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That was the most 2021 Cody Rhodes main event ever. All of that melodramatic overbooking bullshit just so Jay White can go 20 minutes with and lose to a guy with one leg.
god, that really was a Cody hallmark. a match that feels like it's building to a twist that will take it to the next level and then nothing new actually happens and you wonder what the point was
Nothing even happened apart from Jay White losing all credibility. There wasn't even a hint of the whole devil deal. Hell, why did the devil not cost White the match? It's already established that whoever he is he has no problems attacking White. Even more importantly, how is Jay White, a person portrayed throughout his career as always having a plan and being one step ahead not win here despite MJF being injured and having the Gunns run interference? They really did White dirty here
I can't shake the feeling that the leg thing just makes look Jay White look weak as shit. If there had to be a leg injury, should've happened IN the match.
The righteous are chumps. The World Champion being able to dispatch two nobodies by himself should be conceivable booking. Having a 35 minute match with arguably the top heel in the company while injured and winning is not.
I completely agree. I think the match still turned out good *for what it was*, but it's just a shame that "what it was" was an overbooked clusterfuck that didn't need to happen in the first place. If the end result was just going to be "MJF wins lol" then they should have skipped the injury angle and just MJF and Jay White go all-out to have a great match. If this injury angle actually led to some meaningful development with the whole Devil situation, then I would be more understanding, but as it stands now, there was no reason for it and it only made everything worse for everyone involved.
That’s the biggest issue I’ve seen with MJF’s matches. He sells injuries and has his opponents completely destroy whatever he’s selling to a ridiculous degree.
Then, he does something absurd that would never even be remotely possible with the injury he’s selling, and then goes back to selling like it never happened.
That's my problem with Seth Rollins matches as well. Rollins has had this back injury for months now and still winning highly competitive matches and busting out big moves
He also had the infamous knee injury yet is out her doing phoenix splashes
To be honest, I feel like what you’re saying is a pretty widespread problem with modern wrestling in general. Omega is guilty of it too.
It’s not enough to take me completely out of the match, but it is kind of jarring to see insane blitz offense 35 minutes into a match where the wrestlers are murdering each other.
As much as I loved Omega vs Ospreay at Forbidden Door, if certainly had those moments where the pace ramped far higher than it should considering the kayfabe damage they took.
Again, it’s only a minor pet peeve as I still love a lot of the work these guys do. But it’s also why Gunther vs Ilja is my favorite match of the past 4-5 years or so. It really felt like a grueling war of attrition. They worked stiff as fuck but still kept each other safe and it looked like combat.
I think this just goes to show just how hard it is for the face of the company along with company to reel themselves in enough to not turn their biggest star into a cartoon superhero who steamrolls the rest of the talent. Guys like Cena, Hogan, Reigns and HHH killed the momentum of so many careers simply because they couldn't help but put themselves in a silly position in which they somehow overcome impossible odds, making top talent look like worthless in the process.
Before this match, I thought Jay White was legitimately World Title material. How can anyone possibly think he is after that nonsensical, ridiculous story where he gets beat by a guy with one good leg?
It's clear MJF is being given a lot of leeway and he absolutely needs to be reigned in after this. What a joke of a match, good lord. As SOON as i saw him get jumped after Joe left, i knew we were in for some bullshit.
Adam Cole throws in that towel while MJF is in the figure 4, it would've salvaged the entire match.
The criticism AEW gets about not building stars and whatnot, always seemed to be driven by people who measure current popularity against AE wrestlers, or people who went into acting. Then you see Ricky Starks win the Owen Cup only to lose repeatedly until he's suddenly a tag champ. The Righteous getting cool vignettes only to lose in a ridiculous handicap match. Before the Hangman feud, Swerve was losing most of his matches while being made to look like an idiot. Now, BCG are still fairly fresh to AEW, loads of momentum, former Tag Champs the Gunns lose to a non tag team comprised of guys who definitely don't really know how to work together. And former NJ grand slam champ can't win against an injured man with interference. It feels like unless you're a storied veteran or MJF, you're simply plot device. Since MJF allegedly has control of his creative, I think someone needs to let him know that multiple stars are a net gain and not a threat to his place atop the mountain
Alot of people saying this but I really disagree
He wasn't hit with a single finisher by Jay White, only kicked out of a belt shot and cheated to win after cheating multiple other times in the match
He kicked out of a belt shot while Jay couldn't kick out of the much smaller diamond ring punch. He wrestled twice and was at a hospital for hours the fact that Jay couldn't beat him quickly even with cheating is ridiculous.
Jay White is a top 10 wrestler in the world that slapped the likes of Tanahashi, Okada, Kenny, Ibushi etc and won everything there was to win when it comes to important singles titles.
He had a ring, a title belt, two goons, against a guy that wasn't cleared until the last second, with an injured guy that recently came out of injury by his side... and he lost.
This was the type of stuff that led to AEW existing in the first place, hope everyone is reminded of that.
>This was the type of stuff that led to AEW existing in the first place
I think that is absolutely the best quote for describing this main event booking possible. Stuff life this is literally why I stopped watching wrestling for years before AEW came around (well, it's tied with the non-stop camera cuts) and I just saw it happen here.
I'll forgive it once, especially since the rest of the show was good, but I will go back to just not watching wrestling anymore of it continues.
> I'll forgive it once, especially since the rest of the show was good
Exactly. For me this was a very good PPV, a lot of good moments, a lot of good wrestling, I dislike what they do to Shida's reigns but I've grown to just accept it and apart from that everything was going well... but damn, this main event brought me back to the days where I finally decided to quit WWE, I'd argue this was worse, like Vince would be proud.
I'm happy for Jay and i'll follow him regardless of where he goes... but the difference between AEW's and NJPW's creative for Jay are so insanely different it hurts to just think about. It's even worse because Jay is definitely an acquired taste and it takes a long time for people to "get" "it" and just how insanely talented the guy is at... everything.
Gedo couldn't even imagine pulling stuff like this, not even if it was Naito/Goto in the place of Jay, no shot.
Honestly this is my worry with Ospreay going full time with AEW, I REALLY hoped that it wasn't gonna be Will but it obviously was and I'm gonna miss Will's NJPW story because his story is gonna p much change now and no longer the built as the "top gaijin" of NJPW since he was so out of the door that NJPW let him do this early since TK prob offered big money.
I'm glad he's getting his money ofc it must've been a fuckton for NJPW to just let Will blatantly announced he's full time switching months ahead since Bushiroad obviously can't match TK money it must've been good for them but I will miss Ospreay in NJPW even if he will obviously still work NJPW events, that match against Okada in this years G1 was clearly setting up something big for him in NJPW but AEW came knocking.
One of the things that made me quit watching WWE was how often matches that would just be really good wrestling matches got turned into convoluted and over-dramatic angles where the main actual action was endless heat and interference spots. There was a great wrestling match buried in here but the angle got in the way, way too much for my liking.
Yeah I didn't like the match at all, especially considering nothing actually happened post match, which I thought would.
Because having a 2 month build for Jay White to lose to an injured man really baffles me.
Why would MJF not be able to wrestle but cole can. Why did refs try to stop MJF and not cole. How does Jay White look like anything other than a geek losing to a one legged MJF? Just awful all the way around
“We witnessed a heinous attack on HBK earlier tonight as HHH slammed the sledgehammer into his leg. Will the showstopper be able to compete in tonight’s main event?”
Meanwhile the crowd was going crazy for the final portions of the match.
They legit thought Jay was going to win, thought Cole might throw in the towel.
I was enjoying it at that point. But Max slowly crawling into the cover and not hooking the leg for a three count off a simple punch with the ring after everything Max had kicked out of was dumb. Could have at the very least had a better finish
The same people who shit on John Cena for years for having this same type of match are now trying to spin it as brilliant selling
MJF took 99 percent of the offense, got hit with a title belt, had the Guns come out to get him, and he overcame it all by himself with a single punch with the ring
As someone who still shits on Super Cena to this day, this was absolute garbage. Buried Jay for no reason at all, just so Max can get a home town pop at World's End.
I think the whole leaving in an ambulance angle was utterly ridiculous, and the match didn’t do any favors for White, but there’s not way he should’ve won that match anyway, especially with BCG basically getting the upper hand on MJF the entire feud.
"BuT tHe CrOwd Is LovInG iT" lmaaoo
Nooow all of a sudden a large portion of the subreddit cares about what the live crowd enjoys hahaha.
I'm not giving anyone shit, the match was ok and the performers did an amazing job. I just feel a differently booked match would've been better.
Letting your champ, kayfabe injured and with their only backup also injured, beat a white hot, young contender who has every advantage is bad Vince-era booking 100%. I love AEW but let’s be even-handed with the criticism. This was dumb. Jay White got punked.
I’m a big fan of MJF’s run. He’s their best homegrown star. But I do question the super booking he’s been getting recently. The leg injury wasn’t really necessary, and it does future world champ Jay White no favors.
MJF was essentially the reason I watched AEW and his booking since the Adam Cole storyline pushed me away from watching. Now I’m just here reading results on Reddit.
It was so obvious he wasn’t winning this once they started the whole belt thief storyline, so all the injury stuff only made the inevitable loss worse than it had to be.
Tony Khan has two of the most talented 30 or under wrestlers in the world and instead of having them work a clean match, he books this bullshit that makes a guy who was an absolute superstar in NJPW look like a bozo
"Alright, how about after they throw literally everything they have at me, hit me with weapons, and all while I'm hurt - I hit him with a single punch with the ring - 1,2,3 and we go home."
"GREAT IDEA, MAX! BOOKING IT!"
The most masturbatory match ever in AEW. I thought the Codyverse was self-indulgent, but that right there was a whole new level.
One-legged MJF mercy'd Jay White not just once, but TWICE, and also took the W in the end. What the fuck.
Like maybe if MJF lost because the sportsmanship costed him, this would all make sense. But he actually just won anyways.
> One-legged MJF mercy'd Jay White not just once, but TWICE, and also took the W in the end.
I keep coming back to this lol. Guy lost 3 fucking times to a one-legged man in one match
If this is the booking he gets after all of that build, Jay White should have stayed in NJPW.
This was the story of White/Ibushi at WK 2022, but without Ibushi's mystique, and with even more overwhelming odds against him.
Thinking about that WK15 main event and Jay’s post match promo depresses the hell out of me.
Two years later, we have Ibushi on a bicycle with Big Show and Jay getting mogged by a crying one legged man.
I'm sorry but that's asinine. That makes Jay White look weak as shit.
Why couldn't they just have a standard match, why did he have to lose to an injured MJF?
Like what was the point of MJF being injured, what did it lead to?
That's HIAC 2019 level of bad.
That's the thing that baffles me most about this. MJF is an absolute star, but trying to sell him as this "overcome all odds" face a la Cena/Hogan just does not work.
Didn't need the injury angle. Made Jay look weak. By all means, sell the leg, but the hospitalization was unnecessary. Some great tension at times, but weak finish
This. Cole saying Tony agreed to let him defend the title was ridiculous enough. But I figured, "okay, the Devil's goons are going to come in, beat down Jay and then have Adam be revealed as the leader". Sounds redeemable. But nah. Jay really got a bad deal here.
Jay White signed roughly seven months ago. Second biggest free agent signing of the year behind Ospreay. Lost to a hobbled MJF this evening. Bizarre the way he's been booked.
Usually when people say someone just got buried because of one loss, I think they are overreacting and just trying to find a reason to hate the product, but for once I actually agree, that was rough for White.
I don't get the need to run the injury angle? Like... there was no payoff? The match itself was fine - nothing special - but all this did was make Jay White look incredibly weak. Couldn't beat a 1-legged MJF even with interference?
Well Jay White sure looks like a chump.
What overbooked, poorly conceived bullshit. The actual wrestling was obviously of a very high standard but fuck me Tony Khan needs to get some help from people that know how to book because he just destroyed a credible main event threat.
What was the point of the MJF injury angle and Adam Cole looking like a complete idiot getting the belt “taken away” and Switchblade slowly grabbing the ring directly in front of Cole’s face if he wasn’t gonna turn on him?
That was certainly a match.
MJF and Jay White been two of my faves for a long time now, but I think this match and angle didn’t do either of them favors.
So how does a guy who's beaten Okada clean lose to a 1 legged relatively green guy in their 2nd match of the night? If that isn't a burial I don't know what is. Nonsensical.
Genuine question: other than doing 'heelish' things, how is MJF being booked any differently than the worst era of "Super Cena?" This is ridiculous and really dragging down the entire program.
I think this was one of my least favourite matches of all time. Overbooking at its finest. I can imagine it was fun for the crowd in attendance, but none of it made sense at all. None of the moments besides Adam teasing throwing in the towel hit the right note for me. It all just fell flat.
The same people who made fun of Cody beating up Brock with a broken arm are not gonna say shit about this. We've seen Super Cena, we've seen Super Cody. Tonight we saw Super MJF. This is Vince level shit. Remember when Jay White contends for another world title, remember he couldn't beat MJF on one leg. Stupid.
I think the setup on the PPV for this was ridiculous. MJF is too hurt to fight but Cole, who is still on crutches, is announced in his spot ***in the ring***? Then Max comes back and is running and jumping on his leg. Sure he's selling it but it's just unbelievable after 25 minutes of it(*after* he was ruled too injured to wrestle in the first place).
I like everyone involved but the story they're doing isn't for me. Jay looked like a chump too and where's the devil at lol
That’s tough for Jay man. He showed why even though the build in this feud was sort of a dud he’s a top guy in that match, only to lose to a guy with one leg. Feels like they went out of their way to make him look bad for nothing.
I don't think Jay White is "buried" or anything but I honestly really hated that ending. Hopefully it still builds to something great with the Devil reveal, but it felt weird that they didn't even tease that at all even though it was so prevalent in the build up.
Honestly, my biggest gripe with WWE and AEW always is how fucking strong and God like they make their Champions look.
Like listen, Roman and now MJF losing the title won't make them look irrelevant or weak. But either have them win clean or make them lose. This bullshit way of them taking belt shots and chair shots and still winning is just lame.
This match was way too much. MJF wrestled a match earlier and was Pillmanised. AEW is meant to be the alternative, and yet that was as WWE Super-Cena as it gets.
If you look out to sea, you can witness MJF jumping the shark.
What the fuck was this shit? MJF on one leg beats Jay Freakin' White with the Ass Boys in his corner, Joe never came into play, there was nothing about the Devil, Adam Cole was there but Roddy and the kingdom were never involved. This match never connected for me and failed to carry on many of the plot threads that got it here. Not a great way to end the show.
That did jay white an injustice, he can’t beat a man with one leg. Max is selling straight to dvd wrestling at the moment and is it’s not as clever as he thinks it is.
When mjf hobbled in my friend said: watch Jay white work on his leg for 30min and then get beat by the Dynamite Diamond Ring.
We all knew it was going to happen..
I thought it was a great match but I don't think this feud helped Jay White in any way whatsoever. MJF buried him in the leadup with all the tofu shit and then he looked like a geek not being able to beat him when he was injured.
The whole injury angle was just so convoluted and unnecessary. I'm not gonna lie, I was intrigued by it at the start of the show but it was pointless in the end. MJF had already wrestled a match that night, that should be enough to sow some seeds of doubt, you don't need to throw in an injury angle on top of that. They could have had the match play out the exact same way without the injury angle, all it did was make Jay look like a geek.
I'm just flabbergasted at what I just saw. It made no sense that the entire backstage crew tried to stop MJF from getting in the ring but Adam Cole, literally a guy in crutches was given the greenlight to wrestle? Like WTF?
I'm slowly getting convinced that TK is hell bent on trying to turn MJF into his version of super Hogan/Cena/Reigns. This is the type of match that eventually got Reigns booed out of arenas and stadiums towards the tail end of his babyface run. I'm curious how long before people turn on MJF. Perhaps that's the intention, so he can turn heel again and claim that the fans backstabbed him like everyone else?
It's still just baffling.
Really took the shine off an amazing show for me
Jay losing is fine.
Jay losing because MJF’s leg got Pillmanized and his crippled mate took his place, then he stole an ambulance, then we saw a boring Triple H limb work match collide with Roman’s overbooking and Super Cena’s selling is not fine.
I cannot understate how much I hated that match. Great for the crowd, happy they loved it. I thought it was dogshit.
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That was the most 2021 Cody Rhodes main event ever. All of that melodramatic overbooking bullshit just so Jay White can go 20 minutes with and lose to a guy with one leg.
god, that really was a Cody hallmark. a match that feels like it's building to a twist that will take it to the next level and then nothing new actually happens and you wonder what the point was
MJF *was* Cody's protege 🤷
Shit they had like 4 different camera shots of Cole, the ring, Jay and Max and I figure something would happen.
I thought for sure that was where the Devil or at least his henchmen were going to come in and... they didn't even show up at the ppv???
> That was the most 2021 Cody Rhodes main event ever. or maybe like a 2019 Cody match at Full Gear with MJF in his corner.
I hope the poor booking of the main event doesn't overshadow the rest of the show.
That hangman match alone was too good for this mess to ruin it. That being said ending do tend to make or break stuff
Nothing even happened apart from Jay White losing all credibility. There wasn't even a hint of the whole devil deal. Hell, why did the devil not cost White the match? It's already established that whoever he is he has no problems attacking White. Even more importantly, how is Jay White, a person portrayed throughout his career as always having a plan and being one step ahead not win here despite MJF being injured and having the Gunns run interference? They really did White dirty here
I can't shake the feeling that the leg thing just makes look Jay White look weak as shit. If there had to be a leg injury, should've happened IN the match.
Unnecessary story that made Jay look like a chump.
Just like the Righteous couldn’t win a handicap match and looked like chumps. It’s bad booking.
The righteous are chumps. The World Champion being able to dispatch two nobodies by himself should be conceivable booking. Having a 35 minute match with arguably the top heel in the company while injured and winning is not.
Yeah, but he didnt just beat them. He literally shoved one of their heads up the other ones ass. Kind of insult to injury there.
They put a team as cool as The Righteous in a fucking slapstick match.
The central spot was one getting their head shoved up the ass of the other. It was so bad.
The sad thing is they could’ve won the ROH belts there and it wouldn’t have hurt MJF by having their third member Stu Grayson help
It's less egregious with The Righteous because they're not main eventers
Seriously, I don't see any of the benefit to this whole angle? Just have the match as advertised. Match would've been better and Jay wouldn't look bad
I completely agree. I think the match still turned out good *for what it was*, but it's just a shame that "what it was" was an overbooked clusterfuck that didn't need to happen in the first place. If the end result was just going to be "MJF wins lol" then they should have skipped the injury angle and just MJF and Jay White go all-out to have a great match. If this injury angle actually led to some meaningful development with the whole Devil situation, then I would be more understanding, but as it stands now, there was no reason for it and it only made everything worse for everyone involved.
And instead of a 45 min classic we got overbooked nonsense.
A one legged wrestler who already had a match. Jay White looks like a chump.
Yea I said from the start there’s no good outcome for Jay here. He isn’t going to win so he loses to a guy on one leg.
MJF went full "Super Cena" in that match
Truly LOLMAXWINS
He kicked out of spots being driven into concrete from Joe, he’s been like this a while
That’s the biggest issue I’ve seen with MJF’s matches. He sells injuries and has his opponents completely destroy whatever he’s selling to a ridiculous degree. Then, he does something absurd that would never even be remotely possible with the injury he’s selling, and then goes back to selling like it never happened.
That's my problem with Seth Rollins matches as well. Rollins has had this back injury for months now and still winning highly competitive matches and busting out big moves He also had the infamous knee injury yet is out her doing phoenix splashes
Nakamura not winning their 2nd match was a huge misstep after the beating he recieved
To be honest, I feel like what you’re saying is a pretty widespread problem with modern wrestling in general. Omega is guilty of it too. It’s not enough to take me completely out of the match, but it is kind of jarring to see insane blitz offense 35 minutes into a match where the wrestlers are murdering each other. As much as I loved Omega vs Ospreay at Forbidden Door, if certainly had those moments where the pace ramped far higher than it should considering the kayfabe damage they took. Again, it’s only a minor pet peeve as I still love a lot of the work these guys do. But it’s also why Gunther vs Ilja is my favorite match of the past 4-5 years or so. It really felt like a grueling war of attrition. They worked stiff as fuck but still kept each other safe and it looked like combat.
I think this just goes to show just how hard it is for the face of the company along with company to reel themselves in enough to not turn their biggest star into a cartoon superhero who steamrolls the rest of the talent. Guys like Cena, Hogan, Reigns and HHH killed the momentum of so many careers simply because they couldn't help but put themselves in a silly position in which they somehow overcome impossible odds, making top talent look like worthless in the process. Before this match, I thought Jay White was legitimately World Title material. How can anyone possibly think he is after that nonsensical, ridiculous story where he gets beat by a guy with one good leg? It's clear MJF is being given a lot of leeway and he absolutely needs to be reigned in after this. What a joke of a match, good lord. As SOON as i saw him get jumped after Joe left, i knew we were in for some bullshit. Adam Cole throws in that towel while MJF is in the figure 4, it would've salvaged the entire match.
The criticism AEW gets about not building stars and whatnot, always seemed to be driven by people who measure current popularity against AE wrestlers, or people who went into acting. Then you see Ricky Starks win the Owen Cup only to lose repeatedly until he's suddenly a tag champ. The Righteous getting cool vignettes only to lose in a ridiculous handicap match. Before the Hangman feud, Swerve was losing most of his matches while being made to look like an idiot. Now, BCG are still fairly fresh to AEW, loads of momentum, former Tag Champs the Gunns lose to a non tag team comprised of guys who definitely don't really know how to work together. And former NJ grand slam champ can't win against an injured man with interference. It feels like unless you're a storied veteran or MJF, you're simply plot device. Since MJF allegedly has control of his creative, I think someone needs to let him know that multiple stars are a net gain and not a threat to his place atop the mountain
Alot of people saying this but I really disagree He wasn't hit with a single finisher by Jay White, only kicked out of a belt shot and cheated to win after cheating multiple other times in the match
He kicked out of a belt shot while Jay couldn't kick out of the much smaller diamond ring punch. He wrestled twice and was at a hospital for hours the fact that Jay couldn't beat him quickly even with cheating is ridiculous.
Max channeled Cena and Hunter BOTH in that burial. Utter fucking shit.
Jay White is a top 10 wrestler in the world that slapped the likes of Tanahashi, Okada, Kenny, Ibushi etc and won everything there was to win when it comes to important singles titles. He had a ring, a title belt, two goons, against a guy that wasn't cleared until the last second, with an injured guy that recently came out of injury by his side... and he lost. This was the type of stuff that led to AEW existing in the first place, hope everyone is reminded of that.
>This was the type of stuff that led to AEW existing in the first place I think that is absolutely the best quote for describing this main event booking possible. Stuff life this is literally why I stopped watching wrestling for years before AEW came around (well, it's tied with the non-stop camera cuts) and I just saw it happen here. I'll forgive it once, especially since the rest of the show was good, but I will go back to just not watching wrestling anymore of it continues.
> I'll forgive it once, especially since the rest of the show was good Exactly. For me this was a very good PPV, a lot of good moments, a lot of good wrestling, I dislike what they do to Shida's reigns but I've grown to just accept it and apart from that everything was going well... but damn, this main event brought me back to the days where I finally decided to quit WWE, I'd argue this was worse, like Vince would be proud.
I'm trying not to be bitter but this was why I wanted him to stay with New Japan
I'm happy for Jay and i'll follow him regardless of where he goes... but the difference between AEW's and NJPW's creative for Jay are so insanely different it hurts to just think about. It's even worse because Jay is definitely an acquired taste and it takes a long time for people to "get" "it" and just how insanely talented the guy is at... everything. Gedo couldn't even imagine pulling stuff like this, not even if it was Naito/Goto in the place of Jay, no shot.
Honestly this is my worry with Ospreay going full time with AEW, I REALLY hoped that it wasn't gonna be Will but it obviously was and I'm gonna miss Will's NJPW story because his story is gonna p much change now and no longer the built as the "top gaijin" of NJPW since he was so out of the door that NJPW let him do this early since TK prob offered big money. I'm glad he's getting his money ofc it must've been a fuckton for NJPW to just let Will blatantly announced he's full time switching months ahead since Bushiroad obviously can't match TK money it must've been good for them but I will miss Ospreay in NJPW even if he will obviously still work NJPW events, that match against Okada in this years G1 was clearly setting up something big for him in NJPW but AEW came knocking.
Yes, Jay white looked like a tool here.
Agree honestly.
One of the things that made me quit watching WWE was how often matches that would just be really good wrestling matches got turned into convoluted and over-dramatic angles where the main actual action was endless heat and interference spots. There was a great wrestling match buried in here but the angle got in the way, way too much for my liking.
Jay White couldn’t beat someone on one leg AND with help!!!
Complete waste of his talent. People will say people who think this sucked are marks and whatever but that was legit peak stupidity in booking
Yeah I didn't like the match at all, especially considering nothing actually happened post match, which I thought would. Because having a 2 month build for Jay White to lose to an injured man really baffles me.
Wrestling his second match of the night
Why would MJF not be able to wrestle but cole can. Why did refs try to stop MJF and not cole. How does Jay White look like anything other than a geek losing to a one legged MJF? Just awful all the way around
This felt like a 2008 Raw main event
“We witnessed a heinous attack on HBK earlier tonight as HHH slammed the sledgehammer into his leg. Will the showstopper be able to compete in tonight’s main event?”
[удалено]
Maybe the worst and most overbooked match I’ve seen
Meanwhile the crowd was going crazy for the final portions of the match. They legit thought Jay was going to win, thought Cole might throw in the towel.
I was enjoying it at that point. But Max slowly crawling into the cover and not hooking the leg for a three count off a simple punch with the ring after everything Max had kicked out of was dumb. Could have at the very least had a better finish
very very stupid. Ruined it for me
Crazy how much I hated it lmao
https://preview.redd.it/hrhl810vl81c1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae931677a40bdbdc49ac7d3c8cf9d7558276ad64 Britt Baker, defender of continuity lol
Where has Baker been anyway? Is she injured?
Her back was in a bad way for a long time. I think she’s resting and recuperating.
That’s never stopped Seth Rollins
She certainly complained when it was Rosa though.
Jay white couldn’t beat a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.
Utter shit.
The same people who shit on John Cena for years for having this same type of match are now trying to spin it as brilliant selling MJF took 99 percent of the offense, got hit with a title belt, had the Guns come out to get him, and he overcame it all by himself with a single punch with the ring
As someone who still shits on Super Cena to this day, this was absolute garbage. Buried Jay for no reason at all, just so Max can get a home town pop at World's End.
I think the whole leaving in an ambulance angle was utterly ridiculous, and the match didn’t do any favors for White, but there’s not way he should’ve won that match anyway, especially with BCG basically getting the upper hand on MJF the entire feud.
"BuT tHe CrOwd Is LovInG iT" lmaaoo Nooow all of a sudden a large portion of the subreddit cares about what the live crowd enjoys hahaha. I'm not giving anyone shit, the match was ok and the performers did an amazing job. I just feel a differently booked match would've been better.
Just keep scrolling. I’ve seen maybe 5% of replies liking this result.
Letting your champ, kayfabe injured and with their only backup also injured, beat a white hot, young contender who has every advantage is bad Vince-era booking 100%. I love AEW but let’s be even-handed with the criticism. This was dumb. Jay White got punked.
To be fair considering the response has been broadly negative I think people are being even handed.
Yeah almost every comment is shitting on this
So Bullet Club Gold just got outsmarted by two guys with two good legs between them lol
2 legs good, 4 legs bad?
Jay White really lost to a one legged MJF. WHAT THE FUCK
Once I saw who the ref was, I already knew MJF was winning.
I’m a big fan of MJF’s run. He’s their best homegrown star. But I do question the super booking he’s been getting recently. The leg injury wasn’t really necessary, and it does future world champ Jay White no favors.
MJF was essentially the reason I watched AEW and his booking since the Adam Cole storyline pushed me away from watching. Now I’m just here reading results on Reddit.
It would be difficult to list all the reasons I cannot stand the MJF/Cole story. Hope they somehow land the plane w the Devil.
Jay White with every possible advantage can’t do it. Don’t bother running that back
"Jay White back to NJPW" Prayer Circle is in shambles.
It was so obvious he wasn’t winning this once they started the whole belt thief storyline, so all the injury stuff only made the inevitable loss worse than it had to be.
Tony Khan has two of the most talented 30 or under wrestlers in the world and instead of having them work a clean match, he books this bullshit that makes a guy who was an absolute superstar in NJPW look like a bozo
Not disagreeing but I would bet the house that this angle was MJFs idea
"Alright, how about after they throw literally everything they have at me, hit me with weapons, and all while I'm hurt - I hit him with a single punch with the ring - 1,2,3 and we go home." "GREAT IDEA, MAX! BOOKING IT!"
After these you’re not on the level of the devil lines from MJF, a clean match and finish was needed.
And then let MJF go on a crying theater kid tantrum during the scrum.
If anyone booked a clean match between MJF and Jay White I’d assumed they’d never watched either of them wrestle before lol.
not sure what the point of this was
This could have been an ~~email~~ random dynamite main event.
Gotta make ~~Roman~~ MJF look strong.
Why have the leg injury at all? It made no difference and made Jay White look weak as hell
Made the match worse as well
Completely ruined the match, these 2 should have such a great match together and to do this instead is baffling.
That's the worst PPV main event of the year. Made Jay White look like an absolute fucking geek. I'm so tired of this garbage MJF reign
Yup shits garbage
Jay looks like a total schmuck. Completely overbooked for no goddamn reason
"There, I gave Jay White Title shot, never ask me for anything ever again" - Tony
The most masturbatory match ever in AEW. I thought the Codyverse was self-indulgent, but that right there was a whole new level. One-legged MJF mercy'd Jay White not just once, but TWICE, and also took the W in the end. What the fuck. Like maybe if MJF lost because the sportsmanship costed him, this would all make sense. But he actually just won anyways.
> One-legged MJF mercy'd Jay White not just once, but TWICE, and also took the W in the end. I keep coming back to this lol. Guy lost 3 fucking times to a one-legged man in one match
Waaaaayyyy overbooked, Jay should not be losing to a pair of literally crippled people lol
How fucking overprotected is MJF. Overcomes every fucking obstacle. AEW's Super Cena.
Pure Super Cena match Jay White lost all credibility as an actual main event heel after that Holy shit
MJF WINS LOL
So…. No swerve?
He fought Hangman to the death earlier.
Brought him to hell too
Why even do the injury angle? Just makes Jay look like a scrub
That was a complete burial of Jay
If this is the booking he gets after all of that build, Jay White should have stayed in NJPW. This was the story of White/Ibushi at WK 2022, but without Ibushi's mystique, and with even more overwhelming odds against him.
Thinking about that WK15 main event and Jay’s post match promo depresses the hell out of me. Two years later, we have Ibushi on a bicycle with Big Show and Jay getting mogged by a crying one legged man.
I'm sorry but that's asinine. That makes Jay White look weak as shit. Why couldn't they just have a standard match, why did he have to lose to an injured MJF? Like what was the point of MJF being injured, what did it lead to? That's HIAC 2019 level of bad.
Totally agree.
So Jay White isn't good enough to beat MJF on one leg. That's what I'm getting out of this. Like, why make Jay look that weak?
Imagine the amount of bullshit there would be if Reigns and MJF faced each other lol
Every Uso coming to interfere gets hit with the ring.
So they took Roddy Piper and booked him like Hulk Hogan?
That's the thing that baffles me most about this. MJF is an absolute star, but trying to sell him as this "overcome all odds" face a la Cena/Hogan just does not work.
Plot armor win for MJF
...Was all that booking needed?
Sadly felt like a WWE ppv ending from 3 years ago in the absolute worst possible way
I'm getting pretty tired of MJF's World title matches having overbooked finishes. This is like the 3rd or 4th time now
Didn't need the injury angle. Made Jay look weak. By all means, sell the leg, but the hospitalization was unnecessary. Some great tension at times, but weak finish
This. Cole saying Tony agreed to let him defend the title was ridiculous enough. But I figured, "okay, the Devil's goons are going to come in, beat down Jay and then have Adam be revealed as the leader". Sounds redeemable. But nah. Jay really got a bad deal here.
That was fuckin garbage LMAO
Jay White signed roughly seven months ago. Second biggest free agent signing of the year behind Ospreay. Lost to a hobbled MJF this evening. Bizarre the way he's been booked.
No other way to describe it, that was full on Super Cena
So Jay White isn’t booked to beat a guy who wrestled on 1 leg? Lmao
My intelligence feels insulted.
The Devil didn’t show up because he was at ringside already
What a way to make Jay White look weak af.
I loved the show and I fucking hated this match.
Jay white deserved better for his first ppv main event
This was stupid as hell
Usually when people say someone just got buried because of one loss, I think they are overreacting and just trying to find a reason to hate the product, but for once I actually agree, that was rough for White.
I don't get the need to run the injury angle? Like... there was no payoff? The match itself was fine - nothing special - but all this did was make Jay White look incredibly weak. Couldn't beat a 1-legged MJF even with interference?
This could have been so much better if they just had a straight wreslting match without all the extra shit. Overbooked to hell unfortunately.
I’m convinced the Adam Cole injury fucked everything up and TK has no idea where the Devil storyline is currently going
A one legged man just won an ass kicking contest
This was a WWE-ass main event, for better or worse.
Well Jay White sure looks like a chump. What overbooked, poorly conceived bullshit. The actual wrestling was obviously of a very high standard but fuck me Tony Khan needs to get some help from people that know how to book because he just destroyed a credible main event threat.
That match would have just been better without the BS and would have let Jay get over with defeat.
The injury angle did nothing but make Jay White look weak for losing
What was the point of the MJF injury angle and Adam Cole looking like a complete idiot getting the belt “taken away” and Switchblade slowly grabbing the ring directly in front of Cole’s face if he wasn’t gonna turn on him?
That was certainly a match. MJF and Jay White been two of my faves for a long time now, but I think this match and angle didn’t do either of them favors.
i didn’t hate the match but it’s hard for me to believe MJFs leg is actually messed up when he’s still doing all these crazy moves
Overbooked garbage, literally took what could of been a 5 star match and turned it into an unwatchable mess. What even was the fucking point.
legitimately terrible. Gotta be the worst PPV main event they've done so far
So how does a guy who's beaten Okada clean lose to a 1 legged relatively green guy in their 2nd match of the night? If that isn't a burial I don't know what is. Nonsensical.
Genuine question: other than doing 'heelish' things, how is MJF being booked any differently than the worst era of "Super Cena?" This is ridiculous and really dragging down the entire program.
If they want mjf to win why not just do it normally what was the point of having Jay white look so weak
I thought that sucked to be honest
Jay White deserves so much fucking better.
Jay White...I mean...
Lolmjfwins
Minus 5 stars, shark jumping dog shit
I think this was one of my least favourite matches of all time. Overbooking at its finest. I can imagine it was fun for the crowd in attendance, but none of it made sense at all. None of the moments besides Adam teasing throwing in the towel hit the right note for me. It all just fell flat.
The same people who made fun of Cody beating up Brock with a broken arm are not gonna say shit about this. We've seen Super Cena, we've seen Super Cody. Tonight we saw Super MJF. This is Vince level shit. Remember when Jay White contends for another world title, remember he couldn't beat MJF on one leg. Stupid.
I think the setup on the PPV for this was ridiculous. MJF is too hurt to fight but Cole, who is still on crutches, is announced in his spot ***in the ring***? Then Max comes back and is running and jumping on his leg. Sure he's selling it but it's just unbelievable after 25 minutes of it(*after* he was ruled too injured to wrestle in the first place). I like everyone involved but the story they're doing isn't for me. Jay looked like a chump too and where's the devil at lol
Wtf do u do with Jay White now? You just absolutely buried that man.
There was really no point in the whole injury angle
That’s tough for Jay man. He showed why even though the build in this feud was sort of a dud he’s a top guy in that match, only to lose to a guy with one leg. Feels like they went out of their way to make him look bad for nothing.
I don't think Jay White is "buried" or anything but I honestly really hated that ending. Hopefully it still builds to something great with the Devil reveal, but it felt weird that they didn't even tease that at all even though it was so prevalent in the build up.
I was ready for a 5 star match, I got this match.
I miss NJPW Jay White. It sucks to be his fan.
Honestly, my biggest gripe with WWE and AEW always is how fucking strong and God like they make their Champions look. Like listen, Roman and now MJF losing the title won't make them look irrelevant or weak. But either have them win clean or make them lose. This bullshit way of them taking belt shots and chair shots and still winning is just lame.
Jay White just got booking fucked big time. Trash.
If you enjoyed that you are never allowed to criticize WWE booking ever again. Just garbage
Wow
This was ass
All that story build up and injuring MJF just for Jay to get beat by one ring punch from a crippled man. Absolutely disgraceful
This match was way too much. MJF wrestled a match earlier and was Pillmanised. AEW is meant to be the alternative, and yet that was as WWE Super-Cena as it gets. If you look out to sea, you can witness MJF jumping the shark.
What the fuck was this shit? MJF on one leg beats Jay Freakin' White with the Ass Boys in his corner, Joe never came into play, there was nothing about the Devil, Adam Cole was there but Roddy and the kingdom were never involved. This match never connected for me and failed to carry on many of the plot threads that got it here. Not a great way to end the show.
Garbage main event
That did jay white an injustice, he can’t beat a man with one leg. Max is selling straight to dvd wrestling at the moment and is it’s not as clever as he thinks it is.
Folks just go watch the G1 Climax 29 Finals to see what an actually good 'Jay White loses to someone with a bad wheel' story and match looks like.
Ending a banger of a PPV on this is so deflating jesus christ
This match was a clusterfuck of nonsense. Truly made no sense and makes me not want to tune in next week.
That was tragic booking, did the Switchblade so dirty, sure I didn't expect him to win, but don't make him lose to a one legged man
Idk who this theater kid bullshit is for and It isn't selling tickets. Awful match.
surprised MJF didn't take even longer to pin him. Get some real HHH/Booker T length burying
AEW hasn’t had a misfire this bad since Eddie protected Moxley from sparklers.
When mjf hobbled in my friend said: watch Jay white work on his leg for 30min and then get beat by the Dynamite Diamond Ring. We all knew it was going to happen..
I thought it was a great match but I don't think this feud helped Jay White in any way whatsoever. MJF buried him in the leadup with all the tofu shit and then he looked like a geek not being able to beat him when he was injured. The whole injury angle was just so convoluted and unnecessary. I'm not gonna lie, I was intrigued by it at the start of the show but it was pointless in the end. MJF had already wrestled a match that night, that should be enough to sow some seeds of doubt, you don't need to throw in an injury angle on top of that. They could have had the match play out the exact same way without the injury angle, all it did was make Jay look like a geek.
AEW has just been on a nosedive in 2023, idk anymore
they just fucking burried jay white beyond repair this was HHH reign of terror horrific
Does MJF always wear a knee pad? Man needs to tan that knee.
Great heel work by Jay White as always but man this was so overbooked for the ending we got.
I hope Swerve ends this MJF Superman shit a Worlds End. His reign and all the Brochacho stuff has run its course
And some of y'all still believe Max hasn't re-signed already?
I'm just flabbergasted at what I just saw. It made no sense that the entire backstage crew tried to stop MJF from getting in the ring but Adam Cole, literally a guy in crutches was given the greenlight to wrestle? Like WTF? I'm slowly getting convinced that TK is hell bent on trying to turn MJF into his version of super Hogan/Cena/Reigns. This is the type of match that eventually got Reigns booed out of arenas and stadiums towards the tail end of his babyface run. I'm curious how long before people turn on MJF. Perhaps that's the intention, so he can turn heel again and claim that the fans backstabbed him like everyone else? It's still just baffling.
That was a thing that happened I guess.
Up there with Seth v Fiend at HIAC in terms of god awful PPV main events. Buried Jay White and MJF looks like Super Cena.
Tony Khan has absolutely lost it dude. I mean just come on.
for better or worse that was some wwe-style overbooked nonsense right there
Nexus Level burial and no devil reveal. Wow.
I couldn’t even book a part 2. Jay White lost with his whole crew and shenanigans.
Really took the shine off an amazing show for me Jay losing is fine. Jay losing because MJF’s leg got Pillmanized and his crippled mate took his place, then he stole an ambulance, then we saw a boring Triple H limb work match collide with Roman’s overbooking and Super Cena’s selling is not fine. I cannot understate how much I hated that match. Great for the crowd, happy they loved it. I thought it was dogshit.