Another gargantuan AEW pay-per-view is in the books, and as always, our intrepid writers have a wide range of opinions about all that took place at Full Gear 2025. There's no shortage of developments to talk about, with returning faces, new champions crowned, plenty of blood shed, and tons of (kayfabe) money awarded. We aren't able to cover everything here, so you won't be reading about Ricochet's National Championship victory or the impressive title defense from Kris Statlander.
The general consensus from those of us who watched was positive, but there were some things we took issue with, like the new status quo for the AEW World Tag Team Championship and the overuse of blood during the show's back half. Similarly, a few things stood out to us as being particularly praise-worthy, like the return of a former AEW World Champion after the main event.
If you're looking for more of a detailed breakdown of tonight's show, be sure to check out our Full Gear results page. On the other hand, keep reading to discover what our team thought about the highs and lows of AEW's annual November pay-per-view.
For the sake of your stomachs, we tend to avoid showing photos that are too graphic, which is why you'll only see a small sample here of the carnage that took place at Full Gear tonight. In a show that had little to complain about, two things that stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs were the back-to-back hardcore matches, with Kyle O'Reilly defeating Jon Moxley in a No Holds Barred match immediately before Mark Briscoe beat Kyle Fletcher for the TNT Championship in a No Disqualification bout. Both matches were highly bloody affairs, and at a certain point, it becomes overkill, no?
I'm not complaining about the presence of blood, or even the amount of it featured in a single match. The problem lies in returning to it again and again. Even after these two hardcore contests finished, the show's main event was a Steel Cage match that, yet again, included a ton of blood. At the same time, the crowd had been sitting for more than four hours by that point, only counting the main card. They were already exhausted, and the main event could've used a jolt of excitement that the first sight of blood would have provided. Though the image of Samoa Joe's face drenched in crimson red was still striking, it could've had an even bigger impact had there been more restraint earlier in the night.
It's especially hard to understand the back-to-back placement of two similar matches. While this wasn't enough to ruin the show, things could've been improved by a slight change in the match order, or even just by re-working the idea behind one of those two bouts. Instead, the overuse of blood can be seen as one of the few major flaws found in this year's Full Gear.
Written by Nick Miller
Full Gear saw the latest milestone in what appears to be the downfall of Jon Moxley's rule atop the Death Riders, with Kyle O'Reilly forcing him to submit for the second time in as many weeks. Moxley had made a point of might making right following his turn on Bryan Danielson to take over the former Blackpool Combat Club, going further than anyone else would go to get the win, and continued to do that until the entirety of the upper roster was dialed in on the Death Riders.
Naturally, his methods have caught up with him, and he has led an undoubted slump over recent months starting with his World Championship loss to "Hangman" Adam Page at All In Texas. He then failed to recapture the title, pursued Darby Allin leading to an 'I Quit' match, ending with Moxley uttering the words to signal his second significant defeat. O'Reilly was the next man that threatened to expose Moxley, delayed by an attack on the referee to prompt a disqualification when it looked as though he would submit. And that moment was paid off at the climax of the Blood & Guts match as O'Reilly tapped Moxley out to win the match for his team. But it would have been something else entirely to fight Moxley in his own domain and beat him again, let alone via submission.
Even still, that's what happened. O'Reilly got the better of Moxley in their early grappling contest, endured and overcame Moxley when he brought the death match style to the fore, and finally hooked Moxley's knee to get the submission. It's a huge thing when anyone beats Moxley in AEW, given the way he has been positioned throughout his entire run, especially over the past year. So to do it via submission twice in such a short span of time bodes really well for O'Reilly moving forward.
Even without all of the back story and context running adjacent to it, Moxley and O'Reilly wrestled a really enjoyable match. It was a fight and one that subdued itself in an attempt to tell the story well, with a clear focus on the technicality of one and the brutality of the other, intermingling to create a down-and-dirty sporting contest that really lived up to the No Holds Barred stipulation. There was no unnecessary emphasis on weapon-after-weapon or spot-after-spot, just two guys looking to get the better of the other with what was at their disposal. And that helped it to stand out from a card that also featured Steel Cage and No Disqualification matches.
Written by Max Everett
Brodido may have been a tag team that was thrown together, but they quickly became fan favorites and won the tag titles. Their Cinderella story came to a crashing halt tonight at the hands of the dreaded FTR.
FTR wore their cockiness across the back of their trunks with large "11X" patches to indicate the number of title reigns. It's their first title reign in AEW since 2023, and the last time they were champions, they held the titles for 185 days. Some fans complained that this title reign stifled the tag team division and made it bland. AEW had difficulty booking the division well during this timeframe and it suffered even through Big Bill and Ricky Starks' run. While there was the highlight of Sting retiring as a tag team champion, Private Party had a terrible run as they weren't given much to work with. That could be a taste of what the division is in for now that FTR is back on top.
They presumably won the tag titles for when Adam Copeland and Christian Cage return to AEW television. The last time we saw them on TV, Cope was taking time away after his wife, Beth, was attacked by FTR and Kip Sabian. Cage gave him the space to do what he needed to do and has been off TV since. C+C will likely beat FTR for the titles, although titles are necessarily needed for this feud. Looking ahead even further, C+C will probably feud with the Young Bucks and eventually drop the titles to them. While it's a likely trajectory, it's not one I'm very interested in until the Bucks get them back. It would be nice to see teams like JetSpeed, GOA, or the Bang Bang Gang hold the titles to help grow the division instead of repeatedly focusing on veteran tag teams.
Written by Samantha Schipman
In the build up to AEW Full Gear 2025, we rewatched the 2021 show for a retro version of what you're currently reading, and that show famously kicked off with Darby Allin taking on MJF. At that time, Darby had already done some ludicrously dangerous things to himself and others, but that match with MJF was one that proved to the world that Darby wasn't just a glorified stuntman, he was a legitimate wrestler who could hang with anyone on the mat. Fast forward four years later to the 2025 Full Gear event and we got a match cut from the same cloth.
The rivalry between Darby and the Death Riders has been very bloody, but this match between Darby and PAC was still able to be violent while staying within the traditional rules of a wrestling match. Instead of having Darby go through flaming tables, it was the burns on his body that were used against him in a way that was just as uncomfortable to watch. Instead of having his head shoved in an aquarium, Darby's throat ended up becoming acquainted with the ring ropes to great effect. Instead of being covered in his and everyone else's blood, Darby was covered in sweat from having to wrestle one of the best performers on the planet in the form of PAC.
PAC's AEW career has been a weird one as injuries and visa issues have prevented him from truly reaching that top level. However, when he does get the chance to showcase how good he is on a major stage, he rarely puts a foot wrong, and when he's working with someone like Darby who seems to have great chemistry with virtually everyone he faces, it only makes PAC look even more dangerous. He still has all the flashy moves that made him a star to begin with, but the Death Riders version of PAC has that added mean streak that gives everything he does that extra punch to make him feel more threatening.
The ending even let both guys have the best of both worlds. PAC going over was the right call as he would logically be able to beat someone who he technically set on fire less than two weeks ago, but the fact that he needed the help of Wheeler Yuta and a baseball bat to do it keeps Darby looking strong in defeat. I personally get the sense that this will be seen as an underrated gem in the near future considering everything else that happened on tonight's show, but when it comes to kicking off a pay-per-view, PAC and Darby couldn't have done a better job.
Written by Sam Palmer
When AEW booker Tony Khan first introduced the concept of putting money up for grabs in matches, it was a relatively fresh and novel way to add some stakes to a given match. I would go as far as to call it a good idea, but we've now reached a point where these money matches have jumped the shark. Tonight, we saw Matt and Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks, who have been going through financial struggles for months, win a $1 million cash prize only to leave the money behind to save their old friend, Kenny Omega. It was a sweet moment, and the entire purpose was to show that the Bucks were choosing Omega over their livelihood, but we've reached the point where bags filled with $1 million are being cast off to the side.
That wasn't even the only instance of a cash award on Full Gear, as Austin Gunn and Juice Robinson won $200,000 in a tag match during the pre-show. It's great that Khan (in-character) is able to shell out $1.2 million on a given night, but like the overuse of blood, it begins to lose its effect the more frequently we see it happening.
In another instance of overusing a good idea, tonight's PPV began with a match that had run-over from the SaturdayNight Tailgate pre-show. The first time this happened, at the last PPV, it was surprising and fun. This time, still not a bad way to kick off the main card. However, if it starts to become a pattern as it seems like it might, it won't be long before it becomes as meaningless as Khan's cash prizes.
Written by Nick Miller
Despite calls from fans to have the AEW Women's World Championship match between Kris Statlander and Mercedes Mone headline AEW Full Gear 2025, given the way the show ended, you can see why they went with the men on this one. After missing three months of action due to a torn ACL that he apparently had problems with for years, Swerve Strickland is back in AEW as he confronted the new AEW Men's World Champion Samoa Joe at the end of the show.
Before I talk about Swerve, I do have to give flowers to Samoa Joe and Hangman Page for their Steel Cage match. On a night filled with bloody battles, Joe hit an absolute gusher in this one that made him look as menacing as he has ever looked, while Page also donned the crimson mask for some great imagery. They took a little while to get the crowd going, which is understandable considering that fans are always exhausted at the end of AEW pay-per-views, but the closing sequence had everyone on their feet, and if Hook is now firmly back with The Opps, it means that he can let Eddie Kingston fly solo which is exactly what he should have been doing to begin with.
Now onto Swerve. Ever since he went down with injury, there has been a distinct hole in the AEW main event scene. Of course, Hangman was able to have great matches with Joe and Kyle Fletcher on pay-per-view, but you just got the sense that with Swerve out of the picture (and Will Ospreay for that matter), that extra spice at the top of the card was lacking. Now that he's back, Swerve can finally continue the story that made the ending of All In Texas so brilliant, that being himself and Hangman being on the same page despite everything they've put each other through.
Just the visual of Hangman and Swerve standing side-by-side at the end of the night was enough to get me excited for a period in the AEW schedule where everything that isn't the Continental Classic takes a backseat. I would have loved to have seen Hangman retain and the final pay-per-view main event of the year be Swerve and Hangman fighting over the world title like they have always wanted to, but seeing them join forces is arguably more interesting. They took down the Death Riders, but they had the help of The Opps to do that. Now they are against The Opps, and when Joe is on top of a company, he will do everything he can to stay there. A great ending to a great pay-per-view, let's see where they go next.
Written bySam Palmer
