11 Match Star Ratings From AEW All In
1. MJF Vs. Adam Cole - World Title Match
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MJF Vs. Adam Cole was a masterpiece of a brand new genre of main event that nobody else should mimic. It is wholly unique to their incredible dynamic.
Yes, it played with WWE-style melodrama, but there's a good and bad version of everything in wrestling and WWE melodrama takes itself too seriously at the main event level. Also, nothing is automatically bad, except Billy Corgan's NWA. In a tremendous, uniquely creative start, MJF and Cole engaged in friendly banter through the medium of pro wrestling. The crowd ate up both men taking the piss out of each other with their various taunts, cheating and crowd appeals. Then, the tone mutated. Cole realised that MJF is the World champion for a reason, and set about trying to take him out with a procession of sick plunder spots that were actually earned in the context of the story. MJF couldn't bring himself to do it, and if there's ever a reason to do the polarising inner conflict trend, it's when a character has their first real crack at friendship and outright redemption.
The second of two ref bumps was so unbelievably great. Convoluted but funnier for it, Bryce Remsburg ate Cole's Panama Sunrise. Cole's incredulous expression was a riot. People in the stands were pissing themselves laughing at this, and the laughter intensified when Cole and MJF threw a chair at each other in order to win the race to do the Eddie Guerrero cheating spot. In a genius twist, the double clothesline took on a different meaning as they each pinned one another off a double down. They've built this thing for ages. They put over their tag team finish in their singles match for Christ's sake!
The match restarted - in "f*cking Wembley!", to a massive pop - and in the end, Roderick Strong's attempted interference counted for nothing. Cole refused to go through with the full turn, MJF caught him off guard, and then rolled him up. Or was this a very, very advanced chess move from MJF? Who knows.
The mystery, thrillingly, continues.
The dirt-worst cliché of a great show, in any medium, is that it will make you laugh and make you cry. MJF and Cole somehow managed this, in the context of pro wrestling, in a match that was also Canadian Destroyer-pilled and exhilarating as a result.
This is hack stuff, sorry, but for possibly the first time ever, this match actually had everything. With a record attendance to manipulate, the genius of MJF Vs. Adam Cole is that they made the fans make virtually every noise.
(Not sure why Cole would want a count-out win, though).
Star Rating: ★★★★¾