The SmarK Rant for AEW Full Gear 2026 – 11.14.26

The SmarK Rant for AEW Full Gear 2026 – 11.14.26

Live from Phoenix, AZ

Your hosts are Excalibur, Tony Schiavone & Nigel McGuinness

AEW International title: Kazuchika Okada v. Adam Copeland

Well this is a wild opener that I wouldn’t have ever counted on seeing years ago. They do the Hogan-Warrior staredown reference while the crowd cheers them both. They fight for the lockup and Okada gives a sarcastic clean break before beating Cope down, but Adam hits him with a leg lariat and Okada bails to think it over. Copeland gets sick of waiting and attacks, but Okada suckers him in and runs him into the stairs. Copeland puts him on a chair with an atomic drop and hits him with a big boot. Cope boots him off the apron, but goes after Don Callis and that allows Okada to dropkick Cope into the railing. The crowd is getting annoyed, so Okada milks it by going for a hug with Callis to really twist the knife on them, and then back in the ring as he puts the boots to Cope. He follows with a DDT, which gets two. To the top for the flying elbow, but he hurts his injured arm on the bump, and he can barely flip off the crowd as a result. Still, he guts through it. Okada with the neckbreaker off a double down, but he grabs the title belt and Cope rolls him up for two. Rainmaker is countered with a uranage and it’s another double down. They charge and boot each other in one of those spots where physics strongly registers its disagreement but allows it to happen anyway. They slug it out and Okada gets a backslide and then dodges the spear, setting up a tombstone. But he smiles like a jackass instead of going for the pin, and then he goes for his own spear to be a dick. Probably would have been a really good one too. But Copeland hits him with a forearm to block, and then he returns the middle finger (complete with camera move) but Okada runs away and grabs the belt again. Copeland tries a spear, but runs into the belt headfirst, and then Okada takes him off the apron with a leaping DDT and onto the floor. And that SILENCES the crowd. Back in the ring, Okada gets one and picks him up while laughing hysterically, and then hits the Rainmaker and pins him at 18:55 to retain. I figured Copeland would lose to set up the heel turn but man he got his ass BEAT there. Odd that he didn’t really get a big comeback and just kind of lost. That’s kind of a refreshing change of pace and more proof why Okada rules. ****. And then he doesn’t even let Copeland get his ovation, running back into the ring to hit him with another Rainmaker. What a dickhead. I mean that in the best way.

AEW World tag team title: The Young Bucks v. Mark Davis & Jake Doyle

Once again the Bucks get smashed at the bell and beaten up on the floor, but Matt at least gets a comeback this time. Bucks with a double slam on Davis, but Doyle just lays them both out and they pose like Godzilla. Nick tries to get away but Doyle keeps yanking him back into the corner in a great spot that kind of breaks the fourth wall of wrestling physics. But the Bucks come back again and chase them to the floor, where D&D just violently hurl them into each other as all their game plans are failing. Back in, a double powerslam on Matt gets two. They both smash Matt with running forearms and that gets two for Doyle. Davis with a senton for two. Matt fights for the tag and the heels just overpower him to cut off the ring, and then Davis yanks Nick off the apron to counter him. Doyle with a bearhug and Matt escapes that and lures Davis in for a kick from Nick on the apron. Matt with a DDT on Doyle off a head fake and it’s hot tag Nick. He beats on Doyle in the corner and dives onto Davis on the other side, and a bodypress gets two. The Bucks get fancy again and almost get smashed as a result, but then they go to the top and take too long and that backfires. So they recover with double sunset bombs and then hit stereo dives for two. But then they get too fancy again and the heels catch a diving Nick and slam him into Matt. Back in for a double clothesline on Matt and Doyle powerbombs him. Davis with a rolling german suplex for two. Nick comes back again and DDTs Davis off the apron to make the comeback. Bucks with a SUPERKICK PARTY on Doyle but he won’t go down until finally a BTE Trigger gets two and Doyle tosses Matt onto the floor on the kickout. Another double superkick is blocked by Doyle, who catches the legs and slams them both at the same time. Back to Davis, but he takes a superkick, so that gets him MAD and he lariats everyone. Davis tries a double piledriver and that sounded better in theory but it gets two anyway. Doyle takes Nick to the top for a piledriver tease, but Matt saves and takes Doyle down with a german suplex. BTE Trigger gets two on Davis. They try the Meltzer but Davis is too big, so Nick helps get him up in the air. But then Doyle grabs Nick and powerbombs him onto the timekeeper’s table, and Davis piledrives Matt for two. But the heels collide and Davis gets dumped, and Matt rolls Doyle up for two. He comes back, and Nick dives in to push Matt over onto Doyle for the banana peel pin at 20:39 to retain. That was INCREDIBLE. What a storyline match, with the Bucks spending the entire match having to figure out how to beat Frankenstein’s monster with all their big moves failing. Easily the best match of Davis & Doyle’s career as well. I was tensely breathing shallow breaths all through this thing. *****

Afterwards, the Motor City Machine Guns hit the ring to offer congratulations, but the Kasper Brothers make their debut (the former Creeds from WWE) and attack both teams, and then FTR also comes out for the full heel beatdown. Well this tag team division is pretty stacked now.

AEW World Trios title, Texas Death: Hangman Page, Brody King & Bandido v. Swerve Strickland, Kofi & Austin Creed

The pre-match video for the champs is awesome, with them visiting a saloon in the Old West and getting into a bar fight. Big brawl to start and Brody immediately finds bamboo skewers, which is probably a new experience for Kofi and Creed. Creed selling skewers in his head is great. Speaking of which, Creed retreats under the ring and finds a barbed wire trombone and busts Brody open with that. Page pulls some barbed wire off a table and he hits them with clotheslines and chokes out Kofi and Creed, who are likely having the time of their lives. Swerve and Bandido fight to the top while Brody sets up a pile of chairs, and Bandido ends up countering a slam into a DDT onto the chairs. Brody fights off both New Level and brings a table into the ring, but he charges and puts himself through in the corner. But then Hangman takes care of the New Level, and we get the long awaited showdown between Hangman and Swerve in the ring, as they both take a seat in the middle and it’s DUELING STAPLERS AT DAWN. Prince Nana distracts Page to stop the Buckshot, allowing Swerve to go low, and everyone throws the big bombs and everyone is out. So Brody finds a glove covered in thumbtacks and puts Creed in an Iron Claw with that before dumping a bag of tacks in the ring. Creed makes a comeback and hits everyone with dives. And then he finds the NINTENDO POWER GLOVE for the deep nerd cut, hitting Brody with an EXPLODING SHORYUKEN for the spot of the match. They all fight up the aisle and Creed tries to shove Bandido into the fire-spewing pyro barrel, but Hangman saves with his trusty light tube. Back in the ring, Brody hits Swerve with a Gonzo Bomb off the apron and through a barbed wire table while New Level carry themselves back to the ring. Page is like ARE YOU KIDDING but they’re not, and they double-team him on the floor and put him on a pile of chairs that probably means bad news. And yeah, they put a window pane on him and Kofi comes off the timekeeper’s table with a double stomp that smashes the glass onto Hangman’s torso. This is some high level crazy fucked up shit. People in the crowd are just gasping in horror, like being ringside for a Final Destination movie come to life. Creed finds a bag of padlocks and shoves one into Brody’s mouth before Kofi kicks it out. We get another table in the ring and they triple-team Bandido, but Brody saves his friend from getting put through it. So they set it up again, but Bandido fights them off alone this time and powerbombs Kofi through the table. But then Swerve gets his trusty chain and chokes Bandido out in the corner. But he keeps fighting and returns the choke on Swerve, so Swerve tears the mask for NUCLEAR heat from the crowd. Hangman saves, but Swerve kicks a chair back in his face, busting Hangman open further. And Swerve DRINKS HIS BLOOD for your true horror show moment, and we get this great shot of Swerve smiling while covered in blood while Page wields a chair menacingly, and then Swerve spits Page’s blood back at him and puts him down. And now of course it’s the cinder block, but Bandido wraps barbed wire around his leg and hits the X Knee with that. New Level saves Swerve and hits Bandido with the double-team onto the block. Brody comes back again and smashes the New Level with a barbed wire frame on the floor, but Swerve chain chokes him and hits the vertebreaker on the stairs. But Hangman unleashes a pair of buckshot lariats on Swerve, but a third one runs into a chair to the face and both guys are out. Swerve beats the count and hits the House Call kick to Page down at 9, and the Swerve Level regain the titles at 39:30. Well I was thinking that they couldn’t follow that tag team title match but they sure fucking did. I don’t even know what to do with this one, as it was very fun for the most part but also uncomfortably violent for a lot of it and very long. And the finish was kind of bullshit. But there was so much crazy stuff and it was pretty great for the most part. ****

AEW Women’s tag team title: The Brawling Birds v. Wrathlander

The video package for the challengers is suitably wacky, as they riff so long that Tony Khan has to come in and tell them to go out for their match already. Now THIS one is gonna have trouble following the previous two. Statlander and Hayter fight for a suplex and Kris wins that one. Over to Windsor and she gets double-teamed by Wrathlander and sent to the floor, but the Birds regroup with cannonballs off the apron to take over. Back in the ring, Hayter gets two on Statlander and then the Birds double-team Harley with a running boot for two. Harley fights back with a suplex on Windsor and it’s over to Statlander again with a Michinoku driver for two. The Birds run wild and double-team Stat, but they collide and Harley cradles Hayter for two. The champs double-team Harley and Hayter hits her with the lariat for two, but Stat saves and gets double-teamed as well. Harley breaks up the Hart Attack, allowing Statlander to hit Saturday Night Fever on Windsor and win the tag team titles at 12:20. Did not expect that result. They worked hard but it was a struggle at times and even I had trouble keeping interest in it after that Texas Death spectacle. ***

AEW National title: Tommaso Ciampa v. Ilja Dragunov

Every time is the time I swear I will spell Ciampa’s first name correctly on the first try and every time I am wrong. Dragunov takes him down and Ciampa makes the ropes, and they trade chops. Dragunov grapples him to the mat and keeps taking him down, then hits him with a pair of running knees to put Ciampa on the floor. They fight out there and Ciampa wins that battle, running him into the stairs to hurt the arm. Back in the ring, Ciampa goes to work on that with a wristlock before smashing the arm into the mat repeatedly. They slug it out and Ciampa hits him with a knee to the arm and tries a running knee, but Ilja clips the knee to counter. Dragunov with a pair of cradles for two and he goes to work on the knee, slamming all his body weight on it over and over. Dragunov with a german suplex for two, and they fight to the top, where Ciampa brings him down with an Air Raid Crash for a double down. They slug it out and Ciampa takes him to the floor for a beating out there, including a slam on the stairs on the EDGE and that looked like it sucked for Ilja. Back in the ring, Ciampa with the bare knee strike for two. They head to the apron and Dragunov suplexes him on the apron to put him on the floor and then follows with a D-Bomb off the apron onto the floor. Back in the ring, Dragunov hits him with a superplex, but misses the D-Bomb and Ciampa puts the injured arm into an armbar. He escapes that and hits a lariat, but they both charge and Ciampa’s knee wins that fight for two. Back to the armbar and they slug it out and just stiff the fuck out of each other, until Dragunov powerbombs him and hits the D-Bomb for the pin and the title at 20:22. This was an old school BANGER as they beat the shit out of each other and it was GREAT. ****3/4. Although poor Ciampa loses another title after a week.

AEW World Women’s title: Mercedes Moné v. Marina Shafir

Big test for Moné to see if she can carry Marina here. Marina takes her down with a wacky bodyscissors. Moné with a flying wristlock, but Marina hits her with judo throws to put her down. Moné tries a sleeper and Marina easily escapes that, so Moné stomps on the arm and goes to work on that. She snaps the arm for one and tries for a hammerlock, but Moné gets a bodypress for two and tries for an armbar. Marina slams out of that and gets a cradle for two. Mercedes with the double knees for two, but Marina hulks up with the Garcia dance until Moné takes her down with another armbar. Shafir escapes that and reverses into the Brutalizer, but Moné cradles for two. Moné with the Bank Statement and Marina makes the ropes and bails to the floor, where she catches Moné in the Mother’s Milk while Moné taps frantically. Back in the ring, Moné tries a bodypress and Marina headbutts her down and into the Giant Swing. They fight to the apron and Marina slams her out there as they head to the floor. Back in the ring, Moné with the backstabber into the Bank Statement again. Shafir escapes that and kicks her down, but Moné gets another Bank Statement, which she tries to turn into the Brutalizer to be a troll, but Shafir reverses to her own, and Moné cradles for the pin to retain at 17:13. That crowd was READY for Marina to win with the Brutalizer and the finish really deflated them. They tried hard and this was really cool and different, but they couldn’t QUITE pull it off. Boy they sure gave it a go, though. ***1/2

Meanwhile, Ciampa does a deranged promo where he enters the Continental Classic to avenge his loss tonight.

ANARCHY IN THE ARENA: Jay White, David Finlay, Clark Connors, Austin Gunn, Colton Gunn & Ace Austin v. Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Jon Moxley, Daniel Garcia & Gabe Kidd

The music of the night is “Wild Thing” as they brawl into the crowd, but it only plays once, thus pissing off the crowd. The Cut isolates Garcia in the ring and works him over, but then DMX starts up and the babyfaces make the comeback thanks to “Party Up”. Mox and Orange use the power of forks to bust them open, but then Ace Austin produces a spoon and that doesn’t work very well. So this brings out a gorilla mascot armed with various pressurized air guns, but Austin takes him out. And then we get more bamboo skewers and broken glass and finally the DMX runs out. The heels take over on Kidd and offer him a chance to join their gang, but of course it’s a swerve and he immediately turns on them and it’s back to DMX again. Everyone hits the big moves onto the glass shards and we get stereo submissions from Mox and Kyle, but Ace Austin breaks them up and forks Moxley. More big moves on the glass and Austin Gunn hits a fameasser on Strong on the chair. So Jay White warms up a branding iron and goes for the kill, but Marina Shafir hits the ring to save, setting up the big moment with Roddy that quickly gets broken up by Ace Austin. So then Yuta hits the ring and runs wild, before reconciling with Orange Cassidy. But before THEY can have their moment, STP hits the ring as we just keep piling more and more wacky run-ins into this thing. They slam Yuta through a table, but Orange dives onto them. And then Mercedes joins in and hits Moxley with a low blow. But then the lights go out and we get a CMLL mini and Willow. But then Shane Taylor’s guys dropkick Carmelito off the apron and then drag him in for a big splash from Shane Taylor for the heat. But then Claudio pulls up in his truck to save the day and he wrecks everyone and somehow puts Connors and Finlay into a double Giant Swing at the same time. And then we get a Giant Swing with a trash can on Austin Gunn’s head. Finally Shane Taylor cuts him off and they try to put him through a table, but Claudio powers up and slams Shane through it instead. So Jay White attacks with a chair and Claudio shrugs those off, setting up the Death Riders hitting the train of clotheslines in the corner. And finally Moxley curb stomps him for two, but the Cut saves and they all go brawling again. Connors spears Orange through the wall of the set. Gabe Kidd gets powerbombed through a flaming table, but Moxley takes out the Gunns in the ring, only for Jay White to finally hit a Blade Runner on Mox and pin him at 35:59 to end this thing. At a certain point this stopped even being a coherent match and just turned into a series of wacky things happening, and it really couldn’t touch the Texas Death match. They were trying to have it both ways with the comedy and the violence and they should have just stuck with one or the other. That being said, if you were looking for all the crazy twists and turns that they could pack into one match for 30 minutes, this was it. Do star ratings even apply here? Decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, Mick Foley sits down with Adam Copeland, and wonders if he can bounce back from tonight’s loss. Adam doesn’t seem sure either.

Meanwhile, Nick Wayne is HERE and I don’t know if you’ve heard, but he beat Chris Jericho twice.

AEW World title: Will Ospreay v. Kyle Fletcher

We get the United Empire and Callis Family both at ringside for the big fight feel. They trade wristlocks and Ospreay takes him down off that. Will goes to the top and Kyle eggs him on with a slap, so Will slaps him right back. They fight for position again and Will tries the Hidden Blade, but Fletcher just bows up and Will bounces off him harmlessly. Will is shook by that, but he recovers with a headlock and then hits Kyle with a back suplex to put him down. They head to the floor and Will rebounds off the railing with an elbow, nearly blowing out his knee in the process. Back in the ring, Will clotheslines him to the floor again. But then he tries a dive and Kyle catches him and hits him with an apron bomb. Back in the ring, Kyle beats on him with chops and puts him down with a back elbow for two. Fletcher works the arm and slams Ospreay repeatedly while maintaining wrist control, but he stops to jaw with Andrade and that allows Will to make a comeback. Springboard elbow gets two. Will goes up with an elbow off the top, but he walks into a Michinoku Driver and that gets two for Fletcher. Will fires up again, but Kyle drops him with a half and half suplex and follows with a leg lariat. They fight to the apron, and Will chooses violence with a Styles Clash off the apron and onto the floor. Back in, the Ozcutter gets two. They slug it out and Will hits him with a Go 2 Sleep, but Fletcher blocks another Ozcutter with a kick and manages to hit a one-armed Last Ride powerbomb for two. Fletcher with a big boot in the corner and a brainbuster for two. Fletcher toys with Ospreay and casually whips him into the corner, but Will pops out with another cutter for two. Will works on the midsection and puts Kyle into a series of abdominal stretches and tries the Hidden Blade, but Kyle counters with his own. So Will gets a Styles Clash for two. Hidden Blade to the back gets two. Will decides to go for the Pac tribute and heads to the top, but Kyle brings him down and hits the corner brainbuster for two. So he pulls off a turnbuckle and tries it again, but Ospreay escapes and sends him into the steel, hitting a Hidden Blade on the rebound. He runs Kyle into the corner again and batters him with kicks, as Kyle is busted open and struggling to keep going now. Kyle makes the ropes in desperation, so Ospreay pulls him back and tries for the killshot, which misses due to Fletcher collapsing from exhaustion. Will charges and Kyle gets a desperate cradle for two, but Will hits the Stormbreaker for two. Ospreay decides it’s time to end him, so he ditches the elbow pad while Kyle screams his hatred, but then counters the Hidden Blade into a backslide for two. Kyle with another flurry and he tries the brainbuster, but Will puts him down with the Hidden Blade, and Kyle pops up with one last burst of hate. So Will unleashes the TIGER DRIVER 97 and ends him at 41:14. Well this delivered everything they promised, and I’m pretty sure Kyle Fletcher is gonna turn babyface and get that belt by next year. It’s almost his time. *****

And then, to end the night, MJF hits the ring and lays out Will with the fake belt before getting chased off by the United Empire to end the show. So there’s your next mountain for Ospreay to climb.

Well I certainly got what I wanted out of this show, because I paid $50 for BANGER AFTER BANGER and they sure delivered. I think having both Anarchy in the Arena and Texas Death on the same show was a bit much, and 5 hours is as always TOO LONG for a show, but you can’t say you didn’t get your money’s worth from this one.