AEW Full Gear 2023 results: Sting, Copeland & Darby win after Christian heads for the hills

Sting announced that he’ll retire at AEW’s Revolution PPV next spring, and Tony Khan brought his old friend Ric Flair in for the ride. That didn’t sit well with TNT champion Christian Cage, who already had issues with The Icon’s tag partner Darby Allin as he The Patriarch of AEW recruited Nick Wayne to turn on Allin and join him.

Meanwhile, Cage REALLY wasn’t happy that his old tag partner Adam Copeland (fka Edge) showed up in AEW wanting to make another run as a team. Christian saw it as the latest instance of Copeland stealing the spotlight from him. The Rated R Superstar said he really didn’t want to fight his best friend, but as Cage, Wayne & Luchasaurus were aiming to end Sting’s career well before Revolution, he agreed to a trios match at Full Gear.

So Christian vowed to break his neck while he was ending Sting’s career. And sending Naitch to the grave.

Their match opened the PPV on Nov. 18, and in a nice touch Cage’s entrance theme was sung by a children’s choir.

The good guys tried to keep up by putting some face paint on Copeland.

Once the bell sounded, Sting tried to clear the ring so Cage & Copeland could go one-on-one early, but Christian was the one who didn’t want to fight this time. The important thing that happened early on was when Luchasaurus slammed Darby off the apron...

... putting Allin in peril. Even when he finally made it to his corner, Cage’s machinations left his partners unable to provide any relief. He of course eventually made a tag to Copeland, who came in hot. He was unable to get his hands on Christian, but he teamed with Allin to send his teammates to the floor — where Sting flew over Flair to flatten them!

Flair got involved himself, squaring up to Cage and landing a punch & a chop. But Christian tried to fulfill one of his promises by poking the legend in the eye and nailing him with a low blow.

He tried to use that as set-up to hit Copeland with his belt, but the Rated R Superstar ducked. The TNT champ ran through the seats rather than tangle with his old friend, and down a man it wasn’t long before Wayne took the pin after a Coffin Drop from Darby.

Allin led the Southern Cali crowd in an ovation for Sting, who shared a moment with his son ringside before waving goodbye to LA for the last time.

Get complete Full Gear results and coverage of the entire show here.