AEW Full Gear Review - November 13, 2021

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

The Buy-In: Hikaru Shida and Thunder Rosa def. Jamie Hayter and Nyla Rose

It was nice to get a second women's match on the pay-per-view card, even if it was positioned on the pre-show. This was meant to hype up the two tournament matches coming up between Shida and Rose (who will be facing off on Wednesday's Dynamite) and Rosa and Hayter, respectively. It was a fairly standard tag team affair but well worked. I was surprised that the heels lost considering they could have used the momentum boost and that Shida is working hurt from a storyline standpoint.

MJF def. Darby Allin

It was very smart to put this on first because it can be argued that it stole the show. They're undoubtedly the future of AEW and therefore it brought me a lot of joy to see them kill it. Mind you, this was their first-ever one-on-one encounter and they had amazing chemistry right off the bat. They worked a fast pace and came up with some cool-looking counters. It could have gone either way, but as I've been saying, MJF needed the victory more, so I was content with the result. This keeps Allin in "chase mode" for a little longer, and they can always revisit this either soon or some other time down the road.

AEW World Tag Team Champions The Lucha Brothers def. AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR (AAA World Tag Team Championship Was Not Defended)

With these teams being two of the very best in the world today, it was hardly shocking that they put on a clinic here. They wrestle two different styles, but they mesh so well together and had no issue keeping the energy throughout. I realize that they're leaving the door open for another match based on what they did with the ending, but it didn't come off well and it felt like a flat finish to an otherwise excellent match. Maybe we'll get a Winners Take All match one of these days, either in AEW or AAA.

Bryan Danielson def. Miro in the Finals of the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament

I saw this as one of the top two matches on the show, so the fact it went on third came out of nowhere. It didn't reach the levels some of Danielson's other AEW matches have, but they beat the hell out of each other and that's truly all I wanted to see. Miro has been wonderful this year, and although it would have been an incredible feat for him to knock off Danielson here, I understand wanting to save Danielson's first AEW loss for when he challenges for the AEW World Championship. This was a very nice piece of business.

Christian Cage and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) def. The SuperKliq in a Falls Count Anywhere Match

Shockingly, this was the when the show reached a low point, and that isn't to say this was bad by any means. In fact, it was quite enjoyable. However, it simply paled in comparison to the first three matches on the show. It didn't really get going until they left the ring and took full advantage of the stipulation. There were some silly spots I could have done without, and the crowd was definitely getting tired by this point in the pay-per-view, but the effort was there and everyone worked hard. Jungle Boy picking up the win for his team was the right call after all the abuse he's taken at the hands of The Elite since the summer. I'd love to see a storyline where Christian tries to convince Jungle Boy to leave Luchasaurus and ends up turning on him when Jungle Boy doesn't do it.

Cody Rhodes and Pac def. Malakai Black and Andrade El Idolo

Other than getting all four men on the show (and they deserved it after being left off the All Out card), I don't know what purpose this served in the long run. Cody and Pac told the story that's been told a million times (especially in WWE) of "can they coexist?!" and ultimately they did, but why? The alliance of Andrade and Black should take precedence, but it's not like this loss kills their pushes. It was a quality contest but one that never reached that next gear (no pun intended). I also have no idea where you go from here with these four.

AEW Women's World Champion Britt Baker def. Tay Conti

I didn't think Conti had a shot in hell of winning coming into this contest, but I still thought she was the perfect person to be challenging for the gold at this time (Rosa has to be the one to beat her for it eventually). She also proved with her performance that she is championship material and that she belongs in the spotlight. She's come a long way since her days as an enhancement talent on WWE NXT and her development has been fun to watch. She gained a lot in defeat, though I didn't like the roll-up finish. AEW and even WWE do too much of them. Conti would have been fine just by taking Baker's finisher, but that's merely nitpicking. Hopefully we get more women's matches on the main card for these shows once the AEW TBS Women's Championship debuts.

CM Punk def. Eddie Kingston

Despite not being overly long like a lot of the other matches on this show (and it didn't need to be), this was one of my favorites of the night. The buildup to this bout was brilliant and Punk (though he's had a terrific run in AEW so far) feels like he's at his most motivated. They're both known for their tremendous promo work, but they can more than bring it in the ring as well and thus this was a treat. It was a hard-hitting affair with Punk getting busted open and Kingston enjoying inflicting pain upon him. I'm glad Punk won, but I absolutely need to see more from these two in the weeks to come.

Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, AEW TNT Champion Sammy Guevara, Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager) def. American Top Team (Dan Lambert, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski) and Men of the Year in a Minneapolis Street Fight

Does anyone know why this started out as a standard 10-man tag team match with everyone abiding by the normal tag rules if there weren't any disqualifications? It was shaping up to be the lamest Street Fight I'd ever seen, but thankfully, they threw the rules out of the window halfway through and started brawling. I had no idea what this would entail going in, but the commentary team noted that the weapons around ringside were things that were apparently invented Minneapolis including the toaster and hockey stick. I'm going to assume that's true, but either way, I thought it was stupid. The basic layout of the match was solid and Jericho got to give Lambert his comeuppance, but the rest of this did nothing for me. Much like Cody and Pac vs. Black and Andrade from earlier, It probably could have happened on an episode of Dynamite and nobody would have thought twice about it. All I ask is that we move on from this, please.

Tony Schiavone Introduced Jay Lethal

Well, this was certainly a surprise. When Schiavone said "Jay," I thought he was going to finish with White, but clearly not. Everyone is aware that Ring of Honor will be closing its doors (potentially permanently) at the end of the year, but it was later revealed he got an early release so he could jump ship to AEW. He's a fantastic fit on the roster and can have some awesome matches. I've been a big fan of his work over the years in ROH, so I'm really looking forward to seeing him do well in a new environment. They wasted no time in announcing that Lethal will challenge Guevara for the TNT title this Wednesday on Dynamite.

"Hangman" Adam Page def. Kenny Omega to Win the AEW World Championship

As a match nearly two years in the making, it was going to be tough for this to live up to the hype, but I thought they were successful in doing just yet. The crowd was white hot from start to finish and ate up all of the nearfalls. I figured we would get at least one interference spot, so I was happy it was limited to just that and nothing more. Even Young Bucks played their roles well at ringside by not doing much at all. This was a storytelling masterpiece that was perfectly crafted. The only other thing I would've liked to see was Hangman kicking out of the One Winged Angel, but Omega neve actually hit it. What could they be saving that for? What bout is bigger than this? At any rate, this was a stellar main event with the correct outcome. Waiting any longer to put the belt on Page would have been booking malpractice.

Overall Show

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say this was the best AEW pay-per-view to date (probably because I was at All Out 2021 and thus I'm biased), but it's damn close as this was a strong show on the whole. I was definitely tired by the end there, but the in-ring action was exceptional enough that it's hard to complain. I wasn't fond of some of the finishes, but there weren't many (if any) booking decisions that left me scratching my head, so that's always a plus. Props to the Minneapolis crowd for being so rowdy throughout. AEW has delivered some excellent pay-per-views this year and like I said last time, I hope they can maintain this momentum heading into the final stretch of 2021.

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