10 Reasons Why AEW Is Still The KING Of Wrestling
2. The Best Storyline In Wrestling Is Happening On Wednesdays
MJF Vs. Adam Cole is a masterpiece. In many different ways.
The two performers share irresistible, genuinely believable chemistry, and that is key. It feels can't-fail at this point.
Cole, world-renowned as the nicest fellow in wrestling, is the perfect choice with which to turn MJF face. Of course Cole has allowed him to trust people and see the good in them. Really, he's about the only person that MJF could tell this story with.
And if MJF is playing a long con, Ole Anderson-style - maybe he "hated every minute" of playing video games with Cole - Cole is so nice and well-liked that he will get over as the top main event babyface that he has been expected to become for years.
The tone of the programme is also crucial. The inner conflict melodrama with which wrestling has been obsessed for years was really starting to grate earlier in 2023, but the story is simply too funny to fall into the over-earnest cringe of it all.
The mystery is compelling, unpredictable. It never feels like a cynical, drawn-out device to keep people watching because MJF and Cole are clearly having a blast with it. People want to watch it unfold and never want it to end at the same time. It's warm. It's entertaining. It's suspenseful. It plays equally well on a meta level, too.
Cole had never really clicked in AEW, some great performances notwithstanding. MJF was facing a backlash in the spring because the Four Pillars storyline did not land at all. They really did need each other, which allows their symbiotic relationship to feel more real than most stories, even with its (tremendous) dance contests and the like.
If the goal of wrestling is to get the fans to make noise, Cole and MJF are making them make every noise.