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411’s AEW Full Gear 2020 Preview

November 7, 2020 | Posted by Jeremy Thomas
AEW Full Gear

Hello 411 guys, gals, enbies, and everyone else! Welcome to 411’s AEW Full Gear 2020 preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas as always, and it’s time to take a look at AEW’s latest PPV that takes place on Saturday. It’s a very full card with no less than nine matches set to take place on the show. All the titles are on the line, while we get another Deletion match and MJF tries to join the Inner Circle by beating Chris Jericho. And that’s just some of the matches on this busy show. There’s plenty of opportunity for a great PPV, but can they pull it off? We’ll find out soon enough, but for now let’s get into the matches!

NWA Women’s World Championship Match
Serena Deeb vs. Allysin Kay

A late addition to the card, this match was added to the Buy-In when Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver was promoted to the main card. We were actually supposed to see it on an episode of UWN Primetime Live back in late September but Deeb had to self-quarantine and the match was changed. I’m looking forward to seeing these two compete because I think they can deliver. Deeb was a smart pick-up by AEW and Kay is a talented performer, so given a bit of time they can have a good match for the pre-show. Right now, Deeb is still very new as the champion and Kay has apparently exited the NWA (assuming that’s not a work), so the stars seem to be aligned for the champion to retain.

WINNER: Serena Deeb (STILL NWA Women’s World Champion)

Orange Cassidy vs. John Silver

I won’t lie; John Silver’s rise to become a popular member of the Dark Order is certainly not something I saw coming. It’s been nice to see though. Silver has done a nice job proving his ability to develop a character on Being the Elite, and it’s nice to see him get a match on Full Gear to give him a spotlight moment. That being said, this is Orange Cassidy’s to lose. Cassidy has been booked largely like a star in AEW this year and I don’t see a rational reason for him not to go over on Silver in this match. I’m always down for an Orange Cassidy match, even as I understand he’s not everyone’s cup of tea even after he got his chance to shine in the feud with Chris Jericho. I don’t expect this to be a hugely long match with as many bouts as we have on the card, but it should be fun for the time it gets.

WINNER: Orange Cassidy

AEW Women’s Championship Match
Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose

While AEW has a lot of strengths going for it, I think most would agree that the women’s division has not been among their best successes. That’s not on the performers, who are all delivering as best they can. It’s simply that something isn’t clicking and there has not been a ton of heat around the title. The build for this match has been more or less non-existent and that’s unfortunate because there is a bit of history between these two and I feel like more could have been done to get some heat on this match. Without much hype around this, AEW could go either way; they could switch the title to get a new spark for a storyline or they could keep the status quo while they build more challengers. Honestly, I lean toward the latter. I like Rose but putting the title back on her doesn’t seem to be the way to go right now and Shida can work good matches against more potential challengers. They could surprise me, but for now I suspect a retention.

WINNER: Hikaru Shida (STILL AEW Women’s Champion)

MJF Can Join Inner Circle If He Wins
MJF vs. Chris Jericho

MJF’s match with Chris Jericho is one of the most intriguing matches on the Full Gear card. There are a lot of matches I expect to be good, but this one is the one I am perhaps most invested in because of the storyline. Listen, say what you will about Le Dinner Debonair, but these two have been having a blast playing off of each other and not only does it show, it’s meant that the storyline has been a lot of fun to follow. I’m expecting a pretty decent match here, but I’m torn about the results. On one hand, there’s a lot of potential for MJF if he doesn’t join the Inner Circle and keeps on doing his own thing. On the other hand, I think he’d be a great fit and it would allow him some time to really continue to be built up as truly a top guy in the company. Right now, I feel like there’s too much potential in the storyline continuing with MJF part of the group; he can take over the Circle and turn on Jericho, or he could stay with them for a long time and help them become unstoppable. While there may be some surprise here that I’m not anticipating, the smart money seems to be on MJF winning and joining.

WINNER: MJF

Elite Deletion Match
Matt Hardy vs. Sammy Guevara

And here we move from a match I’m very excited about to one I’m just sort of tepid about. That’s nothing against Matt Hardy or Sammy Guevara, either. They’re both great, and I’m always down for some Deletion madness. But my anticipation for this feud did evaporate after Hardy’s injury at All Out. I’m glad that Matt was okay after that rather terrifying moment, but the way that things went after made me lose all interest and despite their efforts, I haven’t found myself getting back into it. It’ll be fine, there will be some wacky fun along the lines of the other Deletion matches and that’ll be great. But Matt has to win here in order to put this feud to bed so they can both move on to better things.

WINNER: Matt Hardy

Last Chance AEW Tag Team Championship Match
FTR vs. The Young Bucks

Speaking of disappointing feuds…AEW, for all the credit I’m willing to give you as a company, how did you falter on this rivalry? The Young Bucks vs. FTR was a tailor-made feud and I’m befuddled at how the company has failed to capitalize on it so far. The pseudo-double heel feud has had no heat to it and the company’s quick course correction was necessary but didn’t make up for things as much as it could have. So instead we have this feud with a Cody-like stipulation against Matt and Nick. It’s kind of a smart move, because we remember what happened to Cody and it’s easy to imagine, as much as the Bucks were all about losing early on, that they would be happy to lose this match as well. And they may well be, but I think they can revitalize the feud with a title switch that might be a bit more unexpected than it otherwise would have been. This is another one where I can really see it going both ways, but I’m going out on a limb to say we have new champions.

WINNER: The Young Bucks (NEW AEW Tag Team Champions)

AEW TNT Championship Match
Cody vs. Darby Allin

Cody has had a surprisingly long off-and-on feud with Darby Allin that has lasted for over a year, starting with their time limit draw at Fyter Fest in June of 2019. They’ve teamed a couple of times, they’ve faced off a couple of times, but Allin has never been able to get the win over Cody. Meanwhile, Cody is relatively new into his second TNT Championship reign after regaining it from Brody Lee last month. One might think that the company wouldn’t want Cody to drop the title so soon, but by the same token Allin has to get a win over Cody at some point. Now seems like the time to do it. I’ve enjoyed their matches against each other fairly well, and I have hopes for this match to be a solid affair. Allin really does feel like someone that AEW wants to push to the next level, and Cody has a real chance to elevate Allin. I’m hoping he takes it.

WINNER: Darby Allin (NEW AEW TNT Champion)

AEW World Title Eliminator Tournament Finals
Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page

This one kind of seems like a no-brainer to me. The Kenny Omega and Hangman Page storyline has been building pretty decently, and Omega’s new character direction has been something I’ve been enjoying. The storyline that’s been building between them for months is now finally set to explode and it would be a real waste to have a good heel turn get tripped up with a loss, even to Hangman who I very much enjoy. Moreover, you have to look at who the better guy to next challenge for the AEW World Championship is, and at risk of spoiling my pick for that match I think that’s pretty clearly Omega. Kenny gets the win here in what could very easily be the match of the night, as Omega gets established as one of the top heels in the company and perhaps feuds with Page a little longer before moving into a World Championship feud.

WINNER: Kenny Omega

AEW World Championship I Quit Match
Jon Moxley vs. Eddie Kingston

Speaking of the World Championship…I’ve been very happy to see Eddie Kingston have great success in AEW. I’m a fan of his and I think they found just the right spot to plug him into. His feud with Moxley has been great and putting them in an I Quit match makes for a lot of crazy potential for this match. I’m absolutely looking forward to this, but I also think the outcome isn’t in doubt — which, frankly, makes it all the more impressive that it has the heat that it does. I expect these guys to deliver in (and out) of the ring on the match work, but Moxley is absolutely walking out of this with the title. Kingston’s day may well come where he takes the World Title; he’s certainly proven that he could be a worthy champion. But it won’t be this day.

WINNER: Jon Moxley (STILL AEW World Champion)

And that’s all we have for Full Gear! It’s a very stacked card in terms of the number of matches, and that’s honestly a touch concerning to me. We’ll have to see how they budget out and pace the show, because that could be make or break regarding whether this goes down as a great PPV or a massive disappointment.

Anyway, thanks once again for reading, and remember that we will have live coverage of Full Gear courtesy of our favorite Dynamite reviewer Tony Acero, right here on 411mania.com. I have to go now, they’re playing my song…

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AEW Full Gear, Jeremy Thomas