guts to win the men's match. I guess there's just too many PPV's now, so they have to keep recycling things. Because there was no point to this match. The story was over. Anyway, Kyle made him tap out again. This match was the first of three bloodbath matches on this show. They both used a fork to jab each other's forehead. The crowd grimaced in uncomfortable shock at the images of blood pouring down after the jabs. Other than that, this was mostly a grappling match. It was dramatic stuff. ***

MARK BRISCOE vs. KYLE FLETCHER "NO DQ MATCH" (24:49): This was the best match on the show. There was a barbed wire board, chairs, ladders, tables, a screwdriver, and thumbtacks. Both men bled buckets. So...of course it was the best match on the show. I mean...if horror is your thing. And if it's not, maybe you shouldn't be watching AEW. Briscoe won the TNT title here. There were too many big spots to even mention. Briscoe got destroyed in this one, though. I don't know he was even still standing. One particular move had Briscoe giving a suplex on the apron to Fletcher onto six steel chairs sitting up at ringside. Briscoe's head landed right on the seat of one of the chairs hard. That looked gruesome. This was epic and totally engrossing. ***1/2

JOSH ALEXANDER & THE YOUNG BUCKS (MATT & NICK JACKSON) vs. JURASSIC EXPRESS (LUCHASAURUS & JACK PERRY) & KENNY OMEGA (19:06): This was the one disappointment on the show. I figured this would be one of the best matches on the show. They did have a hard time following the last match. But Omega was limping throughout so looked a bit off. Luchasaurus failed to catch one of the Bucks on a dive and that made the match instantly feel sloppy and awkard for a while. There were some exciting moves and the crowd got into some of it, but usually all of these guys (except Alexander...who's not on the same level) knock it out of the park. After the match, The Bucks were leaving with Don Callis, apparently going to join his family when the rest of Callis' crew started pummeling Omega in the ring. The Bucks decided to turn babyface and run down to save Omega. The Bucks shook Jurassic Express' hands and hugged Omega. **1/2

KRIS STATLANDER vs. MERCEDES MONE (23:09): These two actually wrestled at last year's Full Gear, too. That was for the TBS title. This was for Statlander's championship, which she retained. Most of this match was dull but the last five minutes or so, when they finally started doing big moves and kicking out at dramatic moments, were good. **1/2

SAMOA JOE vs. 'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (16:02): Thankfully, this was short. It was after midnight when this finally went on, so the crowd wasn't too boisterous. Both men were bleeding, but Somoa Joe was gushing a crimson river out of his forehead. The big problem with this match was the fact that there was interference. The entire reason you have a cage match is to thwart outside interference. Granted, this match would have been a total bore without outside interference, plus the heel needed to cheat to win and Hook turned heel, which would make no sense if he couldn't get into the cage. The ref was knocked out. 'Hangman' had the match won. Shibata and Hobbs came into the cage after Hobbs tore off the lock. Hook ran out but hit 'Hangman' with the belt and joined The Opps. Samoa Joe gave 'Hangman' his package piledriver finish on the belt to win. I kind of figured Samoa Joe was winning the title...because they already had this match at the last PPV. Why do it again with the same result? And once Hook turned, Samoa kind of had to win. Change is fine, it helps the weekly TV storylines and adds fresh matches. But Samoa Joe has already been champion. So has 'Hangman.' Why don't they give the title to some new guys like Darby or Fletcher or Ospreay or PAC? Supposedly, Samoa Joe said he's retiring after his current contract is up. I think Tony Khan just wanted to give him one last title run. That's fine, I guess. Go out one last time as champ into the sunset. **1/2