AEW Five Fingers of Death (And Friends) 11/13 - 11/19, Part 1

AEW Full Gear 2023

MJF vs Jay White

MD: I have a problem: I actually really liked this match. Bear with me a minute here. Your friend and mine, Jeff Jarrett has a saying: "Creative is subjective." I think that's actually bullshit when it comes to the confines of a match and how it's put together. Let me give you a topical example.

I absolutely loved the first half of the Swerve vs Hangman Page Texas Death Match. I don't actually like Swerve matches and I really don't like Page. I think they both have incredible presence, hit things clean, emote well, are interesting performers. I just tend not to like how they structure their matches or, in Swerve's case, how unwieldy his offense tends to be. But I loved the first half of that match. It was absolutely everything I could have wanted it to be. Then, perfectly placed, Swerve hit the death valley driver onto the cinderblock and the pile driver onto the rail.

I was excited, because we were about to get into the heat and Swerve was about to get back at Page for everything Page so righteously did to him. The pressure would ramp up. The crowd, already frothing, would boil over, and then we'd get Swerve adding too much insult to injury, the standing tall comeback, and they'd go 50/50 again or towards whatever finish they'd go to. It was the perfect, over the top, undeniable way for Swerve, so beaten down and bloodied, to get back into the match and it'd lead to everything else I wanted. But no, he had Hangman back in the ring almost immediately thereafter and was paintbrushing him leading to the far-too-soon comeback. They just cut out the emotional heart that would have made everything else work in order to rush to the comeback. It hurt the match. It killed it for me actually. So creative may be subjective but in my head some things are absolute. A grudge match needs to manage the heat right or else it's not what it might have been. Something so monumental as those headdrops should have consequence. Etc, and so on. There are some rules.

And trust me, I don't always agree with MJF and what he does. I had big problems with the 2021 Full Gear match with Darby for instance. I didn't like the Double Or Nothing main event from this year at all. And you know what, I am ok with anyone who personally doesn't buy into MJF's act right now. Joseph Montecillo wrote an excellent post about his feelings. Most likely, if you're reading this, you already have read it. Some some things are absolute but a lot of things are subjective, yeah. So why do I have a problem? I have a problem because I hadn't been planning to write about this at all but I really liked the match and now I feel like I have to.

When I tend not to like MJF, it's when he's drifting from his true north. That's when the person behind the wrestler starts to creep in a bit too much maybe, when it seems like he feels like he has something to prove, when he follows the fans instead of trying to lead them. Basically, it's when he does too much to prove that he's as good as anyone and can do too much, understandable in a world where he has to main event over things like Omega vs Takeshita, right (he didn't that night but you get the idea)? I actually fully expected that to be the case when I heard this went thirty. I can't always get to these the night of due to parental responsibilities so I saw the feedback first and I had my concerns. But I jumped in with an open mind. And I watched, and I watched, and I kept expecting things to turn, like in the Page match, and it kind of almost did with the belt shot and the ring, but nah, it worked for me. Let me tell you why.

That true north for the character of MJF in November 2023? Friendship. What matters to him more than any belt, any legacy, any single win is his friendship with Adam Cole. Just like the other "main characters" in AEW, Adam Page and Eddie Kingston, MJF is a damaged individual. He never had human connections. He never had a connection to the crowd. The way he can relate to others is through the lens that he uses to understand the world, through his constant companion growing up, the thing he found his identity in, wrestling. So when MJF leans hard into babyface tropes in a way that seems winking, to me, that's not the person behind the character trying to make something out of nothing or trying too hard or being disingenuous, it's the character of MJF trying to relate in the only way he knows how. The only way he knows how to be a good friend or a better person is from what he grew up watching. The only way he knows how to relate to the crowd is by channeling babyfaces of old. And from a kayfabe perspective, it's working so successfully even if it seems strange or contrived, because it's always worked. The flip flop and fly elbow always worked. The kangaroo kick works. And what works most of all, channeling the crowd? So MJF the character channels the crowd, he channels his emotions towards Adam Cole, and he channels his best and worst quality, his monumental, pride. He channels all of these things and focuses his generational athletic talent through the lens of this understanding. And what you get out of it is a match like the Jay White match.

And it worked for me just like it worked for the crowd, even if maybe we're thinking about it differently (or I'm thinking about it too much). What made him persevere through his agony was the idea that Adam Cole was going to put everything on the line for him. What made him triumph in the end was the idea that Adam Cole was okay with a little bit of cheating, that he was telling him that it was ok to be himself, even as he was trying to be the best scumbag he can possibly be. He was channeling all of these babyface tropes that have always been effective in wrestling history while still having that scoundrel peeking out underneath. And Jay White (channeling his own egomaniac self) gave him all the opportunities he needed to make it believable. He played with his food, took for granted the advantage the Gunns gave him by going to them too much too soon when he didn't need to, refused to stay on the leg when he had the opportunity to, even if he went back to it whenever he needed to, taunted Adam Cole too much. He, like every Hulk Hogan opponent that preceded him, showed just enough hubris to create those necessary opportunities. And in the end, I honestly half think that MJF kicked out of that belt shot and avoided that diamond ring because he couldn't live with the idea that Adam Cole might have to, himself, live with the idea that he messed everything up for his friend even as he was trying to help and show that he finally accepted him for who he was. That's pretty powerful stuff if you can see it and feel it and connect with it.

Look, maybe this MJF character isn't as clean or as crisp as a clear and certain babyface turn would have been, but he's not a clear and certain babyface! He's a complex, shades of grey character that is manifesting that in an over the top way. To me, it's entirely believable. To me, it's fascinating. To me, it's quite consistent. To me, it's a tragedy waiting to happen because it's not sustainable. To me, the holes and the doubts and the shakiness and the mistakes are all part of the point. Maybe it's too complicated for pro wrestling, which has always lived and died on the simple and direct, but that's AEW for you, right? It's a fanbase with its own neuroses and this MJF is the perfect anti-hero for them. Maybe that's too limiting to appeal to broader audiences. Hell, maybe it's just me reading things into the matches that aren't even there. I've been doing that for fifteen years if you ask some people! But I was barely looking for it in this match and I saw it in every moment. So yeah, I had a problem. This is how I dealt with it. Not every bit of wrestling is subjective but this part is, and it's ok if you don't see what I see or you don't think it's worth it. It's certainly ok if you think it doesn't always work. So far it hasn't but that doesn't make the attempt any less admirable or worthwhile. And hey, you know what? I think you might have a little bit more fun if just this once, you come along on this journey with me. I'm still not going to come along with you on that Swerve/Page stuff though. Sorry.