The Devil Was Once An Angel
Be Careful Who You Trust
“The devil doesn’t come dressed in red horns and a tail. He comes as everything you’ve ever wished for…”
When Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) became tag team partners with Adam Cole, never in his wildest imagination did he expect he and Cole to become friends. They hated each other. Cole wanted nothing more than to take the AEW World Championship off of MJF. The Blind Eliminator Tournament saw these enemies forced to come together and attempt to win tag gold.
The unlikely duo would somehow go all the way and win the tournament. Although, throughout the tournament, these rivals were slowly starting to develop a friendship. No one really expected that. But 2 of the top stars in the company were getting the chance to become AEW World Tag Team Champions. The team was not successful in defeating FTR (Dax Hardwood & Cash Wheeler) but that did not stop the fans from loving this team.
Better Than You Bay Bay was officially born.
Through vignettes and the in-ring work, fans were starting to see this, dare I say friendship, blossoming. And they were LOVING it! The pair were going on excursions to help try and build that bond and get to know each other. They went to countless restaurants, played video games, went fishing as well as countless other fun experiences.
After losing to FTR, Better Than You Bay Bay decided that they could still not only be a tag team, but also MJF kept his word to Cole about letting him have one more chance at the AEW World Championship. With All In approaching, BTYBB challenged Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) for their ROH World Tag Team Championships.
All In was gonna push this team to all the limits. Starting the PPV DEFEATING Aussie Open to become the new ROH Tag Team Champions. Then the main event. MJF vs Adam Cole for the World title. These men went to WAR. Adam Cole tried everything in his power to beat his “brochacho”, focusing mainly on his neck. He wanted to win the title. Unfortunately for Cole, MJF came out on top. The 2 embraced after the match and all was right with the friends.
After successful title defenses, MJF had some challengers coming out for his AEW World Title. At Grand Slam, Samoa Joe was doing everything to DESTROY MJF. When all hope seemed lost, Cole came out to support his friend ringside. By coming out and running/jumping off the ramp, Cole actually ended up fracturing and breaking his ankle. It was a heartbreaking loss for the team.
While all these great things were happening for the team, this injury put a lot of pressure on MJF. He was having to defend the tag titles alone, while also defending his world title.
And things just kept getting worse for MJF.
Enter The Devil.
The Devil- a masked man with a group of cronies, also masked, started making their presence known. Attacking Jay White (challenger for MJF’s Title), The Acclaimed w/ Daddy Ass (MJF’s new friends), Hangman Adam Page (challenger for MJF’s Title) and MJF himself. Cryptic vignettes, forcing MJF to defend his tag titles against the masked men, and having people believe MJF was the Devil himself. This man has repeatedly called himself The Devil. And it was HIS Devil mask on this “Devil”. When MJF was “attacked” no one saw the attack like the previous ones, and he was alone backstage laid out.
Weeks damn near months after the 1st sighting, we get to the final AEW PPV of 2023: World’s End. The main event- MJF vs Samoa Joe for the AEW World Title. Throughout all the Devil shenanigans, MJF also suffered a few injuries himself such as his neck, shoulder, and leg. With being less than 100%, Joe was a much more dominant force to MJF and defeated him to become a 1st time AEW World Champion.
Toward the tail end of the match, Cole came out on his crutches to try and will on his brochacho to keep fighting, much like the previous encounter with Joe. After the match, Cole came into the ring to comfort his friend and right on cue, lights go out and the masked men came out. They were holding back Cole and MJF from each other. MJF was yelling at the men to attack him, not Cole. Lights go out again and when they come back on, the masked men are standing behind Cole, who is now sitting in a chair. MJF, confused as to what is going on, is heartbroken as Cole pulls out the Devil mask. The masked men pull off their masks and reveal themselves as Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Roderick Strong (The Kingdom) and Wardlow.
All these men have a history with MJF- The Kingdom have been trying to tell Cole MJF was toxic and the Devil during this entire phase and Wardlow came into AEW as MJF’s bodyguard and the 2 had a feud a few years back.
What MJF wanted was friends deep down. He opened his heart to Cole, his brochacho, his tag partner, and embraced Cole numerous times during these months. The pair grew into a household name. The promos, the matches, the vignettes, the skits. They pulled on your heartstrings with MJF opening up to Cole saying he never really had friends growing up. Cole was manipulating MJF basically from the jump. If he didn’t shatter his ankle, who knows where this story would be.
But with MJF still out, the Undisputed Kingdom is taking shots at everybody and every title. When (or perhaps if) MJF returns to confront his former best friend, and Cole is 100% cleared, it will be heartbreaking, and wonderful to watch it unfold.