AEW Full Gear Look Ahead: Solid Card But Missing The Buzz

Peter Klein

AEW Full Gear is Saturday, and I'm giving you my honest look ahead at the PPV. This isn't a full preview (that's coming) - just my initial thoughts on the card, the build, and why this show feels like it's missing something despite being solid on paper. Let's talk about Full Gear and where AEW is right now.  🤼 MY HONEST FULL GEAR LOOK AHEAD: THE OVERALL FEELING: There's been A LOT going on in AEW lately - Blood and Guts just happened last week, storylines are moving fast, and somehow Full Gear has felt like a bit of an afterthought. This is a pretty solid show on paper. The matches should deliver (they always do in AEW). But there's nothing here that screams "OMG I CAN'T MISS THIS." That's the problem.  THE AEW NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP - I HATE IT: We're getting ANOTHER new title at Full Gear - the AEW National Championship will be decided in a Casino Gauntlet match. My take: AEW does NOT need another championship right now. They already have:  AEW World Championship AEW Women's World Championship AEW Tag Team Championship AEW Women's Tag Team Championship (tournament happening) TNT Championship TBS Championship AEW Trios Championship  That's SEVEN titles. Now we're adding an EIGHTH? Championship belts lose meaning when there are too many. This feels unnecessary and dilutes what should be special. I'm not a fan of this decision at all.  THE TIGHT TURNAROUND: Blood and Guts was LAST WEEK. That was a massive show with two cage matches and major storyline developments. Now we're running a PPV one week later? That's a tight turnaround. It doesn't give storylines time to breathe or build proper anticipation for Full Gear. Everything feels rushed.  AS ALWAYS, IT WILL PROBABLY DELIVER: Here's the thing about AEW - the in-ring work almost always delivers. The matches will be good. Probably great, actually. But "good matches" isn't enough for a PPV. You need: ✅ Compelling storylines ✅ Must-see moments ✅ Anticipation and buzz ✅ Feeling like you CAN'T miss it Right now, Full Gear feels like "yeah, it'll be good" instead of "I NEED to watch this."  WHAT'S MISSING: The buzz. The excitement. The "water cooler" moment anticipation.  ❓ AEW FANS - AM I WRONG? Are you hyped for Full Gear or does it feel like it snuck up on you? Is another championship a good idea? Drop your honest thoughts below! 👇  🔔 SUBSCRIBE for honest AEW coverage, WWE recaps, and pro wrestling analysis without the hype!  🎧 Listen on: Apple https://apple.co/49NGm2L | Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3QgazeHcSKSteZbBIubcuM?si=icY7NEBvT7yZadv_JFlT6Q  💬 Follow for live breakdowns: X.com/primetimepk | Twitch.tv/primetimepk  | Kick.com/primetimepk  🔗 Support the Show:   - Tip https://streamelements.com/couchpotatodiary/tip (fuels more content!)

Transcript

00:00Let's chat some AEW Full Gear.

00:13Let's look ahead. AEW Full Gear happening this weekend.

00:18And I really do, like I, this one I feel like I'm leaning negative on and I don't mean to.

00:25I like what AEW has been doing the last little bit. We've talked about it.

00:29I could use less deathmatch stuff every week, but still, I like what AEW has been doing.

00:36I like a lot of the stuff that's been going on and I like a lot of the shows.

00:39But it also feels like I'm being negative and I'm being negative again because the show is this weekend

00:44and it doesn't feel like an AEW pay-per-view weekend yet.

00:48Now they have Dynamite coming up tonight and it's a three-hour show,

00:52so we're probably going to get a lot coming out of that.

00:54But when you think of everything that's going on in wrestling right now,

00:57with the WWE side, you have more games coming up.

01:02You have the John Cena retirement.

01:03Seth Rollins' injury.

01:05There's been a lot of buzz about those things.

01:08With the AAA stuff as well, Dominic Mysterio is the champ there.

01:12You have some crossover things happening.

01:14There's been a lot of buzz with that.

01:15TNA, they just had Bound for Glory a bit ago and Santana won the title.

01:20And now he's pissing off fans and now he doesn't have the title anymore.

01:23It's Frankie Kazarian and just a lot of buzz coming out of that.

01:27And even New Japan, who has been lacking buzz lately,

01:29they're getting ready for Wrestle Kingdom in a couple of months with Hiroshi Tanahashi's final match.

01:33And it's announced that it is Kazuchika Okada who is heading over there for that show.

01:39Disappointing a lot of people who are hoping that because it's at the end,

01:42or the beginning of 2026, that John Cena would make his Wrestle Kingdom debut and wrestle Tanahashi.

01:47But that dream kind of fell aside.

01:48Either way, there's been a lot that's been talked about.

01:51And it just feels like this pay-per-view has been overshadowed.

01:54Even in the company, it feels like it's been overshadowed.

01:56When you come off of a pay-per-view not long ago,

01:59and then you're building up to blood and guts,

02:01it feels like, even though the pay-per-view is on Saturday,

02:04it feels like we're here on Wednesday and it's like,

02:05okay, and now start the build for that.

02:07So, it doesn't feel like there's been a lot going on for this card.

02:12They've built it, there's a bunch of matches,

02:13but it doesn't feel like this has that same kind of buzz

02:16that even I have felt for some AEW pay-per-views.

02:20Again, it's going to be a solid show.

02:22Hangman against Joe in a steel cage.

02:25FTR against Brodito for the tag team titles is going to be a blast.

02:28And so on and so forth.

02:29I can do without, hey, these guys are going to make a bunch of money in this.

02:32I feel like we're kind of overdoing that at this point.

02:35We know it's going to be a big show,

02:36but it just doesn't feel like there's been that kind of a huh for it.

02:41And I thought they did okay with some of the blood and guts stuff,

02:45their version of war games.

02:46I thought they did okay in incorporating some of these feuds into that

02:50so you can kind of build to both at the same time.

02:53But you just built to one and now it makes it an easier pivot to the other,

02:57but it's just not quite at that same level.

03:00So it kind of goes back to what I've talked about before where I feel like if AEW wants

03:05to do the different than, um, pay-per-view maybe isn't it.

03:09If they could trim it back down to what they had before,

03:10even like a six pay-per-view model and then a couple of monthly specials on TV,

03:15I think that's probably the better way to go about it.

03:17Instead of trying to fit in a blood and guts special around a pay-per-view cycle.

03:22I feel like that would probably be the way to go.

03:25So I have no doubt this will be a good show.

03:28I just don't feel like that buzz is there.

03:31And just one more thing.

03:32I hate the national championship thing that we're doing.

03:36AEW doesn't need more belts.

03:38You don't need a belt that is confusingly similar to something that is happening

03:42in another promotion over in the NWA.

03:45You have another title tournament happening right now with the women's tag team titles.

03:50You don't need it.

03:50Also, just a little thing.

03:52We don't need more titles that sound like they're the major championship.

03:56Like, if I said to someone,

03:58hey, the AEW national title on the line tonight.

04:00Oh man, they're big belts going for it?

04:02No, it's actually kind of a tertiary one.

04:04Oh, okay.

04:05What other belts do they have?

04:06Well, they have the AEW Unified Championship.

04:09Oh, that's their world title.

04:10Nope.

04:10Sorry.

04:11Sorry.

04:11Should've.

04:12Should've lied with that, but no.

04:13No, they don't.

04:14Uh, that's, uh, just a, it's a, it's a different one.

04:16Okay.

04:17And then they have the AEW world title.

04:18Oh, that has to be it, right?

04:21Yes.

04:21Okay.

04:21That one's it.

04:22Can we, it just, it feels little thing, but like the Unified Championship, I hate that

04:27that's a thing because that's like Cody Rhodes is the undisputed or unified WWE Champion

04:32right now.

04:32Like he isn't, but that's what they call it.

04:35That's what you call your main championship.

04:37So to call your secondary championship, that bugs me, but they already have two mid-card

04:42championships.

04:43You don't need a third.

04:44Um, I just, I, I hate that they are doing this and, oh, it's going to be a belt that

04:48is defended all around the world.

04:49That was the inter pre Pan-American thingamabob from before that you already got rid of.

04:55So I kind of hate that this is a thing that's happening.

04:58So again, needlessly negative about this show.

05:02Cause I am excited about it, but I just feel like there's a couple of things that I'm like,

05:08Hmm.

05:08Don't love that.

05:09Um, how can they change that?

05:12We'll talk about it with the AEW Dynamite preview, uh, here in just a second.

05:16But of course, as always, you can follow me on social media.

05:19I am at PrimetimeKline on Twitter, X, same thing, Instagram, TikTok threads, and Blue Sky.

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