When AEW introduced a Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament to decide on FTR's next challengers for the AEW World Tag Team Championship belts, it felt like an odd decision, especially when MJF and Adam Cole were picked as the first team almost immediately after the duo came to a 30-minute draw on Dynamite.
Sure, someone needed to challenge FTR for their belts, as they'd only had one title defense before the tournament began – they've since had an incredible Two out of Three Falls match on Collision with Bullet Club Gold that is must see – but forgoing a more traditional feud in favor of an odd couple tag team angle felt like a bizarre use of the AEW World Champion, especially after other performers had dome the same angle better in the promotion, with MJF and Chris Jericho working a similar story all the way back in 2020.
And yet, in maybe the strangest twist of fate even the most adamant AEW fan couldn't have imagined, the pairing has proven to be incredibly potent, with some, like Bryan Alvarez and company, wondering if Tony Khan should simply bypass whatever short-form storyline he had planned in favor of fully embracing the pairing and riding the palpable chemistry between the two current/former World Champions until the wheel falls off and then turning one performer on another to squeak even longer legs out of AEW's unlikely jackpot pairing of 2023.
MJF and Adam Cole shouldn't work but really do.
Heading into the finals of the Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament on the Blood and Guts edition of AEW Dynamite, Tony Khan booked not one, but two segments to set up the match between the team of MJF and Adam Cole and the team of Sammy Guevara and Daniel Garcia.
First, in a page straight from the NXT playbook – IYO SKY and Zoey Stark getting sushi, anyone? – MJF and Cole opted to further fortify their bond by getting spicy Chinese food in Boston. While MJF wasn't too hot on the idea, as the “Salt of the Earth” ironically isn't a huge fan of spicy food… or poor people, he ultimately obliged to his friend's request, as he simply isn't used to having friends. The segment, though both very cheesy and very reminiscent of the duo going to the gym and playing AEW Fight Forever before it, has the sort of genuine character development that Shawn Michaels and Paul “Triple H” Levesque have mastered, whereas TK never seems to find time for despite having five hours of television to play with each week.
The duo then talked with Renee Paquette before their match, with MJF giving his partner some matching gear for their match, and Cole returning the favor by having Ruckus remix both of their songs into a new hybrid that put a genuine smile on the World Champion's face, all the while Roderick Strong, wearing a neckbrace from his match versus Samoa Joe, got even less time to talk to his long-time Undisputed brother in arms. This moment, though small, showed that Cole might actually be genuinely warming up to his makeshift tag team partner, even if his actual friends aren't as receptive to the idea.
If that was that, then that would be that, but after MJF met Garcia's in-ring flair with Long Island-approved dance moves of his own, the two tag teams broke out into an impromptu dance-off flush with Disco tunes and flashy moves… at least until Cole got into the ring. After refusing to allow MJF to even touch him a few weeks back, “Mr. NXT” was pelvic thrusting in the middle of the ring in front of some 9,000 fans at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Maybe Cole was simply playing the long game, making himself look foolish to lull MJF into a false sense of security to make his eventual betrayal all the more gut-wrenching – he did look at the AEW World Championship for a very long time – or maybe he's become comfortable with MJF, warts and all, and will actually embrace his friend's quirks instead of focusing his many, many, many character deficiencies.
Is this angle riding towards its ultimate conclusion with a match against FTR on Collision? More likely than not, yes; this angle was conceived to set things up for a main event match at either All In or All Out, and Khan likely wants some time to develop the downfall of their feud before it reaches its ultimate crescendo, but does he have to? Like it or not, after experiencing a lull since All Out 2022 following the blow-up between CM Punk and The Elite that even the launch of Collision hasn't completely alleviated, “Better Than You, Bay Bay” is the most exciting development AEW has seen in a year, and Khan would be wise to ride that lightning in a bottle until the wheel falls off.
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