10 Dream Scenarios For Wrestling's New BOOM Period

6. MJF Returns, Quickly Turns Heel

MJF Promo
AEW

AEW is on great form in 2024, and then the Undisputed Kingdom pop up on your TV. They are the loose end nobody asked to be tied up. 

Led by an injured non-threat with a stated mission to take out a guy who is already gone (!), the unit, dead on arrival, are completely pointless - twice over. They have no reason to be, and if they had a reason to be, they can't hope to enact that reason. And it's not as if AEW is short of wrestlers, obviously. They aren't scrambling to fill up TV time! 

Much as some fans don't like to admit it - and as much as the tenor of the programme may have done AEW more harm than good over the long term - Better Than You Bay-Bay was the hottest act across 2023. In one sense, it would be daft for AEW to trash it outright, but it makes equally little sense for AEW to proceed with it when both men are injured. 

It will be paid off, but AEW should subvert expectations and the pessimism surrounding it by booking the match as soon as both men are cleared. Don't piss about. Book a violent, unfussy match between a wronged man and his betrayer that aspires for no more than that. The ambition of the original programme was tremendous at its peak (in a live setting only), but it all strained under the weight of itself in the end. 

Then, when it's over in an unexpected, blood-splattered flash, turn MJF heel and build to a match against a babyface Will Ospreay. 

MJF was better as a heel than as a babyface, and AEW - what with Swerve Strickland, Samoa Joe, and the Blackpool Combat Club - is positively teeming with tweener figures. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!