11 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Dynamite (Jun 14 - Review)
Ups…
11. MJF Vs Adam Cole
AEW
It’s always chess match first, wrestling match second with MJF.
Yes, he’ll try and cheat three moves ahead rather than wrestle them, but the methods remain the same and the examples of just how effective his style is continue to pile higher than just about all of his contemporaries.A sublime master strategist within the fairly strict confines of kayfabe his character adheres to, the ‘Salt Of The Earth’s eventual babyface turn will be so earned because he’s everything he says he is and then some.
In the meantime, he’s rebooted Adam Cole’s own heroic return after it had badly stuttered in his programme with Chris Jericho.He might have chased every shortcut when his traps to set them up worked, but that’s the sort of guile and gumption that’s too admirable to despise. His constant avoidance of the Boom, his constant targeting of Cole’s arm and his constant desire to “dance with what brung him” (the ring, the belt, the table spot from Revolution) were sublime in the moment and even better when he’d successfully ran down the clock.
Time limit draws rule anyway, but they go even harder when the matches are good enough to have fans begging for the extra five minutes as much as the babyface. Cole will get every minute he needs against the Champion down the road, this much is clear. But the former NXT Champion was presented with a more sophisticated challenge here, and he’ll need to tap into that beautiful mind of his to solve the puzzle second time around.
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years.
As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say.
With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling.
Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.
