The SmarK Rant for AEW Full Gear 2025 – 11.22.25

The SmarK Rant for AEW Full Gear 2025 – 11.22.25

Trying YouTube for the PPV purchase this time after the Amazon Prime version was such a debacle last month. I really dislike having all my PPV purchases spread out over multiple services like this, though.

Live from Newark, NJ

Your hosts are Excalibur, Nigel McGuinness & Tony Schiavone

CMLL World Trios title: Mascara Dorada & Neon v. Kazuchika Okada, Hechicero & Konosuke Takeshita

So we pick this up off the pre-show, with Mistico attacked by the Callis Famiy and out of the match. But Okada and Takeshita can’t get along anyway. Mistico quickly joins the match with nothing happening, and he runs wild on Okada and Takeshita and takes Okada down with a flying wristlock. Hechicero cuts him off with a backbreaker, but Mistico sends him to the floor and follows with a dive. Back in with La Mistica on Takeshita, but Okada saves and then beats up his partner and tosses him anyway. Okada hits Neon with a dropkick, but Neon makes a comeback and tosses him. Takeshita and Okada have more beef and steal each other’s spots, leading to Okada hitting Takeshita with an accidental Rainmaker. Neon and Dorada double-team Hechicero and hit the Japanese with stereo dives, leaving Mistico to go after Hechicero with a rana for two. Cradle gets two. Hechicero comes back with a knee in the corner, but Mistico hits him with a reverse ran and taps him out with La Mistica at 7:33. This was kind of a mess but it was just a bonus match anyway. **1/2

Pac v. Darby Allin

This is something called a “wrestling match”. They fight for the lockup and Darby takes him down with an armdrag and a cradle for two. Pac bails to the floor off a dropkick, and back in for a series of cradles from Darby for two. Darby escapes a headlock and tries for a Scorpion Deathlock, but Pac quickly makes the ropes and they fight to the apron. Pac teases tosses him onto the announce table and then opts for simply press-slamming him onto the floor instead and that’s still pretty painful. Back in, Pac tears off the various bandages from Blood & Guts and gives Darby an INDIAN ROPE BURN on his literal burned arm. Now that’s hardcore! Pac catapults Allin under the ropes and that gets two. Darby gets whipped into the corner and manages to bump through the ropes and take out a cameraman on the way down for good measure. Back in the ring, Pac dropkicks him for two, but Darby fights back and takes him to the floor for a beating in the apron. He puts Pac on a chair and hits him with a missile dropkick to the floor, but honestly that looked more painful for Darby than Pac. Like he basically just shoved Pac over, but he landed on the back of his own neck in the process. Back in the ring, Darby traps him in a guillotine, but Pac fires back with a pair of suplexes. But then Darby pops up with a lariat and they’re both down. Darby slugs on him with forearms, but Pac counters a coffin drop with a german suplex and then absolutely waffles him with a running lariat for two. Into the Brutalizer, but Darby makes the ropes. Pac puts the boots to him in the corner, but the Black Arrow misses and Darby puts him in the Deathlock and signals for Wheeler Yuta. And with the ref distracted, Pac uses Sting’s bat for the pin at 17:00. Well I guess the heel LIED about wrestling a clean match. I never! ***3/4

Toni Storm & Mina Shirakawa v. Marina Shafir & Megan Bayne v. Skye Blue & Julia Hart v. Harley Cameron & Willow Nightingale

Real talk: “Timeless Love Bombs” is a stupid name. This absolutely feels like a time killing match to drag out this tournament for another couple of weeks. Toni gets worked over by Marina and Megan, and Megan gets an overhead suplex. Toni comes back with a DDT and slams Mina onto Megan for two. Mina tries a bodypress and Megan catches her with a fallaway slam for two. Marina with a headscissors to take Mina to the floor, and it’s over to Skye as Julia takes out Toni Storm. So Willow comes in instead and the Babes double-team Skye for two. Over to Julia, who puts the boots to Harley, but Megan and Marina get offended and tag themselves in. Marina beats on Harley with kicks, but Willow gets a hot tag and runs wild and powerslams Marina for two. Skye and Julia with a double dropkick on Willow for two, but Bayne breaks it up and they double-team Mina. Marina with the Mother’s Milk sleeper, but Toni breaks that up and runs wild on Marina until Harley comes in with a flying bodypress for two. Toni powerbombs Harley for two and Willow pounces Megan out of the ring and dives, and then Mina dives onto the pile. Harley gets a pair of rollups on Toni in the ring, but Toni finishes with the Big Package at 13:13. This never got past “OK” for me and never really had much heat from the crowd. In particular the middle really dragged and made it feel like a Collision main event. **1/2

AEW World tag team title: Brodido v. FTR

Cash and Bandido trade wristlocks to start and Bandido hits him with armdrags and fights off both FTR. Dax and Brody slug it out and Brody sends him to the floor for some chops out there as well. Back in, Brody with a senton for two, and then Bandido slams Brody onto Dax in a change of pace. Brody still won’t bite on the Macarena, however. And then Bandido tries to dive over Stokely, and lands right in the arms of FTR for a slam onto the announce table. Back in the ring, Cash chokes out Bandido while Nigel notes that Stoke shouldn’t have trouble getting hoes in New Jersey because there’s so many. Bandido tries for the tag and FTR cuts him off as the sequence goes sideways and an attempted double spinebuster doesn’t work. FTR takes Bandido back to their corner and works him over some more, but King finally gets the hot tag and hits Cash with a death valley driver into Dax in the corner before following with a cannonball for two. FTR comes back with the Powerplex, but Brody catches Cash in the goozle and powerbombs him while Bandido flies in with a splash on Dax.

FTR bails to the floor and Brody dives onto them, but Stokely takes the bullet and allows Cash to DDT Brody on the floor. In the ring, Bandido reverses a powerbomb from Dax into a rana for two, and a sunset flip gets two. He blocks the Shatter Machine, but Dax hits him with another powerbomb and Cash gets the splash for two. Bandido comes back with the one-armed press on Cash to send him to the floor and follows with a dive. Back in, FTR tries another Shatter Machine but Bandido escapes with a DDT and hits Cash with the 21Plex. But Dax sneaks in for the Shatter Machine, which gets two. Back to the floor, but Brody misses a splash on Cash. Cash steals a title belt and knocks Bandido into a cradle from Dax, but it only gets two. Brody takes out Cash on the floor, and Brodido gets their own Shatter Machine on Dax for two. Cash breaks up the alley oop 450 and dives onto Brody off that, which sets up a Doomsday Device on Bandido, but he catches Cash in a powerslam in mid-air for two. Brody tries to take out Dax with a sleeper on the apron, but Cash breaks that up to set up a Spike Piledriver on the apron, the HARDEST PART OF THE RING. Back in the ring, FTR double-teams Bandido for two, but a spike piledriver only gets two. And the crowd goes nuts for Bandido’s comeback, but Shatter Machine finally ends Brodido at 20:14. Man Brodido had a title reign way behind anyone’s expectations but it was the right time to switch the belts. Match started a bit slow but the false finishes at the end were incredible. ****1/2

National title: Casino Gauntlet

Clearly we all know Ricochet is winning this thing. Glad to see they’re using the classic NWA version of the belt, which makes sense because apparently that specific design isn’t able to be copyrighted and anyone can use it. Which would explain why there’s been so many titles using it since 1985. So we’ve got Bobby Lashley at #1 and Shelton Benjamin at #2. The match only goes a minute before Ricochet is #3, and GOA sneaks in to attack Shelton and Bobby while Ricochet destroys MVP. GOA runs Bobby into the stairs and smashes his head into them to take him out while Ricochet dances. Claudio Castagnoli is #4 at 4:00. To be honest I was really hoping that this would be the match where Ricochet wins immediately to establish that it could happen. Claudio hits Ricochet with a forearm from the floor and follows with the Giant Swing for two. Ricochet comes back with a headscissors as Daniel Garcia is #5 at 6:10. Crowd: “HE’S NOT BALD!” Well yes, that’s true.

Garcia slugs away on Ricochet in the corner and the Death Riders double-team him. Orange Cassidy is #6 at 8:00 and he hits Ricochet right in the bald spot for two. Claudio breaks it up and Orange hits him with a rana for two. Wheeler Yuta is #7 at 10:00 as these intervals are suspiciously non-random tonight. Bryan Danielson casually burying Wheeler on commentary is always hilarious. So the Death Riders all attack Orange and triple-team him until Ricochet decides to join in and gets laid out. Kevin Knight is #8 at 12:00 and he flies all over the place , but Ricochet rolls him up for two. Roderick Strong is #9 at 13:30 and backbreakers result. Sick Kick gets two on Ricochet. Mark Davis is #10 at 14:55 and hits everyone with clotheslines. He gets a bunch of piledrivers as well to get some shine, but Mike Bailey is #11 at 16:20. JetSpeed double-teams Davis, but then they realize that they both want the pin. So Knight rolls up Bailey for two and they battle to a nice stalemate before Garcia breaks it up. Daddy Magic is #12 at 18:40 to break up a Dragon Tamer from Garcia and they fight to the floor and into the crowd. But then the Hurt Syndicate finally returns and they hurt people as promised. Ricochet takes the biggest beating, but Claudio and Mark Davis bail him out and take the Hurts to the floor. Yuta hits Orange with the bu saiku knee for two, but Knight saves, and then Ricochet hits him with the Spirit Gun for the pin and the title at 23:00. Hugely disappointing, with no surprises and just a bunch of “This guy runs in and goes wild for a bit and then disappears” over and over. **3/4. Seriously, Ricochet should have just pinned Shelton after the GOA attack and won the title.

No Holds Barred: Jon Moxley v. Kyle O’Reilly

I thought we had pretty definitively settled this feud when Kyle tapped him out in Blood and Guts but I guess not. It’s a HOCKEY FIGHT to start and Mox offers up his chin for some shots and then fights back with chops of his own, and they trade submission attempts before Mox bails to the floor. It’s fork time from Moxley and they fight over that until Moxley goes all stabby-stabby with that as usual. Kyle is of course busted wipe open and Moxley puts the boots to him and gnaws on the cut. Kyle tries a headlock and Moxley hits him with a backdrop driver to escape and then does what appears to be piercing Kyle’s nipple with a fork. Well you can’t say this match is the same old same old. Kyle fights back with an arm snap on the apron and goes into a cross armbreaker, but Moxley escapes that. So they fight on the floor and Kyle catapults him into the ringpost to bust him open.

Back in the ring, Kyle traps him in a pair of submissions while Moxley tries to use the fork to escape, but Kyle gets it away and forks him right back. Next up, Kyle finds a chain and chokes Moxley out with that and they fight over that until Moxley suplexes him. They slug it out while holding the chain and Moxley takes him down into the bulldog choke, but Kyle reverses out and they trade more submission attempts. Moxley with the STF, but Kyle stabs his hand with the fork to break it up and Moxley curb stomps him in retaliation. Mox PIllmanizes the arm and follows with a Death Rider before going to a kimura, but Kyle grabs his own tights to defend. O’Reilly reverses to an anklelock and scissors the leg, and Moxley taps out AGAIN at 19:26. This dude’s gonna be tapping out to chinlocks and shit before we’re done. Apparently his weakness is now “Any submission move ever”. And we get a showdown with the Death Riders and Conglomeration, before Claudio shoots a glance at Moxley on the way out and then gives a little head tilt to Garcia to say “We follow him out…for now.” Match was pretty great but the finish was actually a bit too abrupt. Regardless, you can’t say Moxley hasn’t put Kyle O’Reilly over in a huge way. ****

TNT title: Kyle Fletcher v. Mark Briscoe

Fletcher boots Mark off the apron, but Briscoe SWEEPS THE LEG on the apron and hits him with a chairshot on the floor. Mark tries a dive and gets catch in a brainbuster onto the chair, however. Normally that’s a career ending injury angle, but here it’s just Fletcher getting the heat. This is exactly why Tony Khan needs to tone it the fuck down. Briscoe loads up the ring with plunder, but he misses a dive and puts himself through a ladder outside. Back in the ring, Fletcher whips Briscoe into the ladder in the corner, just totally wrecking the thing, but Briscoe escapes a brainbuster and comes back with a missile dropkick. A table gets set up outside as both guys are busted open now, but Fletcher escapes the table and suckers Briscoe into a suplex onto a chair.

So then Kyle sets up six chairs at ringside, but Mark escapes that, and then gets distracted by Don Callis and goes through his own table. Back in the ring, Fletcher hits him with a running boot in the corner, but Briscoe tries the Jay Driller and Fletcher puts him through another table to escape. Fletcher with the Last Ride for two. Next up, the thumbtacks, but Briscoe hits Fletcher with a fisherman’s buster on those for two. More shenanigans as Briscoe finds a barbed wire table and a giant ladder, and then puts Fletcher through the six chair array with a blockbuster off the apron. Back in the ring, Mark puts Fletcher through another table with a froggy bow off the top of the ladder, but that only gets two. Mark brings the barbed wire table into the ring while Callis gives Kyle the SCREWDRIVER OF DOOM and Fletcher makes use of it while Callis cheers him on and wants an eye gouged. But then Briscoe goes low and suplexes him on the tacks for two. To the top, but Fletcher crotches him and regains the screwdriver, setting up a spot where he threatens to drop Briscoe’s head on the upturned screwdriver. Briscoe escapes that, so Fletcher hits him with the screwdriver and follows with the brainbuster onto the tacks for two. Another try at the turnbuckle brainbuster, but Briscoe counters with a Razor’s Edge through the barbed wire, and the Jay Driller finishes at 24:14 for the biggest pop of the night so far. He absolutely deserves to finally get a major singles title in AEW. Another one where I can respect the effort and work in the match, but it’s too much gore porn, especially after we just saw double juice in the previous match. Still a great match, though. ****

$1,000,000 Trios match: The Young Bucks & Josh Alexander v. Kenny Omega & Jurassic Express

I would have put this one in between the two stab-a-thons to break up the gore. Agenting the card to have one match with a fork as the big weapon and then immediately following with another one featuring a screwdriver is just too much. Nick and Jack trade acrobatics and battle to a stalemate. Over to Luchasaurus and he smashes the Bucks, and it’s over to Kenny to work the arm of Matt. Josh hits Omega with a shot from the apron and goes after the leg to take over, but Kenny fights back with a double bulldog on the Bucks and chases them to the floor. Kenny tries the dive but Josh clobbers him again to break that up. Omega does regroup and hits his dive, but he has to use the top rope instead of vaulting over it like he usually does. They all brawl outside and the Bucks hit Perry with Risky Business in the ring, for two. Matt with a lariat on Perry for two. Luchasarus comes in and tosses the Bucks around and moonsaults Matt for two. Bucks come back and double-team Luchasaurus, with Nick hitting a Destroyer on the dinosaur before Kenny breaks it up with a knee strike. Kenny and Josh trade chops and Kenny takes out the Bucks with snapdragon suplexes. Alexander with the anklelock on Kenny to break up the rally, and the Bucks add a BTE Trigger on Kenny while he’s in the hold. Kenny still makes the ropes, but the Bucks set him up for the TK Driver and Luchasaurus breaks it up and helps reverse to their own version. That gets two on Nick. They hit Matt with the Countdown to Extinction for two. They hit the Bucks with a double Doomsday, but the Bucks land on their feet and it’s a SUPERKICK PARTY, which results in Alexander accidentally eating one as well. And the Bucks finish Perry with the BTE Trigger at 19:10 to win the million dollars. This one had moments but the crowd was feeling kind of burned out. ***1/4

Afterwards, the Bucks look to take the money and run, but the Callis Family attacks Kenny, and the Bucks finally make their decision and save Omega. And they hug it out to reunite the Elite, with one piece still missing.

AEW World Women’s title: Kris Statlander v. Mercedes Mone

Statlander has a callback to the alien days for her entrance, perhaps inspired by Pluribus. Mercedes gets the Bank Statement right away and Kris quickly escapes that and moonsaults her for two. Mone sends her to the floor and dives, but Statlander catches her and carries her back into the ring for a superplex. Statlander misses a 450 and hurts her arm on the way down and bails to the floor to let the ref check on it. Mercedes hits her with the double knees off the apron and goes after the arm, and back in for two. Mone works the arm, and a double stomp gets two. Statlander fights back with clotheslines, but Mercedes takes her down with a cross armbreaker. Statlander fights up from that, but Mone hits her with 14 rolling vertical suplexes to celebrate all her belts. The crowd is just scary silent for all this, and Mone goes up and misses a splash. Kris makes the comeback with the spinning slam for two. They head to the floor and Statlander slams her on the floor for a double down. Mone beats the count at 9 and hits a backstabber and sunset bomb into the corner, but Statlander clubs her down for two. Mone to the arm again, but Statlander goes to her own Bank Statement. Mone reverses to her own, but Statlander powers out of it and into an exploding gutbuster for another double down. They trade submission attempts and then cradles for two, and Kris gets a package piledriver for two. Statlander tries a powerbomb, and Mercedes escapes with a poison rana and double knees for two. Stat escapes the Moneymaker and they trade finisher attempts until Statlander finishes with Saturday Night Fever at 23:14 to retain. They worked hard but the crowd was so tired and burned out from the show and didn’t react to anything. It just made the match feel a million years long. ***

Meanwhile, Okada and Takeshita continue blaming each other, and Takeshita announces that he’s going to be in the Continental Classic. And so will Kyle Fletcher.

AEW World title, cage match: Hangman Page v. Samoa Joe

Joe immediately goes after the ribs and tosses Page into the cage in a rage, but Hangman runs him into the cage right back and we have another blade. Hangman moonsaults him for one, but Joe puts the boots to him in the corner. So Page literally puts the boot to Joe in the corner and beats him down for two. Joe tosses Page into the cage again, giving us our THIRD match of the night with double juice. It’s way too much. Joe with a powerslam for two. They slug it out and Joe pokes him in the eye, but Page gets a back suplex and cradles for two. Hangman with a rear naked choke, but Joe slams out of it. They fight to the top and Page brings him down from the top with a powerbomb, but Shibata tries to interfere and Eddie Kingston fights him off. The ref gets bumped and Page hits the Deadeye for a visual pinfall, and now Powerhouse Hobbs rips the door open like he’s Kane and allows Joe to get the choke. But Page drops him on an exposed turnbuckle and hits the buckshot lariat, only for Hook to run in and turn on Hangman, rejoining the Opps by knocking him out with the belt. Joe with the Muscle Buster on the belt to win the title at 14:30. I have no idea why they would take the title off Hangman so soon. It’s not like the Opps thing was setting the house on fire or anything. Match was a giant disappointment, with a dead crowd and no real story to the match outside of the bleeding and run-ins. **1/2.

But finally, before Joe can finish his celebration, the lights go out and Swerve Strickland returns from injury and beats up a gaggle of Opps cannon fodder. I will say, the company has been desperately missing Swerve and especially Ospreay and it’s good to have at least one of them back. I’m assuming they’ll pull the trigger and put the title on him for a better run this time at World’s End.

This one was more like Full GORE, amirite?

Anyway, this show unfortunately peaked with the two violent matches in the middle, and then ran for another 90 minutes after that with a crowd that had already checked out after Mark Briscoe won. They need to move back to the afternoons for these shows because a 5 hour show that runs until midnight is just insanely long and kills the crowd by the end. A lot of times AEW PPVs can overcome issues by throwing out bangers, but this one didn’t have the bangers and it’s a thumbs down from here despite a few great matches.