MJF during an AEW wrestling event.

MJF during an AEW wrestling event. Credit: AEW

A Long Islander sits atop the pro wrestling world. 

Plainview's Maxwell Jacob Friedman won the All Elite Wrestling world championship Saturday night. MJF, as he’s better known, defeated champion Jon Moxley in the main event of AEW’s Full Gear pay-per-view event, held at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Friedman won the 23-minute match with an assist from Moxley’s manager, William Regal, who passed MJF a set of brass knuckles that he used to knock out the former champ. 

Friedman, 26, becomes the ninth and youngest world champion in the history of AEW, which was founded in 2019. He’s also the second from Long Island, following inaugural AEW champion Chris Jericho, who lived in Manhasset until he was 4.

Following his win, MJF stormed a backstage media scrum, interrupting AEW CEO Tony Khan and proclaiming, “The times, they are a changing!” 

“AEW is now destination television once again. The ship has been steered properly once again,” said Friedman, referencing a tumultuous recent stretch for AEW which saw its former world champion, CM Punk, get suspended indefinitely after a backstage fight. “This belt is now the most important belt in the entire sport. And it's thanks to three letters. And it . . . sure ain’t AEW. I know for a . . . fact it ain’t M-O-X. It’s MJF.” 

Long regarded as one of wrestling’s most despised bad guys, Friedman hinted at a softer, more honorable side in recent months and was embraced by many AEW fans, including those in the building for his win Saturday night. 

In an interview Newsday last week, Friedman vowed to be the “guy who is going to bring professional wrestling back to the cultural zeitgeist.”  

But MJF set the record straight after using an illegal weapon to capture the title. “You had sympathy for the devil? What are you, . . . stupid?” MJF told reporters after his win. “You morons bit on every single word I had to say these past couple months.” 

It was a good night for Long Islanders all around at Full Gear. In the semi-main event, Rockville Centre native Max Caster retained the AEW tag team championshi, when he and his partner, "The Acclaimed" Anthony Bowens, defeated former champions Keith Lee and Shane Strickland. 

Long Island's Own

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