Maxwell Jacob Friedman remains the talk of the professional wrestling town. The 26-year-old star made his long-awaited return to All Elite Wrestling in the final moments of AEW All Out earlier this month after taking a sabbatical for the entire summer. That time off was not just away from the ring, but away from the public eye entirely. MJF conducted no interviews, went radio silent on social media, and was barely seen in public. Now that he’s back on television, MJF is also back is all aforementioned facets. The self-proclaimed generational talent gave numerous lengthy sit-down interviews in the week leading up to AEW Grand Slam, and while there were some topics that he could not comment on, MJF offered insight into how he views the wrestling industry.
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Speaking on KFC Radio, Friedman revealed that if he wasn’t “allowed to say [himself] four times” that his Mount Rushmore of professional wrestlers would include greats from both WWF’s golden age and Attitude Era.
“Triple H,” MJF said without hesitation. “This is tough. Roddy Piper.”
While Piper’s glory days came well before MJF was born, the three-time Dynamite Diamond Ring winner noted that a bulk of the wrestling that he consumed was not necessarily the product that was airing live.
“People that know me and listen to me speak, I think the reason that I’m so successful is because I’m such a huge student of the game,” MJF said. “I honestly prefer to watch the 1980s stuff over the Attitude Era stuff because to me, that’s when people were the most authentic in the history of the business.”
From there, MJF settled on two titans from WWF’s Attitude Era.
“So Triple H, Roddy Piper… This is where it gets hard for me,” MJF said. “I’d say Rock, Austin, and I think that’s fair.”
Rock and Austin are staples of most wrestling Rushmores, but Triple H and Piper are a little more rare. MJF referred to Triple H as “the greatest wrestler of all time” as well as his “personal hero” on a recent episode of AEW Dynamite, and has made his admiration for Piper’s heel work clear since he broke into the business in 2015.
“If I was able to have an opportunity to have promos back and forth with Roddy, and then a match that I know would be vicious as all hell,” MJF said in a prior interview. “I think that would probably go down as the greatest match in the history of professional wrestling.”
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit KFC Radio with an h/t and link back to ComicBook.com for the transcription.
