AEW Full Gear 2025 Discussion

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, Chris B said:

It says a lot about how much it's missed the mark that people are pissed off about Samoa Joe getting some shine - he's been generally pretty loved up until this.

I think if the feud had been better, this wouldn’t have felt as it does. Perhaps if Joe had been built better for longer, this would have hit hard. He has it in him to cut a killer promo, but he’s not done that during this feud. 

2 hours ago, BomberPat said:

One of my bugbears with AEW is how often they book champions to challenge other champions - in my eyes, it devalues your belt if you're more interested in winning someone else's than defending your own, and it devalues Mercedes Moné's belt collector schtick if there are other people walking around with multiple belts at the same time. With that in mind, I would write off Okada, Brody King and Bandido. Okada's tied up in a storyline with Takeshita, so I would write him out too, and him being IWGP Champion muddies the waters too - on top of that, he spent most of November wrestling in Japan, so wouldn't have been around for the build to Full Gear anyway.

I’m not just talking about Full Gear, to be clear - let’s say Hangman won on Saturday, you could move on to a number of these feuds quite quickly, and give Hangman the kind of run that would be remembered. I know there’s a general idea that babyface title reigns are hard to book as soon as the chase is over, but I think Orange Cassidy is a good example as to why that shouldn’t be the case in AEW. If Hangman was to have banger match after banger match during his title reign - which he’s perfectly capable of - it lifts both him and the belt. Then, eventually, you have him wrestle the likes of Swerve, Takeshita Darby, Omega and Ospreay - matches where the outcome feels very uncertain. 

I genuinely think they were in a position to give Hangman a very lengthy run with the belt, having him wrestle all the biggest stars and fastest-rising wrestlers, elevating them and the belt. 

The idea of a battered and tired Hangman eventually losing the belt would be heartbreaking and effective - maybe it’s Okada, maybe it’s MJF or Kyle Fletcher - fuck, maybe it’s Samoa Joe after all more effective build. 

But for me, doing what they’ve done is an example of them once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It’s a real shame.

Edited November 24, 2025 by RedTwoster

[Supremo]

I haven’t watched the show yet. I had a fantastic Sunday with my son. After playing Fornite, which is currently doing a Simpsons mini-season, my son asked if we could watch The Simpsons from the very first episode. Absolutely, son! We smashed through a good chunk of Season One and he loved it.

It was all going so well. Until I saw the spoiler.

I don’t want to judge it without seeing it, but the idea of taking the belt off Hangman because he’s got no-one to feud with, on the same show where his pro-wrestling soulmate Swerve Strickland returns?!

 

[Statto]

Part of me thinks Swerve coming back is the very reason Hangman dropped the belt to Joe - Tony couldn't resist the symmetry of having Hanger return the favour and help Swerve fight off the Opps as he takes the belt off Joe next month. Mor lore, innit. 

[The King Of Swing]

A absolutely fuming Hangman standing side by side with Swerve, was a hell of a visual. 

One critism I do agree was booking back to back hardcore matches. Such an easy problem to avoid. 

Okada arriving in his flashy car, wearing his wrestling gear was hilarious and the cherry on top was Okada then immediately flipping Takeshita off.

He's such a petty and jealous twat. Magnificent. 

Okada and Takeshita is in the running for feud of the year for me and they haven't even had a singles match, yet. 

An angry Fletcher throwing his name into the CC was another good addition to the Don Callis Family meltdown. 

The Don Callis Family is finally adding to the show instead of just pissing me off. 

Hadn't considered Bandido winning the CC. Good shout that and I wouldn't be against it even if I'm hoping for a Okada/Takeshita final. 

I also loved Mox begrudgingly showing Kyle some respect post match only to attack him shortly after. Almost like he realised he was showing weakness in front of his crew and had to do something to impress them. 

He's desperate. 

Edited November 24, 2025 by The King Of Swing

[Kamran]

On 11/23/2025 at 7:29 PM, The King Of Swing said:

Fuck it. I loved that show almost as much as All In Texas. 

 

13 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I honestly thought this was a really good show, and that after weeks of wonky booking there's a lot more clarity around things now than there have been for a long time. AEW are definitely in a better position coming out of Full Gear than they were coming in. 

Just to echo the above, I really enjoyed that, there was a little lull in the middle (unsurprisingly) but the crowd were pretty good most of the night.

I get the comments around the booking and alot of the criticism is fair but I have to admit I'd intrigued to see where they go from here. 

[Cousin Jim Bob]

I thought this was a really good show tbh.

There seems a few regulars here really down on it, who haven't actually watched it and just checked the results.

[LaGoosh]

There was plenty of stuff on this show from a booking perspective I didn't like. Both in the build and in the results on the night and what is to come.

But if considered in a vacuum from an in ring only perspective I'd say it was a very good show with a lot of fantastic matches.

- opening on the pyro going on in the middle of the match for the second PPV running was not great. First match felt like a bit of a waste of time except Okada's wonderful shit housing.

- Pac/Darby was batshit crazy. Darby is bumping even harder since Everest it seems. Not sure where you go with Darby from here though. 

- as I predicted FTR vs Brodido was easily MOTN. Incredible from start to finish. Bandido is a once in a lifetime performer who just has that intangible factor where fans can't help but get behind him. Brodido had a good run and it's done both men wonders. 

- womens tag match was decent even if the stakes felt ludicrously minimal. Shafir did really well. She's coming along nicely. They've got something potentially really special with her. 

- Casino Gauntlet was a good laugh. A fun sprint. I loved the escalation of adding so many Deathriders. As much as I don't care about adding a new title I'm pleased Ricochet has been given something meaningful to do. He's ace.

- Mox/O'Reilly was a gripping and nasty match. I enjoyed it very much and it felt different to a lot of the no dq matches they run. Felt as close to a real fight as you're likely to get these days.

- a star making performance from Kyle and Mox really got him over. But as good as he was it's still Kyle O'Reilly, his ceiling is pretty low.

- O'Reilly needs his old "I'll give you a reason wooaah" music back.

- Shafir was amazing at ringside, especially her look of heartbreak when Mox tapped. She's the true believer who is beginning to see the truth. Can't stress enough how high I am on Shafir right now.

- Mox showing respect then changing his mind and attacking was perfect. They shot of the Deathriders looking at eachother silently, faces filled with concern/doubt while Mox celebrated his sneak attack in the crowd behind him was as good as visual storytelling in wrestling gets.

- as bad as the Deathriders rise was, their gradual fall has been very interesting to watch. All involved have been doing career best work and it's gotten them all over big time.

- Fletcher/Briscoe was fine though didn't engage me really too much. I could do with a break from Mark Briscoe no dq matches. They paced this out like an epic battle but I don't think the story leading in (what little of it there was) had earned the epic feel they were going for. And back to back bloodbaths was too much. 

- the trios was what it was. If you enjoy the Bucks style well this was an excellent world class example of it. If you don't well then you won't enjoy this. Kenny looked good. I know his physical status wavers a lot these days but I'd really love to see something more substantial for him. An Elite reunion isn't very interesting.

- main event was brutal and a good length (ooo-er). But ending Hangman's reign on a Hook heel turn is not good. Joe bled a disgusting gusher. Physical and tough. It would have been a perfect PPV title defence for Hangman. 

- look I'm not against short title reigns or shock changes. But really this was not the time for it. Hangman needed that big flagship babyface title reign. The company needs to be built around him for a while. Cutting him off like this is not good at all. Especially when his reign never got a chance to gain any momentum. There was an issue with worthy challengers but Swerve just came back. He's right there! That's at least three months of great telly.

- I love Joe but no interest in a second title reign. If they absolutely had to switch the title then Kyle Fletcher or Okada would have been much better options. 

So yes, a great show on it's own merits but from a wider perspective I'm just really sad and deflated that Hangman isn't Champion. Hard to get excited for anything going forwards really. 

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

I wonder if perhaps an alternative story could have been Hangman winning and then on Dynamite cuts a promo basically saying that he hasnt seen anyone ready to take him on and he's going to sit and watch what goes on and maybe decide to pick an opponent for Worlds End. 

He spends the next few weeks on commentary bigging up different wrestlers with no clear sign of who he'll pick and then a couple of weeks before World's End announces his opponent and its someone like Jericho so we get a couple of weeks of 'bye bye Jericho' type stuff, Hangman wins obviously and then theres a sweet 'Thank you Jericho' stuff at the end of the match and as the locker room all disappears one person, not sure who, stands and looks at Hangman and gives him a sort of 'I'm coming for you' look. 

 

Means you can potentially keep Hangman on screen for s few weeks, Jericho gets his moment to say goodbye, plus you can build someone unexpected slowly to start 2026 going after Hangman. 

[DavidB6937]

Well at least one person managed to make me glad Hangman lost.

[Chris B]

16 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

I know there’s a general idea that babyface title reigns are hard to book as soon as the chase is over, but I think Orange Cassidy is a good example as to why that shouldn’t be the case in AEW. If Hangman was to have banger match after banger match during his title reign - which he’s perfectly capable of - it lifts both him and the belt. Then, eventually, you have him wrestle the likes of Swerve, Takeshita Darby, Omega and Ospreay - matches where the outcome feels very uncertain. 

Thing is, I think this worked with Orange Cassidy because it was out of character for him, and he also wasn't expected to be carrying the show. If Hangman spent dozens of matches facing the likes of Lee Johnson, Jake Hager, QT Marshall, Trent Severn, Trent Beretta, Kip Sabian, Jay Lethal, Lee Moriarty, etc, I don't think that we'd be going 'all time main event reign, that'. Hell, he was up against Powerhouse Hobbs, Shibata and Joe, and he was seen as treading water. On paper, that's a decent feud and storyline - it didn't land, but I think it was worth a shot.

Also, I know a few people are thinking they should just go straight back to Swerve/Hangman, but we need some variety with that feud - and I think the two of them on the same side is one of the most interesting things they could do with both of them right now.

I've begun to think that one of Tony Khan's biggest issues is that he books for so much of the roster at once and he seems to find it difficult to pivot without changing plans all over the place. Like, yes, the DeathRiders overran for a while there and they probably should have been wrapped up. But then, changing plans would mean not just rebooking them, but also rebooking whoever they were meant to be feuding with - and I suspect the spate of injuries just makes that worse.

I'm not saying the Joe thing was the right call, but I don't think it's a disaster either. And also, while I'm only halfway through the show (my partner is also an AEW fan and was away over the weekend, so we're catching up on it together), it's flying by - one of the easiest PPVs so far.

[LaGoosh]

Worth noting that on the pre show Eddie Kingston didn't even bother taking off his hat for his match then in his run in in the main event was wearing an AEW staff t-shirt. 

Something very strange going on with him.

[RedTwoster]

53 minutes ago, Chris B said:

Thing is, I think this worked with Orange Cassidy because it was out of character for him, and he also wasn't expected to be carrying the show. If Hangman spent dozens of matches facing the likes of Lee Johnson, Jake Hager, QT Marshall, Trent Severn, Trent Beretta, Kip Sabian, Jay Lethal, Lee Moriarty, etc, I don't think that we'd be going 'all time main event reign, that'. 

He doesn’t have to do that, though - a run of increasingly gruelling and physical title matches on PPV which span a long period of time would be enough to tell a story like that. You wouldn’t need to do a carbon copy of the OC reign to tell that kind of story.

And clearly you wouldn’t need to have him face the likes of Moriarty and Marshall - there’s more than enough depth on that roster to have a mix of established talents as opponents, and rising stars (much as we saw with the Fletcher match)

Ultimately, he doesn’t need to close every PPV, and on months when he’s facing a less-blockbuster opponent, you could close with the Women’s World title or a Tag title match. 

19 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Worth noting that on the pre show Eddie Kingston didn't even bother taking off his hat for his match then in his run in in the main event was wearing an AEW staff t-shirt. 

Something very strange going on with him.

Yeah, it’s very odd. I wonder if his contract is nearing expiry? 

[Chris B]

21 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

Worth noting that on the pre show Eddie Kingston didn't even bother taking off his hat for his match then in his run in in the main event was wearing an AEW staff t-shirt. 

Something very strange going on with him.

My hope is that it's been exactly that 'too many moving parts' thing - possibly with some issues going on around the same time.

I reckon they're trying to elevate a bunch of people. You don't want Mox leaving the Death Riders to put everyone else involved into the same nothing that was left after any of Jericho's groups. Ideally, if you're going to have a Mox redemption arc, you want the Death Riders to still be able to slot into main events as a group. So as great as it would be for Eddie to be the reason for Mox being defeated or turning, it's probably better to give the remaining Death Riders the heat for it - and Eddie to be the guy that Mox can turn to. So as cool as a big return moment would have been, it'd probably have fizzled out.

So you kind of want him back on the roster, doing stuff and interacting with another big storyline (Hangman/Opps), so it's established where he currently is and who he can go against with the Opps and, later, the Death Riders. So, yes, he's treading water - but treading water while being put in a logical position for the next step in the storylines. Again, the Hook thing didn't really work, and the execution hasn't been great, but the logic is there - Hangman's betrayed and pissed, Kingston's betrayed and pissed and Swerve is turning up on their side. You get Mox back on board too, and you're up and running for the next while.

Doesn't address why Kingston has been so low-energy and not given much to do, but I'm hoping it's just that he's not the focus right now, and that's about to be turned around a bit more.

[Chili]

Something I forgot about Kingston and how AEW books unhappy campers is they don't book them at all. So I'm convinced it's not some angle they're being far too bloody vague about, because if he was genuinely fucked off, he just wouldn't be on TV.

[BomberPat]

my guess is that Eddie is still working through problems with his knee, and can't work at the level we'd all like to see him at. But there's got to be something more to it than that, because it doesn't explain why they never let him talk either.