Booking Decisions That Must Be Made at AEW Full Gear 2019

A month's worth of exciting television for All Elite Wrestling will culminate this Saturday night at Full Gear, which will mark its fifth pay-per-view this year.

As excellent as all of its other events in 2019 have been, Full Gear in particular has benefited from the build it's received on the weekly episodes of AEW Dynamite. The show has been a breath of fresh air compared to everything else in wrestling at the moment and has generated genuine excitement for Saturday's super show.

The main event will see Chris Jericho put the AEW World Championship up for grabs against Cody, who has claimed he can no longer go for the gold if he loses. It has also been announced that there will be a panel of esteemed judges on standby in case the contest goes the full 60 minutes.

As if that bout wasn't big enough, Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley will settle their score after many months in a non-sanctioned match. Both men have been successful in the stipulation before, but it remains to be seen what lengths each of them will go to in order to solidify their superiority over the other.

Between those matches, Adam Page vs. PAC and a solid undercard, Full Gear should be nothing short of a stellar show, provided AEW makes the following five booking decisions happen. The company hasn't steered fans wrong yet with anything it has done, and there's no reason to believe it will start now.  

"Hangman" Adam Page Must Avenge His Loss to PAC

The bad blood between Adam Page and PAC has been brewing since the beginning of the year when AEW was originally announced to the world. The two were set to clash at the company's premiere pay-per-view Double or Nothing, but PAC pulled out before the bout could come to fruition.

They finally faced off on the debut episode of AEW Dynamite last month, where PAC secured the victory in clean fashion. That marked Page's second straight singles loss after already losing to Chris Jericho in the main event of All Out in August.

Hangman has been able to redeem himself to a certain extent in recent weeks with wins in tag team action and over Sammy Guevara on Wednesday night, but he won't be considered a contender to the AEW World Championship again until he can avenge that loss to the former WWE Cruiserweight champion.

PAC, on the other hand, has been heavily protected in AEW so far. The only loss he's endured was in a tag team match on the Oct. 16 episode, so being beaten by Page at Full Gear in the slightest.

After vanquishing that demon, Page can finally set his sights on AEW's top title. PAC gains nothing from defeating him for a second time, not to mention that Page shouldn't get a reputation for always losing whenever it matters most.

Jon Moxley Must Defeat Kenny Omega

Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley is another heated feud that has roots as far back as May's Double or Nothing pay-per-view when Moxley arrived on the AEW scene and immediately targeted Omega following his loss to Chris Jericho.

Before they could collide at All Out in August, Moxley was sidelined with an elbow injury but returned in time to rekindle his rivalry with Omega on AEW Dynamite's debut in early October. They've been on a collision course for Full Gear ever since, where they'll meet in a non-sanctioned match.

Both men have won "Lights Out" matches so far this year and have proved that they are willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top in such an extreme environment. It will be exciting to see what type of anarchy will ensue when that bell rings for their bouts, but regardless of what happens, it's imperative that Moxley emerges victorious.

Unlike Omega, Moxley hasn't had many marquee matches so far in AEW. He beat Joey Janela at Fyter Fest and Shawn Spears on the Oct. 9 episode of Dynamite, but he hasn't had a whole lot of luck otherwise.

It can be argued that Omega is equally deserving an important victory at this point coming off his losses to Chris Jericho and PAC at Double or Nothing and All Out, respectively, but truth be told, Omega is far more compelling as a deranged madman who can't cope with losing.

Moxley needs that moment of pinning Omega and building off the momentum he has. That isn't to say Omega can't avenge the loss down the line, but for now, the artist formerly known as Dean Ambrose should get the initial advantage.

Riho Must Retain the AEW Women's Championship

Riho did what many thought was impossible by beating Nyla Rose on the launch of AEW Dynamite to become the inaugural AEW Women's champion. She was the best possible choice for that spot considering no one else in the division at the moment matches her abilities.

Unfortunately, the followup to her title win has been somewhat underwhelming. She went on to successfully retain the gold against Britt Baker two weeks later but has yet to settle into a real rivalry with someone else on the roster.

It was announced shortly before Full Gear that Emi Sakura will step up to challenge her for the championship. The only build the bout received involved Sakura pinning Riho in tag team action on this week's Dynamite.

Although fans have zero reason to care about the contest going into the show, it should be excellent from an in-ring standpoint. Sakura should take Riho to her limit and come close to capturing the championship, but in the end, Riho must walk out of the event with her title reign intact.

Riho's run as champion has barely begun. There are plenty of other women waiting in the wings for a shot at the strap, so it would be premature for AEW to have her drop the belt so soon, especially to someone who hasn't been all that established yet in Sakura.

Santana and Ortiz Must Defeat the Young Bucks

While there is undoubtedly room for improvement in AEW's women's division, the tag team scene is stacked with star power. In addition to the Triple Threat for the AEW World Tag Team Championship at Full Gear, there will be another tag team match featuring The Young Bucks battling Santana and Ortiz.

The matchup has happened before in other places and promotions but never before on as grand of a stage as Full Gear. Despite having only one win under the belt since debuting in AEW at All Out, Santana and Ortiz earned the right to call themselves one of the world's greatest tag teams with their work in IMPACT.

Now that they're in AEW, they needed to make as big of a splash as possible, so it was smart for them to go after The Young Bucks right out of the gate. Nothing will be on the line here, but it's safe to assume that a future shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship awaits the winners of this highly anticipated outing.

The Bucks did an enormous favor for Private Party by putting them over in the first round of the tag title tournament last month. They benefited big time from that victory, and thus Matt and Nick Jackson should do the same for Santana and Ortiz and solidify them as stars as well.

Similar to Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, these tandems can continue to feud and trade wins in the weeks and months ahead, but Santana and Ortiz have the most to gain from getting the victory at this point in the program.

MJF Must Cost Cody the AEW World Championship

On Wednesday's edition of AEW Dynamite, Cody raised the stakes for his upcoming AEW World Championship clash with Chris Jericho by vowing that he will never again go for the gold if he loses at Full Gear.

That announcement certainly made the match less predictable, but it doesn't change how Cody winning would be the wrong call. As wildly popular as the executive vice president of AEW is these days, he shouldn't be rushed into becoming the world champion while Jericho is at the top of his game.

In other words, there's no reason to cut Jericho's time with the title short. He has a lot left he can do in the role and many more opponents he can work with.

With that in mind, a great way for Cody to lose to Jericho without looking weak in defeat is by having MJF betray his "best friend" the American Nightmare. Although MJF is already technically a heel, he has been incredibly loyal to Cody since the creation of AEW and has aided him in his wars with The Inner Circle over the past month.

Of course, it's more a matter of when and not if MJF will turn on Cody, but Full Gear would be as perfect of a time as any for it to happen. MJF would receive unbelievable levels of heat for costing Cody the world title and ensuring he can't challenge for it again, leading to what would surely be a personal rivalry between them.

Book it, AEW.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is an Endicott College alumnus and aspiring journalist. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.