AEW All Out 2023 results: Adam Cole & MJF retain ROH tag belts, then run into Samoa Joe

Their main event battle at Wembley Stadium last weekend pushed the bromance between AEW World champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman & Adam Cole to the brink just hours after they captured the Ring of Honor Tag titles together. How would they look in their first defense of those belts on Sept. 3 at All Out in Chicago?

We didn’t have to wait long to find out, as Better Than You BAY BAY’s defense against Dark Order’s Alex Reynolds & John Silver opened the PPV. They looked to be on the same page, rocking new Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan-themed team merchandise.

MJF’s old Create-A-Pro Wrestling Academy trainer Reynolds didn’t make it easy on them, though. When an early sequence aggravated a neck “injury” Friedman got at All In, Reynolds nailed him with a steel chair while Cole and referee Paul Turner were focused on MJF and Silver.

As medical staff took Max to the back, Cole decided to defend the belts by himself. The Panama City Playboy put up a fight, but — especially with Evil Uno helping his teammates — that went about as you’d expect. When Dark Order hit Cole & MJF’s Double Clothesline, it looked over. But Adam survived that, and countered an attempt to use the belt as a weapon.

And that’s when MJF made his heroic return.

Holding his neck as held his neck (and Excablibur referenced Jordan’s famous flu game), Max cleaned house. And even though he wasn’t facing Aussie Open, to the delight of the United Center crowd — he hit Silver & Reynolds with the Kangaroo Kick!

Chicago still wanted the Double Clothesline. And after Cole superkicked Uno off the apron, the champs hit it to pin Reynolds and retain.

MJF’s injury will loom over the tournament to determine his challenger at Grand Slam, which Cole is in the field for. For now, Max didn’t want help from Cole or anyone else... even when Samoa Joe bumped him while he was entering for the next match. The World champ wasn’t going to back down for the King of Television, though. Friedman charged the ring and attacked Joe.

Then he got trapped in a guillotine choke. Cole and others separated them, and Joe only laughed.

The full field for the Grand Slam tournament hasn’t been announced yet, but we won’t be surprised it the Samoan Submission Machine (who retained the ROH TV title by choking out Shane Taylor moments later) is in it.

Get complete All Out results and coverage of the entire show here.