The path to Full Gear comes to an end tonight as AEW brings us a colossal three-hour program, with Dynamite and Collision back-to-back.
The show kicks off with a Casino Spot match, with Bobby Lashley defeating Ricochet. The ringleader of The Demand opts to stall, grabbing the mic and pissing off the live crowd. Lashley has enough and lobs him over the ropes to the floor. Ricochet enjoys a brief offensive until Lashley decides he has had enough, mauls him with a huge chokeslam followed up with the spear.
Lashley is the #1 man in the Casino. Later on tonight, Shelton Benjamin will face Speedball for the #2 spot.
Josh Alexander and The Young Bucks defeated Skyflight (Scorpio Sky, Dante, and Darius Martin)
Fun match. Top Flight vs. Young Bucks always deliver, and tonight was no different. Lots of crazy flying spots and some wild athleticism throughout. Alexander seems to be a bit more aggressive than the Bucks, often tagging himself in and berating the Jacksons. After a lot of unpredictable back and forth, the Bucks manage to hit the Meltzer Driver, but Alexander steps in to gain the submission victory. Don Callis announces the Bucks will join the family, teasing a not-so-subtle threat about how he’d hate for them to suffer a similar fate to Kenny Omega. This sparks some attitude in the Bucks, but say his name and he appears, Kenny Omega comes out with a chair in-hand, but is overwhelmed as multiple members of the family attack him. Jurassic Express makes the save.
Could the Bucks make a long-awaited face turn, or is this suckering us into another scheme?
Tony Schiavone pays tribute on the recent passing of legendary wrestling announcer Bob Caudle.
Shelton Benjamin defeated “Speedball” Mike Bailey
Another great match. Unfortunately a pinfall spot went awry which was a bit disheartening, but truthfully didn’t hurt the overall impact of the match. They threw each other with suplexes and some consecutive counters which looked like a symphony of smooth wrestling. Benjamin blasted Bailey with superkicks and massive german suplexes for the win.
The Hurt Syndicate will face off as the first two entrants in the Casino Battle Royal this Saturday night.
Mox & Claudio defeated Orange Cassidy & Roderick Strong
Roderick Strong was the MVP for this one. Roddy broke out the backbreakers, neckbreakers, suplexes, powerbombs, and the like. Mox and Claudio could not win on their own, it was thanks to repeated interference from Daniel Garica and Wheeler Yuta which turned the tide in the heels favor.
After the match, the Death Riders try to assert themselves, but the sudden appearance of Kyle O’Reilly changes everything. He locks Mox in the ankle lock again, with the Death Riders being driven off by members of the Conglomeration. Mox taps out yet again.
KOR demands a match with Mox at Full Gear, promising he will make him tap out again.
The Timeless Love Bombs defeated Riho and Alex Windsor
Another fun match tonight with a blend of grappling and comedy spots. This is to be expected and welcomed from the duo of Storm and Shirakawa. Windsor and Riho are both solid wrestlers, hopefully they will appear more often after this.
Backstage or pre-taped, PAC cuts a menacing promo ahead of his match with Darby Allin at Full Gear.
Backstage, Mark Briscoe and Kyle Fletcher are face-to-face, but do not come to blows, but the rest of the Callis Family does. Okada then continues to tease ProtoKada.
AEW Men’s World Champion “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata brought out the hard-hitter in Page. Much like Hobbs brought out the vicious side of the World Champion just a week ago. It seems Page will need both of these traits in order to stand a chance against the more menacing Joe this coming Saturday night at Full Gear. Shibata as a heel is an interesting watch. He is still the same wrestler, but the demeanor in which he performs shifts just ever-so-slightly. A mild smirk, an extra taunt, or a feint.
As Hangman has just gone through his two partners, Samoa Joe has the champion target locked. The Steel Cage element will add some more suspense and probably more brutality to what will likely be a very hard-hitting, violent wrestling match.
Backstage: A number of promos, but a memorable one features Austin Gunn and Juice Robinson hyping up their money match for Full Gear. It seems Juice is hell-bent on getting his investing on. Very funny.
Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir advance by defeating TayJay
It feels a little bit like a shame. Tay Melo and Ana Jay were really AEW’s first women’s tag team. Unfortunately timing with injuries and time off hurt the duo’s momentum, and it seemed they were never really destined for much in this tournament. It would have been nice to see them advance a round or two, but when you put Bayne and Shafir together on the fly, it’s hard not to book them super-tough.
Toni and Mina cut another classy and lady-like promo on the winners after the match. Sure they did.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Mascara Dorada
Okada and Dorada set out to outclass one another, with a stipulation on the line where the winner can make a challenge for a championship the other holds. Dorada pulled off high-risk move after move, which ultimately cost the sensation the match. Too many risks and no reward. More than once, it seemed Dorada mistimed his dismount which had gruesome crashes. Okada won with Raging Fire followed by the Rainmaker Lariat. Thanks to commentary, we understand this is yet another jab at IWGP World Champion, Konosuke Takeshita. With the win, Don Callis announces Hechicero will team with Okada to challenge for the CMLL Trios Championships with their returning stablemate, Takeshita!
Okada is not happy.
While we won’t get Okada vs. Takeshita at Full Gear, you better believe there will be a fight.
Mercedes Mone defeated Red Velvet to become the official Ring of Honor TV Champion
While the outcome was obvious, the match did deliver with solid wrestling throughout. Velvet, back from injury sporting a serious tone and translated it in the ring with more intensive wrestling. Mone and Velvet worked extremely well together. Whatever Velvet did during her time recouping, seemed to work out very well. She came off looking like a ring veteran against another veteran. While Mone delivered as well, it was Velvet who came out looking like the MVP. Can’t recall seeing anyone take a top rope lungblower before.
AEW Women’s World Champion Kris Statlander was on commentary, also sporting a very serious look and attitude while watching Mone claim the ROH TV Championship. A post-match brawl to close the show certainly adds to the uncertainty of whether Mone will finally claim the World Championship.
Three hours of AEW TV delivered on being the go-home show for Full Gear. We saw two more matches added. The PPV looks beefy and hopefully will deliver on the past couple months of hype.
Please, don’t go past midnight. Please. I’m old.
