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#4 MJF - Former AEW No. 1 Contender
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Another rising homegrown star for AEW in 2020 was Maxwell Jacob Friedman, better known as MJF. 2020 showed another year of increasing improvement and progression in the 24-year-old superstar. The self-proclaimed Face of AEW saw bitter rivalries and the biggest matches of his young career this year.
MJF started 2020 in a deeply personal feud with his former mentor, "The American Nightmare" Cody Rhodes. The "10 Lashes" on the February 5th AEW Dynamite was among the most emotional segments in all of wrestling this year. This expertly built to the payoff at Revolution where MJF sneaked out a victory.
A WWE Hall of Famer isn't a John Cena fan. More details HERE
Winning his first major feud propelled MJF to be seen among the top stars in the promotion. He then had an underrated classic against Jungle Boy at Double Or Nothing. The two young stars had an old school-based battle that used the innovative offense of Jungle Boy and more ground-based repertoire of MJF to great success.
This win continued a streak that saw MJF as an undefeated No. 1 Contender to the AEW World Championship. His campaign speech on the July 29th Dynamite was one of the very best promos of the year. This firmly established Friedman as the top heel and formidable successor to Jon Moxley as the top champion in the promotion. Their main event bout at All Out was bloody and physically intense. This delivered and showed that MJF was a bonafide headliner for AEW.
His last pay-per-view appearance saw Maxwell defeat Chris Jericho at Full Gear to join the Inner Circle stable. This followed one of the most talked about and divisive wrestling segments of the year with "Le Dinner Debonair". From marvelous promos to stellar matches, MJF brought everything fans could want in one of the top performers of 2020.
