WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray discussed the MJF vs. Adam Cole match that took place on the June 14th, 2023 edition of AEW Dynamite on Busted Open Radio. Bully made the following statement:
“There are things that I saw last night that, unfortunately, commanded my attention as much as the great performance of Adam Cole and MJF. The bad, to me, was the use of blood [from MJF]…. What did that blood really get us? The blood did not advance that story in the match, nor did it come into play later on. … So it’s a gratuitous use of blood that did not help the match take steps forward. Would the match have suffered if there was no blood from the mouth? Not at all. So I don’t know why they felt they needed to use a superkick that led to MJF bleeding from the mouth.”
“I am begging AEW to learn from their production mistakes when it comes to blood, when it comes to catching things that the pro wrestling universe does not need to see… Production is showing us things that they shouldn’t be showing us. MJF spitting whatever was in his mouth into his hands and sliding it under the ring apron. It was a deliberate shot, as if they wanted to show it to us. It’s unfortunate, but these unfortunate production errors have happened a multitude of times. Most of the time, they’ve happened with Moxley, where they’re exposing what Moxley is doing at any particular time when it comes to bleeding. So please, AEW, do a better job with your production when it comes to aspects of things pro wrestling fans do not need to see.”