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MJF Retains World Title, Leaves Full Gear With No Sight Of The Devil

Full Gear also included the announcement that Will Ospreay signed with AEW

Justin Barrasso

MJF Retains World Title, Leaves Full Gear With No Sight Of The Devil
MJF Retains World Title, Leaves Full Gear With No Sight Of The Devil /

MJF is still AEW world champion. And there is no clarity regarding the devil storyline.

Courtesy AEW
Courtesy AEW

Those are two of the most noteworthy takeaways from AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view, which contained more than its share of forced drama.

MJF overcame a storyline knee/quad injury to escape the hospital, drive himself in an ambulance to the arena, and then defeat “Switchblade” Jay White to retain the title. Following the victory, MJF celebrated with Adam Cole–and that is how the pay-per-view ended.

The injury appeared to foreshadow the next moment to unfold, whether it was a title change or swerve, yet it was only used to heighten the tension in the match. Yet the injury played very little significance throughout the 29-minute match.

The win is especially significant for MJF, who will now pass the 365-day mark as champion. And even though there was no advancement of the devil storyline, there were plenty of highlights at Full Gear. For as over-the-top as the Texas Death match was (there was no need for Hangman Page to drink Swerve Strickland’s blood), the match told a gripping story. The right man won, as Swerve again got the better of Hangman.

Seeing Adam Copeland tag with Sting was memorable, and Julia Hart won her first-ever AEW title. Toni Storm regained the women’s championship for a third time, Ricky Starks and Big Bill won an outstanding four-way tag title match to extend their reign as champs, and Orange Cassidy finally got his win against Jon Moxley.

Will Ospreay was also announced as the newest member of the AEW roster. He is a signification addition to the roster, adding an extraordinary athlete into the mix.

Will Ospreay Signs With AEW

Here are the results:

  • Ring of Honor champion Eddie Kingston defeated Jay Lethal on the pre-show
  • Claudio Castagnoli defeated Buddy Matthews on the pre-show
  • MJF and Samoa Joe defeated The Gunns in an ROH tag title match on the pre-show
  • Sting, Darby Allin, and Adam Copeland defeated Christian Cage, Luchasaurus, and Nick Wayne
  • International champion Orange Cassidy defeated Jon Moxley
  • Toni Storm defeated Hikaru Shida to win the AEW women’s championship
  • AEW tag team champions Ricky Starks and Big Bill defeated FTR’s Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, LFI’s Rush and Dralistico, and the Kings of the Black Throne’s Malakai Black and Brody King in a tag team ladder match
  • Julia Hart defeated Kris Statlander and Skye Blue in a triple threat to become the new TBS champion
  • Swerve Strickland defeated Hangman Page in a Texas Death match
  • Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega defeated the Young Bucks
  • AEW world champion MJF defeated “Switchblade” Jay White

The pay-per-view opened with a memorable entry from the unlikely trio of Adam Copeland, Sting, and Darby Allin. They were accompanied by Ric Flair, so there were plenty of wrestling icons involved here. The joy from Copeland, wearing painted face and performing double-team moves with Sting, was apparent. Outside of the rare occasion where Christian had the upper hand, it was very smart to have him do his best to avoid Copeland. Another highlight was seeing Christian flee through the crowd once Copeland was finally going to get physical with him.

After an entertaining opener, Tony Schiavone announced that MJF was unable to defend his title as a result of the pre-show attack from The Gunns. For reasons that defy logic, he was going to be stripped of the belt and it was going to be awarded to “Switchblade” Jay White–but that is when the injured Adam Cole arrived and said he would wrestle in place of MJF.

Orange Cassidy overcame Jon Moxley, successfully defending the International championship in an outstanding match. This should have been a crowning moment for Cassidy, but the rivalry–ever since Moxley defeated Cassidy for the belt in the main event of All Out in September–has been stop-and-go. Shortly after their pay-per-view classic, Moxley suffered a concussion in a match against Fenix, which led to him losing the belt far ahead of schedule. Cassidy won it back, but not from Moxley–and this feud just never got entirely back on track.

This was another exceptional match. Cassidy is still in need of more gravitas to push him through to the next level, so hopefully there will be a trilogy bout that prolongs the feud.

Toni Storm defeated Hikaru Shida to win the AEW women’s championship. The match continually felt on the cusp of hitting its strike, yet never did. It wasn’t helped by a clunky finish, ending with Storm using a foreign object to win. But this felt inevitable. Storm’s popularity continues to surge during this “Timeless” run, and she earned her place as champion. Unfortunately, that means Shida becomes a transitional champ, but it is hard to argue that this isn’t Storm’s time.

Additional information was shared about the upcoming Continental Classic tournament. The winner will be crowned Continental champion, AEW’s newest title. It was announced that Mark Briscoe will be part of the 12-man tournament, as will Eddie Kingston, who also promised to put his titles–the Ring of Honor title and the New Japan Pro-Wrestling Strong title–on the line.

The crowd came alive during the four-way tag team ladder match. Ricky Starks and Big Bill, FTR’s Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler, LFI’s Rush and Dralistico, and the Kings of the Black Throne’s Malakai Black and Brody King all took considerable risks to make sure this match delivered. Black and King were both particularly outstanding here, bringing this match to a whole new level.

The finish came when Starks outmaneuvered Wheeler to secure the belts, extending his title reign with Big Bill. Starks is a budding star, so it makes sense to keep gold around his waist.

The triple threat match for the women’s TBS title had the inevitable task of following the tag team ladder match. It finished with Julia Hart getting her first taste of AEW gold, capitalizing on a moment where it appeared Kris Statlander had Skye Blue beat. This was a significant feat for all three women, who won the crowd over only moments after that outrageous tag team ladder match.

At only 22, Hart is now AEW’s youngest champion. In only a short amount of time, she has made herself an invaluable part of AEW. It will be exciting to watch her first title reign unfold.

The Texas Death match was, in a word, bloody. In addition to exceptionally gory, it was also outright exceptional. Swerve Strickland handed Hangman Page his first loss in a Texas Death match, and it was timed out perfectly. Swerve is a main-event talent, and he desperately needed the victory in this program–and he got it.

Barbed wire, tables, barbed wire chairs, and a cinder block helped foster an environment of nonstop physicality.

This was difficult to watch at times, especially the spot when Hangman drank Swerve’s blood. This was late in the card, and it belonged there. Choking out Hangman led to the winning spot for Swerve.

These two can resume the rivalry later in their career, perhaps even with the world title at stake, but this win was absolutely necessary for Swerve.

In the match before the main event, Chris Jericho and Kenny Omega defeated the Young Bucks. The victory gives Omega and Jericho possession of the Buck’s tag title shot, ensuring that there will be more to the Omega/Jericho partnership (and, perhaps, even a tag team title reign).

Similar to the women’s triple threat, which faced an uphill battle following the outstanding tag team ladder match, this tag bout had to follow the outrageous Texas Death match. It picked up momentum in its latter moments, all leading to an Omega/Jericho win and more heel attitude displayed from the Bucks.

In the main event, Adam Cole appeared ready to take MJF’s spot. On crutches, he would have been no match for Jay White. As the match was set to start, video cut to MJF driving an ambulance to the arena, then limping to the ring to wrestle.

Showing only intermittent signs of the injury, MJF and White wrestled a back-and-forth match.

The point of the injury was not to impact the match itself, but rather to highlight the Max’s strength it. Adam Cole also threatened to throw in the towel to keep MJF from absorbing too much punishment, but why would Cole even have that right? It all added to the tension, and Cole has brought value even while injured.

To hardly anyone’s surprise, the referee was knocked out before the finish. White intercepted Cole’s attempt to get the gold ring to MJF, but he failed to capitalize. MJF then fended off The Guns, regained possession of the ring, reversed a Bladerunner, and knocked out White for the win.

On the one-year anniversary of winning the title, this victory ensures that MJF will now surpass the one-year mark as AEW world champion.

Surprisingly, there was no clarity, advancement, or conclusion to the angle with the devil stalking MJF. Plenty of outstanding moments carried this pay-per-view, including in the main event, but it did feel like a key part of the plot was missing without any connection to the devil storyline.

Published
Justin Barrasso
JUSTIN BARRASSO

Justin Barrasso has been writing for Sports Illustrated since 2014. While his primary focus is pro wrestling and MMA, he has also covered MLB, NBA, and the NFL. He can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.

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