12 Exact Moments AEW Booking Stopped Making Sense

6. The Devil Storyline (September 27, 2023)

The Devil AEW
AEW

Adding to the above entry on Full Gear, in September 2023, Jay White was attacked by several mysterious figures. One was wearing the Devil mask worn by MJF at All Out 2022. It was implied that this must have been MJF, but it was very obviously a red herring. Jay himself didn’t even seem that bothered. Few were, really.

A couple of characters accused MJF of being the Devil - Roderick Strong, most notably and most obnoxiously - but MJF was adamant that he wasn’t. This saga was horrendous: the hokiest tripe AEW ever served up at such a prominent level. It killed MJF as a babyface. People gravitated towards him because he was an entertaining d*ck. They didn’t care about those old evil deeds catching up to him. They would have preferred to see him do more of them than this.

At one point, this was a Vince Russo-sized disgrace to the idea of a sports-oriented, high-quality wrestling league.

The storyline was all over the place narratively, since the only person to care about it for a month of inactivity was Roddy, and the logic was equally dismal. The Devil was able to hack into the mainframe, to deliver his glitchy messages, and even put on a dazzling lights display when his masked men made their entrance for matches in which their opponent never immediately removed their disguise.

This was dumb and goofy at the time, and was somehow worse when the perp was revealed to be Adam Cole at Worlds End.

Cole - the Devil - plotted to betray MJF and distracted him from the masterplan when at Roddy Strong’s place, pulling slow-motion happy faces while making sandwiches and riding around on mobility scooters.

Positively satanic stuff here.

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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!