9 Match Star Ratings For AEW Full Gear 2020

The build to Full Gear was tremendous, and even the programmes that did not click virtually guaranteed in-ring excellence to compensate.

Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston built their I Quit match with some of the most raw, emotive promos ever cut on US wrestling television. An ingenious storyline - how could Eddie Kingston quit, when he promised his own mother that he wouldn't? - it was executed with a sense of feeling few other performers have ever been able to engineer. The Kenny Omega Vs. Hangman Page dynamic hadn't even settled into its final form, and it was built over almost a full year of subtle, captivating work. There's long-term storytelling, and there's this.

FTR Vs. The Young Bucks spluttered at the last lap, after months of exceptional slow-burn. The Bucks were more sullen than they were irrepressible tosspots - were they trying to make literal that 2016 dream match, and...why? - but the ankle injury storyline restored, to an extent, the face/heel balance.

The match card and the Dynamites that built it promised something great. Special.

Did Full Gear deliver?

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Serena Deeb is good enough to coach the inexperienced women of AEW to greatness.

Dustin Rhodes receives much credit for his dedicated graft, and it shows, in the evolution of Dr. Britt Baker. But Deeb is fast becoming the most overlooked performer in a generation. She is a sublime technical wrestler.

In a division with output that too often looks cooperative, like there are beats to be followed and not a spell to cast, Deeb is unreal at getting the struggle of pro wrestling over. She took the larger Kay to the mat with some gorgeous and smart chain wrestling early before honing her attack on the hands. The minutiae here was exceptional. Not a millisecond goes by without Deeb working through to victory. Even when she failed to transition into a hold, she still looked like she was going for it, and not breezing through to the next phase of the match. She smacked Kay in the abdomen in an attempt to draw her hands for additional leverage in one example of her sense of detail.

Kay was on form too, playing the impetuous powerhouse, but Jesus Christ is Deeb fantastic at this. The very second Kay left her head prone, Deeb locked her in a front chancery. Getting licks in on Deeb feels like an achievement, such is her level of control.

The roll-throughs; the aggression; the projection of all these qualities: Deeb is great, Kay looked great for finally crashing her to the mat in her offensive phase, and this was a bang-tidy match.

Star Rating: ★★★½