MJF Successfully Defends AEW World Title Against Hiroshi Tanahashi At Forbidden Door
MJF has defeated some of the greatest wrestlers active today, from Bryan Danielson to Jon Moxley, and now he can add "The Ace" to that list.
MJF successfully defended his AEW World Championship on Sunday, besting Hiroshi Tanahashi in the opening match of AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The young champion got the underhanded win by hitting Tanahashi with his trademark Dynamite Diamond Ring behind the referee's back. Tanahashi was able to score a visual pinfall over MJF earlier in the match, but the referee was distracted.
MJF took longer than he expected to beat Tanahashi — the champ sent out a scheduled tweet in the middle of the match, in which MJF wrote, "I scheduled this tweet cuz Ik I'll have beaten the 'Ace' by now."
Lol. I scheduled this tweet cuz Ik I'll have beaten the "Ace" by now.
Legend my ass 😂
— Maxwell Jacob Friedman™️ (@The_MJF) June 26, 2023
MJF had initially refused the match and even complained on Twitter, saying that wrestling at Forbidden Door was abuse and that his treatment by AEW had left his cat depressed. He's currently in the middle of a feud with Adam Cole, but Cole was pulled from today's event due to an undisclosed illness, hopefully not putting the future of the rivalry in jeopardy.