Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
MJF.
Scumbag.
Upstart Broadway Musical Aficionado.
Devil.
We’ve known him by many names since his arrival in AEW, a list that is longer if you followed him from CZW or MLW to his current standing as AEW World Champion.
Throughout his tenure one truth has been ever-present almost to the point of being inalienable, one that isn’t covered by any of those names or monikers: Consistent.
While AEW has peaks and valleys with booking, who is or isn’t on the programs, matchups, etc., perhaps short of Jon Moxley MJF has been the most consistent, present and best evolving character in the company. It so happens as well that nearly every match he wrestles delivers, has a point and builds on who he is as a character.
As someone who routinely trolled him on social media with Jay White gifs, most notably the “Broken Jay” meme– where White was so emotionally overwhelmed after a crushing defeat at Wrestle Kingdom that he laughed hysterically and fell off his chair — I feel like that carries a little extra weight coming from half-hearted skepticism. You’ve probably seen the gif.
We’ll circle back to MJF in a few moments.
That Jay White arc is one of my favourites. If you followed him to that point you know he built his standing off the toes, backs and cut throats of everyone who stepped in his way. Not even Good ol’ JR was spared.
During White’s NJPW run, there was a period where at every turn he terrorized Kota Ibushi. While Ibushi beat him at the G1 Climax 29 final, Ibushi would ultimately fail to secure the IWGP title on night one at Wrestle Kingdom. This is a little convoluted, but long story short Okada was IWGP champ, White had won the Intercontinental title from Naito and between the G1 and Wrestle Kingdom NJPW had setup a double gold dash mini-tournament between Okada, White, Naito and Ibushi. Okada and Ibushi squared off on night one for the IWGP title, and White and Naito rematched for the IC title, with the respective winners going to night two to crown the double champion.
White and Ibushi both lost, and then had a match against each other on night two where White shellacked Ibushi pretty handily. Narrative-wise it was payback for the G1 finale loss. They would meet again in the next G1 the following fall where despite White beating him in the round robin portion, Ibushi still managed to make it to the finals and win his second straight G1.
White was sort of peeved, and so because he had beaten Ibushi in the tournament he laid claim to the G1 title shot briefcase and ultimately beat him underhandedly at the Power Struggle show to lay claim to the title shot at Wrestle Kingdom against now double champion Naito.
By the time Wrestle Kingdom came, White pledged to redeem his shot on night two because he felt he deserved night one off, and Naito in a fit of boredom I suppose wanted to work night one anyway, so he gave Ibushi a title shot. Ibushi won, setting up a rematch with White. Despite losing three straight to him, Ibushi DESTROYED White and ended his double championship dreams after a near 50-minute epic of a match to close the show.
This led to the “Broken Jay” promo referenced way up. We’ll speed through the rest, but White would rebound, go on a tear the following two years post-COVID to win an IWGP title for the second time before losing it to Okada this past January.
The reason why this is all relevant to MJF is the arc itself. By the end of White’s NJPW run his character had stepped on and over EVERYONE. And much like any classic story, in the end, much like his crushing loss to Ibushi, the villain of the story gets his comeuppance. He lost the title he craved. He lost the right to wrestle in Japan thanks to Hikuleo (whose brothers White kicked out of Bullet Club), he lost the right to wrestle for NJPW outright after losing to Eddie Kingston, and then as he was forced out of the company, was beaten down by new Bullet Club leader David Finlay whose life Jay had generally made miserable for several years.
In the end, Jay White lost it all and left the company with nothing.
(OK, he’s still claiming Bullet Club leadership, and has his nickname and music in AEW, but I digress.)
That’s where MJF is interesting right now.
For the longest time I’ve argued White was the best heel in wrestling, but today I think that gap has narrowed and I’m happy to argue he and MJF are/were 1A and 1B. The difference however is while White had his trajectory turned upside down, booted/kneed into orbit, slammed and KO’d, and then left in a heap post-Shillelagh drubbing, MJF has never truly had to pay for his actions. Sure he lost to Punk and was blown out by Wardlow, but truly he has not had to pay the piper from the time he entered AEW until now.
He walked over Cody Rhodes and spat on his friendship, effectively used the Pinnacle for his own gain, alienated Wardlow, cheated his way to the top without repercussion and sacrificed William Regal the moment he became expendable storyline wise. He has further defeated mostly everyone and defended the AEW title for a year.
That has made him a marked man as champion with few allies with everyone from White himself to Wardlow to Samoa Joe gunning for his spot, and it is very much the culmination of where his story has led him. The difference though is while when White was soundly decimated he broke down and questioned every choice he made only to come back like a cackling comic book super villain en route to thumping Okada for the IWGP title, MJF exudes the aura of change and wanting to atone, which itself is a better and more human story. As much as I love Switchblade, there’s something more relatable about MJF’s story on the surface without considering the possibility perhaps it’s all a ruse and much like White he’s a leopard who doesn’t want to change his spots.
Taken at face value we assume MJF is trying to change, that Adam Cole has helped get through to him, to the core of the kid who just loves wrestling and was OK appearing on Rosie O’Donnell’s show to sing for the audience. A slightly questionable philosopher once proposed that adults fail as they age because they lose the ability to dream, imagine and wonder like a child does; choosing instead to give in to the rat race and being OK with stepping on and over everyone to get to their destination. What we’re seeing right now, as recent as Dynamite Wednesday night is the climax of a possible redemption arc that will either continue through to the end of the year, come crashing down as it’s revealed his spots are definitely intact, or that the people he thought were his friends have double-crossed him en route to possibly crowning Switchblade as AEW champion.
Especially over the course of the last year we have watched MJF evolve as a character, we’ve seen him evolve in the ring and showcase more of what he can do in-ring. We’ve watched him go from a detestable scumbag piece of trash to a tolerable, multi-dimensional scumbag who wants to change. What’s interesting about where he’s come and is going is the pathway that’s taken following Saturday night. It’s a great unknown and it means different things for him and AEW over the next month and the coming years.
If Max retains outright the story continues on through November and December to World’s End when we replay these exact scenarios with his contract year nearing in 2024. The evolution of do-gooder scumbag Max gets more time.
Conversely, frankly, that exact scenario works the same should White win. If Jay White wins–although I don’t predict he will–that makes the end of the year more unpredictable especially if we see a rematch scenario play out with MJF looking to reclaim the title WITH his contract year looming, very similar to Cena-Punk at Money in the Bank 2011. I believe though that we still have matches with Wardlow and another Joe match to run through before the end of the year, so if I had to hazard a guess I believe MJF retains at Full Gear.
Now, should the rematch scenario come into play, we also have to consider the Devil and the Horde are Adam Cole and the Kingdom, and that their double cross secures the title for Cole’s “good friend” Jay White. While this scenario COULD play out here, it also doesn’t need to and has as strong an impact down the line as it does at Full Gear. But the turn or reveal itself is what matters because that uproots everything MJF believes to be important now, makes him reconsider whether or not it’s worth it to try and change and not be a deplorable piece of trash if it means failing, and then similar to White in 2021, he has to question how he comes back from the setback. And I think the response will set them apart and make them completely unique characters outright as opposed to just being two heels of different stripes on the face-heel paradigm.
I think that’s where we are nestled in this story of MJF’s redemption and likely comeuppance over the next six weeks. At this point there’s far less gained in simply retreading familiar bad guy territory, and moreover it’s a fair point that AEW is leaning too heavily into White proclaiming Max is definitely under the mask because at the core the story also asks us whether or not we think people can change if they really truly want to. Are we the stereotypical villain like Jay White who does heinous things for the sake of being a moustachioed smarmy knob, or are we just flawed humans that are products of our environment trying to wade through life? And both are valid in this larger than life landscape because we need that character diversity.
There’s no certainty in how the Full Gear main event will play out. What is certain is that the match will be great. Both Max and Jay are top-shelf workers and who are very smart about how to work matches. The psychology of it will be everything you’d expect if you’ve watched either or both for any length of time. The one certainty before us is that the intrigue centres around MJF–what happens to him during the match. What happens to him after the match? Which outcome do we end up with? How does that build toward World’s End, and how do the other contenders, Bullet Club Gold, Cole, the Kingdom and Joe all factor into the next stretch of AEW’s schedule? Max is the staple of that intrigue and it’s a testament to the story he’s told as a scumbag-heel-turned-scumbag-not-a-total-bad-guy. His telling of a heel seeking redemption hits all of the points of White’s story, but turns it upside down and looks at “the heel” through a different lens and asks who they are and what motivates them. And moreover, as characters, can they change; or do they even want to?
While you can refer to his storytelling by many names, potentially the only appropriate one is “brilliant.”