I'm full of a veggie roast and way too many sides and desserts from Friendsgiving, and I'm starting this show three hours behind schedule with a cup of coffee (and a very needy Siamese cat) next to me. I think this is probably the viewing experience Tony Khan always imagined for Full Gear 2024.

While I've enjoyed more of the stories and build to Full Gear than I've enjoyed a lot of AEW in the past year or so, I still find myself at a baseline level of hyped for the event itself. The last time I felt truly good and hyped about a single match or feud was Hangman/Swerve in the Lights Out match. It's not that I'm not enjoying AEW and I'm not hyped, but I'm finding there are far fewer peaks and valleys as things go on.

I'm not really sure what that means. It's certainly better than it was a few months ago when it felt like we weren't getting Dynamite and Collision cards announced until the day of those shows. I now actually feel like I can look forward to each episode of TV since the shows have some build to them.

Plus, it's Continental Classic season starting on Wednesday and that was my favorite part of AEW last year. I'm excited to see who makes it into each bracket and what, if any, surprises may be in store. Most of all, though, I'm looking forward to what will likely be an insane quality of matches every week all with the fun little addition of points and tournament stories. I love that shit.

But tonight! It's Full Gear! Nobody expects Orange Cassidy to actually unseat Jon Moxley this early into his reign, but I don't doubt that the match will kick a lot of ass. And that's really the sense I get with the whole of the show – while I may not be on the edge of my seat for everything, I know everything will be at least good-to-great. And, honestly, after being stuck with only WWE as a major US promotion for like 20+ years, it's been refreshing for the default quality of a promotion's show to be "really very nice and good" for the past 5 years.

Can we just have MJF and Mercedes Moné wrestle every week?

Before tonight, MJF's last match was in September. While Mercedes has wrestled more recently on AEW TV with one match in October, you still have to go back to September again for her second most-recent match.

MJF is stuck in the misery cycle of this never-ending Adam Cole feud and I'd love nothing more than to see him break free from that albatross of a feud and just do something, anything, interesting.

The problem with MJF is that his promos can be extremely hit or miss. He has the ability to delivery engaging and interesting promos, but more often than not devolves into picking the lowest-hanging fruit which becomes agonizing to listen to over and over again.

In the ring, though, MJF almost never disappoints (other than my own personal disdain for his loud over-selling of his knee, which we thankfully didn't get tonight). So, can we just get this guy in the ring more often wrestling cool matches? Can we get MJF in the C2 instead of sending in weirdo, 45-second long videos watching TV "from his home" every other week?

Mercedes is in a bit of a different boat. Her promos and character work since going full heel have been great. She feels like such a caricature of a heel in a good way. She goes for the same cheap pop with the city name each week and while some of her promos still have the WWE cadence stuck in them, her work alongside Kamille (who stinks) has been a lot of fun.

Mercedes also showed out tonight against Kris Statlander, making it seem like she could improbably drop the TBS Title a number of times. Stat came out looking super strong and the crowd was way into the match, chanting throughout and biting on a ton of near-falls.

Mercedes getting into the ring and showing what she can do more often would be great, especially with the amount of women on the roster in AEW. She can tell great stories in the ring and I hope she gets to do so much more often in the coming months.

Kyle Fletcher is a made man. Sorry for now, Mark Davis.

I was always a little bit lukewarm on Aussie Open. I never thought they were bad, but I had a hard time getting into their matches the way I think most others did and the way I was expected to.

When Mark Davis got injured, Fletcher had some fun singles matches but nothing that was necessarily unique from what you could find up and down the card in AEW. He was good, but when good is the minimum and most are great, you have to do more to make yourself stand out.

Somewhere along the way with the Don Callis Family, Fletcher found whatever it was that was missing and began to shine brighter than his opponents – something that wasn't always true when his forced singles run started.

Now, Fletcher is absolutely made as a singles wrestler. His in-ring work is incredible, his promos are good and believable, and he's always over. The plus side to being over is that he's over as a heel despite being dynamic in the ring, which isn't always easy to do in AEW. AEW crowds tend to want to cheer for anyone who puts on fun and exciting matches, but they're always ready to boo Kyle Fletcher.

The question always loomed over Fletcher, though: what happens when Mark Davis returns from injury?

Thus far, Davis and Fletcher have found themselves on the opposite side of the ring. I think it's a smart move to keep Fletcher as a singles wrestler rather than immediately dumping him back into a tag team, especially when it's clear that Private Party have much more gas in the tank in terms of their current push and story.

I don't know where Fletcher goes from here. I assume he's earned a slot in the C2 and will have sensational matches throughout the entirety of the tournament. Before 2025 is through, though, he should be a singles champion of some sort in AEW (and I mean AEW, not ROH). He could easily carry any belt and setup any babyface to be elevated in taking the gold off of him.

And then? Well, nobody lasts forever in the Don Callis Family. Once the shine comes off of Fletcher in Callis' eyes, it'll be time to dump him from the group for somebody new. This is where it would make sense to finally reunite Aussie Open, send them on a monster tag run, and have them secure the AEW Tag Team Titles.

Let's give it all time to breathe, though. Fletcher probably has at least a year left in this run as a singles wrestler before there's any reason to change things up. The question then becomes: what does Mark Davis do in the meantime, and can he prove to be as strong a singles wrestler as Kyle Fletcher?

The Elite continues to crumble

It all started with The Young Bucks losing the Tag Titles to Private Party and making a hasty retreat from the building and from AEW (at least in terms of in-person work).

Now, Daniel Garcia is the new TNT Champion by means of making Jack Perry tap out. Garcia has been a favorite of mine since before he came to AEW, and it was a little frustrating at times to see him get lost in the shuffle at points in his run.

His C2 run last year told a story about not giving up and believing in yourself, ending in a win over Brody King on his last day in the tournament. Still, that was a year ago. He floundered a bit in terms of placement on the card and consistent storylines, due in part (reportedly) to contract negotiations.

However, it all came to a head at Full Gear with Garcia becoming the new TNT Champion. This is a huge step for Garcia and for those who are seen as either "AEW Originals" or as just the younger generation on whose backs you could build the company. Garcia joins Private Party, Kyle Fletcher, Mariah May, and Orange Cassidy as the possible faces of the future of AEW who were also highlighted in important ways on this show.

What comes next for Jack Perry, though? I couldn't quite tell what he was evoking with the look on his face after the match; it seemed a mix of irritation with a hint of a smirk? The first thought that comes to mind is a further implosion of The Elite by way of Perry entering the Continental Classic as a way to take the Continental Championship off of Kazuchika Okada.

That may be a bit of a stretch at this point with so little to go on, but with the Bucks out of the picture for now and Perry no longer a champion, it may be time for him to do something unexpected to right himself. Moving on from the TNT Title to the Continental Championship could be that thing.

Orange Cassidy made everybody believe

As I've already said, nobody expected Orange Cassidy to end Jon Moxley's reign as World Champion already. Not that OC isn't a credible champion, just that it's far too early for Mox to lose the belt and have this story end.

That being said, Mox and OC did as good as a job as anybody could have done to make us all believe that OC actually might get the shock win at Full Gear. When the match turned into a clusterfuck with interference and briefcase shots, it looked like there was a glimmer of hope that Cassidy could have pulled it off.

The crowd bit on the near-falls in the crowd as much as I did at home, but alas – it was that little shit Wheeler Yuta playing spoiler with a running knee to Cassidy allowing Moxley to retain the title.

The post-match shenanigans all felt a little heavy-handed to me and slowed down the overall feel of the show. I'm not a fan of the "anytime, anywhere" contract thing but it was an unexpected wrinkle to be thrown in with Christian Cage almost cashing in his contract.

Following Death Riders out of the building and into a demolition derby attack from Darby Allin (Demolition Darby?!), the show ended with Darbo shouting in the direction of Moxley, "let's finish this shit!"

Darby will eventually be the one to dethrone Mox, I firmly believe. But with all of the hoopla after the main event, will Mox first go through Hangman, Jay White, and Christian? It still feels too soon for Mox to drop the belt, but maybe we'll see a repeat of last year's Worlds End in terms of shocking title changes.

Wrapping Up

The Rizzler is fucking over, baby. I can't say that I know or care about The Costco Guys at all. I don't understand what that thing is The Rizzler does with his chin. But, Big Boom AJ or whatever the hell is name is against QT Marshall was astonishing. I know they've talked about AJ's history of training as a wrestler 20 years ago; I'm not sure if he's wrestled or trained regularly at all since then. Aside from looking obviously blown up, he still held his own. That tippy top rope superplex? Just wonderful.

I'm a little annoyed we didn't get a full break-up from The Acclaimed at Full Gear. They've been planting seeds in promos for weeks and tonight was the first time those seeds really grew into something in-ring, but it was essentially more of the same. I'm hoping we don't get four more weeks of miscommunications in matches before they finally call it splits and that we get to move on from all of this sooner rather than later.

I'm more than a little annoyed that we're still dragging this MJF/Adam Cole shit on. At least Cole didn't come out tanned like a fuckin' banana tonight. This feud sucks, this story sucks, and it's instant tune-out time for me whenever I hear "Who's ready for story time with Adam Cole, BAY BAY?". I'M NOT READY AND I NEVER WILL BE.

I don't think Bobby Lashley really did anything for me. Shelton Benjamin is the man and I hope he's in the C2 doing incredible things. Lashley, on the other hand, just doesn't interest me. I'm intrigued in the Hurt Syndicate/Swerve storyline, especially because I want to see if Swerve resorts to backup to even the odds against Lashley and Benjamin.

Swerve losing wasn't a surprise considering this was Lashley's big PPV debut for AEW, but it all fell a bit flat for me which is disappointing since Swerve has been one of the highlights for me in AEW for the past year or so.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm currently trying to upscale this 6-hour MTV 1999 New Year's Eve broadcast so we can throw that on the ole CRT on New Year's Eve this year instead of watching/falling asleep to whatever is on regular TV as is tradition.