Despite calls from fans to have the AEW Women’s World Championship match between Kris Statlander and Mercedes Mone headline AEW Full Gear 2025, given the way the show ended, you can see why they went with the men on this one. After missing three months of action due to a torn ACL that he apparently had problems with for years, Swerve Strickland is back in AEW as he confronted the new AEW Men’s World Champion Samoa Joe at the end of the show. 

Before I talk about Swerve, I do have to give flowers to Samoa Joe and Hangman Page for their Steel Cage match. On a night filled with bloody battles, Joe hit an absolute gusher in this one that made him look as menacing as he has ever looked, while Page also donned the crimson mask for some great imagery. They took a little while to get the crowd going, which is understandable considering that fans are always exhausted at the end of AEW pay-per-views, but the closing sequence had everyone on their feet, and if Hook is now firmly back with The Opps, it means that he can let Eddie Kingston fly solo which is exactly what he should have been doing to begin with.

Now onto Swerve. Ever since he went down with injury, there has been a distinct hole in the AEW main event scene. Of course, Hangman was able to have great matches with Joe and Kyle Fletcher on pay-per-view, but you just got the sense that with Swerve out of the picture (and Will Ospreay for that matter), that extra spice at the top of the card was lacking. Now that he’s back, Swerve can finally continue the story that made the ending of All In Texas so brilliant, that being himself and Hangman being on the same page despite everything they’ve put each other through.

Just the visual of Hangman and Swerve standing side-by-side at the end of the night was enough to get me excited for a period in the AEW schedule where everything that isn’t the Continental Classic takes a backseat. I would have loved to have seen Hangman retain and the final pay-per-view main event of the year be Swerve and Hangman fighting over the world title like they have always wanted to, but seeing them join forces is arguably more interesting. They took down the Death Riders, but they had the help of The Opps to do that. Now they are against The Opps, and when Joe is on top of a company, he will do everything he can to stay there. A great ending to a great pay-per-view, let’s see where they go next.

Written by Sam Palmer