Massive Update On MJF's AEW Future After Recent Absence (AEW News)

The latest on MJF's AEW status.

by Andrew Pollard
MJF AEW
AEW

Having not been seen since All Out back in September, there's now an update on the status of AEW's MJF.

Per Wrestlevotes Live on Fightful Select, MJF was factored into Worlds End plans as of Thanksgiving week. It's not known to what extent the Salt of the Earth was/is planned to be involved at Worlds End, but there has been a working plan for him to have a role on that upcoming PPV. This follows last month's Fightful Select report that the company was making creative plans for December for the former AEW World Champion.

As alluded to, MJF's most recent AEW match was a loss to Mark Briscoe at All Out, which came just one day after Max lost the CMLL Light Heavyweight Championship to Mistico at Arena Mexico. At that point, the 29-year-old was splitting his time between AEW, CMLL, and filming Violent Night 2 up in Winnipeg, Canada. However, following All Out, MJF's filming schedule picked up heavily, which is why he's been absent from TV since then.

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87North Productions - the production company behind Violent Night 2 - announced that the movie wrapped on 4 November, with the film set for a 4 December 2026 release. Violent Night 2 is a sequel to Tommy Wirkola's David Harbour-starring 2022 picture, where Stranger Things favourite Harbour played a Santa Claus on a mission to rescue a family from a Scrooge-led gang of mercenaries. MJF stars in Violent Night 2 alongside Harbour, Daniela Melchior (The Suicide Squad), Kristen Bell (The Good Place), Jared Harris (Chernobyl), Joe Pantoliano (The Sopranos), and social media star-turned-actor King Bach.

For MJF, Violent Night 2 comes on the heels of an impressive turn as Gordy Gilmore - Happy's eldest son - in this year's Happy Gilmore 2, not to mention voicing Killer Croc in the animated Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Hutsman movie. Friedman also served as an executive producer on The Iron Clow, where he played Lance Von Erich, although those Lance scenes were ultimately cut from the final film.

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AEW Worlds End takes place at Chicago's NOW Arena on Saturday, 27 December.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.