The Genius of MJF
MJF Cut The Promo of His Lifetime
Maxwell Jacob Friedman (courtesy of allelitewrestling.com)
Wrestlers aren’t great actors. Clearly there are outliers—The Rock, Cena, Batista—that have had success. Contrast that with Triple H in The Chaperone, the mid-carders getting a starring role in The Marine franchise, Kurt Angle in that campy pizza commercial, and, well, every single vehicle Hulk Hogan has appeared in. Acting is inherent in wrestling. It’s fake. To create emotion, you’re pretending a headlock is debilitating. But because it’s literally sold to the rafters, that’s why there’s more often than not, zero subtlety.
Except MJF.
Last night’s edition of Dynamite had some of the finest in-ring acting by a wrestler. That was maybe MJF’s greatest performance ever. Greatness is subjective to the beholder, yeah yeah yeah, but it’s not hyperbolic to suggest that MJF is already a performer on the level of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan.
I’ll try to not do a moment-by-moment recap of MJF’s promo, you know what happened and you know what was said, but let’s talk about some of the brilliant little details MJF did and how it made us feel.
MJF’s music hit, and as it always does, drew massive heel heat. He came to the ring with tears in his eyes. I immediately started laughing, knowing where this was logically going. When CM Punk announced the stipulation for Revolution as a dog-collar match, MJF was rendered speechless for the first time, so he had to resort to doing something so lowly and shitty to regain the upper hand.
First, MJF’s clothes. Notice how in the last month or so, MJF’s outfits have been ostentatious even on his character’s level? Last night, black pants, black shirt. To try to appeal to the crowd’s good nature, he had to be subdued in appearance to come off like a face. Still, it’s a classic nod to old fashioned Hollywood costume design that black garb = bad guy.
MFJ is not joined with the Pinnacle. They would risk him not coming off like a face and their expressions could take away the focus from him. Like any sociopath seeking validation publicly, he will not allow anyone to hog the spotlight during his moment.
MJF began his promo with a series of uncharacteristic, “um’s.” And he said them in the same way anyone giving a public speech does that is holding back tears. This is a guy that never stammers or hesitates. Another tell that he’s full of shit. To begin his SOB story, MJF said wrestling was the only reason why he got out of bed in the morning, as he said it, his voice went up in pitch just ever-so slightly twice, almost like a child whining. He pandered to the crowd that by saying he loves wrestling and AEW.
MJF told his would-be villain origin story, explaining school was a hellish landscape marred by confidence issues from learning disabilities. Football seemed like the only outlet to build self-worth, and when he made the team and achieved his goal, his dreams turned into a nightmare when the team was riddled with anti-Semitic bullies. The trauma of being targeted by a hate crime was momentarily reprieved by getting his chance to meet his hero, CM Punk. Psychologically, wrestling is escapism for MJF, and the hope it provides is married to CM Punk by the imprint of this memory.
Now, of course, his timeline doesn’t add up. The picture of him with Punk is not of him in high school (and holy shit if he actually was that young-looking as a teenager!). MJF quits his obsession with wrestling when his obsessor quit WWE and the industry in 2014. MJF would be the stalk-y weirdo who would take it as the ultimate personal affront that CM Punk did anything different with his life, and he would be the type of kid, as Punk referenced on the infamous podcast with Colt Cabana, that would call CM Punk a “quieter” on Twitter. MJF said he was dyslexic, and he did Tweet a big typo only weeks ago in reference to celebrating his victory over Punk. And remember how smug Punk would be when he’d do videos about grammar? Spelling errors! What a wonderfully benign thing to turn into a worked shoot—Punk’s been a condescending asshole towards dyslexics for years!
Punk came to the ring after MJF’s promo, completely shocked and not knowing how to take this revelation that MJF shared this side of himself. Punk was leery to come into the ring. He stood by the turnbuckle outside. In Punk’s presence, MJF reverted back to being that sulking teenager, frumpily shrugging. All Punk could do was slowly ask MJF repeatedly, “Is it true? Is it real?” MJF nodded as he cried with the cliched, streaming single tear, like Anthony Hopkins in Elephant Man. The fucking perfect moment to cap a series of sublimely orchestrated, plastic sincerity.
Brilliant segment. MJF knows he’s fucked at Revolution, so to get in Punk’s head, he finds CM Punk’s weakness, bullying. CM Punk hates bullying more than any wrestler has and it’s one of his identifiable traits like the straight edge X’s on his wrist tape. MJF is hoping CM Punk takes pity on him so the beating is not as severe in hopes of having a fighting chance at Revolution. CM Punk will catch on, and the comeuppance of MJF will be more severe and brutal, potentially turning the crowd on Punk in favor of MJF, another ultra-sinister, sociopathic way in which MJF can win in the end: make CM Punk realize he’s a bully.
Let’s not forget, this feud has been going on since the fall of 2021. Short attention spans and the desire to see CM Punk be paired with someone else is inevitable, making the execution of his angle all the more impressive, that with a match already under their belt, they are still able to week-by-week reveal more wrinkles and keep this story so compelling. It gives depth to when CM Punk first began his opening argument against MJF in their initial promo duel, saying the initials of MJF stand for “my jealous fan.”
Finally, the choice of dog collar as the gimmick match seems to have all the more ingenuity in hindsight. Gimmick matches are quite simply just that, gimmicks to get you interested in another match. Not only does the invocation of Roddy Piper pay off as more than just an allusion, but the dog collar is a metaphor for MJF’s fixation on CM Punk—he literally and symbolically can’t separate himself from CM Punk.
There’s a nonsensical sentiment going around in comments sections when people ponder about MJF’s future. An AEW title reign seems all too inevitable that a segment of the audience skips over that to daydream about a run in WWE. Why is that the collective trajectory in some fans’ minds? To do what? So MJF can recite a script by some faceless, half-interested, burnt-out writer that’s hardly a wrestling fan? For MJF to attempt to make the most out of the lines he’s given after he’s gone on a four match losing streak to Dominik goddamn Mysterio? Why wish that Hell on him?
Keep him in AEW. This is where his creative output allows him to weave masterful tapestry like this. Imagine the genius level of work we’ll get when he’s given the belt to be the top guy in the industry for a year.
(courtesy of allelitewrestling.com)
