MJF Explains How His Movie Career Is Good For AEW

Former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman has been very open regarding his Hollywood ambitions, with MJF previously making a brief appearance in 2023's "The Iron Claw" before taking on a larger role in Netflix's upcoming "Happy Gilmore 2." In conversation with Sports Illustrated, MJF once again commented on his acting career and explained why it will benefit AEW, even if it means he may not be around as often.

"Tony Khan — while he is a mark, he's not a dumb mark," MJF said. "He's obviously aware of the fact that the bigger I build my name, the more people who are going to Google search me and go, 'MJF, AEW, what's AEW? All Elite Wrestling? I used to watch wrestling as a kid. TBS, Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Alright, I'll give it a shot.' And that's the power that I bring to the table."

When asked if he ever intends to leave wrestling behind in favor of acting, MJF simply stated that he has a point in his mind when he knows he'd like to retire from performing full-time. While not willing to specify an age, MJF hinted that it would be sometime in his 40s, and it wouldn't necessarily mean he would never wrestle another match.

"I most certainly have a hard out," MJF continued. "However, hard out to me means I'm not going to be on weekly TV, right? But it doesn't mean that I can't come back to pop a crowd, to pop the boys, to sell some tickets, to sell some merch. That, I don't think, ever goes away if you love this."

MJF brought up the comebacks of people like Adam Copeland, Christian Cage, Bryan Danielson, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, none of whom had any financial need to return to wrestling. However, he believes they did it out of love for performing.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Sports Illustrated with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.