AEW Full Gear 2021 Post Examination
Minneapolis, Minnesota—The Target Center
November 13, 2021
“Hangman” Adam Page wins the AEW World Championship
Source: allelitewrestling.com
MJF Def. Darby Allin
Chris Scott Moore—****1/2
The exchanges and reversals at the start of the match told the story of how even these two are, and reinforced in-ring that they were the highest pillars of the 4 Pillars of AEW. Due to their size differential we got to see MJF be more physically dominating than he has in marque PPV matches before. MJF had some brutal reversals into backbreakers and powerbombs to weaken Darby’s back. Note that MJF wasn’t attacking the arm at all for salt of the earth, it was just for the purpose of breaking Darby mentally by hopefully having to submit to his mentor’s finisher, the scorpion death lock. The high spot of the match, and arguably the most memorable spot of the night, was when MJF hurt his knee after a sick-as-fuck powerbomb of Darby onto MJF’s own knee. Watching it live, I didn’t understand the psychology of MJF going to the outside to take the coffin drop from the turnbuckle to the floor, but on 2nd viewing, I got that MJF was targeting Darby’s back the whole match and was willing to sacrifice his own knee and correctly predicted Darby would go for the coffin drop again inside the ring. The match ended with a great climatic spot where MJF offered Darby his skateboard to paste MJF’s brains in, allowing him to get the victory if Darby was disqualified or get the moral win of Darby’s soul if MJF broke Darby mentally. MJF’s chicanery allowed him to reach into his trunks to bludgeon Darby with his Dynamite diamond ring, making Darby incapacitated enough to be defeated with a side-headlock takeover. Wise of Tony Kahn to bookend the show with MJF and The Hangman winning. Their eventual feud will be what the promotion is carried on by next year’s Full Gear.
Sean Nash—****
The master of psychology & breaking people down in AEW has finally taken down his last future pillar counterpart as MJF bested Darby Allin in a feud boiling over so hot it had to start the PPV. Great storytelling and selling of injuries from both, with MJF standing out with his willingness to damage his own hurt knee to make Darby suffer. Headlock takeovers were what MJF said he would beat Darby with and dammit he would try until he finally outsmarted the half dead punker and was able to rub salt in the wound with his win.
Alex Gibson—****
AEW really showed their cards on this one. The build for this match was all about these two being the future of the company and after what they pulled off in this match, I think the company is in good hands. We've seen some good work out of MJF in the past but I think Darby brought out his best. Darby is known for wrestling a reckless style that often it seems his hope is, "this will hurt me but hopefully not as much as it hurts you,” and he was able to pull that out of MJF in the match as well. Multiple times in the match we saw MJF do moves that further injured his knee (powerbomb on his knee, piledriver to the apron) all in hope that it would leave Darby unable to come out with the win. I've been an MJF fan but this match might have placed him in my top 5.
Lucha Bros Def. FTR
Chris Scott Moore—****
Styles clash? They’re more similar than not, really. Both teams are incredible escape artists that relay on tandem offense. FTR had an amazing false finish with the belt shot into a brainbuster. Dax was the first wrestler to invoke the spirt of Eddie Guerrero with three amigos. Penta escaped and hit his own three amigos-style suplex, making him legit smile ear-to-ear in as touching of a moment as his mask and face paint would allow. The finish of the match ought to have come from the fear factor into the body press. The phony luchador masks was a fine callback, but in execution, caused confusion as nobody can keep track of whom the legal man is in most AEW tag matches, especially if we the audience think Dax might have gotten legitimately hurt.
Sean Nash—***
From the beginning, with the Lucha Bros’ weird entrance and video package featuring missiles dropping, this match was all over the place. For me, this match ran a bit long and had perfect moments to finish like the package piledriver stomp into a body press by the inevitable winners. A weird ending with the wrong man being pinned and no hullabaloo after still can’t take away from what these two teams can do in the ring.
Alex Gibson—***
I had high hopes for this match and perhaps that is why it left me wanting more. Fortunately, I think more is coming based on the fact that the Lucha Brothers won by pinning the non-legal man. The match itself up until the final minutes was really good. FTR make for great dance partners for almost any type of tag team. We discussed it on the show as well but that match should have ended with the stomp package pile driver spot. They still could have done that spot with the masks so FTR could make the case they lost on a technicality. The ending felt rushed and didn't really make a whole lot of sense to me. This feud clearly isn't over and I'm looking forward to seeing them run it back.
Bryan Danielson Def. Miro
Chris Scott Moore—***
Never hit the 2nd gear. The crowd needed to be slowed down but both men were never able to build the match back up, which was interesting, given that these men had chemistry and weren’t a styles clash. The botched finish was saved by the story going into it of Miro having a weak neck.
Sean Nash—***
What I was hoping to be my match of the night, fell short in my books. Chris put it perfectly when he said this match just never hit its second gear. This is what I was expecting to see from Danielson since he joined AEW, nearly dominating the whole match with his brilliant striking and technical abilities. Miro was able to stay in the match with his brute force, but seemed to be fighting from behind against the brilliance that is Bryan Danielson.
Alex Gibson—***
I love both of these wrestlers and I think they’re capable of more but this not being what I hoped does not make it a bad match. I hope these two also run it back sometime soon. The botched ending was a little awkward but ultimately didn’t affect my rating here.
Christian Cage and Jurassic Express Def. SuperKliq
Chris Scott Moore—***
Batshit shitshow with weapons, brawling, and a one-upmanship of whom could have the craziest false finish. Fine match, but not the five star classic the Bucks hinted it would be. I still don’t see how this couldn’t be a regular trios match or have elimination rules to differentiate it from a typical Dynamite main event. Jungle Boy became Jungle Man by solemnly spiking a downed Jackson with a chair.
Sean Nash—***
A brutal and physical no rules street fight that hit its expected mark with me. Jungle Boy may have taken the steps needed to become Jungle Man when he took the conchairto spot from Christian Cage. Cage himself risked it all, diving off the balcony in the stands onto a purple bearded Nick Jackson & Brandon Cutler in an eyesore of a tracksuit.
Alex Gibson—***
This was a hectic match to say the least, but did a good job still telling a story with Jungle Boy hitting the conchairto. Interested in where Christian goes from here. I’m glad they kept the match in front of the audience instead of it being partially in the backstage area.
PAC and Cody Def. Andrade El Idolo and Malaki Black
Chris Scott Moore—**
Crowd continues to shit all over Cody as once again he conveniently forgot to hear us. When there’s this many shades of gray nothing is clear and nobody is able to look vibrant. When the fandom can’t understand the why, we’re forced to ask ourselves is it just because Cody is trying to locust the cool-factor of younger talent, especially younger talent that need victories more than himself that have more breakout potential than himself. This landed worse than Vince’s audience of one mediocrity and felt more so like Vince’s 11th hour rewrite of Raw that hopes the audience has amnesia and suspends critical thinking. Malaki Black desperately needs an exceptionally wide birth from Cody as he’s not yet been allowed the freedom to have an identity in AEW that isn’t predicated upon Cody. Cody can’t continue this creative path as is and say it’s leading to a heel turn, nor can he stay the course and think he’s playing chess when we’re playing checkers by being a babyface only by creating confusion with throwing so much shit against the wall. If you say you’re the alternative and you’re listening, you have to be better artistically. It IS unflinchingly, undeniably, unnecessarily you against 1 fucking million. Too much Cody bashing here? Oh, I got a perfect solve to keep him a babyface as a babyface has ever babyfaced. Bring back Bernard. Simple! Nobody dislikes that dog! All Cody has to do is throw AEW frisbees down the aisle, have a working “Bernard” catch them, and everyone loves this adorableness and you sell a shitload of gimmicks. All will be forgiven.
Sean Nash—**
Nothing more to be said about this match than good competitors thrown into an odd pairing tag match feud. The nightmare for the Wrestling Elitists however didn’t come true when “The American Nightmare” Cody wasn’t the one to earn the pinfall victory and the other three competitors had shining moments. Clearly these 4 were not meant to be tag partners with all the miscommunication and tagging themselves in, hopefully in the future we see them get the singles PPV spotlight we’d rather watch.
Alex Gibson—***
This was on the lower end of the 3 star scale, tilting towards 2. 4 guys that all have extensive experience on a big stage but just didn’t really connect. What I enjoyed was that the teams were never fully aligned and had disagreements throughout. Andrade recovered nicely from a near botch and PAC got the pin.
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. Def. Tay Conti
Chris Scott Moore—***
That air raid crash on the apron scared the shit out of me. They clearly were safe and Tay was able to continue seemingly seamlessly, but holy cow was I was worried she suffered a serious injury. And I won’t lie, I was fine with the artistic merits of the match going out the window for Britt (and not just the ref) checking on Tay as they lay prone on the outside. And no, that’s not to suggest Britt was being reckless with Tay’s body. I hit a wall as a viewer of seeing power moves on that goddamn apron by that point. Keep feeding Britt tomato cans so she can carry the division without dropping the belt into 2023.
Sean Nash—***
The Doctor is in and she will continue to be the AEW Woman’s Champion until a true threat shows herself, but until then may the Doctor reign! Conti put up a much better battle than I expected and is clearly headed for big things in AEW with the way the match ended. Britt showed dominance as she hit an air raid crash to the outside apron on Conti. Great match, but one takeaway from the bout for me is someone needs to tell Tay Conti to tone it down on all the surprised 2 count faces…D.M.D.!!!
Alex Gibson—***
Tay Conti will hold the women’s main title one day. She is not quite ready but this match proved she is more ready than I expected. Interesting way to keep her looking strong on the roll-up finish, rather than tap to the lockjaw. Britt gets better and better with time. Like Miro/Danielson, FTR/Lucha Bros, I look forward to them running this back as well.
CM Punk Def. Eddie Kingston
Chris Scott Moore—****
The greatest 2-week blood feud in the history of wrestling. I don’t have insider access but I didn’t believe for a minute these two had legit bad feelings about one-another but their promos and intensity going into this match had the audience feeling otherwise. This story was so strong, I felt like I was cheating the wrestlers by being preoccupied in the what-ring-gear-will-Punk-sport-for-the-PPV game. I’m vociferously in the minority that the long pants look perfect, Alex wanted trunks, and we both lost when Punk came out looking like he was wearing a deflated beach ball for fighting shorts.
Perfect way to begin the match with Kingston hitting that backhand. All he wanted was to smack Punk and his reaction was like it was 15 years in the making. Eddie had (kayfabe) fatigue after raining fists on Punk’s back on the top turnbuckle, fueling the storyline that he doesn’t have the motor that someone with his natural ability ought to. This match was ten minutes long, give or take, but felt like 30, showing that you don’t have to run long to have an epic encounter when you do all the little things right. Punk got the win after smothering Kingston, all the while getting the crowd to boo him, finally getting what Punk was waiting for in terms of the crowd’s cheers running its course. He then acted like a bigger dick to offer to shake hands with Eddie after the match, knowing that Eddie’s pride would never allow him to do it, which was something Punk himself wouldn’t have done if he was in Eddie’s position which he was also fully aware of. Finally saw the heel edge reveal itself which has been brewing for the past two weeks.
Sean Nash—****1/2
What are those…SHORTS?!?!?! At least these 2 were able to make up for CM Punk’s ring attire with a masterclass in storytelling during the match. They heated up a feud in just 2 weeks that allowed them to steal the show up to this point. Eddie couldn’t even wait for the bell to ring to try and knock Punk’s block off, the animosity between these 2 was evident the whole match. Great callbacks to the Punk/Cena promo between the 2 as Punk hit the beginning to John Cena’s famous, “5 Moves of Doom.” The wHEELs are turning on Punk turning back to his old ways and going heel as we saw him revel in some boos from the fans and stick a hand out to shake as Eddie tried to regain his consciousness.
Alex Gibson—****1/4
One of the few short matches of the night but they did a lot with the time they had, including Eddie firing the first shot before the bell. I loved everything about this match. Eddie has been known as a great talker but his ringwork isn’t far behind. CM Punk is officially back after this match.
Inner Circle Def. Men of the Year and American Top Team
Chris Scott Moore—*
Dan Lambert looked like Melissa McCarthy doing an impression of Joel Gertner. Why were there tags in a streetlight? Call it a victim of where it was located on the card, how much time they got, or the redundancy with the earlier falls count anywhere clusterfuck at the first half of the show, but all I did was wish they would go home and wrap it up. But boy did I love that Prince logo gimmick. That entertained the hell out of our non-fan watching the show with us.
Sean Nash—*
Even less to say about this match than the first street fight of the night. Great to see a local legend get his spotlight when Baron von Raschke put the claw on Ethan Page. Hopefully this is the end of the ATT/IC feud and the last us wrestling fans see of Dan Lambert for a long while!
Alex Gibson—*
Not a lot to say. Seeing the iron claw spot and how happy Baron was to do it made me happy (I’m not here to pretend I knew of him prior but you could see his joy in the moment). Prince symbol popped me and Sammy had quite the ladder/table bump. This match was too long for me and I hope the feud is done.
“Hangman” Adam Page Def. Kenny Omega
Chris Scott Moore—****1/4
The comparisons between Page/Omega to Austin/Michaels are too much to not notice. This was AEW’s first legitimate passing of the torch moment in the company’s brief history. Omega, like Michaels, is suffering from injuries (rumored to be a bum shoulder AND vertigo) and has been fairly banged-up during his title run and clearly deserves a much-needed long break. Hangman, like Austin, is the everyman whom literally everyone in the audience identifies with and wanted to win the title in overwhelming fashion. Like the match at WrestleMania XIV, it felt like you were watching history, but nevertheless, injuries stymied the potential of it being an all-time classic. We got our big moment and it was still a great match anyways that we’ll watch numerous times again and again. Hangman getting the nod from the Bucks and turning down the beer from the Dark Order were perfect touches to wrap up the first act of his career, and in large part, the first act of AEW’s act as well.
Sean Nash—****1/2
The culmination of A Hangman Story that began day one of AEW and the feud of “The Best Bout Machine” and his once tag team partner, this main event meeting of once friends now enemies was everything it was supposed to be. THE BEST MATCH OF THE SHOW. Who thought Kenny Omega was gonna be the one kicking out of the one-winged angel??? These two didn’t hold a single move back…pop-up avalanche Liger bomb-> avalanche blockbuster->release Germans and tiger drivers!!! This match was running on all cylinders and then the buckshot lariat ref bump took it home in FULL GEAR! The Young Bucks nod of approval was the cherry on top to the end of the Cleaner’s reign and the beginning of The Cowboy Shit Era!
Alex Gibson—*****
I will be posting a review in the 5 Star Matches section of the site later.
Post Examination:
Chris Scott Moore—
The greatest AEW PPV of all time. 1A to 1B with All Out 2021. The matches could have a minute or two trimmed here or there, but as fans, we have to check ourselves if we constantly ask for shorter video packages, no filler all killer, and no D-list musical performance and think a PPV was too much. This show is all action and any serious fan will have wildly differing ratings and match of the night nominations, which is healthy; it shows Full Gear spoke to everyone. The next phase of AEW will be fascinating to watch and document!
Sean Nash—
Full Gear has done what many other AEW PPVs have done, surpassed the previous best PPV they put out! Match-to-match the pace and fire kept up with meaningful storylines being portrayed inside the ring and culminating in the passing of many torches. My desired outcomes may have not happened but there is no doubt this has sparked a brand new era in AEW with new feuds and matches to come. As I watched piecemeal from a Pittsburgh hotel, there is no doubt each one of these matches could main event any live weekly show and push PPVs to new levels. The minor long match or unfavorable storyline can’t take away from what is without a doubt the best AEW PPV to date.
Alex Gibson—
All Out 2021 was great in part due to returns and surprises. Full Gear delivered in a completely different way. AEW continues to prove the value in purchasing their $50 PPVs. While the show felt long towards the end and had little filler, I cannot truly complain. Part of me wants to believe this show won’t be topped for a while but I’ve learned to not question Tony Khan & his crew.
AEW Full Gear 2021—Cumulative Star Ratings:
MJF Def. Darby Allen—****1/4
Lucha Bros Def. FTR—***
Bryan Danielson Def. Miro—***
Christian Cage and Jurassic Express Def. SuperKliq—***
PAC and Cody Def. Andrade El Idolo and Malaki Black—**
Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. Def. Tay Conti—***
CM Punk Def. Eddie Kingston—****1/4
Inner Circle Def. Men of the Year and American Top Team—*
“Hangman” Adam Page Def. Kenny Omega—****1/2
CM Punk offers a handshake to the defeated Eddie Kingston
Source: allelitewrestling.com
