9 Match Star Ratings For AEW Full Gear 2020
2. MJF Vs. Chris Jericho
MJF Vs. Chris Jericho wasn't a blow-away awesome wrestling match. It wasn't a war.
It was fated never to reach that gear, given how early we are into a unique heel versus heel storyline premised more on peacocking gamesmanship than the pure animosity to come.
It was a match far more interesting than great. This might scan as a criticism - this was a semi-main on a premium pay-per-view worked between two top stars - but it isn't: this, for the story it told and what it built towards, was a television match. That doesn't describe its quality but rather its ambition. This packed in a lot of tremendous detail and creativity with an eye towards the future.
The dynamic didn't yield an effective big fight tone, but you can tell that its players had a great deal of fun and spent a lot of time putting it together. Literally shadowing one another in the ring as they did on the stage, in a great spot that served the story so well - MJF and Jericho are a sort of d*ckhead hive mind just waiting to sting itself - Jericho lulled MJF into the Lionsault, knowing MJF knew he was going to do it, and rocked him with the Codebreaker after MJF knew to expect the counter. This was a lovingly-crafted chess match.
In the end, the protege outsmarted the master. He promised to do "anything", but that anything was a red herring designed to lull him into a roll-up.
A very, very smart - if laboured and not enormously exciting - pro wrestling match.
Star Rating: ★★★½