Saturday night, AEW descended upon Newark, New Jersey for this year's Full Gear pay-per-view.

With no Young Bucks, Kenny Omega or Kazuchika Okada on the card, this was one of the first major events without The Elite's presence in quite some time.

Jon Moxley's Death Riders have been running roughshod over the entire AEW roster in recent weeks, and that led to Orange Cassidy finally stepping up to challenge him for the World Heavyweight Championship in defense of AEW.

The PPV also included bouts for the tag, TNT, TBS and international titles in addition to a handful of non-title matches.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest takeaways from the sixth annual Full Gear PPV.

Results from the PPV

Here is a full rundown of the results from Full Gear 2024:

• Anna Jay defeated Taya Valkyrie
• Buddy Matthews defeated Komander, Dante Martin and Beast Mortos
• "Big Boom" AJ defeated QT Marshall
• Private Party defeated The Acclaimed, House of Black and Outrunners
• MJF defeated Roderick Strong
• Mercedes Moné defeated Kris Statlander
• Jay White defeated Adam Page
• Kyle Fletcher defeated Will Ospreay
• (NEW CHAMPION) Daniel Garcia defeated Jack Perry to win the TNT Championship
• Konosuke Takeshita defeated Ricochet
• Bobby Lashley defeated Swerve Strickland
• Jon Moxley defeated Orange Cassidy

Anna Jay and Deonna Purrazzo Could Have Used Some Rehearsal Time

Jay and Purrazzo opened up the Zero Hour pre-show with a singles match that had a few hiccups along the way.

Within the first 30 seconds, Purrazzo seemingly took a back bump for no reason, forcing Jay to think on her feet to keep the match moving.

Toward the end, the referee watched Taya Valkyrie interfere with a spear at ringside, which would usually cause a disqualification in any match.

However, you could tell the ref was not supposed to see it, so instead of calling off the match, he ejected Valkyrie from ringside, allowing Jay to score the intended win a few moments later with a roll-up.

While the majority of the match was fine, these two moments stuck out and hurt its overall quality. Purrazzo is a lauded performer and Jay has improved a lot in 2024, but sometimes having a chance to rehearse a match ahead of time will help iron out these mistakes.

All that being said, seeing Jay get a win over someone on Purrazzo's level is a good indication that AEW is invested in her and will continue to push her heading into the new year.

AEW Fans Like Goofy Gimmicks

The Zero Hour pre-show featured an unconventional match when the Costco guy "Big Boom" AJ took on QT Marshall.

AJ's son, Big Justice, was also in attendance, as was another social media star, The Rizzler. If you know who they are, you probably got a kick out of this. If you don't know these people, you probably rolled your eyes the whole time.

AEW has never shied away from featuring people from outside of pro wrestling with musicians like Snoop Dogg and Action Bronson and actors like Paul Walter Hauser making appearances, but the difference between them and Big Boom is that he was actually a pro wrestler in the New Jersey indie scene several years ago.

Not only was AJ experienced, but he and QT Marshall have an established history that AEW has used to build this matchup in recent weeks.

The reactions to this match fell into two categories. On one side, you had fans who thought this was dumb and took a spot away from the AEW roster. On the other side, you had AEW fans who found all of this entertaining.

We live in an era when a young woman can become famous for saying "Hawk tuah" and people get millions of views on TikTok for posting videos about trying different Costco snacks, so we need to accept that this stuff is not going away anytime soon.

Based on the crowd's reaction, the AEW fanbase was enjoying this comedy match, but if you go on social media, you will see some people acting like this is the end of the wrestling business as we know it.

If David Arquette winning a world title didn't kill pro wrestling, a guy who tries food court items with his son certainly isn't going to take it down either.

The Acclaimed Are Done

Caster and Bowens had a chance to win gold when they fought in a Fatal 4-Way tag title bout on Saturday, but the same communication issues they'd been having for weeks plagued the match.

The first misstep was Caster taking too much time to pose for the crowd and missing a tag from Bowens when he needed an assist.

The second misstep happened when Caster tagged himself in when Bowens was already the legal man. This led to a weird moment when Bowens tried to pin Caster, which made for a funny spot but didn't actually make sense.

The third misstep occurred when Caster tagged himself in right before Bowens was about to get the pin and win the match. At this point, the crowd had turned on Caster and began chanting profanities at him.

The fourth and final nail in the coffin was when Caster was pinned by Private Party. Billy Gunn looked heartbroken to see his found family falling apart at the seams.

Not only have they been having issues during matches, but Caster has clearly gotten under Bowens' skin during backstage promos, especially whenever MVP is around.

This is one of the first tag teams that formed in AEW. Bowens and Caster were both hired as singles stars and paired together by Tony Khan, but after five years and runs as both trios and tag champs, it feels like the team has run its course.

They didn't break up at the PPV, but all of the work was done to set it up. There is a good chance that the next time we see The Acclaimed is the last.

Kris Statlander Is AEW's Secret Weapon

Statlander has had two long hiatuses due to injuries in the past, but ever since she returned from her second leg injury at Double or Nothing 2023, she has been on fire.

Every time AEW puts Stat in a big match situation, she absolutely nails it. Her alliance and feud with Willow Nightingale showed a lot of people what she's capable of, but her match against Moné at Full Gear may be her best performance to date.

Moné is well-regarded as an in-ring competitor, but she always seems to bring a little extra something to matches when she is overpowered and outmatched by her opponent.

Statlander is one of, if not the strongest, women in AEW, so she forced the TBS champion to dig deep and use every ounce of her strength to stand a chance.

After a valiant effort, Statlander, unfortunately, lost to Moné, but she added yet another great performance to her resumé and made a case for why she should be in the running for more title opportunities in the future.

Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher Were Born to Do This

Coming into Full Gear, one of the most anticipated matches was Ospreay vs. Fletcher, and it became that without even needing a title to make it feel special.

This was a grudge match between former allies, so it wasn't about wins and losses. Both men came into this looking to hurt the other person.

For Fletcher, this match was about breaking out of Ospreay's shadow. Their time in United Empire might have gotten the 25-year-old where he is, but he wants to prove he is capable of more.

For Ospreay, this bout was all about getting retribution for Fletcher's betrayal. He seemed to care more about losing his friend than losing the international title, so Billy Goat looked emotional during his entrance.

What unfolded was one of the best bell-to-bell performances on the entire PPV. Neither man held anything back and used their years of friendship to build the kind of chemistry that only comes from knowing someone else almost as well as you know yourself.

With matches this good, the result almost doesn't matter because both guys deserved the win in the eyes of the crowd.

Fletcher ended up defeating his former mentor in arguably his best AEW performance to date. If you see only one match from this PPV, make it this one.

Daniel Garcia Is the Future

In order to be a champion in a major promotion, a wrestler needs to have in-ring skills, charisma and the support of the crowd. Garcia has proved on multiple occasions that he has all three.

Part of what makes Red Death so relatable is that he is basically just a normal dude. He's not a 6'6" powerhouse or an acrobat on loan from Cirque du Soleil. He's in good shape, but he doesn't have a physique chiseled from granite. He looks like he could be your coworker or neighbor.

The thing that makes him special is his incredible technical ability. He can put on a good match with just about anybody, and that's the kind of talent that is invaluable to a promoter.

He and Perry built up a personal feud for the TNT title that culminated in a highly physical match. They blended story and brutality in a way that made the outcome hard to predict, which is always a plus in the often predictable world of pro wrestling.

After both men came close to winning multiple times, Garcia made the former Jungle Boy tap out to become the new TNT champion. The crowd erupted when he locked in his version of the Sharpshooter and pulled Perry to the middle of the ring to ensure he couldn't reach the ropes.

We saw some great stuff on Saturday, but this moment is going to be one of the most discussed leading into Wednesday's Dynamite.

Orange Cassidy Is No Longer a Meme Wrestler

When AEW first launched and the worldwide audience was introduced to Orange Cassidy, a lot of people didn't know what to make of him.

Here was a guy who put his hands in his pockets, delivered the weakest kicks you have ever seen on purpose, and almost never spoke more than two words.

For a few years, the lazy and uninvested character worked, but we all knew he would need to evolve if he ever wanted to be seen as more than a midcard comedy act, and 2024 saw him do exactly that.

He may still have the same lazy thumbs up pose and taunt his opponents by putting his hands in his pockets, but nobody can deny how skilled he is as a wrestler after seeing him perform in big-match situations.

His run as the international champion opened a lot of eyes, but his feud with Moxley and The Death Riders is what has turned him into a real main event player in AEW.

He has been beaten, battered and bloodied, but OC's resiliency is what has won so many people over. He's David facing every Goliath he can find, and that is part of what makes him so appealing to younger fans.

It took outside interference from Wheeler Yuta to give Moxley the win, so in a small way, Cassidy was protected in this loss.

All in all, Full Gear was another entertaining AEW PPV, but it certainly had highs and lows. What was your favorite part of Saturday's show?