Ospreay and Fletcher Steal PPV and Greatest Takeaways from AEW Full Gear 2024 Outcomes

Saturday night time, AEW descended upon Newark, New Jersey for this yr’s Full Gear pay-per-view.

With no Younger Bucks, Kenny Omega or Kazuchika Okada on the cardboard, this was one of many first main occasions with out The Elite’s presence in fairly a while.

Jon Moxley’s Demise Riders have been working roughshod over the whole AEW roster in current weeks, and that led to Orange Cassidy lastly stepping as much as problem him for the World Heavyweight Championship in protection of AEW.

The PPV additionally included bouts for the tag, TNT, TBS and worldwide titles along with a handful of non-title matches.

Let’s check out a number of the greatest takeaways from the sixth annual Full Gear PPV.

Here’s a full rundown of the outcomes from Full Gear 2024:

Jay and Purrazzo opened up the Zero Hour pre-show with a singles match that had a couple of hiccups alongside the way in which.

Inside the first 30 seconds, Purrazzo seemingly took a again bump for no motive, forcing Jay to assume on her ft to maintain the match transferring.

Towards the tip, the referee watched Taya Valkyrie intervene with a spear at ringside, which might often trigger a disqualification in any match.

Nonetheless, you possibly can inform the ref was not purported to see it, so as a substitute of calling off the match, he ejected Valkyrie from ringside, permitting Jay to attain the meant win a couple of moments later with a roll-up.

Whereas nearly all of the match was high quality, these two moments caught out and harm its total high quality. Purrazzo is a lauded performer and Jay has improved rather a lot in 2024, however generally having an opportunity to rehearse a match forward of time will assist iron out these errors.

All that being stated, seeing Jay get a win over somebody on Purrazzo’s stage is an effective indication that AEW is invested in her and can proceed to push her heading into the brand new yr.

The Zero Hour pre-show featured an unconventional match when the Costco man “Large Increase” AJ took on QT Marshall.

AJ’s son, Large Justice, was additionally in attendance, as was one other social media star, The Rizzler. If you realize who they’re, you most likely bought a kick out of this. If you do not know these folks, you most likely rolled your eyes the entire time.

AEW has by no means shied away from that includes folks from outdoors of professional wrestling with musicians like Snoop Dogg and Motion Bronson and actors like Paul Walter Hauser making appearances, however the distinction between them and Large Increase is that he was really a professional wrestler within the New Jersey indie scene a number of years in the past.

Not solely was AJ skilled, however he and QT Marshall have a longtime historical past that AEW has used to construct this matchup in current weeks.

The reactions to this match fell into two classes. On one facet, you had followers who thought this was dumb and took a spot away from the AEW roster. On the opposite facet, you had AEW followers who discovered all of this entertaining.

We dwell in an period when a younger girl can turn out to be well-known for saying “Hawk tuah” and other people get hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok for posting movies about making an attempt completely different Costco snacks, so we have to settle for that these things will not be going away anytime quickly.

Primarily based on the gang’s response, the AEW fanbase was having fun with this comedy match, however if you happen to go on social media, you will notice some folks appearing like that is the tip of the wrestling enterprise as we all know it.

If David Arquette successful a world title did not kill professional wrestling, a man who tries meals courtroom objects along with his son definitely is not going to take it down both.

Caster and Bowens had an opportunity to win gold once they fought in a Deadly 4-Manner tag title bout on Saturday, however the identical communication points they’d been having for weeks plagued the match.

The primary misstep was Caster taking an excessive amount of time to pose for the gang and lacking a tag from Bowens when he wanted an help.

The second misstep occurred when Caster tagged himself in when Bowens was already the authorized man. This led to a bizarre second when Bowens tried to pin Caster, which made for a humorous spot however did not really make sense.

The third misstep occurred when Caster tagged himself in proper earlier than Bowens was about to get the pin and win the match. At this level, the gang had turned on Caster and commenced chanting profanities at him.

The fourth and closing nail within the coffin was when Caster was pinned by Personal Celebration. Billy Gunn appeared heartbroken to see his discovered household falling aside on the seams.

Not solely have they been having points throughout matches, however Caster has clearly gotten underneath Bowens’ pores and skin throughout backstage promos, particularly every time MVP is round.

This is likely one of the first tag groups that fashioned in AEW. Bowens and Caster have been each employed as singles stars and paired collectively by Tony Khan, however after 5 years and runs as each trios and tag champs, it feels just like the staff has run its course.

They did not break up on the PPV, however all the work was achieved to set it up. There’s a good probability that the subsequent time we see The Acclaimed is the final.

Statlander has had two lengthy hiatuses as a consequence of accidents up to now, however ever since she returned from her second leg harm at Double or Nothing 2023, she has been on fireplace.

Each time AEW places Stat in an enormous match scenario, she completely nails it. Her alliance and feud with Willow Nightingale confirmed lots of people what she’s able to, however her match in opposition to Moné at Full Gear could also be her greatest efficiency to this point.

Moné is well-regarded as an in-ring competitor, however she all the time appears to carry a bit of additional one thing to matches when she is overpowered and outmatched by her opponent.

Statlander is one among, if not the strongest, girls in AEW, so she compelled the TBS champion to dig deep and use each ounce of her power to face an opportunity.

After a valiant effort, Statlander, sadly, misplaced to Moné, however she added one more nice efficiency to her resumé and made a case for why she ought to be within the working for extra title alternatives sooner or later.

Coming into Full Gear, one of the crucial anticipated matches was Ospreay vs. Fletcher, and it turned that with out even needing a title to make it really feel particular.

This was a grudge match between former allies, so it wasn’t about wins and losses. Each males got here into this trying to harm the opposite individual.

For Fletcher, this match was about breaking out of Ospreay’s shadow. Their time in United Empire might need gotten the 25-year-old the place he’s, however he needs to show he’s able to extra.

For Ospreay, this bout was all about getting retribution for Fletcher’s betrayal. He appeared to care extra about dropping his good friend than dropping the worldwide title, so Billy Goat appeared emotional throughout his entrance.

What unfolded was the most effective bell-to-bell performances on the whole PPV. Neither man held something again and used their years of friendship to construct the sort of chemistry that solely comes from understanding another person virtually in addition to you realize your self.

With matches this good, the end result virtually would not matter as a result of each guys deserved the win within the eyes of the gang.

Fletcher ended up defeating his former mentor in arguably his greatest AEW efficiency to this point. In case you see just one match from this PPV, make it this one.

To be able to be a champion in a significant promotion, a wrestler must have in-ring abilities, charisma and the help of the gang. Garcia has proved on a number of events that he has all three.

A part of what makes Purple Demise so relatable is that he’s principally only a regular dude. He is not a 6’6″ powerhouse or an acrobat on mortgage from Cirque du Soleil. He is in good condition, however he would not have a physique chiseled from granite. He seems to be like he may very well be your coworker or neighbor.

The factor that makes him particular is his unbelievable technical capacity. He can placed on match with nearly anyone, and that is the sort of expertise that’s invaluable to a promoter.

He and Perry constructed up a private feud for the TNT title that culminated in a extremely bodily match. They blended story and brutality in a manner that made the result arduous to foretell, which is all the time a plus within the typically predictable world of professional wrestling.

After each males got here near successful a number of occasions, Garcia made the previous Jungle Boy faucet out to turn out to be the brand new TNT champion. The group erupted when he locked in his model of the Sharpshooter and pulled Perry to the center of the ring to make sure he could not attain the ropes.

We noticed some nice stuff on Saturday, however this second goes to be one of the crucial mentioned main into Wednesday’s Dynamite.

When AEW first launched and the worldwide viewers was launched to Orange Cassidy, lots of people did not know what to make of him.

Right here was a man who put his palms in his pockets, delivered the weakest kicks you will have ever seen on function, and virtually by no means spoke greater than two phrases.

For a couple of years, the lazy and uninvested character labored, however all of us knew he would wish to evolve if he ever needed to be seen as greater than a midcard comedy act, and 2024 noticed him do precisely that.

He should still have the identical lazy thumbs up pose and taunt his opponents by placing his palms in his pockets, however no one can deny how expert he’s as a wrestler after seeing him carry out in big-match conditions.

His run because the worldwide champion opened numerous eyes, however his feud with Moxley and The Demise Riders is what has turned him into an actual essential occasion participant in AEW.

He has been overwhelmed, battered and bloodied, however OC’s resiliency is what has received so many individuals over. He is David going through each Goliath he can discover, and that’s a part of what makes him so interesting to youthful followers.

It took outdoors interference from Wheeler Yuta to provide Moxley the win, so in a small manner, Cassidy was protected on this loss.

All in all, Full Gear was one other entertaining AEW PPV, but it surely definitely had highs and lows. What was your favourite a part of Saturday’s present?