*Chews on glass*

Here's the thing: AEW had every opportunity in the world to have someone else be the devil. Adam was injured. Literally no one except the most online cave trolls on twitter would've been mad.

But they didn't. Despite everything, Adam Cole is the devil. This story matters enough that they *have* to tell it this way.

I get it, you might not trust AEW's storytelling. But if you spent the last seven months falling in love with Adam Cole and MJF, would you not at least trust *them* to tell the story they want to tell?

Listen. Is it great storytelling? Yes. Does it set up more great stories? Also yes. Do I want to talk about those two aspects right now? No, hell no, fuck no. I am in mourning. I am deep in my feels, and I want to stay in my little shed of sorrow for a while, so you either wallow with me or leave me be until I emerge.

its the way adam is the first person to demonstrate kindness so the only way max knows how to be kind is to bring him his belt like a security blanket

its the way adam is the first person max has ever cared about more than the world championship, that even after winning he's willing to just throw it away if keeping it means he loses him

it's the way adam taught him to face so many fears, so that he can attempt AND land a dive without him spurring him on

it's the way adam is the first person max has truly seen as an equal, the only person to whom max can't say "i'm better than you and you know it," he can only say "i got lucky." max doesn't even acknowledge CM Punk this way.

it's the way it's not easy for max, but adam is worth it. it's the way every speedbump is a mountain for max to climb, and behind him are a thousand hands grabbing his ankles and telling him "this is it, you have to end this before he can, you have to hurt him before he hurts you, you have to be the one to cut things off and crawl back into safe, comfortable isolation because this is too hard and too much and it's going to go sour like it always does and it's always your fault"

im chewing on my FUCKING HANDS

swerve-joe vs adamjf hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby

I'm gonna be indebted to MJF for eternity because he revived Adam Cole's career. He's truly the best.

Wouldn’t it be so banging to get two-strap Eddie vs. two-strap Joe???

If TK had any balls at all he would have Adam start slowly showing his regret over what he did to Max. Show him hanging out with the Undisputed Kingdom and not having any fun, not being happy at all. Slowly realizing that Max was the only real friend he ever had, the only person he ever really loved (and who really loved him). Then, when Max comes back angry and wanting his revenge it’s that much harder for Adam. So then, when he’s in the middle of some hardcore, bloody match with Max he can’t bring himself to finish Max off, to really hurt him.

Then, of course, as they sit in a ring covered in each other’s blood, they just look at each other and maybe Adam begs Max to forgive him, maybe he doesn’t, but they hug either way. There would be tears (both from them and us), Roddy & friends would lose their shit, BTYBB would be back for another summer (hopefully Max is ready to go by summer). I don’t know. That’s just my ideal scenario.

Shameless Self-Promotion: Comments Requested

So, this fanfic universe kinda feels like my magnum opus of wrestling fic... I've written others, mostly AdaMJF/BTYBB fics (and I'm more than happy to share those links as well), but I started this CMJF verse with what was supposed to be a one-shot set in a world where Max is the heir to a rich New York family's business and fortune, and Punk is the older, poor as fuck, guitarist in a band who turned Max's life upside down. The first piece I wrote was Max drunkenly calling Punk after being abandoned a week before his wedding to Adam Cole, the guy his parents had approved of. But it grew... and grew... and grew.

Unfortunately, I've put in a lot of work, but haven't gotten much feedback on it. My AdaMJF stuff gets a decent amount of feedback, but CMJF not so much... maybe because they don't actually interact anymore, so the ship fandom is dying? IDEK. But I know there's a lot of AO3 writers on the old Tumblr, so I figure worst case? Nobody sees this and best case? I get some feedback!!

Anyways... without futher ado, let me link ya.

Toxicity Is a Virtue... or Something: A CMJF AU Universe Description: Maxwell Jacob Friedman is the golden son of a wealthy New York family. CM Punk is his parents’ worst nightmare.

Part 1: Watch Me Turn Your Mind Into My Home Summary: Max is slumming at a punk rock club with his friends. Punk is playing that club with his band. Worlds collide and shit gets messy.

Part 2: Why Are You Here? Summary: It's been a few months since Maxwell Jacob Friedman and CM Punk broke up, and they've both moved on. Or so they both think.

Part 3: Pretty When You Cry Summary: Max thought he had finally found the person who would love him forever -- who would never break his heart -- in the person of Adam Cole. But as usual? Max thought wrong. -or- 5 times Adam truly smiled at Max and 1 time he tried to but failed.

Part 4: Sick Like Me Summary: Maxwell Jacob Friedman is the son of one of New York City's richest families, and as such, his parents have been planning his life for a long time. CM Punk is the much older, much poorer guy he dated 5 years ago. Adam Cole is the charmer Max's parents loved until he left him a week before their wedding. Larry just wants a treat.

Roddy saying that we'll see the real MJF and the real Adam at All In, showing clips of Roddy saying "what if he watches it back?" Adam saying "he won't watch it back"

What if Better Than You Bay Bay make it through both matches still friends and genuinely happy to have wrestled together regardless of who wins, only for Roddy to come out and show everyone footage of Adam talking shit behind Max's back??

After being so vulnerable & open, to have something like that happen at such a huge event in front of so many people (even if Adam didn't betray him & tried to say their friendship is real now/he doesn't feel that way any more) would be absolutely devastating to MJF, could he ever move past it to trust Adam again? I don't think he could, even if he really really wanted to

What if this whole time Adam and Max have both been painfully sincere and genuinely built a relationship built on trust, only for Roddy to irreparably damage the foundations it rests on

If that trust shatters it wouldn't matter if they both truly thought they'd found a friend in each other, they couldn't ever fix the cracks enough that MJF would ever feel truly secure, and it would split them up and break Max, which really isn't that what it seems Roddy would want most?

We've all been waiting to see who betrays who, but what if neither of them intentionally betrays the other, what if BTYBB ends with a whimper, not a bang?

damn seeing old btybb clips is so sad now knowing adam was full of shit the entire time

5, 9, 20, 27

5.

you know the answer lmao (BTYBB)

i do have other faves, but that's my immediate answer

9.

other than the bbys (solo + together), i love swerve's entrance (his theme slaps and he's so effortlessly cool)

20.

max is so deep in my brain, that obviously his is one of my favorites. i also love kenny's, anna jay's (lmao) etc

27.

garcia is one of the more underrated wrestlers in AEW. outside of AEW? (despite her current championship run) trinity

btw AEW has a whole 2 hour long video of their entire storyline up to All In

here's my superior fantasy booking: the acclaimed challenge btybb for the ring of honor tag titles and i get to watch max² destroy each other psychosexually while adam and anthony both pull the same half-disgusted face

Making this edit got me thinking about how much of BTYBB friendship was built on platonic physical intimacy and how much this was a huge part of the plot.

Like Max never initiated any type of physical contact besides violence with anyone by the start of their rivalry, but he was very touchy feely with Adam from the get go.

On the other hand Adam always let his close friends kiss and hug him, it was even part of his gimmick in superkliq, but at the start he was really serious about "boundaries" in his friendship with Max.

They broke all those physical boundaries within that friendship in the end, Max never held back from hugging him or burying his face into his neck, he kissed him on the temple and proudly posted the picture on his socials.

If everything was a plan from the start, was playing hard to get at first but then letting Max to be as close as possible to him, knowing fully this is the first time Max is experiencing such thing with a friend and everything about their hugs and kisses is novel to Max and he probably is exploding with so much excitement and love every time it happens is going to make it harder once he takes that away from Max so suddenly, a part of the plan too?