AEW Full Gear 2026 Predictions: Wrestling Inc. Picks The Winners

This Saturday, AEW Full Gear comes your way from Phoenix, Arizona, with a newly fleshed-out card that currently includes eight championship matches, plus the faction war spectacle that is Anarchy in the Arena! Blood will be shed, titles will be defended, and the very best of All Elite Wrestling will come together to produce another of the promotion's vaunted PPV events.

That's the plan, anyway; with the recently announced grounding of all departing flights from United States airports, it remains to be seen who will actually make it to Phoenix, and when. But until we know more about that, all the Wrestling Inc. staff can do is what we always do — try to correctly predict every match on the card! Granted, we only went 2-2 at WWE Crown Jewel earlier this month, but to be honest, Full Gear for the most part seems significantly easier to call, though there are some notable exceptions. Who will walk out of the desert with titles and victories in hand? Let's get to the picks!

Following up on years of steadily making a name for herself in AEW, Queen Aminata finally captured her first title with the promotion late last month, when she defeated Persephone for the TBS Championship. She'll put that title on the line at Full Gear against former champions Maya World and Persephone, but despite being at a numbers disadvantage, we strongly believe she'll retain.

Aminata's title win has been a long time coming, and it would disappoint quite a few people if she were to drop the TBS title this quickly. The wrestler has proven herself with strong matches against the likes of Mercedes Mone, Thekla, Toni Storm, and Athena, so she's undoubtedly earned a respectable run with the title. Right now, she has only one successful defense under her belt, and that was in another three-way situation. Following up on this, we'd like to see Aminata defend the title in some one-on-one bouts to help this reign stand out.

Additionally, it appears this match will be taking place on the pre-show, and it would come as a surprise to us if the title were to change hands under that circumstance. Anything is possible, but our money is on Aminata.

Written by Nick Miller

Between the AEW World Trios Championship being defending in a Texas Death match, and the Anarchy in the Arena bout pitting the newly-formed faction, The Cut, against the tried-and-true Death Riders and the Conglomeration, it's going to be a chaotic, bloody edition of Full Gear this year. The AITA match, however, is nearly as difficult to predict as the trios match, and we were split down the middle on this one until two late votes swung it in the favor of the Conglomerated Death Riders.

The Dogs' David Finlay and Clark Connors just newly teamed up with the Bang Bang Gang's Jay White, Ace Austin, the Gunns, and Juice Robinson, who is currently out of action, and some of us believe that AEW won't want them losing right after teaming up. However, the Death Riders' Jon Moxley, Daniel Garcia, and Gabe Kidd could still use a big victory following the death of stablemate Pac. They're teamed up with the Conglomeration's Orange Cassidy, Kyle O'Reilly, and Roderick Strong, despite previously feuding with the stable back when the Death Riders were heels, and the Conglomeration guys can always use a good victory. 

It's hard to bet against Moxley and Kidd in a hardcore stipulation match, but the members of The Cut are no strangers to chaos. There could also very well be involvement on behalf of either team throughout the arena, as there are no set rules. 

There may be no big opportunities or championships on the line here, but both teams are going to give it their all out of hatred and love of the game, making this one so difficult to predict. There are also so many guys involved in this match, the feud is more than likely to keep going, with tag bouts and singles bouts possible for future episodes of "Dynamite" throughout the rest of the year, and AEW Worlds End next month.

Written by Daisy Ruth

In what will likely be the culmination of their months-long feud, Adam Page, Brody King, and Bandido will take on Swerve Strickland and the New Level in a Texas Deathmatch. It's a stipulation that is familiar to both Page and Strickland, as they battled it out under the very same stipulation back at AEW Full Gear 2023, with Strickland picking up the win there. This time, the Wrestling Inc. crew envisions things going the other way, but only by a slim margin.

Perhaps the biggest deciding factor leading our team to lean towards Hangman and Brodido is the fact that the AEW World Trios Championship has already changed hands several times during this feud, and the reigning champions have held the belts for less than a month at this point. It's certainly in the realm of possibility that the title could change hands again, but our money is on the champions hanging onto the prize.

Another factor in play is the long-term prospect of New Level and Strickland staying together. Although Kofi and Austin Creed have increased their intensity over the last few weeks, it still feels as though their partnership with Strickland won't be a permanent aspect of their AEW presentation.

Aside from the Anarchy in the Arena bout, this match proved to be the most difficult for WINC to come to a consensus on, so it remains to be seen which group will walk out of the sure-to-be-violent conflict with their heads held high.

Written by Nick Miller

The Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson, were absolutely laid out and squashed by their Full Gear challengers, Mark Davis and Jake Doyle, during an AEW World Tag Team eliminator match on October 21. While that bout lasted less than three minutes, the Bucks were hurting from defending their titles at AEW WrestleDream just four days prior, and we believe this tag title match on Saturday will go much longer.

We also believe the champions are going to be prepared for Davis and Doyle this time, and 92 percent of us believe that the Bucks are retaining the gold. The Don Callis Family members had their opportunity to look extremely dominant, not like they've looked like chumps at any time prior, and they're still going to be a strong team on the tag scene after a solid match at Full Gear.

While the DCF has quite a few members not involved in other matches on the card that could get involved in this bout, the Bucks have plenty of friends to help even out the numbers game if it comes to that. The No. 1 contenders to the titles, the Motor City Machine Guns, could always make an appearance to help save their fellow babyfaces in advance of that dream match, one that hasn't been seen since 2017.

We believe the Bucks aren't dropping that gold unless it's to Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin, or New Level's Austin Creed and Kofi, the latter of whom will likely soon be in the tag division proper. Doyle and Davis are going to look good here, but they won't walk out of Full Gear as champions.

Written by Daisy Ruth

Kris Statlander and Harley Cameron make for a cute, fun tag team, and the AEW women's division certainly needs its tag teams, but we don't think that "Wrathlander" is going to dethrone the Brawling Birds at Full Gear. Nearly all of us, at 83%, believe that Alex Windsor and Jamie Hayter are retaining their AEW Women's Tag Team Championships at the event.

The champions missed defending their gold at AEW WrestleDream, due to an injury to Hayter, so they've only gotten the opportunity to defend the titles once, in a chaotic Chicago Street Fight against the Divine Dominion at AEW All Out at the end of September.

The build to the match between these two teams hasn't been the hottest and if you've only been watching "Dynamite" and not "Collision," it feels rather thrown together. They had a brief moment of miscommunication in the brutal, bloody Women's Blood & Guts match just over a week ago, then had a fairly tense backstage interview with Renee Paquette on the go-home episode of "Dynamite." There just hasn't been enough for us to believe that Wrathlander have any chance of becoming champions right now.

Windsor and Hayter's most recent match, as well as Cameron and Statlander's, was Blood & Guts, and the women are likely still hurting. We don't think that means they'll be taking it easy on each other, by any means, but this may not be one of the best-remembered bouts on the Full Gear card. We fully expect the Brawling Birds to retain here, and maybe their next challengers emerge after the match. 

Written by Daisy Ruth

Mercedes Mone makes the third defense of her AEW Women's World Championship against the Death Riders' "Problem" Marina Shafir. She captured the title from Willow Nightingale at All In in August, going on to defend the title once she had recovered from a broken nose against Queen Aminata at "AEW Grand Slam France" and Thekla at WrestleDream in October. 

In the aftermath of PAC's passing in September, the Death Riders have borne the weight of the adulation and the outpouring of love. Shafir has adopted his Brutalizer submission, making use of it to tap out Britt Baker and beat a team comprised of her, Mone, and Persephone on the "Tribute to PAC" show. She went a step further this past week, tapping out Mone herself with the move in a mixed tag team match pitting her and Jon Moxley against the Women's Champion and Jay White. 

However, the poll put to the Wrestling Inc. staff reflects a lack of belief she will make a charmful third time, with 100% predicting Mone continues her reign beyond Full Gear. Each of Mone's reigns with the TBS Championship, CMLL Women's Championship, and RevPro Women's Championship previously eclipsed 200 days at 584, 261, and 346 days respectively. She holds a 41-5 singles record in AEW and is largely considered to be the biggest name in the division. 

It does seem unlikely that her first reign with the Women's World title would come to an end so soon. Though that doesn't mean she's going to have an easy time of it when the bell finally rings.

Written by Max Everett

"The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada will look to make another successful defense of his AEW International Championship this Saturday at AEW Full Gear 2026, though his opponent will bring a completely different game to what Okada might be used to. Okada faces Adam Copeland in a match that you can absolutely tell the "Rated-R Superstar" wanted to have since Okada joined the company back in 2024, and now they meet with gold on the line.

Okada's current reign with the International Title is in a bit of a weird spot as there doesn't seem to be a definite end goal for it like there was the first time around. Most people saw Konosuke Takeshita as the man to defeat Okada fairly early on into his reign as champion, but this time around, there isn't that one stand-out performer who looks poised to dethrone "The Rainmaker." That is one of the main reasons we here at Wrestling Inc. largely see Okada retaining at Full Gear, but there is a small chance of an upset given what Copeland is currently going through.

The "Rated-R Superstar" is on the home-stretch of his career, and looking at other wrestlers who have retired in AEW, Tony Khan loves giving them a cheeky run with a title. Whether that be Sting with the AEW World Tag Team Championships, or Bryan Danielson with the AEW World Championship. You can even put Kenny Omega's run with the world title this year in that conversation since he knows he's nearing the end, and it's because of that fact that a small portion of our staff can see Copeland becoming the new champion. Plus, it frees up Okada to enter his third consecutive Continental Classic tournament which is something he will want to win after losing in the final last year.

However, the story that is being told recently is Copeland vs. Will Ospreay, and the potential heel turn of Copeland due to not getting through to Ospreay about taking too many risks and not knowing when to reign it in. That story is the other reason why the majority of us think Okada will retain because there are bigger things planned for Copeland in his retirement year than a charity reign with a secondary title, he is going for the world title, it's just a matter of when.

Written by Sam Palmer

Pain is set to entertain new AEW National Champion Tommaso Ciampa this weekend, with Ilja Dragunov wrestling just his third match for the promotion in a title challenge between the former NXT Champions. 

Ciampa captured the title only last weekend, defeating Andrade El Idolo on a special seaborne episode of "AEW Collision" on the Jericho Cruise, adding it to the TNT Championship he won on his first night in the promotion earlier this year as part of a quest to hold all titles including the World Championship. 

Meanwhile, Dragunov made his debut at WrestleDream and has since gone on to beat Mike Bailey, an unsuccessful challenger for Ciampa's title this past Wednesday, and the Beast Mortos before confronting Ciampa as his third opponent. 

The majority of Wrestling Inc. staff see him extending his record to 3-0 and taking the National title, with 92% predicting that "Soviet March" will be playing after the final bell. 

That does, of course, mean that 8% see Ciampa keeping the title and handing Dragunov his first loss at his first pay-per-view. And there is a strong chance that it's his recent acquisition of the title driving that belief. Should Ciampa lose, he will have held the title for just seven days and will become the shortest reigning National Champion by 48 days. 

Written by Max Everett

Closing out AEW Full Gear 2026 will be another chapter in the lengthy rivalry between Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher. The two men faced off at Full Gear two years ago where Fletcher picked up arguably the biggest win of his career at that time, but Ospreay not only went on to win their next two matches, but has reached the pinnacle of All Elite Wrestling by winning the AEW World Championship, and Fletcher is very jealous about that.

Considering that Ospreay has been champion for less than three months, one would think that it would be a forgone conclusion that he would walk out of Full Gear with his title in hand. However, as you can tell by the percentage above, not everyone here at Wrestling Inc. see it as a guarantee.

One of the reasons for that is actually political. Ospreay is traveling to Japan in January to face Callum Newman at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 21, a match that has been heavily discussed amongst fans as New Japan Pro Wrestling clearly see Newman as someone who they want to push heavily and give a big win to. For that win to happen, Ospreay can't be the AEW World Champion because the company wouldn't want its top guy traveling elsewhere, losing, and coming back to the company as if nothing has happened. That means Ospreay needs to drop the belt before January and make it make sense if NJPW want Newman to go over, and Fletcher's history with Ospreay makes a title change at least somewhat believable.

However, it's that amount of history that would make a title win feel that much bigger if Ospreay held on to the title for a while longer. AEW hasn't confirmed its plans for WrestleMania weekend, but if the company was to run a major event while WWE is in Saudi Arabia at that time, a major title change like Fletcher taking the title off of Ospreay would be the play. Doing it at Full Gear just seems early, and that's why Ospreay is our pick for the win at Full Gear. People like Adam Copeland and Andrade El Idolo also have their eyes on Ospreay, and sure, they could go after Fletcher as well, but the company has put stock in Ospreay and Copeland telling a story, and Ospreay being in the same faction as Andrade.

Ospreay is the favorite for this match, and while Fletcher certainly has more than a chance to win the big one this Saturday, we believe the "Aerial Assassin" will outlast the "Protostar" at Full Gear.

Written by Sam Palmer