14 Ups & 4 Downs For AEW In 2020
13. MJF's Evolution To Bonafide Main Event Superstar
In 2018, MJF was such a mainstream unknown that his unannounced All In appearance was met with bafflement.
In 2019, MJF proved why he merited the spot by rattling off a deluge of piss-funny slick-tongued promo gold in which he got over as a despicable little f*cker too funny to hate, but you still hated him, and how impressive was that for a 21st century heel?
But questions remained over his in-ring ability.
That they did must have powered MJF's unbearable smugness; he answered them in supreme fashion in 2020, in which, highlighted by his stunning loss to Jon Moxley at All Out, he worked a pair of incredible bangers with Jungle Boy.
He doesn't just very, very creatively work excellent symmetry spots to get over the idea that Jungle Boy is his peer as a prodigy; he does so with an arresting fury that somebody might be as good as he is, never once betraying his heel persona with electrifying in-ring content. He could reheat Jungle Boy with a quick kiss of the ring, too, which says so much about his future Ace potential. But while he can go, and go hard - and he can draw too, looking at that All Out number - his greatest gift is his crucial ability to drop an intriguing TV hook literally every week.
The nicest thing one can write about a complete attention-seeking jackass is that he's currently working a programme with Chris Jericho - the premise of which is that he's overtaking the legend as his equal - and it is 100% convincing.