Normally, interviews with AEW or WWE talent are done during the work week, with a communications rep on the line to keep both questions, and answers, in line with the company’s standards and practices. So I’m surprised, albeit briefly, when I get a text message at 10 a.m. on a Saturday when the offices are closed that says “how ’bout now?” Maxwell Jacob Friedman, usually referred to by his acronym, MJF, oozes authenticity, mostly to the benefit of his career and always to the detriment of anyone standing in his way. That authenticity made him All Elite Wrestling’s first breakout star, its youngest world champion, and has him pulling double duty this weekend in both the opening match and the main event of All In at Wembley Stadium, the largest paid wrestling show to date by ticket sales. With that much success early on, some might sit back, look at their accomplishments, and take their foot off the gas. MJF only knows one speed, and he’s clear on his finish line: to be remembered as the greatest AEW World Champion of all time.
There’s reverence and repudiation whenever MJF talks about his journey to this moment and the people that got him here. “Me being the most over person in that match was not supposed to happen,” he says, reflecting on his standing in the Casino Battle Royale at AEW’s inaugural pay-per-view, 2019’s Double or Nothing, where he was the last person eliminated by winner “Hangman” Adam Page. “Realistically, if you look back at the inception of the company, I was the least known ‘free agent’ independent wrestler,” MJF says. There was little to no chatter about him specifically, but things started to change because of his appearances on the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega’s Being the Elite YouTube channel, and his online persona. “But even after that Battle Royale, as there has been in my whole entire … forget career, my whole life, there was still a lot of doubt on if I belonged.”
MJF’s pro wrestling ascension would see him face a who’s who of the last 20 years of the industry, including Cody Rhodes, one of AEW’s founding fathers who is currently main-eventing in WWE. With a well-documented story still working towards its finish, one of the most significant chapters in the book of Rhodes is Cody’s role in creating and elevating AEW. In 2018, MJF, still with Combat Zone Wrestling and Major League Wrestling, took note of the bet heard ’round the world and wanted to be part of the Elite’s side of the wager for what became All In, the inter-promotional event that preceded the formation of AEW. “I held my breath and I sent a DM message to Cody Rhodes,” MJF explains. “I said, ‘look, you don’t owe me shit. Matter of fact, you might not even know who this is messaging you, but all I need is an opportunity, and I promise you, you won’t be disappointed.’” As MJF remembers, Cody waited until about a month before All In before informing MJF that he was on the card. “And because of that show,” MJF continues, “I had more eyes on me than I [ever] had in my entire career. And I was offered a contract from both WWE and AEW. And realistically, I don’t think MJF is a thing without Cody Rhodes, and that’s just a fucking fact.”
MJF would spend the better part of 2021 under the watchful eye of Chris Jericho, who was in the midst of another career renaissance, this time as the leader of the Inner Circle, a faction featuring established acts Santana and Ortiz and Jake Hager alongside Jericho’s prized pupil, Sammy Guevara. This allowed MJF to flex his other muscles, the ones he’d only shown on the daytime talk show circuit. “I’ll never forget after me and Cody were done beefing, I walk out there and Jericho’s in the ring, and me and Jericho had a promo battle of a effin’ lifetime,” MJF reflects. “It’s the first ever time me and Jericho were in the ring together, and I remember just how electric it was. And I remember me and Chris going back and forth, and I saw the look on his face, and in that moment, he knew. He was like, ‘OK, this is the guy. This is the dude.’” The ability to hang with Jericho eventually turned into a full-fledged song-and-dance number between the two, a cover of Al Jolson, Billy Rose, and Dave Dreyer’s “Me and My Shadow.” The range, the ability to be an unbearable ass one week, then turn Tony Awards invitee the next, informs such a quick rise in a land of household names.
The final step in the maturation of MJF was one he’d watched play out many times, often featuring Mick Foley, a man who’d made his home in Long Island, New York, mere miles from MJF’s hometown of Plainview. For all his contributions to the world of professional wrestling, Foley gave future world champions like Triple H and Randy Orton the kind of physical, visceral, and believable matches needed to separate them from the pack. With Triple H, it was their street fight at Royal Rumble 2000; Foley and Orton would battle in a hardcore match four years later at Backlash. For MJF, while Cody provided the platform and Jericho gave him a spotlight, it was CM Punk who bathed MJF in blood.
During his feud with Punk that began in 2021, Max would show pictures of himself as a young fan meeting his then-hero at an autograph signing, idolizing Punk during his Ring of Honor run. He’d then express that Punk had lost his edge, being more “voice of the company” than “voice of the voiceless.” After MJF defeated Punk in a standard match on the February 2, 2022, edition of Dynamite, they’d run it back at Revolution 2022 in a dog collar match. Akin to Foley channeling his Cactus Jack persona while feuding with Triple H, Punk would tie the drawstrings on his Ring of Honor-era hoop shorts to signal the lengths he’d go to win the match. The pair beat each other with the dog collar chain. They strangled each other while attempting to break each other’s fingers and drop each other on thumbtacks, providing the beautiful, bloody mess that ultimately propelled Punk to his first AEW World Championship. “I think that dog collar match solidified me not only as just a top guy I feel I already was, but it solidified me [as] a top guy with staying power that could be a world champion.” Sensing there was too much positive reflection, Max pauses the conversation to center himself in a familiar fashion. “I just need to say, all three of those guys [Cody, Jericho, and Punk] are still bitch-made, though.”
MJF’s authenticity, combined with an incredible work ethic, transformed his perception, his physique, and his bank account. Since winning the AEW World title from Jon Moxley at AEW Full Gear last November, MJF has faced a host of new contenders. In a similar vein to the veterans that propelled his success, he’s appreciative but indignant about the new crop of wrestlers he’ll have to fend off going forward. “No one’s going to like this answer, but the fact of the matter is, I don’t have contemporaries,” MJF states plainly. “There has never been anyone in the history of the sport that has gotten it as fast and has gotten as over as fast and as young as MJF. There have been guys who have gotten television time at a young age, but there [were] holes in their game, and everybody knew it. And those holes needed to be patched up, and it took time. I’m the guy who came onto the scene, and I went from being great to being perfect.”
Later in our conversation, MJF keeps it as real as can be: “Let me explain something to you: I’m over as fuck, and I want you to print that verbatim.”
It’s the brutal honesty and the delivery that produces the conviction. It’s difficult to replicate because the lie only lasts for so long unless you’re a trained actor. One thing that’s made MJF stand out from the pack is his ability to tap into terrible real-life experiences and use them as motivation for both paragon and renegade decisions. There’s a story he’s told, both on AEW television and various outlets, about making his high school’s football team, then being pelted with quarters from teammates and directed to “pick them up, Jew boy.” What makes succeeding despite those experiences easier is that we see children as innocent, in many cases both the bully and victim, as combating ignorance is considered a process you master in adulthood. The reality is that passion persists because the bullies do, too. MJF recounts a story involving a pro wrestler he doesn’t want to name because “he doesn’t deserve spotlight in any way, shape, or form. He keyed my car, and he called me a kike. And the worst part of it was the promoter didn’t do a fucking thing about it for a while. And the promoter knew! That’s just one of the many times, as a young Jewish man, I went through some bullshit.” MJF spoke on another situation, this incident taking place while trying to cross the border into Canada for Ethan Page’s Alpha-1 promotion. “I hand this dude my passport, and the guy opens the passport and says, ‘Friedman, huh?’ And I go, ‘yes, sir’. He goes, ‘all right, guess a Jew’s coming into Canada.’ It wasn’t like, ‘ha.’ Like, no, this dude was dead serious. And I guess it could have been worse. I guess it could have made me turn my car around, and I wouldn’t have been able to make the shot.”
While MJF can’t control those situations, or arenas like social media where conversations lack nuance and often get misconstrued, what MJF is in total control of are the thousands that pay to see him weekly. And the leg up he feels he has on everyone else is that while there’s effort in presentation and execution, he doesn’t have to create a persona out of thin air. On the phone, in the ring, backstage, at home, you get Maxwell 100 percent of the time. “What’s lacking on national TV—hell, what’s lacking in reality—are real people. Everyone’s so fucking fake and phony now,” MJF explains, further stating that he is “the only person who’s just being me, and I’m being myself unapologetically,” understanding that, while being himself was what made fans hate him at first, over time he will maintain their respect, as he’s only ever given them his authentic self, always.
No stage has been too big for MJF to date, and he’s doing everything he can to continue to be AEW’s standard-bearer for big moments. MJF recognizes that the All In show in London is the biggest for AEW and the wrestlers on its roster, but also understands that “it’s the biggest [show] in the fans’ life, because this wasn’t supposed to happen, much like MJF was never supposed to happen. But thanks to the first All In, I’m on your TV screens as the world champion. We were never supposed to fill out a stadium, man. We were the pissant t-shirt company, remember?”
We’ve seen performers carve out super successful legacies after many growing pains. Most Hall of Fame-worthy world champions of the last 25 years can tell you all about the doubters and derailments that could’ve put them on entirely different paths. For MJF, it’s been a steep incline over the last eight years, and it’s given him the confidence to shoot his shot at all-time greatness. “When my run is over, I want people to just magnanimously say, ‘No, that’s the best AEW world title run.’” MJF runs down some of his biggest matches since winning the AEW World title, from his Iron Man bout with Bryan Danielson through the four-way match between AEW’s “Four Pillars” (Darby Allin, Jack Perry, Guevara, and MJF) before looking ahead towards his main-event match in London. “I feel that if after Wembley, I’m still the world champion, that means that I successfully defended my belt against, in my opinion, one of the best wrestlers in the world today, Adam Cole, in front of 80,000 strong. And I think we’re getting to the point now where it’s becoming undeniable that I’m the best AEW world champion of all time.”
Cameron Hawkins writes about pro wrestling, Blade II, and obscure ’90s sitcoms for Pro Wrestling Torch, Pro Wrestling Illustrated, and FanSided DDT. You can follow him on Twitter at @CeeHawk.