AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman appeared live on tonight’s AEW Dynamite, addressing what happened between himself and Samoa Joe this past Sunday at AEW All Out. Friedman started off alone, playing up to the Indiana crowd and letting everyone know he had spent time living in the state before going on to hype the upcoming AEW Grand Slam special later this month. Once MJF brought up Joe, however, the Ring of Honor World Television Champion made his presence known.
The two then engaged in a war of words, with Joe starting off by telling MJF he wanted a front-row seat for whatever he was about to say. It was there that things really kicked off. MJF told Joe that he must’ve confused the champion’s theme with music from an ice cream truck – obviously a reference to Joe’s size, but also the fact that the AEW and ROH star recently played Sweet Tooth on the Twisted Metal TV series. MJF said that he took offense to Joe’s use of the word “kid” to describe the world champion, and the perceived insult prompted Friedman to “get a little creative,” as he put it.
“Hey, everybody! Look! It’s Pillsbury Joe-Boy,” MJF said. “No, no, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, everybody. That’s Samoa Dough!” The AEW World Champion and Ring of Honor World Television Champion then traded barbs about the size of one another’s sexual organs before Joe called MJF a “kid” again. MJF responded by threatening to knock Joe’s teeth down his throat, and the crowd even broke out into chants of “F-ck you, Joe.”
Referencing the now-viral clip showing a young MJF appearing as a security guard during one of Joe’s WWE NXT entrances, with Joe pushing MJF out of the way, the AEW World Champion explained to Joe that he understood him because he was once like him. Throughout the segment, MJF received massive positive reactions from the crowd – a great sign for his babyface run so far. Though he was kind enough to allow MJF to finish speaking, Joe eventually had a response.
Joe announced that he will participate in the AEW Grand Slam Eliminator Tournament, which started on tonight’s show. He then told Friedman that it wasn’t true that he saw him as nothing more than a kid. Instead, Joe told MJF he saw him as “a little b-tch.” Then, as MJF started to make his exit, Joe brutally assaulted the world champion, targeting his vulnerable neck. MJF’s partner Cole eventually made the save, but the damage was done. Joe now seems like the frontrunner to face MJF at AEW Grand Slam.