Last Saturday’s AEW Full Gear is trending to become the second most purchased pay-per-view in company history with more than 145,000 buys worldwide and an estimated $4 million in total event revenue.
The numbers were first reported by Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston and discussed on last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio. Dave Meltzer said he believes the number will come in around 150,000. Meltzer said that while cable and satellite numbers have yet to be finalized, streaming numbers were up from March’s AEW Revolution which did 145,000 buys and that a cable industry source said the early numbers looked strong.
The $4 million is a combination of PPV revenue and ticket sales and merchandise in Minneapolis.
From Thurston specifically on PPV revenue:
“Sales of 145,000 buys worldwide for Full Gear would mean about $7 million in pay-per-view revenue before AEW’s split with distributors. If the average split to AEW is about 45%, then AEW would take about $3 million in pay-per-view revenue.”
In the U.S., Bleacher Report was the exclusive streaming distributor and there were complaints about the availability to buy the replay which necessitated the event being made available for purchase on FITE.tv the next day. Fans had the option to buy through FITE and Bleacher Report for September’s All Out.
FITE remained the international distributor while fans were also able to buy through Facebook. However, Thurston said the latter’s sales were minor.
September’s All Out is the AEW’s most purchased PPV at 205,000 buys, buoyed by the return of CM Punk.
On a night of physical matches, two of the talents on the AEW Full Gear card were reportedly feeling the aftereffects and couldn’t make a scheduled appearance Sunday.
PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported both Eddie Kingston and Malakai Black missed Sunday’s Big Event convention in New York City Sunday with an announcement being made that the reason was due to injuries suffered at Full Gear.
Via PWInsider, Northeast Wrestling (who was hosting Kingston) posted the following regarding Kingston:
Eddie Kingston contacted us late last night. Due to an injury to his shoulder in his match with CM Punk last night at the AEW PPV, he will be unable to appear at Big Event NY Convention today. He is having his shoulder checked out and having a series of medical tests this morning.”
Johnson said he was told there was actually no injury from the match itself. Rather, Kingston is suffering from a “culmination of different issues.”
As of now, neither man posted on social media about any injury or missing the event. Tony Khan didn’t mention any injuries during the post-event media scrum.
Kingston lost to CM Punk Saturday while Black and Andrade El Idolo were defeated by Cody Rhodes and PAC.
At the aforementioned scrum, Khan did give an update on Lance Archer who sustained a neck injury during a World title eliminator tournament match with Kingston. He confirmed that Archer suffered a “twisted neck” and not a head injury/concussion as had been speculated. Khan said Archer cleared all ImPACT testing and “concussion stuff.”
Khan said Archer was in attendance in Minneapolis and there is no rush to have him return given their roster depth.
AEW returns this Wednesday in Norfolk, Virginia, for Dynamite.
Join me live from Minnesota as I shares my live experience attending AEW Full Gear in Minneapolis, Minnesota, including my complete and honest review of the show.
The Rundown:
My weekend in Minnesota
MJF vs. Darby Allin
The bad finish in the FTR/ Lucha Bros match
Did Bryan Danielson and Miro have a good match?
Falls Count Anywhere…lots of fun!
Cody and PAC defeat Black and Andrade
Crowd Reactions, Britt Baker defeats Tay Conti
How AEW got everything right between CM Punk and Eddie Kingston
Inner Circle vs. Men of the Year & American Top Team
Jay Lethal in AEW
Matches announced for Dynamite
Hangman Page becomes new AEW World Champion
Post-event media scrum notes
I return next week to cover NXT on Tuesdays, AEW on Wednesdays and AEW Rampage/WWE SmackDown on Friday!
In a storyline that lasted well over a year, “Hangman” Adam Page defeated Kenny Omega at AEW Full Gear for the company’s world title, ending Omega’s 11-month run as champion.
With the win, Page becomes AEW’s fourth World champion in company history following Chris Jericho, Jon Moxley and Omega. Page lost to Jericho in the inaugural title match at 2019’s All Out and had been on a path of redemption ever since.
The match went more than 20 minutes and ended following two buckshot lariats from Page to Omega as the Young Bucks watched at ringside as they happened. They came out late in the match with Matt Jackson simply nodding at Page before he delivered the second one.
The match was competitive one that saw Page bleed from the head, both a terminator dive and springboard Liger bomb from Omega, a One-Winged Angel from Page, and a Page lariat from the ringpost to the outside that partially put Omega through a ringside table.
Don Callis interfered plenty as he looked to nail Page with the title belt after the referee was knocked out following Omega pulling him into the way of a buckshot lariat. Page took out Callis, Omega missed with a belt shot of his own, and Page nearly won the title after a deadeye after Aubrey Edwards ran out to take over.
Page earned the title shot by winning an October Casino Ladder match on Dynamite as a surprise participant due to him taking several months off due to the birth of his first child. He was thought to be getting a shot at Omega at September’s All Out, but things had to be changed because he was gone.
At last year’s Full Gear, he lost to Omega in the World title eliminator tournament final and the build to the match was based around him being unable to win the big one dating back to the aforementioned first-ever title match. The two were also former AEW Tag Team Champions which helped play into last year’s Full Gear match.
The loss leaves Omega with just the AAA Mega title after he held that, the AEW title and the Impact World title as recently as August. He defended the title six times after defeating Jon Moxley last December.
In the finals of the AEW World title eliminator tournament at Saturday’s Full Gear, Bryan Danielson defeated Miro to earn a future title shot.
What was expected to be a physical match was indeed just that. Near the end, both men exchanged elbows and kicks, taunting each other to throw them harder. Both men also escaped each other’s submission finisher in the course of the action.
The end came when Danielson caught Miro with a DDT when he was coming off the top rope, knocking him out. He ensnared Miro in a guillotine, but referee Aubrey Edwards called for the stoppage when Miro was out.
With the win, Danielson remains undefeated in his short AEW run and will await the winner of Saturday’s match between World Champion Kenny Omega and Hangman Page. Danielson and Omega went to a 30-minute non-title draw at September’s Grand Slam show in Queens, New York.
Danielson advanced to the finals with wins over Dustin Rhodes and Eddie Kingston while Miro took Jon Moxley’s spot after he pulled out. He defeated Orange Cassidy to get into the finals.
Despite their crossover in WWE, this was only their second-ever singles meeting. The first was a Money in the Bank qualifying match in 2018 that Miro (then Rusev) won.
Editor’s Note: The following is an opinion-based preview and reflects that of the writer and not of our website.
When was the last time you were compelled to watch WWE? Aside from the individual bright spots (the career best work of Roman Reigns and otherworldly talent of Bianca Belair, mainly), what is there that is truly can’t miss? When’s the last time you felt a buzz around WWE like there is with AEW right now? This entire card is filled with storylines and matches that will fill up Wrestling Twitter™ and its collective wrestling heart. That heart is everything.
The passion of AEW and the people who wrestle for them set it apart from WWE. Much like a Kraft single is a disgustingly delicious cheese product, WWE is a homogenized wrestling product. And much like a Kraft single, it has extremely limited uses. To say that they don’t make individual moments would be disingenuous. The moments are certainly here and there, but they exist in an emotionless vacuum — done so they can be included in video packages down the road.
There are no stakes and nothing of substance ever really happens. If it does, it’s usually immediately undone. It’s an old abandoned church with empty pews and empty aisles, haunted by the ghost of what used to fill it up. That’s why WWE leans on nostalgia acts so much. They remind us of what we used to feel, but also puts a spotlight on the fact that we don’t feel those things anymore.
The intentionality of AEW calling itself a professional wrestling company is notable. They lean into the emotion of pro wrestling by creating storylines and characters that are evocative. Everyone is created to make the audience feel something…or somethings…or many, many somethings. They aren’t afraid to tell layered stories and allow their audience to feel complex emotions. It is all done while not forgetting what they are at their heart: a pro wrestling company.
Nine matches. 3000 words. My parents are so proud. Let’s preview Saturday’s AEW Full Gear from Minneapolis, Minnesota:
Bryan Danielson vs. Miro | AEW World title eliminator tournament final
People ease into existence slowly; mere blips in the universe. They can be even slower trying to find their purpose. Finding meaning on this big blue marble is tough! It can be tough to figure out what your purpose in life is or what purpose even means. For people like Danielson, it is clear what that purpose is and clear what he was put on this earth to do.
Bryan Danielson was put on this earth to f*cking wrestle, man.
It’s impossible to imagine him doing anything else. And he wrestles better than anyone alive and maybe better than anyone who has ever even lived. Jon Moxley called Danielson the best wrestler of all time and who am I to correct him? Wrestling, like all art, is subjective. There is no “correct” way to rank wrestlers, no matter what the hellscape of r/squaredcircle will have you believe, but Danielson is on any short list for the best of all time.
Seeing an unshackled Danielson again is a sight to behold. At his peak, he was one of the most popular acts in wrestling history. Even then, he was holding back a bit in the ring. Just check his comments from this week about being on autopilot. He still had the restrictor plates on. Now? Those are gone and he’s free to be The American Dragon again. And what a treat that is for us and what a delight it is for him.
You can see just how much this means to him. He absolutely loves this. He lives for this. Danielson never has to work another day in his life, let alone get his chest turned an uncomfortable shade of purple. Yet here he is, willingly doing that because this is the only thing he wants to do. He’s been in AEW for barely a hiccup and he’s already put on two of the best matches of the year. I’m so happy he’s back, for however long he decides to do this.
In the beginning, there was Alexander Rusev: a greasy-haired Bulgarian who broke boards (?) with his opponent’s name on them (??). Now, there is only Miro, the best thing going in AEW. All of his promos are absolute must-sees. His matches are brutally frantic and his character work is spectacular. The fact that all of this was inside him isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that this was inside him and WWE thought the best use of him was to get cucked on live television — truly a breathtaking work of staggering genius.
Miro is angry about being forsaken by his god. He gets the chance to take his anger out on the real god of pro wrestling. Apologies to Kenny Omega and super not apologies to JBL and Moose, but that’s exactly what Bryan Danielson is. It kills me that he’s going to lose, but there is no one better to hand him an L. Bryan wins while Miro continues to look for his redemption.
CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston
I was watching Rampage with a native New Yorker and told them that they might like Eddie because of how, you know, New York he is. When Eddie steamed down to the ring, they barely looked up from their phone to say “Ehh, I don’t like him.” But then he started to talk and everything changed. Eddie connects like no other. One promo is all he needs. One video package is all he needs. No one in pro wrestling makes you feel their words like he does. We can feel his passion and his desperation — the type of desperation that can drive people to do incredible things.
Eddie significantly outclasses most everyone on the microphone, so it’s just wonderful to see him paired up with someone on his level. Punk was gone for such a long time and his return has been mostly happy — so much so that I forgot what an engaged and on-edge Punk sounds like. It was never his ring work that made him the star he was and now once again seems to be. Rather, it was the character and mic work that took him to the stratosphere. Leave it to Eddie Kingston to let this version of Punk begin to show himself. Make no mistake that Punk is the heel here. Calling someone a bum to their face in an arena full of people is extremely good heeling, pal.
Beating Punk here wouldn’t just be Eddie’s signature moment in AEW, but arguably the most significant moment of his entire career. Eddie has made it clear that he doesn’t care if he wins or loses. He’s only concerned with hurting Punk. This normally would reek of a Punk roll-up win followed by a post-match beatdown or something like that, but the timing of the incredible Player’s Tribune article from earlier this week (if you haven’t read it please do and if you have read it, read it again) makes me wonder if it’s time to put the rocket on the King’s back?
The upset special: Eddie goes over.
Christian Cage and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) (w/ Marko Stunt) vs. SuperKliq (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks) in a falls count anywhere match
Is this the match where Luchasaurus finally, finally proves he’s more than just a guy in a dinosaur mask that doesn’t hit his cues? Dear readers, I assure you, it is not. If it’s not there now, it certainly never will be. I fully acknowledge the gimmick is not for me and the gimmick is really all he is. He’s hidden behind Jungle Boy and kept largely to “hot” tags, but the constant overexposure is confusing. He is significantly outclassed by the other five participants in this match and there is no hiding a talent gap like that on a PPV. The rest of them will be wrestling a PWG main event while he counts to three before completely whiffing on a spin kick.
Look, this is going to be fun and probably good but Cole has been in AEW for three months and has only really engaged with Jurassic Express. This is rapidly approaching Kofi Kingston/Dolph Ziggler levels of repetition here. Understanding that not everyone can do everything and that there is only so much room at the top of the card, this is still a story that has significantly overstayed its welcome. I’m done with it, you are done with it, we are all done with it. The SuperKliq wins. Can we please move on?
Cody and PAC vs. Andrade El Idolo and Malakai Black
Silly me thinking I could make it through an AEW preview without writing about yet another Cody match. I had this largely done and ready to file when I saw that, yes, this had been announced for Full Gear.
In a way, I am conflicted. On one hand, I’m never going to get really upset at something that gets PAC, Andrade and Malakai on the card. On the other hand, Cody. But, hey, whatever. Life remains a slow march into the sea, nothing matters, etc., etc., etc.
This would be one heck of a main event segment on Dynamite, but is clearly forced into this card. Hopefully, Andrade and Black get the win so Malakai can move past Cody, but the more likely case is Cody and PAC taking this to even the Cody and Black score at 2-2 so they can blow it off in a tiebreaker. Cool. Yay.
Darby Allin (w/ Sting) vs. MJF (w/ Wardlow)
These are two of the supposed four pillars of AEW. (Big LOLs by including Sammy Guevara in that group and the biggest possible LOLs to anyone who bought that egregiously bad t-shirt.) This match has had a simple, by the book build — something we all can appreciate. Not everything needs to be complex and layered. Easy stories can be good and this is as easy as it gets: rich, cocky guy from New York who doesn’t get along with a melancholic SK8R BOI from the Pacific Northwest. Not everything needs to be a reflection on confidence, self worth, and identity. Sometimes it can just be “I don’t like you.”
I used a lot of my internet pixels on the first two matches in the column, so this one stays short. Allin is a rare type of wrestler in that he’s never really hurt by his losses. The crowd still loves him and they kind of add to his character, in a way. That, combined with the fact that MJF would be a perfect foil for (spoiler alert) one of Page’s first title defenses, means he gets the win on Saturday and moves toward that.
The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, TNT Champion Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz) vs. Men of the Year (Scorpio Sky & Ethan Page) and American Top Team (Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, Dan Lambert)
As an unbiased, national wrestling writer who is in no way on the AEW payroll, I must speak the truth. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues and I must unburden myself, and burden you, my wonderful and beautiful readers, with my truth. The truth that The Inner Circle has long since served its purpose and is past its expiration date. I know that everyone in AEW needs to be in a faction, or associated with a group or whatever, but this particular one can’t end soon enough.
When AEW first started, this group was necessary. They existed to be the foil for any babyface on the roster and now, what are they doing? I’s either at best, doing nothing for the individual (Hager, Jericho) or, in the case of Santana & Ortiz, actively hampering them. They don’t get enough of a chance to shine which is a real shame. They are so much more than the requisite tag team in a mid-card faction.
Your mileage may vary on Lambert, but it would be an outright lie to say the man can’t work a microphone. I didn’t know who he was when he first spoke on AEW, but I immediately hated (and kind of loved) him. But wow, is this just not it. I don’t really understand the weird obsession wrestling seems to have with current and former MMA guys. What is the cross-section of the audience that both loves Jericho and Dos Santos? That is a genuine question and not sarcasm veiled in a rhetorical one. I truly don’t know and don’t get it. I love wrestling and have almost no interest in MMA so I just don’t understand why these guys get long TV segments every week, especially at the expense of *checks notes* literally anyone else.
This is the “Paul Wight Memorial catch up on your Twitter timeline special” match of the evening. Inner Circle wins.
AEW Tag Team Champions The Lucha Bros vs. FTR title match
When I say I can’t wait for this, my pals, I am excited. This is a level of excitement that is usually reserved for when I see the late night food arrive at a wedding reception. FTR calls themselves the greatest tag team of all time. I’m not going to argue the validity of that statement because doing so is nothing but shouting into the void. What I will use this space to do is to submit the following hot take to the academy: the Lucha Bros are the best big match tag team in the world. When the stakes are the highest, they show up. Of course they’ve been aided by having some incredible dance partners, but Fenix and Penta constantly put on historically memorable performances on the biggest stages.
Their affinity for the bright lights pairs them perfectly with FTR, a tag team that made their name wrestling in some of the best tag team matches in NXT history. Their no frills, grounded offense is the ideal complement to the Lucha Bros flying around the ring. No one is better at building heat for big spots like FTR and no one is better at delivering in those big spots than the Lucha Bros. Two great tastes that go great together. We really do love to see it.
FTR has all of the heat in this match and the Bros just won the belts. There’s no way they lose them Saturday.
AEW Women’s Champion Dr. Britt Baker, DMD vs. Tay Conti title match
A good thing: your champion is a bonafide star. A slightly less good thing: your champion is such a star that she dwarfs everyone else in her division. A significantly less good thing: your company hasn’t dedicated enough time to building up credible challengers. The simplest solution is to make more stars. And if it were me, I would simply put women on TV more and build those stars :). The top five “ranked” women in AEW are:
Tay Conti: We’ll get to her
Jade Cargill: Not quite there yet
Thunder Rosa: Coming off of injury
Nyla Rose: We know who and what she is and we’ve done this already
Kris Statlander: Hasn’t had a non-Dark singles match since May
That is, in order, the no. 1 contender, someone who is not ready in the ring, someone coming off an injury, someone who isn’t quite good enough, and someone who hasn’t wrestled a non-Dark singles match since May. So, yeah. This is not a reflection of the talent on the roster, but a reflection of AEW not providing enough screen time to create a challenger with enough gravitas to take down the dentist. Lord knows that there has to be a 15-minute Inner Circle segment every week instead of building towards that, so I get it (I super don’t get it).
That aside, Conti is the complete package. She’s someone AEW should be throwing their full weight behind. She’s going to have this title one day. But that day is not coming this Saturday. It is emphatically NOT coming this Saturday because Baker is still doing it whenever she gets screen time. With a little more time and a little better build, Tay could do the damn thing. Oh well, maybe next time. Once again, Baker retains.
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page title match
“You better hold on tight to it. You got ten days.”
With eleven words, Adam Page showed he’s ready for this. Talent-wise, he’s been ready. But character wise? That had been an entirely different story. Recapping his character arc since AEW’s inception has already been done elsewhere and been done far better than I ever could so I’m not going to do that here.
Hangman returned emboldened and complete with the most powerful strength there is: dad strength. This is a different Adam Page. One that is focused, and, more importantly, one that finally, finally believes in himself and believes he is worthy of top billing. He believes he is worthy of being champion. The confidence is oozing out of him. At no other point in his AEW career could he have pulled off the ten days line. He is fully actualized and fully realized.
Kenny is the only person he can take the title from. Not just based on their unique and intertwined history, but because he’s such a slime puppy. It’s a testament to his character work that someone who people usually are dying to cheer for are completely turned off. There will be no split crowd. There will be no “both these guys” chant. Kenny Omega has created the perfect foil for the returning hero to conquer. He has created the perfect environment to make Page’s ascension to the top as impactful as it can be.
One of the clips making the rounds on the world wide web this week is Bully Ray saying Hangman needs more heat on him before he gets strapped up. Miss me with that garbage. The egregiousness of that take can not be overstated. Should Daniel Bryan’s coronation not have come at WrestleMania because there was a chance it could be 3% bigger? Please, bro. The crowd comes unglued as soon as Hangman’s music hits and the only thing they want more than him winning the title is for Bully Ray’s antiquated takes to go away.
The title of this column gave it away, but here it is. For the annals of Wrestling Observer dot com history: Hangman Adam Page leaves Minneapolis as AEW World champion.
Les Thatcher and Vic Sosa make their predictions for this weekend’s AEW Full Gear and discuss the recent comments made by both Bryan Danielson and Becky Lynch.
Join on-air personality Denise Salcedo on a very special edition of Speak Now Pro Wrestling as she is joined by very special guest, pro wrestling legend and member of the Empire, Lance Storm!
Together, they run down the entire card for AEW Full Gear, share their honest thoughts and opinions, and try and predict some of the outcomes.
AEW Full Gear card:
Pre-show match: Nyla Rose and Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida and Thunder Rosa
PAC and Cody Rhodes vs. Malakai Black and Andrade El Idolo
Christian Cage & Jurassic Express vs. SuperKliq (Adam Cole & The Young Bucks) in a falls count anywhere match
Darby Allin vs. MJF
AEW Tag Team Champions Lucha Brothers vs. FTR title match
The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana & Ortiz) vs. Men of the Year (Ethan Page & Scorpio Sky) and American Top Team (Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski & Dan Lambert) in a street fight
CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston
Bryan Danielson vs. Miro in the finals of the AEW World title eliminator tournament
AEW Women’s Champion Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti title match
AEW World Champion Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page title match
Denise will be returning on Sunday to do an AEW Full Gear post-show which you can watch on YouTube along with this show.
Today on Mat Men, Andrew Zarian and Rich Stambolian are back to discuss all of this week’s biggest pro wrestling news ahead of AEW Full Gear this Saturday.
Last week, WWE released a large amount of talent and some of the reasons for the releases will surprise you. We do a deep dive into this and what it means for the company, plus the ramifications it has on NXT and what we think the next move should be with that brand.
WWE is heading into Survivor Series and we have all the latest match lineups along with the possible break-up of Rey Mysterio and his son, Dominik.
AEW is heading into Full Gear with a packed show. We break down the matches and give you our predictions for this Saturday night. We also break down all the possible scenarios involving the World title.
Eddie Kingston and CM Punk will face off at Full Gear following a confrontation on tonight’s Rampage.
On tonight’s show, Punk came out and asked for an apology after Kingston interrupted Punk’s interview time on last week’s show. Kingston came out and did not apologize, eventually calling out CM Punk and issuing a challenge for Full Gear. Punk initially balked at the idea, but the two ended up getting into a pull-apart brawl. It was then announced that Tony Khan had made the match for November 13.
During the segment, Kingston said that he looked up to people like Samoa Joe, Punk, Homicide, and others when he first started but Punk always looked down on him. Punk said that Kingston could never live up to high standards. Kingston issued the challenge, but Punk rejected Full Gear, saying he was thinking more like AEW Elevation or Dark. Kingston told Punk that once he beat Punk, he could go away for another seven years. That led to a pull-apart brawl that referees eventually had to come in and break up.
The feud started last week after Kingston lost an AEW World Title Eliminator tournament match to Bryan Danielson on Rampage. An upset Kingston ran into CM Punk backstage, who was being interviewed by Tony Schiavone. He exchanged words with Punk then left, with Punk unable to complete his interview.
The finals are set for the AEW World title eliminator tournament at the November 13 Full Gear pay-per-view following tonight’s Dynamite.
Serving as a substitute for Jon Moxley, Miro defeated Orange Cassidy by submission with Game Over to advance to the tournament finals. He will meet Bryan Danielson at Full Gear to determine the top contender to the AEW World Championship.
Danielson served as a guest commentator for the Miro vs. Cassidy match, then got into the ring for a brief staredown with Miro as Dynamite came to a close.
Six matches are now official for Full Gear. Here is the lineup:
AEW Full Gear, Saturday, November 13, 7 p.m. Eastern time on pay-per-view —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hangman Page
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Tay Conti
AEW World title eliminator tournament finals: Bryan Danielson vs. Miro
AEW World Tag Team Championship: The Lucha Brothers (c) vs. FTR
Darby Allin vs. MJF
Minneapolis street fight: Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Jake Hager, Santana & Ortiz vs. Scorpio Sky, Ethan Page, Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski & Dan Lambert
Three matches have been added to the Saturday, November 13 AEW Full Gear pay-per-view lineup.
The AEW World Tag Team Championships will be on the line, as The Lucha Bros (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) defend against FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler). Penta and Fenix agreed to put the titles on the line at Full Gear in a backstage promo on this week’s episode of Dynamite.
The Inner Circle will face American Top Team in a ten-man tag Minneapolis street fight. Sammy Guevara defeated ATT’s Ethan Page on Dynamite to retain the TNT Championship, retain his place in The Inner Circle, plus secure the match against ATT at Full Gear. Following Guevara’s win, Chris Jericho challenged ATT’s Dan Lambert to declare which members of ATT will compete in the match.
After weeks of being called out by MJF, Darby Allin responded on Dynamite. Allin and Sting attacked MJF and his The Pinnacle stablemates Shawn Spears and Wardlow. Allin said that it was time for him to make MJF pay physically at Full Gear.
Here is the Full Gear lineup so far:
AEW Full Gear, Saturday, November 13, Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 7 p.m. Eastern time —
AEW World Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hangman Page
AEW Women’s World Championship: Britt Baker (c) vs. Tay Conti
AEW World Tag Team Championship: Lucha Brothers vs. FTR
AEW World title eliminator tournament finals: Jon Moxley or Orange Cassidy vs. Bryan Danielson or Eddie Kingston
Minneapolis street fight: Inner Circle vs. American Top Team
AEW will reveal the bracket for their upcoming World Title Eliminator tournament next week.
On tonight’s Rampage, AEW confirmed that they will be bringing back the World Title Eliminator tournament. The bracket will be revealed on Wednesday’s show, with the finals taking place at Full Gear, which takes place on November 13 at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The winner of the match will earn an AEW World title match.
The last World Title Eliminator tournament was held around the same time last year. Kenny Omega defeated Hangman Page at last year’s Full Gear event to earn a AEW World title match. That took place at Winter is Coming on December 2, 2020, where he defeated Jon Moxley to win the AEW World Championship, which he has held ever since.
Already announced for next week’s Dynamite, which will be held on October 16 in Miami, Florida, includes Bryan Danielson vs. Bobby Fish, Lucha Bros. vs. a mystery team backed by Andrade el Idolo for the AAA World Tag Team titles, and Malakai Black vs. Dante Martin.
Bryan Danielson said that no one thing led to his choice to join AEW, but ultimately a desire to physically push his limits was a driving force.
“I hate to say this, but… Vince [McMahon] and I have a great relationship. And I love him, I do. Sometimes he’s overprotective of me. And I want to be able to push my limits,” Danielson said at the post-All Out media scrum. Danielson debuted for AEW in the show-closing segment of All Out.
“That’s one of the things that I love about this, is the physicality of what we do and being able to push my limits.”
Danielson stated that a desire to have a portion of his life be “wild” also contributed to his decision.
“I don’t know how many of you are married or have kids. When you’re married and you have kids, your life becomes a little bit tame. I love it, but it’s a little bit tame,” Danielson said.
“I need one part of my life that’s a little bit wild.”
Danielson also revealed that WWE was going to allow him to do things outside of the company, but did not specifically state if that would have entailed wrestling elsewhere. Perhaps to that end, Danielson expressed a desire to do some work in NJPW and also in Mexico.
“WWE was so gracious to me as far as the offer that they gave me. They were going to let me go do some other stuff outside,” said Danielson. “I really battled back and forth, because there’s a lot of people there that I consider family, that actually are my family, and people that I love there. So, it was a really tough decision.”
Danielson said that there was no one tipping point that led to his decision to leave WWE, but pointed to AEW’s Brodie Lee tribute show as one of the first things that got him thinking of making a move to AEW.
In response to a question about the possibility of his wife Brie Bella joining AEW, Danielson downplayed the possibility.
“That would be very difficult. It was hard for me to go, because I have so many ties within WWE. She’s happy there, she has so many business connections there, so I don’t know,” said Danielson.
Bryan also addressed the possibility of not leading his signature “Yes!” chants, as he wants to make certain that doing so would not in any way be a snub to WWE.
I respect the people that I have worked for before and their intellectual property,” Danielson said. “The fans doing it is great, but I’m not sure if I’m going to do it. ”
That’s how Adam Cole described his choice to join AEW as he spoke to the media at the post-All Out scrum. Cole debuted in the closing segment of the All Out pay-per-view.
Cole said that working in WWE had been his dream since he was a child, but that the passion of the AEW crew and fans helped make his choice to leave and join AEW.
“When you think about where I was, that was my dream since I was nine years old,” said Cole. “…But I knew in my heart pretty early on that I wanted to come here [to AEW].”
“It was no knock whatsoever on them [WWE]. I had a very excellent four-year experience. But I wanted to come back and work with a crew who I love being around 24/7, a crew that is just as passionate about pro wrestling as I am, and fans that feel the exact same way that we do.”
According to Cole, he was not anticipating to be a free agent until December.
But circumstances were different than both Cole and his former wrestling home anticipated, as Cole’s contract actually came due in June. Cole revealed the details of his WWE deal and how his new agreement with AEW came together very quickly.
“I was under the impression that it was six months later,” said Cole. It was a surprise to me, it was a surprise to them [WWE]. All of a sudden I went from thinking December was when I was going to start talking about a new contract, to all of a sudden we were talking about in three days.”
Cole confirmed reports that he signed a short-term extension of his WWE deal to finish up his NXT angle with Kyle O’Reilly, who he called “one of my best friends in the entire world.”
Cole also confirmed that he met with Vince McMahon prior to leaving WWE. He described McMahon as “intimidating,” but said that their meeting was positive.
“The talk went great,” said Cole. “We had a really, really good conversation about a lot of different things. The actual conversation itself was awesome. I had no bad experience with him whatsoever.”
“He is an intimidating man. He definitely commands respect in a lot of ways, but the experience itself was totally fine.”
Cole also addressed the future of his Twitch channel. In response to a question about knowing he won’t have to give up his channel as he presumably would have had he stayed with WWE, Cole confirmed that it was important to him.
“It’s incredibly important to me,” said Cole. “Twitch was sort of something I started over the pandemic and wanted to do for a long time, but hadn’t really taken the time to teach myself.”
“Initially, I really did do it just because I really like video games…” “But then what started from the Twitch stream was this community of people that would all come together and literally share that passion over video games,” Cole said.
“I have gotten so many messages from people who are going through a really, really rough time, and the only thing they looked forward to at that time were those streams. I feel a connection with a lot of these people. I know a lot of them by name. Social media can be a really nasty place sometimes, and there is not of that in the Twitch streams.”
“So I adore doing that, I’m so happy that I’m still doing it. I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”
