 Blackpool Combat Club (Wheeler Yuta and Jon Moxley) def. FTW Champion Hook and AEW International Champion Orange CassidyThis served as a nice preview of the rematch between Moxley and Cassidy at Full Gear. I thought their initial encounter was excellent and that should be great, too. Yuta and Hook were logical partners for them to have here and perhaps Yuta pinning Hook will earn him an opportunity at the FTW Championship (if anyone actually cares). This was an enjoyable opener with all four getting some time to shine. "Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland Went Face-to-FaceTony Schiavone established that if Page and Strickland got physical, their match at Full Gear would be called off and that they'd be suspended for the remainder of 2023. However, nothing was said about Prince Nana, so Page attacked him instead while Strickland was forced to watch. This was a solid segment to build toward their Texas Death match and Page's promo was strong. I wish we heard from Strickland as well, but maybe he'll have a rebuttal on Collision or Rampage on Friday night. Skye Blue def. Red Velvet to Advance to the AEW TBS Championship Three-Way Match at Full GearThe crowd was quiet early on, likely due to the babyface vs. babyface dynamic, but they came alive down the stretch. It started rough, but they ended up having a pretty good match and I applaud their effort. Unfortunately, the botched finish looked quite bad. They really should have redone that one. With this win, the TBS title match at Full Gear will now be a three-way with Blue, Julia Hart and current champ Kris Statlander, Samoa Joe def. Jon CruzMan, I love me some Samoa Joe. I absolutely hated how he willingly vacated the ROH World Television Championship last week, but I'm all for him becoming more of a regular on AEW programming as he sets his sights back on the AEW World Championship and teases teaming with MJF. He said as much in his post-match promo. Joe remains one of my favorite to watch in AEW these days and I'm glad he's being featured consistently again. The Young Bucks def. Komander and Penta El Zero MiedoRey Fenix has been out injured (again) since dropping the International title to Cassidy, so Komander filled in for him here as Penta's partner. That made it fairly obvious who was winning, especially with the Bucks having a big match coming up at Full Gear against The Golden Jets (the new name for Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega). This episode emanated from southern California, which is where the Bucks are from, but they felt like the heels here, especially at the end when they hit the double low-blow and got booed for it. It was your typical Bucks spot-fest, but the crowd had fun with it. The Gunns def. Jacoby Watts and "Pretty" Peter AvalonThe Gunns continue to rack up victories before they challenge MJF for the ROH World Tag Team Championship on the Full Gear Zero Hour pre-show. This was another straightforward squash win for them as it should have been. I have no idea why Avalon teamed with a random local athlete when they could've put someone like Ryan Nemeth in there as his partner instead (though that's just me nitpicking). The Gunns again addressed MJF afterward in a short and sweet promo. The Golden Jets, Kota Ibushi and Paul Wight def. ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion Brian Cage and The Don Callis Family (Powerhouse Hobbs, Konosuke Takeshita and Kyle Fletcher) in a Like A Dragon Gaiden Street FightThis was part of a promotion for a video game, hence some of the campy tie-ins throughout. I could've done without some of that stuff and I can understand it not being for everyone, but this was an entertaining brawl on the whole. It was chaotic and never had a dull moment. Props to Wight for taking that bump on top of the car from Hobbs, but here's hoping he didn't seriously hurt himself. Cage hasn't been part of the program and had to fill in for the injured Sammy Guevara, so it made sense for him to take the pinfall loss for his team. Bullet Club Gold Attacked AEW World Champion and ROH World Tag Team Champion MJFTo AEW's credit, they've done everything possible to make White feel like a legitimate threat to the title. Honestly, I'd argue he has a significant chance of walking out with it at Full Gear. Not only can it go either way, they're bound to have a terrific match to boot. MJF cut a passionate promo about their upcoming clash, White had a worthy rebuttal, and the Bullet Club Gold beatdown on MJF was necessary in putting some last-minute heat on White. Overall ShowThe build for Full Gear was largely well done. They effectively hyped a majority of the card and I'm sure there will be additional hype on Friday's back-to-back Collision and Rampage shows. The Street Fight stood out, but I wouldn't exactly call it must-see. It was what you'd expect it to be. The rest of the show was decent and left me looking forward to Saturday night. I appreciate that there's only eight matches scheduled and hope it stays that way now that AEW seems to be doing monthly events going forward.
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