MJF is the new AEW World Champion, ushering in a new era for All Elite Wrestling’s main event scene on the back of one of its homegrown stars. Friedman finally won the title at Full Gear on Saturday night by beating Jon Moxley (with an assist from William Regal, who seems to have joined forces with Max), and the victory opens the door for a batch of new challengers for the main event scene. We’ve listed seven men who could potentially take on the “Generational Talent” below!
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AEW’s pay-per-view schedule is done for 2022, but it still has one more major event — Winter is Coming — on Dec. 14 in Garland, Texas. Stay tuned for live coverage of this week’s Dynamite on Wednesday night!
Ricky Starks
Starks is the odds-on favorite to win the Eliminator Tournament on this week’s Dynamite, making him the No. 1 contender for Friedman at Winter is Coming. The former FTW Champion has built up a ton of support from fans over the past year, but wasn’t given much to do after his feud with Powerhouse Hobbs ended prior to the tournament.
“Jungle Boy” Jack Perry
Jungle Boy is 0-3 in his career in one-on-one matches against Max but is riding high off a victory over Luchasaurus inside a Steel Cage at Full Gear. It will also be interesting to see how the dynamic has changed between the two since their last match at Double or Nothing 2020.
Wardlow
Wardlow was the last man to hand Friedman a loss, and he did so in dominant fashion back at Double or Nothing. He was already hyping up dethroning his former business partner before Max even won the title, telling ESPR, “If he ever does weasel his way to getting that title, I will quickly take it off of him.”
Eddie Kingston
Kingston has made it no secret that he thinks MJF is a “scumbag,” and will likely take issue with Max taking the title off of Moxley. Fans have also been salivating to see Kingston back in a major program, something AEW hasn’t done since his months-long feud with Chris Jericho ended.
Bryan Danielson
William Regal’s betrayal of Jon Moxley likely won’t sit well with the rest of the Blackpool Combat Club, and that could lead to matches between Max and other members of the faction. Plus, a match between “The Salt of the Earth” and “The American Dragon” remains one of the biggest main events AEW can produce right now.
Adam Page
“Hangman” is currently out of action with a concussion, but whenever he does return he’ll likely want to pick up where he left off in trying to win back AEW’s top prize. He and Friedman have teased a feud leading up to the first Fyter Fest back in 2019 and they’ve shared the ring plenty of times, but their only one-on-one match was back in November 2019 when Max first won the Dynamite Diamond Ring.
Kenny Omega
Omega is plenty busy right now between his Best of Seven series with Death Triangle and his return to New Japan next January, but sooner or later he’ll turn his attention back to the AEW World Championship. And once that happens, Friedman might be in legitimate danger of losing “Pretty Platinum.”
