9 Ups & 0 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam

6. MJF Is A Star And A Storyteller

MJF Pillman
AEW

MJF Vs. Brian Pillman Jr. went a few minutes too long and it felt longer against a backdrop of exhaustion.

This was a down period of the show that can't in good faith be classified as a "Down". This wasn't a sequencing error nor poor time allocation; Pillman Jr. had to put up a fight to equalise the heat of the build, and the build was molten ahead of a mere sub-10 minute undercard attraction.

MJF was on too high a level, and in another indication that he is a fully-fledged main event talent that just happens to be 25 years old, he elicited a monster of a chorus of jeers when he made his entrance. The match itself, while quiet, was a well-told and layered story arranged in the early phase to get Pillman Jr. over as a smart babyface. He outwitted MJF by feigning to make the same mistake. He left his head vulnerable when setting up a back body drop, lulled MJF into the kick, and whipped it backwards to send MJF flailing to the mat.

But MJF is the prodigy of AEW, and the ring IQ that Jim Ross called brilliantly won him the match. He worked the arm over throughout, and after raising Pillman's temper by threatening Julia Hart, he caught his flying cross body and seamlessly transitioned into the Fujiwara for the win.

A good match tarnished by a flat atmosphere, the message was still amplified: MJF is top-tier.

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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!