Samoa Joe Stuns MJF to Win AEW World Title at Worlds End 2023
Mike Chiari@@mikechiariFeatured Columnist IVDecember 31, 2023
AEW
Samoa Joe defeated MJF at Worlds End on Saturday night to become AEW world champion for the first time.
All Elite Wrestling @AEW#AndNEW!#AEW World Champion is @SamoaJoe!#AEWWorldsEnd pic.twitter.com/WRzefHReYt
The chaos didn’t end after Samoa Joe left the ring, however, as Adam Cole was ultimately revealed to be the Devil himself after turning on his best friend, MJF.
The drama started late in the match, when MJF asked Cole for the Dynamite Diamond Ring. However, Samoa Joe got to MJF before he was able to use it. He soon locked in the Coquina Clutch and won after a referee stoppage.
Then the Devil’s masked men stormed the ring and attacked both MJF and Cole. The lights dropped, but when they came back on, the masked men were revealed to be Wardlow, Roderick Strong and The Kingdom.
All Elite Wrestling @AEWUNMASKED
Order #AEWWorldsEnd LIVE on PPV!
đșđž: https://t.co/TiDZIQm5Hp
đ: https://t.co/2USw7IAedK@AdamColePro | @The_MJF pic.twitter.com/5voTS6zgSS
That group continued its beatdown on MJF. Soon afterward, Cole confirmed the shocking truth and pulled out the Devil’s mask!
All Elite Wrestling @AEWAdam Cole has been The Devil this WHOLE TIME?!
Order #AEWWorldsEnd LIVE on PPV!
đșđž: https://t.co/TiDZIQm5Hp
đ: https://t.co/2USw7IAedK@AdamColePro | @The_MJF pic.twitter.com/JM03SIyeJU
For the past few months, MJF and Joe have been heavily linked to each other both as rivals and allies, and their title match at Worlds End had been set to headline the pay-per-view for the past several weeks.
MJF successfully defended the title against Joe on the Grand Slam edition of Dynamite back in September, but Joe managed to earn himself another title shot by lending a helping hand.
After MJF’s tag team partner, Cole, suffered a foot injury, Joe offered to step in and help MJF defend the ROH World Tag Team Championships at Full Gear in exchange for a future AEW world title shot.
Though hesitant at first, MJF eventually agreed, and Joe helped him retain the tag titles against The Gunns.
Later that same night, MJF defeated Jay White to retain the AEW World Championship, meaning a rematch with Joe was locked in. While Joe could have taken advantage of a banged-up MJF, he took the honorable route instead.
Joe said he wanted MJF to heal up and chose to set the title match for World End, which took place in MJF’s home of Long Island, New York.
During the build toward the title clash, MJF and Joe were both forced to deal with the presence of the mysterious Devil and their group of masked men, which added another wrinkle to the storyline.
MJF and Joe even accepted a challenge laid down by the Devil to put the ROH tag titles on the line against two of the masked men on the most recent episode of Dynamite.
It was then that Joe revealed his true intentions. He hung MJF out to dry as he dropped the ROH tag titles to the masked men, and after the match, Joe attacked MJF and divulged that he was working with the Devil.
And now we know that the Devil is Cole, who ultimately helped end MJF’s 400-plus-day run as AEW world champ.
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