Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF)

Maxwell T. Friedman is an American Professional Wrestler, who is popularly known by his ring name Maxwell Jacob Friedman which is often abbreviated to MJF. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the reigning AEW World Champion on his first reign and the AEW Dynamite Diamond ring holder for the fourth time in a row. The 27 year old is known for his villainous role which made him win the Most Hated Wrestler of the Year Award by PWI for 2021 and 2022.

Early Life

Maxwell T. Friedman was born on March 15, 1996 at Plainview, New York in a Jewish family. He did his high school at Plainview - Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School and graduated in 2014. After graduating from high school, Maxwell joined Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. Maxwell played football during his highschool and college where he was named Honorable Mention, All County for football. Maxwell made his first appearance on Television at the age of 5 in 2001, where he participated in The Rosie O’ Donnel Show and sang “You are my Sunshine”.

Professional Wrestling Career

Maxwell Friedman started his pro-wrestling training in 2015 at Create A Pro Wrestling Academy in Hicksville, New York, where he was trained by Brian Myers and Pat Buck. He made his wrestling Wrestling debut the same year and worked with multiple wrestling promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, Five Borough Wrestling, All American Wrestling, Alpha-1 Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, Inspire Pro Wrestling, LDN Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Rockstar Pro Wrestling, WrestlingPro, Xcite Wrestling, etc. MJF also participated in WWE Tough Enough 2015 and the video of him confirming his entry into the Tough Enough is available on Youtube.

Combat Zone Wrestling 2015 - 2018

Maxwell Friedman worked for Combat Zone Wrestling under the ring name Pete Lightning and has featured in multiple CZW Dojo Wars events. He has been through multiple tag team matches teaming up with Hous Blazer and Penelope Ford in his debut year.

In September 2016, he returned to the CZW Dojo Wars changing his ring name to Maxwell Jacob Feinstein. In May 2017 at CZW Sacrifices, MJF won the CZW Wired Championship by defeating Johnny Yuma, which was his first championship in wrestling. He held the championship for five months and lost the title to Joey Janela at CZW The Wolf of Wrestling. However, after two months at CZW Cage of Death 19, he captured his title back in a rematch against Joey Janela to start his second reign as CZW Wired Champion.

MJF subsequently signed a contract with Major League Wrestling and returned to CZW on February 10, 2018 at CZW Nineteen. MJF had two matches on the same night, where he successfully defended his CZW Wired Championship and also won the 27 Men Battle Royal to become the #1 Contender for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship. In April 2018 at Best of the Best 17, he retired the CZW Wired Champion and eventually won the CZW World Heavyweight championship for the first time.

Major League Wrestling (2017 - 2020)

MJF signed a contract with Major League Wrestling in September 2017 and competed at the reunion event of the promotion One Shot, where he fought against Jimmy Yuta and won. MJF then maintained a short term undefeated streak and lost his first match against Brody King in January 2018 at Zero Hour.

MLW Middleweight Champion (2017 - 2018)

MJF pursued to capture the vacant MLW World Heavyweight Championship in a tournament at Road To The World Championship, but was eliminated in the first round. MLW then introduced the World Middleweight Championship, where MJF defeated Joey Ryan to become the inaugural Middleweight Champion. MJF successfully defended the title on a couple of occasions and vacated the title at the end of the year due to a fractured elbow.

The Dynasty (2019 - 2020)

MJF got medically cleared from his injury and returned to Major League Wrestling in February 2019 on an episode of Fusion. He challenged the Middleweight Champion Teddy Hart the same night, where he failed to recapture the championship. MJF then joined hands with Richard Holliday by attacking Teddy Hart after the match, which led to a feud against the Hart Foundation under the team name The Dynasty. The duo then became a trio by the entry of Alexander Hammerstone. The Dynasty as a team later won the MLW Tag Team Championship. MJF soon left Major League Wrestling in 2020 after signing a contract with All Elite Wrestling (AEW).

All Elite Wrestling (2019 - Present)

All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was founded on January 1, 2019 and one week later AEW announced that MJF has signed a multi year contract of 5 years with the company. However, he made his AEW debut five months later at the Double of Nothing event in a Casino Battle Royal for an opportunity to challenge for the AEW World Championship. He entered as a heel and lasted till the last two and got eliminated by Adam Page.

MJF competed in a fatal four way match at Fyter Fest with Adam Page, Jimmy Havoc and Jungle Boy, where Page won the match. He then joined hands with Shawn Spears and Sammy Guevara in a six-man tag team match against Jimmy Havoc, Darby Allin and Joey Janela at Fight for the Fallen and won.

In October 2019 on an episode of Dynamite, when The Inner Circle was attacking his best friend Cody Rhodes, MJF came for the aid of Rhodes with a steel chair and eventually turned face in the process. He accompanied Cody during his AEW World Championship match against Chris Jericho, where Cody lost the match after MJF throwed a towel inside the ring when Jericho locked Cody with a Liontamer. As a result, Cody can’t challenge for the AEW Championship ever as it was the stipulation of the match. After the match MJF turned on Cody, by hitting a low blow on him to turn heel again.

Dynamite Diamond Ring (2019 - 2022)

After betraying Cody Rhodes, MJF hired Wardlow as his bodyguard and he escorted MJF to the ring. MJF participated in the inaugural Dynamite Dozen Battle Royale, where he and Adam Page won the match and had a one on one match the following week. MJF defeated Adam Page, as a result Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) awarded MJF with a Dynamite Diamond Ring. MJF has used the Diamond ring as a weapon on multiple occasions to knock out his opponents. MJF won the Dynamite Diamond ring for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022. He won it for the second time by defeating Orange Casidy, third time by defeating Dante Martin and fourth time defeating Ricky Starks.

Feud with Cody Rhodes

After MJF betrayed him at Full Gear, Cody Rhodes returned and challenged MJF for a match, but MJF laid three stipulations to Cody that he must follow to have a match with him at Revolution. The stipulations are that Cody should not touch him until their match at Revolution, He had to defeat his bodyguard Wardlow in a Steel Cage Match, and had to take 10 lashes from MJF including one from Wardlow. Cody Rhodes followed these stipulations and the brutal punishments only to be defeated by MJF at Revolution. Where MJF hit Cody Rhodes on the face with the Dynamite Diamond Ring to secure the pinfall.

End of Undefeated Streak

Since debut MJF has been undefeated in the one on one contests and maintained the winning streak for almost 16 months. MJF had a feud with the AEW World Champion Jon Moxley by campaigning against him, saying that fans deserve a better champion than him. After a long wait, they fought at All Out where Moxley defeated MJF, thereby ending his undefeated streak in one-on-one matches.

The Inner Circle (2021 - 2022)

Jericho and MJF met in a Town Hall Meeting with Eric Bischoff and mutually agreed to have a match at Full Gear with a stipulation that if MJF wins he would join The Inner Circle. The match ended in the favor of MJF, where he and Wardlow joined the Inner Circle. MJF and Chris Jericho worked as a tag team and participated in the Tag team Battle Royal in January 2021 for an opportunity to have a shot for the AEW Tag Team Championship against The Young Bucks. Jericho won the Battle Royal by eliminating Dante Martin and became the #1 Contender for the AEW Tag titles along with MJF.

Eventually, there was a cold war inside the Inner Circle between MJF and Sammy Guevara. On an episode of Dynamite, the tensions rose to the point where Guevara attacked MJF after a backstage confrontation. Later that night, Guevara announced that he is leaving The Inner Circle. MJF and Jericho then lost their AEW World Tag Team Championship match against The Young Bucks at Revolution.

The Pinnacle

MJF was soon kicked out of The Inner Circle as he was secretly trying to create chaos inside the group. However, MJF revealed that he was creating his own group with team members Wardlow, Shawn Spears, Tully Blanchard and FTR. They attacked The Inner Circle and the group was later named as The Pinnacle. The Pinnacle developed a feud against The Inner Circle and had their first match at Blood and Guts event in a Blood and Guts Match, where The Pinnacle won. They had a rematch at Double or Nothing in a Stadium Stampede Match, where The Inner Circle had their revenge and won the match.

Almost Ended Jericho’s Career

MJF and Jericho developed a personal feud to face each other at AEW All Out. MJF added a stipulation to the match by demanding Jericho to keep his career on the line. MJF secured a false pinfall on Jericho, where Jericho’s legs were on the ropes. The match then got restarted, where Jericho made MJF submit for his submission maneuver “Walls of Jericho” to secure his career.

Feud with CM Punk

In November 2021, MJF interrupted CM Punk while cutting a promo to start a long term feud between them. CM Punk and MJF agreed to have a match on an episode of Dynamite at CM Punk’s hometown Chicago, Illinois. Where, MJF defeated CM Punk by pinfall after hitting Punk’s face with the Dynamite Diamond Ring. Thereby, MJF became the first person to pin CM Punk since 2014 in any wrestling promotion.

After a controversial loss, CM Punk demanded a rematch at Revolution in a Dog Collar Match. During the match, Wardlow started developing tension with MJF and eventually turned on him. Wardlow helped CM Punk to secure a win against MJF by handing the Dynamite Diamond Ring to Punk, which he used to knock out MJF.

Threat of the Bodyguard

Wardlow after betraying MJF at Revolution demanded a match against him, but MJF set certain stipulations to Wardlow to face MJF at Double or Nothing. The stipulations include receiving 10 lashes from MJF and winning the steel cage match against Shawn Spears with MJF himself as the special referee.

MJF failed as a ref where he knocked out Shawn Spears accidentally which made Wardlow to win the match and face MJF. At Double or Nothing, Wardlow destroyed MJF with 10 consecutive powerbombs and won, marking the first clean loss to MJF.

Pipe Bomb

After weeks of rumor about the backstage tension with MJF and the Owner of AEW Tony Khan on his current contract and payments. In June 2022 on an episode of Dynamite, MJF expressed his frustrations on the ring by cutting a promo ranting Khan and AEW fans for not giving the respect he deserves and demanded to fire himself from AEW. The segment ended by muting his microphone and a quick cut to the commercials. Following his actions, MJF’s name was removed from the AEW wrestler’s list and also pulled his merchandise from AEW sites.

The Devil

In September 2022 at AEW All Out, a masked man entered the Casino Ladder Match as the joker entrant and won the championship contract for the AEW World Championship with the help of Stokely Hathaway. The masked men then appeared on the screen to confront the new AEW World Champion CM Punk. He unmasked himself to reveal that the man behind the mask is “The Devil Himself” MJF. MJF and Hathaway formed a new faction called “The Firm”, who are considered as MJF’s Support system. The Firm soon turned on MJF and started attacking him as he fired Hathaway for disobeying his order to not attack Moxley, as he wanted him 100% for the Full Gear for the AEW World Championship.

AEW World Champion (2022 - Present)

At Full Gear MJF fought against Jon Moxley, where William Regal was on Moxley’s corner being the founder of the Blackpool Combat Club. During the match Regal betrayed Moxley by handing his brass knuckle to MJF to knockout Moxley and become the AEW World Champion. By winning the AEW World Championship, MJF became the youngest AEW World Champion at the age of 26.

The following night MJF dumped the standard belt and introduced his customized AEW World Championship belt, where the straps dubbed Triple-B “Big Burberry Belt” of check pattern similar to his scarf. MJF has successfully defended his championship on multiple occasions and is the reigning, defending AEW World Champion at present.

At Winter is Coming, he defended the title against Ricky Starks and won the Dynamite Diamong Ring for the fourth time. He defeated Bryan Danielson at Revolution 2023 in the overtime of above sixty minutes. He won the four-pillar match against Sammy Guevara, Darby Allin and Jack Perry at Double or Nothing. He defended the gold against Tomohiro Ishii and Ethan Page at Forbidden Door and Collision respectively. In the meantime, he started feuding against Adam Cole. The two men were forced to team alongside each other and started becoming friends to each other, eventually winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship. He defeated Kenny Omega on the October 28 episode of Collision and became the longest reigning AEW Champion in history.

At present, he is booked to defend his gold against Jay White at Full Gear 2023.

MJF Awards and Achievements

Championships

Awards

MJF has won multiple awards over the years which includes,

• Dynamite Award in 2022 from AEW for Best Mic Duel with CM Punk on Thanksgiving Eve.

• Rookie of the Year in 2019 by CBS Sports.

• Promo Artist of the Year in 2022 by ESPN.

• Promo of the Year in 2022 by New York Post for the “Pipebomb” promo.

• Feud of the Year in 2021 vs Chris Jericho, Feud of the Year 2022 vs CM Punk, Most Hated Wrestler of the Year in 2021 & 2022, Faction of the Year in 2021 with The Inner Circle by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

• Best of Interviews in 2021 & 2022, Most Charismatic in 2020 & 2022 by Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

• Best Performance in 2020 for his rendition “Me and My Shadow with Chris Jericho” by New York Times.

MJF has also been ranked no.16 among the top 500 singles wrestlers by PW Illustrated in 2022.

MJF Net Worth 2023

MJF has a net worth of around $1 Million in 2023. He draws an annual salary of at least $200,000 from All Elite Wrestling. Click here to learn more about the net worth of The Salt of the Earth.

MJF Spouse

MJF dated artist Naomi Rosenblum in 2020 and announced their engagement in September 2022. However, by February 2023, the two had separated their ways. At present, he is in a relationship with Canadian interviewer and YouTuber Alicia Atout. She was born on 1 June 1995 in Toronto, Canada.