MJF Calls AEW Full Gear Match He Had To Follow The Best Of Its Kind In Wrestling History

At last night's Full Gear pay-per-view, a hobbled MJF defeated Jay White to retain his AEW World Championship. While the match was widely praised by fans, MJF was admittedly nervous going into it due to the preceding Texas Deathmatch between Swerve Strickland and Adam Page. Speaking at the post-Full Gear media scrum, MJF praised Strickland and Page for "raising the bar" with their stellar bout, explaining why he and White had a hard act to follow. 

"Here's the deal — this title [AEW World Championship] means I'm the best wrestler in this company, but there are many incredible professional wrestlers in this company," MJF said. "That means it's my job, no matter what happens before me, to either match it or raise that bar. Let me tell you something — that was not an easy bar to f—ing hop over. That was not even an easy bar to touch by the tip of my fingers. Those guys put on ... it might be the best deathmatch in the history of professional wrestling."

MJF quickly dropped the "might be" and declared Page vs. Strickland as the best match of its kind in the history of professional wrestling. "The match was insane. So I'm standing in the back, and I'm like, 'Okay, I'm the champion for a reason. I earned this title. It's my job to step up to the plate.' And I feel like I did, and I'm proud that I did. I'm sure Jay White had that guttural feeling heading out there — very high bar, incredible match." 

Some of wrestling's most iconic Texas deathmatches include Dusty Rhodes vs. Superstar Billy Graham in October 1977, Vader vs. Cactus Jack in October 1993, and most recently, Lance Archer vs. Jon Moxley.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit AEW with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.