Adam Cole & MJF vs. Matt Menard & The Butcher

[6.0] "This was a fine match, but nothing special. The main reason to watch this is for the entertaining storyline with MJF and Cole. Menard and Butcher is a super odd pairing, but it's one of the teams in this tournament that actually feels "blind, " unlike teams such as MJF & Cole, Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland, or Orange Cassidy & Darby Allin."

[5.0] "A very average match that is up there for the most predictable results of all time as Butcher and Menard are as jobbery of a tag team as it gets. The action was fine but totally forgettable. Decent psychology of MJF going for the Cole hot tag but that's about it. **1/2"

[6.0] "A match named after MJF's shout-outs. I liked the interaction between Adam Cole and MJF, but the wrestling of these four could have been better. I hope they do the double closeline."

[4.0] "The match wasnt good at all really, but the storyline between Adam Cole and mjf made it watchable. 4/10"

[5.0] "Parts of this were pretty entertaining, but it didn't keep my attention the whole way through, so I don't think it's higher than a 5 in my book."

[10.0] "If I rate only the match itself for me it's only a 7. But the whole segment ( entrance + match + birthday celebration ) was really awesome. MJF and Cole have an excellent chemestry, for me this "friendship" storyline in the best thing on Dynamite right now."

[7.0] "Cole and MJF were great here and elevated this to something a bit more than pushing the tag tournament gimmick."

[5.0] "As a match, this wasn't much, but the MJF/Cole "reluctant partners" angle is endlessly entertaining. **1/2"

[5.0] "It was not bad, MJF was working his ass off to make it funny at least. The wrestling was meh and I don't feel like this is the best use of MJF but here we are."

[5.0] "The match itself was a 4, this was crappy wrestling. I will give it some help though because of how good of a job they did with the storytelling . **1/2. 5.25 out of 10"

[8.0] "MJF was gold here from the entrance to the post-match segment, The match was booked excellently, and in-ring was decent work from both teams, I hope Magic Meat gets more matches"

[6.0] "MJF and Cole are doing the enemies as a tag team stuff very well. I would've liked to see more of Magic Meat though."

[6.0] "A decent wrestling match that although the story around Adam Cole and MJF is better, they made a good duo and are good to keep doing things here in AEW, it will probably end in betrayal, who knows."

[6.0] "Good match. They did what they needed to do. As this continues to play out it is going to be interesting to see where it goes."

[6.0] "This was a fun sort-of extended squash match. Much more about the Cole/MJF dynamic. It's pretty obvious and we've seen it before, but it's entertaining at least."

[9.0] "The match was ok, MJF playing the babyface in distress was awesome, but this gets major points for what happened before and after. These two have such great chemistry together both in and out of the ring. The birthday stuff after was even better than MJF doing Cole's entrance with him."

[7.0] "Pure "sports entertainment" in the best way possible. Just two guys flashing all the charisma they got in a sorta campy pro wrestling way. It's not all about the go-go indie-rific stuff, sometimes this is exactly what you need."

[8.0] "MJF being able to play an effective babyface in the role of a heel pretending to be a face to win over a face for his own gain and actually make it work in regards to crowd reaction and readability on-screen is one of the reasons he's able to handle the top guy spot. I thought this was excellent for that reason. The in-ring was the most standard TV tag but that was the point, MJF played face against Menard & Butcher without changing anything about himself or his work, and in fact the way he egged on Cole to do tandem offense and dirty tactics was super charming. Daddy Magic & Butcher are two of my favorite midcard heels so they helped this out even more. This is way better than a "can they coexist? " tag team, almost a "will they really stay friends when they don't get the tag titles? " one, and even if that answer is obvious it'll be a great ride. ***1/2+"

[5.0] "All about the antics which were great aside from one of MJF's failed tags that was clearly within Cole's reach."

[7.0] "MJF is the greatest insincere babyface of all time. He's such a jerkass to Adam Cole, the Homer Simpson to Cole's Ned Flanders (although some of the stuff Cole has done in his career would horrify poor Neddy). MAGIC MEAT did well playing off them, both choosing to put MJF in long abdominal stretches for some reason. We didn't get MJF's planned double clothesline spot, but the pop will be massive when they hit it. Cole's birthday party came off great, and of course Max's face ended up in the cake."

[6.0] "The actual wrestling in this match isn't much to speak on. It was very slow paced, lots of selling and working the co-existence angle. MJF spends much of the match in the clutches of Magic Meat, taking stretch moves and corner beat downs and trying to get the hot tag to Cole - but the wrestling was hardly the point here. Watching MJF be a heel, vs other heels, and get cheered while trying to engage Adam Cole in his shenanigans was very amusing. This pairing is exactly what Cole and MJF both needed to get some interest going. I thought the after match segment went on too long, but was still entertaining. Vaya con Dios, Magic Meat, we hardly knew you."

[7.0] "The actual ring work is rough here. Especially sticking out is both Butcher and Matt back to back botching breaking the waist lock on Adam to set up his enziguri. Nothing particularly impressive occured here, but the Cole/MJF story is potentially the best in the company right now. Two pros who are phenomenal character workers telling a really unpredictable, entertaining story. A good enough story to make subpar ring work nearly not matter."

[8.0] "The Blind Eliminator Tag Team Tournament is dumb (decent idea but executed poorly) but the MJF/Adam Cole pairing has been utter gold. Two ridiculously talented guys who hate each other but they're both so committed to winning (Adam because he's a consummate pro; MJF because he hates losing more than he hated Cole) that they work well together. I just wish they had a better tag team to face. The Butcher is decent in the ring but Matt Menard is still embarrassing, the modern day Brutus Beefcake (except Brother Bruti had SOME talent)."