All Elite Wrestling’s next pay-per-view, Full Gear is this weekend, but even with a final episode of Dynamite to push the selling points of the event, there’s a noticeable lack of anticipation behind the show, which says a lot about the lack of structure within the company itself.
When you look at the card, it’s an average, but solid All Elite PPV on paper. The talent on the roster is rarely in question, but how they are positioned becomes a much bigger point than anything else. Kris Statlander might be the best in-ring female worker in the promotion so there’s little doubt that she can have a good match against Mercedes Mone, as artificial as it might be since the former Sasha Banks continues to collect props in an attempt to try to convince purists that she’s somehow the female version of Ultimo Dragon. She seems to forget or ignore that Ultimo Dragon didn’t fall woefully short of expectations, but instead was known for an uncompromising consistency throughout his legendary career. Wasn’t Mone supposed to be a game changer when she arrived last year? Has she truly moved the needle? There’s not a better example of when belts are reduced to props than the current “Ultimo Mone” stint that gives the impression that she’s begging to be taken seriously as a top-notch worker, but her in-ring work usually doesn’t reflect it.
Kyle Fletcher and Mark Briscoe had a great match previously, and there’s no reason not to have a rematch, except for the fact that it’s a no DQ match because why not? Along those same lines, Samoa Joe will get a rematch against Adam Page in a steel cage match. Similar to Fletcher/Briscoe, there’s a reason for Joe to get another title shot, especially after the heel turn after the original contest rejuvenated his character, but the steel cage stipulation is again where the booking misses the mark.
The reason being is simple, the audience just saw the crescendo of gimmick matches last week during the Blood and Guts episode of Dynamite. Anything after that, especially the following weekend, is diminishing returns. Furthermore, the effectiveness of anything done at Full Gear in either gimmick match, is completely neutralized, as unless someone loses a limb, which might sadly be possible on an AEW broadcast, it will be tame in comparison to what was on television less than ten days previously.
It’s basic pro wrestling psychology, and maybe that’s why it’s so frustrating to continuously watch legitimate risks be completely disregarded because nothing within the product truly spotlights moments since the booking is all over the place. It’s the same problem the Attitude era had, except it’s done to an exponentially more ridiculous degree in All Elite today. If you see a head-on collision at an intersection, the fender bender five minutes later at a stop sign is minimal by comparison.
The Blood and Guts matches were essentially AEW’s answer to War Games at Survivor Series later this month, which was a misguided attempt to counter what WWE is going to offer, but that’s a different discussion for a different time. It’s also a different discussion for a different time if matches like this are wise to put on cable television. At the very list, the argument could be made that the gory spectacle could sour sponsors or the network on AEW programming, at this point, parsing those details would be moot. The AEW product has established what it is, regardless of if that’s suitable or tailored to a national audience is irrelevant, this is what Tony Khan offers to the audience.
I could write a lengthy column on the many reasons why the vast majority of what was booked for Blood and Guts last week is counter productive to drawing money on a national level, or why it puts a ceiling on not only the audience that will watch it, but also the revenue that it could generate for the company. We already know that drawing money isn’t the top priority for Tony Khan so it’s another moot debate to discuss the details of why the concept itself.
However, the much bigger and more simplistic point is how putting Blood and Guts on television rather than pay-per-view completely devalued the Full Gear event.
The two-ring steel cage match on Dynamite was legitimately one of the bloodiest matches in the history of pro wrestling television. Skye Blue bled buckets, and Kyle O’Reilly spilled an unbelievable amount of blood. It was a total blood bath and stands out for the sheer amount of crimson, even though the company overuses blood on a regular basis. There were tables, glass, barbed wire, and fire used between the two Blood and Guts matches.
So, what exactly are Samoa Joe and Adam Page going to do in a cage match to follow it? It’s literally an apples-to-apples situation, and the two could work a great match that will be forgettable compared to the cage match that more viewers watched on television. The same applies for Mark Briscoe, who was in the Blood and Guts match, and Kyle Fletcher. What exactly are they supposed to do in a no DQ match that isn’t going to be considered undistinguished compared to the blood, fire, and tables, on Dynamite?
This is where Tony Khan booked the entire scenario backwards. As over-the-top and unnecessary as the Blood and Guts matches were, you could at least partially justify it if they were put on pay-per-view because it could theoretically generate more buys for the show. In fact, if the gimmick matches were put on PPV, technically, the history of Blood and Guts could’ve been used to leverage another selling point for Full Gear. If this is the stuff they’ve done for this match in the past on television, how far are they going to push the envelope on pay-per-view? More specifically, and this might be the biggest point to be made from a business prospective, if the blood bath is booked on pay-per-view, the company wouldn’t be at risk of causing any issues with the network, and to a lesser extent, advertisers.
The biggest takeaway from all of this is that Tony Khan actually made it more difficult for the company to sell its pay-per-view this weekend based on what he booked for television last week. It puts the talent on the Full Gear card, some of those performers that were in the steel cage matches on Dynamite last week, in a no-win situation. In the grand scheme of things, Blood and Guts will overshadow Full Gear, particularly because there probably won’t be any noteworthy title switches on the card. This situation demonstrates why drawing money isn’t the priority for All Elite Wrestling since the pay-per-view buy rate has the potential to be a much bigger revenue stream than the weekly television taping, but with the way the product was booked within the past two weeks, there’s actually less of an incentive for the fans to pay to order Full Gear this weekend. Sure, the broadcast will probably be four and a half hours, and there will be matches will the same dazzling high spots or gimmicks used throughout the night, but will any of it matter for the landscape of the company? The only things that are really at stake at Full Gear are the TBS title and the world heavyweight title. It’s obvious that Mercedes Mone is going to collect another title, and chances are slim that Adam Page will drop the championship after he already beat Joe previously so what exactly is the reason that the fans should spend $50 to watch the PPV, especially after it will be tame compared to the matches on Dynamite last week?
What do you think? Share your thoughts, opinions, feedback, and anything else that was raised on Twitter @PWMania and Facebook.com/PWMania.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
