AEW Full Gear 2023

AEW Full Gear 2023

Los Angeles, CA - November 2023

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, MJF was the AEW World Heavyweight Champion, Hikaru Shida held the AEW Women's World Championship, the AEW World Tag Team Champions were Ricky Starks and Big Bill, the AEW Trios Champions were Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed, the TNT Champion was Christian Cage, the TBS Champion was Kris Statlander, and the AEW International Champion was Orange Cassidy.

AEW Full Gear 2023 started off with a video hyping the night's major matches and the on-going Devil story, in which MJF had been getting attacked by one (or several different?) men under a Devil mask. During the pre-show, The Gunns had beaten down MJF after the match, sending him to the hospital and putting the main event in jeopardy.

Sting, Darby Allin, and Adam Copeland teamed up take on Christian, Killswitch (Luchasaurus), and Nick Wayne in the opening contest. Ric Flair was on hand as this match was part of Sting's "Farewell Tour." The action was okay with Allin doing most of the heavy lifting including taking a nasty bump on the apron from a Killswitch chokeslam and then hitting a top-rope Destroyer on Nick Wayne later on. There was good heat between "Cope" and Christian with Cage evading his former tag team partner throughout the match and eventually fleeing the match entirely leaving his "sons" to take the L. The Flair/Christian interaction on the outside was painful to watch as Christian "sold" phantom punches. The crowd was into this. (2.5/5)

On the entrance ramp, Tony Schiavone and Bryce Remsburg announced that, due to injury, MJF would have to forfeit the AEW World Championship to Jay White, but before the title could officially change hands (?), Adam Cole came out on crutches and said that despite being injured, he would fight in MJF's place. 

Jon Moxley challenged Orange Cassidy for the AEW International Championship in the next match. Cassidy came out of the gate in serious mode, which played into the on-going story between them and how Cassidy's mind games had no effect on the leader of the Blackpool Combat Club (not yet the Death Riders, though, watching back, there's really not all that much of a difference between the stables). Moxley controlled the early going, cutting off Cassidy repeatedly, but then got bloodied from headbutts. The turnbuckle gets exposed and we enter a closing stretch that had some unfortunate elements, including Moxley taking some awkward bumps into the buckle and then Cassidy's Orange Punch being nearly "buried" as it takes six of them to put Moxley down (with Moxley even "firing up" after the third). Some people on Cagematch really, really despised the finish, but Moxley has been so established as a Final Boss-level guy in AEW that I didn't find it as offensive. (3/5)

"Timeless" Toni Storm challenged Hikaru Shida for the AEW Women's World Championship in the next match. Storm was very over with the crowd, but Shida never really seemed to click with the AEW audience the way TK hoped for and its fairly obvious why in a match like this. Storm's character work and presence is there, but Shida is not a great foil to her because the level of their personalities is such a mismatch (and Shida, while solid, is not that captivating an in-ring performer that it can make up for the lack of definable character). The finish is poorly executed, exposes the referee, and needed to be re-calibrated because Shida was initially out of position. Not woeful, but not good. (1.5/5)

A four-way ladder match for the AEW World Tag Team Championships was next with Ricky Starks and Big Bill defending the titles against FTR, Dralistico and RUSH, and Brody King and Malachi Black. This wasn't the all-out, balls-to-the-wall spotfest that I was expecting, though part of that is because AEW has put on so many ridiculous multi-mans over the years that it takes an especially crazy match to leave a lasting impression. Brody King may have been the MVP of the match as he not only took a wicked bump onto a ladder when Big Bill dumped him off one when he attempted to grab the titles, but also hit his finisher on Dralistico into one on the outside in what was the best spot of the match. The Starks and FTR exchanges were good too, while Black really seemed to fade into the background in this match a bit. (3/5)

The TBS Champion, Kris Statlander, defended her title against Skye Blue and Julia Hart in the next match. Hart and Blue had been in a somewhat uneasy and confusing alliance during the build-up to this as Hart had spit mist into Blue's eyes in September causing Blue to become more overtly heelish and begin to dress like she was part of the House of Black. Blue wouldn't officially align herself with Hart for another month (according to Wikipedia), but the potential of this match being 2-on-1 was played up on commentary. While Blue and Hart don't truly team up on Statlander, the match is still laid out as mostly both women trying to take out the champion, which was a smart way to mask the very much apparent issue that Statlander is essentially carrying the match from beginning to end. There are more than a few awkward moments in the first 3/4ths of this match, but the final few minutes are very good as Statlander goes into overdrive to make Blue's finisher look extra dangerous and then erupts with a series of awesome suplexes before we get a genuinely shocking finish. Had it not been for the last few minutes of this match, this would've been below average. (2.5/5)

In the ring, Tony Schiavone announces AEW's latest signing - Will Ospreay! Ospreay was over enough with the AEW audience to make his signing feel like a big deal. He clarifies that he will not be joining AEW right away as he has dates to finish with New Japan, but is looking forward to seeing everyone at Revolution and then at Wembley Stadium. Cool.

"Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland's epic Texas Death Match was next. I had seen some clips of this match before and I knew of its reputation, but this one mostly holds up even if some of its better parts have been "spoiled" for you (the worst spot of the match is the unnecessary and demonstratable phony cinder block to the back at the end of the match, but everything else is wildly violent). Rewatching the older AEW PPVs over the last few years, its hard not to see Strickland as arguably the most consistently great performer on the roster, even moreso than Page (often called AEW's "main character") and Darby Allin (who, as great as he is, has to largely play the undersized underdog rather than being able to play multiple roles the way Swerve can). This is a career performance out of him (and Prince Nana as well) as his selling and character work are brilliant at various points in the match, even when he and Page clearly go into overkill mode. While Swerve continued to look and act like every additional potential match-ender was taking its toll, I found some of Page's "no-selling" to be a bit much, even with the commentators making it clear how both men's adrenaline was what was carrying them through the war. While it doesn't add to the match's rating for me, it's worth mentioning how symbolically important this match was for AEW at the time (as I'll get into in the next match). CM Punk was one week away from returning to the WWE (at their Survivor Series show on the 25th) and hadn't been on AEW TV for quite awhile, but there was still an undeniable lingering feeling that AEW was no longer the "cool alternative" and that his departure had cemented the company as being the Young Bucks' proverbial playground. This match didn't run counter to that notion - this sort of death match is about as "indie-rific" as things get - but it did reclaim some of the "Us Against Them" attitude that AEW had been built on. Paired with Ospreay's appearance before this match, it does seem like we're getting a peek into AEW's future far more than the matches that follow. (4/5)

Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega took on The Young Bucks in the next contest with the Bucks putting up their future AEW World Tag Team Championship shot against an agreement that, were they to lose, Jericho and Omega could never tag again (which didn't seem like a big loss, to be honest). This match goes a touch too long and Jericho doesn't move nearly as well as any of the other three guys, but there is not enough smart work to carry this one through its duration and to re-capture the crowd who, at one point, seem to be much more interested in "popping" themselves with CM Punk (and "Fuck CM Punk") chants than in the story being told, which focused on Jericho getting his arm smashed between the steps and the ring and the Bucks trying to turn it into a 2-on-1. The match went to another level once the Bucks hit low blows on their opponents. Highlights included one of the Bucks hitting the Judas Effect, Omega taking a nasty German suplex on the apron, Matt Jackson hitting a One Winged Angel for another nearfall, and Jericho cutting off a Meltzer Driver with a Codebreaker. Omega's Ripcord Bang/One Winged Angel combo was a satisfying ending and I liked the Bucks' post-match temper tantrum. (3/5)

Main event time - Jay White vs. Adam Cole for MJF's AEW World Heavyweight Championship...but wait, no, MJF returns at the last possible minute having commandeered an ambulance! Praised by Meltzer (who gave it 4.5 stars in the Observer) but largely disliked on ProWrestlingOnly and Cagematch, this match might best encapsulate all the best and worst of the Bro-Chacho babyface MJF run. On the positive side, MJF is a good enough worker to play a sympathetic babyface. While his selling of an injured leg/knee is spotty, he plays to the live crowd very well and his signature stuff is over. He also delivered a gutsy diving neckbreaker to the arena floor that looked incredible (and incredibly dangerous). On the negative side, there are some logic issues in the layout and execution of the match. On three occasions - not just the two mentioned on commentary - MJF decides not to accept a count-out victory even though it would allow him to retain his Championship and that MJF has never before, even as a babyface, been unwilling to take a shortcut. While MJF comes off as heroic, Jay White not being able to put away a one-legged man becomes increasingly glaring as the match passes the 20-minute mark. There's no shortage of ref bumps either, giving this a very WWE-in-98' feel, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but does feel out-of-step with some of the rest of the show, another case of AEW's "identity crisis" in 2023. Not nearly as bad as some of the reviews paint it as, this match requires the viewer to be at least, at some level, a fan of MJF (and Cole for that matter) to enjoy, which could be a tall order for some. (2.5/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.75-out-of-5, Full Gear 2023 was a slight step up from WrestleDream as a whole, but a ton of the credit goes to the stomach-churning but highly entertaining Texas Death Match and the undeniably high "basement" of AEW's roster. When you have Kenny Omega, FTR, Brody King, Orange Cassidy, and Darby Allin spread across your card with Kris Statlander putting in one of her best performances up to that point and MJF and Toni Storm being over enough to carry their matches through sheer charisma and an LA crowd that was very much engaged and supportive of everyone's efforts, it is near impossible not to put on a decent show. Still, the aforementioned "identity crisis" that AEW was going through is apparent on this show. Prior to the events of this show, the Bucks and Jericho were all essentially babyfaces despite how stale their characters were, the women's division still feels thin and aimless, the tag fourway - while entertaining - felt like TK threw his hands up and just told 8 guys to go out and murder each other without a deeper story of who the fans should actually be rooting for. 

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver