AEW Full Gear Match Ratings From Sean Ross Sapp

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Britt Baker defeated Bea Priestley
5.25/10

• I love the even ramp with the ring.
• Britt Baker is battling the flu, as Cody pointed out earlier.
• They’re about a half-step off early and have to wait on each other to do certain moves.
• I love the transitions into the Lockjaw, and the elbow up against the ropes for Bea.
• If there’s never a DQ, why are wrestlers concerned that they’ll be DQ’d? Why do they let go during rope breaks?
• Baker has a smoother Slingblade than most. She also hits her swinging fisherman’s neckbreaker.
• I love a good capture suplex and Priestley does a good one.
• There’s a rough superplex and RKO that hit for Baker.
• Baker does a Panama Sunrise, but it’s only a 2. I still hate seeing that move kicked out of.
• Priestly pulls hair to get out of the lockjaw, but Britt eventually applies it.
• A good match where some of the offense didn’t click quite sometimes. This was a good blow-off though.
• Awesome Kong and Brandi Rhodes come out and KONG HAS A FUCKING KNIFE.
• Kong does an Implant Buster to Bea. Kong then cuts off a lock of Bea’s hair.

Proud & Powerful defeated The Young Bucks
8/10

• Oh my god the ref enforced a rule. It was the best of times.
• Rock N’ Roll Express are in the crowd and Ortiz gets tossed into the audience.
• Hahahhaha now Rick Knox enforcing rules too much. Amazing. He wouldn’t allow a tag to the foot.
• Hahaha the first few minutes of this match are to get over the fact that Rick Knox knows the rules of pro wrestling.
• A double team submission is applied, and Knox calls for a break.
• Matt Jackson jumps outside onto Ortiz.
• Matt later gets sent right into the RNR Express. Nick is inside the ring getting his leg worked over big time.
• The pace in this match has been great, the offense has been great, the Rock n Roll Express cheerleading the crowd is great.
• Great double team offense from both teams, but nothing that I feel like shouldn’t have been kicked out of. The PnP double flapjack was great.
• An amazing mid-air double superkick stops Santana.
• Santana chews the gum Nick spits at him. Lol.
• Street Sweeper gets the win.
• This was an outstanding match.
• Nick’s knee gives out. I say this often: Nick Jackson’s kicks are amazing.
• Sammy Guevara comes out next. Rock N Roll Express helps Young Bucks.
• Ricky Morton does a slingshot Canadian Destroyer and a GREAT suicide dive. Wow. I think the Destroyer would have had more impact if it wasn’t used as a kickout spot in the match right before.

Hangman Adam Page defeated Pac
6.5/10

• The story of this match is how well they have one another scouted early on.
• Page makes great use of the Blockbuster Suplex and a great moonsault to the outside.
• Pac can’t hit the Black Arrow, but does counter the Buckshot Lariat with a big superkick.
• Pac counters the Dead Eye with a Brutalizer. This is a magnificent counter.
• Pac misses a Black Arrow again, and misses a low blow.
• He pays the price and the Dead Eye wins it for Page.

Shawn Spears (w/ Tully Blanchard) defeated Joey Janela
6/10

• Do we need to know what happened in college football while they’re promoting on-sale tickets for their TV shows? Jim Ross buries at least one thing per match, but doesn’t mind to sure up his issues — one of which is that he buries stuff all the time.
• A good part of this feud was built on AEW Dark, which I like.
• Janela almost runs into Earl Hebner, because Hebner had no clue what was going on.
• Spears catches Janela off the apron with a belly-to-belly suplex.
• Was just wondering a couple of weeks ago why nobody uses the tag rope as a weapon.
• The crowd isn’t here for the middle of the match. This is an odd thing to see. AEW crowds are almost never quiet.
• Janela tries to wake them up with a somersault senton to the outside.
• Lots of distraction from Tully, and they hit a spiked piledriver on the floor on Janela. C4 gets the win.
• A lot of protecting finishing moves tonight and I like that.
• Spears doesn’t have any real heat now.

Backstage Crappenings

• Kip Sabian says he was going to try to play it down the middle, but he’s been finding there are alliances everywhere. He reveals that Penelope Ford is with him. She takes a shot at Joey Janela and says “why be bad, when you can be super bad?”

AEW World Tag Team Titles
SCU (c) defeated Private Party and Lucha Bros.
6.75/10

• Lucha Bros. roll through double team offense didn’t make any sense to me. Like, just slam the dude’s face into a boot. Private Party’s worked a lot better to me.
• These guys seem like they’re all turned down a notch until Scorpio Sky comes out.
• Slingshot cutter into a dragon sleeper for Sky.
• Looked like Kazarian got cracked hard on that Fosbury Flop, but he’s already up
• Jim Ross is legitimately amazed at some of these dives. His reaction to Fenix’s was great. This has been one of his best calls in a while.
• The assisted outside-in DDT was outstanding by SCU.
• Goes without saying, but Quen’s Shooting Star is AMAZING.
• SCUL8R gets the win on Private Party.
• Lucha Bros. attack, but the lights go out. and there’s another Pentagon. He attacks. It’s Christopher Daniels. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Made Pentagon look like a huge dumbass. AEW also does the “lights on/off” gimmick too often.

AEW Women’s Championship
Riho (c) defeated Emi Sakura
6/10

• This has been a teacher vs. student angle that hasn’t been told well enough. They’ve faced each other dozens of times.
• Riho does a double stomp on the apron to Sakura.
• Jim Ross does not know Emi Sakura’s name. He sure has memorized Riho’s weight though.
• Sakura stomps the SHIT out of Riho’s arm.
• Sakura bridges up and kicks out. Not a ton of heat here.
• I loved the Tiger Driver into the stomp.
• Riho rolls through and gets some stomps and kicks before scoring a pin.
• I love giving a pinfall like that in a championship match some shine.

AEW World Championship
If Cody Doesn’t Win, He Can’t Challenge For The Title Again
Chris Jericho (c) (w/ Jake Hager) defeated Cody (w/ MJF) to retain the title via corner stoppage
7/10

• Great Muta, Arn Anderson and Dean Malenko are the judges.
• This certainly seems like it’s paced for a long time.
• Cody ends up with a cut pretty early on.
• Cody’s mom just screamed “fuck you!” and slapped Chris Jericho.
• We see an Alabamaslam, but neither guy remembers the name of the move.
• Hager and MJF get into it. Hager is ejected.
• Jericho cracks Cody, Cody hits the Cross Rhodes. Both men kick out.
• Cody almost wins with a bionic elbow! Jericho counters a super Frankensteiner with a Walls Of Jericho.
• Jericho applies the Lion Tamer and STOMPS Cody’s head.
• MJF THROWS IN THE TOWEL FOR CODY.
• Inner Circle celebrates.
• MJF is in tears in the ring. He then kicks Cody in the ballsack.
• A fan hits MJF with a drink. You could tell he knew it was money. If it was a plant, it was a brilliant touch.

Lights Out Match
Jon Moxley defeated Kenny Omega
5.5/10

• Moxley does a Bossman Slam!
• They fight into the crowd and Omega does a double stomp off a railing.
• The barbed wire gets busted out and taken to Omega’s back.
• Omega counters a suicide dive with a barbed wire shot to the skull. Omega using a barbed wire broom is great.
• A mouse trap board is brought out and Omega is slammed onto it.
• A chain is brought out, and Omega does three snap dragon suplexes.
• Omega hangs Moxley over the ropes.
• Omega spinebusters Moxley into glass, drags him through it, and puts him in a Sharpshooter.
• Why is Omega hamming it up to the camera?
• There was a great tope con hilo through the table.
• A big superplex into a net of barbed wire, and then a V-Trigger through a big light.
• Paradigm Shift in the ring. Omega kicks out.
• Jon Moxley cuts away at the canvas.
• Omega ends up doing the Paradigm Shift on Moxley for 2.
• Moxley gets his finish, and wins.
• This was not for me.
• Young Bucks check on Omega, and Moxley flips off the camera.

Rating guide

10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor

Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a “star rating,” which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive “TV match” lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones that may change upon a second viewing, or sitting on the match for a period of time. Don’t take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!