AEW's Go-Home Show Sold Full Gear With Words, Then Gave Away Its Best Tag Match Early.

AEW ran a three-hour block from West Valley City, Utah on Wednesday, with Collision airing right after Dynamite. It was the last TV before Full Gear on Saturday in Phoenix, and the job was simple: make people want to buy that card.

Most of the night delivered. The World title main event got a long, personal face-to-face. The Best of 5 Series finally ended. The National Championship picked up a Full Gear match it didn't have a week ago. The one real misstep was a finish that annoyed part of the crowd, even if the brawl after it worked.

Our take: Dynamite opened with a long talking segment, and it was the right call. Ospreay and Fletcher have wrestled plenty. What their match needed was a reason to care about one more, and this show gave it one.

“Dynamite opened with a long talking segment, and it was the right call.”

— GONEdii Gazette G.

Fletcher finally sounded like a world title challenger

The show opened with footage from after Blood & Guts, where Adam Copeland told Ospreay's locker room why he surrendered for the team. Then Kyle Fletcher and Ospreay met in the ring with Don Callis at Fletcher's side.

Fletcher started by thanking Ospreay and ended by blaming him for everything. He brought up the neck injury that led to Ospreay's spinal fusion surgery and asked him to say out loud who caused it. Ospreay admitted it was Fletcher, then turned the segment around. He called their history one-sided, claiming he has won five of their six singles matches, and played footage of Fletcher watching his walk to the ring at All In. Fletcher said he was jealous, then went after Ospreay's family, and slapped him on the way out.

That is the strongest Fletcher has looked as a talker on AEW TV. Ospreay has held the AEW World title for 73 days on WCN's champions board, since All In on August 30. A title match against a man Ospreay says he has beaten five times is a hard sell. This segment sold it as a grudge instead of a record, and that's the only way it works. It also leaves Copeland's place on Ospreay's side in real doubt.

The tag division got a new contender and a fresh title match

Motor City Machine Guns beat FTR in the fifth and final match of their series. In WCN's records the series went MCMG at WrestleDream, FTR on Collision, MCMG on Dynamite, FTR on the Jericho Cruise Collision, and MCMG again Wednesday, for a 3-2 finish. Shelley got the winning pin on Harwood with a sunset flip in the closing seconds, after a long stretch where FTR leaned on Stokely and a ring bell. Both teams shook hands after.

AEW's official account confirmed the prize: MCMG get a shot at whoever leaves Full Gear with the World Tag Team titles. That makes Saturday's Young Bucks vs. Davis and Doyle match matter more. The Bucks have held the titles for 46 days, since All Out. If they keep them, AEW gets a Bucks vs. Machine Guns match that has never been an AEW title match. If Davis and Doyle win, the Callis Family adds another belt and MCMG become the babyface team chasing it.

The cost is FTR. They lost the series, and they now leave the title picture with no clear next step. On a go-home show, AEW put one of its best tag matches on free TV. We think that was worth it, because it built a challenger instead of just filling time.

Ciampa got a real first defense and a new problem

Tommaso Ciampa retained the AEW National title over Mike Bailey with a running knee after a bloody, back-and-forth fight. AEW's official account confirmed the retain. It was Ciampa's first defense, only 4 days after he took the title from Andrade El Idolo on Collision.

Then Ilja Dragunov's music hit, and the match graphic went up: Ciampa vs. Dragunov for the National title at Full Gear, which Tony Khan also announced. That fixes a gap. Our Full Gear preview counted six titles on the card, and the National title wasn't one of them. Now it is.

Ciampa is 3-1 in the AEW matches WCN has logged since WrestleDream, and his one loss was to Andrade before he won the belt. Bailey is 2-3 over the same stretch. He has lost his biggest matches in that span. He came off as a star here again, but AEW has to let him win one of these eventually. Andrade, for his part, said backstage he will use his World title contract and promised to become the first Latino AEW World Champion.

Shafir beat the champion she faces Saturday

Jon Moxley and Marina Shafir beat Jay White and Mercedes Moné when Shafir made Moné tap to the Brutalizer. Moné is defending the Women's World title against Shafir at Full Gear, and she has held it for 73 days.

The champion losing to her challenger before the pay-per-view is an old pattern, and it often points to the champion keeping the belt. Still, Shafir is 3-0 in the matches WCN has logged for her since mid-October, and she beat Moné by submission in the middle of the ring. Moné jumped her after the bell, which keeps the champion in heel mode going in. Moxley is 5-0 over the same stretch.

The brawl afterward set up Anarchy in the Arena. The Cut ran out, Kyle O'Reilly and Roderick Strong came to the stage, and Orange Cassidy came in through the crowd. Moxley then offered Cassidy a handshake, and Cassidy took it despite White yelling about their past. That's a strange alliance, and it gives Anarchy in the Arena a real story beyond a big fight.

The double count-out was a gamble

Brodido and the New Level brawled to a double count-out with Hangman Page and Swerve Strickland barred from ringside. The fight kept going up the ramp, and Kofi dove off the stage through a table onto Brody King. AEW's official clip called it an insane brawl.

As a preview of Saturday's Texas Death Match for the Trios titles, it worked. Page, Bandido and King have held those titles for 25 days, since WrestleDream. The finish itself is the risk. Live reports said the building booed the count, then came alive for the brawl. A non-finish like this can help once before a pay-per-view, but only if it stays rare.

The rest of the block

David Finlay beat Orange Cassidy with his shillelagh behind the referee's back, then the Cut jumped Cassidy after. Persephone beat Gypsy Mac with Britt Baker on commentary and spent the rest of the night yelling that the TBS title is still hers.

On the Collision side, the Young Bucks and Jack Perry beat Brian Cage, Kevin Knight and El Clon of the Callis Family when Matt Jackson pinned Clon. Wardlow is 3-0 in the matches WCN has logged for him after powerbombing Nick Comoroto. El Sky Team kept the ROH World Tag Team titles over the Swirl, then Nick Wayne interrupted them. And Queen Aminata won her first TBS defense over Skye Blue and Hyan, 14 days into her reign. Commentary announced a Tailgate Brawl title match for Saturday: Aminata vs. Persephone vs. Maya World.

What this go-home show means for Full Gear

Rising: Kyle Fletcher, who gave the World title match a real edge. Motor City Machine Guns, now first in line at the tag titles. Marina Shafir, unbeaten in WCN's logs and fresh off a submission win over the champion. Ilja Dragunov, who walked into a title match on one entrance.

Falling: FTR, out of the title picture after losing the series. Mike Bailey, who lost another big match. Orange Cassidy, beaten by a weapon, though his new handshake with Moxley could change that by Saturday.

Watch next: Ospreay vs. Fletcher for the World title, Moné vs. Shafir, Ciampa vs. Dragunov, the Bucks vs. Davis and Doyle with MCMG waiting, the Trios Texas Death Match, Okada vs. Copeland for the International title, and whether Copeland even shows up in Ospreay's corner of the story.

Fans on X mostly agreed that this was a strong go-home show. The Ospreay and Fletcher face-to-face got the biggest praise. Several fans called it one of the best segments of the year, and Fletcher drew the most credit. A smaller group said it ran too long. The Best of 5 finale was widely called the best match of the series, and plenty of fans said they're excited about a Bucks vs. Machine Guns title match. The double count-out was the most split reaction of the night. Some fans were angry and compared it to a WWE-style non-finish, while others said it was fine because AEW uses it so rarely and the brawl sold Saturday. That split matches our take. Ciampa vs. Bailey got strong reviews, with sympathy for Bailey losing again. Comments on AEW's official YouTube clips were still thin when we checked, and mostly positive about the National title match and the mixed tag. This is a read of public comments, not a poll.