At 358 days, Maxwell Jacob Friedman, better known as MJF, is the longest-reigning AEW World Champion. During his reign, he has successfully retained his title in epic matches against Bryan Danielson, Sammy Guevara, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Adam Cole, Kenny Omega, and Samoa Joe. Two weeks ago, he took to social media to tout his many victories while sharing a photo of himself in bed with his cat and a mystery woman, who appears to be former MLW backstage interviewer Alicia Atout, whom he tagged. In the wake of that post, many leaped to the conclusion that the two are now officially an item.
In a Q&A on her YouTube channel, Atout addressed the rampant speculation that she is dating AEW World Champion MJF.
“Now that it’s out there, everyone’s asking, am I dating MJF?” she posited. “I will keep this short and sweet. The answer is yes, and who the hell would have thought that? You know? I never thought that a man insulting me, calling me Tits McGee, giving me a nickname that is literally going to stick with me for life would turn around, and somehow we’d be together, but life has a really interesting, weird way of working out.”
MJF will defend his AEW World Championship against Jay White at AEW Full Gear this Saturday night. He will also compete on the Zero Hour pre-show, defending his ROH World Tag Team Championship alongside a mystery partner against The Gunns. Friedman’s ROH World Tag Team Championships partner, Adam Cole, is out of action after breaking his ankle at AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam.
Outside of her work as a backstage interviewer at MLW, she also briefly served in a managerial role, seconding Richard Holliday on-screen before he left pro wrestling for a time to battle cancer. Holliday and Friedman previously worked together in MLW as members of The Dynasty alongside Hammerstone.
If you use any quotes from this article, please give a h/t to Haus of Wrestling and credit Alicia Atout