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FULL GEAR (11.18.2023)
Okay, I have wrangled my period enough to be comfortable for the next few hours of work (the Tim Hortons breakfast treats (how is a hash brown more expensive than a Boston Cream, Timothy?) I've got coming to me soon will also help a lot), and I've still got a lot of Full Gear feelings bubbling up within me (mostly about the death match, admittedly), so it's wrestlepostin' time! Highs and lows to follow!
Yes, I left work more than four hours early so that I could get a quick run in before the pre-show started, no I have not a single regret about it!
High: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship: Just a nice, hard-hitting opener with my boy in... possibly his last defense of this belt? What the HELL are they doing with the Continental Classic again? ROH is just... losing its men's world title and New Japan is just... losing its men's STRONG title to a yearly AEW tournament? What?? Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with old Japanese wrestling to be as popped as Eddie is by the idea of a triple crown title; if they're all unified and are only defended together, does that not just make them one title??? I am confusion. But at least Eddie's gonna be in the round robin!!
High: Buddy Matthews vs. Claudio Castagnoli: A very nice little showcase for Buddy, with all of his stablemates getting big title matches on the actual card; he's so impressively FAST for such a ripped dude, and he was a great dance partner for Claudio here. Also my mom came home from Edmonton during this match! She had some nasty panic attacks during her MRIs as usual, and my aunt's dog is more insane than ever, but at least he's done with tests for the time being!
Low: MJF & Samoa Joe (c, KINDA) vs. The Gunns for the ROH World Tag Team Championship: I gotta say, I am not a fan of these belts suddenly being able to be defended, not just under Freebird rules, but by ANYONE? And it set the stage for some truly idiotic nonsense later in the night, so I doubly don't care for it, but this was a fun match regardless, with plenty of shithead Ass Boy shenanigans, and I guess it's better than another team getting buried by MJF winning another handicap match. Those titles really should have been vacated when Adam's foot exploded, though, this shit is dumb.
High: The Patriarchy vs. Adam Copeland, Darby Allin & Sting: Between Christian's insane children's choir entrance and his husband's KILLER team look with the skeleton boys, this thing hit the ground running and never let up. Much like Christian himself, they say he's still running today~~~ So much fun! How does Edge have so much energy all of the time!! Sting really announced his retirement the perfect length of time in advance; it gives us the chance to really cherish these last few months without feeling like there's NO time left. To Revolution!
High: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW International Championship: He finally defeated his final boss. ;_______; These two main eventing All Out meant SO much to me, and this was a very worthy sequel to that match even without the Big Fight Feel. The ending never felt like any sort of foregone conclusion, it could so easily have ended in tragedy all over again, but now that Orange knows what it feels like to lose that belt, he is NOT letting it happen again, he will clutch his precious all the way down into the fires of Mount Doom if need be and it's probably not gonna end well for him! I can't wait!!! Him locking in the Redrum on behalf of his twinky new ringside boyfriend was very cute, too.
Low: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship: A great match between two great wrestlers that I adore that was really brought down by the ending. Fucking HELL, Shida deserves better than the way she gets treated. Three fucking reigns as a workhorse fighting champ, and she has never once had a successful PPV defense in front of a crowd, it is utter horseshit and genuinely disgusting when you compare the way MJF gets treated as men's champion. Two barely one-month reigns in a row, first dropping it to a neckless piece of crap for a cheap home country pop who went on to defend it ONCE, and now to someone who really doesn't need it? Like, at all? Toni's current gimmick is fucking phenomenal and hilarious and over all on its own, she does not need to be the champ YET AGAIN to keep exploring it, this adds nothing to her schtick unless it's just to put over somebody else in the process. Either way, Shida ONCE AGAIN deserved so much better, and I'm mad about it, even before you get into how poorly the finish was executed. Shit looked awful!
High: Big Bill & Ricky Starks (c) vs. FTR vs. LFI vs. The Kings of the Black Throne in a Ladder Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: Surprisingly fun! I was iffy when this got changed to a ladder match, since FTR aren't good at those, and I was expecting them to pull out the win here, but no! The random-ass tag team born out of those bitches' stupid politicking got to stand strong, House of Black got to be badass and spooky, the luchas got to do all kinds of crazy shit, and it just a nice, fun palate cleanser after the fucking downer that was the Women's Championship title switch.
High: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Julia Hart vs. Skye Blue for the AEW TBS Championship: Thankfully it wasn't the ONLY women's match on the card for a change! Now this fucking ruled, THIS is how you have a champ lose, after a dominant, respectable reign while still looking strong because one of the two up-and-coming talents who deserve the shot basically stole the win. Hell of a reign, hell of a match, and as far as I'm concerned the TBS title remains THE prestigious women's title in AEW at the moment, so let's see how young Julia handles the responsibility! Also, since she's the only member of House of Black who actually won their match tonight, she should replace Malakai as leader I DON'T MAKE THE RULES. Special shoutout to Kris' Dodgeball gear, absolute queen shit and I'm gonna need her to move into the world title scene immediately so she can keep on serving the sick Stiller lewks (also because she's just the best).
oh my god: Hangman Page vs. Swerve Strickland in a Texas Death Match: Okay, so yeah, I'm still not over it. I can very comfortably say this was the best death match of any stripe that has happened in AEW (an honour that also previously belonged to Hangman, actually, after his TDM with Mox at Revolution), as well the best death match I have personally ever seen. I think I'll need to rewatch after work to actually get my feelings sorted out, but this was such a brutal, bloody, violent affair between two guys really making you believe they actually wanted to murder each other!! I was bummed by the ending, not because my fav lost, but because I really NEEDED Swerve to be defeated by the fucking horrifying cowboy monster that he created, which is just, you know, good storytelling. HE STAPLED HIS SON'S FINGER PAINTING TO THE MAN'S FACE THEN LITERALLY DRANK HIS FUCKING BLOOD, I CAN'T. The interference from the Mogul Embassy annoyed me in the moment, but the match continued for long enough after they were dispatched that it didn't end up ruining the ending for me. Fuck, this was life-changing. Ospreay/Omega finally got some competition for my match of the year, I guess is what I'm saying.
Low: The Golden Jets vs. The Young Bucks: Man, this really needed to be positioned earlier in the card, I was invested and it was a good match, but I could NOT pay attention while still trying to come down from the Texas Death peak I was still floating on. It didn't help that, even though they changed out the blood-soaked ring mat before it started, they didn't think to wipe down the white ring ropes, so the gory reminders of what should have been this show's main event lingered for the rest of the night. Though I guess if it was anywhere else, you end up having to ask why all these guys just... left Hangman to die. Anyway, I was kinda annoyed that this match was happening in the first place, and the Bucks losing their languishing #1 contendership while Kenny remains stuck in Jericho's orbit has certainly not helped matters! The tag division is in shambles and it remains all FTR's fault, but I did quite enjoy the Bucks throwing a tantrum afterward to avoid taking their frustrations out on the man they still love, even as he continues to choose jackass after jackass over them. KENNY YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT GETTING ANY WENDY'S ON THE DRIVE BACK TO THE HOTEL TONIGHT.
Low:MJF Adam Cole MJF (c) vs. Jay White for the AEW World Championship: Oof. Okay, so once the match actually got underway, it was pretty good! All the shit leading up to it was... not, though. If a champion can't defend his title, it should be vacated, not just... handed to the guy who happens to be holding it at the moment? I GUESS I could get behind calling it a forfeit, but titles should still not be allowed to just be defended by anyone!! Particularly a guy who was not cleared to defend HIS OWN TITLE EARLIER IN THE NIGHT. This is stupid! This is so fucking stupid! And for what! It changed nothing in the end! They could have just had MJF get hurt by the Gunns in the opener and then Adam shows up to support him so he can push through with the power of friendship and cheating without all this UTTER NONSENSE in the meantime. I also don't love a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion losing to a guy on one fucking leg, but that's par for the fucking course at this point, this was definitely the moment where MJF's Cody-esque overbooking wore itself out for me. There's absolutely a place for it in AEW, the sheer variety of wrestling styles and attitudes on display is the primary draw of the promotion for me, but that place is not the world title/main event scene, get this shit the fuck outta here and just wrestle good, please. That cutter was NUTS, and everyone vs. the announce desk was the one good running storyline of the night, the end.
Oh, also Will Ospreay is #AllElite! Great signing and I can't wait to see him win the world title at Wembley next year, but I also can't help but be underwhelmed by it as the big announcement, if only because he's already been hanging around AEW for a year and a half now? Still! Bruv!
Overall? Good show. The highs were high, the lows were low, but that death match single-handedly carries it to being something special. Or four-handedly, those two men put it ALL on the line.
still my champs
An absurdly foggy day. I shall try to keep writing!
Yes, I left work more than four hours early so that I could get a quick run in before the pre-show started, no I have not a single regret about it!
High: Eddie Kingston (c) vs. Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship: Just a nice, hard-hitting opener with my boy in... possibly his last defense of this belt? What the HELL are they doing with the Continental Classic again? ROH is just... losing its men's world title and New Japan is just... losing its men's STRONG title to a yearly AEW tournament? What?? Maybe I'm just not familiar enough with old Japanese wrestling to be as popped as Eddie is by the idea of a triple crown title; if they're all unified and are only defended together, does that not just make them one title??? I am confusion. But at least Eddie's gonna be in the round robin!!
High: Buddy Matthews vs. Claudio Castagnoli: A very nice little showcase for Buddy, with all of his stablemates getting big title matches on the actual card; he's so impressively FAST for such a ripped dude, and he was a great dance partner for Claudio here. Also my mom came home from Edmonton during this match! She had some nasty panic attacks during her MRIs as usual, and my aunt's dog is more insane than ever, but at least he's done with tests for the time being!
Low: MJF & Samoa Joe (c, KINDA) vs. The Gunns for the ROH World Tag Team Championship: I gotta say, I am not a fan of these belts suddenly being able to be defended, not just under Freebird rules, but by ANYONE? And it set the stage for some truly idiotic nonsense later in the night, so I doubly don't care for it, but this was a fun match regardless, with plenty of shithead Ass Boy shenanigans, and I guess it's better than another team getting buried by MJF winning another handicap match. Those titles really should have been vacated when Adam's foot exploded, though, this shit is dumb.
High: The Patriarchy vs. Adam Copeland, Darby Allin & Sting: Between Christian's insane children's choir entrance and his husband's KILLER team look with the skeleton boys, this thing hit the ground running and never let up. Much like Christian himself, they say he's still running today~~~ So much fun! How does Edge have so much energy all of the time!! Sting really announced his retirement the perfect length of time in advance; it gives us the chance to really cherish these last few months without feeling like there's NO time left. To Revolution!
High: Orange Cassidy (c) vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW International Championship: He finally defeated his final boss. ;_______; These two main eventing All Out meant SO much to me, and this was a very worthy sequel to that match even without the Big Fight Feel. The ending never felt like any sort of foregone conclusion, it could so easily have ended in tragedy all over again, but now that Orange knows what it feels like to lose that belt, he is NOT letting it happen again, he will clutch his precious all the way down into the fires of Mount Doom if need be and it's probably not gonna end well for him! I can't wait!!! Him locking in the Redrum on behalf of his twinky new ringside boyfriend was very cute, too.
Low: Hikaru Shida (c) vs. Toni Storm for the AEW Women's World Championship: A great match between two great wrestlers that I adore that was really brought down by the ending. Fucking HELL, Shida deserves better than the way she gets treated. Three fucking reigns as a workhorse fighting champ, and she has never once had a successful PPV defense in front of a crowd, it is utter horseshit and genuinely disgusting when you compare the way MJF gets treated as men's champion. Two barely one-month reigns in a row, first dropping it to a neckless piece of crap for a cheap home country pop who went on to defend it ONCE, and now to someone who really doesn't need it? Like, at all? Toni's current gimmick is fucking phenomenal and hilarious and over all on its own, she does not need to be the champ YET AGAIN to keep exploring it, this adds nothing to her schtick unless it's just to put over somebody else in the process. Either way, Shida ONCE AGAIN deserved so much better, and I'm mad about it, even before you get into how poorly the finish was executed. Shit looked awful!
High: Big Bill & Ricky Starks (c) vs. FTR vs. LFI vs. The Kings of the Black Throne in a Ladder Match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship: Surprisingly fun! I was iffy when this got changed to a ladder match, since FTR aren't good at those, and I was expecting them to pull out the win here, but no! The random-ass tag team born out of those bitches' stupid politicking got to stand strong, House of Black got to be badass and spooky, the luchas got to do all kinds of crazy shit, and it just a nice, fun palate cleanser after the fucking downer that was the Women's Championship title switch.
High: Kris Statlander (c) vs. Julia Hart vs. Skye Blue for the AEW TBS Championship: Thankfully it wasn't the ONLY women's match on the card for a change! Now this fucking ruled, THIS is how you have a champ lose, after a dominant, respectable reign while still looking strong because one of the two up-and-coming talents who deserve the shot basically stole the win. Hell of a reign, hell of a match, and as far as I'm concerned the TBS title remains THE prestigious women's title in AEW at the moment, so let's see how young Julia handles the responsibility! Also, since she's the only member of House of Black who actually won their match tonight, she should replace Malakai as leader I DON'T MAKE THE RULES. Special shoutout to Kris' Dodgeball gear, absolute queen shit and I'm gonna need her to move into the world title scene immediately so she can keep on serving the sick Stiller lewks (also because she's just the best).
oh my god: Hangman Page vs. Swerve Strickland in a Texas Death Match: Okay, so yeah, I'm still not over it. I can very comfortably say this was the best death match of any stripe that has happened in AEW (an honour that also previously belonged to Hangman, actually, after his TDM with Mox at Revolution), as well the best death match I have personally ever seen. I think I'll need to rewatch after work to actually get my feelings sorted out, but this was such a brutal, bloody, violent affair between two guys really making you believe they actually wanted to murder each other!! I was bummed by the ending, not because my fav lost, but because I really NEEDED Swerve to be defeated by the fucking horrifying cowboy monster that he created, which is just, you know, good storytelling. HE STAPLED HIS SON'S FINGER PAINTING TO THE MAN'S FACE THEN LITERALLY DRANK HIS FUCKING BLOOD, I CAN'T. The interference from the Mogul Embassy annoyed me in the moment, but the match continued for long enough after they were dispatched that it didn't end up ruining the ending for me. Fuck, this was life-changing. Ospreay/Omega finally got some competition for my match of the year, I guess is what I'm saying.
Low: The Golden Jets vs. The Young Bucks: Man, this really needed to be positioned earlier in the card, I was invested and it was a good match, but I could NOT pay attention while still trying to come down from the Texas Death peak I was still floating on. It didn't help that, even though they changed out the blood-soaked ring mat before it started, they didn't think to wipe down the white ring ropes, so the gory reminders of what should have been this show's main event lingered for the rest of the night. Though I guess if it was anywhere else, you end up having to ask why all these guys just... left Hangman to die. Anyway, I was kinda annoyed that this match was happening in the first place, and the Bucks losing their languishing #1 contendership while Kenny remains stuck in Jericho's orbit has certainly not helped matters! The tag division is in shambles and it remains all FTR's fault, but I did quite enjoy the Bucks throwing a tantrum afterward to avoid taking their frustrations out on the man they still love, even as he continues to choose jackass after jackass over them. KENNY YOU ARE DEFINITELY NOT GETTING ANY WENDY'S ON THE DRIVE BACK TO THE HOTEL TONIGHT.
Low:
Oh, also Will Ospreay is #AllElite! Great signing and I can't wait to see him win the world title at Wembley next year, but I also can't help but be underwhelmed by it as the big announcement, if only because he's already been hanging around AEW for a year and a half now? Still! Bruv!
Overall? Good show. The highs were high, the lows were low, but that death match single-handedly carries it to being something special. Or four-handedly, those two men put it ALL on the line.
still my champs
An absurdly foggy day. I shall try to keep writing!
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but 'you gotta put the belt on the hot act' BLEEEEEHHHHHHH
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Ultimately, it felt like the Gunns came away looking the best since they did most of the work, lol.
LOVED THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP THROUGHOUT THE EVENING, THO.
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