MJF Defeats Darby Allin at AEW Full Gear 2021

MJF defeated Darby Allin in a highly personal grudge match at AEW Full Gear on Saturday night.

The card-opening match turned out to be an instant classic, with Allin taking a great deal of punishment.

He shot through the ropes like a missile at a distracted MJF near the beginning:

Allin soon tried to hit the Coffin Drop on MJF, who slid out of the way:

Allin's spine continued to take punishment when MJF powerbombed him onto his left knee:

MJF later delivered a tombstone piledriver:

In the end, MJF got the win after delivering a side headlock takeover.

The two men have been at odds since the release of a T-shirt that depicted Allin, MJF, Jungle Boy and Sammy Guevara as the four young pillars of All Elite Wrestling.

MJF attempted to goad Allin into getting physical with him by throwing out every insult in the book, including making mention of his uncle dying in a drunk-driving crash while Allin was in the car with him.

Allin kept his cool despite MJF's best efforts, but The Salt of the Earth refused to move on and upped the ante even more.

A group of masked assailants attacked Allin backstage on an episode of Dynamite, and it was clearly The Pinnacle who were behind it.

After MJF crossed the line, all bets were off, as Allin and Sting went on the offensive against the heel and his stable in the weeks leading up to Full Gear.

On one occasion, MJF trolled the crowd by pretending Allin and Sting were coming to the ring only for it to be his Pinnacle stablemates, Shawn Spears and Wardlow, instead.

That led to Allin and Sting actually showing up and cleaning house, much to the chagrin of an embarrassed MJF.

One intriguing subplot that played out during the build for Full Gear was MJF's penchant for bailing and allowing Wardlow to be on the receiving end of attacks from Allin and Sting.

Wardlow even voiced his displeasure with MJF over that, but the group leader came up with the excuses and claimed he was in "fight or flight" mode.

The possibility of Wardlow refusing to play ball for MJF existed and led to the belief that Allin may have had the upper hand going into the PPV.

Despite that, MJF prevailed and perhaps took another step toward an eventual AEW World Championship opportunity in the near future.

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