10 HUGE Tests Wrestlers Passed

5. MJF Headlines A Strong-Drawing PPV At 24

MJF Jon Moxley
AEW

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.

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Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK 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 AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and 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!