411 Wrestling Fact or Fiction: AEW Full Gear Preview Edition

Welcome back to the 411mania Wrestling Fact or Fiction. I’m your host Jake Chambers.

This week we’ve got an AEW Full Gear PPV preview edition! And I’ve called up two staples of 411 and people I consider to be connoisseurs of All Elite Wrestling:

Reviewer and ranker of matches extraordinaire, Kevin Pantoja and the man behind your RAW and Dynamite live coverage, Tony Acero.

The both have strong regular resumes of insightful and witty work here at 411mania that you should be (and probably are) checking out every week, but are also working hard on their craft outside of the 411 ring.

Kevin has an exclusive and highly-recommended Patreon account filled weekly with new wrestling and pop culture content, including the always fun Weekly Fav Five at the gold and silver tiers. Sign up now! https://www.patreon.com/the_kevstaaa

Meanwhile, Tony is a literary publishing company mogul! Check out Goldscriptco for an incredible curated collection of poetry and fiction, including some amazing poetry from the man himself: https://www.goldscriptco.com/

On top of all that, they’ve found time to respond to these wacky statements, so let’s get to it!

Statement #1: Hangman Page should win the AEW Championship at Full Gear.

Tony Acero: FACT – Yes. What they do after that matters a whole hell of a lot, but this story has been told for a while, now, and it can only end with Page holding the title in the air as his own. From a writing perspective, they’ve took their time with this and allowed it to grow organically – at times a bit too organically – given the long gaps where it’s not prevalent. On the other side of that same coin, though, the large gaps of absence from Page allowed Omega to venture out against others, build up some wins, and give the aura that Page isn’t all there in terms of confidence. Personally, I wouldn’t call it a MasterClass of wrestling story-telling, but I will say that they are most definitely on the right track. What can get them off that track, however, is derailing it at the end, just before we get to the station. Hangman Page should win this with a ravenous crowd cheering COWBOY SHIT behind him and somewhere in the corner, The Dark Order standing proud with tears coming down their masked and painted faces. 

Kevin Pantoja: FACT – This is a no brainer. If you’re saying Kenny Omega should retain, you’re likely just being a massive Kenny fan. A lot of the build-up of AEW so far has revolved around Hangman Page. He lost in the first title match and was Kenny’s partner for a great tag run. Then, Kenny beat him at this very PPV last year to earn a title shot and become champion. It’s all building up for Hangman, who is wildly over, to finally win a big match. Prolonging that would be monumentally stupid. It’s like when New Japan built to Tetsuya Naito winning four years after not getting the main event at Wrestle Kingdom and then still made him wait two more years. It’s a bad look at all. Pull the trigger on Hangman, especially since Kenny’s last few months as champion have been pretty bland. His more interesting story is what he does after losing the title.

Statement #2: If you could, you would bring back ONE of the WWE sports entertainers released by the company last week.

Tony Acero: FACT – The first answer that comes to mind is Keith Lee. I know there’s more than that I’d like to have back, and I also understand that maybe, just maybe “none of these guys were ever going to be in the main event.” But man is that line such a bunch of horseshit. Do you know how easy it is, if you’re a good writer, to bring someone to the forefront of the card without it feeling like it’s forced? Literally, all you have to do is have a plan and execute it. It’s tiresome hearing that there are some wrestlers they cannot convincingly make into a main event player. Now, I understand that some people don’t have “It” and, as a consumer, you can really tell when that unexplainable is missing. So tell me, consumer of said product, was it missing in Lee? Personally, I think not. I don’t care if people thought he was “fat” or shouldn’t be wearing a skirt-like gear. I don’t care that his music wasn’t to our liking. The dude had IT. They know he had it, because they put money into a documentary, a packaging, a re-packaging, main event wins, an Orton win. They know what they had. Now of course, I haven’t the slightest of the backstage stuff, but if I am keeping that at bay, and answering who I would want back on the show, it would – without a doubt – be Keith F’n Lee. 

Kevin Pantoja: FACT – This is a tough statement. On one hand, you’d want to bring back someone because a lot of talented people were let go. On the other hand, many would be better off in other companies so you want to keep them away. Ultimately, I went with FACT because of the wording. The idea is to bring back ONE person and I could see that working. I don’t need to see Nia Jax, Karrion Kross, Scarlett, or Eva Marie. Keith Lee, The Lucha House Party, Franky Monet, and Ember Moon could do wonders elsewhere. The interesting outlier is Mia Yim. She’s in the same boat as Ember in some ways but Ember had a main roster run that didn’t click. Mia wasn’t really given a clear shot and I think that’s a shame because I’d bring her back to help bolster one of the women’s rosters. I might not trust WWE to totally book her right but I’d like to see it be given a chance.

Statement #3: You would love to see Will Ospreay walk through that “forbidden door” and come to AEW.

Tony Acero: FACT – Sure, why not? Dude can still go, and it’d be nice to see him match up with some heavy hitters. Not much to say about this one other than that. The dude has gotten much more full of himself over the past few years, but it’s hard to say whether or not that’s simply him going full force into his character. Either way, the matchups, even if they might not be fresh, will be good. I guess naysayers may argue that the more they go out into the indy world and the less they focus on their home-grown talent, the more they’ll likely fail. The thing is, I find that the AEW has a solid balance of both of these avenues. Moreoever, I also think that they use the outside influence to their advantage to simply give the fans good wrestling. The good wreslting translates to good wrestlers, so really, unless it’s an obvious squash (which they hardly do), the AEW talent will gain from any type of crossover. 

Kevin Pantoja: FICTION – Anyone who has read my stuff before knows that I’m not a Will Ospreay fan. Not even discussing any of the out of the ring stuff regarding him, I just don’t get the hype. To me, his work is highly overrated and I have zero interest in seeing him compete in AEW. The forbidden door should be used for more interesting prospects like CM Punk vs. KENTA, a Bryan Danielson G1 Climax run, or ANYTHING of interest for the women, who more than deserve it. There’s not a single match with Ospreay in AEW that interests me and even ones that might are overshadowed by better sounding ones involving others. He’s not special and most companies would be best served to avoid him.

¡SWITCH!

Statement #4: The Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti Women’s World Title match will steal the show at Full Gear.

Kevin Pantoja: FACT – I don’t see why not. I totally get that Hangman/Kenny is the main event and stuff like Danielson/Miro will rule. For me, stealing the show doesn’t mean you technically have the best match. It could just be a great match that has people talking most about it and I think this could pull that off. Britt Baker is established and really good but this could be Tay Conti’s breakout performance. She has only gotten better with each match and constantly does new offensive moves. She’s getting the chance on a big stage and I think she delivers in a big way, even if she doesn’t win the title. On the subject of the title, I think Thunder Rosa/Britt Baker for the title should main event Revolution in February.

Tony Acero: FICTION – With a card as stacked as Full Gear, there’s no way the Women’s World Title Match will steal the show. This is not to say that it won’t be good. It’s going to be great, but Tay is still very green and if we are comparing matches, this is on the lower end of the quality pool. If there is any consolation to this complaint, it’s that no matter what match we are talking about, we’re going to get the energy that is brought to the table every AEW PPV. While I can call Tay green and mean it, there’s something to be said about the effort she has put into her growth, and although they’re not on the same level, you could compare it to Britt’s rise to prominence. They are focused, hell-bent even, to be better performers, and you can see and feel that on every episode. This match will, hopefully, be a break out moment for Tay, and although it seems like a challenger of the month, there’s nothing wrong with helping create a star, even in loss. 

Statement #5: After Full Gear, both CM Punk and Bryan Danielson will remain undefeated in AEW singles matches.

Kevin Pantoja: FICTION – I totally get the desire to see these guys remain unbeaten but I think the money move is to go a different route. I believe CM Punk remains undefeated and he beats Eddie Kingston in an intense match. Bryan Danielson is someone I think loses at Full Gear or at least he’s someone I think should lose. He doesn’t need the record and I suspect Hangman wins the World Title (he 100% should). Hangman’s first program as champion shouldn’t be against a popular babyface. Let Miro hand Danielson his first loss and then come up just short against Hangman. Danielson will rebound well and can move into the rematch with Kenny Omega, maybe at the PPV.

Tony Acero: FICTION – Ask me this two weeks ago, and I’d say for sure, Punk is going over Kingston, and for sure, Bryan is going over whoever they put in front of him. With Kingston doing what Kingston does – turn his normal self up to 11, and Miro constantly cutting every promo on God, they really make you question the future. While I think Bryan is going over Miro for sure, the doubt they’ve planted is sufficient enough to clamor at the bits for the match between the two that wasn’t even a thought a couple of weeks ago. It’s the Kingston/Punk feud, however, that has left me saying “wow” over and over, and the back and forth they had on Friday made me believe that even if they had Punk as the sure-fire winner, maybe – just maybe – the better story is Kingston winning. Will it happen? I’m unsure, but they damn sure made me believe it could. Kingston telling Punk that no one wants him there, but everyone is afraid to say it holds some water, and even if he’s a well-respected wrestler of the past, there will forever be that reality that he’s just not on the same level. The irony, of course, being that Kingston’s been in the biz for a long ass time as well. You couple that with a heelish headbutt from Punk, and you create an air of uncertainty that I’m all for.

Thanks again to the awesome Kevin Pantoja, get over to Twitter and follow his antics ASAP: https://twitter.com/the_kevstaaa

And, of course, the always wonderful Tony Acero get over to Instagram and follow his literary journey tout suite: https://www.instagram.com/goldscriptco/?hl=en

We’ll see you next week for a Survivor Series PPV preview edition!