MJF Injury Could Lead To Lengthy Absence
MJF is no longer the AEW World Champion and a serious injury cut put him on the shelf for a significant amount of time.
At AEW Worlds End in Long Island, former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman lost it all. On that same night, he lost the AEW World Titlte to Samoa Joe and after the match, MJF lost his “best friend” Adam Cole as well when Cole revealed he was “The Devil” with four wrestlers by his side.
MJF wrestled the match with a black sling on his left shoulder along with tape. That’s because MJF has a legitimate torn labrum in his left shoulder.
The Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer noted that MJF wrestled that match against Samoa Joe in significant pain.
“MJF worked the match in great pain with his torn labrum, as well as hip injury from the crazy elbow drop off the top rope to the floor in the Jay White match at Full Gear. The shoulder injury is the most serious. He’s hoping to have it heal through rehab rather than surgery, because surgery would put him out for months, and he was told perhaps close to a year, which he wants to avoid.”
“But long-term, he’s young and getting this as fixed long-term could be a lot better than it constantly being a problem for the rest of his career. As of now, he and doctors will determine what direction he tries.”
There is also a storyline that MJF’s AEW contract expired on December 31st, 2023 and he’s a free agent, but it is likely just a storyline since most people in wrestling believe that MJF quietly re-signed with AEW perhaps in 2022 or earlier in 2023.
Adam Cole Explains His Turn On MJF
The first episode of AEW Dynamite in 2024 took place on January 3rd with Adam Cole and his new Undisputed Kingdom group. Cole bragged about messing with MJF’s mind and taking him out at the end of the AEW Worlds End PPV.
“MJF is a narcissist. The only person that MJF cares about is MJF. And he’s had his claws hooked in AEW for far too long. And I think it’s time for a change. Someday most of that locker room will thank me. Hell, someday Tony Khan will thank me because MJF is gone and he’s never coming back.
“There’s a lot of reasons why I did what I did. MJF would have done the same to me, I just beat him to the punch. Adam Cole never needed MJF. MJF needed Adam Cole. I sacrificed everything for that friendship. That’s how I broke my ankle. I’m the one that lost something! Not him!”
“MJF needed Adam Cole. None of you would have been cheering for MJF without Adam Cole. Better Than You BayBay—that’s me. In the beginning, this was all about the AEW World Championship. But then it turned out to be something more. This is about ripping out a man’s heart and bringing him to his knees. MJF is dead!”
While MJF’s future is unknown, he should be proud of the fact that he was the youngest and longest-reigning AEW World Champion ever since he held the title for 406 days.