Maxwell Jacob Friedman threw in the towel at AEW Full Gear, costing Cody his shot at the AEW World Championship. Not only did his actions cost Cody the match, as a result of a stipulation he had made before the PPV, Cody can now never challenge for the AEW World Championship ever again.
According to comments he recently made on Twitter, Maxwell Jacob Friedman says he’ll never wrestle Cody.
I have a very important and serious announcement in regards to my wrestling career.
After Full Gear, Cody was attacked by MJF’s new run-in buddy Wardlow on an episode of Dynamite. On the most recent episode of AEW Dynamite, Cody was attacked by the Butcher and the Blade along with Allie. The duo came up through a hidden opening in the ring mat to attack.
Cody vs Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Cody and Maxwell Jacob Friedman have never faced each other in single’s action. They’ve previously worked as a tag-team together, however. Cody and MJF wrestled Le Tabarnak de Team (Mathieu St-Jacques & Thomas Dubois) to a no-contest at a charity show held in Ottawa, ON, Canada back in August.
MJF In MLW’s Opera Cup
Friedman will also have to worry about MLW’s Opera Cup from New York’s Melrose Ballroom later this week. The tournament takes place on December 5th and MJF will face Alex Hammerstone in the 1st round.
Major League Wrestling has announced two opening-round matches for their upcoming Opera Cup tournament. The tournament will take place on December 5th inside New York’s Melrose Ballroom. Matches will be taped for future episodes of MLW Fusion.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman is entered into the tournament and will face his stablemate Alex Hammerstone in the first round of the tournament.
“All week Richard Holliday and his father/lawyer have attempted to derail the Opera Cup match. MLW ultimately prevailed with the Hart family getting their wish of having the Dynasty fight each other in the historic opening round of the Opera Cup,” an MLW press release for the tournament reads.
One other opening-round match has been announced for the tournament as the Hart Foundation’s Brian Pillman Jr. will face TJP.
“Held annually for nearly 50 years at various turn-of-the-century opera house locations from New York City to Boston, the Professional Wrestling Opera House Cup was a grueling multi-day tournament,” an MLW press release for the tournament reads.
“The best of the day competed in the tournament and would often be an entree to more success, including the World Heavyweight Championship of the day. For years the cup has sat in the attic of the Hart Mansion in Calgary until the tragic passing of the last cup recipient, Stu Hart (1948 winner).”
Maxwell Jacob Friedman had the chance to join Chris Jericho’s Inner Circle faction on the second edition of AEW Dynamite. Instead of joining the champion’s group, however, MJF attacked them and confirmed his allegiance with his good friend Cody Rhodes.
Backstage at the show last night in Philadelphia, MJF took part in an interview and spoke about why he chose not to join Jericho’s stable.
“I guess a lot of people are just really dumb, Jen,” MJF said when Jennifer Decker suggested a lot of people thought he would turn on Cody. “On yeah, you know what I want to do? Let me join the Inner Circle jerk. Yippee. Oh, let me get the opportunity to hang out with Jake Hager, what a charismatic fellow!”
MJF and Decker then performed a short roleplay exercise with MJF playing the role of Hager. MJF was then asked if he had a favorite in the match between Jericho and Darby Allin which would take place later that night.
“Obviously I don’t know like Chris Jericho because he hurt my best friend, Cody Rhodes. As a matter of fact, I hate ‘Mid-Life Crisis Chris’ but I also hate that emo-skater, nerd, Darby Allin.”
Maxwell Jacob Friedman was victorious over Brandon Cutler on the debut episode of AEW Dynamite Wednesday night. Following the show, however, MJF was not in a good mood as he explained he was concerned for Cody Rhodes after he was assaulted by Chris Jericho and his new faction.
MJF’s post-event media scrum can be viewed in the player below:
Maxwell Jacob Friedman On Chris Jericho:
“I’m not in a good mood at all,” MJF started off the interview with. “My best friend just got completely bludgeoned in the middle of the ring and I had no idea it was going on because I was back in the locker room after my match and I had no clue, I just found out after the fact.”
“What should have been a night of me celebrating the fact that I just proved to the whole world that I am, in fact, better than literally everybody now I have to be concerned for my friend because Chris Jericho is a scumbag.”
“Because Chris Jericho is passed his prime and decided to take that out on my friend, Cody,” MJF continued.
MJF would continue to say Jericho is a great athlete and one of the greatest wrestlers of all time but did not need to stoop to the level that he did.
The interview ended up taking a sour turn when one reporter asked MJF if he decided to get revenge on Jericho by being the one who threw a hot dog wiener into the ring.
“Give me one reason not to slap you,” MJF said after staring at the guy for some time.
MLW’s Court Bauer recently struck a deal with AEW to allow Tony Shiavone to work for both promotions. Several MLW contracted talents, including Maxwell Jacob Friedman, work for both companies. Bauer appeared on the WINCLY podcast recently and spoke about the future of some of MLW’s roster as AEW’s TV begins in the fall.
“There’s this misnomer that it’s like Cinderella at midnight and things are gonna automatically change when [AEW] go on TV. That’s not the case because we have pre-existing contracts and the guys that are with us are for the duration of those contracts. At that point we’ll have a conversation on if we continue to work with them or they go their separate ways,” Bauer said during the interview.
“But it’s not gonna just happen overnight where October X you’re gonna be only on that show. They have pre-existing contracts with us.”
In addition to MJF, Jimmy Havoc is also with MLW and AEW.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest to find ways to work things out rather than to flex and be all ego-driven,” he continued. “Then it just escalates things and usually it’s a negative outcome. I try to approach things more holistically and pragmatically to try and find a solution where everyone can win.”
The full interview can be listened to in the player below:
On October 9th, AEW will present their second-ever show on TNT live from Boston. Off-season free agent pick-up of the Boston Celtics, Enes Kanter is a noted wrestling fan and got into a back-and-forth on Twitter with MJF regarding the show recently.
MJF let Kanter know what he plans to do if the Turkish basketball star shows up on October 9th. He also doesn’t seem too pleased about going to Boston.
Cody alluded to Kanter and DDP being a mutual friend. Kanter and DDP recently produced the following video which aired on The Score in Canada. In the video, DDP trains Kanter in pro-wrestling and the pair also work on possible gimmicks for the NBA player.
Enes Kanter Says He’s Serious About Pro-Wrestling
Kanter took part in an interview with VICE last October. During the interview, Kanter mentioned he’s spoken with Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman about making the jump to a wrestling career.
“I’m actually talking to the people over there now. Vince McMahon, he knows me,” Kanter said. “I had dinner with (Paul Heyman) two, three days ago. I asked him how long he’s gonna do this and he said ‘as long as Brock (Lesnar) goes, I go, and then I’m with you.’ I’m like yes! Seriously. I’m really serious about it.”
All Elite Wrestling has added a new match to their upcoming Fight for the Fallen card. The event will take place from Jacksonville, Florida on July 13th, 2019. AEW announced that MJF, Sammy Guevara, and Shawn Spears will team up to go against Darby Allin, Jimmy Havoc, and Joey Janela.
MJF does not appear happy he will be teaming with the man who split-open Cody at Fyter Fest with a chair shot.
We’ve yet to hear from the former Tye Dillinger as to why he attacked Cody at Fyter Fest. Spears and Cody had been tag team partners together in OVW, having won the OVW Southern tag team titles together twice.
Spears insinuated on Twitter that he’ll reveal why he attacked Cody if he is interviewed by Jim Ross.
Speaking of “vulnerable”…
He bled exactly how I thought he would….easily.
Now if @AEWrestling feels they are owed any kind of explanation, they can send good ol Jim Ross for a nice little sit down…
Maxwell Jacob Friedman, better known as MJF, has shared his thoughts on Cody’s symbolic decision to smash a throne at All Elite Wrestling’s (AEW) recent event, Double Or Nothing.
In an interview with the WINCLY podcast, MJF addressed his friendship with Cody being a contributing factor in his being hired by AEW, in addition to his thoughts on Cody’s sledgehammer antics. He also spoke highly about Cody’s matchup with Dustin Rhodes and their storytelling ability.
“I think the statement Cody was making was for himself, and if you listen to the post-fight interview, he wasn’t digging anyone. He wasn’t trying to stir the pot. That was for himself and was a cathartic thing for him. …Cody Rhodes bared his soul at that PPV, and that’s why everyone in that audience was standing at the end and bawling their eyes out.”
He continued, “There is nothing in pro wrestling more important than drawing in an audience emotionally. Sure, you might get an ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ every couple of minutes. But if you can have somebody hook, line and sinker from the first bell to the second bell, that is the art of what we do. That is pro wrestling.”
Friendship aside, MJF made his intentions clear, stating emphatically that he intends to, and will become, the face of AEW.
Maxwell Jacob Friedman is a polarizing wrestler. Some think he’s a real salt-of-the-earth type guy whereas others can’t stand him. He spoke with the Sporting News ahead of his participation in AEW’s Casino Battle Royale tonight.
During the interview, MJF spoke about some of the hatred he receives online.
“The one thing that I wish that the fat troll marks on Twitter understood is, I would love for them to get into the ring and let me body slam them one time.”
He continued to say fans don’t understand the physical toll wrestling takes.
“That’s it. I don’t want to do anything else. Just let me give you a regular, good old-fashioned body slam in the ring,” he continued. “You won’t be able to walk for a week. I’m a superman. The fact that I’m able to do what I do is absolutely astonishing. The fact that these fans don’t understand that a ring is comprised of steel, metal beams, wood, and a thin sheet mat, and that’s it.”
MJF wrestled Matt Cross at All In but has since been banned from Starrcast. The following video shows MJF being kicked out of Starrcast II earlier this week:
MJF On His Debut Match
The 23-year-old says he knew after his debut match in 2015 that he would be a star in the wrestling business.
“It was amazing,” MJF said of his first match. “I recall going into the back, and everybody being like, ‘Man, how many years have you been wrestling?’ I said, ‘That was my first match.’ Everybody was like, ‘Nah, f- off.'”
He continued to say that nobody believed it was his first match.
“Nobody believed me. It pumped me because I already knew I was a star in the making from that moment forward. I knew right away. I was like, ‘You think that was good, just you wait until I really grow into my paws.’ And I have. Very quickly.”
MLW Middleweight Champion, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, will be on the injured list until early 2019. MJW revealed on Twitter recently that he will be out of action for 4-to-6 weeks as a result of the injury. He doesn’t appear to be feeling too down about his upcoming time on the injured list, however.
I’ve fractured my elbow.
Recovery time 4-6 weeks.
The good news is I get a break from having to make eye contact with you poor fat slobs.
“I’ve fractured my elbow. Recovery time 4-6 weeks. The good news is I get a break from having to make eye contact with you poor fat slobs.”
He wasn’t pleased with what a fan wrote in response to his injury:
I wrestle in nearly every top promotion in the world. I am the most entertaining part of every show I’m on. Nobody can touch me on the microphone or in that ring. I’m a story teller in a league of my own who is forced to wrestle infront of mindless poor sheep like you. SAD.
“I wrestle in nearly every top promotion in the world. I am the most entertaining part of every show I’m on. Nobody can touch me on the microphone or in that ring. I’m a story teller in a league of my own who is forced to wrestle infront of mindless poor sheep like you. SAD.”
Joey Janela, MJF’s rival in MLW, tried to wish him a speedy recovery.
MJF began his career in 2015 and found his way into CZW later that year. He has continued to wrestle for top indies throughout 2018 but also signed with MLW. He is the promotion’s inaugural middleweight champion, defeating Joey Ryan for the honors this summer.
Maxwell J. Friedman (MJF) is expected to miss several weeks of action due to a knee injury. The cocky Long Island native has been on a roll as of late. In addition to holding the CZW World Heavyweight Championship, MJF became the first-ever MLW Middleweight Champion last week by defeating Joey Ryan at MLW Battle Riot. That match airs Friday night on beIN SPORTS as part of MLW’s 2-hour Battle Riot cable special.
Friedman wrestled for AAW on Saturday night and defeated Ace Steel in a Bourbon Street Fight. After the match, he tweeted this photo of his knee iced up and told the “pimpled up tubby marks” asking about his knee that he doesn’t need their sympathy.
To everyone who’s tweeting and messaging me about my knee…. I don’t need sympathy from a bunch of pimpled up tubby marks. I’ll be good by Monday. pic.twitter.com/BYgCIKJcii
He was not ‘good’ by Monday. MJF posted a message on Facebook on Wednesday night and revealed that he suffered a small tear in his lateral meniscus and a tear in his LCL. Recovery time for this type of injury is approximately 2-6 weeks.
MJF had been scheduled to compete for CZW and Beyond Wrestling this coming weekend. Hopefully MJF is back in action soon, just don’t send him any well wishes on Twitter.
On Thursday, we had a chance to speak with Major League Wrestling competitor Maxwell Jacob Friedman. The 22-year-old wrestling prodigy from Plainview, Long Island is perhaps best known known for his oversized ego and lavish North Shore upbringing.
Friedman sounded off on a wide range of topics, including what it’s like being a pro wrestler in this social media era, his upcoming fight against Joey Janela at MLW’s next Fusion tapings (6/7) and much more.
We did our best to transcribe the interview accurately – our audio recording of the conversation was hard to make out at times, as MJF was in a helicopter en route to the Hamptons for Memorial Day weekend when we spoke.
SEScoops: You’ve been a part of Major League Wrestling since the promotion’s re-boot last fall at One-Shot. How did you first get involved with MLW?
MJF: “[MLW CEO] Court [Bauer] basically begged me to join. I felt pretty bad for the guy. He said, ‘Look, we need star power. We need top guys, somebody that can carry the company to the next level and get us on national TV.’ Let’s face facts, without me, they wouldn’t have gotten that TV deal. So I said, ‘Look Court, if the money’s right, I’ll think about it.’ We took it from there and ever since, we’ve been off to the races.”
What is it like coming up in today’s era of social media, where fans can interact with you 24/7? It seems there would be pro’s and cons to this dynamic. On one hand, you can promote yourself nonstop. But there might also be the risk of being ‘too accessible,’ which takes away from the mystique of you as a performer.
MJF: “Here’s the thing. I don’t let those nerds and losers into my life completely. What I do is, I tell it like it is. I tell them facts and the fact of the matter is, I’m the fastest rising star in professional wrestling. That’s the positive about social media. People get to see what MJF is doing and where MJF is going to be. At the same time, the negative is, these fans have an opinion that they think is valid. It’s not. They’re not important. They’re poor, they’re stupid and quite frankly, almost never know what they’re talking about.”
Ok. With the recent launch of MLW FUSION, the show has featured a hybrid of various wrestling styles – amateur, brawling, lucha libre, MMA, etc. How would you describe your in-ring style?
MJF: “My style is that I’m better than anyone I’m in there with. I don’t need to do flippy flops, I don’t do cool technical wrestling. At the end of the day, I do what I have to do to win. And that’s just that. That’s what’s wrong with pro wrestling today. People are concerned what the fans think. They want to look cool, they want to act tough. I don’t care about that. You know what I care about? The bottom dollar. I care about filling up my bank account. So you know my style is? My style is making money and winning.”
On June 7th, you’ll be across the ring from Joey Janela at the next MLW FUSION taping from Orlando. You’ve competed against Janela before and have seen what he’s done thus far in MLW. What’s your strategy going into this match?
MJF: “Joey Janela is brain dead. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but he’s been in some incredibly brutal matches, one of them with me, where I defeated him at Cage of Death in CZW, so I know what it’s like to get in the ring with that lunatic, and I’m quite proficient at it. The picture with Joey is that fans seen to take likening to him because he’s willing to put his body on the line. But that’s what’s wrong with Joey Janela. Joey doesn’t understand that you don’t have to do that, he doesn’t have to play to these people, if he wasn’t so dumb, I bet he could be a very talented, well-rounded wrestler. He puts his body on the line trying to impress people. Time after time again, he gets hurt.
Here’s what’s going to happen, I’ll tell you exactly what’s going to happen in our match. Joey Janela is going to have me on the ground. He’ll probably be close to having me beaten. But what he’s going to do wrong is he’s going to try to do something stupid. He’ll try to do a big stunt like he’s Evel Knievel, I’m going to move out of the way, he’s going to break every bone in his body and I’m going to pin him. The guy has so much potential, but he doesn’t think things through. Honestly, he reminds me a lot of the wrestling fans of today. They don’t think things through and they act on instinct and emotion. It’s really sad, honestly.”
MLW recently crowned a World Heavyweight Champion in Shane Strickland. Are you focused on making a run at MLW’s top prize in the near future?
MJF: “Here’s the thing. I think Court is protecting his little pet project there in [MLW World Heavyweight Champion] Shane Strickland. I think the MLW office is protecting Shane Strickland. I think everyone who is reading this interview right now is very well aware that if I wanted to, I could tap Shane Strickland out like a little school girl, ok? Right now, that’s not what I’m interested in. I’m interested in focusing on myself, making my money and proving week in and week out, show after show, month after month, year after year, I’m the best in the ‘biz.
Maybe, just maybe, Shane will stop ducking me, maybe the office will allow me to wrestle Shane, maybe that will go down. When it does, there will be a new MLW World Heavyweight Champion. You know, there’s talk of there being other belts, other titles, other championship titles. Quite frankly, I’d rather pioneer the next class of championship, the next generation. Once I’m done doing that, if I feel like it, if Shane Is done being a scared little girl, I’d love to wrestle him for that title.
I can’t badmouth Shane Strickland. He’s quite possibly one of the best hybrid wrestlers in the world today. He’s very proficient in almost every style. But as I said, my style is winning – and business is good right now.”
As one of the top prospects to come out of New York in recent years, what’s it going to be like for you when MLW comes to New York City on July 19th for the big MLW FUSION TV taping at the Melrose Ballroom in Long Island City?
MJF: “It’s going to be a homecoming. The people are going to out in the streets. They’re going to be going nuts. There’s going to be parades for MJF. I think you and I both know that I’m the hometown hero. Everybody loves me. Everybody loves me everywhere!
I don’t know if it’s going to be crazy different, because let’s face facts: every town I go to, people are excited to see Maxwell. But it’s going to be a little bit of a different feel. Born and raised in Plainview, Long Island, I think people are going to emotionally connect with that. I’m excited to perform in front of people of my ilk, so to speak.”
Where do you see MLW one year from now?
MJF: “I see MLW growing rapidly already, so I can’t imagine where we’ll be in a year from now. I’m just excited for the future, but more importantly, I’m excited for myself. It’s not like MLW is the only spot I’m working. I’m all over the place. I’ve worked for every top-tier promotion in independent wrestling. If you can think of a top-tier company, I’ve wrestled there twice. Places like Progress, House of Hardcore, Limitless, Beyond Wrestling, CZW, the list goes on and on. If I keep going I’ll probably lose my voice.
If there’s a difference about MLW compared to all those companies, it’s that MLW 1) Has phenomenal TV, 2) Has one of the best rosters in all of professional wrestling. I think you’re going to be seeing a lot of growth out of Major League Wrestling over the next year.”
Parting words for the readers of SEScoops.com:
MJF: “You’re all dumb, stupid and poor, but at the end of the day, if you need somebody to look up to, if you need someone to distract you from being a complete loser, just follow me on Twitter and Instagram @The_MJF. My name is Maxwell Jacob Friedman. I am better than you and you know it.”
Catch MJF each week on MLW FUSION, which airs Friday nights on BeIN SPORTS. The weekly episodes are also uploaded to MLW’s official YouTube page Saturday nights at 6:05pm ET.