AEW: Will the Upcoming Faction War Be an Interesting Storyline?

When Chris Jericho announced that The Inner Circle would be holding a War Council on Dynamite following their loss to The Young Bucks at Revolution, the end of the current version of The Inner Circle seemed imminent.  Like most wrestling fans, I expected MJF to cut Jericho out of The Inner Circle and take over the faction himself.

But I could not have been more wrong.  The way the proceedings of the War Council played out left me shocked and excited as I believed what I was seeing on my screen, after months and months of teasing, was the newest edition of the Horsemen.  And it was all masterminded by MJF.

AEW’s long-term storytelling is a thing of beauty

Before we look at the future it is important that we look at the past and take some time to marvel at something that AEW has become very good at; long-term storytelling.

Shortly after losing to Jon Moxley and failing to become the AEW World Champion at All Out, MJF used his time on Dynamite to let the world know that he felt that he would never have a fair shot of achieving his goals in AEW unless he joined a faction.  For the next few months, MJF and The Inner Circle would go back and forth on the possibility of MJF and Wardlow joining up with Jericho’s crew.

Finally, it was decided that Jericho and MJF would have a match at the upcoming Full Gear pay-per-view and if MJF was able to pick up a victory over Jericho then he and Wardlow would be welcomed into The Inner Circle with open arms.  MJF won that match and he now had himself the backing of a faction that he had been seeking.

The inclusion of MJF and Wardlow into the group was not all rainbows and butterflies.  In fact, it came with a lot of turmoil.  MJF and Sammy Guevara were at each other’s throats constantly.  And ultimately Sammy’s mistrust of MJF caused him to quit the faction.  Wardlow and Jake Hager had animosity from day one and it led to a match between the two.  And of course, who can forget The Inner Circle Tag Team Challenge.  This match ultimately gave us the amazing tag team name of Sammy Hager but also created tension between Jericho, MJF, Santana, and Ortiz.

Before MJF came onboard the Inner Circle never fought each other.  They were always united and on the same page.  And this unity made them a nearly unstoppable force.  But the induction of MJF changed all that and they spent the following months fighting each other more than they did fighting anyone else.

But even through all the fighting amongst themselves, we would always see clips of MJF having heart-to-heart talks with Inner Circle members.  He was found consoling Jake Hager after his loss to Wardlow and also grieving with Santana over losing loved ones.  The end game seemed so blatantly obvious.  MJF was building relationships with this crew.  And when the time was right he would convince them that none of them had achieved anything in AEW because of the leadership, or lack thereof, of Chris Jericho.  MJF would emerge as the new leader of The Inner Circle.

Flash forward to this past Wednesday, The Inner Circle is in the ring and both MJF and Chris Jericho has stated that it is time for a change.  Sammy Guevara’s music hits and he shows us the clip of MJF rallying the troops to turn on Jericho.  MJF admits his plan of wanting to oust Jericho and instructs the rest of The Inner Circle to attack Jericho and Sammy Guevara.  After a brief fake-out, the group turns back around and starts to corner MJF.  Finally, the snake is going to get the beatdown he deserves.

MJF is down in the corner of the ring cowering, begging and telling Chris Jericho that he never wanted to take over his faction because he had been creating one of his own.  The lights go out and when they come back on FTR, Shawn Spears, Tully Blanchard, and Wardlow are in the ring.  They proceed to wreck each and every member of The Inner Circle while MJF sits perched on the top turnbuckle smirking.  The attack culminates with Wardlow power bombing Chris Jericho off the stage onto a table below.  And the new faction stands over the ringside area littered with the beaten bodies of The Inner Circle members strewn everywhere.

An all-out faction war will be a very interesting storyline for a number of reasons

The creation of this new, MJF led faction is extremely exciting.  It gives AEW a number of things it can do going forward.  Not just in a feud with The Inner Circle, but beyond.

First, it sets up a new, horsemen-like faction.  Whether or not this group will call themselves the horsemen remains to be seen.  But the similarities are striking.  You have the arrogant, loudmouth MJF playing a modern-day Ric Flair.  The dominant tag team in FTR (led by Tully Blanchard no less) as a Tully and Arn Anderson replicate.   Then you have the muscle that Lex Luger use to provide in both Shawn Spears and Wardlow.   Plugin Tully Blanchard as the new JJ Dillon and it just seems like this group is set up to call themselves the New Horsemen moving forward.

Next, this storyline revitalizes The Inner Circle.  To be honest, this group had gotten a little stale recently and I was hoping that MJF kicking Jericho out would help give them back a spark.  However, AEW played out this major swerve by taking the biggest heel faction in its short history and in the span of ten minutes turning them babyface.  We have spent the better part of the last 16 months watching The Inner Circle had out beatdowns with overwhelming numbers to the most popular wrestlers in AEW.  Now, they will be seeking retribution with the majority of fans firmly behind them.

Finally, this brings back the possibility of a plan that AEW had laid out before Covid-19 shut the world down.  That being the possibility of a Blood and Guts match.  There hasn’t been a large enough number of people involved in an intense storyline to be able to come back to this plan.  Now, there is.  The two factions should battle over the next 2 months and then have the rivalry come to a head in AEW’s first-ever Blood and Guts match at Double or Nothing in May.

For me, pro wrestling is all about storytelling and surprises.  Those are the two things that I want when I tune into any wrestling program.  AEW has taken these two elements of professional wrestling and hit home run after home run in these categories.  And I can’t wait to see what they do next.