AEW Full Gear 2022

AEW Full Gear 2022

Newark, NJ - November 2022

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into the show, Jon Moxley was the AEW World Champion, the TNT Champion was Wardlow, the Women's World Champion was Toni Storm, the TBS Champion was Jade Cargill, the AEW World Tag Team Champions were The Acclaimed, Orange Cassidy held the All-Atlantic Championship, and the Death Triangle (PENTA, Rey Fenix, and PAC) were the Trios Champions.

"Jungle Boy" Jack Perry took on Luchasaurus (Killswitch?) in a cage match to start the show. Christian accompanied Luchasaurus to the ring but got tossed out about a third of the way through, which was a nice and smart way of keeping the focus on the guys feuding in the ring. Perry got busted early on and bled a gusher, throwing himself into the cage with gusto and doing everything he could to play the undersized underdog recklessly fighting from underneath to defeat his former best friend. There were some good spots here, including Luchasaurus choke slamming Perry into an unfolded chair and Perry somehow getting the big man up for a pile-driver. This may have gone a smidgen too long and I wouldn't say I ever got "lost" and fully engrossed in the match, but the effort was absolutely there. (3/5)

Next up - The Death Triangle (Pentagon Jr., Rey Fenix, and PAC) defended their AEW Trios Championships against the returning team of The Elite (The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega). This was everything one would expect, for better or worse. If you were/are a fan of non-stop action, intricate sequences, lots of high-flying and nifty counters, this had all of those things going for it. This was the Elite's big return bout following the "Brawl Out" incident some months earlier, which would explain to the uninitiated why the crowd's chanted "Fuck CM Punk" early on (there was a slightly quieter "Fuck Omega" chant minutes later), and felt very much like them delivering something of a "mission statement" about what their view of AEW - big, sorta corny entrances (Kansas' corporate rock anthem "Carry On Wayward Son" blared during the Elite's arrival), over-the-top, borderline "spotfest" wrestling, the "rules" of the match being thrown out the window so that all six men could enter and exit the ring willy-nilly to deliver yet another crowd-pleasing spot. The teams did hold some stuff back as this was the first match in what would be a Best of 7 series, though I don't think that was announced until after this match happened. I liked the finish as it was not only something of a surprise - this being the Elite's big return and all - but also told the story of Fenix not wanting to cheat until there was absolutely no choice. (3.5/5)

Jade Cargill vs. Nyla Rose for the TBS Championship was next. The story coming in was that Nyla Rose had stolen the physical belt. She was managed by Vickie Guerrero and they came out in a topless lowrider Cadillac ala Eddie Guerrero. Cheap or not, it got a reaction from the crowd and made this match feel "bigger." Cargill came out in Thundercats-inspired gear which was...a bit odd? This was sloppy at times, mostly due to Cargill. I really disliked the "Flying Nothing" transition as Cargill came down off the top rope directly into Nyla Rose's feet and its unclear what she was even attempting. Speaking of Rose, she was definitely "leading" here and looked much more impressive than Cargill in terms of the basics. I liked Rose getting the nearfall by hitting Cargill with her own finish, though I don't think anyone doubted the conclusion of this match as Cargill had been booked so dominantly for months and months and Rose was booked the opposite of that. At 8 minutes, I felt like this was the perfect length: enough to make it feel like a genuine title defense and that Rose was a real challenge, but not too long to expose them anymore than it already did. Had this same match happened in 2012 or 2002 or 1992 in the WWE (or TNA), it would've probably been considered average, but in 2022, this just wasn't up to par. (1.5/5)

Next up - a fatal fourway for the Ring of Honor World Championship between Sammy Guevara, Bryan Danielson, Claudio Castignoli, and then-Champion Chris Jericho. Highlights included Danielson's dive onto Guevara on the outside early on, Jericho getting "pinballed" by uppercuts from Danielson and Claudio, the Blackpool Combat Club members hitting a two-man flapjack and turning it into a double half-crab, the slow burn of Jericho and Guevara coming to blows, and the Swiss Superman's usual impressive array of power moves.  The heat segment on Danielson went a bit long to me as it required Castignoli to play dead for way too long. I liked the LeBell Lock/Sharpshooter combo, as gimmicky as it may have been, and Guevara busting out Jericho's signature moves against him. I'm not sure Guevara shouldn't have won off the GTH and Shooting Star Press. Loved Danielson hitting the Baisaku Knee on Claudio after he'd just guerilla pressed Guevara out of the ring and onto Jericho. I was less of a fan of Danielson eating a Spanish Fly off the top and immediately going into the LeBell Lock (as loud a pop as it got). Guevara and Claudio had a great sequence soon after that capped off with the Giant Swing and Jericho delivering a jumping Judas Effect and then another to Castignoli to get the victory. This was good. (3/5)

Saraya (Paige from the WWE) made her in-ring return after 5 years out due to not being medically cleared based on a neck injury to take on Dr. Britt Baker in the next match. Saraya showed some rust, looking gassed at times and not moving with the speed and confidence that once made her one of the best female workers in the WWE (though, that's a bit of faint praise when you look at what the WWE's women's roster was made up of pre-"Divas Revolution" and how often they were permitted to actually show what they could do). Baker doesn't look all that much better and was similarly perceived as a much better, more capable in-ring performer in AEW when the roster was thinner and women like Toni Storm, Kris Statlander, Willow Nightingale, and others hadn't quite found their footing or were still relatively green. Anyway...I liked the psychology that Baker brought, targeting Saraya's neck, but didn't love the repeating finishers and finisher set-ups. The crowd was really flat for this too despite Baker's best effort to work as a heel and allow Saraya the opportunity to shine as a babyface. (2/5)

This was followed by the TNT Championship match as Wardlow defending his belt against Samoa Joe and Will Hobbs in a threeway. There were parts of this I really liked - Hobbs dominating in the early going, Wardlow's big comeback and always-impressive high-flying and powerbomb symphony, Wardlow crashing into Samoa Joe on the outside and putting him into the barricade, and Samoa Joe's expert timing throughout. What I didn't love was the tacked-on finish that saw Samoa Joe take the easy way out as he clobbered Wardlow with the championship belt (which is legal in a three-way for a reason I've never understood) and then forced Hobbs to tap. This match just sorta happened. (2.5/5)

Sting and Darby Allin teamed up to take on Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett in the next match. These sorts of matches always work well on these cards because they stand out as something different. This wasn't an all-time classic or anything, but it was smartly worked and featured enough big moments to make every second of its rather abbreviated 11-minute runtime work. Loved Darby Allin's Coffin Drop into the waiting arms of Satnam Singh (who then airplane spun him and sent him flying on the ramp), loved Sting's similar dive in the crowd minutes later, loved Jay Lethal's bump onto the ring apron from a Sting military press off the top, loved Jarrett's entrance and chickenshit heel work before the match started, loved the little bit of solid back-and-forth we got between Lethal and Allin in the ring...this was just fun. I wish the cameraman would've captured Jarrett hitting Allin in the back with a chair when he attempted a Coffin Drop better because we really didn't see the impact. Oh well. Good-not-great stuff. (3/5)

The AEW Women's World Championship was on the line next as Toni Storm (not yet "Timeless") defended her championship against Jamie Hayter. This match started out with some awesome straight-up wrestling, the intensity picked up when Storm got her nose busted, and then things went off the rails when they went into "self-conscious epic" territory and started loading things up with false finishes, ineffective interferences, and Storm eating a Curb Stomp (after being hit in the head with the championship belt) and a finishing move - I forget if it was Hayter's lariat or Hayter hitting her with a Stormbreaker -  and still got to kick-out in SuperCena fashion. To me, this didn't make Storm look strong, it made the match feel "scripted" and "fake" despite how hard-hitting and physical it was. Its like they baked a really good cake but then thought adding 3 more minutes in the oven would make it better when, really, it just dried it out. (3/5)

Swerve In Their Glory (Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee) challenged The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) for the AEW World Tag Team Championships in the next match. This was the rubber match of their feud with the storyline being that Swerve was willing to do anything to win the titles back, including mangling "Daddy Ass" Billy Gunn by cutting off one of his fingers with a garden pruner while Keith Lee wanted to win back the titles the right way. This match wasn't as good as the one they had at All Out, but it wasn't that far behind it. Keith Lee took a great bump into a barricade that Swerve had set up earlier in the match, but aside from that big moment, he was clearly not 100% in this match and we saw very little of the explosivity and gravity-defying agility that he was once known for. Max Caster was clearly the weakest link in this match, his hot tag offense lacking the precision in execution to bring the crowd up as high as they could've gone. On the plus side, Swerve and Bowens really shined in this match and it's easy to see that Swerve was ready to take the next step in his evolution by this point. The finish was a solid set-up to a Swerve/Lee feud that, unfortunately, never really materialized due to Lee's health. (3/5)

Main event time - MJF challenging Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. After All Out, CM Punk was suspended and Moxley ended up winning his third AEW World Championship in a tournament final against Bryan Danielson, a booking decision made to try to buoy the title picture as quickly as possible after a whole lot of nonsense throughout 2022. Anyway...the New Jersey crowd was split roughly 70/30, which could be expected considering MJF was more of the hometown guy. Mox struck early with a haymaker to the jaw right after the bell and took over early, gnawing at MJF's forehead at one point. Mox applied an STF and followed it up with a Falcon Arrow into a juji gatame, a nifty combo, but MJF got to the ropes. Mox got good heel heat by flipping off the crowd a couple times, smirking and arrogantly pacing the ring as MJF sold on the outside, and parading around with the championship. MJF set up a table at ringside but ate a cutter on the way back into the ring and then got his face stomped on. Onto the apron they went, where Mox went for a piledriver or powerbomb of some sort but ended up getting tombstoned on the apron! It wasn't the smoothest set-up, but it looked brutal. MJF immediately clutched at his knee afterwards. After a nearfall, they went back onto the apron and this time Mox connected with a jumping piledriver through the table! As cool as the two piledriver spots were, I didn't love the underselling of their impact. Back into the ring they went and, less than a minute later, the match became about a figure four leglock/MJF's damaged knee. MJF hit a nasty Heatseeker but couldn't hit another and Mox went to work on his knee as a "Fuck You Moxley" chant broke out. Up to the top rope they went where Mox hit hammer-and-anvil elbows and then a crazy Paradigm Shift from the top rope that looked awkward and dangerous as all hell. After selling on the mat for awhile, a strike exchange started up, but MJF pulled the ref into the fray and got bumped. MJF pulled out the Dynamite Diamond Ring, leading to Regal coming to the ring (teasing a big swerve). MJF took off the ring and then flipped Regal off, but the distraction allowed Mox to apply a choke and then a second ref bump! Mox reapplied the Bulldog Choke and MJF choked out but the ref didn't see it! Regal told Mox to wake the ref up but then slipped MJF a pair of brass knucks! MJF clocked Mox in the skull and this one is over! Unfortunately, Regal's heel turn didn't really go anywhere as he was out of the company relatively quickly after this, explaining his actions as his "last lesson" to the Blackpool Combat Club. Not a bad match at all, but far short of a "classic." (3/5)

Full Gear 2022 was an underwhelming show, loaded with matches that fell between decent-to-good but rarely great. The Match of the Night was undoubtedly the trios match, though your mileage may vary depending on your appreciation of Omega and the Bucks. Saraya/Baker and Cargill/Rose weren't very good, but I've seen far worse and at least neither ran too long. With a Kwang Score of 2.75, I'd consider most of this "inessential" but inoffensive and, simply because the talent of the roster is so high, generally above-average.

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand