It’s been more than two months since MJF appeared on AEW television, and he and Tony Khan have gone radio silent about his apparently ongoing contract dispute. The last time Friedman was on Wednesday Night Dynamite, he opened the show and delivered his version of CM Punk’s infamous pipebomb promo. He called Khan a “f***ing mark” before screaming into the camera and asking to be fired.
At the time, it seemed like an elaborate work by Khan and The Salt Of The Earth. MJF had no-showed a fan event ahead of the Double Or Nothing pay-per-view, leading to speculation that he wouldn’t be at the show itself. However, he was on the receiving end of 10 powerbombs from Wardlow at the PPV, and that was the last time he wrestled for AEW or any other company. Two months later, it seems like there might be some real issues between MJF and AEW.
Fightful Select recently gave an update on the wrestler’s current status, which was very much in line with what Davel Meltzer reported about MJF last week. From Fightful Select: “MJF has effectively vanished from the wrestling scene. Fightful has followed up numerous times about where MJF has been since his post-Double or Nothing promo on AEW Dynamite. We’ve not heard from a single AEW talent or staffer that has admitted to hearing from him since then, and even plenty of people who have worked with him or are close to him have said that he’s not communicated with them whatsoever.” Fightful also noted that Tony Khan hasn’t been heard talking about MJF and that no talent they’d contacted had spoken to him.
If this is a work, it’ll truly be an all-timer. Wrestlers don’t vanish for two months at a time without doing anything to further the story along. Ditto for AEW, which hasn’t acknowledged that the promo happened or that Friedman was ever a part of the company in the first place. If it’s not a work, it could signal the end of MJF’s career in AEW. The issue is that if he does want to go to WWE, his contract doesn’t expire until 2024. So if this whole thing hasn’t been a work and there are real, unresolvable issues, MJF wouldn’t be back in a wrestling ring for another year-plus.
That’s an eternity in the entertainment business. As good as Friedman is, does he have the equity built up to vanish from the face of the Earth for 18 months before reappearing in Triple H’s WWE? Given his talent, there’s virtually no way Khan would just grant him his release and let him defect to the Land of Relevancy. MJF’s trail grows colder by the day, and the wrestling world is worse off for it.
