Maxwell Jacob Friedman made his return to All Elite Wrestling on last night’s episode of Dynamite to add himself to the four-way main event for the world title at the Worlds End pay-per-view next weekend. On the surface, this was a welcomed boost for the $50 PPV card, as with the Continental Classic still playing out on television, there are only two matches confirmed for the show as of this writing. You can’t simply assume that fans will purchase the card without a level of anticipation and build, but that build can’t truly happen without the bouts in place. In short, a tournament is more matchmaking than it is booking, which is probably why Tony Khan has run a slew of tournaments over the past six years.
MJF’s return, and more importantly, his promo added a level of context and purpose around what has been a rather scrambled main event scene since Jon Moxley dropped the belt back in July. Don’t get me wrong, there was absolutely no reason for the drek of the Death Riders storyline to continue, as it was never revealed to have a point. It was cinematic Moxley promos about taking over the company with something that was dragged out seemingly because there wasn’t an ending booked when it started. Moxley was an MVP of the company earlier in his All Elite tenure, but the pointless angle went on for so long without progress that the audience basically looked forward to the end of it more than anything else.
So, when Adam Page won the championship, despite the booking fumbles of his All Elite career, it was at least thought that the tedious Moxley reign would be used to shine a top baby face. That wasn’t the case when Samoa Joe unseated Page less than three months later. Joe is a solid champion at anytime, but if the victory over Moxley was supposed to reignite Hangman, dropping the title to Joe so soon more or less pulled the rug out from under him at Full Gear. Swerve returned the same night after being on the sidelines for a few months from knee surgery.
That’s why Friedman’s promo was so important, and arguably the best promo that he has cut in at least three years.
MJF addressed each of his opponents, putting their status within All Elite Wrestling at the forefront, which adds to the importance of the bout itself, and also explained his motivation for recapturing the championship, to be considered one of the all-time greats by the time he hangs up his boots. It sounds simplistic, but it gave a reason for why the audience should be invested in the PPV main event and why there is something at stake. If MJF can do more or this and less of what his mic work consisted of previously, he will be in a much better position to actually carry the organization, assuming that he will be around to do so. Way too often during too much of his AEW career, Friedman used flimsy attempts at cheap heat on the mic to attempt to “shock” the crowd, but in the end, it only made him sound desperate for a reaction. References to suicide and CTE to get a reaction were bush league, and quite frankly, Friedman is better than that. The segment on Dynamite emphasized the selling point for the pay-per-view, which should be the entire purpose behind the build to Worlds End on television.
But, if this surprise return was to put Friedman back in place to be one of the top guys in the company, will he be there to take that spot?
I understand why any wrestler with the opportunity would pursue film work, as there are no pensions or retirement plans in pro wrestling. Roddy Piper made sure to take film roles on enough of a regular basis to remain a part of the Screen Actor’s Guild to keep health insurance for his family. That being said, while there’s an argument to be made that his appearance in Happy Gilmore 2 was theoretically good press for the organization, it didn’t move the needle. Furthermore, he was able to make a return to AEW programming since he just finished filming Violent Night 2, but the reality of the situation is this, MJF can’t be the top star in AEW, or even a full asset to the promotion if he’s a part-time performer. He’s in the prime of his career, he doesn’t have the cache behind him to check in a few times a year like Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar and still be able to bring a level of importance with him. Don’t get me wrong, if Tony Khan is willing to allow him to do film work and continue to pay him on his AEW deal at the same time, for his individual career path, he should do that, but it limits what he can do for the company in terms of being a commodity that can sell tickets.
That’s one of the many reasons that Friedman hasn’t panned out to be the big time star that many thought he would be yet.
Some of it was the booking when he was there, but it was exponentially more of a glaring pitfall when he would leave for months at a time to do film work since there wasn’t a way to truly build momentum as the star that was going to be at the top of the marquee when tickets go on sale. The start and then stop without consist exposure almost rendered his status in the organization indifferent, which is the opposite of how to draw money. Along with that, the way that he was portrayed over the past three years or so hasn’t done him any favors either. The last great feud he had was with CM Punk, who has been in the WWE for the past few years. As I wrote at the time, the baby face run alongside Adam Cole with the lame attempts at comedy more of less ruined Friedman’s persona because it was counterproductive to what made him stand out in the first place. If anything, and this might be the way to get him over now, is to present MJF as somewhat of an anti-hero character. He’s a jerk, but he’s AEW’s jerk and while he might be crass, he has a line in the sand that he won’t compromise when he confronts the heels. In some respects, it’s the way that Stone Cold’s persona got over so strong with the audience. Sure, it’s somewhat of a drastic comparison given Austin’s statue in the industry, but as far as a potential top baby face, would Stone Cold have ever done the kangaroo kick?
Even after Friedman’s predictable heel turn more recently, he still wasn’t portrayed properly if he was going to be a main event performer that the organization invested significant stock into to be able to be a driving force behind live event tickets and PPV orders. He was a sidekick to The Hurt Business, and at a few of the pay-per-views, he was only booked to make a cameo at ringside. Again, was Stone Cold anyone’s sidekick? A top guy shouldn’t be at the pay-per-view to hang out at ringside.
I say that to say this, while this is the third of fourth restart of MJF’s All Elite Wrestling career where he returns with a slightly new look, this might be the last chance to Tony Khan to get it right before MJF is typecast in a category where there’s a ceiling as to how much of a star that fans are willing to see him as for the promotion. Remember his return promo as a baby face when he wore the Triple H attire and showcased a comically bad AEW tattoo? How about when he made his return after a contract dispute?
We’ve seen this story before and ultimately, MJF still ended up middle of the road or at best, under the expectations of the level of his talent. It will be interesting if this fresh run can allow him to make more overall progress, and taking into account the very good promo, there’s an argument that he should win the championship at the Worlds End pay-per-view. Who he would work with after that or the context of it is a completely different matter, but either way, I’d still say that this particular run could define his status in the company.
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Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
Email [email protected] | You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, & Threads @jimlamotta89
