The WORST Wrestling Moment Every Year (1989 - 2025)

3. 2023 | The AEW Full Gear Show-Long Storyline

Terri Runnels
AEW

The idea of AEW as a “sports-oriented” promotion went to hell, and the Devil sent them there. Here’s what happened at Full Gear 2023: 

MJF got his knee bashed to bits by the Gunn Club on the pre-show. The injury was severe enough to hospitalise him and strip him of the AEW World title, which Tony Schiavone announced Jay White was set to win by default, even though Tony Khan had established the concept of interim titles a year prior. 

Adam Cole, MJF’s best friend, stepped in to defend the title on MJF’s behalf. There were two incredibly significant problems with this idea. 

Firstly, Adam Cole was more injured, significantly so, than MJF. He was injured in reality, and this had been addressed onscreen. Cole was in fact so injured that he needed a bone from a corpse to repair his foot in experimental, ultra-rare surgery. The idea that the medical staff would clear Cole, and not MJF, was absolutely braindead. 

Secondly, Adam Cole was planning to betray MJF at some point because he was the Devil. 

So Adam Cole, who had no idea if MJF was going to return to the arena, volunteered to fight on a broken ankle, on behalf of the friend he never even liked, to win what should have been an interim title but wasn’t. 

AEW’s main event picture was broken into a thousand TNA-sized pieces in 2023, but the Full Gear main event was particularly awful - AEW’s most era-defining “What are we doing here?” moment. 

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!