Popular AEW star Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF) suffered an injury during this week’s edition of Dynamite. The star was in action, defending the AEW World Championship against Rush.
Friedman recently became a three-time AEW World Champion. He defeated Darby Allin at Double or Nothing in a high-stakes Hair vs. Title match to regain the Triple B. After the win, The Salt of the Earth was scheduled for his first title defense this week on Dynamite. He faced off against Rush, who showed up to be his first challenger. The star hyper-extended his knee during the matchup. However, he managed to hold on to his title.
In the aftermath of the show, Bryan Alvarez of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter provided an update on the situation. He noted that Friedman’s knee is swollen and the star is in pain. The 30-year old star is not medically cleared to wrestle at the moment. The report, however, stated that AEW’s plans for the next pay-per-view are not in jeopardy at this time. This suggested that the company was hoping that the injury was not serious and the champion could continue performing very soon. In the meantime, the star was pulled from a couple of indie shows where he was scheduled to make appearances.
MJF was replaced by a former WWE star
With the World Champion being sidelined due to a knee injury, AEW acted quickly to replace him at Beyond Wrestling’s upcoming event in Cranston, Rhode Island this Friday. Reputed journalist Justin Barrasso reported that former WWE star and the IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Andrade El Idolo has been announced as MJF’s replacement. He will now take on Bobby Orlando in a singles match at the event.
El Idolo has been on a tear since showing up to AEW last year. The star has won major matchups against the likes of Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, and Bandido. He has now set his sights on winning the World Championship from MJF. The match marks Andrade’s debut appearance for Beyond Wrestling. Other AEW stars at the event include Wheeler Yuta, Lio Rush, and Megan Bayne.
It will be interesting to see how Andrade El Idolo fares in his first outing for Beyond Wrestling.
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Edited by Prityush Haldar