25 Worst Wrestling Moments Of 2023

AEW was trying its best to deal with the fallout from 'Brawl Out', an incident which caused their public reputation to take an enormous battering, then the 'Devil' storyline showed face to become almost as damaging as that landscape-altering occasion.

MJF was in the middle of his first run as a babyface and doing a good job of it, despite some questionable booking. The confusing, inconsistent and never-ending 'Devil' storyline completely overshadowed his work. The mysterious figure would attack Friedman or anyone associated with him for months on end, with fans constantly speculating on who the 'Devil' and his masked associates were. This is no bad thing or anything new, but when AEW invested this much into the story, the payoff had to be satisfying for the audience.

Adam Cole being revealed as the Devil did not fit this criteria.

His accomplices in the Undisputed Kingdom were all wrestlers who did not draw any emotion from fans whatsoever either. The whole escapade left MJF high and dry, and the usually razor-sharp superstar looked stupid for not guessing that his assailant was the most obvious candidate. Cole was also entirely ineffective, as he wasn't able to wrestle for 10 months after the big reveal at World's End. Everything about this story failed to work for anyone involved, and it left AEW with an enormous amount of rebuilding to do going into 2024.