AEW Full Gear 2023 HOT TAKE
Experience the pinnacle of professional wrestling at AEW Full Gear 2023, live from the legendary KIA Forum in Los Angeles!
Legacy Unleashed: AEW Full Gear 2023 at The KIA Forum
The KIA Forum in Los Angeles has seen some professional wrestling history, my friends. Since the late 1960s, The Forum has hosted the best of professional wrestling, with California fans witnessing Sting vs. Ric Flair, Verne Gagne vs. Dick the Bruiser, Hijo del Santo vs. Negro Casas, Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart and countless other classics. This Saturday, international FITE fans get to witness All Elite Wrestling inscribe the latest chapter of professional wrestling greatness into the annals of not just Los Angeles history, but combat sports history worldwide, because my friends, it is time for Full Gear 2023.
AEW returns to Pay-Per-View and once again, FITE will be the exclusive home internationally for all of the elite excellence that comes with AEW as the top championships will be decided and colossal grudge matches will clash until their victors are decided. When the dust settles, career trajectories will change forever and the AEW galaxy will enter into a new, unknown chapter. The future of AEW begins anew this Saturday, exclusively for international FITE fans!
AEW World Heavyweight Championship Showdown: MJF vs. Jay White
Full Gear 2023 will be headlined by AEW World Heavyweight Champion MJF battling Bullet Club Gold leader Jay White. White, the former IWGP Champion, has been one of the most tumultuous antagonizers in AEW history since making his way to the promotion from New Japan Pro Wrestling, an ironic twist since the man who has been the ultimate antagonizer in AEW history has long been Maxwell Jacob Friedman. MJF has schemed, fought and cheated his way to the top of AEW's pyramid. After achieving his ultimate victory, a strange thing happened to MJF, something that he likely never expected - the ultimate narcissist found himself being loved, and found himself finding true friends.
While none of this changed the fire that MJ brought to his matches, it however did make him an even bigger target amongst those who wanted his championship and his position at the top of the company. With Bullet Club Gold having targeted MJF and with White stealing the AEW World Heavyweight Championship bout, declaring that it was already his property before Full Gear, this main event bout will show the world the true nature of each competitor. For MJF, this is a chance to prove that even someone who has been the bully can rise up to overcome the odds and prove himself as one of AEW's most valiant fighters. For White, this is a chance to claim mastery over all of AEW the way he has internationally in the past. For each fighter, this is a chance to set the stage for the remainder of the year and indeed, all of 2024 for AEW fans across the world. Indeed, the winner will prove that they are at the zeitgeist of their career inside the ring.
The Final Dance: Sting's Career-Celebrating Six-Man Tag Team Extravaganza
While MJF and Jay White are currently celebrating the prime of their career, FITE fans across the world are already celebrating the final chapter of Sting's career. The former NWA, TNA and WCW World Champion has announced that he intends to end his career at AEW Revolution 2024 but before Sting gets to that moment in time, there are many battles still to be fought and won, including massive six man tag team attraction at Full Gear in Los Angeles, where Sting's career first began under Rick Bassman alongside the late Ultimate Warrior.
Indeed, Sting will march to the ring, bat in hand, alongside Adam Copeland and Darby Allin, three generations of unique heroes standing shoulder to shoulder in battle against their foes, who all seek to ruin Sting's career celebration before it can even begin. Christian Cage has made a career out of ruining the happiness of wrestling fans and the pride of wrestling's greatest competitors and this Saturday live on FITE, Cage and his minions Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne seek to do just that.
The evil mirror image to that Copeland-Darby-Sting alliance, this Patriarchy of evil seeks to snuff out the flame that is Sting's career. As wrestling fans and even Ric Flair have rallied around the Stinger, Cage hopes to use the Unprettier to smash the dreams of a happy ending and plunge everyone into a nightmare where he rules over all others, taking that surge of hope and happiness, strangling it into nothingness. Darby Allin has shocked the world with his insane physical moves over the years, Copeland has speared through countless opponents and Sting has, time and time again, defeated the best in the world, but can they pull out one more victory in what may be Sting's final match in his original home city? International FITE fans, like Los Angeles itself, await the answer to be revealed this Saturday.
Elite Tag Team Showdown: Young Bucks vs. Golden Jets
In another battle that has great implications for California fans, Nick and Matt Jackson, The Young Bucks find themselves in an explosive, elite tag team battle against The Golden Jets, Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho with a future AEW World Tag Team Championship match at stake. With Omega's relationship with his Elite brethren falling apart, he challenged them to man up in this bout with The Bucks' backs against the wall before their Golden State faithful fans. Not one to ever be outshined, the Bucks agreed to put their tag team title shot on the line, but only if Jericho and Omega's team disband forever should the Bucks emerge victorious. In a battle between four men who helped forge the AEW Attitude worldwide, the future of everything that defined All Elite Wrestling is now at stake in a battle not even Tony Khan himself can predict.
Texas Death Match: Swerve Strickland vs. Hangman Page
One of the darkest and most sinister acts in the history of AEW was recently perpetrated by Swerve Strickland and Prince Nana when they traveled to North Carolina to invade the home of former AEW World Champion Hangman Page and menace his young son. Enraged, this led Page to challenge Swerve to a Texas Death Match at Full Gear, promising to bring the full ferocity of Swerve's atrocities back to him in the most violent way possible. Since losing the AEW Championship, Page has bounced through the promotion, seeking the prism that could rekindle the fire within him and bring focus back to his in-ring exploits.
As Page was on that journey, Swerve saw him as an easy target, a means to an end to fulfill Swerve's own desires to rise up to the top 1% of professional wrestling. Battling Page in the ring and harassing him outside of the squared circle, Swerve believed he had "The Hangman's" number, but it appears he has crossed the ultimate line and now, these two stellar fighters will collide at Full Gear with blood guaranteed to be spilled, bones perhaps to be broken and spirits certainly to be split until one proud fighter can no longer answer the referee's count of ten. The winner will certainly stand tall, a living prologue for the future of AEW's championship scene, but before that arm can be raised, FITE international fans will live through a true war of attrition in Swerve vs. Hangman!
International Championship Clash: Orange Cassidy vs. Jon Moxley
Equally emotional at Full Gear this Saturday in Los Angeles will be the International Championship bout as Orange Cassidy, who has defined the greatness of the championship will defend against the man who once ripped the championship from his grasp, Jon Moxley. After Moxley shockingly lost the belt to Rey Fenix, Cassidy found himself again winning that championship for the second time. But, with Moxley back from injury and furiously wanting his title back, Cassidy finds that he's trapped in a time warp, once again having to battle Moxley, but this time, looking to change the ending of their last story. Cassidy, who has earned the hearts of the AEW faithful worldwide, will have to dig deep and go beyond his usual taunts in order to surpass Moxley's fearless brawling style inside and beyond the ring. While Moxley is coming for revenge, this night may indeed prove to be Cassidy's reckoning instead
War of Warriors: Hikaru Shida vs. Toni Storm
AEW's reigning and defending World Women's Champion Hikaru Shida has proven to be the most vibrant and versatile women's competitor in AEW history but at Full Gear, she faces one of her most formidable challengers in her career as Toni Storm steps up in her latest attempt to wrest the World Women's Championship in Los Angeles. Ever-evolving as a competitor, Toni Storm has indeed proven herself to be "Timeless", a competitor who is as adept as playing mind games as she can break down an opponent inside the ring. However, in Shida, Storm faces a multi-time champion who has meshed the best of both the Japanese and American styles of professional wrestling, a true warrior who has shattered barriers across the world. But, can Shida figure out how to out-shine the Toni Storm that is currently enrapturing the world worldwide? International FITE fans will soon find out.
Tag Team Championship Extravaganza
AEW Full Gear will also feature the AEW World Tag Team Champions Big Bill and Ricky Starks, two competitors who have finally achieved all of the glory that had been predicted for them as they enter a massive four-way battle against very distinct, different and dangerous opponents in the tag team wizardry of former World Tag Team Champions FTR, the sheer diabolical force of The House of Black and the lucha brutality of Rush and Dralistico. This battle will showcase four distinct teams exploding with talent but only one team can exit as victorious champions. Do not underestimate the potential for greatness brewing in this bout when the bell rings to signify the start of this championship battle.
Championship Stakes: AEW TBS and ROH World Tag Team Championships
With the AEW TBS and the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championships also at stake at Full Gear this Saturday, FITE fans watching on their devices internationally are promised one of the most stacked All Elite Wrestling experiences of their lives when Full Gear emanates from the KIA Forum in Los Angeles this Saturday!
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.