Rumors that All Elite Wrestling might be reviving the classic Four Horsemen faction leading up to the March 10 episode of AEW Dynamite had been swirling for months. But fans finally got their answer that night, instead revealing that MJF had founded his own faction, The Pinnacle — comprised of himself, Shawn Spears, Wardlow and both members of FTR with Tully Blanchard as their manager. The hints of The Horsement are still there, but in a new interview with Sports Illustrated this week Friedman explained why he didn’t outright bring back Ric Flair’s original stable.
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“I wanted to take something that was old and put a modern-day spin on it,” Friedman said, adding that he actively pushed for the group to have five members instead of four. “It’s incredible to me that we are so talented that we have Wardlow in a Big Bubba Rogers position. He’s gigantic and a freak athlete. FTR is the best tag team in the world. I’m also so excited for the world to see Shawn Spears. He’s never received the proper spotlight, but now people are going to recognize how incredible he is.”
The Pinnacle’s arrival coincided with Friedman betraying The Inner Circle, a group he had been apart of since beating Chris Jericho back at Full Gear. Friedman also addressed how he wants to handle Jericho’s group once they undoubtedly try to take revenge.
“Those old-school WarGames matches, they are absolutely incredible spectacles,” he said. “If Inner Circle-the Pinnacle does happen, it would be the best version ever of that. Personally, I’m not sure it would be the right fit for me. I’ve seen the ‘Lights Out’ matches, the deathmatches, and I don’t know if that’s for me. But down the road, if it made sense, this would be the best blood-and-guts match in the history of the business.”
He also talked about his ultimate goal of becoming AEW World Champion.
“After I beat Griff Garrison in a match last year, I grabbed the microphone and told the world that if I had a group, if I had a faction, if I had people watching my back, I’d be the world champion,” Friedman said. “That thought, clearly, hasn’t escaped me. The world title is going to be a defining moment for me. I can look into the camera and say, ‘I’m better than you, and you know it,’ and anyone with half a brain knows that is true. Unfortunately, there are people out there with only a quarter of a brain, and the only way to solve that is to win the AEW world championship. That will prove I am the best in the world, and that is a day I am looking forward to so, so much.”
The Pinnacle will compete in its first match on this week’s Dynamite, as FTR and Spears take on The Varsity Blondes and Dante Martin.
