MJF Winning And 5 Smart Booking Decisions

Full Gear is AEW’s final pay-per-view of 2022, and as the first major show following the controversial All Out event, it’s an important one for many of the company’s biggest stars.

The spotlight, after all, will be off of CM Punk, who had clearly developed into AEW’s biggest draw, and on rising stars like MJF, Swerve Strickland, Jungle Boy, Ricky Starks and Jamie Hayter. For so many reasons, Full Gear feels like the unofficial start of a new era, one that will be without Punk and will see new talents take over for the likes of Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley and other main event mainstays.

Emanating from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Full Gear will feature a loaded card with numerous titles up for grabs but an overall match lineup that seems like it’s a notch below the typical AEW PPV lineup. Maybe that—combined with largely lackluster build—explains why AEW Dynamite viewership was down significantly for this week’s go-home show. One thing AEW has proven, however, is that it usually delivers above average PPVs, and if the booking is on point, that should remain true on Saturday.

Here are five smart booking decisions AEW must make at Full Gear 2022.

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AEW Goes All In On Jamie Hayter

Jamoe Hayter is one of AEW’s best homegrown talents, and in recent months, she has developed an incredibly strong connection with the company’s diehard fan base. AEW needs to capitalize on the obvious momentum Hayter has built up, and the longer Tony Khan waits, the less impact Hayter’s rise to the top will have.

It is clear that, based both on crowd reaction and overall performance, Hayter is ready to break out of Dr. Britt Baker’s shadow and cement herself as a top singles performer. At Full Gear, she can take that first step toward becoming the star she obviously has the skill set to be by defeating Toni Storm, who has been underwhelming as AEW Interim World Champion and in AEW in general.

In its brief history, AEW has done a fantastic job of creating new stars, and if all goes right, Khan will cement Hayter as another one at Full Gear. Combine a Hayter win with a debut victory for Saraya, and AEW’s women’s division will be back on the upswing.

The BCC Begins To Implode

Full Gear will be a big night for the Blackpool Combat Club—but perhaps for all the wrong reasons.

Bryan Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli will compete in a four-way match for the ROH Championship while Jon Moxley will defend his AEW World Championship against MJF. When it comes to the first scenario in particular, this is the ideal situation for the the cracks in the foundation of the BCC to begin to show.

The group itself is incredibly talented but should not be a long-term stable given how valuable all of the faction’s stars could be on their own. With a potential ROH TV deal on the horizon and AEW already overrun with stables, pushing stars like Castagnoli and Danielson as singles performers—and potentially as ROH cornerstones—is the best route to take.

None of the BCC members, outside of perhaps Wheeler Yuta, need to be in this group to succeed, and at Full Gear, AEW must begin to set the stage for their eventual implosion, with the four-way match serving as a great way to get the ball rolling on a seemingly inevitable breakup.

Powerhouse Hobbs Pins Samoa Joe

Ever since his feud with MJF ended earlier this year, Wardlow just hasn’t felt the same. Even though the TNT Championship is the first major title he’s won in AEW, holding what is clearly one of the company’s many secondary titles—and a poorly booked one at that—has hampered much of the momentum Wardlow built up during his instant classic of a feud with MJF.

Wardlow certainly doesn’t need to hold a midcard championship, and if anything, doing so is a significant step down for him. But it must be AEW’s lucky day because the company has a perfect out at Full Gear, when Wardlow can drop the TNT Championship while still being protected.

The ideal scenario here is for Powerhouse Hobbs, a rising star who could benefit much more from holding a midcard title than Wardlow can, to pin Samoa Joe. At this stage of his career, Joe’s days as a world title contender should be behind him, and logic says he’s only in this match to take the pin. He should do exactly that by falling to Hobbs in what would be a win-win for Hobbs and Wardlow, two stars who would both benefit from this title change.

Swerve Strickland Turns On Keith Lee

The signs are already there, and it appears to be just a matter of time before Swerve In Our Glory ends for good. Why not at Full Gear?

Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland have accomplished all they can as a tag team, and Strickland is beginning to embrace the heel role he can excel in for the l0ng-term. Both Strickland and Lee have massive potential to be world title contenders as singles stars, and it’s always felt like—no matter how entertaining their tag team has been—it’s holding them back from reaching the level they should be at.

Strickland, in particular, is one of AEW’s most marketable stars due in part to his connections in the world of hip hop music, and his slow-burn heel turn is positioning him perfectly to be a main event solos act. At Full Gear, he should solidify himself as such by turning on Lee once and for all, ideally after the two stars fail to regain the AEW tag team titles from The Acclaimed.

MJF Finally Becomes AEW World Champion

MJF is finally being paid like a world champion, so now is certainly the time to make him one.

Consider that Jon Moxley was originally set to take time off after All Out in September, and it’s clear that his latest run as AEW World Champion was never meant to be an extended one. Moxley’s current reign is AEW’s Plan B following CM Punk’s abrupt AEW departure, and as the heart and soul of AEW, he deserves an extended break from TV that will allow him to freshen up his character after being such a focal point of the brand for essentially its entire existence.

With a brand new, lengthy contract, Moxley isn’t going anywhere. MJF, meanwhile, is AEW’s biggest and best homegrown star, but he has yet to win any sort of title. That can—and should—change at Full Gear when MJF, whose undeniable popularity has forced him into a tweener role as of late, finally reaches the mountaintop and has the gold to go along with the greatest gift of gab in the game.