The first time the Devil appeared in All Elite Wrestling, the horned mask was worn by none other than Maxwell Jacob Friedman, returning from some time away and using one of former AEW World Champion CM Punk’s most famous quotes against him. Weeks before AEW Full Gear 2023, the Devil returned, but with someone else seemingly under the mask. The mystery antagonist attacked Jay White, essentially starting his feud with Friedman. Then MJF and his allies became the villain’s top targets. The gimmick continued through the rest of the year, resulting in a couple of different twists and turns and a shocking betrayal from Samoa Joe. On Saturday night at AEW Worlds End, the Devil finally took off the mask.
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After MJF put everything he had into defending his AEW World Championship, it still wasn’t enough to overtake Samoa Joe. Ultimately Joe locked in a submission that MJF just couldn’t fight his way out of, and after his hand went down for the third time Joe got the win and became the new AEW World Champion. That’s when Adam Cole went into the ring to encourage his friend, but then the Devil’s goons came in and held both men down in the ring.
After that the lights went off and when they came back on all of the Devil’s men were standing behind Adam Cole, who was now sitting in a chair and looking at MJF. It turns out Cole was the Devil the whole time, and everyone else unmasked to reveal a group that includes The Kingdom, Roderick Strong, and Wardlow. Cole had them take MJF out and he watched as it all happened and laughed, so AEW’s delightful pair of best friends are officially no more.
MJF History With the Gunns
The identity of the Devil has been a major story in AEW for quite a while now, and that story has been directly connected to both MJF and the members of Bullet Club Gold. Two of those members — Austin and Colten Gunn — have a history with the AEW World Champion, including helping him win the title as a part of The Firm.
“That you can’t trust MJF. That’s it,” Austin Gunn told ComicBook.com when asked about what he learned from his time in The firm. “But you know who I can trust? Juice Robinson and Jay White and my brother [Colten]. That’s all you need. You don’t need to add more people in our gang. Nobody belongs in our gang. We have our gang set and that’s it. The Bang Bang Gang rules. Every single episode of Dynamite, Rampage, Collision you put us on, we’re taking over. You can’t trust MJF at the end of the day. That’s why he has no friends.”
“Behind the scenes, we took that card and we joined The Firm,” Colten added. “He was masterminding all this and every single promise he made never came true because he’s a liar and a fake. That’s what we learned from The Firm.”
AEW Full Gear 2023 Card & Results
- FTW Championship Match: Hook (C) def. Wheeler Yuta
- 20-man Battle Royal (Future AEW TNT Championship Match) – Killswitch Wins
- AEW World Championship Match: Samoa Joe (C) def. MJF
- AEW Women’s World Championship Match: Toni Storm (C) def. Riho
- No Disqualification AEW TNT Championship Match: Christian Cage (C) def. Adam Copeland
- AEW TBS Championship Match: Julia Hart (C) def. Abadon
- AEW Continental Classic Championship Final: Eddie Kingston (C) def. Jon Moxley
- Swerve Strickland def. Dustin Rhodes
- Miro def. Andrade El Idolo
- Chris Jericho, Darby Allin, Sammy Guevara and Sting vs. The Don Callis Family (Kyle Fletcher and Powerhouse Hobbs), Big Bill and Ricky Starks
What did you think of the reveal? Let us know in the comments!
