AEW Full Gear 2025 11/22/25
Darby Allin vs PAC
MD: There were people that questioned why this needed to be on the PPV when it was announced. On paper, maybe it was just a good match for the sake of being a good match, the sort of thing that has been used for years now to fill out AEW PPVs and tilt those Observer Thumbs Up and Cagematch ratings. And maybe that would have been enough. But there was more at play here.
Darby came in literally hot, having been burned by PAC (or more accurately put through a burning table by him, with Gabe Kidd's help) at Blood & Guts. But this is a Darby that had come down from Everest, one that's at peace with himself. He came in hot but he used that heat to fuel a wrestling machine. He didn't fly in with strikes but instead with headlock takeovers. The purpose of this was twofold. First, PAC had come in saying that they were going to wrestle a clean match and the better man would win. By outwrestling him early, Darby would hurt PAC more than any single punch to the face. More than that though, Darby was bandaged up. He had to wrestle conservatively, even if aggressively. While he had the luxury, he wouldn't use his own body as a weapon.
That luxury wouldn't last long. After barely escaping a makeshift Scorpion Deathlock attempt, PAC was able to catch him on the apron and press slam him to the floor. What followed was a brutal heat section where they did a great job mixing up big bumps/moves (that press slam, though that was a transition, Darby's absolutely brutal bump past the corner to the floor, even the neck-first catapult into the bottom rope) with PAC being a malicious maniac, tearing off the bandages and giving Darby an Indian burn. Everything came together for the latter: Darby's distorted skin, the way the bandage flew through the air, the look of exultation on PAC's face and agony on Darby's, how shocked and horrified the commentators were. It got as big a reaction from the crowd as both of Darby's huge bumps.
Anything in pro wrestling can matter so long as it's presented correctly and much, much more effort should be made in making small things like this matter as much as possible. Not only is it safer and more varied than big bump after big bump, but it also allows those bumps, if framed correctly, to mean even more through escalation. The proof is in the audience reaction here (and yes, they did go up even higher as Darby crashed through the corner).
Darby mounted a comeback by catching PAC in the apron (and the sense of struggle here was great; PAC was desperate to get out in a way that others in that rare spot often aren't), setting him up for a dive and then a gnarly dropkick from the top to PAC seated on the floor in a chair.
Darby was obviously hurting and PAC presents himself successfully as one of the best in the world, so they would go back and forth from there. PAC was able to catch Darby off the ropes turning a Coffin Splash into a suplex. He was unable to put him away with the Brutalizer though. Darby was able to get out of the way of a Black Arrow and it looked like he was going to put PAC away with the Scorpion Deathlock.
But there was a plan for this. The Death Riders have quit a little too much lately (even if it's almost all been on the head of their leader). PAC had vowed that this would be a fair fight, that the best man would win. So in some ways, he'd already lost when Wheeler Yuta rushed up to the apron to distract Darby and the ref, and doubly so, when he used the bat to knock Darby out. But moral victories don't exist in the record books, only wins and losses.
And later on when Moxley faced O'Reilly there was a plan as well. Once it was clear that O'Reilly had an answer for every bit of wrestling Moxley could throw at him, Marina handed Mox the fork and he used it to take over. The plan worked for PAC. The plan only failed in the Casino Gauntlet because Matt Menard chose to punish Garcia and run him off instead of trying to win the National Title. The Plan here worked right up until the point it didn't, until the point where Moxley, having broken Kyle's arm, still managed to tap out to a chain reinforced ankle lock. Maybe he went back and finished the job after the match but even if he won the war, he lost the battle, and in this case, the battle was more important than the war.
So yes, Darby vs PAC was great, but it wasn't just a great match for the sake of having great matches. There was a grudge coming in and it was worked to that. More importantly, it set the stage, through a begrudging plan of the Death Riders coming to fruition, for Mox vs O'Reilly where a similar plan, unveiled far sooner and far more desperately, nonetheless failed. That contrast hangs over Moxley like his own personal Sword of Damocles, just waiting to fall.
AEW Full Gear 2025 Collision Tailgate Brawl 11/22/25
Eddie Kingston/Hook vs Workhorsemen
MD: It's amazing what you can do in two minutes. Look, I'm not going to say anyone should or shouldn't have done whatever they did or didn't do. We never have the full story and it's always complicated and we do far too much speaking up on matters that we're just blind men touching elephants on.
What I can speak on, however, is this match. They had two minutes, less than two minutes according to cagematch (just 1:48). But the Workhorsemen punched in and showed what they could do. They ambushed Hook and Eddie on the way down. Drake took Eddie out, and that's the way things have been for Kingston as he builds up his fighting strength from match to match. That meant they had Hook isolated and though he tried to fire back off the ropes or out of the corner, they went to work.
That meant hitting their signature flurry of a Drake apron clothesline, the Henry headtwist, and Drake flying in with a slingshot somersault senton. Hook was finally able to get out of the way causing a bit of miscommunication and then launching Henry. By then Eddie was recovered and he did the same to Drake setting the stage to hit a quick DDT out of nowhere and scoring the win.
But in two minutes the Workhorsemen, professional as can be, got a spotlight to show that they could take the initiative, knock Hook around the ring, and hit some polished, brutal offense on the guy who was going to be the hingepoint of the PPV's main event. No small thing even for two men who are very, very good at what they do.
ROH TV 11/20/25
Athena vs Harley Cameron (Ported: https://x.com/MattD_SC/status/1991866317486555505)
Throughout the years, we've created a critical system of reviewing and ranking matches that's based on things like action, execution, big spots, and exciting finishing stretches.
It often leaves more performative elements behind. These would include facial reactions, body language, character driven creative choices, and yeah, even selling.
In fact, over the years, matches that lean too hard on some of these elements tend to be judged by some as unfortunate because they can "negatively impact the action" and make it so a match isn't considered as conventionally great as it might have been if the wrestlers had just been allowed to go hard and lean into workrate instead.
A recent review I saw of Demolition vs Brainbusters from SNME 21, a match that trades workrate for a clever and consistent story of Demolition getting increasingly frustrated leading to a DQ, comes to mind.
Along these lines, some of Jon Moxley's recent performances where he's been leaning hard into the role of a mad king who saw his pro wrestling kingdom crumbling, a man who claimed to stand for things but was slowly being revealed as an emperor with no clothes, an animal with his back against the wall desperate for victory, for revenge, but forced to look himself in the mirror and see a coward, quitter, and hypocrite, have been excellent.
But there are different lanes for different sorts of performances, and I think there's no one as good in the world right now at letting her character drive her physicality and matches as Athena.
That was evident in her 11/20 ROH TV title match against Harley Cameron.
Despite being champion for over 1000 days, she came in on her back foot, having been pinned by Harley in the tag tournament (albeit after eating Willow's doctor bomb).
That was maddening for Athena (the character) for multiple reasons. First, she and Mercedes were a sort of super team and they were defeated in the first round. Second, she's been pinned only a handful of times in the last few years. Third, there's a massive difference in hierarchy and experience between Athena and Harley. Harley's treated as plucky and determined, hard-working and fiery, but also as an upstart underdog and often as a comedy act.
That gave Athena a ton to work with but it meant shaping the match and her performance around this mentality as opposed to shooting to have the most exciting, spot filled match possible.
She came out to the ring without her usual celebratory fanfare, scowling instead. She offered a normal handshake instead of her usual left handed princess dangle. Then she ran right in, impatient and irritated, charging into Harley's armdrags. That Harley's execution wasn't perfect only added fuel to the fire here.
When Athena took over, she was constantly distracted. At times, after her running punch in the corner or when putting on a hold, she'd start to unveil her usual grin only for reality to hit and the scowl to return. Just when she started to relax and enjoy herself, the fans began clapping up Harley and she became irate. She jawed back with them, delusionally claiming that they were taunting Harley and not her.
The match was built around Athena's character-driven mistakes (rushing in, losing her cool, being distracted by the crowd, trying to use Harley's own finisher) creating openings for Harley in order to counteract the hierarchal differences. It demanded absolute consistency from Athena in both what she did and in how she did it. It demanded selling that's far more complex and nuanced than remembering to limp now and again, a selling of the soul.
These performances tend not to earn stars, but they move hearts and minds. And in 2025, Athena is as good at them as anyone.
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