8 Match Star Ratings For AEW Full Gear 2023
1. MJF Vs. Jay White - World Title Match
MJF Vs. Jay White was a divisive main event, and even those who liked it deemed it uneven.
It might have been ruined before the bell rang. The show-long angle, in which MJF's knee was Pillmanised by the Gunns and AEW couldn't clear him - but did clear the injured Adam Cole - was absurd. Illogical. Off-putting.
The visual of MJF returning to the ring driving the ambulance himself was a hokey echo of 1998 WWF, and again, the idea that a medical unit would attempt to prevent him from wrestling while clearing Adam Cole at the same time was farcical. That was the exact word used by the broadcast team. Hanging a lantern on the situation didn't make it less frustratingly illogical.
The match layout echoed Jay White's seminal G1 Climax Final loss to Kota Ibushi in 2019. The story there was a total dissection of the ankle, but it was superior to the Full Gear main. The comparison wasn't all that flattering. In that G1 Final, the Bullet Club were ejected. Here, further weakening Jay White, whose road back is a long one now, the Gunns returned to further weaken Max, and he still prevailed after a gruelling half an hour. It was all a bit much - the sort of performance, perhaps, that might have more contrarian fans rolling their eyes.
MJF has marketed his reign as the best of all.
He's had the best Iron Man match ever, the best Four-Way match ever, the best Collision match ever. It's the best, the longest. It was all a bit tell don't show on Saturday. It was impossible to watch this latest effort, and its howls of agony and leg clutching and crumpling - in the wider context of the marketing - without thinking that MJF had nothing less than the greatest babyface performance ever in mind.
It felt more like a checklist for his stated aim than something halfway subtle, and thus impressive, in its pursuit of authenticity. It was frustratingly close to excellent at points.
To tell the story of the ultimate babyface comeback, MJF vaulted out of the ring to deliver a cutter on Jay to the outside. His vertical leap, timing, creativity, commitment: it was all first-class, a proper bite through it and go out in a blaze moment. It didn't make much "sense" - then again, what does? - but the fans in LA went nuts for the emotional beat.
But then the match was infested with too many modern WWE tropes, to the detriment of an internal logic that was all over the place. If AEW, the promotion, cares so much about health, to the extent that they were willing to kill the advertised PPV main event, why was poor Bryce Remsburg left to writhe in agony for ages after the ref bump?
MJF Vs. Jay White was a loud and super dramatic match - and it worked very well for the audience, hence the rating - but felt very self-conscious. It did not reach the outrageous highs that MJF has set during his reign, which is a damn shame.
Everything got in its own way on the night.
Star Rating: ★★★½