If you’re mentally preparing for a few weeks of celebration-induced awkward social interactions and uncomfortable situations, psych yourself up by watching All Elite Wrestling’s annual pay-per-view Full Gear! Let your surrogate wrestling friends dropkick the upcoming holiday season in its festive face on your behalf. You’ll find no predictions in this article, but here are five things to look for during this year’s Full Gear.
1.) RJ City — Don’t skip the Full Gear pre-show, Zero Hour. You may not care about the advertised match between “Big Boom!” AJ from the Costco Boys against Q.T. Marshall but you should keep your eyes and ears on Zero Hour co-host RJ City. Always one of the most entertaining people in AEW, City is erudite, stylish, and deviously funny. What will RJ City say? What will he wear? Is City a heel, a face, or something in between? How many times will he throw shade at what Renee Paquette is wearing? RJ City may be the most unpredictable on-screen personality AEW has. His presence makes Zero Hour worth watching.
2.) Mariah May’s Champagne Celebration — After winning the AEW Women’s World Championship from Toni Storm, Mariah May held off on holding her champagne title celebration until her former STARDOM partner, Mina Shirakawa, could join her in the States. Wrestling celebrations never end well. Who will interrupt May’s joyous occasion? Could it be the feisty Anna Jay? May recently defeated Jay to retain her title and Jay could be out for revenge. More intriguing, could we see the return of Toni Storm? Although Storm recently announced her retirement, nobody’s buying that. Fans expected Storm to return to the ring at the upcoming Grand Slam Australia event, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility for Storm to slap the sparkling wine out of May at Full Gear.
3.) The Four-Way Tag Match — Critics who say AEW can’t tell stories should pay attention to Full Gear‘s Four-Way Tag Match for the championship title. Fan favorites The Outrunners, Truth Magnum and Turbo Floyd, who call themselves “the youngest men alive,” will make their AEW PPV debut in this match. They’ll face the Kings of the Black Throne, Malakai Black and Brody King. An excellent series of pre-taped promos indicate that they’ll be rejoined by the only woman in the House of Black, Julia Hart. Also in the match are The Acclaimed, who have been teasing a break-up for weeks. Will Max Caster abandon Anthony Bowens and join the new faction, The Hurt Syndicate? Current champs Private Party have to face all those people without, I don’t know, dying? Stock up. Do not make a beer run during this match.
4.) The Rise of Kamille — Kris Statlander challenges title-holder Mercedes Moné for the TBS Championship which is… fine. Moné’s character has never hit with me and I tend to make embarrassing drunken social media posts through her matches. It’s not Moné or Stat, whom I love, that compels me to pay attention to this bout. Keep your eye on Moné’s heater, Kamille. She’s borne the brunt of Moné’s abuse lately, specifically since Kamille’s loss to Statlander in October. Wrestling logic (such as it is) dictates that Kamille will soon tire of Moné’s disrespect and turn on her partner. Is it too early to pull the trigger on this inevitable betrayal? Maybe, judging by the Brickhouse’s facial expressions, Kamille has had enough.
5.) Death Riders… Assemble! — Jon Moxley is the AEW World Champion and the leader of a group called the Death Riders. They are violent, ruthless, and generally unpleasant to be around. Remember when Mox choked out Bryan Danielson with a plastic bag? Yikes. Moxley has talked about changing the essence, the direction of AEW. That has not set well with Orange Cassidy. Moxley attacked Cassidy’s best friends (a faction unsurprisingly known as Best Friends) leading Cassidy to challenge Mox for the title. Noting Moxley’s drive to reinvent AEW in his own image and Cassidy’s burning desire for revenge, there’s no way this match has a happy ending. Moxley said in an interview that he plans on doing “something heinous” during the championship match. That’s an evocative statement. It’s okay to approach this match with a sense of dread. Don’t look for surprise appearances or debuts here. Look for carnage. You probably won’t have to look hard.
Full Gear takes place Saturday, November 23, at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. Zero Hour begins on YouTube at 6:30 PM. Full Gear kicks off at 8:00 PM. Purchase the show from PPV.com, YouTube, Triller TV, DAZN, or traditional cable providers.
