AEW Full Gear is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It has been held annually in November since its debut in 2019 and is one of the promotion’s flagship shows.
Origin and history
The event’s name comes from a recurring bit on Being The Elite, the YouTube series created by The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson, AEW Executive Vice Presidents). Shortly after AEW’s formation in January 2019, the series featured segments in which wrestler “Hangman” Adam Page appeared in his full ring gear, much to the irritation of the rest of The Elite. The gag was inspired by PAC, who had shown up to a December press conference dressed only in his wrestling gear. The January 31, 2019 episode of Being The Elite (episode 135) was titled “Full Gear,” and AEW later adopted the name for its November PPV.
The inaugural Full Gear took place on November 9, 2019, at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. It drew an attendance of approximately 8,500 and generated roughly 100,000 buys. The event was the first non-WWE pay-per-view held at the arena since The Great American Bash in 2000. Its official theme song was “Nowhere to Run” by Chris Jericho’s band Fozzy.
The card featured eight matches, including one on the Buy-In pre-show. In the main event, Jon Moxley defeated Kenny Omega in a violent, unsanctioned Lights Out match that spilled across the arena and ended with Moxley pinning Omega after a Paradigm Shift on the exposed ring boards. In another major bout, Chris Jericho retained the AEW World Championship against Cody Rhodes after Cody’s cornerman MJF threw in the towel while Jericho had Cody trapped in the Liontamer. The loss carried a “last chance” stipulation: Cody could never challenge for the AEW World Championship again while he remained with the promotion. Immediately afterward, MJF attacked Cody and ignited a major rivalry. Other notable results included Riho retaining the AEW Women’s World Championship against Emi Sakura and SoCal Uncensored retaining the AEW World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match.
The second edition, held on November 7, 2020, at Daily’s Place in Jacksonville, Florida, established the show as an annual November tradition around Veterans Day.
AEW returned to live touring in 2021, with that year’s Full Gear held at the Target Center in Minneapolis. Subsequent events have taken place in major arenas across the United States, including multiple stops at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey (AEW’s first PPV in the Tri-State area in 2022).
AEW President and CEO Tony Khan has long described Full Gear as one of the company’s core “Big Four” PPVs—alongside Double or Nothing, All Out, and Revolution—the four biggest shows of the year, roughly spaced quarterly. After All In became a regular AEW event in 2023 and emerged as the promotion’s marquee show (and overall biggest of the year), the group expanded into the “Big Five.” Of these five, Full Gear is traditionally the only one held on a Saturday, partly to avoid conflicting with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, the team owned by the Khan family.
Events
| # | Event | Date | City | Venue | Main Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full Gear (2019) | November 9, 2019 | Baltimore, Maryland | Royal Farms Arena | Jon Moxley vs. Kenny Omega (Unsanctioned Lights Out match) |
| 2 | Full Gear (2020) | November 7, 2020 | Jacksonville, Florida | Daily’s Place | Jon Moxley (c) vs. Eddie Kingston (“I Quit” match for the AEW World Championship) |
| 3 | Full Gear (2021) | November 13, 2021 | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Target Center | Kenny Omega (c) vs. “Hangman” Adam Page (AEW World Championship) |
| 4 | Full Gear (2022) | November 19, 2022 | Newark, New Jersey | Prudential Center | Jon Moxley (c) vs. MJF (AEW World Championship) |
| 5 | Full Gear (2023) | November 18, 2023 | Inglewood, California | Kia Forum | MJF (c) vs. Jay White (AEW World Championship) |
| 6 | Full Gear (2024) | November 23, 2024 | Newark, New Jersey | Prudential Center | Jon Moxley (c) vs. Orange Cassidy (AEW World Championship) |
| 7 | Full Gear (2025) | November 22, 2025 | Newark, New Jersey | Prudential Center | “Hangman” Adam Page (c) vs. Samoa Joe (Steel Cage match for the AEW World Championship) |
| 8 | Full Gear (2026) | November 14, 2026 | Phoenix, Arizona | Mortgage Matchup Center | Will Ospreay (c) vs. Kyle Fletcher (AEW World Championship) |
(c) indicates the champion heading into the match. The 2026 event is scheduled for this Saturday.
Full Gear has frequently served as a major stage for AEW World Championship matches and has featured several memorable title changes and high-profile feuds over its history.
