On November 9, 2019, the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held a pay-per-view (PPV) event entitled Full Gear.[4] During All Out on September 5, 2020, the promotion announced that Full Gear would return on Saturday, November 7 that year, thus establishing Full Gear as an annual pay-per-view for AEW. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held at the promotion's home venue of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida.[5][6] On November 6, the day before Full Gear, TNT aired a one-hour television special previewing the event called Countdown to Full Gear, which averaged 245,000 viewers.[7][8][9]
On the September 23 episode of Dynamite, Jon Moxley retained the AEW World Championship over Eddie Kingston by making him pass out to a chokehold.[11] On the October 14 episode, Kingston attacked Moxley after the latter's match with Lance Archer, proclaiming that he had never tapped out.[12] The following week, Moxley was scheduled to defend the title against Kingston in an "I quit" match at Full Gear.[13]
After Cody wrestled Orange Cassidy to a time limit draw and retained the TNT Championship on the October 14 episode of Dynamite, it was announced that Darby Allin would challenge for the title at Full Gear.[12] Before Full Gear, Cody had a title rematch with Cassidy in a lumberjack match on the October 28 Dynamite, which Cody won, keeping him as the defending champion against Allin.[16]
After Matt Hardy defeated Sammy Guevara in a Broken Rules match at All Out, Hardy took time off until he was cleared to return, due to an injury sustained during the match.[6] He reunited with Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) as their manager, but was attacked backstage before their match on the September 16 episode of Dynamite.[17] The attacker was later revealed as Guevara and "The Elite Deletion" match was announced, which took place at The Hardy Compound in Cameron, North Carolina as a cinematic match.[18][19]
MJF, who originally wanted to join Chris Jericho's stable The Inner Circle on November 13, 2019,[22] looked to join a stable after unsuccessfully challenging for Jon Moxley's AEW World Championship at All Out.[23] MJF invited Jericho to "Le Dinner Debonair", a steak dinner where they performed "Me and My Shadow", during which Jericho announced that The Inner Circle would hold a Town Hall meeting to decide whether MJF should join the group.[24] After several questions from Eric Bischoff and others, Jericho brought up that MJF has never beaten him and would give him a match at Full Gear, allowing MJF to join the group if he wins.[25]
On The Buy-In pre-show, a match was contested between Allysin Kay and the NWA World Women's ChampionSerena Deeb for the NWA World Women's Championship. Deeb retained the title after submitting Kay with the "Serenity Lock".[26] After the match, Deeb was confronted by the former women's champion Thunder Rosa.[26]
Preliminary matches
The actual pay-per-view opened with the AEW World Championship Eliminator Tournament final match between "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega, with the winner receiving a future match for the AEW World Championship. Omega performed "One Winged Angel" on Page to win the match.[27]
Next, John Silver faced Orange Cassidy. In the end, Cassidy performed "Beach Break" on Silver to win the match.[27]
After that, Cody (accompanied by Arn Anderson) defended the AEW TNT Championship against Darby Allin. In the end, as both wrestlers tried to roll-up each other to a cover, Allin pinned Cody with a roll-up to win the title.[27]
In the fourth match, Hikaru Shida defended the AEW Women's World Championship against Nyla Rose (accompanied by Vickie Guerrero). Shida retained the title when she pinned Rose after multiple knee strikes.[27]
Next, FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) defended the AEW World Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). If The Young Bucks lost, they would never be able to challenge for the title again. FTR's manager Tully Blanchard was banned from ringside. Matt came into the match with an injured leg, which FTR targeted. Harwood injured his hand by accidentally punching a ring-post, so the Bucks targeted his hand. The teams used various moves that were signatures of the Hart Foundation, the Steiner Brothers, the Hardy Boyz, the Dudleys, and DIY. In the end, Wheeler performed a superkick on Matt, but instead of attempting to pin Matt, Wheeler performed a springboard 450 splash, which missed as Matt dodged. Matt then superkicked Wheeler and pinned him to win the match and the championship.[27][28][29]
After that, Matt Hardy faced Sammy Guevara in The Elite Deletion match, which took place in Hardy's Compound. During the match, Gangrel and Hurricane Helms made a surprise appearance, with Gangrel helping Guevara and Helms helping Hardy. In the end, Hardy pinned Guevara after a chair shot to the head to win the match.[27]
In the penultimate match, Chris Jericho faced MJF (accompanied by Wardlow). If MJF won, he would be allowed to join The Inner Circle. In the end, MJF rolled up Jericho to win the match, and joined The Inner Circle afterwards.[27] By extension, Wardlow joined The Inner Ciricle as well.[30]
Main event
In the main event, Jon Moxley defended the AEW World Championship against Eddie Kingston in an "I quit" match. In the end, Moxley choked Kingston with barbed wire, which made Kingston say "I quit". Thus, Moxley retained the title.[27]
Reception
Despite the previous pay-per-view, Full Gear was met with critical acclaim. Full Gear had a socially-distanced attendance of just over 1,000 people and a $60,000 gate, believed to be the second biggest wrestling crowd since the COVID-19 pandemic began and biggest gate, with approximately 100,000 pay-per-view buys.[2] The event was universally acclaimed by critics and fans, with many calling it the best PPV of 2020, and many praising The Young Bucks–FTR match, which Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave 5.25 stars, the fifth AEW match to be rated 5 stars or more by Meltzer, and the third AEW match to break his 5 star rating system.[2] His ratings for the other matches include: 2.5 for Deeb–Kay, 4.5 for Omega–Page, 3.5 for Cassidy–Silver, 4.25 for Allin–Rhodes, 3.25 for Shida–Rose, 3.5 for MJF–Jericho, and 4.25 for Moxley–Kingston. There was no rating for Hardy–Guevara because it was a cinematic match.[2]
Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated said the event "surpassed expectations", Omega–Page was "outrageously good", Allin–Rhodes was the "biggest moment of Allin’s career", The Young Bucks–FTR "had a match of the night performance", and Moxley–Kingston was "not for the weak-hearted".[28] Chris Bengel of CBSSports.com said the event "didn't disappoint", the storytelling for MJF–Jericho was "phenomenal", The Young Bucks–FTR was "arguably one of the best matches in quite some time", and Moxley–Kingston was "entertaining".[31] Joseph Staszewski of New York Post said AEW "hit a ton of high notes" at the event, Hardy–Guevara "had its fun moments", The Young Bucks–FTR "delivered a love letter to tag team wrestling in their long-awaited dream match that lived up to all the hype", and Moxley–Kingston was "brutal and at times uncomfortable".[32]
Jason Powell stated that Full Gear "looked like a great show on paper and it mostly lived up to [his] expectations", except for the Hardy–Guevara match. Powell described Bucks–FTR as "a hell of a match", praising the story that "FTR going against their 'no flips, just fists' motto blew up in their faces", and questioned why this match was not the main event.[27]
^The Elite Deletion Match between Matt Hardy and Sammy Guevara was taped a week prior to the event at Hardy's home, The Hardy Compound, located in Cameron, North Carolina.
^Rey Fenix initially defeated Penta via pinfall, but injured his neck during the match. As a result of the injury, Fenix was unable to compete and forfeited his victory to Penta, who advanced in his place.
^Sonny Kiss replaced Joey Janela, who was withdrawn from the tournament due to exposure to COVID-19.
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