13 Match Star Ratings For AEW Full Gear 2022
1. Jon Moxley Vs. MJF - AEW World Title Match
The first second of this match was somehow fantastic in and of itself. It also served the story.
Moxley slapped the piss out of MJF. Leaned back and smacked him, almost on the mouth. It wasn't just disrespectful. It was nasty, borderline evil.
Mox set MJF a challenge, and MJF spent the duration of the match attempting to answer it in what appeared to be good faith. He wanted to prove that he could do it cleanly, but after hurting his own knee and enduring a strike and hold-driven assault on it, he could not gut it out. He tapped the second Mox caught him with the bulldog choke after the ref had been downed.
Deep down, at his core, the MJF character just isn't tough enough - and what a perfect beat that is for a story premised on the William Regal turn. MJF sold brilliantly, and it's almost little wonder the fans no-sold the twist. He earned their sympathy throughout.
Mox meanwhile was bang up for the job of playing bully heel on a situational basis. He knew what reaction he was in for, and teased a heel turn as well as MJF has spent the last month doing the exact opposite. This was worked beautifully around a complex and layered character dynamic, and almost had no right to work. Confusion tends to breed silence in the pro wrestling arena, but not here. The Newark crowd was glued to this main event and its elegant distribution of the big set-pieces.
A slow-burner like this also shouldn't have worked after the excesses of such a wild, long and mostly brilliant show, but it was paced immaculately and both men are such superstars that it did.
To an extent that was far, far from mid.
Star Rating: ★★★★¼