Report: MJF-AEW Double Or Nothing Drama Believed To Be A Work

MJF has been the talk of the wrestling world over the past week ever since it emerged that Friedman had no-showed the AEW Double Or Nothing Fan Fest. The situation then only spiralled from there as the three-time Dynamite Diamond Ring winner had a flight booked out of Las Vegas that he didn't board and MJF ended up working his scheduled pay-per-view match against Wardlow. 

MJF appeared to have been written off AEW programming at Double Or Nothing, leaving ringside on a stretcher, but the 26-year-old cut his own pipe bomb promo on Wednesday's episode of Dynamite, demanding Tony Khan fire him.

While the situation on Saturday may have begun as a shoot when MJF no-showed the fan fest, the drama quickly developed into a work, Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Key people at the Fan Fest did not know ahead of time that Friedman would not be showing up and Meltzer reported: 'They did work the talent and the office staff for this angle in some form, and that is going to lead to a lot of internal negativity, and mistrust, which is never a good thing.'

MJF booking a flight that was quickly cancelled was also 'a work that was made sure to get out', according to Meltzer, with it being noted the former Inner Circle member may not have actually had a flight booked.  

There has been a mixture of reactions behind the scenes within AEW with many talents believing the situation over the weekend was a work ‘from the start’. Some didn't seem to mind but 'others weren't so happy about it.' One talent was deeply unhappy as they hoped AEW wouldn't play games with wrestlers or keep key individuals in the dark. Another called the drama 'a sloppy work that in the long run will benefit nobody.'