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AEW’s MJF References WWE Legends While Looking To Join Elite Club

By John Canton • Published Dec 26, 2025 14:49 EST
MJF AEW

MJF wants to join an elite group of wrestlers by becoming the AEW World Champion for the first time.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman is the longest-reigning AEW World Champion in the history of the company at 406 days.

In addition, he’s the youngest AEW World Champion of all time, having won the Title at 26 in November 2022.

At the AEW World End PPV, MJF will be in a Fatal 4-Way match for the World Title, where Samoa Joe will defend the gold against “Hangman” Adam Page and Swerve Strickland, both of whom are former World Champions as well.

While some AEW wrestlers don’t like referencing other companies, Friedman doesn’t mind doing that. In a post on X/Twitter, MJF mentioned some other big names in wrestling history who were World Champions in WWE and NJPW, and they were World Champions twice before the age of 30. MJF will turn 30 in March 2026.

They don’t hand out greatness, they document it.

After Worlds End, I join a list of only 9 men to be world champion twice before 30:

Lou Thesz.
Rikidōzan.
Shinsuke Nakamura.
Kazuchika Okada.
Yokozuna.
The Rock.
Brock Lesnar.
Randy Orton.
John Cena.

MJF.

The last five wrestlers mentioned – Yokozuna, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, and John Cena are all WWE guys who won the WWE Title or World Title twice before they turned 30.

MJF Wants To Be The “Greatest Of All Time”

As for the future, MJF has said recently that he’s motivated to be the greatest ever, not just of his generation.

“Now, when people think about professional wrestling in 2025, the names that come up, am I one of them? Yeah, no f**king s**t. But that’s not enough for me. I need to go down as the greatest of all time. I need to go down as a generational talent, as a guy who led my generation for years to come.

AEW had me in my 20s. They’re about to have me in my 30s. Have I accomplished more than anybody has in that period of time? Probably. But I’m not satiated.

That was my biggest thing that I realized after the Mark Briscoe match. I just was not satiated. It’s not okay to just have a good outing. I need to win.”