Could MJF be a part of WWE with HHH on the helm?

All Elite Wrestling’s largest natural star has been off tv for 63 days with out a peep on when he’ll return. Since his new-age “pipe bomb” promo on the June 1 episode of “Dynamite,” MJF hasn’t surfaced. August’s first episode of AEW’s flagship present has a 99.999999% likelihood of being the ninth consecutive airing with out the delight of Lengthy Island, resonating with wrestling followers in that a part of New York like Billy Joel. All over the place else, he’s a supremely proficient Nickelback.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman has no motive to be on the present tonight storyline-wise, however that’s a part of his mystique. You possibly can’t ever utterly depend him out of the realm of chance, even when there’s a one-millionth likelihood it occurs. He was taken out of the title sequences from each of AEW’s weekly tv exhibits and all different promotional materials since his break-the-fourth-wall soliloquy. That’s an ongoing story that entered a brand new fork within the street over the past two weeks.

Because the fallout from Vince McMahon’s resignation as WWE’s chairman and CEO lingers all through skilled wrestling, and Paul “Triple H” Levesque takes over the corporate’s artistic and talent-relations efforts, he’d be foolish to not inquire of MJF’s availability to leap ship, identical to “The Salt of the Earth’s” mentor and good buddy Cody Rhodes did earlier this yr. McMahon’s micromanagement would’ve watered down the bombastic, polarizing nature that makes MJF so entertaining.

Triple H has a small pattern dimension as to how profitable he’ll be within the new function and he’s by no means overseen a expertise like Friedman. With Levesque within the driver’s seat, one of many massive adjustments in WWE since McMahon’s exit is much less scripting of matches and promos, per PWInsider. There’s additionally the aura of Triple H being a drastically higher current-day inside chief than his father-in-law.

Let’s additionally state the plain: MJF confirmed his contractual standing in that final televised look. He’s signed with All Elite Wrestling till 2024. His best, and perhaps solely manner out, if he’s nonetheless a disgruntled worker, is for AEW CEO Tony Khan to fireplace him. That begs the query: Why would Khan let one among his largest stars stroll to a rival firm?

MJF won’t take the decision. Possibly Khan opened his pockets. This might all be an elaborate ruse blurring the road between actuality and fiction in an artwork type of theatrical athletics. Or it could possibly be precisely what Friedman is ready for, both as a bargaining chip to convey to his present boss for a large elevate, to begin a bidding battle, or to begin a relationship with a future employer. Irrespective of the place MJF falls in that blurry image, I guess Triple H has tried that dial. It will be my third name from his artistic seat to “outdoors” expertise, after Sasha Banks and Naomi. 

When analyzing the long run panorama of WWE, Triple H isn’t the one huge persona with weight on this scenario. Stephanie McMahon, Levesque’s spouse and Vince’s daughter, and Nick Khan — no relation to Tony or any of the house owners of the Jacksonville Jaguars — are the corporate’s new co-CEOs. Whereas Triple H was lauded for guiding NXT 1.0 and appears to have a powerful rapport with the concerned abilities, we don’t know precisely the place Stephanie and Khan match into this. Anticipating Uncooked and Smackdown! to turn out to be bigger variations of prime black-and-gold NXT is silly. There are too many cooks within the kitchen on the primary rosters to seamlessly have that high quality product seem, even when Triple H has a Gordon Ramsay-level acumen.

We’re into month No. 3 of MJF’s exile of no matter type. Speculating as to his standing is both 100% precisely what AEW desires, or exactly what they’d hate if he’s on the outs as a lot as his character presents. There’s no in-between. Friedman was a prick on tv and did an outstanding job translating that outdoors the squared circle. He’d give center fingers to throngs of followers ready within the warmth to enter an AEW present, or to little youngsters getting an image with him. He’s been impolite throughout media interviews which are normally buttoned up as nice airtime for dwell occasions.

MJF’s grievances solely got here to gentle after he no-showed a fan meet-and-greet in Las Vegas the day earlier than Double or Nothing, AEW’s signature present, after being noticed in a on line casino beforehand. It was reported that Friedman had a flight booked out of city after deliberately lacking the occasion. He did present as much as wrestle former protege Wardlow 24 hours later, getting squashed and being met with deafening chants of “asshole!” louder than his entrance music. The next Wednesday was his final time contained in the ring.

It was my educated prediction that AEW and Friedman buried the hatchet sooner or later. He was written out of storylines till the autumn, or perhaps even the winter. That’s the interval when WarnerMedia will analyze the corporate for its subsequent tv deal. A blistering scorching angle with MJF’s return with a hopefully wholesome CM Punk in tow would do wonders. It’s not an enormous mistake from the promotion. I consider this was a shoot-turned-work.

Would a attainable MJF exodus from AEW be even bigger than Rhodes’ exit? For an off-the-cuff WWE fan, completely not. Being the grandson of a plumber and his earlier “dashing” historical past conquers that alone for Cody. For somebody that watches each corporations, it’s manner greater. Rhodes ran his course in AEW and was thriving again in WWE previous to pectoral tendon surgical procedure in June. No Friedman would flip a brief loss right into a everlasting gap. Pure WWE followers wouldn’t know the generational expertise inside its partitions. Securing MJF’s providers away from Khan could be one heck of an early signal of elevating the stakes of what a post-Vince-WWE is able to from the ol’ idiotic daughter and doofus son-in-law although.