FULL GEAR VII - 11/22/2025

[The Natural]

31 minutes ago, Shartnado said:

Wow, I seem to have forgotten about this ever happening. Was this during Balor's NXT comeback tour? And during O'Reilly's singles face run before he left? This was closing in on the time I switched over to AEW, but I still kept up with NXT until 2023 and this had to be well before that, right?

Yes. Finn Balor vs. Kyle O'Reilly at NXT TakeOver 31, 4th October 2020.

Edited November 25, 2025 by The Natural

[Shartnado]

I just realized that Joe probably said to Hook: "Look, you help me out to regain the World title, should the opportunity arise, and you can take my spot as a World's Trios Champion, which you should already be, right now!"

[Curt McGirt]

1 hour ago, Shartnado said:

Let't see what Pricochet can do with the title?

I hope he underlines how completely worthless it is and never defends it, just lording it over everybody as the Being Ricochet Championship. Then when somebody finally forces it off him, they just retire it 

[Shartnado]

1 hour ago, just drew said:

Is it Pantera that did the song “vulgar display of power?” Because Gahdamn….

Yup, they sure did. Also, when they say that OC is so easy to carry to good matches against pretty much anyone these days, is THIS what they are really talking about? Yeah, I have no idea if anyone is really saying that, but there is a "carry" euphemism joke in there, somewhere!

"Claudio effortlessly carries another opponent  to a half decent match", maybe?

[HarryArchieGus]

1 hour ago, Shartnado said:

I just realized that Joe probably said to Hook: "Look, you help me out to regain the World title, should the opportunity arise, and you can take my spot as a World's Trios Champion, which you should already be, right now!"

Aew isn’t really a details company nor are they afraid of inconsistencies, but there was a precedent set with Jay White’s group not being allowed to sub in Juice at one point, tho, I think the opposite was true of a tag title match at some point later (maybe somebody can recall?). That was one of GM Daniels wonderfully lame calls. Chris Daniels as GM was amongst my least favourite items in aew history. So happy they moved on, but would still love to see Daniels as a heel manager to maybe redeem that run (turn sky flight?).

[Shartnado]

30 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Aew isn’t really a details company nor are they afraid of inconsistencies, but there was a precedent set with Jay White’s group not being allowed to sub in Juice at one point, tho, I think the opposite was true of a tag title match at some point later (maybe somebody can recall?). That was one of GM Daniels wonderfully lame calls. Chris Daniels as GM was amongst my least favourite items in aew history. So happy they moved on, but would still love to see Daniels as a heel manager to maybe redeem that run (turn sky flight?).

Well, that is probably the right call anyway, not to allow such a thing, but that still could have been the play that Joe made to get Hook to go along with this? Remains to be seen, if that is the case? They need the Trios belt off Joe one way or another, let's hope it's NOT another tournament, right?

[HarryArchieGus]

I might be alone, but I never scoff at a tournament. I love a simple sudden death tournament or round robin where applicable. I do generally scoff at the brackets (non-C2) and consistent lack of starpower. I don't think we'll need a tournament here tho. AEW has no problem putting a belt on ice for awhile - especially trios and tags. Despite any precedence, I do like your idea of Joe passing the title to Hook.

[StevieNippz]

Mox was subbing in for an injured PAC when Opps won the titles so I'm not sure how that was supposed to work either. Wish they had kept those titles unified with the ROH belts

[Troubles]

3 hours ago, StevieNippz said:

Mox was subbing in for an injured PAC when Opps won the titles so I'm not sure how that was supposed to work either. Wish they had kept those titles unified with the ROH belts

God, another in the long line of things AEW does that just come back to fuck them later. I just remember thinking "oh fuck, Bang Bang Gang is moving quick with all the trios gold" and then The Devil bullshit...then injuries just began to plague that whole unit. Now they have the ROH 6 Mans on STP, who are criminally underutilized and it just is the same waste of time. 

[tbarrie]

9 hours ago, HarryArchieGus said:

Why the Young Bucks would have to choose between the money they just won and their old friend was ridiculous. Who forgot to make clear that they’d only win the money if they joined the family? Maybe there was a line in a promo to indicate this?

I was going to mention how this made no sense. I'm fairly confident there was no such stipulation. I guess we're supposed to assume carrying those duffel bags full of cash would slow them down too much for them to effectively make the save?

[DreamBroken]

9 hours ago, Shartnado said:

Adam Page having an epic PPV entrance music was great. This was goosebump-inducing. Anyone got an idea what that theme is called? 

"American Venom" from the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack

[The Natural]

Swerve Strickland talks about bulking up ahead of his AEW Full Gear return.

“I am definitely bigger, and it’s miserable maintaining it. Because there’s times where I’m in bed, and I’m like, I gotta get one more something. Because Applebee’s is my go-to, at like, 11:45-12, most places are closing down. So let me order just a salmon and asparagus and rice. It gets there, and I’m like, I don’t even have the energy to use a fork. I’m just picking at it with my hands to my mouth and, in bed, just feeling like [crap]. I don’t even know. I didn’t even know I could get to this. Honestly, I got to a point where it was like, I didn’t know I could do this. What more can I do? So it’s like that’s the addiction to it."

(Chris Van Vliet)

---

Swole Strickland.

[Pete]

53 minutes ago, The Natural said:

Swerve Strickland talks about bulking up ahead of his AEW Full Gear return.

“I am definitely bigger, and it’s miserable maintaining it. Because there’s times where I’m in bed, and I’m like, I gotta get one more something. Because Applebee’s is my go-to, at like, 11:45-12, most places are closing down. So let me order just a salmon and asparagus and rice. It gets there, and I’m like, I don’t even have the energy to use a fork. I’m just picking at it with my hands to my mouth and, in bed, just feeling like [crap]. I don’t even know. I didn’t even know I could get to this. Honestly, I got to a point where it was like, I didn’t know I could do this. What more can I do? So it’s like that’s the addiction to it."

(Chris Van Vliet)

---

Swole Strickland.

Swerve Thiccland.

[SovietShooter]

13 hours ago, tbarrie said:

I was going to mention how this made no sense. I'm fairly confident there was no such stipulation. I guess we're supposed to assume carrying those duffel bags full of cash would slow them down too much for them to effectively make the save?

There was a backstage promo with the Bucks & Alexander on Collision, where Don Callis was excited that the team would winning the $1M, so that the Bucks could pay him back for his "investment" in their pyro and new gear.  The Bucks said paying him back would not be an issue, as they pay their debts. Then Don & Josh went off about ending the career of Kenny Omega, and the Bucks didn't say anything, but body language suggested they might not be on board with this.  

[NikoBaltimore]

12 hours ago, DreamBroken said:

"American Venom" from the Red Dead Redemption soundtrack

I finally beat the game last week and couldn't hear it too well watching it live.  But goddamn that's some awesome stuff.  RDR2 really is the gift that keeps on giving.

While it might not have been an all-timer PPV I still had lots of fun watching it with friends.  I won't go over the matches because I'm in general agreement but a couple things stood out.

PAC/Darby wildly succeed in that it wasn't bloody yet it was almost a brutal as some of the stuff that happened later on.  I still wince sometimes seeing Darby kill himself for our enjoyment and the burns led to even more uneasieness every time PAC did anything related to that.  I at first wish Darby won but it does feed into the idea that the other DR members are better off without Mox.  Also, since their post-match video was posted note not only how Garcia was looking at Mox but also how Yuta was looking at Garcia.  There is the whole former rivals things but it wouldn't surprise me if something brews out of Mox's disposal.

I didn't need to pay much attention to the Buck match but did love how AEW 1.0 this all was with everybody involved.  Josh almost felt like the odd man out in this story but while Bucks are much better heels I kind of like them more as faces.  I think it's going to take some time before they consider trios titles as they need to not only further redeem themselves but also ward off DCF.  As for another feel-good moment Mark winning the TNT title led to much rejoicing a shot of Wild Turkey in his honor (thank fuck I had some insight to pick up a small bottle)

As for Joe winning it was a shock at the time because it felt like Hangman just started his reign.  I hope he feels a bit better about this reign as it was controversy-free and had some good defenses in that time.  Joe I'm sure will be the unstoppable force but if if done right I can see Hobbs as the one to dethrone him.  This might be me conditioned by angles past in other companies but in time you can have Hobbs get some big wins and be done with feeling like Joe's lackey.  If that's not possible for some reason then Darby would work as well.

[tbarrie]

1 hour ago, SovietShooter said:

There was a backstage promo with the Bucks & Alexander on Collision, where Don Callis was excited that the team would winning the $1M, so that the Bucks could pay him back for his "investment" in their pyro and new gear.  The Bucks said paying him back would not be an issue, as they pay their debts. Then Don & Josh went off about ending the career of Kenny Omega, and the Bucks didn't say anything, but body language suggested they might not be on board with this.  

That's interesting, but I don't see how it supports the idea that after winning, they had to choose between the money and their friendship with Kenny. (Whom they'd previously tried to murder. But that's not enough to end a friendship in wrestling, so all good.) Presumably they'd be paying Callis back from their share of the purse regardless of what they decided with regards to Kenny.

[The Natural]

Spoiler

@Curt McGirt.

[SovietShooter]

9 hours ago, tbarrie said:

10 hours ago, SovietShooter said:

That's interesting, but I don't see how it supports the idea that after winning, they had to choose between the money and their friendship with Kenny.

I think you're just reading too much into it.  Don is evil.  Money is evil.  Kenny was their friend. They chose fixing the friendship over evil.  

[The Natural]

4 hours ago, SovietShooter said:

I think you're just reading too much into it.  Don is evil.  Money is evil.  Kenny was their friend. They chose fixing the friendship over evil.  

[The Natural]

Spoiler

@Curt McGirt.

[Shartnado]

On 11/26/2025 at 11:54 AM, The Natural said:

Swerve Strickland talks about bulking up ahead of his AEW Full Gear return.

“I am definitely bigger, and it’s miserable maintaining it. Because there’s times where I’m in bed, and I’m like, I gotta get one more something. Because Applebee’s is my go-to, at like, 11:45-12, most places are closing down. So let me order just a salmon and asparagus and rice. It gets there, and I’m like, I don’t even have the energy to use a fork. I’m just picking at it with my hands to my mouth and, in bed, just feeling like [crap]. I don’t even know. I didn’t even know I could get to this. Honestly, I got to a point where it was like, I didn’t know I could do this. What more can I do? So it’s like that’s the addiction to it."

(Chris Van Vliet)

---

Swole Strickland.

It does seem like Swerve is still new to this bulking stuff! Man, get some high grade mass gainer and DRINK those calories (at least some of them). I've got upwards of 40lbs of triple chocolate Mutant Mass gainer stacked at work and stuff gets so hectic that a meal such as salmon, asparagus and rice is out of the question, then chugging down a shaker full of about a 1000 calories makes maintaining the weight and calorie intake much more sustainable. Appreciate his dedication, however!

[The Natural]

Meltzer:

PAC vs. Darby Allin: ****.

Timeless Love Bombs vs. Babes Of Wrath vs. Sisters Of Sin vs. Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir: ***

Brodido vs. FTR: *****.

Ricochet vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta vs. Kevin Knight vs..Roderick Strong vs. Mark Davis vs. Mike Bailey vs. Matt Menard: ****.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jon Moxley: ****3/4.

Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe: *****.

Josh Alexander and The Young Bucks vs. Kenny Omega and Jurassic Express: ****1/2.

Kris Statlander vs. Mercedes Moné: ****1/4.

Hangman Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe: ***1/2.I

Natural:

PAC vs. Darby Allin: ****1/2.

Timeless Love Bombs vs. Babes Of Wrath vs. Sisters Of Sin vs. Megan Bayne and Marina Shafir: ***.

Brodido vs. FTR: ****3/4.

Ricochet vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Claudio Castagnoli vs. Daniel Garcia vs. Orange Cassidy vs. Wheeler Yuta vs. Kevin Knight vs..Roderick Strong vs. Mark Davis vs. Mike Bailey vs. Matt Menard: ***1/2.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Jon Moxley: ****1/4.

Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe: ****3/4.

Josh Alexander and The Young Bucks vs. Kenny Omega and Jurassic Express: ***1/2.

Kris Statlander vs. Mercedes Moné: ****1/4.

Hangman Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe: ****.