Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Due to injury, MJF was unable to compete in the main event and defend his AEW World Championship against Jay White so his best friend, Adam Cole, stepped up and competed in his absence despite also being injured and having recently undergone surgery on his ankle.
Booker of the Year stuff right there.
MJF drove back into the arena, ala “Stone Cold” Steve Austin in a Vince Russo fever dream, and hit the ring to defend his title.
What ensued was a match that did not live up to the efforts of the men involved. Both MJF and White worked hard, but the lack of consistency throughout made it one of the more lackluster in company history.
The entire story was based around an injured leg that was only injured when it needed to be and not when there was a high spot to execute. There was a referee bump, incessant cheating late, and Superman booking of the main event babyface the likes of which would make John Cena proud.
Add to that the fact that White looks like the biggest loser on the planet after failing to beat a one-legged champion, even with his hobbled best friend at ringside, and you have a main event that was a jumbled mess.
A main event that never needed the overbooking that started with the injury angle earlier in the night and devolved into the creative mess it ultimately became.
Is MJF a great professional wrestler? Absolutely. Does he need hopelessly overbooked messes like this to stay over with fans? No. What he does need is to avoid the same booking tropes that turned fans against the resilient babyfaces in WWE over the years and more importantly, quality heels to work with.
White no longer is, mostly because he failed to overcome a champion who competed on one leg for most of the match, despite using a championship belt to his advantage and having a chance to do the same with the Dynamite Diamond Ring.
It was horrendous booking of White, an unnecessarily complicated show-long storyline, an illogical booking decision to allow Cole into the mix in the first place, and a inconsistent selling from a student of the game that is usually way better with stuff like that.
On a positive note, the crowd was hot, so there’s that. Too much of that schlock booking, though, will eventually turn them on it.
MJF defeated Jay White to retain
Top Moments and Takeaways
- The lack of logic surrounding the booking of this feud throughout the course of this show has been mind-blowing.
- Cole’s presence at ringside is hanging over this one like a dark cloud.
- Why is MJF jumping off the top rope with an elbow drop to the floor on White when he’s nursing a knee injury? It’s par for the course as far as making sense, but still an absurd addition to this ridiculously overbooked match.