MJF is the new AEW World Champion with help from Regal at Full Gear

The Devil was finally right, thanks to an assist from William Regal.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman became All Elite Wrestling World Champion after the Plainview, Long Island native defeated Jon Moxley in the main event of the Full Gear pay-per-view at the Prudential Center on Saturday night. At 26, he is among the youngest professional wrestling world champions of all time, even after losing his previous title shot with Moxley in 2019.

Freidman did so with the surprise help of William Regal, the leader of the Blackpool Combat Club faction to which Moxley belongs. MJF struggled as the babyface for most of the match until he pulled the referee in front of him. With the official out, he grabbed his Dynamite Diamond ring, which he swore not to use. Regal came out to challenge him about it and Friedman put the ring down.

This led to him tapping on Moxley’s bulldog choke, but the referee was still out. As Regal told Moxley to wake up the referee, he grabbed the ring and slipped Friedman his brass knuckles. MJF hit Moxley with them and pinned him for the 1-2-3 to win the first major title of his career. The Regal-MJF alliance seemed to have been sparked by a promo between the two on Dynamite a few weeks ago and the legend told Friedman that he didn’t hire him in NXT because he wanted to start a fire under him to become one of the best in the industry. It looks like Regal thinks that’s the case now.

The win completes a six-month story for MJF, who has been with AEW since its inception in 2019. In May, he and AEW President Tony Khan had a work/filming contract dispute after the no-show. of MJF and a fan event before Double or Nothing. Friedman, after going on Dynamite and asking Khan to fire him, was not seen on AEW television again until he returned to “Sympathy to the Devil” at All Out in September. There he won the Casino Ladder match – with help from The Firm faction – and a chip he cashed in for a title match with Moxley.

MJF’s original opponent in this story was supposed to be CM Punk, who won the belt for the second time at All Out. But an injury to Punk and his explosive press conference after the event that led to a backstage brawl between him and the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega left the former WWE star vacating the title and putting his future in the balance. business doubt.

Friedman, who recently landed a role in the upcoming film “Iron Claw” with Zac Efron, has since become one of the hottest actors in professional wrestling, garnering huge crowd responses and continues to be one of AEW’s biggest viewership draws. The company, which lost some steam after the All Out debacle, is firmly on its shoulders now after Full Gear.