It's November and you know what that means. AEW's eighth(!) annual Full Gear event is this weekend, and holy jeez does this card look great on paper.
Regardless of the lower-than-usual ticket sales (I honestly can't figure out why that is, other than Will Ospreay as the top champion hasn't yet connected the same way MJF and Hangman did), this is the strongest Full Gear lineup in five years. There's the potential for more than one fiver, and the main event should break the scale. It's a lean eight-match lineup which usually works out well. Three of these matches will likely approach the 30-minute mark.
The build for this has felt a bit thrown together except for the top few bouts, so perhaps that accounts for current attendance holding around 6,000. Such is life when you have a Blood and Guts show right in the middle of the PPV cycle. But hopefully given the strength of Ospreay and Fletcher's promo last night they'll see a strong walkup.
Anyway let's look at this lineup....
Tailgate Brawl TBS Championship: Queen Aminata vs. Persephone vs. Maya World
It's the current TBS Champ against the previous two. I thought it was a little soon to take the title off Persephone as she was just finding her stride as an upper-card heel, but it's possible she wins it back here. Maybe Aminata's win was just for a temporary shakeup. Then again maybe Aminata solidifies herself by beating the last two champions. Tough call.
Pick: I'll go with Persey to regain
AEW Tag Team Championship: Young Bucks vs. Mark Davis & Jake Doyle
Davis and Doyle mauled the Bucks a few weeks ago to set this one up, and their team also won the Blood and Guts match, so the Bucks are obviously retaining here. But Davis has been on fire lately and the Bucks always deliver. Should be pretty great. And on the horizon is the Bucks vs. Motor City Machine Guns. Wowsies....
Pick: Bucks retain
Women's Tag Team Championship: Brawling Birds vs. Wrathlander
These two teams just won the women's Blood and Guts together and now they're fighting each other for the straps. Should be very solid as long as it gets ample time. I'm looking forward especially to Stat vs. Hayter, a bona fide "meat" matchup as it were. I don't think we'll see a title switch yet.
Pick: Birds retain
National Championship: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ilya Dragunov
Ilya's making his AEW PPV debut here and whoa doctor, this should be great. Ciampa's work in AEW has been stellar and you know both these guys want to steal the show. Give 'em 15-18 minutes and let 'em fly. This could go either way but I don't think Dragunov's losing his first PPV match.
Pick: Ilya
International Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs. Adam Copeland
This one should be interesting, a first-time matchup. Cope seems to be on the verge of a heel turn after losing the Blood and Guts match for his team and going off on the others for taking too many in-ring risks. I assume we'll see Ospreay vs. Cope for the big belt at some point, but I definitely do NOT want to see Cope as AEW Champion. As for this match I could see it going either way. Both guys are very well-protected as far as taking losses. I guess as Okada doesn't have a clear direction at the moment I'll pick Cope to win this title.
Pick: Cope
Trios Championship Texas Death: Hangman Page & Brodido vs. Swerve Strickland & New Level
Goddamn this is gonna be something. Their first two matches were excellent, and anytime Hangman and Swerve get violent together it's magical. This is another one I could see going either way. The two trios are 1-1 so this is a rubber match. It seemed in the build that Swerve was close to scaring off Kofi and Creed, so maybe that continues and he goes too far, and it costs his team the match. There's obviously another Hangman-Swerve singles bout in our future with Swerve back on the heel side. So I'll go with the champs to retain. Question: Are ten-counts waived for this one since there are six guys fighting all at once?
Pick: Hangman & Brodido retain
AEW Women's World Championship: Mercedes Moné vs. Marina Shafir
This should be interesting, a real test of how far Marina has come as a worker. As an attraction she's having a banner year, boosted by tragic circumstances of course, but nonetheless she's coming off like a major star right now. I wouldn't be totally surprised if they pulled the trigger and put the title on her, as Mercedes could always win it back a little later. Or Marina could come up just short and be elevated in a nail-biter. The way they left things on Dynamite made it hard to tell; Marina submitted Mercedes with the Brutalizer but Mercedes left her laying with a belt shot anyway. Seems like a red herring so Marina beating Mercedes doesn't point to her obviously losing at the PPV.
Pick: Mercedes retains
Anarchy in the Arena: Death Riders & The Conglomeration vs. The Cut
They gotta come up with a better name for Jay White's new stable. Even The Final Cut would be an improvement. Anyway I'm glad Jay is a heel again, his character just doesn't work as a babyface. So on the Death Riders side we have Moxley, Gabe Kidd, Daniel Garcia, Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong, and on the Cut side it's Jay, David Finlay, Ace Austin, Clark Connors and the Gunns. I don't see this reaching the level of last year's Anarchy match but it should be a very fun car wreck. For The Cut to gain some traction as a new heel stable they should win here. Anarchy! Anarchy! I don't even know what it is, but I love it!
Pick: The Cut
AEW Men's World Championship: Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
Holy jumpin' shitballs. These two have never had less than a stellar match and I don't see that changing. Ospreay-Omega is thus far the match of 2026 but I could see this rivaling it. Fletcher is a future AEW World Champion without a doubt, probably as soon as 2027. But for now Ospreay shouldn't lose the title, especially since he's got a big match at the Tokyo Dome in two months. The go-home promo segment was pure fire and added a nice wrinkle to this ongoing feud, namely that Fletcher is jealous of Ospreay's opportunities and feels he himself should be in that spot. Will's gotten under Kyle's skin in a way that no one else seems to. Looks like I'll have to update my Top Ten AEW PPV Main Events list....
Pick: Ospreay retains
Eight matches, three with the potential to earn the full monty rating. It'll be a smaller crowd than is usual for Full Gear but hopefully they'll have the same kind of energy the Dynamite audience had. Enjoy!
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