10 Alternative Wrestling Awards For 2023
7. The Award For 'Time To Give It Up, Lads'
Better Than You Bay-Bay was a great time.
It was entertaining, unpredictable - who would turn on whom? - and really quite inspired. If ever there were a wrestler nice and good enough to make MJF realise that he could trust people, it was Adam Cole. It was a rare bit of pure wrestling magic; an act that just clicked with awesome chemistry and a compelling, totally unique dynamic.
It ended when Adam Cole suffered a shattered ankle when running to the ring and urging MJF not to quit at Grand Slam in September.
Or at least, it should have.
It didn't.
Instead, because the t-shirts sell so well and necessary storyline pivots are apparently not "great for us", Tony Khan tried to keep it alive. It was dead. It was as dead as fingerless gloves, cycling shorts, or the crowd during a Triple H match at WrestleMania.
This resulted in some sh*tty stuff. MJF working the Righteous on pay-per-view, which was not unlike Steve Austin going over 8-Ball and Skull at Unforgiven '98, just to keep the act going with the ROH Tag Team titles around their waists. The Roderick Strong skits, in which poor Cole had to smile through the very real pain. The show-long storyline at Full Gear, in which an injured MJF couldn't compete but Cole was somehow cleared despite being more injured.
The terrible idea of Khan no-selling reality did much to destroy AEW's rep in the back half of '23.
Dishonourable mention: Triple H trying to get Karrion Kross over.