You get a stipulation! And you get a stipulation! AND YOU get a stipulation!
Tony Khan has channeled his inner Oprah to put together the 2025 edition of the AEW Full Gear PPV on Saturday night from inside the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Hell, one match on the show even has the stipulation that there isn’t stipulations allowed!
Crazy stipulations across a wrestling event can function like a wild amount of promotion and advertising for an upcoming movie — it signals it may not actually be that good. Luckily for AEW, they aren’t in that position with this show and the stipulations help the event collectively feel PPV level.
Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe inside a steel cage
In the main event we have a rematch from the WrestleDream PPV last month — but with a … you guessed it … stipulation. Adam Page will defend his AEW Men’s World Championship against Samoa Joe and this time the match will be contested inside a steel cage. Page vs. Joe needed the cage element to this second encounter because of the Joe heel turn at WrestleDream.
Running the match back with traditional rules would have felt awkward given the fact that Joe has ruthlessly been on Page since losing at WrestleDream. The feud needed a clear ramp-up and the cage stipulation gives it that.
The problem with this match isn’t the stipulation, it’s the fact that Joe is supposed to be a heel, but isn’t really getting treated like one by fans. AEW fans have kind of played along with the Joe bad guy bit, but mostly they just like watching him destroy people. He’s a legacy act for AEW now. Add that into the fact that things just don’t feel like they’ve wrapped on the Page title reign and this one will be difficult to create drama around.
Page gets the win and it’s clean as a sheet.
More belts for Mone?
In the women’s division, Kris Statlander is scheduled to defend the AEW Women’s World Championship against Mercedes Mone. Mone has collected plenty of belts this year, but don’t put money on her to win the world title at Full Gear.
Statlander has positioned herself nicely since winning the belt from Toni Storm. She’s stepped up to the moment and feels like an alpha in the division. Losing to Mone would ruin that. Plus, Mone has belt after belt after belt. The more interesting story with her is that she can’t win the big one.
Statlander retains.
Does The Don Callis Family grow?
My match of the night prediction is Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe for the TNT Championship. Fletcher and Briscoe have history, but really this has the added element of high stakes if Briscoe loses. Should he lose, he’d have to join The Don Callis Family? Yeah, people are going to be into that and are invested in rooting against it.
Plus, Kyle Fletcher just doesn’t have bad matches right now. Look for the typical Fletcher state-of-the-art insanity in the ring, which captures the audience on a deeper level because of their connection to Briscoe.
AEW Full Gear 2025 airs live on PPV.com and HBO Max on Saturday night. The full card and full prediction show from The Takedown on SI is below.
AEW Full Gear 2025 Full Match Card
Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe - AEW Men’s World Championship Steel Cage Match
Kris Statlander vs. Mercedes Mone - AEW Women’s World Championship Match
Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe - TNT Championship No Disqualification Match - if Briscoe loses he joins The Don Callis Family
Brodido vs. FTR - AEW World Tag Team Championship Match
The Young Bucks & Josh Alexander vs. Jurassic Express & Kenny Omega -$1,000,000 Battle
Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O’Reilly - No Holds Barred Match
Darby Allin vs. PAC
Casino Gauntlet Match for the new AEW National Championship
Sisters of Sin vs. Megan Bayne & Marina Shafir vs. Babes Of Wrath vs. Timeless Love Bombs - Fatal Four-Way Winner Chooses the tag tournament semifinal stipulation
AEW Full Gear 2025 Preview
Subscribe to the Brass Ring Media Newsletter HERE.
Follow Zack Heydorn on Bluesky @zackheydorn.bsky.social