What does MJF do next?

We have not seen Maxwell Jacob Friedman in All Elite Wrestling or anywhere in pro wrestling since he lost the AEW World Championship at World’s End.

If you check the AEW Roster page you won’t find MJF in the men’s section. That doesn’t mean he is no longer working for AEW but they did play up the, “War of 2024” for over two years. That War of 2024 changed purpose from when it was first said.

At first it was a heel threatening to leave the company to prove how much of a prick he was. CM Punk called him out and told him if he thought the grass was so greener he should leave and main event night four of a buy one get one free extravaganza and then get released faster than he can last in the sack. CM Punk was released from AEW and was going to main event night four of a buy one get free extravaganza but got injured. 2022 feels like forever ago.

MJF became AEW World Champion at Full Gear in 2022 and was positioned to be the top heel of the company. I thought the purpose of “The War of 2024” wasn’t actually for him to leave and go to World Wrestling Entertainment but was actually a way to create tension and drama for the babyfaces of AEW to chase Maxwell Jacob Friedman and try to get the championship off of him before his contract expired and he could take the title to WWE. I originally saw this while Hangman Page was still champion. MJF would defeat him at All Out 2022, and after every babyface failed to stop MJF, CM Punk would be the last hope who beats MJF and sends him packing. It would allow MJF to take a few months off after a grueling championship reign and actually return as a babyface who “chose AEW” in the end.

That wouldn’t happen (for several reasons) but what also wouldn’t happen was MJF being able to turn after a heel run. MJF was being turned when he returned at All Out 2022, as fans embraced The Devil. He got cheered over CM Punk winning the AEW World Championship in Chicago. MJF tried to stay heel in his programs with Ricky Starks, Bryan Danielson, and the other three Pillars. He tried to stay heel against New Japan Pro Wrestling at Forbidden Door. It was a losing battle. The fans wanted to cheer MJF. He wasn’t going to get his chance to be the biggest heel in the company.

The program with Adam Cole was meant to turn him babyface, the good guy Adam Cole slowly finding the good in MJF and instead of them having a brutal feud they would instead have a gentleman’s agreement and main event All In 2023 against each other in the biggest stadium AEW ever packed. They worked as a tag team and almost won the AEW World Tag Championship against FTR (and honestly should have won it) and I pushed for the team to stay together. The fans in AEW loved them unconditionally. You have to ride something like that for as long as you can.

Unfortunately, just as fans turned MJF babyface, some fans (especially critics) began to turn on MJF and felt like his title reign was the wrong tone for All Elite Wrestling. Too much pyro and ballyhoo. Too much silly. Too much 1990s vulgar promos and attempts to create bad catchphrases. In a lot of ways, AEW President Tony Khan likely saw Maxwell Jacob Friedman like The Rock in the 1990s for WWF. A very young, strapped with a rocket superstar. MJF basically acted like The Rock with the way he would insult the heels. The audiences in the ring loved it. The critics? Not so much.

The other problem was that the, “Who is the Devil?” storyline was a convoluted mess, attempting to create a heel faction to eventually be MJF’s ire. Tony was pulling directly from the Attitude Era here. World Championship Wrestling did the Fingerpoke of Doom to combine the two New World Order factions so Bill Goldberg had a giant faction to go up against. The Corporation and Ministry of Darkness in the World Wrestling Federation combined to become the Corporate Ministry to give Stone Cold Steve Austin a giant threat. This was mystery men coming together to build a giant threat to MJF. And while it could have had an interesting outcome like Jack Perry becoming the Devil like I wanted, it ended up the boring predictable result of Adam Cole reforming The Kingdom but combining it with Wardlow.

By World’s End, what started as the great uprising of one of AEW’s most valuable and over young stars had now burned out into the Devil storyline finally ending and everyone just being happy it was over. Samoa Joe was now AEW World Champion, something nobody would have predicted at the start of 2023. The Undisputed Kingdom had formed but instead of it feeling like a top heel faction it felt like a midcard irritant. Even if Adam Cole was healthy instead of in a wheelchair, I don’t think that would have changed the fact that the impact of this group forming to ruin MJF just didn’t burn the way AEW hoped.

And now Maxwell Jacob Friedman is absent. Absent from AEW, absent from pro wrestling, only found on a few Instagram posts by his girlfriend Tits McGee. By most reports MJF is actually signed long term to All Elite Wrestling so the WWE fans hoping he’d suddenly show up at the Royal Rumble were instead given the surprise of… let me check my notes… Pat McAfee. Oh, and Andrade. Forgot he went back there for a minute.

What do you do with MJF?

So after all of that background we have to look at what Maxwell Jacob Friedman is to AEW right now. After the Continental Classic in December, a lot of AEW fans have put their money where their mouths are and have expressed they want AEW to be about the in ring competition. The signings of Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada have made the top of the card even more stacked and fans want that to be represented in the product. The Undisputed Kingdom is pretty much dead in the water as a main event act, with Wardlow’s title shot against Samoa Joe at AEW Big Business this week coming and going with little fanfare. MJF returning can’t save it, though he should tie up the loose end.

There is an interesting mix if MJF decides he wants to return heel or babyface. Jay White stopped his weird babyface turn in the Bang Bang Scissor Gang and officially put Bullet Club Gold back into the heel position. Kazuchika Okada is a top heel with the Young Bucks as the New Elite. Hangman Page is currently suspended but was turning heel in his program with Swerve Strickland. Add Christian Cage, Jon Moxley (who is more a tweener), Ricky Starks, and Konosuke Takeshita (though it feels like he could turn babyface at any moment.) The amount of top heels is shallow while on the babyface side you have the aforementioned Swerve, Will Ospreay, Eddie Kingston, Adam Copeland, Bryan Danielson, Darby Allin, Eddie Kingston, Chris Jericho, and when Kenny Omega returns from injury. There’s far more babyfaces that need dancing partners than heels.

You can have MJF return, complete the Undisputed Kingdom/Devil storyline, then move on to some of the top guys. It would be a big program for MJF to face Will Ospreay or Swerve Strickland at this point.

The Jack Perry Route

But what if… he doesn’t return?

I didn’t mention Jack Perry because he hasn’t returned to All Elite Wrestling since All In. He instead returned to pro wrestling by attacking Shota Umino in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Perry has called himself The Scapegoat and joined House of Torture, and it’s some of the best work of his career. If Perry was in AEW right now he’d probably get lost in the shuffle, but this NJPW run will make him a much stronger character when he does make his return to All Elite Wrestling. He’s going to become a bigger asset for AEW due to this run.

MJF used to get some heel heat by bashing New Japan Pro Wrestling, complete with the “NJPW is an Indie” jacket he wore at Forbidden Door 2023. What if the War of 2024 ends not with MJF in WWE or AEW. What if “the war” is won by New Japan Pro Wrestling and MJF returns in NJPW?

One of the big complaints about MJF has been his focus on the “Tofu” promos and trying to be an edgelord instead of trying to be a top pro wrestler. But MJF also wrestled more than he’s ever wrestled before in 2023, complete with classics against Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega. He proved he could hang. MJF making his return to NJPW in time for the G1-Climax (MJF is healing from injuries so he’d have to be clear on those first) would allow him to prove to AEW fans that not only can he hang, he can thrive. Have him work the best of New Japan in the G1. Let him prove himself as a top guy in the company. New Japan Pro Wrestling just dealt with losses of Ospreay and Okada from the roster. MJF coming in would be a major asset, even temporarily.

Have MJF work in NJPW for all of 2024, completing his time at Wrestle Kingdom in 2025. Once his run is complete, with a big match at the Tokyo Dome, it’s almost a baptism by fire for MJF. He will have the same credentials that the likes of Kenny Omega, Jay White, Will Ospreay, and Kazuchika Okada have. By this point, there likely won’t be any major free agents for AEW to sign as major shakeups. Bryan Danielson will have finished as a full time competitor. Maybe some people from AEW will have left to WWE by this point too. Having MJF return to AEW in 2025 will feel fresh. Maybe Adam Cole is healed by then and you can properly blow off their feud as well. The real concern is that MJF will be returning to AEW proving he can do everything his direct competition can do, and when he feuds with guys like Ospreay and Okada, the talk won’t be people immediately rolling their eyes wondering what terrible nickname he’s going to give them. It will be about how good the match is going to be.

Restore The Feeling or The New Standard?

The roster of All Elite Wrestling is one of the most stacked I have ever witnessed in pro wrestling. It gives me the same vibes I had when watching WCW as a teenager in 1998 seeing Bret Hart, Hollywood Hogan, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Bill Goldberg, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Sting, Roddy Piper, Diamond Dallas Page, Raven, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddy Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio Jr. all in the same company.

It has been a rally cry lately of AEW for wrestlers to say they want to restore the feeling. Daniel Garcia started it, and everyone from Darby Allin to even MJF before World’s End repeated. Restoring the feeling was restoring 2021 when it felt like AEW was on fire.

I don’t actually want AEW to restore the feeling and the depth of the roster is why. AEW has so many uppercard pro wrestlers who can put on exciting matches that it’s impossible to give everyone something to do every week. Because of this, I don’t want to restore the feeling of 2021. I want 2024 to set The New Standard.

The New Standard is that you have to be wrestling at a certain level or be left behind. No more begging for time because you’ve been around for a long time. No more “What I was promised” talk. I don’t care if you have been around since 2019. I don’t care if you’re signed until 2027 for six or seven figures. Sink or swim. Hoop or get off the court. That’s The New Standard.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman had his promised time as AEW World Champion. He got to tell his Devil story. He got a lot. Unfortunately due to injury, a lot also got taken away. When he returns to AEW he’s returning not in 2021 but in 2024, a new landscape with a higher standard than ever before. I do believe MJF can meet that standard, but it won’t be given to him.

Whether he takes my suggestion on an NJPW route or just returns to AEW to finish the program with Undisputed Kingdom, MJF needs to know that what used to work won’t always work anymore. People will want the MJF that went over 60 minutes with Bryan Danielson. People will want the MJF that was incredible against Darby Allin at Full Gear 2021. People will want the MJF that went 30 minutes with Kenny Omega. That’s the new standard. Come back correct or don’t come back at all.

Photo courtesy All Elite Wrestling

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