9 Ups & 2 Downs From AEW All Out 2023 (Results & Review)
8. History Repeats Between Samoa Joe & MJF
AEW is the best version of itself when it takes a thing you may have predicted and builds something on top of that to make it better than you ever could have imagined.
For several years, the idea of revisiting Samoa Joe and MJF's first interaction in NXT was a cute one, but even then it felt impossible to fold in MJF the WWE extra into AEW storylines. Not only did the company manage it here, but did so while making a not-that-subtle reference to the elephant in the room and building multiple different stories in the process.
Joe lunged his arm at MJF as they passed on the ramp to throw it back to 2016 and amuse himself, MJF responded because it's 2023, Joe subdued him with a guillotine choke (get it?), and the two had to be kept separate as the Champion's neck continued to suffer. Roderick Strong - a fellow MJF rival - suffered his own neck health issues at Joe's violent hands, and the two are sure to meet in the Number One Contenders tournament that will end in a match against...MJF.
This is what we talk about when we talk about "peak AEW". The pull-apart ruled too.