AEW Full Gear | |
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![]() AEW Full Gear logo | |
Promotions | All Elite Wrestling |
First event | 2019 |
AEW Full Gear is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Established in 2019, it is held annually in November, generally around the week of Veterans Day. The name of the event is a reference to a segment from the YouTube series Being The Elite involving AEW wrestler "Hangman" Adam Page. It is considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs for AEW, alongside Double or Nothing, All In, All Out, and Revolution. Unlike the others that have been held on Saturdays or Sundays, Full Gear is the only one to traditionally be held on a Saturday.
Shortly after the formation of All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in January 2019, a recurring segment of The Young Bucks' (AEW Executive Vice Presidents Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) YouTube series Being The Elite began. The segments revolved around AEW wrestler "Hangman" Adam Page, who was always in his full ring gear. The 135th episode of Being The Elite, which was uploaded on January 31, 2019, was in turn titled "Full Gear". [1]
AEW in turn took the title and used it for their November 2019 pay-per-view (PPV) event. The inaugural Full Gear PPV took place on November 9 that year at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, Maryland. [2] The following year, a second Full Gear was held on November 7, thus establishing Full Gear as an annual PPV for AEW held around Veterans Day—this second event was held at AEW's home base of Daily's Place in Jacksonville, Florida due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [3] AEW resumed live touring in July 2021, with the 2021 event held at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. [4] The 2022 event was scheduled for the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, marking AEW's first PPV held in the Tri-State area. [5]
AEW President and Chief Executive Officer Tony Khan referred to Full Gear as being one of the promotion's "Big Four" PPVs, their four biggest shows of the year produced quarterly, along with Double or Nothing, All Out, and Revolution. [6] With All In becoming one of AEW's annual events in 2023, it supplanted Double or Nothing as AEW's marquee event, and overall biggest event of the year, with the previous "big four" plus All In becoming the "big five". [7] Out of the five, Full Gear is the only one that is traditionally held on a Saturday, so as to not counter-program against the National Football League's Jacksonville Jaguars, which is also owned by the Khan family. [8]
AEW has avoided scheduling pay-per-view events on Sundays in the past because AEW President Tony Khan has stated that he does not want to compete with himself. Khan serves as the Jaguars' Chief Football Strategy Officer, a team owned by his father, AEW lead investor Shahid Khan.