Q and A with AEW's Maxwell Jacob Friedman
Maxwell Jacob Friedman, better known as MJF, wears his Plainview-Old Bethpage High School football jacket during an AEW event at UBS Arena in December 2021. Credit: AEW
All Elite Wrestling star Maxwell Jacob Friedman likes to tell most anybody that he’s “better than you, and you know it.” But, for fellow Long Islanders, he might not go quite that far.
MJF, as he’s better known, regularly professes his love for all things Long Island. Along the way, the smug Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK High School graduate has earned a reputation as one of the most despicable villains in all of pro wrestling — unless, that is, he’s performing in “the most magical place on earth.”
And while it’s not quite on this side of the Nassau County border, MJF is counting on being the hometown favorite for the biggest match of his career on Saturday, when he challenges Jon Moxley for the AEW world championship in the main event of the Full Gear pay-per-view event at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
MJF talked to Newsday about the big opportunity, whether Long Islanders are naturally “heels,” and who is on his Mount Rushmore of Long Island-born wrestlers (Hint: He’s, at least, one of them).
MJF during an AEW wrestling event. Credit: AEW
Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.
Long Island's Own
