Ricochet became the inaugural AEW National Champion at Saturday’s Full Gear pay-per-view at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
A Casino Gauntlet Match was held to determine the first-ever champion. Below is a list of the participants, along with an excerpt from Alex Kahrs’ AEW Full Gear recap of it all went down.
Crowd chants “we hurt people” as the Syndicate obliges, putting the hurt on Davis and Strong. Yuta comes in and takes a spear as well, and Lashley even catches OC in mid-air for a powerslam. Speedball tries to get in but gets sent to the outside, as Ricochet goes into the ring only to realize he’s made a huge mistake. Lashley and Benjamin toss him around with ease, laying into Ricochet until Davis and Claudio finally put a stop to it.
Cassidy comes in now, landing an Orange Punch before the ring gets cleared out. Lashley gets sent into the barricade as Yuta steals the thunder of Cassidy, trying to get a pin before Knight breaks it up. He hits a UFO Splash on Cassidy, but gets pushed away for a Spirit Gun by Ricochet for the pin and the win!
-‘Daddy Magic’ Matt Menard
-Bobby Lashley
-Shelton Benjamin
-Ricochet
-Claudio Castagnoli
-Daniel Garcia
-Orange Cassidy
-Wheeler Yuta
-Kevin Knight
-Roderick Strong
-Mark Davis
-‘Speedball’ Mike Bailey
*A notable title change from earlier in the evening, saw FTR defeat Brodido to become three-AEW World Tag Team Champions*