10 HUGE Tests Wrestlers Passed

5. MJF Headlines A Strong-Drawing PPV At 24

There was always a contrarian voice working against AEW's early success on pay-per-view.

Oh, WWE's Chris Jericho informed the buy rate.

It's a novelty, of course it's going to do well.

Every ticket was bought by a scalper (cry laugh emoji)!

Notwithstanding the fact that they wouldn’t have, were they not confident of making a profit, by August 2020 the complexion had changed. Jericho was embroiled in an upper midcard feud with Orange Cassidy; the ongoing pandemic heavily limited live attendance; AEW had settled into established existence as a mostly excellent promotion that didn't feel as vital as it had in 2019. It was never going to.

There were doubts too over just how good MJF was. His big match record was uneven. His fury at Jungle Boy daring to rival him made for an explosive thriller at Double Or Nothing, but the Cody match while very good lacked the intangible felt throughout the build.

At All Out 2020, MJF proved that he wasn't just a great researcher and charismatic personality. He was the genuine, 100% cashmere article. His match with Jon Moxley was tremendous - a different match depending on where it was fought, creating drama within the simple movement of entering the ring - and it drew in excess of six figures on pay-per-view.