Move over Chris Jericho, Cody and Jon Moxley: AEW's New Stars Are on the Rise
AEW waved goodbye to 2020 with its last pay-per-view event of the year at Full Gear on Saturday night.
And it sure feels like it waved goodbye to a small era, too.
While AEW has always tried to walk a tightrope of veterans of other promotions like WWE and "homegrown" talent, Saturday night felt like the first time AEW-centric guys really shined brighter than most at a major event.
It started with Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page partaking in an amazing show-opening bout, the tournament finale for a shot at the company's top title. It's a gritty, personal story sending both guys off in interesting directions.
And the theme only continued with Darby Allin capitalizing on the cockiness of Cody Rhodes, earning the AEW TNT Championship as a prize.
It only escalated further from there, with The Young Bucks seizing tag team gold with a win over former WWE standouts FTR in a match where—much like Cody with AEW's top title in the past—they swore they'd never challenge for the titles again if they lost.
Why stop there, right?
MJF, who has long danced around the outskirts of Jericho's group, The Inner Circle, then took down the legend himself for the right to join that very group. One could see that leading to a long-term angle where MJF tries to assume leadership of the group by taking out its leader in a passing-of-the-torch moment perhaps, but let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
And while Jon Moxley—the man formerly known as WWE's Dean Ambrose—ended up retaining his AEW World Championship, it was very much a showcase match for the challenger Eddie Kingston and one where the spots themselves seemed to overshadow much. Moxley closing the show holding the top title was about as predictable as it gets, but it's the journey, not the destination, more often than not in pro wrestling (hence guys in certain companies losing all steam once they're not in "chase" mode).
While this theme is fun, nobody can carry a company quite like Moxley—but the point is AEW continues to smartly take its time in building up several guys capable of doing it. And with a match looming against Omega, maybe AEW fully embraces the idea at a later date with a title change at the very top.
Finally, gradually transitioning away from the former WWE base of talent now makes plenty of sense. These guys are ready to carry promotions at every level just underneath the very top. In The Young Bucks' case, sort of like Omega, they've steered away from the titles long enough.
In the case of someone like Allin, it just feels like an organic time to have him go over one of the company's biggest names and really establish himself as a headliner. He paid his dues, won over fans and now has that distinct AEW feel.
Former WWE guys carrying the company for a long time made plenty of sense, especially Jericho. His particular set of skills made him a natural champion—he wasn't exactly burning down the building with his wrestling in the ring.
But what Jericho was doing was making guys like MJF and his surrounding stable look like a million bucks. Hardcore wrestling fans knew who those guys were, but newcomers to the AEW product largely didn't.
Now, partially thanks to WWE carryovers like Jericho and mostly because of their own talents, everyone knows who they are.
Rest assured the company has to take this measured approach, too. There were some serious duds along the way while it tried to make AEW talent stand out. Think, the origins of the Dark Order and some of the stumbles the tag and women's divisions made.
The transition to the point where fans won't even make these distinctions anymore isn't so far off. AEW can stop worrying about whether fans will judge it harshly for giving Cody or Omega more title shots at the very top of the card.
Quietly, maybe this is why Full Gear felt like the best AEW pay-per-view to date. The stakes were high, titles changed hands and it's hard to even point to a bad finish. But the fact that some AEW homegrown talent really stepped up and won major matches feels like a huge deal.
In a way, it's somewhat fitting AEW used the final pay-per-view of the year to—intentionally or not—get this transition rolling in...full gear. The company will be better for it in the long term, and while the execution hasn't always been perfect, the further blurring of the lines and elevating of roster depth is what makes AEW arguably the best thing going in pro wrestling today.
