13 Match Star Ratings For AEW Full Gear 2022
7. Four-Way Match For The ROH World Title
Is there a better wrestler on the planet at knowing when to do things than Bryan Danielson?
Chris Jericho was insistent that the Blackpool Combat Club don't really get along - incidentally, what stunning foreshadowing that was - and it was thought he was just conducting himself as the carny fantasist that he is. When it was time for Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli to get to business, they did, but their electrifying, competitive and sportsmanlike mat work was preceded by a handshake. They weren't about to turn on one another.
That was until Claudio went on an incredible, literal jaw-dropping rampage, which he concluded by throwing Sammy Guevara into Jericho from inside the ring with unreal impact. It was then that the sociopath within the Dragon emerged. When he dropped Claudio out of nowhere with the Busaiku knee, he scored one of the closest near-falls on a night overflowing with them.
Incidentally, how good is Claudio for that story beat to have been planned?
"Right Claudio, you're going to be absolutely phenomenal to a supernatural extent for a few minutes because that's when Bryan has to sense that you have more of a shot than he does. OK?'
The execution was mostly fantastic throughout - Claudio fed Sammy's top-rope shooting star press so bravely - but the core idea is what really drew the crowd into it. The best thing about the flawed premise of a multi-man match is in the sheer volume of conflict and sequences. Threading this all-action approach with more than one layer of suspense was inspired.
It's just as well the match ended when it did; it was so furious in an improbably dramatic second half that a gassed Jericho couldn't take the barricade bumps necessary to feed Claudio's uppercuts. Still, by accident and by design, Jericho only barely survived the encroaching threat of the pure pro wrestler, which was the point of it all.
Star Rating: ★★★★