10 Booking Steps For Shane McMahon In AEW
7. Shane McMahon's First Recruit is Maxwell Jacob Friedman
The central figure of Shane McMahon's faction would need to be an active wrestler in the main event scene who can cut great promos and be the true functional leader of the group, as McMahon himself wouldn't be as much of a wrestler as just a manager and special in-ring attraction once in a while.
No one is better suited to be McMahon's hand-picked champion than Maxwell Jacob Friedman—the biggest heel the company's ever had, one of the best talkers, and someone who has long been spoken about as more of a WWE-style guy than many others on the roster.
It's surprising MJF didn't leave AEW when his contract was up, and this could play into it, with them saying they had had discussions and realized this was a better strategy going forward than for MJF to join WWE. They'd rather take over All Elite Wrestling and screw over Tony Khan.
"He's our scumbag" chants would cease. This would play into the tribalism of AEW being the alternative to WWE, and how often MJF has spoken fondly of people like Triple H.
It would come off like an inside job wherein MJF, who hasn't picked a side in the AEW vs. Elite storyline, would have been working for McMahon the whole time instead.