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Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) put the AEW World Championship on the line against Jay White at the Full Gear 2023 pay-per-view. While the Devil was successful in his title defense, it proved to be an unpleasant night for him.
At the start of the show, MJF received a beatdown from the Gunns, due to which the 27-year-old suffered a storyline injury, and AEW announced that Adam Cole would replace him in his world title match. However, the Salt of the Earth recovered and made it to the main event, fighting the Switchblade with an injured leg. It was later reported the AEW World Champion suffered a legitimate injury during a spot in the match and tore his labrum in his left shoulder.
Speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio (H/t RingsideNews), Dave Meltzer reported that MJF will not take the traditional approach of getting a surgery with his torn labrum and instead opt for stem cell therapy followed by rehab. The veteran added that his recovery will be quicker with this method compared to surgery, which would have put him out for a few months.
MJF had worked through the same injury three years ago to put on a memorable performance in his match against Jack Perry at Double or Nothing 2020 pay per view. However, as per the report, the injury is worse this time.
AEW's Devil angle might be a copy of an 11-year-old storyline, and his real identity could stun fans, says Bully Ray
A person wearing a Devil mask has made appearances AEW's weekly programming for the past few months. The masked figure and accomplices have been inserted themselves into MJF's storylines and have attacked many AEW talents.
Speaking on Busted Open podcast, Bully Ray talked about the similarities between the Devil angle and TNA's Aces and Eights storyline from a decade ago.
"I'm sorry, people, but I'm going to detach myself for a second. But I'll be damned if this did not have the Aces and Eights story written all over it. This really had Aces and Eights written all over it, which I have no problem with. If you're going to take stories from the past, and you're going to rehash them, not doing it exactly the same way, you're going to rehash them and put your twist on it or your turn on it. I'm totally fine with that," said Bully Ray. [7:30 - 8:12]
Top AEW stars recently like a negative social media post about MJF. Read the full story here.
Do you see the similarities between this current angle with anything from wrestling's past? Sound off in the comments below.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
