Maxwell Jacob Friedman has vanished. The self-proclaimed generational talent reigned throughout 2023 as AEW World Champion, eclipsing Kenny Omega’s record to become the prize’s longest-reigning titleholder. His run came to a screeching halt at AEW Worlds End, as a banged up MJF entered his hometown of Long Island with shoulder and hip issues. Challenger Samoa Joe picked at the scraps, defeating MJF in a hard fought battle to take the gold. After the bell, MJF was attacked by a freshly-revealed Undisputed Kingdom, a villainous faction led by former friend and tag partner Adam Cole. That attack wrote MJF off of television, and with his contract publicly known to be expiring on January 1st, 2024, it also wrote him off of AEW entirely.
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MJF’s AEW Comeback is “Sooner Than Later”
It is just a matter of time before fans see MJF on television again.
Speaking during the AEW Dynasty post-show press conference, AEW President Tony Khan addressed MJF’s absence, noting he sees his return coming “really soon.”
“MJF, one of the biggest stars in AEW, we haven’t seen him in recent months. I would love to get MJF back here sooner. Sooner than later, like really soon,” Khan said. “He’s one of our great wrestlers. We’ve had great things happening in AEW lately. A lot of great milestones in the last couple of months. Everything is going great for AEW right now, that would be something that would add a lot. That’d be awesome to have MJF back, and soon, I would love that.”
MJF reportedly met with AEW officials in Boston following AEW Dynamite: Big Business in March. It has been internally believed for months that MJF quietly re-signed a long-term extension with AEW at some point in 2023.
It’s worth noting that Adam Cole, MJF’s current rival, was walking without crutches during AEW Dynasty. This suggests that he is nearing an in-ring return following his ankle injury from September 2023, which would suggest that MJF cannot be too far behind.
AEW Dynasty 2024 Results
- AEW World Championship: Swerve Strickland def Samoa Joe (c)
- AEW Women’s World Championship: “Timeless” Toni Storm (c) def. Thunder Rosa
- Will Ospreay def. Bryan Danielson
- AEW World Tag Team Championships – Ladder Match: Young Bucks def. FTR
- House of Black def. Adam Copeland, Mark Briscoe, and Eddie Kingston
- AEW International Championship: Roderick Strong (c) def. Kyle O’Reilly
- AEW Continental Crown Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) def. PAC
- TBS Championship: Willow Nightingale def. Julia Hart (c)
- FTW Championship: Chris Jericho def. HOOK (c)
- Orange Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata def. Shane Taylor and Lee Moriarty
- Trent Berretta def. Matt Sydal
- Winner Takes All: ROH Six-Man Champions Bullet Club Gold def. AEW Trios Champions The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn
