2023 AEW Full Gear Review

Last Saturday was AEW’s Full Gear where there wasn’t much write home about but here is my brief review of the pay per view and how AEW could end this peculiar year.

MJF doing the Lord’s work.

Without question MJF is carrying the burden as their world heavyweight champion, another PPV where he pulls double duty having 2 matches on a big show. On Zero hour he defends the ROH tag titles with help from Samoa Joe at the price of guaranteeing him a title shot in the future against the Gunns which he retains but attacked post-match raising concern if he could defend the title in the main event.

Adam Cole who decides to step in for MJF against Jay White which was not believable of course and the framework to get to the match was not good but MJF returned after driving the ambulance back to face White after all where the match went too long (Common theme on this PPV) but MJF overcomes and wins the match getting his title back. The MJF babyface run seems to be something they believe in and whatever unfolds at World’s end at the end of the year will be their driving interest in AEW.

Enough is Enough!

This next takeaway covers a couple of matches that did not need to be on the PPV, the 4-way tag team ladder match was just an absolute mess that did not need half the teams (House of Black and LFI) but for that now highly sought after cheap pop it made sense to have but FTR vs. Starks/Bill would have been better quality wise.

I know this will be taken in the wrong way but maybe it is time to finally admit that AEW needs to shelf the Women’s division to properly fix the issues and lack of depth in this division. Yes Toni Storm winning the AEW Women’s title was the obvious move because Shida is meaningful to such a small section of fans while Storm is on fire, the TBS championship was something that could of main evented Rampage or Collision where Kris Statlander was a good champion but with Julia Hart winning clearly is AEW’s response or counter to WWE’s Judgement Day with Rhea Ripley leading the group as champion they are attempting to do that with Hart and House of Black.

Skye Blue has potential and is eye candy for fans but in the ring just is not ready or at least did not fit in this match, a lot of promise in the division but not ready to make this division be a must to be on TV all these years into the promotion so just restart and retool the women’s division because it is doing more harm than good as it stands.

The last piece of Enough is enough is the Young Bucks and their presence or place in AEW (I would like to also add putting a much, MUCH needed moratorium on multiple person or team ladder matches as well). The tag match with them vs. Jericho & Omega could be seen as the self- indulgent match that made not much sense where the Bucks lost. It’s been long enough for wrestling fans to be real with themselves and say it is probably time for the Young Bucks to step away for a bit as they are not as popular, relevant, or in demand as they were when AEW started.

With the same back and forth story arc of mellow drama that they seem to enjoy has been one of the things that runs people off from anything AEW. That along with the back and forth between face and heel has run its course with them where clearly going away for a few months to freshen themselves up a bit will do some good for AEW if the Bucks truly want this to succeed while being positive contributors to the very thing they created.

Swerve/Hangman Blood fest

Saved the obvious for last but the Texas death match between Swerve Strickland and Hangman Adam Page was the talk of the weekend for good and for bad reasons but was the match of the PPV. Anything that elevates or continues the ascension of Swerve Strickland I am all for it, but the match was violent by modern standards but definitely tailed in the awful indy-riffic death match area that should always be avoided.

The match was ok, certainly went longer than it needed to be no offense this match could have been just as good or better if it was 15 to 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes. The moment where Page drinks Swerve’s blood may have been a bit much and the staple gun stuff was dumb and could of have done without that since it did nothing to make the match better. Hopefully this feud is over with, and Swerve can continue on potentially into the main event/world championship picture because for better or for worse this match was the breakout match for Strickland without a shadow of a doubt.