***CONTAINS SPOILERS***
November 9, 2019, ALL ELITE WRESTLING (AEW) presented FULL GEAR, live on pay-per-view, from the Royal Farms Arena, in Baltimore, MD.
Excalibur was joined by “The Human Suplex Machine” Taz and Golden Boy on commentary for the BUY IN portion of FULL GEAR.
The opening match of the night was Bea Priestley versus Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.
Before the match began, Priestley whipped her jacket at Baker, clearly playing mind games. Baker tried for the Lock Jaw earlier on, but Priestley escaped and stomped on Baker. Priestley stretched Baker against the ring post, and started working Baker’s back and ribcage. The commentators informed us that Baker was dealing with the flu tonight, besides battling the “Top Gaijin” Bea Priestley. The two traded forearms in the center of the ring, and both went down after a double lariat. Darby Allin was seen watching in the front row. Britt started taking the fight to Bea, shifting the momentum with a sling blade, then a swinging fishermen’s neck breaker. Priestley kicked out at two! Baker hit an avalanche brainbuster on Priestley. Somehow Priestley managed a shoulder capture on Baker, but Baker was able to reach the ropes for the break. Baker hit the ripcord, then a destroyer for a two count. Baker followed up with Lock Jaw for the submission victory.
The arena went dark.
When the lights turned back on, Awesome Kong and Brandi Rhodes made their way down the entrance ramp to the ring. Kong hit a spinning back fist on Priestley, and then flattened her. Brandi mounted Priestley, pulled a handful of Priestley’s hair. Kong cut off the fistful of Priestley’s hair with a knife, almost as if it was a symbolic scalping. A devilish Brandi smiled and nodded approvingly.
To kick off the pay-per-view portion of FULL GEAR, ring announcer Justin Roberts introduced hall of famer Jim Ross to the commentary booth.
The Young Bucks, Nick & Matt Jackson vs. “Proud and Powerful,” the team of Santana and Ortiz, was the first match of FULL GEAR.
Jim Ross described this opportunity as a “life changing scenario” for Santana and Ortiz. The Rock ‘n Roll Express, Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson, were shown sitting in the front row, and offered some words of encouragement to the Bucks. Matt was raining jackhammer right hands down on Santana, while Nick tossed Ortiz over the barricade into the front row. It didn’t take long for Santana and Ortiz to get ugly with the Bucks, executing some efficient and unorthodox tag team combos on Nick and Matt. The Bucks wouldn’t be outdone, though, as Matt delivered five suplexes in a row, and then his team hit More Bang for Your Buck, for a two-count on Santana. Matt was hit with a cutter and then a flapjack from Proud & Powerful, but he managed to get his shoulder up at two! The crowd began chanting “This is awesome!” P&P hit the Street Sweeper on Matt Jackson, but Matt countered it in midair. The Bucks tried for the Meltzer Driver, but Nick’s injured leg gave way midair. Matt placed Nick on the top rope, trying for More Bang for Your Buck, but P&P thwarted this with superkicks of their own. Eventually, Proud and Powerful hit the Street Sweeper on Nick Jackson for the pinfall victory!
Sammy Guevara walked down the ramp, congratulating his partners from the Inner Circle while simultaneously vlogging. He handed a sock full of baseballs to P&P, but the Rock ‘n Roll Express came to the aid of the Bucks. “You’re never too old to rock ‘n roll!” exclaimed Jim Ross. Ricky Morton hit a dive to the outside of the ring onto Ortiz and Guevara and cleaned house!
“The Bastard” PAC vs. “Hangman” Page was next.
Page charged PAC as the bell rang. He took PAC to the outside and was sending him straight into the metal barricades. Page rocketed from inside the ring to the outside on PAC with a tope suicida. Both athletes pulled out all the stops, with PAC landing some devastating leg kicks to Page. PAC went to the top rope for the Black Arrow, but Page ran up and hit the avalanche blockbuster, sending PAC all the way across the ring! Page planted PAC with a pop up powerbomb, and tried for Dead Eye. PAC transitioned out of Page’s finisher and applied the Brutalizer submission hold on Page. They fell into the ropes and the referee separated the two wrestlers. PAC went for the Black Arrow but Page rolled out of the way. The match could have gone either way, but Page hit Dead Eye and defeated PAC via pinfall.
“The Chairman” Shawn Spears (accompanied by Tully Blanchard) vs. “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela was next.
Spears was wearing a shirt that read: “No More Garbage Wrestling.” Tully’s teaching has clearly had an influence on Spears, as Spears delivered a backbreaker to Janela on the outside. Then Spears tossed Janela, hitting Janela’s back right on the edge of the ring. Spears put the scorpion deathlock on Janela in the center of the ring, working over the back even more. Janela grabbed the bottom rope for the break, and then hit a thrust kick right on the chin of Spears. Janela hit a flipping senton off the top to the outside on Spears. Janela was the victim of a spiked piledriver on the concrete via Tully and Spears, and Spears followed up with the C4 for the pin!
Golden Boy was backstage to interview “Superbad” Kip Sabian. “The Superbad Squad are here,” said Sabian, as he introduced Penelope Ford. “Why be bad,” she said, “when you can be…Superbad.”
Our next contest was Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) vs. the Lucha Bros (Pentagon, Jr. and Fenix) vs. AEW World Tag champs SCU (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the titles.
This match was heaven for fans of tag team wrestling. The Lucha Bros. hit a doomsday dropkick on Quen, and Fenix followed up with a cannonball into the corner on him. Pentagon his a backstabber on Quen. Scorpio Sky was tagged in and hit a cutter on Fenix. Kazarian hit a cutter of his own on Kassidy. Kazarian hit a leg drop on Pentagon, and both men topped to the outside. Scorpio Sky was ready to dive to the outside but Fenix intercepted him with a ropewalk kick! Fenix took out all the competitors with a beautiful dive to the floor. Quen hit a picture perfect shooting star press on Kazarian for a near three count! They went for Gin & Juice but SCU had it scouted and hit the SCU Later on Kassidy for the pin! As SCU had the belts raised in victory, the Lucha Bros attacked the champs from behind. Pentagon went for the package piledriver on Kazarian, but the lights went off and a second Pentagon entered the fray. The “imposter” Pentagon hit Angel’s Wings on the real Pentagon, and then unmasked to reveal himself as Christopher Daniels!
The AEW Women’s World championship title match was next, with Emi Sakura challenging RIHO for the belt.
RIHO displaced massive courage taking on her instructor tonight. She hit running knees to Sakura, then a single-leg Boston crab. RIHO tried for a body slam but Sakura turned it into a swinging flatliner on RIHO. Sakura used her size advantage to great effect and used the Romero Special surfboard on RIHO. Sakura was taunting RIHO, and the fans were chanting for RIHO. Sakura hit a Vaderbomb on RIHO for a near fall. After going toe-to-toe, RIHO won the match out of nowhere with a fundamental pinfall against her instructor, Emi Sakura!
The match for the AEW World Championship was next: “The American Nightmare” Cody (accompanied by his best friend, MJF) vs. AEW World Champ Chris Jericho (escorted by “Big Hurt” Jake Hager).
Dean Malenko, Arn Anderson, and the Great Muta, were the ringside judges, should the match go the distance and need the decision. Cody’s mother, Michelle, was sitting in the front row.
Cody was busted wide open early on after landing on the steel entrance ramp. There was concern that referee Aubrey Edwards would stop the match. Jericho approached Michelle Rhodes, who slapped the champ. Cody hit a spear on Jericho, and then a waterwheel spinebuster drop (“Alabama Slam”) on the champ for the two-count. Cody let out a “Wooo!” and applied a figure-four to Jericho. The champ reversed it into a variation of an Indian leg lock, but Cody reversed it again. Cody rolled up Jericho, but Jake Hager walloped Cody. Ref Aubrey Edwards sent Hager to the back, but not before Hager slammed MJF into the guardrail. While the ref was distracted outside, Jericho slammed the heavyweight championship into Cody’s skull for a two-count. Jericho went for the Judas Effect but Cody caught it and nailed Jericho with the CrossRhodes. The champ kicked out at two! The packed arena began to chant “This is awesome!” Both competitors began to slug it out while on their knees. Cody hit a bionic elbow on Jericho for a near fall. The crowd was now chanting “Cody! Cody! Cody!”
“The American Nightmare” went for the disaster kick but Jericho countered for a two-count. Jericho had the decided upper hand at this point in the match. Jericho was “dealing the cards” said Jim Ross. Jericho removed a leather weight belt and began whipping Cody with it. Cody went for a hurracarana from the top rope, but Jericho countered with the lion tamer. Cody made the long crawl to the ropes as Jericho sat back and wrenched the hold. The fans willed Cody to the ropes, forcing the ref to break the hold. Jericho again applied the lion tamer, and Cody’s corner man, MJF, threw in the towel to stop the match on behalf of Cody.
The Inner Circle came out with a little bit of the bubbly to celebrate with Le Champion. A bruised and battered Cody sat up in the ring, in disbelief and confused, as MJF tried to console him and apologize for throwing in the towel. MJF was on his knees begging for his best friend Cody’s forgiveness. Cody raised up MJF, but MJF returned the favor by betraying Cody and kicking him between the legs. MJF yelled “My turn!” over and over and walked out of the ring smiling.
Next was the unsanctioned “Lights Out” match of Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega.
Mox entered through the crowd. Both competitors laid in heavy shots on one another. Omega hit the Yakuza Kick to take down Mox. Omega ran into the ropes, but Mox caught him with a black hole slam. Jon Moxley tossed a garbage can into the ring, and used the lid on Omega’s head. They took the fight outside, and Omega threw a beer into Moxley’s face, then whipped him into a garbage can. Omega hit a diving foot stomp onto the garbage can, which was on top of Moxley’s sternum. Omega went for a backflip off the barricade but Moxley pushed him off. Moxley delivered a snap suplex to Omega onto the ring floor. Moxley pulled out a barbed wire baseball bat from beneath the ring and swung it against Omega’s spine. There were puncture marks all over Omega’s back. Omega tried for a suplex, but Moxley began raking the barbed wire bat across Omega’s arm. Omega DDT’ed Mox onto the garbage can. “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega went to the outside and pulled a table from under the ring. Next he grabbed the barb wire broom and swung it at Moxley’s head, and then his back. Omega stomped onto the broom, and Moxley’s back was a horror show of bloody gore.
Omega smiled and said, “I can do this all day!” He did a moonsault off the middle rope, holding the garbage can, and landing onto Moxley. Omega pulled out a board that had 50-60 mousetraps affixed to it. Moxley smashed Omega with an uproarious clothesline, and then suplexed Omega onto the board, setting off the mousetraps!
Moxley carried in steel chains and set them into a pile. He dropped Omega onto the chains via a sidewalk slam for a two count. Mox tried for a rear naked choke on Omega, but Omega fought out of it using the lid of the trashcan. Moxley executed a side angle backdrop, dropping Omega onto the pile of chains. Finally Omega hit a snapdragon suplex onto Moxley to shift the momentum in his favor, and then another, and then a third snap dragon suplex. Moxley wrapped the chain around Moxley’s neck and tossed him over the top rope. Moxley was about to black out from the lack of oxygen, but Moxley slipped out. Omega cleared the top rope, diving right onto Moxley and smashing him through a table.
Omega pulled a bag from beneath the ring. The bag was full of broken glass, and Omega took a shard of it and slashed Mox’s hand. Omega delivered a sit up spinebuster onto Moxley, crashing down onto the pile of broken glass. This match was not for the faint of heart! Omega gave Mox two V-trigger knees. Moxley climbed away on his knees on the entrance ramp. Omega took a screwdriver and approached Mox. Omega dug the screwdriver into Moxley’s forehead.
Kenny called out the Bucks and Adam Page. He pleaded with them, and finally they carried out a barbed wire spider web. Omega went for the one-winged angel, but Mox countered it into a suplex onto the barbed wire spider web. The ring crew had to untangle the two competitors from the barbed wire. Omega sent Moxley through a Plexiglas structure via a V-trigger. The momentum caused Omega to crash through it also. Moxley used a Paradigm Shift in the ring, but only managed to score a two-count. Moxley sliced away the ties that were connecting the ring canvass to the platform of the ring. He exposed the wood of the wrestling ring. Omega countered a Gotch-style piledriver and hit a Paradigm Shift of his own on Mox. Omega attempted a Phoenix Splash onto Moxley, but Moxley moved out of the way! After an elevated Paradigm Shift onto the pine boards, Moxley earned the three-count victory over “the Best Bout Machine” Kenny Omega!