AEW Full Gear Full of Blood and a Boatload of Belt Changes

AEW's Full Gear 2025 was a spectacle that swung wildly between brilliance and overkill, proving once again that the company thrives on high-stakes drama—but sometimes piles on the extremes like it's allergic to subtlety. Four title changes lit up the ledger (FTR's tag team triumph, Ricochet's gauntlet glory for the new National belt, Mark Briscoe's gritty TNT grab, and Samoa Joe's cage-clinching World Championship heist), but let's pump the brakes: that's not evolution; it's title turnover roulette. In one night? It risks diluting the prestige of every strap, turning reigns into revolving doors. AEW's booking is ambitious, sure, but this many flips feels less like smart storytelling and more like a frantic bid to keep viewers hooked—consequences be damned. One or two shifts would've sufficed to build heat; four just screams "change for change's sake."
The action? Electric in spots, exhausting in others. That Blood & Guts Lite aesthetic—O'Reilly's No Holds Barred brawl with Moxley, Briscoe's No DQ demolition derby, and the main-event steel cage slaughter between Page and Joe—delivered visceral thrills, no doubt. Page's crimson cascade and Joe's unyielding choke? The kind of raw intensity that etches memories. But excess crept in hard: thumbtacks, kendo sticks, and enough hardware to stock a Home Depot aisle. It's brutal artistry... until it borders on gratuitous, leaving fans numb to the "soul" amid the splatter. Wrestling's grit is gold, but when every midcard grudge devolves into a blood ritual, it cheapens the violence. Dial it back, AEW—let the psychology breathe without the constant red tide.
Still, seeds for 2026? Planted deep, if a bit predictably. Timeless Love Bombs (Storm & Shirakawa) earning stipulation rights in their tag tournament opener teases delicious mayhem, FTR's resurgence hints at a redemption saga worth rooting for, and Don Callis slinking away with wounds sets up inevitable revenge. The Young Bucks' $1M trios payday? Hilarious cash-grab fodder—rumors of them eyeing a TNA buyout already swirling like bad cologne. High stakes? Undeniable. But with so much flipping and flopping, will any of it stick?
MVP Watch: Samoa Joe emerges as the undisputed king, his methodical menace a welcome anchor in the storm. Ricochet, though? He owned that 22-minute Casino Gauntlet with flips that defied physics—midcard magic we needed more of, less gore. Props to Darby Allin and Hangman Page for selling the heartbreak (and headshots) like pros, but damn, give these cowboys a break from the perpetual punishment.
Full Gear 2025? A statement, yeah—AEW's all-in on global collabs (CMLL's Sky Team nod was a highlight), tournament twists, and real risks. But if the future's this formulaic in its frenzy—endless extremes and belt swaps—I'm wary.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wrestling-is-real-wrestling-podcast--1559158/support.

Contact KOP for professional podcast production, imaging, and web design services at http://www.kingofpodcasts.com

Support KOP by subscribing to his YouTube channel and search for King Of Podcasts

Follow KOP on X and TikTok @kingofpodcasts (F Meta!)

Listen to KOP’s other programs, Podcasters Row… and the Wrestling is Real Wrestling Podcast and The Broadcasters Podcast.

Buy KOP a Coffee https://buymeacoffee.com/kingofpodcasts

Drop KOP a PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=3TAB983ZQPNVL

Drop KOP a Venmo https://account.venmo.com/u/kingofpodcasts

Drop KOP a CashApp https://cash.app/$kingofallpodcasts

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Aw full gear for twenty twenty five. We're gonna recap
it real quick on the Wrestling Is Real podcast. Welcome
to the program. No proper open nothing like that. The
thing was this show bothered me a lot. The love
to keep going with these four hour shows, so almost
four and a half hours. It's a glutton of wrestling matches,

(00:25):
way too much. I know Tony Kahn wants to give
real value for the pay per views he delivers, but man,
this is like too much. I think these are where
you have certain matches that you could absolutely put on
Dynamite and not have to put them on this show.

(00:48):
It's too much. Four and a half hour show, thirteen
matches for other night, and to make sure you have
time for all of this is the other thing you
gotta look as well. And when I look at everything
they did, it's like, yeah, man, you know you have
title matches all over the place with some of the

(01:08):
storylines being involved inside of those title matches, and you
have what are certain feuds that Tony Kahn wants to
get across. Right out the bat, if we go and
skip past the tailgate brawl portion of the program and
go right into the Sky Team meeting the Don Kallas

(01:32):
family for the CMLL World Trios Championships. The focus was
Okata and Taqushta, which they try to work with each
other on. Trying to win tag team titneles did not happen. Now,
trying to win the Trios Championships did not happen. It's
not Don Kalas seasons here and now there's gonna be
a third confrontation where who knows how the records are

(01:56):
going to go for the Continental Classic, but line is
that Takesha and Okada will probably face each other or
something will happen down the line where they're going to
be a part of this. And Kyle Fletcher's also going
to be part of this as well because he needs
to find something else to do because he lost the
teams title tonight. Now they made a lot of title changes.

(02:16):
They had a lot of blood in this show that
it was some of a hard way so necessary, I
don't know, but it was a lot and a lot
of extreme matches and we didn't have to have so many,
but this is what we have because the match is
required because of the fuse they have. It all just
kind of came about like it did so the start

(02:39):
of the night, they bled over the World Trios champiship
match so that you could catch the friction between Takeshta
and Okada. That's what they wanted to go and do.
They did it. Pak and Darbian was really good as
a lead off and just as a straight match where

(03:02):
I'm glad to see Darbian doesn't have to go and
do extreme matches a whole the time, but he did
do some stuff that was extreme. Here anyway, regardless, always
has to be the death defying kind of deal, but
you know that's what they want to do. But Pack
winning in this match, death Riders continue to be dominant.
They're gonna keep going on with that. And there's the
talk that maybe Pack is going to become the leader

(03:24):
of the Death Riders and Moxley's losing a spot, which
would keep the Death Riders going on in a different
form going in a new year. Tomas Lovebaumbs winning the
four way tag team match. By the way, this is
not the crowning of the Women's World Tag Team Championship.
This is just a four way tag to determine a

(03:45):
stipulation for the semifinal match semi final match coming up
in the tournament because they're gonna go tournaments now, going
to the holidays with the kind of old classic and
the continuation of the World Tag Team TOMAL Tournament for
the women that FDR new Tag Team Champions over Brodido anyways,

(04:08):
I mean, FR has been here, and the thing is
what do you do next with them to get something
to go on with them? Ricochet winning the inaugural National Championship,
I mean another title. Too many titles in this brand,
way too many titles. Now we're at the point where
it's just too many to go in and remember and

(04:29):
to try to remember if they changed the names, because
remember North American, the Atlantic became the what was it
International to become the I guess just too much now
now we're getting a little overkilled on the titles, very
much overkilling the titles. We don't need so many TBS,
T and T. You want to go Women's Championship, you

(04:54):
want to go with the you know, I mean four
belts seriously, and then the trio style. Fine, but let's
not go more than this. But we are now at
a point where like there are certain props being used
for certain stars because the cash to forget which belt
he's holding Okata, also holding a belt, and he's put

(05:22):
what the Continental and the International championships, and again, try
to help me keep it with that. It's a bit much. Now,
I don't care. I'm not that super fan that's gonna
just keep it with all these kind of things. I
can't keep it with these belts too much, way too much.
So Ricochet, they want to put a belt on him. Now,
they give him this title which just looks like something
out of WC, out of NWA National Weight Champion. Even

(05:46):
NWA had twinny belts. Let's make that clear. Remember they
even had the United State Attack Team Championships. I don't
understand it either why we had to go that far,
but there is too much of that, and there's a
prestige that should be there, just in traditional wrestling, of
having certain belts that you know, not everyone can just
get get a participation trophy. Let's get past that kind

(06:07):
of mindset. Let's just get to the point where we
don't need to have titles for everybody. Way too many titles.
The no Holes Barred Match, Colorai, John Moxley and Moxley
taking a fork, and let's go farther than a dulu.
The Butcher, what else can we do. Let's go into
Colorady's nipple. I'm just saying Coloradley's nipple. Let's go a

(06:33):
little bit farther with that, and again another bloody mess.
Do we need this? This is the part where I
know there's a little bit of creative leisure for John
Moxley with some one of his matches. He gets to
go bloody, he gets to use a fork and it's like,
I'm you know, I get it. It is kind of
shocking all but it's like after I already saw, you know,

(06:58):
some blood earlier on in the night, I guess we
just keep going with this and I'm like, oh man,
this is just too much. But either which way, Caloradi
gets to win. And this is the gun weekend, John
Moxley's status and death Riders, that's the whole deal behind that.
Pretty simple to go in and looked at, and I
see how that's coming. Kyle Fletcher also bloodied into a

(07:20):
pulp and Mark Briscoe because they went in an ODQ match.
And Briscoe, if you would have lost, would have joined
the John Collis family, but no, not to be. And
Mark Briscoe, they really put up a story about the
fact that it's been three years since his brother's passing,
since Jay's been gone, and for aw for Tony Kahn,
he really is behind Mark Briscoe game the ring of

(07:43):
outer world title and held on that for a while.
I figure was last year going into this year, I
forget now and then here he goes T and T Championship.
But I figured that's not gonna be a long run
for him. Who's the next person that's bequest to that
team title next? Because for Kyle Fletcher, I imagine after

(08:04):
one hundred and fourteen days, they had him drop the
belt so that he can go to the world title eventually,
because I think that's what he has to go and
go this round. You gave that TNT title, he's going
to go with a long ring with it. I can
understand that now you're gonna have to make work harder.
He's not motivated, and now you make it where he
goes world title bound. That's what you gotta put him

(08:25):
in for twenty twenty six. I see that happening, and
I hope that's what they are deciding to go with.
And briand Nelsen changing it up saying he's the now
professional wrestling. I totally agree, and I've been saying that
for weeks now and for months on this program, ever
since he won that tt title the million Dollar Trios match.

(08:47):
So the ongoing story of the Young Bucks trying to
get themselves paid again, get back to where they were
in status, and I guess this million dollar match finally
gets at that points the don cause family gets abandoned
and they get pushed aside by the Young Bucks, and
now it looks like the Don Coals family is gonna

(09:08):
have a whole deal with Kenny Omega and apparently the
elite getting back together, which is the new things for
the new year. Okay, fine, you get mer cities. Been
a lose it a women's world title. It's thirteen belt's
been a she loses to Chris Statlander. Now she still

(09:30):
has that TBS title, but in this point they did
let it war. Mercedes Bene trying to go after another
belt and Chris Statler says, nope, here I can come
for the block. That's it. So her status remains, but
it is something significant to going to see that Chris
Statlander was able to go ahead and defend her belt

(09:52):
and not lose it like thirteen other opponents to Mercedes
been a so Chris Statler really gets a boost out
of that, believe it or not. Then you get some
Mojo and hanging out on page steal Cage matched another bloodfest,
blood lust tonight. If you wanted blood in your matches,
you got a bunch of it. And oh, boatload a

(10:14):
bucket load. Really should actually put that in the title. Yeah,
bucket load of finishes like that, and it's just ridiculous. Okay,
So some Ojo wins again. But now setting things up,
so it Strokes Strickling comes in because the first thing
was I didn't want to see where some Ojo is
winning and the ops come in. Hook is helping with
the ops once again. He was there all along, we

(10:35):
don't know, but Simojo now has a big faction with him,
and now swear Trickling comes back and Clear's house and
now what happens next? So there you go. Very interesting
also as well, would the Casino Gunlod match for the
National Championship the interiness they had in here. I mean, look,

(10:58):
it's a secondary belt. I don't even know where you
put it in the hierarchy of the international title, the
Continental title, or the TNT title. I don't know, but
it's way too confusing. But you had Bobby Lashley, Shelton,
Benjamin Ricochet, Claudacus Nilli, Danio Garcia, Orange, Cassidy will Auta,
Kevin Knight, Roderick Strong, Mark Davis, speople, On mcbailey, and

(11:21):
Daddy Magic Maminard. So just the main roster, no extra
special people in there, and nobody that was in this
group that I thought, oh, you need gonna put a
belt on them. No, not really, so listen, a lot
of quantity. There were some good quality matches in the
show tonight, but it's still a bit of a mess.

(11:46):
There's just not a lot of rhyme or reason with
what Tony Khan's doing. There are some storylines I'm interested
in now that Kyle Fletch you're lost. Now that merceities
from an a lost, I'm interested in what they do
next with those two sowar strictly at a page. I
guess they might be a line once again, I don't
have to deal with the ops. That's the next thing
going on with them, the elite versus Don Colla's family.

(12:09):
We got that going on, the consituation of Darbion and
Pack and John Moxley and the whole deal with the
death writers. You got that to go work for you,
so you got a lot of storylines you can work
off of that, with a lot of different pieces of
the puzzle to go and play with that. You can
put matches around and any kind of variations you want.
That's the plan. But they really did go overkill on

(12:31):
title changes. For whatever reason. You crown a new champion,
inaugural new champion, and except for Chris stet Leander, did
we get that right? We had title changes on all
the title matches. I don't know if that made fool
Gear any better, but you know, I'm confused on all this,

(12:56):
Like it just didn't feel like there was a lot
of cohesion with all this here. There's a lot going
on at the same time. I don't want to say
less is more because then we would be doing what's
gonna be doing for the Friar series, which is very less.

(13:18):
There's gotta be a middle ground here where he's doing
all this. But they're putting so much and I mean,
I guess it's also the TV time that Tony conn
has to deal with as well, with you know, three
to four hours a week of programming there and the
roster that he has. I don't know, but they had

(13:39):
a whole lot of matches tonight. It was crazy. I
just don't know if how fulfil about it, if it
was really that good or not. I just think it
was way too much. The blood was overkilled, and the
title tin is just kind of mind boggling, is really
what it comes down to. That's all I gotta say
about that. And we're gonna leave it right there. Thank

(13:59):
you for listen to some of the Rescue podcast, and
we actually before you go and get out of here
and run away, I just want to get another couple
of things that I saw in here that were interesting
of note in the other parts of the world of
wrestling that I thought would be good to get bring up,
because there were a few things that came up that
caught my attention. CW Network being frustrated about the Nielsen
Big Data plus panel measurement for TV ratings. So when

(14:25):
the ratings for NXT dropped to under six hundred thousand
and they lost roughly one hundred thousand viewers, now there's
all the discrepancy and now CW is going way way.
Our ratings went down way and now they're all upset
going after Nielsen, saying, oh, we're deeply frustrated with the

(14:47):
way they handled the process, communication and methodology, and that
the data that they're getting from all their measurement products
exposed as a fundamentally flawed methodology. We're disappointed why they
lack of cooperation and all this here. So yeah, big
pouting about that. Somebody getting upset when someone says that

(15:10):
you're supposed to aw sikos are gonna say the w
s FT once seen a leaves and then someone writes
Cody Rhodes seeing punks of Dufa Care, Drake Cargill, dragging
off Maxim the pre Chelsea Green, Ricky Saints and just
moves on and on. So he just basically ran menches
the whole roster and of the names that are put

(15:33):
in here, all of it. Really he put it in
order for a part of it, but like the very
top of the card. Okay, you're talking about, well is
his top list Cody Rosia and Punk Stevan Vicaire j
car Gill Ili you dragon off at that start, and

(15:55):
then he starts naming everything of alphabetic order for whatever reason. Yeah,
the Sico stuff goes both ways. Okay, it just a
little too much of all this year. Okay, now we'll
go ahead and drop off come back this week onto
the Resipe Stop podcast. I don't know man, these pay
per views again, tons of gou and recap because wrestling

(16:17):
needs us.