Adam Cole’s injury brings everyone’s favorite bromance to a screeching halt

It’s a tough break for Adam Cole, but also unfortunate for fans who will be deprived of seeing what was next between him and MJF.

AEW fans waited with bated breath for an entire week hoping for some good news.

They were hoping that whatever ailed current Ring of Honor World Tag Team champion Adam Cole wouldn’t keep him out of action for too long.

But alas, that will be the case. During Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite, Cole told the world that when he tripped off the ramp near the end of last week’s Dynamite Grand Slam main event between MJF and Samoa Joe, he broke his ankle and will undergo surgery.

While there has been no official timeframe set for Cole’s return, judging by the photos his longtime partner Britt Baker posted on social media, which revealed he broke his ankle in three places, it is safe to assume that he will be sidelined for an extended period of time.

(Warning: The photo of Cole’s foot and ankle is kind of graphic, so turn back now if that kind of thing bothers you.)

Could AEW keep the story between Cole and his tag team partner MJF, collectively known as Better Than You Bay Bay, going while the former works his way back to 100%? I suppose, but it definitely throws a large wrench into AEW’s plans to have Cole and MJF put on a rematch in the near future. What could have been a match between them at Full Gear or maybe even Revolution will have to wait for a time in the more distant future.

And what a shame this is. Obviously, the primary person to feel empathy for is Cole, who will once again have to bounce back from an injury that will require a lengthy recovery after already missing the majority of 2022 due to a severe concussion.

What should be Cole’s time to showcase himself at the peak of his powers is now being spent rehabbing far away from a wrestling ring.

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I’m sure this put a damper on AEW and its fans, and rightfully so. For AEW, it loses what I believe to be the best story it has told all year with the budding yet perpetually teetering bromance between Cole and MJF — which made for compelling television due to AEW threading in notes of the underlying tension between the two while also making sure that everything looked just fine between them on the surface.

Outside of Cole, who again, is literally suffering the most because of this unfortunate happening, I feel especially gutted for Tony Khan and the rest of AEW’s creative team. They’ve done a masterful job of keeping fans engaged in the story to the point that it was accepted as the main event of the biggest show in the promotion’s history, All In. I’d be willing to bet that AEW wasn’t looking to end or make a tonal shift in the story until Sunday’s WrestleDream at the earliest, where Cole and MJF were scheduled to defend their ROH tag titles against The Righteous. I personally believe they could have kept this going through the end of the year. Instead, MJF is slated to defend the titles on his own in a handicap match.

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But such is life in professional wrestling. People will get injured, even if it’s after something as simple as running down to the ring to interfere in the match. And when the injuries occur, promotions have to be able to adapt.

AEW is already on the path of making the necessary adjustments by sowing the seeds for a feud between MJF and “Switchblade” Jay White over the world title. While it does not yet have the emotional investment behind it like Better Than You Bay Bay has, it is still quite the silver lining in a tough situation. The fact that AEW can easily slot in someone as talented as White into that position and immediately have fans intrigued is a testament to AEW’s depth that isn’t always properly utilized. Even this time is out of necessity to give its champion something interesting to do.

As far as the tag titles, it would make complete sense for The Righteous to defeat MJF and take the titles. Even if MJF finds a partner, it would still be a convenient way to remove the titles from one equation and add them to another. If the vignettes the team have been showcased in on television are any indication, Vincent and Dutch are in line for a major run in Ring of Honor. The first step would be having them defeat MJF (and technically Cole) to win the titles.

And let’s not forget about Roderick Strong, who neck brace and all, is still lurking in the background along with The OGK.

So all hope isn’t lost for AEW, but it sure would have been nice if AEW’s original plan — whatever that may have been — could have come together.