Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher are state of the art wrestlers and have consistently brought out the best in one another. They’ve wrestled six times and the matches have been brutal, violent, exciting, dramatic, and memorable. The question I have for Full Gear is, can they do it again? My answer? Hell yes and that’s why shelling out $50 for this event will be worth every penny.
Ospreay and Fletcher will lock horns for a seventh time on Saturday night at the AEW Full Gear 2026 PPV event from inside the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, Arizona. This time, the stakes are higher than ever before. The AEW Men’s World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line.
Another level because of story
When you hear Fletcher vs. Ospreay, the natural and instinctual reaction is to say, “god damn, that’ll be a great match.” It isn’t an incorrect assumption, but their seventh encounter at Full Gear will be more than just a strong in-ring clinic. Fletcher and Ospreay have a deep-rooted story underneath this battle and that will make it stand out tall above the rest.
Ospreay and Fletcher went to work on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite and jolted their rivalry to the next level. Not with cool moves or high-flying madness, but narrative, character work, and context. During their show-opening promo exchange, they captured and articulated that this match was a level above their past wars together. The world title being on the line added that depth, but so did the year that Ospreay had. He returned from neck surgery, wrestled in the main event inside the biggest stadium in his home country at All In, and won the world title. All while Fletcher watched. Of course there is jealousy there and it was called out into the open on Wednesday night. Underneath the jealousy? Ospreay says there is still love between the former friends.
You know the big turkey legs that you can get at a summer state festival or carnival? Obscene amounts of meat on the bone, right? Same thing with this match. In addition to having the in-ring lever to pull, Ospreay and Fletcher are going to pull on the heartstrings of one another and of the audience watching in Phoenix.
We’re in for an emotional classic between these two, but Ospreay will keep his strong record against Fletcher intact. Ospreay as a babyface world champion is the top draw in AEW right now. Why stunt that momentum without good reason? It’ll be Fletcher’s time soon enough, but the company isn’t primed up for him to hold the top prize right now. Ospreay retains and goes on to face Andrade El Idolo, Adam Copeland, and eventually MJF. If you take the belt off of him, each of those matches get less interesting.
Mercedes Mone, the artist
The other world title defense on the show should also be a classic. If not for the pesky Ospreay vs. Fletcher match, Mercedes Mone vs. Marina Shafir would be the match of the night. Mark my words on that.
Mone is an artist in the 20x20 wrestling ring. She doesn’t have bad matches ever, but regularly has some of her best against big, strong, and fierce opponents. Marina Shafir? Come on down.
Shafir isn’t going to win the world title in this match. She might win even more than that. With Mone standing on the opposite side of the ring, this is going to be Shafir’s coming out party. She’s elevated her game throughout the last month and with Mone’s creativity, will be able to elevate it even higher inside of this match.
Full Gear is also loaded with the potential of violence. The Cut will face The Death Riders and Conglomeration in Anarchy in the Arena and the AEW World Trios Championships will be on the line when Swerve Strickland and The New Level challenge Adam Page and Brodido in a Texas Death Match.
Separate the violence
Both of those matches are reasons to order the PPV, but they each have work to do because they have to stand out from one another. Generally, Anarchy in the Arena has been a confusing stipulation because it combines violence with comedy. Because of the dynamic of these two matches existing on the same show, the comedy in Anarchy in the Arena is actually important this time around. Texas Death needs to be the more violent of the two, because it’s a protected stipulation that matters. It’s become a tool that AEW can use to close out intense feuds properly. That shouldn’t be sacrificed even with another violent match on the docket. As far as winners go? Team Brodido and Page for the trios titles and then The Cut for Anarchy in the Arena. Brodido and Page retaining the belts generates storyline between Strickland and The New Level. The Cut just formed and needs booking behind them to stay relevant and strong. Two layups decisions.
AEW Full Gear 2026 airs live on PPV.com on Saturday night. The full match card and The Takedown On SI preview of the show is below.
AEW Full Gear 2026 Full Match Card
Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher - AEW Men’s World Heavyweight Championship
Mercedes Mone vs. Marina Shafir - AEW Women’s World Heavyweight Championship
The Cut vs. The Death Riders and Conglomeration - Anarchy in the Arena
Brodido and Adam Page vs. The New Level and Swerve Strickland - AEW World Trios Championships
The Young Bucks vs. Davis and Doyle - AEW Men’s World Tag Team Championships
The Brawling Birds vs. Wrathlander - AEW Women’s Tag Team Championships
Adam Copeland vs. Kazuchika Okada - AEW International Championship
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Ilja Dragunov - AEW National Championship
AEW Full Gear 2026 Preview
Predict the AEW Full Gear 2026 match of the night!! Let us know in the comments!
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