13 Ups & 6 Downs From AEW Dynamite (Nov 27)

9. MJF Steals One

Maxwell Jacob Friedman claimed AEW's Dynamite Diamond Ring on last night's show, scoring the $45,000 prize through sheer f*ckery.

Him vs. Hangman Page was a basic but effective face vs. heel bout. Wardlow was in his element as MJF's Rick Rude-style heater, imposing himself on the action at every opening. This only amplified Page's recently recovered fire. He was full of it as he effectively battled against two men at once and looked good throughout, almost scoring a six-minute victory before Wardlow slid his benefactor's foot onto the bottom rope, then smacked Hangman in the face as MJF occupied Bryce Remsburg. MJF then hit Cody's Crossrhodes for the victory, because, if you hadn't already noticed, MJF is a massive piece of sh*t.

It was nice to see AEW not going with their usual 10-15 minute match here. Not every bout needs to be of that length, and the promotion's tendency to have the vast majority of their scraps hit that mark was an earned criticism of the promotion's early weekly shows. Page and MJF only needed seven minutes to tell their story, so that's all they got.