Credit: All Elite Wrestling

AEW Full Gear 2021 Match Card Predictions Including Kenny Omega vs. Hangman Page

Erik Beaston

All Elite Wrestling presents its final pay-per-view of 2021, Full Gear, Saturday night from Minneapolis, with the main event featuring Hangman Page challenging Kenny Omega for the world championship.

That will be preceded by the final of the World Championship Eliminator Tournament aimed at determining the next top contender. And a stacked card featuring the best wrestlers on the planet will also see CM Punk square off with Eddie Kingston, The Inner Circle do battle with American Top Team and women's champion Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D., defend against Tay Conti.

In preparation for the hotly anticipated event, available on pay-per-view via B/R, dive deeper into each of the advertised matches and find out who you can expect to walk away with their arms raised in victory with these previews and predictions for Saturday's extravaganza.

Falls Count Anywhere: Christian Cage and Jurassic Express vs. Superkliq

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

The monthslong rivalry pitting Christian Cage and Jurassic Express against Superkliq's Adam Cole and The Young Bucks will culminate Saturday night with a Falls Count Anywhere match.

The feud dates back to Cole's debut with the company at All Out, when Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy came to the aid of Cage during a beatdown by The Elite. It escalated on the September 24 episode of Rampage from Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Cole and the Bucks scored an impressive victory over their rivals.

The teams have been at each other's throats ever since, with Cage and Jurassic Express getting the best of the heels Wednesday on Dynamite by way of a con-chair-to on Cole.

The Falls Count Anywhere stipulation helps elevate the significance and anticipation of the bout. We have seen the match before. We've seen fights involving multiple combinations of these wrestlers too. Sticking the stipulation on the match, however, gives it a sense of finality that it may not have had otherwise.

On the surface, it would look like Superkliq is the easy choice to win this one, if only because Cole losing in his first PPV match in the promotion doesn't seem likely. Given that his team won the first match, though, this is the perfect time to stick a win on Jungle Boy.

There is a whole week of television to put heat on Cole and the Bucks before giving the win to the babyfaces. Given what is expected later in the night, using this show as the night The Elite got its comeuppance is a smart idea. That starts with this match.

                

Prediction: Cage and Jurassic Express

Darby Allin vs. MJF

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

What started with MJF declaring himself the greatest of the four young pillars of AEW escalated into an intensely personal rivalry in which Darby Allin saw his family history dragged through the mud and his body beaten and battered at the hands of The Pinnacle. 

Since then, Allin has been on a mission to unleash hell on the scarf-wearing heel, but MJF has consistently remained one step ahead of him, bailing out and avoiding the ass-kicking he has coming to him. There will be nowhere to run or hide Saturday night when the two clash in the finale of what has been one of the best rivalries in AEW this year.

Allin is essentially bulletproof at this point, so over that losing doesn't hurt him. MJF, it can be argued, is less so. His character thrives on being able to bask in his accomplishments in the ring and brag about his many conquests.

He should, and will, pull out the victory at Full Gear and continue chasing a world title that will suddenly be within reach given the expected outcome of the night's main event.

                

Prediction: MJF

CM Punk vs. Eddie Kingston

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

What initially felt like a late addition to the card solely to get both CM Punk and Eddie Kingston on the show suddenly became one of the most interesting matches of the event thanks to a red-hot promo exchange between the two Friday on Rampage.

Kingston blamed Punk for judging him during their days in Ring of Honor, to which the Straight Edge Superstar responded by calling him a bum who never could have lived up to the expectations set for him by him and the rest of the ROH stalwarts.

A brawl ensued, and the intensity shown by the competitors created excitement for their showdown.

The match itself should be damn good. Both Punk and Kingston have competed under the brightest lights and with lofty expectations. They have excelled under these circumstances before, and Saturday should be no different.

There is undoubtedly a portion of the fans who love Kingston and would be overjoyed to see him win here, but that's not going to happen. Punk will pick up a grueling, hard-fought victory and move on to whatever it is AEW officials have in store for him next while Kingston remains a gritty fan favorite.

             

Prediction: CM Punk

Minneapolis Street Fight: The Inner Circle vs. American Top Team

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

The Inner Circle has been at war with Dan Lambert's American Top Team since just after All Out, and thus far, the heels have gotten the better of their counterparts.

Lambert and Co. helped Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page defeat Chris Jericho and Jake Hager on the September 24 edition of Rampage before beating down The Inner Circle, including insulting body shots from Paige VanZant and a running knee from Jorge Masvidal. 

American Top Team also beat down TNT champion Sammy Guevara in the weeks that followed, escalating the rivalry.

The November 3 episode of Dynamite saw the official announcement of the Full Gear match between the two sides: a 10-man Minneapolis Street Fight pitting Jericho, Hager, Guevara, Santana and Ortiz against Sky, Page, Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski and Lambert. Based on her involvement in the promo, it is likely VanZant will be lurking too.

This is a classic blowoff match in which the babyfaces finally get one over on the heels. Lambert is that classic wrestling bad guy who talks a big game and insults everyone, but now it's time for him to catch an ass-whooping. And he's going to, courtesy of Jericho and Co.

It will be more entertaining than anything the program has produced to date, and The Inner Circle will be able to stand tall once more on AEW PPV in 2021.

              

Prediction: Inner Circle

AEW Women's World Championship Match: Dr. Britt Baker vs. Tay Conti

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Tay Conti is one of the wrestlers released by WWE who arrived in AEW and instantly enjoyed more success than she ever did in her former place of employment. She also grew and evolved as a worker, developing into one of the most promising young wrestlers on the roster.

On Saturday, her winning ways will culminate in an AEW Women's World Championship match against Dr. Britt Baker D.M.D, who has enjoyed one hell of a year herself.

In a perfect world, Conti would have been built and hyped as someone capable of defeating Baker, but that just hasn't been the case. She has impressed with her in-ring exploits, sure, but there has not been enough put into her being a legitimate threat to the good doctor, leaving the outcome of this one not at all in question.

Baker will retain here, likely because of outside interference from Rebel and Jamie Hayter, and continue her run as the face of the women's division. Luckily for Conti, this feels very much like the first of many title opportunities to come.

          

Prediction: Baker

AEW World Tag Team Championship Match: Lucha Bros vs. FTR

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

The rivalry between FTR and The Lucha Bros intensified on the October 16 episode of Dynamite, when, under masks initially, FTR defeated Penta El Zero M and Rey Fenix to capture the AAA Tag Team Championship at the behest of Andrade El Idolo.

The rivalry has continued since, with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler targeting their rivals' AEW tag titles.

Saturday, the two teams meet in what should be a hell of a match between the best tag teams in the industry.

Despite seemingly clashing styles, the teams worked well together the first time, and without the gimmickry of the lucha masks and outfits on FTR, there is no reason to believe this will not eclipse that match.

What will not happen, though, is a title change.

The Lucha Bros are still in the infancy of a title reign, while FTR has quite a bit of mileage left on the "old-school wrestlers as lucha champions" shtick. Penta and Fenix win here and move on to face a healthy slate of challengers in what is one of the most gifted and stacked tag divisions in the sport.

                   

Prediction: Lucha Bros

World Championship Eliminator Tournament Final: Bryan Danielson vs. Miro

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

At one point, we were going to have Bryan Danielson vs. Jon Moxley in the final of the World Championship Eliminator Tournament. That, undoubtedly, would have kicked copious amounts of ass, but the latter recently entered an inpatient alcohol treatment program, doing the right thing by him and his family and putting that match on the back-burner.

Enter Miro, who exploded back on to the scene, obliterating Orange Cassidy to cash his ticket to Full Gear.

The Redeemer spent the past month talking to his god, doing some soul-searching after he lost the TNT Championship to Sammy Guevara. Now back and dangerously focused, he is the perfect bulldozer of an opponent to put across the ring from Danielson.

The American Dragon has wasted no time reminding fans of just who the best wrestler on the planet is, compiling classic after classic, including an incredibly physical war with Eddie Kingston that got him here.

The match will be fantastic, especially considering the fact that Miro is better than he has ever been. Their styles should mesh well, the fans will be behind Danielson and the result should be one of the best bouts on the show.

Considering what most expect the outcome to be in the main event, it would make sense for Miro to win the match and set himself up as a challenger to the world title, but it feels too early on in Danielson's AEW run to sacrifice his undefeated run in singles action on what is essentially Plan B.

                   

Prediction: Danielson

AEW World Championship Match: Kenny Omega vs. 'Hangman' Adam Page

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

A match two years in the making.

Hangman Page and Kenny Omega began their AEW journey as reluctant tag team partners who won gold and became an extraordinary team. Together, they defeated The Young Bucks in one of the greatest tag matches in modern wrestling history at Revolution in February 2020. Then, dissension ensued, Page lost his confidence and went away.

When he returned, he found an AEW ruled by a newly egotistical Omega and his Elite cohorts. Building himself up to the top ranking in the company, it appeared he would have his shot to dethrone The Best Bout Machine at All Out, but a high-stakes loss to The Elite robbed him of that opportunity.

Page wasn't to be denied, though, and on the October 6 episode of Dynamite, he won the Casino Ladder Match to earn a shot at the AEW world title. On Saturday, he battles Omega in a long-anticipated match.

Omega has leaned heavily on Don Callis, The Young Bucks, Adam Cole, The Good Brothers, Michael Nakazawa, Brandon Cutler and just about anyone else he could possibly think of to help him retain his title. It has worked, though, as he has beaten Jon Moxley, Christian Cage, Pac and Orange Cassidy en route to a nearly yearlong reign.

That all comes crashing down Saturday.

AEW has spent two years positioning Page as the star of the future, from his first shot at the gold in August 2019 to providing him with the best character arc in the company since. His failures have made him stronger and at Full Gear, he will Buckshot Lariat the hell out of Omega and finally win the world title.

The crowd will rejoice, and it will feel like a new era in AEW.

                

Prediction: Page

   

Read 3 Comments

Download the app for comments Get the B/R app to join the conversation

Install the App
×
Bleacher Report
(120K+)