It’s AEW Full Gear weekend! From bringing the BOOM with AJ and Big Justice to potential DOOM for Orange Cassidy when he takes on Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, it’s a stacked card with five championships on the line!
DraftKings is offering a FREE-to-play pool that you can enter into! All you have to do is answer questions about the main event between Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy. Get the most correct, and you can win your share of the $10,000 prize pool. If you’re a new user, use code AEW when you sign up!
Let’s make some picks for the AEW Championship match.
How long will the match be?
-Over 19:30
-Under 19:30
Cassidy hasn’t had a one-on-one singles match last at least 19 minutes since he faced Jon Moxley at Full Gear 2023 last September when Moxley won in 19:43. However, at last year’s Full Gear, OC beat Moxley to retain the International Championship in 12:04. Between AEW and NJPW, Moxley has had four PPV matches go at least 20 minutes this year, including his AEW Championship victory over Bryan Danielson at WrestleDream, which went 26:52. Based on what we saw at the end of Dynamite, OC isn’t going to go down quietly and Moxley may need to pull out all the dangerous stops to keep him down for good.
I’ll take the OVER.
Which move will successfully be performed first?
-Death Rider
-Orange Punch
I fully expect to see both of these moves hit at least once in this match, although it’s a better possibility to see the Orange Punch first because it can be hit out of nowhere. It’s also the type of big move that can be nailed as desperation defense, which we should see a lot of from Orange.
The Orange Punch will be successfully performed first, but don’t expect it to lead to victory.
Who will bleed in the match first?
-Jon Moxley
-Orange Cassidy
-Neither
While we’ve seen Moxley bleed plenty of times in his AEW career, it’s not something you typically get in most OC matches. But is this a typical OC match? No, it is not. Punishment is the name of the game for Moxley and with this main event spot, I expect a brutal, epic battle.
If anyone bleeds, it’ll be OC first.
Will any of the following enter the ring during the match?
–Wheeler Yuta
-Claudio Castagnoli
-Marina Shafer
-All of them
There’s little doubt the Death Riders will make their presence felt in this match. None of the members outside Moxley has a match on Full Gear, which raises the chances we see them in the ring for the main event. A ref bump would be needed to involve any of them, which is a real possibility.
Let’s go with all of them to maximize the damage on OC.
Read more wrestling content from Matt Camp on DraftKings Network
How many pinfall attempts will be made during the match?
-Over 7.5
-Under 7.5
Moxley’s entire philosophy revolves around spreading his message through violence. He’s not looking to get a quick win. He wants to punish. It’s why I don’t expect him to go for that many pinfall attempts until he hits a Death Ride. Plus, it might be a better visual to choke OC out, much like he did to Danielson to win the AEW World Title. Cassidy will likely have more pinfall attempts based on his offense, although I don’t think it will push the number that high.
I’ll take UNDER 7.5.
How will the match end?
-Pinfall
-Submission
-DQ
-Count Out
-Draw
Once again, this comes down to Moxley’s style. Even though Moxley is still largely the same wrestler he’s always been in AEW, he’s more physical and grinding towards his opponents. It feels like a lock he’ll end the night as champion, so with this being his first title defense, I’ll say he takes care of Orange the same way he took care of Danielson.
A submission victory via choke out.
Will anyone confront the winner after the match?
-Yes
-No
The last AEW PPV faded to black in total sadness and shock with the end of Danielson’s full-time in-ring career in disturbing fashion. A host of babyfaces ran out to stop the post-match beatdown, so it’s fair to wonder if we could see a similar scene at the end of Full Gear. Perhaps, OC’s Conglomeration stablemate Mark Briscoe will step to Moxley, as I suggested in a recent From the Matt.
Let’s go with YES to a post-match confrontation.
Will the arena lights go out during or immediately following the match?
-Yes
-No
AEW has used the lights out gimmick in the past for big returns or debuts, but I don’t see that happening here. This feels like a night to have Moxley and the Death Riders get the last laugh. Do I think the lights out appearance of a returning challenger like Adam Copeland happens down the road? Yes, but we’re not ready for that just yet.
No lights out during or immediately following the match.
Enter the DraftKings AEW Full Gear FREE-to-play pool! All you have to do is answer questions about the main event between Jon Moxley and Orange Cassidy. Get the most correct, and you can win your share of the $10,000 prize pool. If you’re a new user, use code AEW when you sign up!
Until next time when I’m back to talk about wrestling even more…
You can watch and listen to Matt every weekday at 5pm Eastern at thewrestlingmattshow.com. Matt is also one of the hosts of Busted Open Radio on Sirius/XM. He is regularly featured as a streamer for Bleacher Report’s pro wrestling content.