Did Adam Cole & MJF just become best friends?

We got our first look at the odd couple team of World champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman & Adam Cole in AEW’s Blind Eliminator Tournament on the July 5 episode of Dynamite. The pair bonded at the gym during the week...

In their match against The Butcher & Daddy Magic, they didn’t get the chance to hit the “double clothesline” MJF envisions as their finisher. Cole didn’t seem thrilled with some of his partner’s heel tactics either. But after picking up the win, he did agree to one more “Bro Session” with Max. The champ also planned a birthday celebration for Cole!

Cole was little overwhelmed by it all, but he was ready when Friedman tried to shove his face in the cake. And then he called MJF his friend when saying thanks for the entire party.

To start the show, AEW kicked off the Tournament for a future Tag title shot with an opening match that figured to restart the feud between former Tag champs Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland when they were paired up against Darby Allin & Orange Cassidy.

For folks who’ve been missing Keith Lee doing Keith Lee things, this was the match for you. He threw Darby across the ring at the bell, and chopped the International champion’s soul out of his body right after that. The Limitless One powerslammed his partner while Strickland was trying to superplex Allin...

It took both his opponents, and his partner, to slow Big Keith’s roll...

Swerve didn’t show much more remorse when he superkicked his partner in the face later on, and Lee didn’t seem too upset when Strickland was pinned by Allin a little later, dabbing up OC on his way to the back. Darby & Orange advance, and hopefully AEW will revisit Strickland vs. Lee sooner rather than later.

In other tournament news, we also learned that Matt Hardy & Jeff Jarrett were teamed up. Sammy Guevara & Daniel Garcia were also informed that they’ll be paired up in the tournament, and those two teams wrestle on Rampage this Friday night. July 7 will also see the final quarterfinal match, pitting Brian Cage & Big Bill against Trent Beretta & Matt Sydal.

Then next week on Dynamite the winner of Hardy & Jarrett vs. Guevara & Garcia will face Allin & Cassidy, while the Cage & Bill vs. Beretta & Sydal winner gets MJF & Cole.

Get complete results and coverage of everything on tonight’s episode of Dynamite here.