Depending on the kind of wrestling you enjoy, AEW Full Gear 2021’s opening contest, Darby Allin vs. Maxwell Jacob Friedman, was somewhere between “pretty good” and “fantastic.” I was somewhere towards the middle of the spectrum on the “pretty good” side of things—the action was good, but I found myself distracted by how often  MJF adjusted his jock during the match.

I haven’t gone back and counted and don’t plan to, but this had to have happened somewhere between three and five times, maybe more. Why does this matter? Well, there are two reasons.

The first, the one you can dismiss for the purpose of this review because I’m putting it all on the second reason, is that it’s a mistake, and a pretty visible one. Not gearing up properly, having to adjust it a bunch during the match—all of that is a narrative break, dead space in the action where Darby Allin should have gotten in a shot at MJF for allowing aesthetic choices to rule his mind.

That’s what should have happened, but I hate things that should have happened. They’re uninteresting. They’re forgettable. This little moment, too, is doomed to eventual obscurity, but not in my dumb brain. Here’s why:

MJF had to keep adjusting his gear not because of discomfort, but because his Dynamite Diamond Ring gimmick, in a neon green bag, would not stay put. So it became an element of the match, in a way. Would Bryce Remsberg, Darby, or the announcers notice it? Would anyone give a damn?

I do, clearly, so join me in this critical evaluation of a moment doomed to live forever in the darker corners of my mind.