Where Do We Go From Here?

Welcome to another edition of Wrestling Inc’s latest regular column, where we look at the most recent WWE PLE or AEW PPV and ask the question: What happens now? We’ve now done this for AEW WrestleDream and WWE Crown Jewel, and now we’ll do it for AEW Full Gear 2024, attempting to decipher what we’re in for now that we’re officially in Continental Classic season on the road to Worlds End.

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And there’s so much going on coming out of Full Gear. We have multiple championships that need new challengers, including the Continental Championship, which will be determined by tournament for the second consecutive year. There’s the Adam Cole/MJF saga to consider (what is this, 2023?) and a similarly — but much more recently — shattered friendship between Mina Shirakawa and Mariah May. And after the way Full Gear concluded, there appear to be numerous AEW stars taking their claim to Jon Moxley’s world championship, Death Riders or no Death Riders.

You’ve got questions, the WINC staff has answers. Crown Jewel is over — where do we go from here?

The obvious next step for former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman is a match, or more than likely a series of matches, with Adam Cole. That’s surely only going to happen once MJF’s filming schedule slows down, however, which I believe is why “The Scumbag” faced Roderick Strong first. The feud with Cole and MJF has been brewing a lot longer since they were formerly best buddies, and Cole seriously injured himself running to the aid of his former tag team partner. “The Devil” storyline sputtered out quickly with Cole’s injury and I thankfully don’t see AEW bringing up that aspect of things again, especially with MJF back to playing the heel. If MJF’s schedule allows, I think they clash first at World’s End next month, and have at least three matches total, one, possibly, a stipulation match to really end things with a definitive bang.

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In addition to MJF and Cole’s feud, there’s also Cole’s other former friend, Kyle O’Reilly, lurking around, and we’re not entirely sure what his motivations are when it comes to Cole. At Full Gear, O’Reilly helped Strong to the back following his loss to MJF, but first, he berated Cole for being too late and not following MJF into the crowd. Despite O’Reilly being in quite a few stories going on in AEW right now, being a member of The Conglomeration and all, it seems like he’s going to embed himself further in to Cole and MJF’s feud, at the very least on Cole’s end of things. At Full Gear, commentary drove a point home that O’Reilly might think Strong is a causality of all of Cole’s actions and might be resentful of Cole’s selfish doings now that he’s finally come back from the injury that had him on the shelf for a long time. While I don’t think Cole and O’Reilly are immediately jumping into some kind of blood feud, it looks like O’Reilly is going to become a lot closer friends with Strong, Matt Taven, and Mike Bennett once again. When all is said and done, I don’t see Cole being a member of the Undisputed Kingdom any longer.

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Written by Daisy Ruth

Mercedes Mone defeated Kris Statlander in one of her best AEW matches thus far (if not the actual best one) but Statlander took her to the limit and Mone’s frustration clearly showed. Before that, she wasn’t too happy with her bodyguard, “The Brickhouse” Kamille, and had her watch the TBS Championship Match from catering. Mone then clearly took her victory as proof she didn’t need her enforcer. It’s clear that Mone and Kamille are headed for a breakup sooner rather than later, and AEW may go the route of giving Kamille a championship match if she can prove herself with some more wins first. If they do, things seem pretty predictable there, with Mone likely to retain, as Kamille hasn’t been the best in the ring from what the audience has seen of her. It also doesn’t scream pay-per-view match, and would likely be a match on “Dynamite.”

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Breakup with “The Brickhouse” or not, Mone’s next credible challenger isn’t as clear, especially now that standings are no longer a thing. Harley Cameron has quickly become a fan favorite over on “AEW Collision” and can easily make the jump to “Dynamite” at any point and would make for a fantastic story with Mone, in my opinion. With Saraya currently taking a break to do other things outside of AEW, that could be a fun storyline when she gets back if AEW wants to break up “The Outcasts,” especially now with Cameron’s popularity outside of Saraya. She could be jealous how Cameron broke out on her own and even get a shot at Mone, and eventually go after the champion herself, in a match that many fans want to see after Mone, then as Sasha Banks, and Saraya had their incident in a match where Mone ended Saraya’s career for years. Mone has been singling Cameron out for praise in interviews lately after spending some time training with her, so something like this seems likely to manifest itself.

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Anna Jay is also coming off both a victory over Deonna Purrazzo on “Zero Hour,” as well as matches with AEW Women’s Champion Mariah May, and could be another good challenger for Mone. I don’t think AEW and Tony Khan have an idea yet as to who is going to take the TBS Championship off Mone, but there are plenty of great women on the roster who would look great in just the attempt and even storylines that can stem elsewhere from women getting the opportunity.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Kyle Fletcher walked out of Full Gear with arguably the most significant victory of his career after eradicating his former mentor, Will Ospreay, in relatively clean fashion. The loss marked just the third singles loss of Ospreay’s AEW career, but will undoubtedly push him out of the equation as it pertains to re-gaining the International Championship from Konosuke Takeshita, after losing it in a three-way also involving Ricochet at WrestleDream a month ago. The question is, does that mean he’s done in the wider feud with Don Callis, having now faced off and either defeated or been defeated by each member in recent months? The answer to said question will undoubtedly lie in the imminent Continental Classic, with both Ospreay and Fletcher tipped to be announced for the tournament with an opportunity at Kazuchika Okada’s Continental Championship for the victor. Ospreay and Fletcher are in different brackets, but they both should be considered among the favorites to potentially win — perhaps even facing off in the finals.

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For the both of them it will be a tournament debut, although Ospreay carries the greater experience having been a two-time semi finalist in NJPW’s G1 Climax as well as winning the New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors — the former in 2021 and the latter twice in 2016 and 2019. Fletcher, meanwhile, will be carrying much-needed momentum from his win over Ospreay in his first major singles tournament. But it’s not just the tournament that serves as a tough ask, with both Fletcher and Ospreay having already been made acquainted with Okada previously. Fletcher failed to wrest the title from Okada in September prior to his turn on Ospreay, whereas the “Aerial Assassin” has a 2-8 record against “The Rainmaker,” although they have yet to face off in AEW.

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Written by Max Everett

Hearts were broken at Full Gear as AEW Women’s World Champion Mariah May, turned on former Club Venus partner Mina Shirakawa. Smelling something was up just as May sought to smash a champagne bottle over her head, Shirakawa turned to look her traitor in the eyes before the pair got into it, driving her off the side of a stage bouncing off a table before going through another. As a result, there can really be no question over where they go from here; presumably they’ll be directed at one another for the coming weeks before an inevitable title match, likely at Worlds End. That would be the second time the pair have ever squared off in singles action, with May getting the win in the maiden clash between the former Goddesses of STARDOM in the 2023 5-Star Grand Prix, and also the second time Shirakawa will be challenging for the AEW Women’s World Championship since losing to Toni Storm in June.

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Speaking of Storm, she’s promised fans that they’ll likely not hear from her anytime soon, and she has yet to return to the company after dropping the title to May. For some, there was a “Timeless” shaped hole in the champagne celebration with May and Shirakawa, but irrespective of that sentiment, it is still a point of intrigue as to where she fits in. Back before the treachery among the three, May’s mutual connection had bonded the Forbidden Door title opponents, and Storm has continued to work with Shirakawa over her recent STARDOM stint. So there is more than a strong chance that Storm not only factors into the feud but provides assistance one way or another, likely on the side of Shirakawa after May betrayed them both. But not only that, there is also a scope for the three to square off in a three-way for the title down the road, especially with AEW x NJPW Wrestle Dynasty in January.

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Written by Max Everett

In addition to the TBS title, there were three other championships defended at Full Gear — two successfully, one not so much. Daniel Garcia is the new TNT Champion after defeating “Scapegoat” Jack Perry, while the tag titles stayed around the waists of Private Party and the International title was retained by Konosuke Takeshita, who defeated Ricochet.

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One of the interesting things about these three title scenes is that they all appear to be getting a reset. We know what’s next for both Garcia and Ricochet, and it’s not rematches with their Full Gear opponents — both are officially in the 2024 Continental Classic, and neither Perry nor Takeshita can say the same. It’s unknown how Garcia’s participation will impact the TNT title (could a TNT/Continental Championship unification be on the horizon?) but it’s safe to say his first challenger will probably come out of the tournament, if not as part of the tournament itself. For the time being he appears to be finished with The Death Riders, as do Private Party, who beat The Acclaimed, Kings of the Black Throne, and The Outrunners in a four-way match at Full Gear; neither they nor Garcia appeared in the chaotic Death Riders segment following the main event. While Private Party’s next challengers could theoretically be any of the three defeated teams, the most likely option seems to be none of them, but in fact the team of Lance Archer and Brian Cage, who have been getting squash matches on AEW programming lately and would surely love to put more gold in the hands of the Don Callis Family.

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Things seem particularly wide open for the member of the Don Callis Family currently holding a title, whose exclusion from the tournament fans are referring to as “the C2” is something of a surprise. Many believed Takeshita was on a path that would inevitably lead him to Okada, and that might still be true, but his immediate future seems murky. Perhaps a match and/or feud with the recently returned Powerhouse Hobbs is in order, or maybe he’ll continue to defend the International title abroad — for now, almost anything appears to be possible.

Aside from Ricochet, Full Gear’s title match losers are also in some interesting positions. The Acclaimed are in the middle of a storyline that seems to be leading to a break-up, while the House of Black is set to become whole again with the impending return of Julia Hart. The Outrunners have been primarily associated with FTR and will likely continue to be, though there’s a wide variety of possible directions that storyline could go. Meanwhile, perhaps nobody on the roster seems to be more at loose ends than Perry, whose TNT title reign came and went without much fanfare and who no longer has the Young Bucks to follow around; without a C2 berth, he’s not even directly associated with Okada at the moment. Does anyone in AEW have a more uncertain future?

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Written by Miles Schneiderman

Bobby Lashley scored his first AEW pay-per-view victory over former AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland at Full Gear, but it doesn’t seem likely that the pair are going to be done with each other anytime soon, especially if Strickland has anything to say about it. Lashley not only made Strickland pass out with his Hurt Lock in the middle of the ring, but did the unthinkable and put Strickland’s beloved manager, Prince Nana, in the submission hold after Nana came to Strickland’s aid in the middle of the ring. Strickland is “The Most Dangerous Man in AEW” and he’s not going to take either of those things lightly. Both the Hurt Syndicate and Strickland are two of the best things going in the company right now, so it won’t hurt anything if they continue the feud for the rest of the year. It seems likely that they’ll have a rematch that Strickland might win on an episode of “Dynamite,” hopefully as the main event, and then move on to the rubber match at World’s End in December, where a definitive winner will emerge victorious.

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Interestingly enough, two members of the AEW roster who received business cards from MVP didn’t have the best of nights at Full Gear and may be looking to join the stable to turn their luck around. Ricochet lost his International Championship match against Konosuke Takeshita in a match that the crowd was a little dead for, as it came later on in the night; MVP had given Max Caster a card as well as some tips a few weeks ago, and The Acclaimed not only lost their chance at the AEW Tag Team Championships in the “Zero Hour” pre-show fatal four-way, but further teased dissension in the ring.

While neither Ricochet or Caster teased anything about the Hurt Syndicate following their losses, it seems like the group could use another member very soon, if not by the end of the year. Adding Ricochet or Caster would keep them from feeling stale moving forward, especially if Lashley and Strickland continue this feud for a bit. The group is so popular with fans, it seems like a good idea to have two separate storylines going here. Caster joining seems the most likely, so he and Bowens can move on as singles stars, but I wouldn’t be surprised if MVP pushed Ricochet a little further about joining if he continues to rack up losses.

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Written by Daisy Ruth

Jon Moxley’s reign of terror as AEW World Champion shall continue after the numbers game proved too much for Orange Cassidy to overcome. The Death Riders have a full head of steam coming out of Full Gear and it really is just a question of who steps up to the plate next, which was hinted at (among several other things) during the angle to close the event.

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On Cassidy’s part, it appears hostilities will continue between him and Wheeler Yuta, with the latter providing a result-defining running knee to cost his former mentor the world title. He will of course be backed by The Conglomeration, with Kyle O’Reilly, Tomohiro Ishii, and Willow Nightingale all coming out to aid him. So there is scope for a potential championship feud over the AEW world trios titles as well. But Moxley was chased away from the venue by another would-be revolutionary in Darby Allin, crashing a car into the one Mox and the Death Riders sought to escape in, and while Allin is quite the daredevil there aren’t many more elaborate ways of saying “I’m next.”

There’s also what happened in the moments before the crash. “Hangman” Adam Page emerged to confront Moxley before Christian Cage attempted to cash in his world title contract, only for “Switchblade” Jay White to prevent the cash in.-White had beaten Page earlier in the show, turning his sights to Cage once more and thus saving Moxley’s reign. For his thanks, he was taken out by Castagnoli and PAC before they all made their escape. So while Cage remains an omnipresent threat with his contract, Page and White have yet to truly lay out their specific intentions, but it’s clear they’re going to be pieces on the board alongside Allin.

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Written by Max Everett