And for bonus points: who are their four henchmen?
Here’s my theory:
It’s Kyle O’Reilly.
For one, we have not heard shit about his recovery for a looong time but Cole has been back a while.
He might just be totaled, or they were appropriately waiting for the right moment to go back on track with the plans that were scrapped when both him and Adam were injured and Bobby Fish split because of the Punk shit.
AEW to my knowledge still own the Paragon trademark they filed that was speculated to be the trio/faction name for AEW’s version of UE.
And Bobby may be involved too since let’s be real, he ain’t doing anything right now.
But Moloch, you say, why Kyle? Why not Adam? or Roddy?
Simple: because Adam will be in the ring, and Roddy is too obvious.
What I expect to happen is this:
Winter is Coming, Samoa Joe VS MJF. After a grueling match, MJF wins over Joe using the tape trick he used against punk, putting him in what looks like Joe’s signature choke to add insult to injury.
This is mostly to protect Joe but also because in the end MJF is still fighting like a heel, and the finish against someone booked as strong as Joe should not be 100% clean, but the ring is played out and not as interesting.
After the match, in the ring, a recovering Adam Cole on crutches is celebrating with Max when the screen comes on, mirroring the time that MJF revealed himself after debuting the devil mask.
He pulls the mask off, the crowd pops cause it’s announcing KOR’s return, and as MJF turns to Adam he brains him with one of his crutches, revealing he was never injured and starting a 4 on 1 assault from Roddy and the kingdom, as KOR laughs from the titantron (bonus points if he calls him something like Mack instead of Max).
It is later revealed that no specific one of them was the Devil (they all have similar body sizes), they were all in on it and did this to wear down max and make sure he had no allies when the time came to strike.
World’s End we get Adam VS MJF, and reDragon and Roddy vs The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn to ensure they can’t interfere in the title match.
Paragon sweeps the night, going strong into the new year.
The kingdom gets a tag title shot against Starks and Big Bill, but they lose because obviously.
Great write-up. And I love where you’re taking it too.
My biggest concern with Roddy would be that he isn’t strong enough on the mic to lead a stable, but you pretty much fixed that by having “no one specific” under the mask. Good stuff.
I genuinely think this would have a lot of upsides, it also gives MJF a personal vendetta and a valid reason to gloss over why he’s not jumping ship.
Of course he’s not leaving, he just got played and lost the title, he wants to go into the bidding war with the best possible position, and he needs to take revenge on Adam.
I don’t think it’ll actually happen, but if it does I’ll be very happy to be right.
Definitely. It would also mean KOR is healthy. Which is a huge bonus in my books.
if it’s somebody who’s already with the company it’s going to be boring as shit.
Any thoughts on who you’d like to see?
my fantasy casting that I know is unrealistic would be for it to be Punk and that this whole thing has been a work. next best would be Dolph ziggler, but I really don’t see AEW having that much foresight.
I wanted to wait until today to post this. By now, we’ve received all the clues and hints we’re going to get (assuming the reveal is tonight!). Based off what we’ve learned, here’s who I think it could be:
Adam Cole. Whoever the devil is has to be able to keep up with MJF on the mic and he’s really the only one who can. I think he’s in cahoots with BCG (Remember, Cole was the one to introduce Jay White to AEW, calling him “his friend”) and I’m betting he’s had this planned for a long time.
That would make his henchmen Roddy, Taven, Bennett, and either Britt Baker or Wardlow.
Alternate options are: Jack Perry, Roddy Strong, CM Punk, Britt Baker, Samoa Joe, and even MJF himself.
Wardlow is kinda my dark horse to be the Devil himself. He’s said he will take everything from MJF… taking his alter ego and casting his redemption into doubt would be a start.
I’m just going to flat say no to Britt Baker. It would be interesting, and I think she could pull it off, but AEW tends to shy away from intergender matches and stories. The only intergender matches in AEW have been non-televised.
CM Punk would be the stupidest work ever. And frankly, disrespectful to the audience. If I had been at All Out in Chicago this past summer only to learn I paid hard earned money to be worked like that, I’d be pissed.
Adam Cole would be the most interesting, but assuming Cole’s injuries weren’t a work, he might not be able to wrestle for a while.
Jack Perry would definitely be unexpected, but probably the least interesting.
Roddy and Samoa Joe both have really dumb “it was me all along, Austin!” energy, so I hope not.
MJF himself would just be weird. Maybe some kind of way to turn him full heel again, calling the audience a bunch of stupid marks or something.
My money is on Adam Cole. He’ll have henchmen that can do the physical stuff while he heals, and frankly, if Britt could feud with Big Swole while her leg healed, Adam Cole can do the same with MJF. The unfortunate side effect of it being Cole, however, is it would give an excuse to delay the reveal while he heals.
Word of warning if it’s CM punk ya’ll can have the mag cause I’m deleting my account and becoming a fuckin hermit away from society lmao
I’m deeply in the minority when it comes to this but I’d be okay with it being Punk. I don’t like the guy, but I would appreciate that TK/AEW/all parties involved tried to do something completely different.
Jack Perry would definitely be unexpected, but probably the least interesting.
Completely agree. I don’t mind Jack but he’s nowhere near ready to lead a stable. Especially not one at the forefront of this kind of storyline.
The unfortunate side effect of it being Cole, however, is it would give an excuse to delay the reveal while he heals.
Good point. I’m still not totally convinced it isn’t a made-up injury. The way he hurt himself seemed so mundane that it makes the injury all the more believable, which could be perfect to hide what’s really going on (he’s fine, just sitting back letting MJF get his ass kicked while he hangs out with his real friends waiting for his chance to strike).
It’s Ross Mathews.
That guy from Celebrity Big Brother? No one would see the heel turn coming.
Had a thought: what if The Devil is Joe, and this whole thing was to isolate MJF to the point where he had to take Joe’s offer?
That’s definitely a possibility. I thought something similar but someone pointed out that the person in the devil mask was too small to be Joe. I wouldn’t rule it out though.
Britt Baker, Kingdom, Roddy and Kyle. Story revolves around Cole. Maybe Cole instead of Kyle.
Whoever it is, I think it will still be a disappointment.
It’s Cody.
I’d be so damn down for that lol
Cole.
Henchman being The Kingdom, Roddy, and Kyle O’Reily (no idea if he’s recovered yet, but a boy can dream).
