As a pro wrestling fan and writer, All In 2023 will always be special because of the main event: MJF vs. Adam Cole for the AEW World Championship. More than the highlight (at that point) of my pro wrestling fandom, it was spiritual, inspiring me to write about pro wrestling, with experiences eventually becoming part of the article “How AEW Gets Modern Masculinity”.
Even with rose-tinted glasses, The Brochachos/Devil storyline saw lightning in a bottle ferment into faeces. Adam Cole’s injury derailed the whole thing. What if on September 20th, 2023, at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Adam Cole jumped from the staging, and he did not land awkwardly? What if Adam Cole did not break his ankle in three places? Would the storyline in 2023 and through 2024 have been the trainwreck it became?
But first…
The Perimeters of a What If
As a student of history and fan of the alternative history genre, I don’t want to present you with a fantasy booking scenario. Fantasy booking is flawed. It’s subjective, personalized, and can ignore context.
To speculate, we’re going to try and reconstruct what happened for real with one change caused by the Butterfly Effect: Adam Cole is not injured. Of course, there will be elements of pure fantasy speculation because there’s no time machine. So, to be as accurate as possible, here are the guidelines:
- Speculation/booking is based on AEW’s creative parameters during this period. Therefore, what’s booked closely matches what could have been, rather than just my preferences.
- Outside of one change, almost everything else follows the same trajectory/outcome.
The power in pondering what if is that it can reveal a lot about the past. Our feelings, the biases in our memories, the actual strengths and weaknesses of AEW at that time. It can also reveal so much about the present day in contrast and how things have changed.
Before we start, we need one more thing…
AEW Creative in 2023- Identity Crisis
After Brawl Out in 2022, AEW spent years trying to reclaim its “Feeling” creatively and fan trust. Before All In and the altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry, the toxic fallout of Punk and The Elite’s backstage fight was an unresolved issue, a second-time bomb waiting to explode. Outside of The Elite and Punk, the biggest victim was MJF.
MJF’s first championship reign was a poisoned chalice because he won the belt for CM Punk surrogate, Jon Moxley. MJF, the character, had to pivot from heel bag-mouthing AEW, threatening to jump ship to WWE because of the real, seemingly inevitable, and real feud with Punk.
Yet overall, AEW had three big creative weaknesses stopped AEW from finding stability until recently I explored in a series of deep dives on AEW’s history to celebrate its fifth anniversary.
- Potholed creative- some of the wrestlers/characters across the card lost the dimensions that made them feel real. Standard wrestling logic meant most wrestlers were driven by cliches and tropes rather than individualistic, emotive characterization.
- Incredible matches becoming the standard– Like All In 2023, weakly or inconsistently booked cards overdelivered. Yet this overreliance on strong wrestling, along with sometimes gimmick matches, blood and violence, normalized the extraordinary. I.e., Kazuchika Okada coming through The Forbidden Door for a Collision just felt standard. Great wrestling did/does not compensate for potholed creative. Instead, things became normalized.
- AEW’s flirting with sports entertainment tropes– intentional melodrama and backstage stuff, but also unintentional stuff, like formulaic storytelling- frustrated some fans.
Whilst the latter, especially in terms of vignettes and out-of-the-ring interactions between Adam Cole and MJF, felt more WWE than AEW, it was fresh and worked for a short time, flying in the face of these three issues and offering hope because…
The Summer of Bromance
- The performers– both wrestlers locked in to tell a complex story of one-upmanship, vulnerability, and that always made sense for their characters’ motivation.
As I wrote in AEW gets modern masculinity, the bromance of the century felt real and relatable for some viewers. That emotional core resonated, and the acting of both men was superb in that respect.
The vignettes were more than funny. There were layers of intention with Easter eggs and meta-references bringing actual fan criticism into focus. Hitting the gym, Cole, someone who has repeatedly been undermined for his body, impressed MJF with his weightlifting capacity.
MJF, when playing video games, showed weakness to fans and a reason for his hatred. There was character growth at a time when various wrestlers who embodied AEW, like Hangman Adam Page, were adrift temporarily.
- The story– the driving force was who would turn on who first, along with that emotional core, which hooked fans.
Both men were plotting against the other, but then their feelings got complicated. MJF was the Devil and Cole was everyone’s favorite sweetheart. Yet, from the beginning there was foreshadowing. When MJF and Cole had a face-to-face interview, echoing Stone Cold Steve Austin’s sentiments about beating The Rock at WrestleMania 17. Cole would do whatever it takes to win.
The entire Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament was engaging as hell. Fans discovering Roderick Strong’s comedy chops was the sleeper hit of the summer.
- It was different enough– MJF’s title reign suffered until Adam Cole. Overshadowed by Punk post-Brawl Out and All In, a feud with Bryan Danielson that recycled worn-out MJF tropes, and the Four Pillars is another future what-if of wasted potential. The feud with
Cole offered a turning point, and the matches and storyline gave hope of a return to The Feeling.
The First Benefactor: MJF’s “Face Turn”
AEW panicked when the hottest storyline of the summer, maybe even all of wrestling given Triple H’s Renaissance Era, was not in full swing yet in WWE, was in jeopardy. In this alternative, Cole’s foot did not explode. The melodrama would continue with Cole present.
MJF has a foil to play off as his character progresses towards mimicking what he thinks a babyface world champion is. That change in his characterization pissed off many fans, but I always felt the intent: MJF is acting like a good guy because he’s so far from a babyface, he can’t do it legitimately.
With Cole present, MJF has not just a catalyst—someone inspiring him to change—but Cole to play off this with a mixture of frustration and trying to help his friend’s growth. With Cole as an audience surrogate, having the chance to change MJF, but also showing frustration with MJF taking things too far, this continues the storyline’s earlier meta-elements and retains the organic sense of a friendship developing. This shift in character could have been more explicit and understandable. Likewise, it would evolve the dynamic between MJF and Cole.
Overall, that will make the eventual betrayal even more impactful.
Post-Grand Slam: Same Matches, Different Story Beats
The biggest change until WrestleDream is how the attackers in Devil masks are used, and how Cole’s relationship with Roderick Strong and The Kingdom will impact MJF’s arc.
The anniversary Dynamite will see Better Than You Bay Bay segment, but rather than relinquishing the ROH World Tag Team Championships, MJF wants to give Cole a rematch at WrestleDream. Cole won’t accept because his friend is not 100%. Cole is happy if they defend their tag titles. Roderick Strong still interrupts in a wheelchair. MJF will tell Cole to help his other friend. There will be no follow-up vignettes of Cole helping Strong with housework.
Jay White interrupts; MJF calls him tofu, but no devils attack White backstage after.
Instead, the first masked devil attack happens at the WrestleDream pre-show when the ROH World Tag Team Championship will be defended.
Better Than You Baby’s music goes, but neither comes out. After a while, the camera cuts backstage. MJF is yelling at production staff to cut the music because Adam Cole isn’t here. There’s confusion…
A video on the big screen shows a figure in the devil mask over Adam Cole’s body in the car park, with a chair around his neck.
MJF runs to the car park, but The Kingdom is already there with a medical team. The Kingdom shove MJF, saying it was him because it was his mask. Commentary reveals the video was sent to production not long ago with instructions to play it. Cole leaves in an ambulance.
MJF and the Kingdom
The match is postponed. On the WrestleDream PPV, MJF threatens whoever hurt his best friend, but the Righteous enter and imply MJF did it. MJF says his Devil mask was stolen in London and suggests it was them. MJF says he’s willing to defend the titles for himself, alone for his friend. Yet in another backstage segment, MJF, arguing with Tony Khan, stops when Roderick Strong off-screen shouts. Strong believes MJF and says he will take Cole’s place. Strong comedically tries to rise from the wheelchair, but he hasn’t got the strength. This would be a recurring joke. Khan tells MJF the match will happen tonight (taking the place of Ricky Starks vs. Wheeler Yuta in our timeline), and his partner must be one of the Kingdom.
Before the match, MJF tells the Kingdom to stay away; they don’t believe him, so screw them. Yet during the match, MJF loses control when Jay White comes out to the ringside. The Kingdom wheel out Roderick Strong. White laughs them off and leaves. Matt Taven on the apron blind tags when MJF is literally and metaphorically on the ropes. The finish: Mike Bennet distracts the referee. Taven, with one of the ROH belts, could hit either Vincent or MJF. Taven hits Vincent. Taven tags in MJF to get the win. Post-match, MJF leaves, taking both titles.
In the weeks before Full Gear, MJF battles the numbers game of Bullet Club Gold, The Kingdom and Roderick Strong will repeatedly try to get MJF on side, but Max’s rejection sensitivity has been triggered. Strong and The Kingdom’s motivation would be suspect. MJF is paranoid because he thinks they want to separate him and Cole. At the same time, Strong and The Kingdom increasingly put themselves more at risk.
Still a Victim: Jay White’s Credibility
I said already how MJF would still cut the tofu promo because one of the detriments of AEW giving wrestlers freedom and “no floaties” wrestlers must sink or swim on their own initiative. Whilst the build would make White look stronger, i.e. White wins a title shot through a number one contender’s title match on the first Dynamite after WrestleDream rather than being beaten by the Devils the week before. Additionally, the following week, White cuts a backstage promo where, revealing the devil mask, he claims credit for taking out his former stablemate Adam Cole.
Adam Cole returns in a neck brace (allowing for some comedy and developments with Roderick Strong, who is his “neck strong buddy”, sows more jealousy with MJF and pushes him to become more of an ultra-babyface to compensate and impress Cole. White defeats Cole in the go-home Dynamite because Cole is not 100% and by exploiting the neck.
At Full Gear, Cole and MJF retain their ROH World Tag Team Championship against The Gunns, with the story focused on whether Cole is well enough. MJF tries to do too much for his partner, hurting his leg. Yet they win. Post-match, three Devils attack, two slim and one hulking. They assault The Gunns and Cole, but they target MJF’s leg.
The same Full Gear “greatest comeback ever” plays out. Cole offers to take MJF’s place, but he returns driving the ambulance. The same overbooked finish occurs because MJF seemingly influenced his creative, and likewise, the story of overcompensating due to his friendship with Cole is the bigger story. White’s credibility is still the victim, but one thing will differ afterward.
Post-match, a camera shows Roderick Strong and The Kingdom and Bullet Club Gold beaten backstage. The same devils run down; they kidnap Jay White.
Worlds End’s Build- Breaking Point of Friendship
In the post-Full Gear press conference, when MJF is asked about his injury and comeback, along with why the Devils took Jay White, MJF becomes defensive. His angry and heelish tendencies slip through the pretend ultimate babyface he has been pretending to be. Adam Cole, who is with him, shows, using his face, his mental gears turning. Is Max manipulating things?
Still at the press conference, Cole is going to challenge MJF for that rematch from All In. MJF agrees. Cole wants something else. Cole demands that whoever these Devils are, they meet Better Than You Bay Bay in the ring. MJF agrees.
That first Dynamite opens with Better Than You Bay Bay in the ring, but it’s Bullet Club Gold with Jay White who assault them, with Jay White telling a beaten-down MJF and Cole they aren’t behind the Devils. In fact, he found the mask in his locker room and uses it for psychological warfare. The Acclaimed, following Max Caster, who ran out by himself to rescue MJF, help restore order.
Cole will defeat White in a rematch so he can challenge MJF at Worlds End, with the story before centering on two hinges.
First, who is leading the Devils? MJF will accuse The Kingdom and Strong, leading to Strong forcing Cole to choose between his older friends and MJF. Cole will choose MJF, and it sets up an ROH World Tag Team Championship match for the preshow against The Kingdom. Also, there will be hints/suspicion thrown at Jay White as The Devils attack The Acclaimed before their AEW Trios Championship match at Worlds End. There will also be the suggestion it’s Samoa Joe. MJF will even accuse Cole the week before the PPV, leading to a bitter dispute.
Second, will the trigger be pulled? Can this friendship endure?
Benefactor Two: Adam Cole Becomes the AEW World Champion
In the preshow, the disunity between MJF and Adam Cole sees them lose the ROH World Tag Team Championship. MJF takes the fall when Cole reacts too slowly to The Kingdom cheating. Afterward, Cole walks away.
Before the main event, The Devils interfere in the AEW Trios Championship match with The Acclaimed and Bullet Club Gold, unifying and beating the squad of four Devils out of the building. This is where this strange alliance between these two factions sparks and hints that the main event will have no interference.
The main event is a reversal of All In. There is distrust and anger between the two friends, but as the match goes on, how they counter each other and find themselves evenly matched in both seems to spark that friendship. Partway through the match, The Kingdom and Roderick Strong in the wheelchair come out to watch. When the hulking Devil figure comes through the crowd, The Kingdom try to stop him but are beaten away. The referee is distracted. Roderick Strong finally rises from the wheelchair and looks to head towards the Devil. Yet Strong slides in the ring, knees MJF! Cole takes advantage and drops the Boom.
Adam Cole wins.
Post-match, the hulking devil unmasks. It’s Wardlow, who has been off-screen since losing the TNT Championship to Luchasauras. The Kingdom get up. Strong, Taven and Bennet produce devil masks as they stand around Adam Cole. MJF, recovering in the corner, watches. There are tears in MJF’s eyes as Cole gets in his face and tells him he was never his friend!
Benefactor Three: The Undisputed Kingdom Has a Chance
While Samoa Joe doesn’t get his AEW World Championship reign where he kicked ass as more than a transitional champion, The Undisputed Kingdom isn’t dead on arrival. With Cole active and the world champion, Taven and Bennet the newly crowned ROH World Tag Team champions, and Roderick Strong later winning the AEW International Championship, the group has the chance to be both a threat and a mainstay in the spotlight and achieve its purpose from the start.
Adam Cole looks like a genius, having outmaneuvered and outsmarted MJF, who takes a break. For Wardlow, not only is this a repeat of history, but in the background, fans can tell through hints that he is buying his time to rewrite history. Like Batista, he is waiting to claim the championship, which becomes a source of tension in the group, as quickly there is a sense of a ticking clock because at some point, someone is going to betray the other, but circumstances keep stopping this. However, Wardlow won’t challenge Big Business. When the car accident happens, The Kingdom in storyline will suggest they had something to do with it.
In terms of Cole’s reign, Cole will retain against Hook on the 224th episode of Dynamite. The three-way occurs at Revolution with Adam Page, plenty of history there for Cole and Swerve Strickland, and the match still resulting in a double-turn for Page/Strickland. Big Business, Cole will defend the title against Samoa Joe.
Cole loses to Strickland at AEW Dynasty cleanly. Although before the event there are hints and teases of MJF’s return, it’s Strickland’s night. If we were fantasy booking, you can bet I would have brought the Dynasty, MJF’s MLW stable, in to build to a Blood and Guts match with The Undisputed Kingdom, but I can’t.
MJF Tastes His Own Medicine
MJF returns, teases that his contract is up and this will be his last night in AEW. Adam Cole and the Undisputed Kingdom come out to gloat and run MJF down. In a shocking move, MJF acts cowardly and shaken and goes. Cole starts chanting the goodbye song. MJF leaves. Cole cuts a promo. Yet when Cole and The Undisputed Kingdom go, a large stack of poker chips for the set begins to crumble on them. They barely dodge out of the way. MJF jumps and assaults Cole. Security splits things up.
On the following Dynamite, MJF reveals he has resigned and shows his tattoo. MJF wants revenge not just on Cole but all The Undisputed Kingdom. The next PPV is Forbidden Door, so the blowoff will happen at All In London, closing the trilogy where it started. Cole won’t give a rematch to a man who tried to kill him. Cole even employs MJF’s lawyer, Smart Mark Sterling, to put legal obstacles in MJF’s way. However, as MJF can’t come near Cole, he torments the rest of his stablemates. MJF costs The Kingdom their ROH Tag Team Championship, etc., building to finally Cole agreeing to a match if MJF can jump through five hoops.
A role reversal, MJF must stand his own medicine. Match 1 is an eight-man tag against Cage of Agony and Roderick Strong, but MJF can’t just bribe his partners. They must agree willingly. MJF teams with The Acclaimed, closing that plot point. Match 2: MJF defeats Big Bill. Match 3: MJF beats The Kingdom in a handicap match. Match 4: MJF defeats RUSH in a no-rules match. Match 5: MJF overcomes Roderick Strong in a pure rules submission match. MJF injures and takes out these members of the Kingdom.
Benefactor Four and Five: MJF’s Character and a Proper Payoff
Without the injuries and large gaps of time, the emotional investment fans had in the storyline can persist. With MJF’s return to his cheating, devilish roots, he is both the heel fans were endeared to but also the situational babyface fighting against the odds, outsmarting Cole at each turn. It would bring MJF’s character back to what fans wanted and eventually got by the start of MJF’s second title reign. With the roles reversed, Cole also would have had months to perfect his heel persona.
By the time of All In, Will Ospreay and the AEW International title would be doing something else and saving a dream match for later. In its place, Cole vs. MJF gets a proper, meaningful payoff with a new dynamic.
Afterwards, when MJF defeats Cole at All In 2024, on the next AEW Dynamite, MJF would cut a promo basking in his glory. MJF would signal he is going to thank the fans for their support, before dropping the nukes and shitting on the crowd, blaming them for his weakness, taking shots at what the fans online said and bragging about how since Double or Nothing they cheered and thought they knew him. MJF says screw you and says his focus is now on getting back his Triple B.
Conclusion- Boon or One Less Blemish
We already knew if Cole was not injured, the lack of delay would have meant the rest of the storyline and payoff would have been better. What it reveals in hindsight is how integral Cole was to the storyline and MJF’s character. Without Cole’s presence to act as a foil to MJF, no matter how talented, MJF could not one-man-show a two-hander play. Without Cole, there were no wheels to turn.
Even if something like my speculation occurred, outside of plans going wrong, some fans may have naturally tired of the storyline and sports entertainment “influencing” AEW. Remember, early on, how some of the crowd did not know how to react to “Timeless” Toni Storm’s outlandishness. It seemed too WWE-like at first.
The success of the bromance would never, for many fans, remove the taste left by Brawl Out and Punk’s exit. Even at its height, The Brochachos did not please everyone. But it maintained a consistent course and had not festered into something detractors could hitch the narrative of AEW’s decline to; the other highlights of that period might have shone even brighter.
By All In 2024, we had the rise of Swerve Strickland, his incredible feud, the character change of Hangman Adam Page and the start of Toni Storm vs. Mariah May. Incredible high points elsewhere on the card that would not have been tainted by association. Each of which highlighted the best of AEW’s practices evident in the early Cole vs. MJF storyline. Each telling something unique that moved away from the bomb craters of CM Punk. At worst, the narrative of AEW’s decline would have had less ammunition. At best, the feud could have been a boon, pushing AEW out of its identity crisis much sooner.
