MJF

At the center of it is the AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman, or MJF. He's been with the upstart company since its first PPV in 2019, and even at just 26 years ...

While the fact that it’s a clear homage to Punk (the new champion) and his “pipebomb” segment during his time with WWE could mean interesting developments for their rivalry—it’s also telling that MJF’s attack on the proliferation of ex-WWE guys in AEW got the biggest positive crowd response—it’s pretty difficult to suspend the rules of wrestling for one segment and then try to resume them again for the rest. If Friedman’s apparent brief holdout was a little annoying for fans weighing the purchase of a PPV, it was invigorating for the way it threatened to overturn wrestling’s status quo, where management has all the power. Now, if you’re like the fans in L.A. who were won over by MJF and rooting for him to get one over on Tony Khan, you’re doing so because Khan wants you to. And in AEW, Max Friedman presented a challenge to a promotion that has built a devoted fanbase by always portraying themselves as on the fans’ side, forcing Khan to either relent or publicly become the kind of ruthlessly competitive Vince McMahon figure he has always tried to rebuke. The idea behind this segment is that there are important TV execs at this show that AEW is trying to impress, and MJF is looking to screw with things by airing his supposedly real grievances live on TV, cussing a bunch, all but acknowledging the scripted nature of the show, and demanding that Tony Khan fire him. Its only real dramatic thrust is “Is MJF saying this for real?” and when he is so obviously collaborating with the company, that’s not a very compelling question. It’s Oz voluntarily stepping out from behind the curtain, explaining how his machine works, and then retreating to try and still demand Dorothy and her friends cower in fear as if nothing has happened. MJF indirectly makes Wardlow look like an insignificant chump by refusing to sell any of his storyline damage from that match, and then he proceeds to lessen the impact of everything else on Dynamite by pointing out how it’s all phony bullshit. But after a very odd and frustrating day of complete silence from AEW about whether or not the previously advertised match would take place, Double or Nothing opened with MJF making his entrance and doing his job to perfection in a very, very fun squash match with Wardlow. In under eight minutes, the hero was made to look completely invulnerable while MJF desperately tried a number of dirty tricks before succumbing to 10 power bombs and being carried out of the building on a stretcher. On Wednesday, ahead of a massive follow-up Dynamite show that also served as AEW’s debut in Los Angeles at a sold-out Forum, the company announced that MJF would, surprisingly enough, be on the show. Those rumblings became loud claps of thunder on Saturday, the day before AEW’s Double or Nothing PPV in Las Vegas. MJF no-showed the AEW Fan Fest that day, forcing the company to offer fans who had paid for a meet-and-greet refunds and exchanges. But in the past few months, after Cody Rhodes successfully returned to WWE after helping start AEW, there have been rumblings that MJF is frustrated with his contract, which runs out at the end of 2023.

The genre of pro wrestling is at its most compelling when the audience is trying to delineate between whether and to what extent the storyline is real ...

At just 26 years old, he has the potential to be an all-time legend in the pro wrestling business, and all eyes will be on him for the foreseeable future. Yet, if Tony Khan and MJF were booking a storyline to maximize how compelling it would be, it would be impossible for them to script it any better. I don’t want to wait until 2024, but you don’t want to listen to me, but allow me to make it a little easier for you. Several months ago, Cody Rhodes was giving promos that gave a nod to what were at that point internet rumors that he was disgruntled about not receiving a long-term contract. AEW has not shared clips of the promo on its YouTube or Twitter feeds. The promo harkened back to CM Punk’s still-discussed “pipe bomb,” given during his real-life disgruntlement with WWE in 2011.

The latest move in the MJF and AEW saga has the promotion completely removing him from their website and shop page.

Of course, he noted that he’s statistically the second-biggest ratings draw in the entire company. MJF came out for the second segment of the show and delivered his polarizing promo where he lambasted AEW and disparaged AEW President Tony Khan, alleging that Khan has a preference for signing former WWE names to big contracts. It now goes straight from Miro to Nyla Rose! He is also not listed in the "Alumni" section.

MJF unloaded a scathing promo on AEW president Tony Khan on this week's AEW Dynamite, demanding that he be fired from the company over frustrations with how ...

It's unclear when then turned from a real-life situation (certain aspects of it have been consistently reported to be true prior to Wednesday's promo) and when it became a storyline. He reportedly met with Khan this week to discuss his contract situation, leading to him getting a promo spot after Dynamite's first match. All the recaps of the segment were immediately deleted from Twitter, no photos of him were uploaded to the episode's online folder and now he has been pulled from both the company's online roster and AEW Shop.

CM Punk pursued MJF after the reportedly frustrated star delivered his own rendition of a pipebomb promo on the 6/1 episode of "AEW Dynamite."

During his promo, MJF did bring up the money he wasn’t being paid in comparison to ex-WWE guys, like CM Punk, and implied that Khan was infatuated with former talent that worked for Vince McMahon. It was in AEW where MJF scratched and clawed his own way to stardom only to be paid less than what certain talent gets. With Punk being the new flag bearer for AEW as champion, it would only seem fitting that he’d come out to defend the AEW letters in a leadership fashion. MJF leaning into the shoot aspects of his situation and then airing those grievances for all of network television to see created a great deal of talk from fans and colleagues alike.

Eddie Kingston appears to reference MJF and his now infamous promo from AEW Dynamite last night with a series of tweets.

While Kingston and MJF have worked together in AEW for around two years now, the two have never crossed paths in AEW, not even for a multi-person match. The lines reportedly reflect MJF’s real-life feelings and the catalyst that led to the events of this past weekend and, by extension, MJF’s promo last night. Last night the wrestling world watched as MJF fired off the most talked-about promo this side of the Pipebomb during the early stages of “AEW Dynamite.” As the world continues to react to MJF’s promo, not to mention the weekend that led to said promo, one man who appears to have no time for it is AEW star Eddie Kingston.

AEW removes MJF from their web site's roster page after he curses out Tony Khan and demands to be fired in a worked shoot promo.

Wardlow was temporarily removed from the AEW roster not that long ago, so AEW has used this trick before. The segment ended with MJF calling Khan a “ fucking mark” and demanding to be fired before his mic was cut off. This followed weeks of rumors indicating the relationship between MJF and Khan has been legitimately fractured over a contract dispute.