We have some news regarding AEW Full Gear today, the PPV that will be airing November 9th.
Yesterday, AEW’s twitter account hyped up a big announcement for a good few hours. After much hype and speculation, it turned out that they were hosting a special episode of AEW Dynamite on January 1st, that they’ve labelled a Homecoming show. It will take place in Jacksonville at the Daily’s Place, the same venue that hosted Fight For The Fallen. The site is used as the practice field for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the NFL team that Tony Khan happens to own.
This is neat, and it’ll be cool to see another show from that unique venue – one that doesn’t take place in the sweltering summer, at that! – but not really groundbreaking for those outside of the Jacksonville area.
In an attempt to be an anti-Dixie Carter, Tony Khan noted this and suggested that they now have to come up with a different major announcement that effects everybody; and promised that they would.
I’m not sure if what we learned today is that announcement or not, but we do have some news, regarding the main event of AEW Full Gear.
When Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes square off for the world title at AEW Full Gear, there will be three judges at ringside.
Yes, a rarely-seen chestnut in professional wrestling… the bout will have a 60 minute time limit, and should it go the distance, the winner will be decided by a panel of judges. These judges have not yet been named, but I would suspect they’d be recognizable folks from the industry. Arn Anderson will probably be one of them, just a guess there.
Now… let’s be real. This isn’t going to a decision. Chris Jericho and Cody Rhodes ain’t going 60 minutes, I’d be a little surprised to see them go 30.
But this is being done for a couple of reasons. After seeing some time limit draws in the past, this is in place to ensure that people buying AEW Full Gear know that they’re getting a finish. Even in the unlikely event that it does go to the time limit, there will be a winner, one way or the other.
Moreover, it should be noted that this is an experiment that other wrestling promotions have tried in the past, only to see it not be taken to by their audience. I think in announcing this for a match that will be largely unaffected by it, they’re simply looking to gauge reactions. Test the waters and see if their fanbase would take to such a concept.
Obviously it’s a very legit-sports kind of idea. Every other combat sport has judges present for when a fight goes the distance.
So it’s theoretically just a means of adding authenticity, but one that has yet to catch on anywhere it’s been done. Still, you don’t know if that’s changed ’til you try I suppose. So rather than do this and give it a 30 minute time limit that they can actually reach and make a big deal out of it, they can just see what people think of the concept now in passing. That’s probably a sound way of doing it… whether or not it’ll become a staple of All Elite Wrestling going forward is up to the fans to decide.
This was verbally agreed upon yesterday
And tomorrow we put pen to paper on @AEWonTNT
Real lawyers, real contracts, really the biggest match I’ve ever had the privilege of competing in front of you fans https://t.co/W3DPX8u1Dz
— Cody Rhodes (@CodyRhodes) October 29, 2019
