La Zona Muerta

Towards the end of AEW Full Gear, I figured the discourse this week would be entirely based upon either the show being too long or letting too many people bleed. By the ACTUAL end of Full Gear, I knew those potential “problems” had been replaced by another.

For the record (and I guess that is indeed what this is; a record of my dumb thoughts and opinions), yeah, I think Hangman Adam Page losing the belt so quickly is sorta lame. I absolutely hate cage match interference; it completely negates the point of a cage match. But HOOK being OPPS all along makes sense; I don’t mind that at all; in fact, I kinda like it. Swerve Strickland coming back with an incredible new entrance and theme song, with somehow even MORE swagger than he had before? Him possibly TEAMING with his arch foe, the Hangman? Incredible. No, I don’t think it was time to take the belt off of Hanger… but presented with what we got… yeah, I think it may be for the best.

What we have here is a need for stories versus a need for feel good moments, for feelings. Much like during the, let’s be nice and say “controversial” reign of Jon Moxley (and boy, am I sick to my eyeteeth of people retconning that thing to have been good all along; go back and look at the reactions to the end of LAST year’s Full Gear, or even worse, whichever PPV saw Mox beating Swerve), the AEW fanbase is now divided… some up in arms over Hangman having another short, inconsequential title reign, some into the idea of Joe being a transitional champ and dropping the title to Swerve or even a returning MJF. I’m sure Joe will indeed be a transitional champ and seeing Swerve walk out last night, exuding pure “I am the KING of this place” vibes… I figure Worlds End (the December PPV) is where Swerve gets his belt back, but we shall see. But does that mean Hanger has been forgotten, relegated, demoted?

Of course not, and I do think that is where the online reaction tends to go off the rails a bit.

I’m not here to tell people how to feel. I HATE it, in fact, when AEW fans do that and I’ve ranted about it before. Taunting each other over MATCH RESULTS is a hallmark of the Stamford Tribe and shouldn’t be an arrow in the generally decent AEW fan’s quiver. Today, there are definitely a not insignificant number of AEW fans very much in their feelings about an abrupt end to Hangman Page’s title run… but to those people, I would say, not “let it play out,” but “good guys need obstacles to overcome.” Can you genuinely look me in the eye and say that Samoa Joe is a bad ambassador for the company? I don’t mean “you deserve it” type shit or whatever, I don’t mean in kayfabe because he’s a bad guy… I mean do you think it’s somehow bad or embarrassing for Joe to wear the men’s heavyweight title? THERE, I would have to take umbrage. Joe will be a transitional champ and despite Hangman’s loss, a loss does NOT mean FOREVER.

Let’s look at another match on the card before we get back to this one. Mark Briscoe versus Kyle Fletcher was a SAVAGE bloodbath of a match and the more interesting outcome, BY FAR, would have been Briscoe losing and becoming a subordinate to the Don Callis Family; lots of storyline potential, a million different ways you could have gone with it. But instead, Briscoe wpm and finally got AEW gold.

Storytelling versus feelings.

Mark Briscoe loses on TV… a LOT. He very rarely wins the big one… and here, AEW decided instead of another loss, to finally pull the trigger and have him win the big one. Feel good won out over heat, over storytelling. Maybe that feel good, “you deserve it” win let Tony Khan feel more confident in laying another obstacle in the Hangman’s path. Maybe Kyle Fletcher is losing up and that all becomes a more integral part of all of this. Obviously Konosuke Takeshita and Kazuchika Okada’s feud will culminate in the Continental Classic and Kyle had to factor large into that (if I were fantasy booking right now, Takeshita has to face Fletcher at Worlds End, and Okada has to face whomever, leading to the “final” battle of Big Take and the Rainmaker), but after that…? I think he’s a bonafide main eventer. Mark can have the TNT belt until he decides it’s sunset time, or at least cut back time.

Look, I know some of you hate HOOK and think he’s a faux tough guy that you can’t buy as a wrestler. I get it; whatever aura he had was dampened CONSIDERABLY when he started sharing chips with Danhousen. I like the idea of him working for Joe clandestinely this whole time; his being mad that he was replaced never really rang true for me. Yes, the cage match interference was dumb, but Powerhouse Hobbs ripping a chain in half to gain entry to the cage was pretty cool and is another thing that hopefully pays off in the long run. The image of Joe, who gigged WAY too deep, bleeding buckets and projected tough guy aura while needing help to win… it was cool, even if it was a bit Death Rider-y. I get the reasons you may have for not liking this. I hope you can see the other side, though… that the idea of Swerve returning to reclaim his throne, to become the most DANGEROUS man in AEW again… of Swerve potentially having to help Hanger, what lengths Hangman will go THIS TIME to get his revenge… I hope you can see that all of those things, all of those potential threads could outweigh your current disappointment. I think it’s a bold booking move. Maybe AEW could USE a little more boldness in their booking.

So, yeah… Full Gear. I thought it was largely a really strong show. PAC and Darby Allin had a FANTASTIC opener with the kind of savage grappling I *really* like. Also, PAC ended up having to be a big, stinky cheater, which totally went against his big “I don’t need weapons to BRRREAK yore NEEHCK” speech… total Death Rider ethos. Darby loses nothing in taking the pin. PAC gets purloined bragging rights. Love it.

FTR ended up getting the win over Brody King and Bandido (another one I know some folks are upset about). My only real beef… FTR should have cheated to win, just shamelessly cheated but they didn’t really. They did illegal stuff, I guess, sure, but as is the case often in AEW, the bad guys fought awfully valiantly, kicking out of everything and the kitchen sink. I think the kind of heels FTR are should constantly be cheating to hold on to what they’ve got, and SOMETIMES they do that, but it’s a bit inconsistent. Anyway, they need to be the champs, I think. I hope this isn’t so they drop the titles for one last nostalgia fest for the hated Edge and the tolerable Christian (another reason I think some were leery of this title change).

Ricochet ended up becoming the first National champion (and despite the faux “controversy” around the idea of this National championship carrying on the lineage of the original National championship, the belt was a clear call back to the original, now bedecked in the red and silver of the NWA Television title but resembling the old title in terms of shape and livery) in a pretty solid Casino gauntlet. I thought these matches jumped the shark a bit at All In this year, but this one was pretty good, despite the involvement of the Hurt Guys. Ricochet… you all know what I thought of him when he came in; big league, Fed brained… but a few months toiling in the All Elite fields abraded those rough edges and a year later, he’s a great act and probably the perfect choice to carry a belt like this. I hope he actually does some indy and partner dates; a lot of them, to establish this belt as something that can legitimately be contested for elsewhere.

The Young Bucks, uh… basically just sorta won that million dollar thingamabob without much in the way of chicanery, but of course, good old Don Callis (working like a DOG; he had a LOT to do on this show) had to push a little too hard and the Bucks finally got back on the same page with one Kenneth Omega. Look, I don’t know how much time BIG KEN has on the old life clock (a lot of his matches seem predicated now upon various body parts giving out or going wrong and I genuinely don’t know if that’s because he’s falling apart before our eyes or because he’s a better worker than we’ve ever given him credit for) but if he wants to wind down / wrap up with his buds in the Elite… who am *I* to naysay him? YEah, I prefer the heel Bucks, of course I do, they are a better act that way, but it’s hard to be mad when you see them all hug. I suspect part of this reunion was accelerated due to Kota Ibushi’s untimely injury; we probably would have got a rehash of the Golden Lovers and the Bucks and things gone according to plan… but it’s okay. We already had that match once; it was fantastic and we can move on from it.

Kyle O’Reilly and Jon Moxley had some sort of exsanguination match, and KOR actually came out on top! I lamented before that this would have been more effective had KOR not been treated as a DAD JOKE GOOFBALL, and I stand by that, but the “no holds barred” match became a very interesting blend of submission grappling and weapons usage and potentially laid another brick in the “Death Riders suddenly turn on Jon Moxley” wall. As with so many things in AEW, follow up is key; they HAVE to do something with Kyle now besides, I dunno, “decent run in the Continental Classic.” Do I trust them to do that? I’m riding high right now so I will say yes but I think it will be booking malpractice if KOR sputters out; they have to keep the fire stoked and give this guy the run he never truly got to have in ROH or NXT.

One slight bugbear (of course, look at me, picking nits); I would not have put the Mox / KOR and Briscoe / Fletcher matches back to back. Too much brutality in each and they kind of burned out the crowd a bit. Space the REALLY violent stuff out, guys. AEW desperately needs that guy with the death ray in the back to make sure you don’t have two bloodfests in a row, that if an ankle lock is going to be an important component in one match that no one else should be using it in theirs, etc. Too much creative freedom can be bad in it’s own way.

Not sure I have much else to say. The Okada / Takeshita stuff has been kept on a perfect boil and I can’t wait to see who they pair up against in the Continental Classic. Mercedes Moné winning every dopey belt in Christendom (I DARE you to name more than five of the belts she has) but failing to win the BIG ONE should definitely be an ongoing situation, even an Achilles’ heel of sorts. I GET the teeth gnashing over the HANG MAN but I genuinely think this setback is going to lead to some interesting interactions with Swerve, and unhinged Hangman is my favorite Hangman BY FAR. Full Gear, in my opinion, really delivered on a lot of promise and should, in theory, set a up a lot of things that will carry AEW into early 2026. I just hope that they don’t make me regret my faith.