Swerve Strickland & The New Level defeated Hangman Adam Page & Brodido in a violent and bloody Texas Death Match to regain the AEW World Trios Championship at Full Gear.
Strickland, Austin Creed & Kofi had lost the titles to Page, Bandido & Brody King in a two-out-of-three falls match at WrestleDream last month.
Saturday’s rematch escalated quickly. King introduced wooden skewers, which the champions drove into the heads of all three challengers. Creed later produced a barbed-wire-wrapped trombone and used it on King.
Page wrapped barbed wire around his arm and used it against Creed and Kofi. Elsewhere, Bandido drove Strickland onto a bed of chairs with a DDT from the ropes.
The violence continued with staple guns, thumbtacks and barbed-wire tables.
King wore a glove covered in thumbtacks and struck Strickland with it before dumping another bag of tacks into the ring. Creed responded by suplexing King onto them and later used an exploding “Power Glove” against him.
The fight then moved toward the entrance area. Page broke light tubes over Kofi before hitting Creed with Dead Eye on the floor, while King delivered a Gonzo Bomb to Strickland from the apron through a barbed-wire table.
New Level responded by placing Page across chairs and covering him with a window pane. Kofi then came off the timekeeper’s area with a Boom Drop through the glass.
Strickland and Page repeatedly returned to their long-running rivalry. After Strickland tore at Bandido’s mask, Page intervened and attacked him with a chair. Strickland later spat blood into Page’s face before hitting him with Dead Eye.
A cinderblock also came into play late. Bandido stopped Strickland from using Big Pressure onto it and hit an X-Knee with barbed wire wrapped around his knee. New Level then intervened and drove Bandido onto the block with a double-team move.
King took Creed & Kofi out on the floor with a crossbody through a barbed-wire frame, but Strickland answered by dropping King onto the steel steps.
That left Page and Strickland to decide the match.
Page hit consecutive Buckshot Lariats and attempted another, but Strickland stopped him with a chair shot. As Page began to rise near the end of the referee’s count, Strickland hit the House Call to put him back down.
The referee reached 10, giving Strickland & The New Level the victory and the championship.
The trio originally won the titles at All In: London in August. They retained against Page & Brodido at All Out before finally losing the championship at WrestleDream.
